WEBVTT 00:00:00.502 --> 00:00:01.286 Good morning family. 00:00:01.286 --> 00:00:12.233 I consider it a privilege, a tremendous privilege, to be able to stand before you to handle the Word of God. 00:00:12.233 --> 00:00:20.327 And I stand here with much apprehension this morning, as it is always the case. 00:00:20.327 --> 00:00:34.146 Because case because it's such a fearsome thing to be able to look at God's word and be able to bring the good things that is out of it. 00:00:34.146 --> 00:00:46.051 Also, you know, each time I get notes from Pastor Doug. 00:00:46.051 --> 00:00:58.607 This time also it was the same Pastor Doug sent me notes with a note saying if I study this passage anymore, I'm getting tempted to preach. 00:00:58.607 --> 00:01:02.430 So I didn't ask him any more questions. 00:01:02.430 --> 00:01:18.335 But as time went on, as fear started gripping me, there is always that temptation to give him a call at the 11th hour saying would you take it back? 00:01:18.335 --> 00:01:27.424 But I didn't do that because, you know, for some reason I didn't think he was here in town, so he did not get my call. 00:01:27.424 --> 00:01:35.180 So wonderful, it's so wonderful to be here to praise God and worship God. 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:38.043 Worship the Lord in his household. 00:01:38.043 --> 00:01:53.540 And our scripture portion here comes from the book of Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 14, through chapter 50, verse 3. 00:01:53.540 --> 00:01:56.867 That is in your Bible, pew Bibles. 00:01:56.867 --> 00:02:00.474 It is on page 646 to 647. 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:14.209 Aduniram Judson was an American missionary to Burma, which is the current day Myanmar. 00:02:14.209 --> 00:02:21.020 He was born in Massachusetts in 1788, and in 1812 he got married to Anne Hazeltine. 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:27.289 Just two weeks after his marriage they set sail to Calcutta, india, to be a missionary. 00:02:27.289 --> 00:02:34.493 They arrived in Calcutta in June of 1812. 00:02:34.493 --> 00:02:40.192 After reaching India he was ordered to leave by the British East India Company. 00:02:40.192 --> 00:02:52.289 They did not take kindly to the missionaries during those days and they did not take kindly to British missionaries, let alone American missionaries. 00:02:52.289 --> 00:02:58.643 And he moved to Burma a year later, in July of 1813. 00:02:58.643 --> 00:03:13.641 And he was warned by William Carey to not to go into Burma because Burma is known as the graveyard of missionaries, see Adiniram. 00:03:13.662 --> 00:03:27.322 Judson faced extreme challenges in Burma, including cultural resistance to Christianity, constant sickness and death, the imprisonment and torture of himself and his wife and death. 00:03:27.322 --> 00:03:32.578 The imprisonment and torture of himself and his wife, the loss of three children and two wives to illness, and periods of deep personal grief and despair. 00:03:32.578 --> 00:03:45.253 Despite these immense hardships, he persevered for decades, translating the entire Bible into Burmese and laying the groundwork for the first indigenous churches in the country. 00:03:45.253 --> 00:03:54.210 It took three years of hard work of learning the language, translating portions of the scripture into their native language. 00:03:54.210 --> 00:04:11.594 And then after that, he spent four years proclaiming the gospel on the roadside, inviting people into his Zayat, small shelter by the side of the road. 00:04:11.594 --> 00:04:30.415 So he labored for four years like that in a country to whom he is a stranger, and it took four more years for him to see his first convert in 1819. 00:04:30.415 --> 00:04:37.850 Over 200 years later, the Christian population in Burma is estimated to be around 3.5 to 4 million. 00:04:37.850 --> 00:04:44.427 In fact, we have one of those believers from Burma in our midst. 00:04:44.427 --> 00:04:47.648 His name is Brian, not Brian McLaughlin. 00:04:47.648 --> 00:04:49.726 Brian McLaughlin is from Garden City. 00:04:49.726 --> 00:04:58.754 Whether Garden City or Burma, it is in Christ Jesus we have hope. 00:05:01.201 --> 00:05:07.906 The reason this story is relevant to our message today is the Father's proclamation. 00:05:07.906 --> 00:05:20.064 We see in Isaiah 49, 5-7 verses that His servant will also be a light to the nations by virtue of this proclamation. 00:05:20.064 --> 00:05:30.704 This chapter is a call to global missions and this chapter starts with coasts and islands. 00:05:30.704 --> 00:05:33.966 Listen to me, distant peoples pay attention. 00:05:33.966 --> 00:05:43.973 And it goes on, and we have heard Dr Grisanti teach and preach from it in such a wonderful manner. 00:05:43.973 --> 00:05:48.050 I think we need to listen to that sermon again and again. 00:05:48.050 --> 00:05:55.699 And then, in verse 8, it says I will answer you in the time of favor. 00:05:55.699 --> 00:05:58.086 I will help you in the day of salvation. 00:05:58.086 --> 00:06:09.891 From this Apostle Paul quotes this this is the time of favor and this is the day of salvation, in reference to proclamation of the gospel. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:16.350 So later, our portion starts in 14. 00:06:16.350 --> 00:06:20.709 It says Zion says the Lord has abandoned me. 00:06:20.709 --> 00:06:27.394 See, we have seen this grand vision that unfolded in the first 13 verses. 