54:1
We have just had the amazing description of what the Suffering Servant will do, and how things look from His perspective, ie seeing the light of day, being satisfied, being greatly exalted. Now we see the effect that this will have upon Israel and upon us. “Sing, barren woman”. We are barren. In our own right there is nothing we can do to become righteous, to be the fruitful people God intended us to be. Yet we are to sing. Why? Because of what Jesus has done. We never bore a child, we never lived righteously. Israel failed again and again. But now we are to burst into song. Because we are now more righteous than anyone (apart from Jesus) has ever been. “more than her who had a husband”. We are more righteous than any supposedly holy man or woman, more righteous than the Pharisees! (Matt 5:20).
54:2
So we are to enlarge the place of our tent. Previously we looked at life, looked at ourselves from a human perspective, from the point of view of our own abilities and goodness. If we were the least bit honest about ourselves this meant we would have a very limited view of ourselves and our ambitions. But now our righteousness is based on Christ’s righteousness, so we are to extend our horizons, because of what God has done.
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