Easter Sunday, The Hope of New Life
Isaiah 54
Jordan Byrd
Your inner world has collapsed from anxiety and depression. Trust has crumbled in your relationships (marriage, family, friends). You feel broken and unsure of who you are. Your confidence in God is starting to fall apart. Faith once felt stable, but now it's cracked. Your life feels ruined because things didn’t go as planned. Overwhelming bills have brought your life down. You’ve tried to fix your life, but your addiction still breaks you. We all know what life feels like when it’s in rubble. When we feel: broken, lost, and far from where we want to be. The original recipients of Isaiah 54 felt similar. Their life was in rubble: Their capital city was in ruins. Their way of life was shattered. Their relationships were torn apart. Their identity in pieces. And their faith in God collapsed.
But God interjects his good news into their life through the prophetic words of Isaiah 54. And today, I hope you hear this good news from God’s word too. Isaiah 54 presents us with the good news of God that: With the Lord your life will not remain in rubble. Rather, with the Lord your life’s rubble will rise to glory – will rise to a new, beautiful, and glorious future. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
A couple of years ago, some of us were setting up for an event in the gym on the far side of the building. I had left to run an errand, and when I returned, a vehicle had crashed through the gym’s concrete-block wall. After making sure everyone was okay, we had to figure out what to do about the massive hole in the wall. Was the wall stable? Could we still hold the event that night? How would we fix it? And what should we do with the hole in the meantime? We could’ve tried to fix it ourselves—board it up, paint the boards to make it look better, put something in front of it to hide the damage, or even try to repair the masonry on our own. But those fixes wouldn’t last. Our limited masonry skills would likely leave cracks where cold air could still seep through. Rain and snow would still blow in through the temporary covering. And the surrounding wall would likely keep crumbling, creating an even bigger problem. In the end, we needed a skilled mason to give the rubble full, new life. When your life feels like rubble, what are you tempted to do? Do you try to fix it in your own strength or wisdom? Or are you tempted to cover it up with quick fixes—hiding the mess or filling it with anything, just to feel like you’re doing something about it?
The exiles in Isaiah 54 were no different. When their nation was faced with ruin by foreign invasions, they turned to godless political powers for help. When they struggled to fit in with the surrounding nations, they filled that void by joining them in their idol worship. And when confronted with the rubble of their own pride and rebellion, they tried to hide it by clinging to exploitation, theft, and violence. The exiles gave in to the temptation to rebuild their lives by turning to something—or someone—other than the Lord. But those attempts eventually came crashing down, leaving them with no real hope of lasting change, and still living in rubble.
Through the prophetic word of Isaiah 54, God calls out to the exiles—and to us today—inviting us to see that only with Him, only with the Lord, can our rubble be transformed and raised into a glorious new life. God invites us to respond to this good news of hope by asking a simple but profound question: Am I with the Lord? Do I truly believe that with Him, even the messiest rubble of my life can be transformed—not just patched up, but made new–glorified?
While Isaiah 54 offers hope to the exiles in their rubble, it also points forward to the lasting hope God offers to all people through the glorified life of Jesus revealed in His resurrection. Are you with the Lord, who can raise you from your rubble into a new life of glory—just like the glorified, resurrected life of Jesus? Are you with the Lord? With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
Isaiah 54 presents a series of images that highlight the contrast between a life in rubble and the hope of a new, glorified life with the Lord. In Isaiah 54:1-10, the exiles are compared to a lonely, childless woman. The imagery of a barren woman is a powerful symbol in the Old Testament. It recalls the matriarch of Israel’s story—Sarah, the wife of Abraham, the father of Israel. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation (Genesis 12), but both he and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was barren. How could such a nation rise from them?
Yet, God promised Abraham and Sarah that a child would be born through them. Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17:17)
God raised up life out of their rubble: Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (Genesis 21:1-2)
Abraham and Sarah didn’t know how the Lord would give them descendants. But, because the Lord was with them, their rubble was risen to glory–to new life, in the life of their son, Isaac (who gave birth to Jacob, who eventually became known as Israel). The writer of Hebrews captures this when that letter says, And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. (Hebrews 11:11)
And the early church leader, Paul, captured this as well, in his letter to the church in Rome, Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:18-21)
Have you ever tried using an umbrella with someone else? It’s comically hard to, because it’s mainly made for one person. But the imagery of multiple people not fitting under a covering, or tent is the imagery given in Isaiah 54:2-3. The language of Isaiah 54 captures the tension that Abraham and Sarah faced in the lives of the exiles as well. It seemed for the exiles that there was no life or future for them beyond exile. Yet, the Lord promises that with Him, they will rise to a new life of glory—a future where their descendants will one day repopulate, so numerous that their tent will be too small to contain them. The promise to the exiles is that: With the Lord your rubble the barrenness and loneliness you feel in exile – will rise to glory – will rise to new life. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
In Isaiah 54:11-17, the exiles are reminded of the imagery of their homeland, and their capital city of Jerusalem–that is in rubble. The city of Jerusalem was vital to the exiles, because it housed the temple—the place where God’s presence dwelled among His people. When Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, it signaled a deep separation from God’s presence. Without God’s presence, their lives were cut off from the source of life. They experienced decay and ruin—not only physically, in the city’s destruction and their exile from the land, but also spiritually, as their lives fell apart both internally and externally. In the rubble of their exile, what hope do they have of a glorious future? What hope do they have of their life being rebuilt?