00:06:27.394 --> 00:06:41.247 We see the servant of the Lord and through whom God is unveiling his promise and his vision to bring his light into the entire world, to four corners of the world. 00:06:41.247 --> 00:06:43.932 And first 13 verses it is. 00:06:43.932 --> 00:06:53.504 And the 13th verse ends in shout for joy, you heavens, universal joy at what the Lord is doing in the world. 00:06:53.504 --> 00:07:03.225 And then 14th verse starts with Zion says the Lord has abandoned me and God and the Lord has forgotten me. 00:07:03.225 --> 00:07:15.151 And it ends with in chapter 50, the Lord is recounting. 00:07:15.151 --> 00:07:19.209 You know, I did not abandon you. 00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:26.112 And here's the Lord is laying out the reason for their exile. 00:07:26.112 --> 00:07:32.350 It is such a wonderful, wonderful portion of Scripture. 00:07:34.721 --> 00:07:37.310 Before we look at it, let's go to the Lord in prayer. 00:07:37.310 --> 00:07:42.367 Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you this morning. 00:07:42.367 --> 00:07:52.910 Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you this morning that you would consider us, that your light would shine upon us and bring us your salvation. 00:07:52.910 --> 00:08:12.764 Oh, father, as we are studying about your servant and his ministry and your reassurance to your people, father, we pray that you would encourage each one of our hearts, father, in our anguish. 00:08:12.764 --> 00:08:14.670 You provide us an answer. 00:08:14.670 --> 00:08:26.009 Help us to receive that answer this morning and, father, fully grasp the magnitude of the consequences, magnitude of all the implications of that answer. 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:29.769 Father, be with your people as they hear. 00:08:29.769 --> 00:08:33.389 Father, we pray that you be with me as I speak. 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:45.792 In Jesus' name, we pray and we look at the key historical events that led to this prophecy. 00:08:45.980 --> 00:09:03.091 Dr Grisanti covered the first portion of this chapter last Sunday and has taken us through the ministry of the servant and how his ministry will not only deliver Israelites from the bondage, but he will be the light to the nations, the islands and the distant lands. 00:09:03.091 --> 00:09:05.317 The nation of Israel was brought to the nations, the islands and the distant lands. 00:09:05.317 --> 00:09:34.366 The nation of Israel was brought to the promised land by the divine hand from bondage in Egypt, israel living in the promised land, and they committed covenant treachery against God and suffered the covenant curse, in words of Dr Grisanti, and, as a result, god evicted from the land of promise, for which God used Babylon as a tool to achieve that purpose. 00:09:34.366 --> 00:09:37.403 And that brings us to the Babylonian exile. 00:09:37.403 --> 00:09:41.544 And we see the chronological list of key events. 00:09:41.565 --> 00:09:52.991 In 605 BC, we see the first deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar takes the first of captives, including young nobles such as Daniel. 00:09:52.991 --> 00:10:05.955 And 597 BC, the second deportation King Jehoiakim and Ezekiel and many others are exiled when Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem for the second time. 00:10:05.955 --> 00:10:10.528 And 586 BC, the third and the largest deportation. 00:10:10.528 --> 00:10:14.615 Jerusalem is destroyed, including Solomon's temple. 00:10:14.615 --> 00:10:21.120 The city is left desolate and the majority of the population is exiled to Babylon. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:21.701 Exiled to Babylon. 00:10:22.745 --> 00:10:30.998 And as this was going on, the Lord raised a deliverer from the pagan origin and calls him his anointed. 00:10:30.998 --> 00:10:48.572 And we saw Pastor Doug preach from Isaiah 45, the first portion about Cyrus the Great, and we see that Isaiah prophesies about this king in chapter 45, some 150 years before his birth. 00:10:48.572 --> 00:10:57.523 Babylon falls to Cyrus, the Great of Persia, ending the Babylonian Empire's direct rule over the exiles. 00:10:57.523 --> 00:11:03.366 In 539 BC, as soon as he came into power, god kept his promise. 00:11:03.366 --> 00:11:11.532 538 and 537 BC, cyrus issues an edict allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. 00:11:11.532 --> 00:11:24.535 And 516 BC completion and dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem, marking roughly 70 years since the temple's destruction. 00:11:24.535 --> 00:11:30.576 Marking roughly 70 years since the temple's destruction. 00:11:30.576 --> 00:11:50.029 For the people in exile, irrespective of how hard it looks, and God is going to deliver them from Babylonian exile, despite all indications that it was not going to happen, god raises up his instrument, cyrus the Great, to defeat the Babylonians and delivers them out of Babylonian captivity. 00:11:52.565 --> 00:12:01.009 And in verses 5 through 7, we see, you know God address the glory of Christ in bringing salvation of God to the ends of the earth. 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:03.551 He says it is not just enough for the house of Jacob to come to the ends of the earth. 00:12:03.551 --> 00:12:09.989 He says it is not just enough for the house of Jacob to come to the salvation it is. 00:12:09.989 --> 00:12:12.729 I think that does not bring Christ enough glory. 00:12:12.729 --> 00:12:20.626 And his servant will also be a light to the nations. 