WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.647 Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:01.647 --> 00:00:06.091 We're going to look at two chapters this morning chapters 46 and 47. 00:00:06.091 --> 00:00:20.567 If you don't have a Bible, you can find one in the pew in front of you and you can turn right around the page 643, 4, somewhere in that region you'll find chapter 46 and 47. 00:00:20.567 --> 00:00:38.740 There was once a man in the 20th century who seemed to have everything fame, fortune, power. 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:41.204 His name was Howard Hughes, and for much of the 20th century he was the symbol of American success. 00:00:41.204 --> 00:00:46.674 He built airplanes that broke records, he produced films that dazzled Hollywood. 00:00:46.674 --> 00:00:49.149 He had the power to make or break an actor's career. 00:00:49.149 --> 00:00:53.451 He amassed the fortune that made him one of the richest men in the world. 00:00:53.451 --> 00:01:01.594 But behind all of that glamour was a man who was slowly being crushed by the very things he worshipped. 00:01:01.594 --> 00:01:17.986 Fame, which was once to him very intoxicating, became unbearable, and later in life he withdrew from the public eye, terrified of germs and judgment, and would hold himself up in dark hotel rooms for months at a time. 00:01:17.986 --> 00:01:26.745 Wealth, which was once a sort of pride, lost its luster and he lived an austere life. 00:01:26.745 --> 00:01:27.769 At the end of his days. 00:01:27.769 --> 00:01:33.031 Control, which was his ultimate idol, left him empty. 00:01:33.031 --> 00:01:45.414 His days spent micromanaging every detail and obsessing over perfection found him left at the end of his days, pathetically trying to control the uncontrollable. 00:01:45.414 --> 00:01:59.108 He spiraled into paranoia, fear and isolation, and by the end of his life, Howard Hughes was an emaciated wreck, addicted to painkillers and left utterly alone. 00:01:59.108 --> 00:02:08.631 This man, who once literally soared above the clouds, was buried by the things he tried to grasp. 00:02:08.631 --> 00:02:17.929 He was weighed down by things he was never meant to carry and he tried to carry things that were never meant to carry him. 00:02:20.100 --> 00:02:28.650 We live in a world full of burdens ourselves today and instead of learning the lesson from people like Howard Hughes, we seem to continue to repeat them over and over and over again. 00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:40.991 We stack onto our shoulders crushing burdens that we think will lift us, but actually bow our neck and our back and eventually bury us. 00:02:40.991 --> 00:02:44.548 Social media gods can be cruel. 00:02:44.548 --> 00:02:48.444 You can just ask Natalie Reynolds, who was an influencer on TikTok. 00:02:48.444 --> 00:03:10.707 She had millions of followers and she got upset, and a couple of months ago it was in the paper she was banned on TikTok, and I'm not sure exactly why, but she was, and there's a little clip of a film showing her outside the social media's corporate offices, on the phone to her dad, screaming in agony Dad, they won't let me in, I need my account. 00:03:10.707 --> 00:03:20.210 Whatever they do reinstate it, we're not any different than Hughes or Reynolds. 00:03:21.433 --> 00:03:30.752 Whether it's the pursuit of fame, or the illusion of control, or the pressure to maintain an image, our culture keeps handing us burdens disguised as blessings. 00:03:30.752 --> 00:03:41.192 We chase those things that promise to deliver us and we find ourselves weighed down by them, and they can't sustain us. 00:03:41.192 --> 00:04:18.341 And it's into this burdened world, not only in Isaiah's day, but also into our day, that Isaiah 46 and 47 speaks, and it speaks to us with clarity, a piercing clarity here in Isaiah, as we'll see, isaiah steps into this cluttered marketplace in Babylon where idols are bought and sold and hauled around like oversized luggage, and into the midst of that he declares a message from God that God is the one who carries, that God is the one who accomplishes his salvation and that God is also the one who humbles the proud. 00:04:18.341 --> 00:04:25.915 These two chapters will confront the idols that they carried, and it confronts the idols that we carry. 00:04:25.915 --> 00:04:39.451 It confronts the empires that we trust or fear, but not just with condemnation alone, but with a wondrous, wondrous statement that he is the one who carries and he never falters. 00:04:39.451 --> 00:04:43.964 And as we look at these two chapters, we're going to discover more about God. 00:04:43.964 --> 00:05:01.329 We're going to discover that, as he exposes the futility of idols and the fragility of human pride, that he is going to reveal himself as the king the king who can carry his people, the king who can accomplish his purposes and the king who can humble. 00:05:01.329 --> 00:05:02.273 The proud. 00:05:02.273 --> 00:05:14.074 And the implications of that are extremely important for us, because if he alone can carry, then we can drop the burdens that are weighing us down. 00:05:14.074 --> 00:05:20.173 If he alone can accomplish salvation, then we can rest in that redemptive plan. 00:05:20.173 --> 00:05:24.908 And if he alone can humble, we can trust him to bring justice. 