WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Alright, let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah, the book of Isaiah. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.320 We are only two months away from finishing our study of Isaiah. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:20.480 We started in September 2024, and we'll be finishing uh right at the end of February, beginning of March of this year. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:33.280 There are moments in life when you realize that the world isn't as it should be. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.560 Sometimes you get a phone call in the middle of a night. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.600 Perhaps a message in the day. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:01.280 Sometimes you get a diagnosis you never would have expected. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.719 And sometimes relationships break without warning. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.680 The world just isn't the way it should be. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.480 Sometimes those things come suddenly, and sometimes they come slowly. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:22.480 Sometimes just continues to ache away in your heart, or responsibilities weigh on you that you've never asked to be burdened with. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:33.840 Or sometimes just that sense of joy that you see others possess so freely just seems like an elusive dream, just outside the clutches of your fingers. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:39.760 I just finished a book uh recently uh called When Breath Becomes Air. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.920 I certainly recommend that book to you. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.640 It's a book by Paul Kullinithi. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:46.319 I hope I said that right. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:02:03.280 It's a first-person account of a young neurosurgeon who's treating people daily with some of the most devastating diagnoses that this world could ever hear, until one day he himself receives one of those. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:18.719 And he goes from being a physician and a caregiver to being a person in need of care, to a person who's offering hope and insight and understanding to asking the very questions that his patients were asking him. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:27.919 And he writes about his career as he begins to journal about his cancer and the journey that he has. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:41.919 And he said something that really stopped me cold when I was reading the book that he'd realized that his career, his whole life that he'd been building toward, had evaporated in a moment. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.120 Listen to what he says. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:57.439 Death, so familiar to me in my work, had suddenly become personal. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.360 The future I had imagined, the life I had worked so hard to build, evaporated. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:09.680 That's a pretty dramatic word, isn't it? 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:10.960 Evaporated. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:18.080 And here he is talking about everything that his life had been centered on, is gone. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.479 We can feel that sometimes, can't we? 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:33.280 Plans, expectations, hopes evaporating, certainties evaporating, strength and control evaporating. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.280 And underneath it, all you wonder if there's any hope. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:53.439 After all those things are gone, is there, you know, not just some sentimental hope, but that comes in and actually changes things, that rebuilds and grants something beautiful back into the evaporated wasteland? 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.520 Well, Isaiah 61 steps into that moment. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:17.759 It's a prophecy projecting into the future, projecting to people who haven't even yet gone to exile, but talking about their return from exile, that they're going to come home to something, though, as they look at it, first of all, will be filled with rubble and the need of rebuilding. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:27.680 But there's a hope beyond even the return of exile into a glorious future that rises beyond anything that they might be able to imagine. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:32.720 And here Isaiah is instilling hope into the hearts of the people. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:35.920 It didn't look like it at first. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:41.439 When they did return, the walls were broken, the temple was not there, they needed to rebuild it. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:48.560 And when they did, it was just a shadow of what it used to be, so much so that the older people who knew what it had looked like wept. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:05:02.240 And often they were filled with discouragement and disappointment, disoriented by all of this, but meant to anchor their heart were these prophecies. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.600 Because just coming back from Babylon wasn't the answer and it wasn't the fulfillment. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.920 And into all of that disappointment, a voice speaks. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:24.399 And it's not a voice of a prophet that's going to continue to scold them, or a leader who's going to try to rally them, or a politician who is simply going to make some promises that won't be kept. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.079 No, there's a voice that's going to speak into their disappointment. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.879 And it's a voice anointed by the Spirit. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.399 And it's a voice that has something far different for them to hear. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:38.720 It's not instruction or rebuke or advice that he's going to offer. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:41.040 He's going to offer them good news. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:50.560 He's going to announce that God Himself is going to step in and renew them in ways that they can't even imagine or picture. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.240 And today we're going to look at that good news. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:00.240 At the start of our series in 2024, I said that Isaiah was the fifth gospel. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.959 And the longer we've been going through the book of Isaiah, I think I need to change my statement. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.519 Isaiah is the first gospel. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.319 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the second, third, fourth, and fifth. 