00:12:20.626 --> 00:12:24.546 This is the expansion of this vision to the ends of the earth. 00:12:24.546 --> 00:12:35.344 And the glory God gets, the Lord His servant gets, is not enough by saving only the Jewish nation. 00:12:35.344 --> 00:12:41.067 And that's exactly what the Lord says. 00:12:41.067 --> 00:12:45.386 The Father says to the Son by doing so, christ will get far greater glory. 00:12:45.386 --> 00:12:46.359 That is the Father says to the Son by doing so, christ will get far greater glory. 00:12:46.359 --> 00:12:58.370 That is what the Father declared once for all in these verses Restoration of Israel points to a greater restoration and hope for, not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. 00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:07.292 Well, on the heels of this grand vision that unfolded in these 13 verses, we enter this section. 00:13:07.292 --> 00:13:19.515 49, 14 to 23 present us with Israel's complaint in one verse and God's gracious and glorious response in the next nine verses. 00:13:19.515 --> 00:13:25.710 We all know what anguish feels like, don't we? 00:13:25.710 --> 00:13:39.570 Whether from personal loss, regret, injustice or uncertainty about the future, those are the days when even God seems silent. 00:13:39.570 --> 00:13:43.370 Israel felt this deeply during the exile. 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:49.267 The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me. 00:13:51.741 --> 00:14:00.850 But the brilliant message of this text is that God not only hears the cry of the anguish, he answers in surprising and compassionate and redemptive ways. 00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:11.732 This lament is a raw lament, echoing the pain of exile and the sense of silence from heaven. 00:14:11.732 --> 00:14:15.229 But beneath that sorrow lies a deeper truth. 00:14:15.229 --> 00:14:18.688 The anguish that they endure is not random. 00:14:18.688 --> 00:14:21.128 It is the fruit of their rebellion. 00:14:21.128 --> 00:14:27.726 The covenant treachery has consequences, and yet they cry out as though God has failed them. 00:14:27.726 --> 00:14:40.288 Israel's complaint is not the cry of innocence, but it is rooted in their iniquity, and we see in Lamentations 3.39,. 00:14:40.721 --> 00:14:44.408 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? 00:14:44.408 --> 00:14:46.745 Hosea 13, 6. 00:14:46.745 --> 00:14:51.731 When they had pasture, they became satisfied. 00:14:51.731 --> 00:14:57.511 They were satisfied and their hearts became proud, and they forgot me. 00:14:57.511 --> 00:15:16.035 In Hosea, this portion, god is leveling a complaint against Israelites how their prosperity and satisfaction led to spiritual pride, causing people to forget God who provided for them. 00:15:16.035 --> 00:15:25.446 This verse uses the metaphor of a flock of sheep fed in rich pastures until they become satisfied and complacent, then forgetting their shepherd. 00:15:25.446 --> 00:15:36.969 To show how Israel's material abundance led them to believe they were self-sufficient and forget their reliance on God. 00:15:36.969 --> 00:15:50.809 This pride and forgetting God as seen as a rejection of His goodness and a precursor to His judgment, as they attribute their well-being to themselves rather than to God's grace. 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:56.548 Prosperity led to pride and pride led to forgetfulness. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.404 Throughout Israel's history we see this pattern. 00:16:00.404 --> 00:16:03.328 When prosperity abounds, god is forgotten. 00:16:03.328 --> 00:16:05.509 When hardship strikes, god is forgotten. 00:16:05.509 --> 00:16:06.414 When hardship strikes, god is blamed. 00:16:06.414 --> 00:16:10.850 Isn't that the basic, fundamental human experience? 00:16:10.850 --> 00:16:14.200 Deuteronomy 8, 11 through 14,. 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:17.729 Be careful that you don't forget the Lord, your God. 00:16:17.729 --> 00:16:23.940 When you eat and are full and your heart becomes proud, then you will forget the Lord, your God, and your heart becomes proud. 00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:26.403 Then you will forget the Lord, your God. 00:16:26.423 --> 00:16:30.192 The spiritual amnesia is not unique to Israel. 00:16:30.192 --> 00:16:34.744 It is endemic to the human heart. 00:16:34.744 --> 00:16:37.951 We want God's blessings, but not His Lordship. 00:16:37.951 --> 00:16:45.010 We cry out in pain, yet rarely in repentance. 00:16:45.010 --> 00:16:50.666 God warned them but, like many in our day, they remembered Him only when things went wrong. 00:16:50.666 --> 00:17:01.831 The pridefulness led to covenant treachery against God and consequently, their eviction from the land. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:08.847 In exile they're complaining God has forgotten me, dear ones. 00:17:08.847 --> 00:17:18.049 This carries a resemblance to the words of Jesus on the cross, matthew 27, 46 says my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 00:17:18.049 --> 00:17:24.267 Jesus, hanging on the cross, utters the same lament, but the difference is staggering. 00:17:24.267 --> 00:17:28.450 Here the Israel laments because of the consequences of their own sin. 00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:34.071 Jesus laments because he is bearing the consequences of our sin. 00:17:34.071 --> 00:17:37.386 Isaiah 53, 5-6,. 