00:05:24.908 --> 00:05:35.932 And if he alone can humble, we can trust him to bring justice, to destroy Babylon, yes, but also to destroy all those powers which seek to oppress us. 00:05:35.992 --> 00:05:37.476 Let's take a look at these two chapters. 00:05:37.476 --> 00:05:50.165 First of all, in the first seven verses of chapter 46, we see that the Lord carries his people, and it begins in verse 1 with this remarkable statement Bill crouches, nebo, cowers. 00:05:50.165 --> 00:05:55.314 Idols depicting them are consigned to beast and cattle. 00:05:55.314 --> 00:05:59.891 The images you carry are loaded as burdens for the weary animal. 00:05:59.891 --> 00:06:18.377 Isaiah mentions two of Babylon's most revered gods, bel and Nebo, and he declares from the outset that they're not rescuers, they're burdens. 00:06:18.377 --> 00:06:23.048 These idols of them are paraded through the streets in ceremonial processions and they lie helpless. 00:06:23.048 --> 00:06:37.081 They have to be carried, and Isaiah describes them as being loaded onto beasts a burden hauled off like oversized luggage, and it's a scene that's dripping with satire. 00:06:37.081 --> 00:06:45.454 These movers of these idols are seen to be like a bunch of guys trying to push a grand piano up a narrow staircase. 00:06:45.454 --> 00:06:48.363 It's just a burden, a hardship. 00:06:48.363 --> 00:06:54.375 These gods of Babylon, once symbols of power and permanence, are dead weights. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:55.922 Take a look at verse 7. 00:06:55.922 --> 00:07:05.266 They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along, they set it in its place and there it stands. 00:07:05.266 --> 00:07:07.822 It does not budge from its place. 00:07:07.822 --> 00:07:10.086 They cry out to it but it doesn't answer. 00:07:10.086 --> 00:07:15.600 It saves no one from his trouble here. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.732 These gods cannot walk, they cannot speak and they cannot say. 00:07:19.732 --> 00:07:22.564 And then the camera pans out. 00:07:23.386 --> 00:07:24.749 Take a look at verses three and four. 00:07:24.749 --> 00:07:26.372 God speaks about himself. 00:07:26.372 --> 00:07:35.165 Listen to me, house of Jacob, all the remnant to the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. 00:07:35.165 --> 00:07:38.269 I will be the same until your old age. 00:07:38.269 --> 00:07:40.968 I will bear you up when you turn gray. 00:07:40.968 --> 00:07:48.011 I have made you and I will carry you, I will bear and rescue you. 00:07:48.011 --> 00:07:49.963 And what a contrast. 00:07:49.963 --> 00:07:57.846 This is right, and this whole section of Scripture is about this remarkable contrast of these idols and Yahweh. 00:07:57.846 --> 00:08:09.002 Let's just take a moment to sort of review this very quickly, sort of review this very quickly. 00:08:09.021 --> 00:08:12.788 These idols are burdens that we have to carry and yet God says that he's the Father who carries us. 00:08:12.788 --> 00:08:14.971 These idols need saving. 00:08:14.971 --> 00:08:19.024 They need picked up and brought up somewhere and set down somewhere. 00:08:19.024 --> 00:08:24.273 But God is the one who does the delivering and says he will pick us up. 00:08:24.273 --> 00:08:35.965 These idols sit silent, but God speaks and hears and acts. 00:08:35.965 --> 00:08:39.312 These idols begin when we pay for them. 00:08:39.312 --> 00:08:45.240 Take a look at verse 6. 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:50.427 Those who pour out their bags of gold and weigh out their silver on scales and hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god. 00:08:50.427 --> 00:08:54.293 These idols begin when we fund them. 00:08:54.293 --> 00:08:58.870 But God carries us from the womb and will not forget us in our old age. 00:09:00.921 --> 00:09:02.725 This is not a one-time rescue either. 00:09:02.725 --> 00:09:19.284 The Lord here is talking about a lifelong embrace of his people, from your strongest moments all through your weakest ones, from the time when you just emerged out of the womb to the time when you are about to face your death, he will carry you. 00:09:19.284 --> 00:09:23.679 He's not a burden that needs to be managed. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.427 He's a bearer of burdens. 00:09:25.427 --> 00:09:32.472 He's not a person that needs to be restful because he grows weary. 00:09:32.472 --> 00:09:37.206 He's the one who gives strength to the weary, and he doesn't need saving. 00:09:37.206 --> 00:09:38.726 He is the Savior. 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:42.969 Now Isaiah's audience needed to remember this. 00:09:42.969 --> 00:09:53.172 He's projecting them into the future and speaking about their time in exile For decades, surrounded by Babylonian pomp and pagan power. 00:09:53.172 --> 00:09:56.268 And they must have wondered has God forgotten us? 00:09:56.268 --> 00:09:58.225 Has he grown tired of us? 00:09:58.225 --> 00:10:05.894 But here Isaiah speaks to them in this appeal and says no, he carries you in every step. 00:10:05.894 --> 00:10:09.168 He'll carry you still if you turn to him. 00:10:09.168 --> 00:10:18.355 And here the Lord speaks with his covenant love language that he's not merely a rescuer in crisis. 