Weapons of the Destroyer
Isaiah 54:5-6, 17
1 Timothy 2:15 speaks of salvation of woman through childbearing. Some women use this verse as their reason for having children. Some people think if they do not have children yet, they must not be saved. That is frankly nonsense. If I needed Jesus and someone else to save me, then he would not really be all powerful, would he. Therefore, the reverse might be a little more to the point. If the women are not childbearing and know Jesus, they must already be saved. There is a reason why I am discussing this here. Isaiah 54:1 speaks to the barren and the widow urging them to rejoice because they had already been married. The barren already had children according to God; in fact, she has many more than those who had natural ones.
For your Maker is your husband — the Lord Almighty is his name — the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit — a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God.
Verses five and six explain these statements further. 'The Lord himself is your husband' is said to those who feel as though they are a wife who married young and was rejected. Now Paul has made it clear we are not all married to Jesus; he urged the church in 1 Corinthians 7:7 to be even as he was. According to history, Paul had no record of a wife mentioned in the Scripture. 2 Corinthians 11:1-2 mentions much foolishness of Paul which is the notion that we are to be virgins presented to Christ. Yet, in another place, 1 Corinthians 7:9, he says marriage is better than desiring to be. It is silly to start a doctrinal teaching based off of this notion given the ample signs of Scripture. I can hear someone saying now, look what this text today says. It is important not to become neither silly nor sloppy in our theology as was the case with those women upon whom the false teachers had crept as in 2 Timothy 3:6. I know some believers who have read this text and have come to the erroneous conclusion that God must be polygamous.
There are two things here to be gained. First, Christ will claim you when no one else will. Second, he will provide for you like no one else can. He will either provide another or he will provide himself. This was the case of the ram caught in the thicket whom God provided as Abraham went to sacrifice his son in Genesis 22:13. The final thing to notice is the perspective of the angels. 1 Corinthians 11:10 says a woman ought to have authority over her own head because of the angels. The angels are weapons in the hands of the Lord fit for his work. Remember the story told of the woman who married each of seven brothers in Mark 12:22-25. Jesus concluded that in Heaven they "will neither marry nor be given in marriage" for they will be like the angels of God. His calling is not for disorder but to a purpose. His purpose is not to destroy you or leave you with nothing. He has the resources of all of Heaven and earth at his service. Surely, he knows your need and will supply for it; otherwise, he will provide you with joy in your lack according to Philippians 4:19. He will make it so that no one will look down on you for your service to him. In case you have forgotten, remember Revelation 19:7-8 where all the hosts of Heaven were called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. There they were given white garments to wear before following him out to judge the world in Revelation 19:14.
"See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
The barren and the husbandless are as tools fit for the Lord for the continuing of his work. You are as much of a weapon as the blacksmith who forged them or the destroyer who wreaks havoc on the earth at the command of God. These are the instruments of his work. How do you know he has used you? Verse seventeen mentions two signs: no weapon formed will prosper and "you will refute every tongue" of the accuser. As the servants of God, you share in their heritage and in their vindication. The servant is always closer to the master than his own children. For the servant knows the master's business but the children read his will according to John 15:14-15. Although as John 15:20 points out, the "servant is not greater than his master" since God has made his servants to be friends. Therefore, those who obey Christ or persecute him will also treat his servants equally. A servant is not greater because of the spiritual principles of equality. Jesus "thought it not robbery to be equal with God" as Philippians 2:6 states. Whose business was he about and whose word did he speak according to Luke 2:49? Therefore, the servant claims the master's authority and even his place. Yet, the "servant is not above his master" nor the pupil above the teacher.
This is the trap into which Satan and the other angels fell. In search of greatness, they fell into the snare. In Old Testament times when the angel of the Lord showed up, you did not know if it was an angel or the Lord himself that appeared until he made it plain to you. The servants of the high priest fell over backwards as much as for Jesus in John 18:6 as for the angel of the Lord; this angel of the Lord rolled away the stone from his tomb and sat upon it at Matthew 28:2-4. Your barrenness is an instrument of the Lord. Your husbandless state is an instrument of the Lord. Your widower state or bachelor state is of the Lord. What then makes you useful? Not every piece of iron becomes a sword. Some of them become the wash-pots God casts his shoes over according to Psalm 60:8. Some of them become the cook pots used to make meals for the family.
Just as God created you, so he also made the blacksmith "who fans the coals into flame." Over this flame is forged the weapons of the work of God. Your outlook and willingness, as with the clay pots who wanted to talk back to the master potter in Romans 9:20, determine your destination. See, God has a pre for every destination. Before the trial, you were a piece of iron. Because of the trial, your right response, and your unwillingness to see anything other than God, you are now a weapon in the hand of the Lord. It is important to see the Lord as a wife sees her husband or the woman her unborn child. The weapon is as the destroyer created "to wreak havoc" on the earth. The purposes, thoughts, and ways of God are greater than ours in Isaiah 55:9. We ought to then seek him until we are either as his weapon or else he has provided for the need and the lack.