00:17:37.386 --> 00:17:42.769 He was pierced because of our rebellion and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:45.448 Jesus suffers not for his owniquity of us all. 00:17:45.448 --> 00:17:48.625 Jesus suffers not for his own sin, but for ours. 00:17:48.625 --> 00:17:57.107 His abandonment is substitutionary, not punitive, not disciplinary. 00:17:57.107 --> 00:18:12.806 2 Corinthians 5.21 says this he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:18:12.806 --> 00:18:20.092 Christ bore the silence of heaven so we could hear the voice of grace. 00:18:20.092 --> 00:18:25.184 Hebrews 13.5,. 00:18:25.184 --> 00:18:31.250 I will never leave you nor abandon you, because Jesus was forsaken. 00:18:31.250 --> 00:18:35.146 We never truly are. 00:18:35.146 --> 00:18:40.625 Zion complains. 00:18:40.625 --> 00:18:43.382 God has forgotten me. 00:18:43.382 --> 00:18:43.563 Now. 00:18:43.563 --> 00:18:45.724 To that, god has forgotten me Now. 00:18:45.724 --> 00:18:52.795 To that God responds this way In verses 15 and 16, god's unfailing compassion is expressed like this. 00:19:00.263 --> 00:19:01.686 God responds, not with rebuke, but with stunning reassurance. 00:19:01.686 --> 00:19:02.788 God uses parental care imagery here. 00:19:02.788 --> 00:19:04.633 Isaiah 49, 15. 00:19:04.633 --> 00:19:09.608 Can a woman forget her nursing child or lack compassion for the child of her womb? 00:19:09.608 --> 00:19:16.797 Even if they forget, yet, I will not forget you, amen. 00:19:16.797 --> 00:19:28.671 He was not saying it is because of your rebellion you were cast out of the land, but he is responding with wonderful reassurance. 00:19:28.671 --> 00:19:41.210 This verse begins by comparing God's faithfulness to a mother's bond with her nursing child, a relationship that is so intimate it is considered unforgettable. 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:42.174 God then declares his commitment. 00:19:42.174 --> 00:19:43.279 That is considered unforgettable. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:48.666 God then declares His commitment that is even stronger he will never forget His people. 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:51.546 Deuteronomy 32, 18. 00:19:51.546 --> 00:19:54.042 You ignored the rock who gave you birth. 00:19:54.042 --> 00:19:56.566 You forgot the God who gave birth to you. 00:19:56.566 --> 00:19:59.006 Hosea 11, 3-4. 00:19:59.006 --> 00:20:02.028 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk. 00:20:02.028 --> 00:20:07.869 Taking them by the hand, I led them with cords of kindness. 00:20:07.869 --> 00:20:12.186 Isaiah 49, 16,. 00:20:12.186 --> 00:20:16.069 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. 00:20:16.069 --> 00:20:18.688 Your walls are continually before me. 00:20:21.422 --> 00:20:34.703 You know, in the ancient world, including the Old Testament period, branding was a practice used on slaves to signify their ownership, A sign of property. 00:20:34.703 --> 00:20:36.529 A slave was the property of their master. 00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:52.948 Their brand marked them as belonging to their owner, often with the master's name or a symbol, and it represented humiliation, though it is temporary while brutal. 00:20:52.948 --> 00:20:59.809 You know, slavery in the Old Testament was not a permanent condition for Israelites and offered certain protections. 00:20:59.809 --> 00:21:06.066 In other cultures, however, the branding was permanent sign of property. 00:21:06.066 --> 00:21:18.107 And here the Lord is using this language, engraving the covenant and remembrance. 00:21:18.107 --> 00:21:22.788 In contrast, god's promise to his people is an act of loving, commitment and constant remembrance. 00:21:22.788 --> 00:21:26.279 In contrast, god's promise to his people is an act of loving, commitment and constant remembrance. 00:21:26.582 --> 00:21:33.090 This passage features wonderful elements that stand in direct opposition to the concept of branding. 00:21:33.090 --> 00:21:38.923 It is a permanent reminder for God, not us. 00:21:38.923 --> 00:21:45.748 Unlike a brand meant to remind the slave of their master, god's engraving is a reminder for himself. 00:21:45.748 --> 00:21:51.826 He intentionally makes his people part of his being, so they are always before him. 00:21:51.826 --> 00:21:59.372 He does not need a reminder, but the image powerfully demonstrates his devotion. 00:22:01.922 --> 00:22:04.666 And second aspect is master as servant. 00:22:04.666 --> 00:22:12.988 This imagery creates a beautiful role reversal where master bears the mark of his servants. 00:22:12.988 --> 00:22:23.923 Think about it the master is branded for the servants, for Christians. 00:22:23.923 --> 00:22:32.472 This foreshadows the nail marks on Jesus' hands which become the ultimate and eternal testament to his sacrificial love for humanity. 00:22:32.472 --> 00:22:39.208 And through that, he, not us. 00:22:39.208 --> 00:22:44.384 He became our everlasting position, not as he became our everlasting position. 00:22:44.403 --> 00:22:54.122 And Exodus 2, 8, 9 through 12, engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones and Malachi 3, 16,. 00:22:54.122 --> 00:22:56.871 At the time, those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. 00:22:56.871 --> 00:23:06.689 The Lord took notice and listened, so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name. 00:23:06.689 --> 00:23:14.390 For the Christian, these words take on new depth. 