00:10:18.355 --> 00:10:26.081 He's a father who desires to be in relationship with them, and he is committed to His people from beginning to end. 00:10:26.081 --> 00:10:29.369 His care is not just momentary or seasonal. 00:10:29.369 --> 00:10:31.594 It's lifelong and it's personal. 00:10:31.594 --> 00:10:36.668 And His love is not motivated simply by our need. 00:10:36.668 --> 00:10:41.865 It's motivated by His love and it's rooted in His promises and it's fulfilled by His character. 00:10:41.865 --> 00:10:57.312 And all of this statement about the Lord being one who carries points us forward to how that's realized in our day, this image of God being the one who carries his people finds ultimate fulfillment in Christ himself. 00:10:58.495 --> 00:11:03.539 We go to Luke, chapter 15, and we find that he's the good shepherd who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders. 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:07.779 We find that he's the good shepherd who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders. 00:11:07.779 --> 00:11:17.200 We go to Isaiah 53, and we find that he's the suffering servant who bears our griefs and carries our sorrows. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:30.999 We go to Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 3, and find that he is the Lord who upholds all things by the word of his power, and that he is the one who sustains the church by his spirit. 00:11:30.999 --> 00:11:38.498 The idols of Babylon, you know, they collapse under their own weight. 00:11:38.498 --> 00:11:42.922 But Christ, what does he carry? 00:11:42.922 --> 00:11:58.164 He carries the full weight of our sin, of our shame and our sorrow, and he continues to sustain us by walking alongside of us and, most wondrously, after he rose from the dead and ascended into the heavenly places, he tells us that he brings us with him. 00:11:58.164 --> 00:12:03.073 There we are, sat in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. 00:12:03.073 --> 00:12:06.850 He carries us into the very throne room of God. 00:12:09.782 --> 00:12:16.291 So let me ask you a question what are you carrying that's not able to carry you? 00:12:16.291 --> 00:12:24.783 What are the things that you thought would be a blessing have now turned into a burden, perhaps the way to control. 00:12:24.783 --> 00:12:55.077 Maybe you're like a lot of parents on Long Island who are trying to manufacture a future for your child, rehearsing every decision that this child's going to make, having every single step lined out about where they're going to go to preschool, what instruments they're going to learn, what places they need to be, at just the right time so they can be at a place postured and stationed for another place of success. 00:12:55.077 --> 00:13:17.076 Long Island is just filled with people doing that exact thing, probably right now, trying to script their children's future like a director behind the scenes, and children often choked by it, wondering if their parents even love them for who they are or what they could be. 00:13:19.451 --> 00:13:27.479 Or perhaps you're a leader who can't delegate, because if it's not done your way, then it just can't be done at all and you feel like you need to control everything. 00:13:27.479 --> 00:13:30.076 Maybe not at work, maybe at home. 00:13:30.076 --> 00:14:02.919 Or maybe you're carrying the burdening idol of image, lugging this idol around, curating your life so others can see you smiling all the time, polished all the time, while inside you're exhausted and, like an influencer who's terrified of being ordinary or a professional who can't be overlooked, you're trying to perform so that others can see you. 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.798 God's not asking for performance. 00:14:06.798 --> 00:14:11.259 He's inviting you to rest in his unchanging love here. 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:27.409 Or perhaps it's the idol of success, always climbing, always seeking, always trying to prove, like Howard Hughes, yet living in fear and isolation. 00:14:27.409 --> 00:14:32.614 These idols promise glory, but they deliver nothing. 00:14:32.614 --> 00:14:35.571 All they deliver is anxiety. 00:14:35.571 --> 00:14:39.256 And God is saying here lay them down. 00:14:39.256 --> 00:14:40.559 Lay them down. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.725 The true King came to carry you. 00:14:43.725 --> 00:14:56.004 Lay them down before the one who carries his own cross, who carries your soul and who will carry you home if you trust in him. 00:14:58.431 --> 00:15:02.081 But this God who carries doesn't just merely offer his comfort. 00:15:02.081 --> 00:15:10.322 He also speaks about moving history and if he can carry us, he can certainly carry out his promises to completion. 00:15:10.322 --> 00:15:15.254 So let's take a look at the rest of chapter 46 and verses 8 to 13. 