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:14.639 This is the first gospel. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.439 And Isaiah 61 is a beautiful, beautiful demonstration of that. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:27.360 Because the whole story of redemption is bundled up together here and gathered in one place. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:34.959 The ache of the human heart and the promises of God and the person of Christ are all here in one place. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:45.040 And so if you come this morning and you've wondered, is there any hope for me in the middle of my brokenness? 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:51.759 Does God have anything for me when everything's evaporated? 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:03.519 If you question whether God can restore what others or you have ruined in your life, Isaiah 61 has an answer. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:10.560 And as we look at this passage of scripture, we're going to look at the whole of it, I want to see it in four different movements, four gospel movements. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:21.839 We're going to see, first of all, the good news proclaimed, and then we're going to see the good news embodied, and then we'll see the good news multiplied, and then last of all, the good news celebrated. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:23.199 The good news celebrated. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.240 So let's listen to this wonderful passage of scripture with open hearts. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.959 First of all, the good news proclaimed. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.199 And we'll see this in verses 1 to 3. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.879 And when Isaiah begins here in this chapter, he doesn't begin with a command or a warning. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:41.439 He begins with a comforting voice. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:43.120 Listen to it. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.560 This is the servant speaking. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.959 This is the Spirit-annointed redeemer that's been promised throughout Isaiah. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:04.560 We've looked at the servant songs earlier, but here the voice of the servant breaks in again. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:12.480 And the first thing he does is he proclaims his commission and the contents of his mission. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:21.360 He proclaims that God is sending him to do something, that he has come with the purposes of God in hand. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:28.079 The source is God, and the empowerment comes by the Spirit. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.240 And the substance of that is wonderful. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:38.559 Good news, liberty, release, comfort, favor. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:44.960 Just look at the cascade of these kind of words in these next three verses. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:57.039 To bring good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to the prisoners. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.559 Let me drop down just a little bit to the end of two. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:22.080 Comfort for those who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, splendid clothes instead of despair, and they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:28.720 That doesn't sound like our nightly news, does it? 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.639 And he doesn't speak some vague, distant salvation. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:49.600 He speaks personally and with great detail and particularity down to the heart level of restoring grace that's coming from God to people that are broken. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.480 And listen to what he does. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:59.120 He doesn't just take away their ashes, he gives them beauty, he doesn't just stop their mourning, he gives them gladness. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:06.000 He doesn't just lift the faint-hearted, he clothes them with praise. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.600 There's such a revolutionary change here. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.320 Now, to a lot of us, this sounds like simply poetic language. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:19.919 And it is poetic in its form. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:29.120 But for a Jewish person, this would be signaling something very, very real and tangible. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.759 This is what we call Jubilee language. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:42.320 You see, the Jubilee was one of the most dramatic and hopeful ideas the whole Old Testament could speak about. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:48.639 Many of us today are very, very unfamiliar with what Jubilee means. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:11:01.919 In Leviticus chapter 25, God commands Israel to observe a special year that's called the Year of Jubilee. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.679 And what happens in that year is quite dramatic. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:10.879 It's a great, a great reset, if you will, of all of society. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:19.919 In the Jubilee year, all that the debts that people had would be canceled. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.679 Imagine that. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.279 No more credit cards you have to pay off. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:32.639 No more bank mortgages that you have to dish out and pay. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:45.279 All of the land that had been held by others that you had given way in order to secure help in times of need would be returned into your hands. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:12:01.759 And any Israelite who had given themselves to another because of their neediness and was put into servitude would be released and given back their freedom. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.159 Imagine the implications of all of that. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:16.080 This would distinguish Israel among all the nations of the world and in very significant and very tangible ways. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:18.799 Socially they would benefit. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.320 Families that had been broken would be reunited. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:33.120 People who were shamed by their poverty would now be released from that tangible display of that shame and would receive back dignity. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:45.200 It would stop there being a permanent ruling class and a permanent serving class, because all the wealth would have to be restored back to families. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:53.840 Theologically, they would understand that God controlled the movements of life and business and the land. