WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.120 Alright, let's take our Bible and turn over to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:06.879 Or for those of you who are from England, the book of Isaiah. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:17.039 And if you're looking for Isaiah chapter 1 in the Pew Bible, which you'll find in front of you, you can find it there on page 600. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:18.239 600. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:30.719 We're beginning today a study through the book of Isaiah, which I think will take us about a year and a half to go through totally. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:35.439 Less time than it took us to go through Matthew, even though it's a longer book. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:41.439 Many, many Christians and non-Christians alike have some familiarity with the book of Isaiah. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:52.799 The hymn that we sang just a little bit ago, holy, holy, holy, is derived from words found in Isaiah chapter 6, where it says just that: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of armies. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.759 His glory fills the whole earth. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:23.200 And anyone who's attended, say, Handel's Messiah, or heard a Christmas cantata, or even listened closely to some Christmas carols, or joined in a Christmas evening, a Christmas Eve service, or Christmas Day service, would have come into contact with Isaiah 7, for instance, or Isaiah 9, and those passages that figure prominently in the birth of Jesus Christ. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:37.840 And then there's Good Friday services and communion Sunday services, where you probably would have heard something out of Isaiah chapter 53, but he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our iniquities. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:43.040 The punishment of our peace was upon him, and we're healed by his wounds. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:54.640 Now, those passages are very important passages, but they're only snapshots of this glorious book that deserves more attention than we often give it. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:18.960 To limit our exposure to the book of Isaiah to those few verses, chapter 7 and 9, and 53 and chapter 6, would be like turning away the invitation from Charles III to spend a whole week with him as he gives you a personal tour of Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace or one of his other residences. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:28.319 And forgoing all of that in order to read a couple paragraphs from a wiki article on Windsor Castle. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:45.199 You could certainly learn some things from by scanning a wiki article, but you'd grab no sense of the wonder, the splendor, the majesty, the expanse of the palaces unless you were there. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:58.159 Perhaps you've read the book of Isaiah and you've gotten into it a little ways, eager at the early stage, but then all of a sudden swamped and wondering, where am I? 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.080 Don't feel bad. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.919 A lot of people have exactly that kind of experience. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:05.919 Listen to John Calvin. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:18.719 He said, Nobody will be so raw and ignorant as not to get some benefit out of reading Isaiah, yet perhaps you will understand one out of every ten verses. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:26.560 He said we ought to accept eagerly and readily those things that are clear in which God has revealed his mind. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:35.439 And interestingly, he says this, and it's proper to pass by those things which are still obscure to us until a clear light shines. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.039 But then he goes on to say this. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:52.560 But if we are not wearied by reading, the final result will be that that constant use will make us familiar with Isaiah, and then we'll learn more and more about it. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:04:00.400 Perhaps you've resonated with the one out of ten understanding of Isaiah that Calvin first talked about. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.919 Well, I welcome you into this journey. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.199 Welcome into the journey that we're going to go through here, the book of Isaiah. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:17.439 And don't just be satisfied to show up on Sunday morning saying, What's going to be in Isaiah this morning? 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.480 Open it up when you go home. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.199 Read it and reread it. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:29.199 As we go through it week by week, pray that God would give you an understanding of his word. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:35.600 The parts of Scripture that aren't yet open to you, those nine out of the ten you don't yet know. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:43.040 Pray that God would give you an understanding so that you might grasp the full revelation of his word. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:54.160 And it's my prayer that you will gain the splendor and the majesty and the wonder and the expanse that is found in the book of Isaiah. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:56.399 Isaiah is a great book. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.639 Its theology is sweeping. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:02.000 It takes us from creation to the new creation. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.560 It takes us into the wonder of all that God has done and his great plan of redemption. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:19.120 Brings us from the utter ruin of sinful humanity to the glorious splendor of the new heavens and the new earth. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.000 Listen to what someone said about it. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:26.879 Said it was the most theologically significant book in the Old Testament. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:31.519 Another one said, of all the books of the Old Testament, Isaiah is the richest. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:38.160 Someone said, from ancient times, Isaiah has been considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:42.720 But it's not just narrowed to the Old Testament. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:49.279 66 direct quotations of Isaiah are found in the New Testament. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:59.680 And if you were to count the illusions to say nothing to the echoes, you would find nearly a hundred references to Isaiah in the New Testament. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:06.399 Twenty of the 27 books of the New Testament quote Isaiah directly. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:15.279 Isaiah is woven like this gold fabric into the glorious dress of the New Testament. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:26.079 One of the main contributions of the book of Isaiah is to enforce and enlarge upon us the understanding of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:38.319 As we are well aware, the New Testament presents the Lord Jesus Christ as its theme, and Isaiah presents the Lord Jesus Christ as its ultimate theme. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:57.680 Just for a moment, it's here in Isaiah where the glories of the Davidic Messiah and the shame of the suffering servant are woven together to help us understand who Jesus Christ is. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:08.399 So much so that Isaiah has been declared to be the fifth evangelist, and Isaiah the book declared to be the fifth gospel. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.519 That's how much it speaks of Jesus Christ. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:24.160 So this morning, as we get an introduction to it, I want to introduce it to us by way of what we might call in some investigative ways our five friends who, what, when, where, why, and how, right? 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:28.399 So we're going to skip off one of those and double up on one of those. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:36.560 But that will be our form as we go through this and introduce ourselves to this book that will be our friend for the next several months. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.720 Isaiah, what is it? 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:39.600 What? 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:41.600 Well, it's a prophecy. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:54.879 And the way our English Old Testament is structured, Isaiah introduces us into a grouping of books that are called the prophets, the major and the minor prophets. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.319 And it runs all the way to the end of the Old Testament to the book of Malachi. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.360 It doesn't mean that prophecy begins with Isaiah. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:06.480 There are prophecies earlier than this, as far back as Moses and even before then. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:10.480 That predictive element is all over the scriptures. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:14.240 But these books are grouped together in major and minor prophets. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:18.240 Well, these prophets, what do they do? 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.360 Well, the prophets are people who speak for God. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:23.519 They speak for God. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:27.920 They're his messengers, God's mouthpieces. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:36.080 They speak his word directly into the ears and minds and hearts of people over the ages. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:40.000 They say what God once said. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.559 And the major reason you see that, or the major way you see that, is they often preface their remarks by saying, Thus says the Lord. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:53.360 They're speaking on his behalf. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:58.080 They're telling the people of Israel exactly what God wants them to know. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:07.600 A lot of times when you think of prophets, you think of people who are sort of foretelling the future also, but that's not the main focus of the prophets. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:24.320 The main focus of the prophets are to speak to their present generation about situations that they're going through, so that they might think and act and relate differently about God and their life and their situation. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:42.080 And when they do talk about the future, it's not so you can just simply sit back and muse over what might be, but rather that you would see something about that that changes the way you live your life today. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:51.360 It's not to leave us gazing off into the future, but to be ordered a different way according to God's word now. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.200 Well, the prophets also had ears. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:59.519 They listened to God's word before they could speak it. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:03.039 They were instruments and agents of Him. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:21.600 And when we talk about the prophets being inspired, we speak about that inspiration as something different than maybe an inspired musician or an inspired poet or an inspired communicator in some way with eloquence and choice of words. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:24.320 We don't think of them like great painters. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.879 They're not inspired in that way. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:35.200 What we're talking about is that God has communicated to them exactly what he once said. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.759 So they have ears to hear that. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.360 Peter says that. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:49.120 He said, Know this, no prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet's private interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:56.480 Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:08.720 There's also another aspect about these prophets, as we consider what we're about to look at, is that they also felt what God feels, if I can put it that way. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:15.600 Listen to Isaiah in chapter 40, and we read from that chapter, but a little deeper into it. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:20.399 Listen to the emotion that's found in these verses. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.200 Do you not know, Isaiah says? 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:25.039 Have you not heard? 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:30.720 The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.039 He never becomes faint or weary. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.919 There's no limit to his understanding. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.200 He gives strength to the faint. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:43.840 He strengthens the powerless. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:56.159 But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.960 They will soar on wings like eagles. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:00.720 They will run and not become weary. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.200 They will walk and not faint. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.559 Can you feel the encouragement of those verses? 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:10.080 The emotion that fuels those words? 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:21.360 That's Isaiah speaking with emotion and delight about a God who brings solace and assurance in a time of trouble. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:39.039 Isaiah's hope stood as a beacon to people in despair and darkness, to let them know that the despair in the darkness wasn't the end of their life, that there was a future in God if they trusted him. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:52.799 And it brings us the same sort of understanding that we can have comfort and encouragement and be reminded that God's promises are going to be fulfilled no matter how dark or difficult or despairing our moments are. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:57.279 So these prophets didn't just speak a message. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:04.240 They didn't just listen to a message, they felt it, and so shall we. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:38.799 These prophets help us through their emotions to understand more of our God, a God who loves and longs for people, a God who is angry at sin and evil, a God who will stand against injustice and cruelty, a God who is compassionate and cares for the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable, a God who is grieved when he's rejected, a God who is filled with joy when people and his creation turn to him. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:44.159 These are all emotional words that help us understand him better. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:51.360 Everything that's part of who we are gives us a way to connect with the God who has made us. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:57.200 These prophets also saw things from God's point of view. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:00.639 We call them seers sometimes in the Old Testament. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:02.080 They're given that term. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.000 And sometimes they could actually see things that other people couldn't see. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.240 But it means more than that. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:15.759 It means that these men were able to also interpret events from God's point of view. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.120 And boy, don't we need that sometimes, right? 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:34.960 We look at things and we've got our understanding, we've got our perspectives, but to be able to have someone interject who sees the whole scope of it all from beginning to end in every detail, that's our God. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:46.879 And He's giving us an understanding of life and eternity in ways that we, in our little narrowedness and blindness and even sinfulness, don't know. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:51.840 This is the what? 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.360 The book of Isaiah is a prophecy. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.240 Now, who? 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:57.440 Who is Isaiah? 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.799 Well, Isaiah is called the Prince of the Prophets. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:11.360 And not simply because of the grandeur of his writings, some rabbis actually thought that he was the brother of King Amaziah. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.120 So he was literally perhaps a prince. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.720 We don't know that. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.639 That's conjecture, but that's some of the thinking that people have. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.519 He's mentioned seven times as a son of Amos. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:27.600 We know that he was married and his wife was called a prophetess, and they had two sons. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:30.000 We don't know a whole lot more about him. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:42.720 His name, Yesha Yahu, means Yahweh's salvation, or it could be interpreted as Yahweh is salvation, or the salvation of Yahweh. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:53.919 And we should hear in Yesha Yahu some similarities to someone whose name was Yeshua, God saves. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:04.879 So when did he write? 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:19.679 When you think of Isaiah and the rest of the prophets that run all the way to Malachi, in relationship to the history of the people of Israel, you realize that they only spoke into a slim little bit of time. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:29.120 If you go from the beginning of the people of Israel to, say, Malachi, you're looking at about 1,500 years of expanse. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:34.559 Isaiah and the rest of the prophets spoke into about 300 years of time. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:39.440 A small sliver of the whole history of the people of Israel. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:50.639 And if you wonder why so many prophets were sort of pushed into this little time frame, it's because they were turbulent years. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:17:08.240 David the king, Solomon his son, coming into Rehoboam, who failed to listen to the wiser men and listen to the more foolish men. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:18.799 And because of that, ten of the tribes of the twelve rebelled and started their own breakaway group of Israel, and leaving two of them behind. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:33.119 And the battles between those two and the degradation of their society and of their worship of God are detailed in some of the historical books and are spoken about throughout these prophecies. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.000 They spoke into that time frame. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:44.720 Some of them speaking to the northern tribes, those ten breakaway tribes of which they called Israel and sometimes Ephraim. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:54.880 They spoke in and talked to them that if they didn't turn to the Lord in faithful trust, that there would be a coming day of judgment. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:00.960 And it eventually happened in 721 when those ten tribes were taken away by Assyria. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:11.839 To the southern two, some of the other prophets spoke: Micah and Zephaniah and Habakkuk and Isaiah and Jeremiah. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:26.880 And they spoke to Judah and told them that they too were facing judgment and condemnation that would end in exile had they did not turn to the Lord in trust. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:44.240 And just like the northern tribes in 721 and 587 BC, as a culmination of other small movements, Jerusalem was captured, and the people were carried off in exile to Babylon. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:50.559 Isaiah speaks into that time frame before the exile happens. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:54.559 He speaks at the pinnacle of the time of the Assyrians. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:01.519 And in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1, just have a look at it for a second, we learn this. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:24.000 We just read four. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.720 Well, there's one more, Manasseh. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:35.599 His name's not mentioned here in the first verse, but we know that in the book of Isaiah, Sennacherib's assassination is mentioned. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:39.039 And so that assassination happened during the reign of Manasseh. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.839 So we know that he ministered into the reign of Manasseh. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.400 And that brings us to the end of Isaiah's life. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:57.920 Jewish tradition tells us that Isaiah was martyred during the time of Manasseh the king by being stuffed into a hollow log and then sawn in half. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.880 That's how his life ended. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:04.880 The writer of the book of Hebrews alludes to that. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:16.240 When it talks about in that hall of faith we call Isaiah 11, in verse 37 it says, They were stoned, they were sawn asunder. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:22.319 Perhaps alluding to Isaiah and his martyrdom. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:28.799 They died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, goatskins, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.359 The world was not worthy of them. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:34.799 Why? 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.720 We talked about the what and the who and the when. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:41.440 Now let's talk about the why. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:47.759 When Isaiah began his ministry, Judah is his focus, as you can see here. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.160 He talks about Judah and Jerusalem in verse 1. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:52.240 He talks about the kings of Judah here. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:54.480 That's his major focus. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:11.359 Judah, when Isaiah begins his ministry, during the end of the time of Uzziah's reign, it was a sad shadow itself back when David and Solomon were reigning. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:17.519 But it still had had a season of prosperity and peace under Uzziah. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:22.319 It was a refreshing breathe, breath of fresh air. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:27.440 But the good times were almost gone. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.960 And the people could tell that there was impending doom around them. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:37.440 Judah in the late eighth century was crumbling. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:44.559 And Isaiah spoke into a people who were teetering on the edge economically. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:49.599 They were being bullied by geopolitical powers all around them. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:59.039 And they were rotting from the inside out by their syncretism, their injustice, and their formalistic religion. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:00.880 Is that you, John? 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.319 No? 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.440 We got it. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.920 There we go. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:12.240 Isaiah spoke to those people in trouble. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.400 He spoke to people that were facing all kinds of peril in every way they could look. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.519 They couldn't look to the religious leaders and find help. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:23.920 They couldn't look to their kings and find help. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:28.799 They couldn't look to their um economic power bases and find help. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.160 They couldn't look to other nations and find help. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:44.079 Isaiah spoke to them and talked about trusting the living God, looking to them in their dependence, and he would care for them. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:52.480 Judah and Uzziah never again, after Uzziah never begin became an independent state. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:23:03.200 For the rest of the reigns of the kings that you read about in verse 1, they were all subservient vassals to overdominating powers outside of them. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:11.039 They were serving at the pleasure of the Assyrian overlords all the way through Isaiah's ministry. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:27.039 And when Babylon put them to an end, it seemed like the end of the Davidic dynasty until Matthew's gospel opens up and speaks about a Jesus who is the son of David. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:31.119 And so these people lived in a pivotal time. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.440 They lived in a threatening world. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.279 Do we not live in a pivotal time in a threatening world? 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:38.960 Of course we do. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:45.519 The crisis that they were facing was the rise of the Assyrian Empire to the east. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.839 And these four kings show just how mixed their responses were. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:00.880 As Isaiah called them to trust in the living God, they began to show a deeper trust in themselves and their allies. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:04.799 You can read about it in 2 Kings. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:10.400 But this Assyrian threat was real and it was dangerous. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:20.880 And the people had to decide: would they trust a God to save them, or would they trust themselves and their own strategies to be their deliverance? 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:25.440 You'll hear a lot about that as we go through the book of Isaiah. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:28.720 Now, how does Isaiah pan out? 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:32.480 We've talked about the what, the who, the when, and the why. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:36.319 Now, we're going to talk about the how and skip the where. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:38.640 I think we can understand where that is. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:44.240 Let's just scan the 66 chapters that are the book of Isaiah. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:55.759 The first 39 chapters primarily have us in view of this pre-exile time during Assyria's strength. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:02.160 The first 39 chapters of Isaiah, Assyria is the dominant world power. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:08.480 And that crisis in Judah and Jerusalem is centers upon two of the kings. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:24.880 Chapters 7 to 12, you have Ahaz, who is tested but fails, and begins to trust human schemes and ill-advised alliances with other nations instead of trusting the living God. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:36.960 And then in chapters 36 to 39, we learn of another king, Hezekiah, who is also in a time of crisis with a different emperor over Assyria. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:45.920 But the same question: would he trust God or would he try to find a way forward through his own scheming? 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:54.880 Hezekiah almost yields to the counsel of his cabinet, but in his despair turns to the living God. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:00.400 And we find an example of one with failing heart but trusting soul. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:18.400 And in between these two sections of chapter 7 to 12 and this 36 to 39, inside of it are oracles to the nations as God speaks to the peoples around about their behavior and their impending doom. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:33.759 But as a lesson to the kings and to the people, will you trust God or will you fall under the same condemnation as the other nations that are falling? 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:58.720 In the middle of all of that, God peppers into the book of Isaiah these statements that there is going to be a rising king out of the line of David that's not like these kings of David, who's actually going to be just and trusting, who's going to be bringing forth victory. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:11.279 And we read, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his reign is not going to end. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:20.000 These words are thrown in there to help us see that the present scene is not all there is to know about. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:59.279 Isaiah projects his voice into the future and doesn't speak about the future, but does something no other book in the Old Testament does, or New Testament for that matter. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.400 He doesn't just speak about the future, he speaks to the future. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:16.000 He speaks to the people of God as if they were already torn from the land of promise and already put into exile in Babylon. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.160 This is what chapters 40 and 45 to 55 do. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.720 No other book of the Bible does this. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:33.920 And what will God tell these future people who have sinned so dramatically that they've been ripped from the land of promise and are called not my people? 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:48.960 How can they, these persistently sinful people, hear anything other than judgment or expect anything but other than abandonment from God? 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:53.039 Well, that's the wonder of these chapters. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:59.119 Because the words that come in sweep in with these words. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.799 Comfort. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:03.920 Comfort, my people. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:10.720 Salvation of God will come. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:19.680 His determinations of grace are not going to be thwarted by your sin. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:30.720 He is going to fulfill his promises, and he's going to bring his people into the fullness of his mercies. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.799 What a wonder this is. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:30:06.160 Salvation would come through the suffering of a servant, that Isaiah 40 to 55 talk about. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:10.480 That servant, though he suffers, will be victorious. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:20.400 And his victory will not only save the people of Judah, his victory will be so grand and glorious that it will be the hope of all the nations. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.359 And that word will spread everywhere. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:42.799 And Isaiah 52, 7 says, How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says, To Zion, your God reigns. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:48.640 Now, if you know your New Testament, you know where that came from. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:59.200 That is the very verse that talks about the gospel proclamation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, found in the book of Romans. 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:03.599 Isaiah 1 to 39, pre-exile. 00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:10.799 Isaiah 40 to 55, projecting to a people in exile, in the future. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:20.799 Chapters 56 to 66 have as their focus people settled back in the land after the exile. 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:25.359 People who are having their temple being rebuilt. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:30.799 Isaiah's stretching into the future for sure. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.039 Listen to Isaiah 66. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:36.000 This is what the Lord says. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:39.359 Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:43.359 Where could you possibly build a house for me? 00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:46.880 And where would my resting place be? 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.400 My hand made all these things, and so they came into being. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:52.640 This is the Lord's declaration. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:56.480 So where will God's temple be? 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:08.400 He tells us, I will look favorably on this kind of person, one who is humble and submissive in spirit and trembles at my word. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:30.240 The projection of a temple of God that will reside not in stone in a place, but in people in their hearts, where the true worshipers will not worship on this mountain or that mountain, but will be the people who worship in spirit and in truth. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:42.000 And they reach even beyond them. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:33:08.319 And this message of this coming king, this international king who's going to bring judgment and salvation, and that this lead agent is going to be a messenger, that God is going to empower to declare the good news that he is breaking in and establishing his kingdom. 00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:12.000 And Isaiah speaks about this one who comes. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.640 And this is how it begins. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:21.279 The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:39.920 Those are the very words that Jesus spoke at the beginning of his public ministry. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:55.839 Isaiah speaks to pre-exile Israel, in exile Israel, and post-exile Israel, and brings them warnings and comfort and promises of a better day. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:57.839 Of a better day. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:02.319 So let me double up on the how for a second. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:13.519 We talked about Isaiah, what it was, who he is, we talked about when it was, we talked about how. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:20.000 But I also want to talk about how we understand Isaiah a little better. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:27.920 And I just want to give you a little insight that I think will help you and carry you through all of our study of Isaiah. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:32.639 And the way to understand Isaiah is to scan the horizon. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:41.119 The horizon is the farthest part that we can see as we open up our eyes to the very edges of what is out there. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:44.239 For those of us in New York, that's like across the street. 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:48.079 But if you go to Montana, it's quite a far ways away. 