00:15:15.254 --> 00:15:21.331 And there we see that he is Yahweh who accomplishes his redemptive plan. 00:15:21.331 --> 00:15:34.134 After declaring to us that he carries his people, god is now lifting our eyes to the horizon of history and he's inviting us to step back and see reality through the eyes of faith. 00:15:34.134 --> 00:15:40.390 And he does so very strongly because he's speaking to a rebellious people. 00:15:42.553 --> 00:15:44.255 You'll notice this in verses 8 and 12. 00:15:44.255 --> 00:15:50.284 Remember this and be brave. 00:15:50.284 --> 00:15:51.407 Take it to heart. 00:15:51.407 --> 00:15:52.589 Remember this and be brave. 00:15:52.589 --> 00:15:55.523 Take it to heart, you transgressors. 00:15:55.523 --> 00:16:02.274 And then also, in verse 12, listen to me, you hard-hearted, far removed from justice. 00:16:02.274 --> 00:16:06.724 These were people who had listened to the invitation and yet were still determined to carry their own idols. 00:16:06.724 --> 00:16:13.683 And he wants to let them know that only his purposes will be fulfilled. 00:16:13.683 --> 00:16:18.495 And this is not a gentle suggestion, it's a summons. 00:16:18.495 --> 00:16:24.450 And he's calling us to remember that he's not just exposing his character. 00:16:24.450 --> 00:16:34.614 He's also showing us that he will demonstrate his mighty acts in history itself, that he is a God who's not reacting to events, he's orchestrating them. 00:16:34.614 --> 00:16:41.056 That he's not simply adjusting to empires, he's summoning them to fulfill his purposes. 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:43.842 Take a look at verse 9 and 10. 00:16:43.842 --> 00:16:49.452 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God and there is no other. 00:16:49.452 --> 00:16:52.154 I am God and no one is like me. 00:16:52.154 --> 00:17:14.083 And this is not just poetic exaggeration, this is God speaking of his divine prerogative over all people. 00:17:14.083 --> 00:17:18.616 He's not just guessing the future, he's authoring it. 00:17:18.616 --> 00:17:23.972 And he's not just predicting outcomes, he's decreeing outcomes. 00:17:23.972 --> 00:17:28.258 And in verse 11, he gives a concrete example of that. 00:17:30.401 --> 00:18:14.294 I call a bird of prey from the east a man, for my purpose, from a far country that bird of prey that's mentioned here is Cyrus, a pagan king, and God says that he's summoning him to the glove like a hawk, him to the glove like a hawk, and as he holds Cyrus there, staging him for a future event, god says this is the one that I've called, now, babylon's idols, especially Nebo, who is supposedly the god of wisdom and writing, who claims to hold the tablets of destiny, is rebuked. 00:18:14.294 --> 00:18:40.513 Here, god says I write history, I declare the end from the beginning, and the irony is very, very thick and dripping here, nebo, this God of the future, is silent, but Yahweh is speaking and he is accurately predicting that he has a man who will fulfill His purposes. 00:18:40.513 --> 00:18:44.162 I have spoken, he said in verse 11, and I will bring it to pass. 00:18:44.162 --> 00:18:51.045 I have purposed and I will do it. 00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:54.750 Now the question we have to ask ourselves is what is that purpose? 00:18:54.750 --> 00:18:56.151 Take a look at verse 13. 00:18:56.151 --> 00:18:59.777 I am bringing my justice near. 00:18:59.777 --> 00:19:04.804 It is not far away, and my salvation will not delay. 00:19:04.804 --> 00:19:13.836 I will put salvation in Zion, my splendor in Israel. 00:19:13.836 --> 00:19:15.099 What a remarkable statement. 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:46.053 This is Now the God who has designed history, the God who controls empires, has called a man to his glove like a hawk, is going to unleash him, so that the day would come when righteousness and salvation and restoration would be found in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, which at this point in time is nothing but a scrap heap of rubbled stone. 00:19:49.278 --> 00:20:23.173 This pagan, as we looked earlier in Isaiah 44, is called my shepherd and in chapter 45, it's called Christ, our anointed, is indicating to us that Cyrus holds a pivotal role in history, and that pivotal role is that he is going to be the instrument of God's plan to release the people from the clutches of Babylon in order that they might be brought back to the land of promise. 00:20:23.173 --> 00:20:45.059 What a remarkable thing that the mightiest power on earth in that day would crumble in an instant and that these weak and frail and feeble captives, the Israelites, would be brought into a place of liberty and freedom, to return to their land and to be able to restore their worship. 00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:57.746 And all of that, as dramatic as that is, is but an echo, an prophetic echo, of a greater deliverer to come. 00:20:57.746 --> 00:21:02.837 I am bringing my justice near. 00:21:02.837 --> 00:21:06.917 It is not far away, and my salvation will not delay. 00:21:06.917 --> 00:21:14.277 I will put salvation in Zion, my splendor in Israel. 00:21:14.277 --> 00:21:22.940 And so, in 539 BC, cyrus opened the gates of Babylon, but Christ shatters the gates of hell. 