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:01.360 The land itself would receive rest, reinforcing that the rhythms of life come from God Himself. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:10.240 Legally, it would build into the system of the courts a concept of justice like no other nation ever knew it. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:21.120 And emotionally, it would help people to be filled with humility and hope instead of fear or driven by greed, because it would all be reset. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:30.960 In other words, the Jubilee was God's way of saying that his people would not be permanently crushed by their failures. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:34.320 They would not be permanently held down by their debts. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:40.000 They would not be permanently constricted by their circumstances. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:47.759 He built into their lives and into their society a rhythm of restoration and renewal. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:52.080 Now, with that in mind, listen again to Isaiah 61. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:59.679 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:15.519 To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:28.159 What Isaiah is telling us is that when the servant arrives, he is going to announce the ultimate Jubilee. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:33.919 Not just another Jubilee, but the ultimate Jubilee. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:44.320 And he's telling us that this Jubilee that's coming is not going to be a date on the every once a 50-year calendar. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:49.039 It's not going to be simply an economic policy. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:55.600 It's going to be an ultimate Jubilee that's not just a calendar event, but a person. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:57.440 But a person. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:10.080 And here the servant of the Lord is saying that he will restore people beyond their economic, beyond their societal, legal, agricultural, and emotional needs. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:17.039 He is going to be the Jubilee when he comes. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:33.039 And so Isaiah is telling the people when you come back from Babylon and you enter into the land, this isn't simply about restoring the old patterns, but to anchor their heart in the hope that something greater is coming. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:38.799 And he said, What's coming is a person that you need to look for. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:44.720 And this person is going to forgive debts that are far deeper than financial ones. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:54.399 That this person is going to set captives free, that is far greater freedom than the chains that might be around their ankles or their wrists. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:02.799 That he's going to restore an inheritance that's far bigger than the piece of land that you might have gotten earlier. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:13.519 Look for someone that's going to do something greater than all this, who's going to undo sin and reverse the curse and bring people really home. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:15.440 Look for this one. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:37.039 And so, at the very outset of his ministry, before all of the other things that we read in the Gospels, in Luke chapter 4, Jesus is in a synagogue and he goes through the scroll and stops right here. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:45.120 And he reads, The Spirit of the Lord is on me. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:55.039 And he reads through this, and he ends with these words to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:58.639 And he sits down. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.639 Well, he sat down to teach. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:04.000 That's why he sat down. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:06.960 He didn't sit down because somebody else was going to do something. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:09.599 He sat down so he could teach. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.480 And so everybody was glued on. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.880 What's he going to say about this passage? 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:22.799 And he says to them, Today, as you listen, this scripture has been fulfilled. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:26.960 What does he say? 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:43.279 He is saying in no uncertain terms to those who understood the text and the context of this passage, I am that Jubilee that you've been waiting for. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.359 I am him. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:55.279 He said, I am the one who has come to bring this lost and longed for restoration. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:07.039 It goes beyond just releasing captives and it goes into recovering sight and lifting the oppressed and returning inheritance. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.319 All of those things are converging on him. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:18.319 And so when we read about the life and the ministry of Christ, what do we see him doing? 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:26.559 We see him canceling the deepest of debts, sin's unpayable ledger against us. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:34.240 We see him forming us into a new family and bringing us into an eternal home. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:40.880 We see him restoring us into fellowship with God. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:48.559 We see him even saying that he's going to renew the heavens and the earth and make a new creation. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:57.759 And personally, he tells us that there's no brokenness in our life beyond his restoration. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:04.240 There's no bondage that is stronger than his ability to release us. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:09.200 And there's no exile that can keep us away from home. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.839 You see, the servant isn't just proclaiming good news. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:18.400 This passage begins with the servant saying that he is the good news. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:34.880 In a day of doubt, John the Baptist in prison, because things aren't working out quite like he expected, calls for his companions to go to Jesus and ask him this question Are you the one? 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:46.079 In a moment of doubt and despair, John the Baptist is wavering, and he says, Are you the one, or should we expect somebody else? 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.200 And what does Jesus reply to him in Luke 7 in verse 22? 