Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1732

May 24, 2026

Isaiah 62.1-12         Click here for audio worship

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“A Season of Blessing”

 

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

 

 

• A Time of Silence

 

Getting the silent treatment can be rough. If you were living in a place where there is constant noise and talking, silence could be a blessing, but if the silence comes from an unwillingness to communicate, it can be painful. God is sometimes silent in the Bible. That silence is normally, if not always, in response to the sins of His people. Exile is a long period of silence from the Lord. For instance, in Isaiah 42.14 we read God’s words, “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.” His silence does not last forever. Exile is a period of homelessness and is accompanied by silence. In the case of the Babylonian exile of God’s people, most agree that it was about 66 years. That is a long time to go without a word from the Lord. The prophets were not always welcomed because of the word they brought from the Lord, but at least God’s people were hearing something from the Lord!

 

As we have journeyed through the book of Isaiah, we have seen why God would send His people into exile. Isaiah 5.20 is one example, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” And yet, we have also seen places of hope in and for the people. Isaiah 55.6, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” The consequence of rebellion was exile and bondage to Babylonian rule in Isaiah’s time, but there was also hope in the words of the prophet, in the Word from God. Hope remained in exile. There was always hope.

 

In Isaiah 62 God is silent no more! For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. Exile will come to an end. The Word has gone out through the prophet and in that Word from the Lord will come forth righteousness and salvation.

 

This is also the experience of the Jewish people in waiting for the Messiah to come. There was a long silence before the coming of Christ. Some Jews still do not believe and the silence continues for them. But some Jews and Gentiles now know that the silence has ended in Jesus Christ. Our exile of sin and death has come to a close at the cross and the empty tomb. Today is Pentecost Sunday and in that story, in that Word from the Lord, the Holy Spirit has come and is spreading the Word of the Lord through all of His people. No more silence, for the Word is revealed in Scripture. This is the book that speaks to us as “thus says the Lord”.

 

I know that people experience silence in their lives, even a perceived silence from God. Perhaps we have had a time when we hoped and wanted to hear something from the Lord, but nothing seems to come, nothing satisfies our yearning for a Word from the Lord. Often we look to the prophets and want something like a “thus says the Lord”, but we do not get anything like that. What we have is great because what we have is written and closed and anyone who claims to have a new revelation is either mistaken or a deceiver. The Word we have has ended any silence.

 

• Radical Renewal

 

Isaiah 62 reveals a radical renewal of His people by the transformative power of God.

 

You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.

 

The radical renewal is depicted in the newness of names, no longer Forsaken or Desolate, but Delight and Married. Married may seem to us a strange name, but it may be referring to the union and unity of God and His people and the gift of land long ago promised to Abraham and his descendants. It may also reflect a renewal of vows in the sense of covenantal relationship with the Lord. Married expresses the joy of the newly wed and with God and His people, we experience the joy that can only be known in that kind of relationship. The New Testament speaks of the church as the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5.22-24 and in Revelation 19.6-8, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” While Isaiah was speaking of a return from exile, he was also foreshadowing the coming Christ, and even the final disclosure of Revelation.

 

Another renewal is in Isaiah 62.8-9, The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

A return home means no more labor for an oppressor. All their labor will be for their own consumption and well being. Everything is reordered, re-created, it is essentially a new beginning. This too is well known in the New Testament, for in Christ we are given a new order and made a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5.17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

 

We can see the connection of Isaiah 62 and the newness given in Christ Jesus. Just as God is silent no more in Isaiah, so too in Christ, any silence is over. In Christ who is the Word, we have the Word to read and study and it is never ever exhausted. It is not silent. It may call us to be silent once in a while, but it is a gift of speech, God’s speech to lead, guide, comfort, challenge, rebuke, correct, edify, encourage, and so on. God’s people have received the promise of renewal and newness of being and a new identity.

 

• A Season of Blessing

 

I see the last couple of verses in Isaiah 62 as a season of blessing. It is and will be a season wherein salvation comes, reward and recompense are revealed. God’s people will receive new names. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken. The former names of Forsaken and Desolate shall come to an end. New names will be given that reflect the opposite condition, A City Not Forsaken and The Holy People.

 

We hear the same refrain echoed in the New Testament. 1 Peter 2.9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

You see, the story is repeated in that we were also once in exile, not a people, had not received mercy. But now, in Christ, we are God’s people and have received His mercy. There was a long period of silence in that the Messiah had not yet come. That silence ended, God’s chosen exiled no more.

Seasons of blessing: the birth of the Christ, His life on the earth, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and in His name God sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The season of blessing will never end. What a blessing we have in Christ, in the Spirit, in the love of the Father. What a blessing we have in the story of the Bible that gives us a prophetic word and a Word fulfilled. What a blessing for which we give thanks each and every day, not to take these promises for granted and not to forget what God has done for all who trust in Him. May the Lord bring to our remembrance each day what He has done and what He has promised. Amen.