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:37.617 Cyrus released the captives to rebuild Jerusalem, but Christ frees the souls to become the temple of the living God and to be able to say to them you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem. 00:21:37.617 --> 00:21:39.281 You're there. 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:49.096 And where Cyrus was summoned to fulfill a moment in history, the scriptures tell us in the fullness of time, christ came. 00:21:49.096 --> 00:21:51.778 Of time Christ came. 00:21:51.778 --> 00:22:05.521 You see, isaiah 46 ends with salvation drawing near, and Isaiah 53, as we'll look at in a few weeks shows us how that salvation will be revealed through a suffering servant who will bear our iniquities. 00:22:05.521 --> 00:22:24.549 So this statement, this hawk called to the glove, it's just a tool pointing to a future treasure who is Christ himself. 00:22:24.549 --> 00:22:30.434 This Cyrus was summoned, but Christ was sent into this world in order to save sinners. 00:22:30.434 --> 00:22:36.755 Cyrus delivered a remnant, but Christ will deliver people from every kindred, tribe and tongue and nation. 00:22:36.755 --> 00:22:45.413 This speaks of a future day that his salvation will come. 00:22:45.413 --> 00:22:47.855 And he says I am bringing it near. 00:22:47.855 --> 00:22:50.218 Now listen. 00:22:52.340 --> 00:22:58.692 But now the scriptures say the righteousness of God has been revealed. 00:22:58.692 --> 00:23:12.384 There is no other future, there's only the present fulfillment of this righteousness that's come, and this is why Paul said behold, now is the acceptable time. 00:23:12.384 --> 00:23:16.000 Today is the day of salvation. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:33.433 You see, we are to respond now, because the righteousness has come through faith in Christ Jesus, to all who believe, both Jews and Gentiles, to all who believe both Jews and Gentiles. 00:23:33.433 --> 00:23:34.635 We don't respond to this. 00:23:34.756 --> 00:23:38.962 Righteousness has come with religious performance but faith. 00:23:38.962 --> 00:23:46.915 And we don't do it by climbing up to God but by receiving the one who came near to us. 00:23:46.915 --> 00:23:59.089 The scriptures say the word is near you, and if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. 00:23:59.089 --> 00:24:03.458 You see, this righteousness is not earned, it's received and it's not reserved for the elite. 00:24:03.458 --> 00:24:10.740 It's gloriously granted to sinners, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:24:10.740 --> 00:24:13.059 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:24:13.059 --> 00:24:17.890 And it says they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 00:24:17.890 --> 00:24:25.861 You see, the Lord has not left us to grope in the dark or try to find him through whatever means we think is best. 00:24:25.861 --> 00:24:34.000 He's already presented Christ to us as the mercy seat and his place where justice and grace are met together. 00:24:34.060 --> 00:24:41.462 In Christ and through His death on the cross, we live and we're declared righteous by God, by belief on Him. 00:24:41.462 --> 00:25:01.480 And so maybe the idols of control and the idols of success and wealth and power might not be your idol, maybe it's the idol of self, the idol of self-righteousness, but inside you're carrying a burden of guilt and shame. 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:05.338 And the scriptures say lay that burden down. 00:25:05.338 --> 00:25:10.240 Lay it down and receive the righteousness that's found in Christ alone. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:14.857 Confess him as Lord, receive him as your Savior. 00:25:14.857 --> 00:25:19.240 The scriptures say he's near, he's ready and he'll deliver. 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:27.338 Look, if he can summon Cyrus, he can certainly handle the complexities of your life. 00:25:27.338 --> 00:25:35.733 And if he can orchestrate the movements of empires, he can fulfill his promises to you. 00:25:35.733 --> 00:25:45.319 And if he sent Christ, who is the servant king, his righteousness is not just near, it's now available. 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:55.396 See, god is not just improvising in response to the things that happen, he's implementing His plan. 00:25:55.396 --> 00:26:07.123 And it's not just through history's empires that he does so, he's also doing so in our day and age, through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:26:07.123 --> 00:26:16.365 So here, chapter 46 shows us Yahweh who carries his people, yahweh who controls history. 00:26:16.365 --> 00:26:21.636 But now in chapter 47, we see Yahweh who confronts proud resistance. 00:26:25.903 --> 00:26:31.453 As we step into chapter 47, we find the message moving directly toward Babylon itself. 00:26:31.453 --> 00:26:41.795 Babylon who had built her identity on dominance, on its luxury, on its self-sufficiency. 00:26:41.795 --> 00:26:50.054 But God exposes in chapter 47 just how fragile Babylon is behind its facade. 00:26:50.054 --> 00:26:54.128 Verse 7, chapter 47. 00:26:54.128 --> 00:26:58.269 You said I will be the queen forever. 