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:57.039 He says to the messengers, Go and report to John what you've seen and heard. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:04.160 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and the poor are told the good news. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:12.319 Jesus' reply to John is, John, Isaiah 61 is happening right in front of you. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:14.559 Yes, I'm the one. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:20.960 Now I want you to catch the significance of what he does here. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:27.039 He moves toward the broken, not away from them. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.240 This is the opposite of how we act often. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:42.079 We like to gravitate toward people with power and connections and abilities, great personalities. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:53.519 But here he moves with freedom and release and inheritance and liberty to the poor, brokenhearted captives and mourning people. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:04.000 Gone are any statements of hope to the self-sufficient or to the proud or those who think they're free or fine. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.400 The Pharisees asked him, What about us? 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:14.720 And he said, Do you see or are you blind? 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:17.440 And they're like, How dare you call us blind? 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.440 He said, Well, you'll never see then. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:30.400 This good news, this good news proclaimed tells us that our stories aren't over when they're shattered. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.519 Our lives aren't completely crushed. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.039 He goes on, though. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:40.880 He goes on to talk about not only this good news proclaimed, but also this good news embodied. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:44.559 And we'll move a little more quickly through the sections here. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:56.400 In verses four to seven, he takes a he shows us how all of this takes a hold in God's people and what the servant creates in them. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.759 And verses four to seven are really hope saturated lines. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.559 Some of the most dramatic in scripture. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:11.839 Verse 4: They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the former devastations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:22.559 Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your plowmen and vine dressers, and you'll be called the Lord's priests, and they will speak of you as ministers of our God. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.240 You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in the riches. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.279 In the place of your shame, you'll have a double portion. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.960 In the place of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:39.279 So they will possess double in their land, and eternal joy will be theirs. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.039 What an idealized restoration this is. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.599 Talking to us of the deep, deep, deep, transformative nature of this good news. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:55.920 And it doesn't leave people where they are, and it doesn't just simply patch them up to continue on. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.160 It recreates them. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:01.839 It gives them more than they could have ever expected. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.519 He releases them from pain and puts in them purpose. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.000 Now notice the purpose. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.400 In honor. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:50.720 Now, this is not about getting a title, it's about a purpose. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:59.759 Priests in the Old Testament stood between God and the people, and they represented God to the people, and they represented the people to God. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:49.200 And here the Lord is saying to these that are broken, that are captives, that are prisoners, that are poor, who are mourning, that are filled with despair, that they're going to be ministers of God, that they're going to be put in such a vital role with such a profound and holy purpose that they'll be known as the representatives of God, the priests of God, the carriers of his presence, agents of his mercy, instruments of his healing, voices of his good news. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.640 The New Testament takes up this language. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:07.039 And in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, Peter writes to the church and he said, You are a royal priesthood. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:16.240 Not just a couple among you who aren't married for the rest of their life and wear clothes that nobody else wears the rest of the week. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:21.839 Every one of you are a royal priesthood. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:35.440 In Revelation chapter 1, talking about the Lord Jesus, he made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:26:04.880 And then in that glorious demonstration of the heavenlies, where all the peoples of the earth are gathered from every tribe and trung and nation, they are gathered around the throne and giving praise to God and to the Lamb who was slain, and they make this proclamation: you made them a kingdom and priests to our God, every redeemed person. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:10.480 How does that work? 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:21.599 Well, it works from what God does in us, and then what he means to do in us is meant to flow from us to others. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:27.920 And so we become, like I said, those who are representatives of God and his mercy. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:38.480 We're carriers of his presence, we're speakers of his truth, we're agents of his mercy, we're representatives of his character, we're instruments of his healing. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:44.720 God means for all of this bounty to be spread, to be spread. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:54.160 And so he tells us in Matthew chapter five: blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the merciful, right? 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:58.799 Because we are doing things in this world. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:00.799 We're reconcilers. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:09.519 Now, not every relationship might be able to be reconciled, but we're the first ones to reach out, right? 