00:23:14.390 --> 00:23:24.186 Christ's hands, the servant's hands wounded at Calvary, forever declare his love. 00:23:24.186 --> 00:23:25.840 The marks are proof. 00:23:25.840 --> 00:23:29.852 God has not forgotten or forsaken anyone who is his. 00:23:34.541 --> 00:23:40.130 And in verses 17 to 23, we see Zion's restoration and enlargement. 00:23:40.130 --> 00:23:45.150 God will reverse Zion's barrenness. 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:47.726 The exile will not be permanent. 00:23:47.726 --> 00:23:53.848 The images of large families are given as signs and symbols of spiritual blessing and fruitfulness. 00:23:53.848 --> 00:23:58.809 Here God's mission extends to the nations. 00:23:58.809 --> 00:24:02.857 Gentile kings are seen as people laboring and bringing Jewish people back towards the nations. 00:24:02.857 --> 00:24:04.804 Gentile kings are seen as people laboring and bringing Jewish people back towards the Lord. 00:24:04.804 --> 00:24:15.428 This signals their inclusion in the promises and plan of God and carries echoes of revelations, kings bringing Him glory. 00:24:19.667 --> 00:24:22.327 God's compassion is not a mere sentiment. 00:24:22.327 --> 00:24:24.683 It propels action. 00:24:24.683 --> 00:24:34.228 He promises restoration so vast that Zion, once barren and broken, will overflow with returning children from every corner of the earth. 00:24:34.228 --> 00:24:38.423 God's grace will surprise those who had given up hope. 00:24:38.423 --> 00:24:51.497 This vision reaches beyond Israel to include children from afar and nations serving in this blessing. 00:24:51.497 --> 00:24:55.729 This sets the stage for the church's mission. 00:24:55.729 --> 00:25:00.769 God's family will one day include Jew and Gentile, near and far. 00:25:00.769 --> 00:25:06.700 That is fulfilled in Christ Jesus 49.18. 00:25:08.265 --> 00:25:09.470 Look up and look around. 00:25:09.470 --> 00:25:12.885 They all gather together, they come to you. 00:25:12.885 --> 00:25:14.202 As I live. 00:25:14.202 --> 00:25:16.786 This is the Lord's declaration. 00:25:16.786 --> 00:25:22.727 You will wear all your children as jewelry and put them on as a bride does. 00:25:22.727 --> 00:25:25.945 Look up and look around. 00:25:25.945 --> 00:25:30.446 They all gather together, they come to you, it says. 00:25:30.446 --> 00:25:30.827 Look up. 00:25:30.827 --> 00:25:38.292 This is a command to change the perspective from one of despair and self-pity to one of hope. 00:25:38.292 --> 00:25:49.106 God calls Zion to lift her gaze from her past, ruin and laws to behold the glorious future he is bringing about. 00:25:49.106 --> 00:25:51.732 Look around. 00:25:51.732 --> 00:25:56.605 This is an instruction to actively observe the fulfillment of God's promise. 00:25:56.605 --> 00:26:02.989 Focus is no longer on her desolation but on the gathering of a multitude of her children. 00:26:02.989 --> 00:26:06.388 Dispersed exiles returning home. 00:26:06.388 --> 00:26:10.347 They all gather together, they come to you. 00:26:10.347 --> 00:26:13.730 This describes the immense scope of the promised return. 00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:24.827 It refers to the physical return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity, but points ultimately to a greater, final, universal spiritual restoration. 00:26:24.827 --> 00:26:29.471 That is the mission of the servant. 00:26:29.471 --> 00:26:35.848 This gathering includes believers from all nations who come to acknowledge and worship the Lord. 00:26:37.941 --> 00:26:49.404 He says, as I live, this is the Lord's declaration you will wear your children as jewelry and put them on as a bride does, as I live. 00:26:49.404 --> 00:26:57.949 This is a powerful, solemn oath from God himself, signifying the absolute certainty of this promise. 00:26:57.949 --> 00:27:04.571 It emphasizes that this divine assurance is as real as God's own existence. 00:27:04.571 --> 00:27:07.365 He is swearing by His own name. 00:27:07.365 --> 00:27:11.938 You will wear all your children as jewelry. 00:27:11.938 --> 00:27:19.281 This imagery of children as precious ornaments is a powerful reversal of Zion's previous state of barrenness and bereavement. 00:27:19.281 --> 00:27:30.689 One day, you see, all the streets are desolate, the temple is desolate and out of that, god is promising this fruitfulness. 00:27:31.682 --> 00:27:35.388 In ancient cultures, jewelry symbolized honor, status and wealth. 00:27:35.388 --> 00:27:48.750 For Zion, her true splendor is not in material riches but in the vast number of people, both returning exiles and new converts, who became part of her restored community. 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:57.589 This metaphor echoes a similar image in Jeremiah 2.32, where Israel is rebuked for forgetting God. 00:27:57.589 --> 00:28:09.229 Like a bride forgets her ornaments, isaiah's use of the same imagery here transforms it into a symbol of forgiveness and glorious restoration. 00:28:09.229 --> 00:28:12.146 And put them on as a bride does. 00:28:12.146 --> 00:28:24.775 This metaphor adds to a joyous celebration and relational intimacy to the image of restoration. 00:28:24.775 --> 00:28:35.271 A bride's ornaments represents purity, new beginnings and the festive nature of a covenant relationship. 00:28:35.271 --> 00:28:50.226 This foreshadows the ultimate fulfillment of God's covenant with His people, often depicted in Scripture through bridal imagery, culminating in New Testament with the church as the bride of Christ, revelation 21.2. 