00:26:58.269 --> 00:27:04.352 You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome. 00:27:04.352 --> 00:27:12.826 Right, there is the heart of rebellion outcome. 00:27:12.826 --> 00:27:14.453 Right, there is the heart of rebellion. 00:27:14.453 --> 00:27:21.778 Babylon speaking about it being sovereign, ignoring the warnings that have been provided and trusting in its self-made security. 00:27:21.778 --> 00:27:30.039 This Babylon that was a glittering empire is going to face judgment and she who once sat in luxury is going to be summoned to lay in the dust. 00:27:30.922 --> 00:27:31.786 Take a look at verse 1. 00:27:31.786 --> 00:27:35.465 Go down and sit in the dust. 00:27:35.465 --> 00:27:44.990 Virgin daughters Babylon, sit on the ground without a throne, daughter Chaldea, for you will no longer be called, pampered and spoiled. 00:27:44.990 --> 00:27:50.970 In verse 8, she makes a radical claim about herself. 00:27:50.970 --> 00:28:04.971 So now hear this lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself I am and there's no one else. 00:28:04.971 --> 00:28:10.191 I will never be a widow or know the loss of children. 00:28:10.191 --> 00:28:24.316 This proud, arrogant empire had used a phrase that only God himself could speak of himself about. 00:28:24.316 --> 00:28:35.845 Babylon was so full of itself that it ushered itself out onto the world stage and said I am, and there's no one else. 00:28:35.845 --> 00:28:41.315 Now hear this lover of luxury. 00:28:41.315 --> 00:28:45.924 That phrase belongs to God and God alone. 00:28:45.924 --> 00:28:55.203 And Babylon is here trying to usurp divine identity and sovereignty and power and privilege. 00:28:55.203 --> 00:29:04.741 Babylon here is seen as stealing Yahweh's words, and now they're going to taste his justice. 00:29:04.741 --> 00:29:12.500 This queen who sat on a luxurious throne is going to be made a slave to sit in the dust. 00:29:12.500 --> 00:29:20.255 This Babylon, which thought it could see the future, is going to find itself frustrated. 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:21.741 Take a look at verse 13. 00:29:21.741 --> 00:29:30.454 You're worn out with your many consultations, so let the astrologer stand and save you. 00:29:30.454 --> 00:29:37.204 Those who observe the stars, those who predict monthly what will happen to you Look, they're like stubble. 00:29:37.204 --> 00:29:38.469 Fire burns them. 00:29:38.469 --> 00:29:42.128 They cannot rescue themselves from the power of the flame. 00:29:42.128 --> 00:29:46.490 This is not a coal for warming themselves or a fire to sit by. 00:29:46.490 --> 00:29:48.325 This is what they are to you. 00:29:48.325 --> 00:29:52.996 Toll for warming themselves or a fire to sit by? 00:29:52.996 --> 00:29:53.960 This is what they are to you. 00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:59.080 Babylon trusted in their seers, their spells, their astrologers, their sorcery. 00:29:59.101 --> 00:30:10.749 And Babylon is so comfortable in its position that, in verse 8, it makes some I am statements about itself and some I will statements about itself. 00:30:10.749 --> 00:30:15.432 I will never be a widow, I will never know. 00:30:15.432 --> 00:30:16.913 The loss of children. 00:30:16.913 --> 00:30:17.732 What is that saying? 00:30:17.732 --> 00:30:25.637 Our military might is so powerful, nothing will ever, ever conquer us, ever, ever. 00:30:28.921 --> 00:30:39.365 Take a look at verse 9, though these two things will happen to you suddenly in one day Loss of children and widowhood. 00:30:39.365 --> 00:30:42.138 They will happen to you in their entirety. 00:30:42.138 --> 00:30:59.067 In spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells, the Lord is going to bring this wicked, proud heart to nothing through his wrath. 00:30:59.067 --> 00:31:11.012 This is a righteous exposure, and it's not just the tearing down of an empire, it's a ripping down of an illusion of self-protection. 00:31:11.012 --> 00:31:13.425 Look at verse 15. 00:31:13.425 --> 00:31:19.866 No one can save you. 00:31:19.866 --> 00:31:22.011 That's how this chapter ends. 00:31:22.011 --> 00:31:30.814 They didn't think they needed saved, but now they're told no one can save you. 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:35.327 Babylon's walls were legendary. 00:31:35.327 --> 00:31:44.534 I don't know if you've done any reading of ancient Near East history or studied any words, even in a summary form, about Babylon. 00:31:44.534 --> 00:31:46.903 Their walls were legendary. 00:31:46.903 --> 00:31:54.800 Some 25 meters wide For Americans that's over 75 feet, okay. 00:31:54.800 --> 00:32:00.712 Some 100 meters high, higher than a football field. 00:32:00.712 --> 00:32:07.546 No wonder they felt so proud of themselves. 00:32:07.546 --> 00:32:10.192 No wonder they felt inconquerable. 00:32:13.461 --> 00:32:17.652 But Yahweh had called a hawk to his glove. 00:32:17.652 --> 00:32:20.765 His name was Cyrus. 00:32:20.765 --> 00:32:38.489 Just one man, the son of a cattle herder from a faraway, small little province that somehow, miraculously, was able to defeat kings and kingdoms and was marching toward Babylon. 00:32:38.489 --> 00:32:41.106 But Babylon didn't worry. 