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:18.640 We're the ones that offer confession of our wrong, we're the ones that offer forgiveness to them. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:30.400 And whenever we meet somebody captive to sin, we can talk about the bondage that we've been released from, to instill hope in their hearts. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:41.200 Whenever we see someone coming, mourning and broken and drawn out by the pangs of life, we understand that. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:42.799 We can meet them at the door. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:46.640 We can give them a bulletin and a cheerful hello. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:49.759 And we can say, Look, I'll talk to you after the service. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:51.279 Can I pray with you? 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:56.960 Notice how this multiplies. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:04.319 This good news proclaimed, this good news embodied becomes a good news multiplied in verses eight and nine. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:14.160 I want to begin, however, by telling us why it does in verse eight, the why of multiplication before we talk about the contents of multiplication. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:19.440 And here in verse eight, the Lord's own voice speaks, not just the servants. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:24.640 I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.119 I will faithfully give them their recompense. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:30.880 I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:34.799 Why is all of this happening? 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:36.559 And why is it spreading around the world? 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.079 And why is it multiplying? 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:45.359 Because the Lord loves justice and the Lord hates oppression, and the Lord acts faithfully. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:02.880 Take a look at the end of verse 8. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:08.480 I will make a permanent covenant with them. 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:18.319 Now that's not a new phrase for us in the book of Isaiah, and it's not a new phrase for us in the scriptures. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:22.319 He goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 17. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:31.039 And in Genesis 17, Abraham is told, By God, I will confirm my covenant. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:36.079 It is a permanent covenant to be your God. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:54.960 From the very beginning, God's intentions weren't simply to bless people, but to bind himself to people, to make them his and him theirs, and to enter into a relationship that's meant to endure. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:06.640 And we're going to celebrate here in a few moments the new covenant in which he says, I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:11.039 It's inaugurated through the death of Christ. 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:16.400 In Isaiah 55, we read these words when we studied it. 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:30.240 These promises are going to be enacted through a son of David. 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:37.119 Promises of a kingdom and of a king and of a rule of righteousness. 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:40.720 There's one hiccup in all of it, though. 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:44.559 And we read it before in Isaiah 24 and verse 5. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:49.759 They have broken the permanent covenant. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:55.759 And this is the tension of the Old Testament. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.599 God says he's faithful to his promises. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.400 The people, however, are not. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:13.279 They break God's promises, they break their own promises, they wander away from what they said they would do. 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:17.200 They rebel against the God who says, I will be your God. 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:23.359 They fracture the very relationship that was meant to define them. 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:34.799 What's going to happen to this permanent covenant? 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:38.160 Can it survive with these persistently unfaithful people? 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:41.920 Listen to the announcement. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:47.519 There's a reason why God speaks in the first person here so dramatically. 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:50.160 I, the Lord, love justice. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:52.400 I hate robbery and injustice. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.599 I will faithfully reward my people. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:00.559 I will make a permanent covenant with them. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:08.240 God here doesn't lower his standards and he doesn't cancel the covenant and he doesn't replace his people with a better one. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:10.960 What he says is, I'm going to do this. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.279 I'm going to do this. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.000 I'm going to repair those things that are shattered. 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:18.799 I'm going to restore those things that have been forfeited. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.519 I'm going to bind those things that are broken. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.359 And he's going to bring a permanent covenant. 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:32.319 And that permanent covenant is going to come through the one who lifted his voice and spoke in verse 1. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:36.079 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:40.400 He is the one going to enact God's purposes. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:46.000 And so we see Jesus, the son of David. 00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:49.920 And we see him, the servant. 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:56.400 We see him, as Hebrews says, the mediator of a better covenant. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:07.039 In fact, in Hebrews 13 and verse 20, it's called the blood of the everlasting covenant. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:14.960 Hebrews 9:12, eternal redemption, 9 15, eternal inheritance. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.279 Chapter 7 and verse 24, a permanent priesthood. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:24.079 Hebrews 8:6, a covenant established on better promises. 