00:28:56.580 --> 00:29:16.386 And this restoration, romans 9.25-26, describes like this I will call quotes, not my people, my people and she who is unloved, beloved you are not my people. 00:29:16.386 --> 00:29:21.640 They there, they will be called the sons of the living God. 00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:24.643 They there, they will be called the sons of the living God. 00:29:24.643 --> 00:29:36.737 And if we look at this God's restoration and we see it gloriously manifest in its conclusion in Isaiah 60 and Revelation, 21 and 22,. 00:29:36.737 --> 00:29:40.681 We see this, you know. 00:29:40.681 --> 00:29:44.003 Let me read this, these verses Isaiah 60, 11 through 22. 00:29:44.304 --> 00:29:46.065 Your city gates will always be open. 00:29:46.065 --> 00:29:57.996 They will never be shut, day or night, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve. 00:29:57.996 --> 00:29:58.737 You will perish. 00:29:58.737 --> 00:30:01.864 These nations will be annihilated. 00:30:01.864 --> 00:30:10.848 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, its pine, elm, cypress together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will glorify my dwelling place. 00:30:10.848 --> 00:30:14.666 The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you. 00:30:14.666 --> 00:30:18.248 All who reviled you will fall face down at your feet. 00:30:18.248 --> 00:30:24.285 They will call you the city of the Lord, a Zion of the Holy, one of Israel. 00:30:24.285 --> 00:30:31.006 Instead, you're being deserted and hated, with no one passing through. 00:30:31.380 --> 00:30:35.648 I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age. 00:30:35.648 --> 00:30:41.228 You will nurse on the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of kings. 00:30:41.228 --> 00:30:49.224 You will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. 00:30:49.224 --> 00:30:52.509 I will bring gold instead of bronze. 00:30:52.509 --> 00:30:57.326 I will bring silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stones. 00:30:57.326 --> 00:31:02.648 I will appoint peace as your government and righteousness as your overseers. 00:31:02.648 --> 00:31:07.090 Violence will never again be heard of in your land. 00:31:07.090 --> 00:31:10.670 Devastation and destruction will be gone from your borders. 00:31:10.670 --> 00:31:15.451 You will call your walls salvation and your city gates praise. 00:31:15.451 --> 00:31:23.729 The sun will no longer be your light by day and brightness of the moon will not shine on you. 00:31:23.729 --> 00:31:29.313 The Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your splendor. 00:31:29.313 --> 00:31:37.752 The sun will no longer set, the moon will not fade, for the Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of your sorrow will be over. 00:31:37.752 --> 00:31:43.210 And your people, all your people, will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. 00:31:43.210 --> 00:31:48.891 They are the branch I planted, the work of my hands so that I may be glorified. 00:31:48.891 --> 00:31:54.666 The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. 00:31:54.666 --> 00:31:55.731 I am the Lord. 00:31:55.731 --> 00:31:58.182 I will accomplish it quickly, in its time. 00:31:58.182 --> 00:32:01.592 What a promise. 00:32:03.622 --> 00:32:07.449 And in Revelation, similar things are expressed. 00:32:07.449 --> 00:32:10.709 See, showing that this is. 00:32:10.709 --> 00:32:13.107 You know, this goes beyond the house of Jacob. 00:32:13.107 --> 00:32:20.720 This is to the ends of the earth, the Lord's salvation being revealed to the ends of the earth Revelation 21, 22 to 27. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.863 I did not see a temple in it because the Lord, god Almighty and the Lamb of the earth Revelation 21, 22 to 27. 00:32:22.863 --> 00:32:25.905 I did not see a temple in it because the Lord, god Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 00:32:26.339 --> 00:32:34.028 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, as its lamp is the Lamb. 00:32:34.028 --> 00:32:41.067 The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 00:32:41.067 --> 00:32:45.107 Its gates will never close by day, because it will never be night there. 00:32:45.107 --> 00:32:49.067 They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 00:32:49.067 --> 00:33:01.086 Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb's Book of Life, revelation 22, 1-5. 00:33:01.086 --> 00:33:11.868 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city's main street. 00:33:11.868 --> 00:33:21.048 The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. 00:33:21.048 --> 00:33:26.832 The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations and there will no longer be any curse. 00:33:26.832 --> 00:33:32.531 The throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city and His servants will worship Him. 00:33:32.531 --> 00:33:36.630 They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. 00:33:36.630 --> 00:33:38.664 Night will be no more. 00:33:38.664 --> 00:33:49.670 People will not need light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever. 00:33:49.670 --> 00:34:00.401 Such is the restoration that God is planning Now. 00:34:00.882 --> 00:34:07.665 Verses Isaiah 49, 6 and verses 22 to 23 says this Christ's salvation for all nations. 00:34:07.665 --> 00:34:08.610 It is the servant. 00:34:08.610 --> 00:34:13.728 Isaiah's servant is appointed not only for Israel but as a light of the nations. 