00:32:41.106 --> 00:32:43.806 They didn't worry at all. 00:32:43.806 --> 00:32:52.332 The king even left the city and had put one of his sort of underlings in charge. 00:32:52.332 --> 00:32:58.390 His name was Belshazzar and you can read about him in chapter 5 of the book of Daniel. 00:32:58.390 --> 00:33:01.167 Belshazzar didn't feel any fear. 00:33:01.167 --> 00:33:16.810 He threw a party on that night and he said bring all the instruments of Yahweh's worship and let's fill them with wine, let's drink in their cups, let's have a party. 00:33:16.810 --> 00:33:19.306 But Yahweh had a hawk. 00:33:19.306 --> 00:33:31.406 Yahweh had a hawk and he said go, and he unleashed that hawk, said go, and he unleashed that hawk. 00:33:31.406 --> 00:33:48.549 And while Belshazzar partied, cyrus and his armies diverted Euphrates and entered in in the riverbed that had flowed through Babylon and that city fell in a single night. 00:33:48.549 --> 00:33:57.171 The book of Daniel says that very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed. 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.669 Babylon thought it was formed on bedrock. 00:34:01.669 --> 00:34:11.431 No, it wasn't Yahweh who, in chapter 46, said I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. 00:34:11.431 --> 00:34:14.726 I have purposed and I will do it. 00:34:14.726 --> 00:34:20.730 Did it, and that was the end of Babylon's story, right there. 00:34:20.730 --> 00:34:24.822 But it's not the end of God's story. 00:34:24.822 --> 00:34:44.701 You see, the destruction of Babylon had the purposes of restoring a rebellious people from Israel to bring them back to a land so that they could rebuild a temple. 00:34:44.701 --> 00:34:57.835 But that wasn't the end of the story either, because the Lord Jesus walked into the temple that was there in his day and said destroy this temple. 00:34:57.835 --> 00:34:59.800 In three days I will raise it up again. 00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:09.751 You see, all Cyrus was doing was clearing the field for a greater exodus that was to come. 00:35:09.751 --> 00:35:18.751 The exodus in Egypt is used as an example and type of this exodus from Babylon to Jerusalem. 00:35:18.751 --> 00:35:35.951 And this exodus from Babylon to Jerusalem is only speaking in prophetic types of an exodus that's going to come when Jesus Christ brings people from the slavery of sin and the captivity of the dominion of darkness into his glorious light. 00:35:35.951 --> 00:35:42.523 You see, this is bringing together a gospel crescendo. 00:35:44.527 --> 00:35:57.634 I told you that when we looked at these passages, these chapters in Isaiah 40 to 55, it's like a symphony, with these threads of topics that get played out little by little. 00:35:57.634 --> 00:36:03.313 Well, the song is starting to move and all the threads are starting to converge. 00:36:03.313 --> 00:36:17.210 This thread of God doing a wondrous new thing, this thread of God using a servant to accomplish his purposes, a God who's going to fulfill his promises, a God who is going to cut down the enemies. 00:36:17.210 --> 00:36:21.030 It's all here, but it's still building. 00:36:21.030 --> 00:36:26.003 The crescendo hasn't happened yet and it will happen soon. 00:36:26.003 --> 00:36:38.668 When we read about this servant who would be stricken for our sins and yet would be justified, isaiah cannot contain himself. 00:36:38.668 --> 00:36:40.824 Take a look at verse 4. 00:36:40.824 --> 00:36:49.126 He burst out in praise the Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer, the Lord of armies is his name. 00:36:49.126 --> 00:36:52.061 You see, it's not. 00:36:52.061 --> 00:36:56.052 It's because it's not just about Babylon, the city. 00:36:56.052 --> 00:37:01.190 It's about that better Exodus that Isaiah is looking forward to. 00:37:02.481 --> 00:37:04.367 And Babylon is not just a city. 00:37:04.367 --> 00:37:10.092 Babylon is a symbol of human pride and self-sufficiency and spiritual rebellion. 00:37:10.092 --> 00:37:20.121 And this is why the book of Revelation picks up that word Babylon Fallen, fallen Babylon, the great Revelation 8. 00:37:20.121 --> 00:37:25.967 Come out of her, my people, lest you partake of her sins in Revelation 18. 00:37:25.967 --> 00:37:28.550 Of her sins in Revelation 18. 00:37:28.570 --> 00:37:33.496 You see, god wanted to be more than just a liberator through Cyrus. 00:37:33.496 --> 00:37:49.170 He wanted to be a redeemer through Christ and this lamb who conquers and where Babylon says I am, christ comes meek and lowly and says I am, I am. 00:37:49.170 --> 00:38:02.101 And just as Cyrus breached those walls in BC 539, christ destroys and will destroy the spirit of Babylon and free us all in a moment, on that final day. 00:38:02.101 --> 00:38:10.994 And so here we learn in chapter 47, not to envy Babylon's glitter, not to fear Babylon's power. 00:38:10.994 --> 00:38:18.092 The Lord humbled them in a day and he'll humble all the Babylonian-like powers in our day too. 00:38:18.092 --> 00:38:24.472 And if he brought this city down, he can certainly bring down every stronghold that resists his grace. 00:38:24.472 --> 00:38:35.293 And let me make this personal If you're sitting here rebelling against the grace of God offered to you in Jesus Christ this morning, he will crush your rebellion too. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:41.528 The scriptures here speak of deliverance, today being the day of salvation. 00:38:41.528 --> 00:38:55.672 But mark these words the word of God says the day will come when he will bring His wrath against the ungodly, and that doesn't mean the wicked, just those who are without God. 00:38:55.672 --> 00:39:16.552 You may think yourself to be a good person, but in the eyes of God we are all the same, and the Scriptures say there's none righteous no, not one that every one of us deserve the eternal wrath of God, because compared to Him we are less than nothing. 00:39:16.552 --> 00:39:32.090 So here is a statement and I pray that you hear the warm invite of it before you feel the eternal sting of it that this is a message to be received, not refused. 00:39:34.059 --> 00:39:42.507 You see, isaiah 46 and 47 is not just a tale of ancient empires, it's a theological symphony. 00:39:42.507 --> 00:39:56.088 It's declaring that the Lord alone is God and that he wondrously promises to be those who fall into him and their weakness, that he will carry them even into their old age. 00:39:56.088 --> 00:40:10.271 And so let's bring this to a close by remembering that our response is to trust this God who carries, to trust this God who orchestrates, to trust this God who redeems, and to trust this God who orchestrates. 00:40:10.271 --> 00:40:16.086 To trust this God who redeems, and to trust this God who judges, he carries his people. 00:40:16.086 --> 00:40:30.494 These burdens we think will carry us have to be carried, but God lifts us up, he orchestrates history, he summons kings, he shapes empires and he brings his salvation. 00:40:30.494 --> 00:40:33.907 Cyrus was just a shadow. 00:40:33.907 --> 00:40:40.472 He is also a king who brings his deliverance. 00:40:41.780 --> 00:40:48.126 In chapter 52 and verse 10, as we'll see soon, the Lord has bared his holy arm. 00:40:48.126 --> 00:40:59.260 As we'll see soon, the Lord has bared his holy arm, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 00:40:59.260 --> 00:41:04.307 You see, this message is not just for Israel, it's not just pointing to Christ in that day. 00:41:04.307 --> 00:41:23.847 It's also pointing to us in our mission, because this Lord has determined that his salvation will be brought to the ends of the earth, and this passage of scripture tells us that we are part of that now, which is why he said to the church before he ascended into the heavens go, preach. 00:41:23.847 --> 00:41:26.931 Preach the gospel to every nation. 00:41:37.208 --> 00:41:39.679 But this is also the God who confronts proud resistance. 00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:44.260 Babylon glittered, but it also fell. 00:41:44.260 --> 00:41:50.039 Babylon thought it was secure on its throne, but it also was thrown into the dust. 00:41:50.039 --> 00:41:53.884 You see, the Lord alone reigns, and he will not share his glory with anyone else. 00:41:53.884 --> 00:41:56.768 I am God and there is no other, he said. 00:41:56.768 --> 00:42:01.581 And so, while we're given this, now is the accepted time. 00:42:01.661 --> 00:42:04.282 Today is the day of salvation invitation. 00:42:04.282 --> 00:42:42.913 Let us collapse ourselves into Christ and receive him as Lord and Savior and say Lord, carry me, carry me today, carry me tomorrow, carry me into your presence through Christ, my Lord, let every false I am be silenced in your heart, let every idol that you thought would carry you be cast down and fall into the arms of Christ, and let all of our hearts be lifted up to him, who is both the wondrous Savior but also the Lamb who conquers. 00:42:42.913 --> 00:42:44.414 Let's pray. 00:42:44.414 --> 00:42:50.987 Let's pray, father. 00:42:53.228 --> 00:43:11.085 We feel often in Scripture the wondrous tenderness of your heart, with sweet invitations. 00:43:11.146 --> 00:43:13.800 You do not break the bruised wreath or snuff out the smoldering wick. 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:18.003 But we find in this passage of Scripture some of that. 00:43:18.003 --> 00:43:21.806 But we also understand that that's not all you are. 00:43:21.806 --> 00:43:43.400 You are holy and just and you carry with you a righteous indignation against all that opposes you, and that you will rip down the facades of false securities. 00:43:43.400 --> 00:44:33.849 Father, we feel the pull of grace and the weight of judgment in this passage and so, lord, we awe and wonder, knowing just how holy you are, that you would speak to the rebellious, call them to hear these words, to not stop their ears and to remember, to remember the things that were of old, that you're the God who sustains from the womb, that carries people along since birth and who will be same through their old age, who will bear up those who trust in you, even when they turn gray, that you will bear them and rescue them. 00:44:33.849 --> 00:44:51.750 Father, I pray for anyone hearing these words will gladly surrender their heart to you, the God who carries, the God who completes your purposes, and the God who confronts false idols. 00:44:51.750 --> 00:44:55.809 And we ask this in Christ's name, amen.