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:30.400 All of this in Isaiah 51 is brought to bear in Christ. 00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:33.599 It's multiplied. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:39.119 Now let's take note of it in verse 9 and see this multiplication. 00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:46.640 The descendants will be known among the nations and their prosperity among the peoples. 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:53.359 And all who see them will recognize that they are a people the Lord has blessed. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:03.839 We are talking about a people that live on a territory that's 35 miles tall and 25 miles deep. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.920 Rhode Island would look down on this little country. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:09.199 Right? 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:13.519 Long Island is bigger than this country. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:19.519 And they're sandwiched in between Egypt and Assyria and Babylon. 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:24.239 They wouldn't even have to lick their finger to crush them. 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:28.800 But these people will survive. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:34.400 And the nations will say they've been blessed by God. 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:39.360 Because God has done this. 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.440 And this isn't self-promotion or triumphalism. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:49.920 This is the display of God's glory and grace to undeserving people. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:53.440 Now take a look at verse 11. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:35:05.679 For as the earth produces its growth and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:08.480 This is a promise of multiplication. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:17.039 This is not just some servant with some momentary revival and some respite to some people in his day. 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:23.599 No, this is a surge of spiritual energy that's going to spread out before all the nations. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:35.360 A garden that grows so luxuriously, it's as if new creation has happened, that Eden has been restored. 00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.320 And we don't have to guess how that happened. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:40.559 The scriptures tell us. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:33.519 And they were wondering what has happened here. 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:45.360 And the reverberations of the glad news of God's righteousness began to move into the nations as these people went back home. 00:36:47.920 --> 00:37:15.199 And their transformation became a public sign that God is intervening, that the work of the servant is continuing, and that ripple moves to a Roman centurion called Cornelius, who's drawn in by the gospel, and an Ethiopian official who carries the good news down to the trade routes in Africa, and the Greeks in Antioch who believe and form the first multi-ethnic church. 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:24.800 And what begins with restored Jews who are surprised that Gentiles could believe is now turned into a worldwide movement. 00:37:25.599 --> 00:37:39.840 And we all look back to those days and we remember the Jewish man Peter and the Jewish man James and the Jewish man John and the Jewish man Stephen and Paul. 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:46.559 And we wonder that this gift of righteousness has come to the Jewish people again. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:50.559 And it's declared before all of our nations. 00:37:51.440 --> 00:38:02.960 And we say, surely these are people who have been blessed by God because He has restored them from their ruin and he's turned them into His servants again. 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:05.840 Now, what does this tell us? 00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:15.679 Again, and I made this point just a moment ago, but again, the grace we receive is not meant to fall into the cul-de-sac of our lives. 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:24.320 We are conduits, we are meant to be a highway of God's grace. 00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:28.880 And when he restores us, he intends for that restoration to ripple out. 00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:31.920 And when it ripples out, it will have an effect. 00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:39.760 Because our healing is meant to be there for someone else's hope as well as our own. 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:47.039 And our forgiveness is meant to be someone else's invitation to receive forgiveness. 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:56.159 And our transformation is meant to be someone else's hope that they too could receive a transformation. 00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:01.360 Now let's finish with these last words in verse 10. 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:09.599 Because, you know, even if we ended at verse 9 and verse 11 and skipped over 10, we would have a wondrous chapter to look at. 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:23.760 But Isaiah is not finished because verse 10 tells us something: that the restoration doesn't end just with rebuilding, and the renewal just doesn't end with mission, and grace doesn't end with just transformation. 00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:27.760 It culminates in doxology and praise. 00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.400 I rejoice greatly in the Lord. 00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:34.559 I exult in my God. 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:46.320 He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness as a groom wears a turban and a bride adorns herself with jewels. 00:39:47.599 --> 00:39:56.000 This is the only proper response to God's activity through the servant, that of joy and celebration and praise. 00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:02.239 And when he speaks here, listen to how strong these words are. 00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:14.960 This is not polite gratitude, not even quiet appreciation. 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.440 This is not subdued thanks. 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:19.280 This is this is a shout. 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:27.519 The Church Royal and I dated and got married in was pastored by a guy who was not from Boston. 00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:34.559 And he expected a congregation that was a little more vociferous than what cold New Englanders would give him. 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:38.159 And he said to them one day, he said, You guys don't say amen. 00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:39.760 You just write it down. 00:40:42.079 --> 00:40:45.039 And he even made a card once that said amen on it. 