00:34:13.728 --> 00:34:19.211 Through the gospel, god's comfort and rescue go out to the ends of the earth. 00:34:19.211 --> 00:34:29.047 Christ's work on the cross breaks the ultimate bonds and welcomes home spiritual exiles from every culture, every nation, every tongue and tribe. 00:34:29.047 --> 00:34:37.440 And towards the chapter ends with both a promise and a warning to the nations on the earth. 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:58.469 God will lift up his hand to the nations and raise his banner commanding the Gentiles to assist him in gathering his scattered people and returning them to Zion. 00:34:58.469 --> 00:35:03.135 The ones who are journeying with them to Zion will carry the sons and daughters. 00:35:03.135 --> 00:35:12.570 The Persian sub-rulers are the people called on to help with the restoration and resettlement of Jerusalem. 00:35:12.570 --> 00:35:23.307 In the same way, gentiles who benefited from the ministry of servant Jesus Christ are called to evangelize the unreached people. 00:35:23.307 --> 00:35:31.867 Groups giving special attention to the lost among the house of Jacob and believing kings will aid in the proclamation of the gospel. 00:35:32.791 --> 00:35:39.106 And in verses 24-26, we see the plight of the tyrants who hold the exiles captive. 00:35:39.106 --> 00:35:47.132 The Lord proclaims that they will be crushed in order to let the children of God go free. 00:35:47.132 --> 00:35:55.788 Either they will aid in bringing back the exiles and be blessed, or will resist and be destroyed. 00:35:55.788 --> 00:36:04.952 And what a response of God to their complaint. 00:36:04.952 --> 00:36:07.186 The Lord has forgotten me. 00:36:07.186 --> 00:36:17.166 And here, in the first three verses of Isaiah 50, the Lord addresses Judah. 00:36:17.166 --> 00:36:24.527 Here he was preparing his people for the consequences of their covenant, treachery and idolatry through the prophecy. 00:36:24.527 --> 00:36:46.952 This prophecy ahead of time that he has given is to strengthen them and their faith when they needed it the most, when they are in exile, lest they think that their God has completely abandoned them and cast them off completely or divorced them. 00:36:46.952 --> 00:36:55.030 In these verses, the Lord answers them and gives them the reason for their exile, which is the exile is temporary. 00:36:55.030 --> 00:36:57.688 The Israel was sent away because of their iniquity. 00:36:57.688 --> 00:37:16.329 Even then, as soon as they complained about the Lord abandoning them iniquity Even then, as soon as they complained about the Lord abandoning them, he reassured them and promised them that, despite all appearances, the exiles will return and that His plan of redeeming them encompasses the ends of the earth. 00:37:18.621 --> 00:37:24.847 The anguish is the consequence of disobedience and God's answer to His people's. 00:37:24.847 --> 00:37:33.202 Anguish is the consequence of disobedience, and God's answer to his people's anguish is salvation, not only to the house of Jacob, but to the ends of the earth. 00:37:33.202 --> 00:37:34.523 The Lord is true to his promise. 00:37:34.523 --> 00:37:41.574 He delivered Israel out of their anguish Through their anguish, though their anguish is due to their own covenant rebellion. 00:37:41.574 --> 00:37:48.021 God in his mercy and the covenant he made to Abraham. 00:37:48.021 --> 00:37:50.485 He delivered them when His people were helpless and despondent. 00:37:50.485 --> 00:37:56.213 He raised His anointed Cyrus the Great to achieve that purpose. 00:38:01.400 --> 00:38:07.831 This portion talks about a greater servant, jesus Christ, who not only restores Israel but would extend the Lord's salvation to the ends of the earth. 00:38:07.831 --> 00:38:16.987 This God, who is gracious, is ready to comfort those who are afflicted and oppressed by the bondage of sin. 00:38:16.987 --> 00:38:51.018 Dear ones, whether it is your children that you are recognizing over or your relatives that you are recognizing over the salvation when you think, there may be times when you think the heaven is silent and the Lord is silent, to your plight, remember, can a woman forget her nursing child or lack compassion for the child of her womb? 00:38:51.018 --> 00:38:54.179 Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. 00:38:54.179 --> 00:38:59.539 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. 00:38:59.539 --> 00:39:01.918 Your walls are continually before me. 00:39:01.918 --> 00:39:10.396 What a wonderful promise, what a wonderful assurance In God's redemptive history. 00:39:10.396 --> 00:39:24.121 God has, in His graciousness, in His mercy, he expanded that vision to the Gentiles so that we all can come and experience His wonderful restoration. 00:39:24.121 --> 00:39:27.057 We are the beneficiaries of that grace. 00:39:29.251 --> 00:39:30.336 What should our response be? 00:39:30.336 --> 00:39:37.458 This chapter is the greatest missionary call to bring his salvation to the ends of the earth. 00:39:37.458 --> 00:39:41.286 In 2 Corinthians 6-2, apostle Paul says Now is the season of God's grace. 00:39:41.286 --> 00:39:41.813 Today is the day of the earth. 00:39:41.813 --> 00:39:54.275 In 2 Corinthians 6 2, apostle Paul says Now is the season of God's grace, today is the day of salvation, drawing from verse 8 of this chapter the day of salvation, the servant's mission to liberate captives and bring light to the world. 