In Isaiah 54:11–17, the prophet Isaiah delivers a message from God about the restoration of Jerusalem after its destruction by the Babylonians. Verse 17 reminded Jerusalem that, “No weapon formed against you [them] will prosper.”
In saying that “no weapon formed against you [them] shall prosper,” God promises the people of Jerusalem that no enemy will be able to produce successful weapons against them. The word prosper here means “succeed.” The previous verse gives context: “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” (Isaiah 54:16).
Did you catch that? God didn’t promise that our enemies will not create weapons planned for our destruction, however He did promise that those weapons will not succeed in destroying us! God is in charge. He created the one who creates the weapons, and He will see to it that whatever weapons are wielded by our enemies would be ineffective against us. This promise will see its ultimate fulfillment in the millennial kingdom of Christ (Isaiah 51).
The primary point the Lord wants to communicate in this passage of text is that He alone is our salvation. Even when bad things happen to us—when we feel defeated and crushed by our enemies—we can trust and not be afraid: “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths; even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence” (Psalm 46:1–3, GNB).
I want to remind you that God didn’t leave us empty handed in this fight against evil. We too have been equipped with our own weapons. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, the apostle Paul tells us that we have been given tools to fight against our enemy, but our weapons are not ordinary armaments: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Often, the enemy hits us with spiritual strongholds of confusion, depression, anger, anxiety, fear, temptation, and loneliness. But the Lord has given us His Word as our sword and faith as our shield (Proverbs 30:5; Hebrews 4:12), and not to mention we have His spiritual armor to protect us (Ephesians 6:10–18).
Here’s the really good news, God is in command. He controls both those who make weapons and those who use them. The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:15; 1 Samuel 17:47). He has already won the contest. Through Jesus Christ, He has defeated the final enemy, who is death, and purchased for us eternal life (2 Timothy 1:10; see also Isaiah 25:8; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18). The Lord will protect and uphold His children, no matter what we face, and He will always be there to help us through to the final victory (Isaiah 41:10).
4GIVEN 