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:46.079 Do you remember that? 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:50.320 And when he was preaching, he was so full of joy in what he was preaching. 00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:52.320 And the people are just sitting there like. 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:23.920 Verse 10, he there, he's clothed us with the garments of salvation and wrapped us in a robe of righteousness. 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:30.719 He doesn't hand us a needle and thread and says, you know, it's time to fix up the ripped clothes that you've got. 00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:41.280 He doesn't give us a pattern and say, now there's the machine, there's some fabric, go sell your sew yourself a robe. 00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:48.400 He doesn't give us a list that he tells us to fulfill. 00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:58.079 He tells us, and we say, that he's clothed us, that he's wrapped us, that he's covered us. 00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:05.679 And the things that he's covered us with are splendid and wondrous. 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:10.000 And they are something we don't deserve. 00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:18.480 Because it's not self-made or self-improved or self-righteous. 00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:21.760 It's a gift, this righteousness. 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:27.119 These garments come out of the wardrobe of the king himself. 00:42:28.159 --> 00:42:31.440 And he said, take it on, it fits you perfectly. 00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:42.079 And he puts us into a sphere that we could understand. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:47.360 Wedding garment, kind of righteousness. 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:48.719 Verse 10. 00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:54.559 Like a groom wearing a turban, and like a bride adorning herself with jewels. 00:42:58.239 --> 00:42:59.280 Remarkable. 00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:10.320 Those often will be the most bright and glamorous and glorious and special and expensive clothes that we'll ever wear. 00:43:10.960 --> 00:43:12.719 The day we get married. 00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:18.239 Except for the guys who rent their suit for fifty bucks from Yeah, no. 00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:26.559 But he he grants us these splendid garments to wear. 00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:28.159 What is it? 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:30.480 His righteousness. 00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:40.320 It's like being dressed up for the most significant day of your life. 00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:42.400 The day you get married. 00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:50.159 The day you come into a relationship that's going to be more intimate than you've ever ever had with anybody else. 00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:56.960 That moment when a bride and groom come together and say, I'm yours. 00:43:57.199 --> 00:43:58.800 No, I'm yours. 00:43:59.119 --> 00:43:59.760 We're each other. 00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:11.599 And God clothes his people with that beautiful beautiful garment and that wondrous promise I am your God and you are my people. 00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:21.119 When he gives us Christ, he doesn't give us something that's half finished that we need to work on and make better. 00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:28.400 He doesn't give us something that's barely acceptable, and he's waiting for us to sort of cooperate with it all in order to achieve something. 00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:32.000 No, he robes us in righteousness. 00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:36.639 He robes us in the beauty, he adorns us with honor. 00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:39.440 He overshadows us with joy. 00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:48.559 Because this righteousness he gives is a fitting righteousness for those that he dearly loves. 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:58.000 And so the gospel here, beginning with proclamation, ends with celebration. 00:44:58.719 --> 00:45:01.440 It begins with ashes, but it turns to beauty. 00:45:01.519 --> 00:45:04.239 It begins with mourning, but it begins ends with joy. 00:45:04.320 --> 00:45:08.960 And it begins with brokenness, but it ends with a wedding. 00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:19.679 A joy that isn't something we have to sort of engender and produce simply because it's expected out of us, or the pastor's waving a card. 00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:30.559 But rooted in the unchanging character of the love of God toward us, anchored in the finished work of Christ and sustained by the work of the Spirit. 00:45:31.840 --> 00:45:42.400 And this is why Isaiah speaks about God's people saying, I will greatly rejoice, I will extol in my God. 00:45:45.760 --> 00:46:01.039 So this chapter, the first gospel, Isaiah, the good news proclaimed, the good news embodied, the good news multiplied now becomes the good news celebrated. 00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:05.280 And he's inviting us into this story. 00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:19.119 He's granted this to us so that we'll move toward him who gives us all these things. 00:46:19.920 --> 00:46:24.800 And so if you're a believer this morning, think about the implications of this. 00:46:25.599 --> 00:46:31.119 Your identity is secure in God who grants you all of these things. 00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:39.280 Your past is redeemed, and now shame has been replaced with honor. 00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:48.320 A couple weeks ago, I spent some time with some of my Air Force buddies I hadn't seen in over 40 years. 00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:53.119 Some of the stories I wasn't so sure I wanted Royal around to hear. 00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:00.239 We were together for a few days, and Royal said, Do you guys have anything more to talk about? 00:47:00.639 --> 00:47:03.360 And I said, Uh, we have a lot to talk about. 00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:06.559 Some things legal and some things not. 00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:22.000 And one of their stories was talking about just a whisper away from being caught and thrown into prison because of what we were doing. 00:47:24.719 --> 00:47:31.360 What does this undeserving sinner have? 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:38.400 Should be dishonor, should be shame, should be chains, actually. 00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:42.559 What has God done? 00:47:43.360 --> 00:48:01.440 He's turned every one of you who know him into people who are honored, who are the priests of God, who have the joy of God on your lips and in your heart, who's clothed you not with prison garb, but with righteousness. 00:48:04.480 --> 00:48:06.559