00:39:54.275 --> 00:39:56.356 Apostle Paul will later highlight this. 00:39:56.356 --> 00:39:57.119 Behold. 00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:09.554 So in 6 2 we already said this God's answer to anguish is both immediate and global, and His favor is available now to all. 00:40:09.554 --> 00:40:22.628 If we are despondent with the things that are going on in our society, in your life, in your children, in your family, in your children in your family. 00:40:24.054 --> 00:40:35.521 Look at this grand vision of restoration and what God is planning, which is foretold in Isaiah 60 and in Revelation. 00:40:35.521 --> 00:40:42.396 Tell your soul arise, my soul arise, shake off thy guilty fears. 00:40:42.396 --> 00:40:49.514 The bleeding sacrifice in your behalf appears Before the throne. 00:40:49.514 --> 00:40:52.119 My surety stands Before the throne. 00:40:52.119 --> 00:40:53.050 My surety stands. 00:40:53.050 --> 00:41:04.079 My name is written on his hands and the word says he lives to intercede for us. 00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:06.898 He ever lives above for me to intercede. 00:41:06.898 --> 00:41:10.056 His all-redeeming love, his precious blood to plead. 00:41:10.056 --> 00:41:15.396 His blood atone for all our race and sprinkles now the throne of grace. 00:41:20.231 --> 00:41:21.697 I just cannot get over this hymn. 00:41:21.697 --> 00:41:23.074 Each time it is sung. 00:41:23.074 --> 00:41:27.360 Five bleeding wounds he bears received on Calvary. 00:41:27.360 --> 00:41:29.315 They pour effectual prayers. 00:41:29.315 --> 00:41:34.038 They strongly plead for me and forgive him or forgive, they cry. 00:41:34.038 --> 00:41:36.197 Nor let that ransomed sinner die. 00:41:36.197 --> 00:41:53.416 This is the mission and ministry of the servant through which God's vision is unfolded to the ends of the earth, not only to the house of Jacob, to people who are in anguish, thinking that the Lord has forgotten me. 00:41:53.416 --> 00:41:55.322 No such thing. 00:41:55.322 --> 00:42:00.436 The father hears him pray his dear anointed one. 00:42:00.436 --> 00:42:02.838 He cannot turn away the presence of his son. 00:42:02.838 --> 00:42:16.958 His spirit answers to the blood and tells me that I am born of God and the final verse says we are reconciled to a holy God through the ministry of his servant, jesus Christ. 00:42:18.742 --> 00:42:30.233 Adoniram, judson or any number of missionaries might have thought the Lord has forgotten them in a foreign country because when he is burying his children and he's burying his wives. 00:42:30.233 --> 00:42:33.021 He must have thought the Lord has forgotten me. 00:42:33.021 --> 00:42:53.925 And when he is going on the streets and calling people to listen to the gospel for four years the streets and calling people to listen to the gospel For four years, no response the Lord has forgotten me. 00:42:53.925 --> 00:42:54.867 He might have thought. 00:42:54.867 --> 00:42:58.061 And eventually he himself was buried at the sea. 00:42:58.061 --> 00:43:02.030 The Lord never forgets his promise. 00:43:02.030 --> 00:43:14.679 As we sing, christ will have the prize for which he died an inheritance of nations. 00:43:16.471 --> 00:43:23.059 Four million plus believers in Burma is a testament to the effectiveness of the gospel that adds to the servant's glory. 00:43:23.059 --> 00:43:32.338 God's answer to our anguish is ultimately the glory of His Son, jesus Christ, who will be the light of the nations. 00:43:32.338 --> 00:43:36.675 What a wonderful promise. 00:43:36.675 --> 00:43:38.416 What a wonderful answer to our anguish. 00:43:38.416 --> 00:43:41.556 May God be glorified. 00:43:41.556 --> 00:43:51.659 See, the thing is, when we think about this grand vision of the servant, we must not forget the global missions, dear ones. 00:43:51.659 --> 00:43:53.032 No, we need to. 00:43:53.032 --> 00:44:06.695 Each time we think about our missionaries, kevin Cooney and Kevin and Sarah and Driscoll's, we need to pray. 00:44:06.695 --> 00:44:27.507 Please make it a point every day to lift them up so that they will not feel that the heaven is silent and they will be confirmed in the vision, this grand vision, of bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth. 00:44:27.507 --> 00:44:27.608 Amen. 00:44:27.608 --> 00:44:35.554 I'd like to just say a few words Before closing. 00:44:35.594 --> 00:44:38.978 I want to address the last week's tragic events in our country. 00:44:38.978 --> 00:44:47.097 The loss of young lives, including Charlie Kirk, deeply affected us all. 00:44:47.097 --> 00:44:58.596 We in the US and around the world felt as though we lost our own family members, one of our own family members. 00:44:58.596 --> 00:45:15.079 Though we need not agree with him on everything, it is inspiring to see a young man testify to the power of the gospel in venues that are hostile to the gospel and he practiced 1 Peter 3.15,. 00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:29.358 But in your hearts, regard Christ, the Lord, as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that is in you. 00:45:29.358 --> 00:45:37.373 Through his ministry, the Lord brought countless young people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 00:45:37.373 --> 00:46:02.237 As we remember him, let's pray for his wife, his children and mostly for our nation, that the gospel will be proclaimed in much power and that our nation, even though this anguish, through this anguish, would see in Jesus Christ who is the light of the nations.