Isaiah 54:2, commentary and pictures

God calls His people to make room for growth by widening their dwelling without holding back, reaching farther on every side while making the work firm and secure. It is a commission to the gospel church to spread unrestrained in order to receive people from many nations, with the promise that they will break forth to the right and to the left, inherit among the nations, and resettle desolate places. It is His present word in the last days of this earth's history, rebuking apathy toward those perishing without hope and urging immediate expansion because working time is short. Enlarging means refusing to confine the work to one place or hover around churches already established, but strengthening centers of influence in many places so saving light reaches where little has been done. It calls for pressing into new and foreign fields, large cities and neglected places, with every soul becoming a missionary to friends, neighbors and families to plant the Word and lift up Christ.

Image, Commission and Promise

Isaiah 54:2 is God's present word to His people now, in the last days of this earth's history, spoken for this present time for His messengers. It rebukes apathy and indifference toward those perishing without God and without hope, and calls for immediate expansion of the work for Christ because working time is short and no moment is to be lost. Enlarging the tent means not sitting in churches Sabbath after Sabbath listening to preaching while ministers hover about repeating the same truths to believers, but ministers and members working intelligently together with God by visiting friends, neighbors and families, seeking to create interest in present truth, planting the Word in many hearts, dealing out the bread of life to hungering souls, helping others take hold on eternal realities, and lifting up Christ before the world.

The enlarged place of the tent, the stretched curtains of the habitations, the lengthened cords and the strengthened stakes picture preparing for growth by extending reach without restraint and without holding back or sparing. To lengthen is to take on more, reach farther, and hold back nothing, and to strengthen is to make the work firm, secure, and firmly established. The stakes are to be strengthened so the cords can be lengthened, meaning established centers of influence are to be strengthened in order to extend the reach of present truth throughout the world, not to promote centralization.

The verse commissions the gospel church to expand without restraint in order to receive the Gentiles and people from many nations. It finds literal fulfillment when bearers of salvation go to the ends of the earth, to every kindred and people, spreading on every side until peace is extended like a river and the glory of the Gentiles flows in. The following promise is that they will break forth on the right hand and on the left, spread in every direction, inherit among the nations and bring people into God's people, and inhabit desolate cities and resettle desolate places. Because God and His only begotten Son paid so great a price to save the race from irretrievable ruin, those who have learned that price and claim to have received Christ as Saviour must lengthen their cords and strengthen their stakes.

The verse belongs with Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53 as prophecy regarding Christ's work, to be studied now as a help and blessing. Especially when the liberty of the church is endangered and oppression by transgressors of the Sabbath appears to give victory and rejoicing to evildoers, it calls for undiscouraged true missionary work in public ministry and house-to-house labor, because God has victory for His people. When God's people follow the path of providence under Christ's lead, their numbers will increase and their boundaries will be enlarged, but this has not yet occurred as required because unbelief has hindered the work. The Lord wants enlargement, broadening, and faith instead of narrow, constricted ideas and plans that produce only small results.

Enlarging Work in Practice

Enlarging means not confining the work to one place but making earnest efforts to take the gospel to people and places that have not heard it, including large cities. It means not hovering around a little church or a larger church, and not sitting in churches Sabbath after Sabbath merely listening to preaching while ministers hover about repeating the same truths to believers week after week. It means not concentrating people and resources in Battle Creek, but establishing centers of influence in many places so that saving light reaches where little work has been done. The enlarged tent space pictures this wider mission and its spread among the nations with the resettling of desolate cities, calling especially for carrying the message to new fields and peoples without holding back because working time is short.

The call is to press into new and foreign fields for Christ, to take the truth to the world at large and make room for many more to hear it, including people in the higher classes. When liberty is endangered, the truth is to be presented in neglected cities in clear, distinct lines and in the power of the Spirit. Every soul must become a missionary to those around them and educate others to do the same work, with every church standing as laborers together with God and not separated from Him. Ministers and members are to work intelligently together with God by visiting friends, neighbors, and families, seeking to create interest in present truth, planting the Word in many hearts, dealing out the bread of life to hungering souls, helping others take hold on eternal realities, and lifting up Christ before the world.

This ends a crippled state of inactivity, with men and women beginning missionary work where they are to reach the many everywhere around them who do not know the truth, and all members in California are called to awaken and take earnest part in saving souls. At Riverside the borders must be enlarged because the town is large and has not received the effort it should have. Spreading tents and enlarging borders means expanding efforts to save the lost, carrying the truth to others and lifting up Christ, increasing activity with continued effort, bringing more people into serving God and others, and growing toward a larger work so that when the call comes for missionaries to go to foreign countries there are those ready to respond. The same expansion of bounds supports maintaining and increasing the education of the young, teaching them to advance toward higher standards of Christian education.

The verse was promise and call to enlarge and strengthen the work centered at the St. Helena Sanitarium after perils that threatened to keep it from its designed purpose, by enlarging without sparing with faithful men working after the Lord's ordering. That enlargement leads to breaking forth on the right and left, with seed inheriting the Gentiles and making desolate cities inhabited, without shame or confusion, forgetting the shame of youth and the reproach of widowhood, because the Maker is Husband, the Lord of hosts, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth. Applied in Isaiah 54:2-3, the tent picture calls for growth in educational and missionary work in every direction, with Avondale serving as a training ground to prepare workers for many mission fields. Enlargement calls for freely laying out means to make appeals that awaken duty and move hearts to liberality and faithful tithes and offerings, and for promptly using manuscripts given for the good of the Lord's people without delay, while members grow upward into Christ with the Holy Spirit's help rather than remain spiritually asleep.

If aroused to do their God-given work in public ministry and house-to-house labor without discouragement, wholehearted work will show the efficacy of Christ's grace. Watchmen on the walls of Zion will be wide-awake and arouse others, selfishness will be separated from lives, and workers will see eye to eye. The arm of the Lord seen in the life of Christ will be revealed, confidence will be restored, and there will be unity in the churches.