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:54.800 The distance depends on how high we are from ground level, right? 00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:57.360 You know, you're on the ground and you can see that far. 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:00.800 But if you went up in a hot air balloon, you could see further. 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:11.440 And if you went even way further up, you could prove to every flat earther that they're just wrong, because you can see the curvature of the earth. 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:16.400 Well, the distance depends on how high you go. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:24.800 And so when we read Isaiah, we have to look to the horizons. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:32.079 We have to see that Isaiah is speaking to those on the ground in their life experience. 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:47.280 He's speaking a little bit higher to talk about those in future days a little bit further, and yet he brings us up even a little higher and shows us even further yet of even a new day and a new creation. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:50.719 He takes us beyond the scope of the present. 00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:53.840 He takes us even beyond the scope of human history. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:36:04.239 He brings us into the eternities to show us our God and his glorious plan in the new heaven and the new earth. 00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:09.599 And so when you read Isaiah, remember that there are three horizons to look at. 00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:20.960 There's the first horizon of the people in Isaiah's day, things that would be accomplished in their lifetime, or perhaps in Old Testament history. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:37.760 And then realize that there are things that Isaiah talks about that could never be fulfilled in their day that talk about something beyond that, that can be only found in Jesus Christ and the coming of the Son of God to this earth to deliver. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:46.960 And so you see in horizon level two, you see messages of the coming of the Messiah and the entrance of the kingdom of the gospel. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:37:02.559 But then there are other things that project even beyond that as you rise up to a third pinnacle and you see a third horizon, and you find out that there are statements of judgment not just for the nations, but for the whole heavens and the earth. 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:11.679 And not just judgment, but also statements of grace that bring us beyond human history into the eternal state. 00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:36.719 And Isaiah talks about a day of overflowing joy when he says, There'll be nature in full abundance, and the earth rejoicing in its creator, and human life fully safe and fulfilling and free ultimately from violence and injustice and hunger and danger and war at an end, and people and animals living in perfect harmony. 00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:40.400 People never turned away from God's presence ever. 00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:42.239 What is this? 00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:44.079 It's the third horizon. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:38:11.599 It's the place where the new heavens and the new earth are breaking into our day and understanding to give us a hope that to trust God means not just a better life now, or maybe a get to heaven then, but a flourishing and the new heavens and the new earth in which existence will unfold with all that it was designed to be in all the fullness that God had created it to have. 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:13.840 That's Isaiah. 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:15.760 That's Isaiah. 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:27.519 And so as we come into this place, remember, just like Calvin or me, you might understand only one verse and ten at first. 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:38.480 But the more we go in it, it'll be two out of ten, then three out of ten, and then hopefully eight, nine, maybe even ten out of ten in some places. 00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:46.800 Isaiah wants to show us more of God, and in doing so will show us more of ourselves as well. 00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:49.199 Some of it's going to be uncomfortable. 00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:54.000 Some of it's going to be more exhilarating than we deserve. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:57.039 He speaks to all of us. 00:38:57.039 --> 00:39:01.760 If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian believer, Isaiah will speak to you. 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:07.679 It will talk to you, it will tell you who you are better than you know yourself. 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:12.079 Listen, I encourage you to do so. 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:19.039 Because it also speaks about mercy and grace that is beyond what any of us could ever hope for. 00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:36.800 And to find that in his presence is not condemnation, but acceptance. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:50.559 If you're a new believer, this is a great way to understand the promised purpose of God as we move from the Old Testament into the new, and you see your Savior spoken about in more ways than you might expect. 00:39:50.559 --> 00:40:06.239 And if you're an experienced believer, God will speak to us, challenge us to trust Him, even in the hard times, beyond our wisdom, beyond the strength of our arms, which is pretty frail anyway. 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:11.360 In all of these ways, God will talk to us through Isaiah. 00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:21.199 A book written so many years ago, but more important and more today than even the articles we read online. 00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:23.599 Let's pray together. 00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:26.559 Father, we thank you for the gospel. 00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:30.159 I almost said it, the gospel of Matthew. 00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:33.199 But thank you for Isaiah. 00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:37.280 Thank you for what we're going to learn about the gospel in Isaiah. 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:54.079 Thank you, Father, for giving us the scope of your purposes, giving us an indication of what you did and then designed to do in bringing Jesus Christ into this world. 00:40:54.079 --> 00:41:00.639 Thank you, Father, for my beloved brothers and sisters here in their keen interest to know. 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:14.880 And Lord, I pray that you would use me and Micah and the others who will proclaim your word over these next several months as servants of your word and servants of your people to help them understand you better. 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:26.559 Lord, work through us, we pray, to grant a feast of your word to your yours so that they might fully receive and fully praise you. 00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:28.719 And we ask this in Christ's name. 00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:29.679 Amen.