In Isaiah 54:11 and following, God promises to rebuild the lives of the exiles—restoring them to their homeland, and to the city of Jerusalem. But this restoration isn’t just a return to what was. God promises to raise them from the rubble into a life of glory. Isaiah 54:11–12 describe this renewal with images of precious jewels—a new life, even more beautiful than before. Isaiah 54 captures the deep transformation the exiles needed—the wise and powerful work of God bringing lasting beauty and new life out of their brokenness.
The front steps of our house are old and cracked. The previous owners had placed a concrete slab and tiles over the broken steps to cover a large hole at the top. Recently, we broke off that slab so we could install a new step. While we were sledgehammering it apart, our kids came outside and asked, “Why are you tearing off part of the house!?” To them, it just looked like we were making more of a mess. But we told them: “So we can put something even better here.” Like my kids, staring at the rubble in front of our house—unsure how anything good could come from the mess—the exiles were just as confused by the Lord’s promise to transform their situation. All the exiles could see was the rubble surrounding them. The rubble before them seemed beyond hope. But God wasn’t just promising repair—he was promising renewal, something more glorious than before.
This promised transformation in Isaiah 54 must have sounded too good to be true to the exiles—it ran against everything the exiles were experiencing. And today, we’re not so different. We sit in the rubble of our own lives, struggling to imagine real change. Hope sounds nice—but seems distant or impossible. Like the exiles, it’s hard to see past our rubble. It’s even harder to picture something better. That’s why We need God’s Word in the rubble of our life. Because a life of ruin doesn’t have to be the end of our story. We need God to show us a new future—one where he raises us from rubble to glory. We need his help to see what’s possible when He–when the Lord–is with us. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
We need God’s word to meet us in the rubble of our life. And God’s word has done just that. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Colossians 1:15-23
God’s word became flesh in Jesus—revealing God’s life clearly and the hope of new life that’s possible when connected to the Lord: The Son is the image of the invisible God, Jesus making God most clearly known to us in image and embodied form… the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, Jesus helps us most clearly see the new life that’s possible, when connected to the Lord… so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—Again, Jesus helps us most clearly see the new life that’s possible, when connected to the Lord. if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven…. (Colossians 1:15-23)
Jesus found himself in our rubble–in a death like ours. But, because he was connected to God, the Lord raised him, from rubble to glory–to resurrected life. And this is the gospel–the good news held out to us. That only with the Lord, can your rubble rise to glory. This is the same good news held out to exiles of Isaiah 54–that, with the Lord your rubble will rise to glory. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
Jesus’ resurrection is the preview of what is to come for us who are connected to the Lord. A glorified, new body, like Jesus’ resurrected, glorified body is our lasting hope in the midst of our rubble. Paul says similarly in his letters to the churches in Philippi and Corinth, …the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory…. (1 Corinthians 15:42-43)
The good news we celebrate in light of Jesus’ resurrection is the lasting hope we have, that, With the Lord our rubble will rise to glory. With the Lord our rubble will rise to glory.
Are you with the Lord today? Will you be with the Lord tomorrow, and the days following? If you’re not, I invite you to connect your life to the Lord. Unite your life to his, through faith, under the water of baptism. Please find me, or another trusted follower of Jesus, and we’d be glad to help you take steps in that direction to have your life connected to the Lord. Because, with the Lord your rubbled life will rise to glory. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.
Sing and shout for joy. (Isaiah 54:1)
If you’ve already connected your life to the Lord, through faith in Jesus, and joined yourself to him under the water of baptism, God’s word in Isaiah 54:1 invites you to join the exiles’ chorus and sing, shout for joy–offer your praise of gratitude for the new life possible by the resurrecting power of the Lord–to raise you to new life from death, that you have a lasting glorified hope in Jesus’ resurrection. That, with the Lord your rubbled life will rise to glory. With the Lord your rubble will rise to glory.