PREVAILING IN PRAYER BY THE WORD (9)

“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…” – Isaiah 62:1 ESV

To Pray-Until-Something-Happens – P.U.S.H – is a key ingredient of PREVAILING IN PRAYER BY GOD’S WORD: “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” (Isa.62: 1-3, ESV). The prophet vowed to persist as Jerusalem’s intercessor. Like the sentinels in vv.6-7, Isaiah swore to stand on the city walls and break the silence day and night, to remind God. He vowed to keep preaching and proclaiming until God did what He had promised to do: restore Jerusalem, and make this holy mountain a crown of glory and song of praise to God! This should be the Believer’s Prayer Posture!

The prophet was saying: “It will not be possible to make me shut up. I will talk and not stop talking, proclaim and not stop proclaiming, preach and not stop preaching. I will shake the skies with my voice. I will not rest, for the sake of the precious city God loved and left, and I will keep this up until every nation and king can see that Jerusalem has been declared innocent and lifted to a place of glory and honor.” When God has spoken His Word, He demands that we hold on to them, and prevail in prayer. The apostles declared: “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

God had made extravagant promises to His exiled people. He declared Jerusalem forgiven and restored (Isa.54:7-10). He promised to build up the barren and forsaken city with foundations of sapphires, ruby pinnacles, gates and walls of precious jewels (Isa.54:11-12). According to God’s Word, King Cyrus of Persia proclaimed an end to the exile allowing the Jews to return to their native land, with the sacred vessels and other objects from the plundered temple. He even encouraged then to rebuild the temple with funds from the royal treasury of Persia. However, the reality they returned to was far from glorious; the land was like a desert, times were harsh, and people were hungry (Hag.1:5-11). The city seemed forsaken, bereft of God’s sustaining presence; but the prophet vowed to hold God to His Word – to P.U.S.H!

Isaiah promised newness, transformation, and new names signalling joyful futures for Jerusalem and her environs. The prophet could only make these promises because God had made them! Believers in Christ also have the opportunity and privilege to call on God to do all that He promised! God’s promises to Jerusalem mirror His assurances to His Church. Jerusalem was assured that her righteousness would shine out like the dawn and her salvation like a blazing torch for the nations to see (vv.1-2). God told His exiled wife that there was hope for her future. The present situation of desolation was not the end of her story or His final goal for her. Repeatedly, God spoke of a reversal of fortune, renewal of hope and lives, and restoration of a broken relationships with Him.

By extension, God was using the marriage imageries to send a wonderful Word of Encouragement to His Church – the Bride of Christ – in a time when such is desperately needed: “You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married” (v.4).

What the Lord demands is that we accept, believe, affirm, and rejoice in His Word. We must perpetually push into His promises – Prevailing in Prayer by His Word: “And give Him no rest till He established and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (v.7).