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On Aug 07, 2013: Isaiah 47-56 My Servant · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Here in the book of Isaiah, we'll be looking at chapters 47 through 56. which are the chapters that we read this week. And as we look at the prophet Isaiah, we're looking at the first of the major prophets. These prophetic books, which are larger than what are known as the minor prophets. And so Isaiah is the first of them. And it's quite a big book. We only have one week left. And so I would say, you know, pat yourself on the back. I know probably, you know, a lot of believers have not read through the book of Isaiah, but if you've been joining with us, you know, you've made your way, you've got one more week left, finished strong, and well done, you know, in going through the book of Isaiah. It's not necessarily an easy book to go through, but there's great fruit in it and great words from the Lord as we study these words of the prophet Isaiah. We'll be heading into, over the next couple weeks, Jeremiah and then Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. Now the prophet Isaiah wrote the words that we're looking at. He's the one who was used by the Lord to speak forth and record these things. And he ministered to the nation of Judah from about 745 to 695 BC, somewhere in that region. And during that time, there were the kings of Judah named Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and then the very beginning of Manasseh's reign as well. And Hosea and Micah were prophets who prophesied alongside of Isaiah or around the same time frame. So on our timeline here you can see In 933 B.C., right at the very top, Israel was divided. At one time, it was one nation under Saul, David, and then Solomon, but then it was split in two at about 933 B.C., and from there, it was pretty much downhill for both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom never had a good king. The southern kingdom had a few good kings, but the people as a whole continued to rebel against God regardless. And so God began to send his prophets to the people to call them to repentance. And so in about 745 BC, Isaiah begins to prophesy to the nation of Judah to call them back to repentance. The things that we're reading about here in chapters 47 through 56 this evening were kind of in the later portions of Isaiah's ministry during the time when Hezekiah was reigning in Judah. We saw his, you know, near-death experience. We talked about that last week and how God gave him another 15 years. And it's during that time period that Isaiah is speaking forth from the Lord all of these things that we'll be studying this evening. The The way that looks visually on the timeline is here. You can see the kingdom is split. There's the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was rebellious from the start. Never had a good king. Always rebelled against God and were involved in idolatry. And so the Lord brought judgment upon them. much quicker than the southern kingdom because of their great rebellion against him. And so during Isaiah's ministry, the northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria and led away captive. And at that time, Isaiah is ministering to Judah saying, look what's happening over there. This is a warning. God's going to do the same thing. But, you know, you have an opportunity to repent. And so that was his essential message to the nation of Judah as he is prophesying to them. Here's what it looks like geographically. The nation of Israel, again, divided. The northern kingdom kept the name Israel. The southern kingdom kept the name Judah. And as I've been... for the past couple of weeks. These are kind of like the initial boundaries, you know, when the kingdom was split. But when Isaiah is writing these things, the northern kingdom is already conquered. It's gone. There's people there, but they're there from other places around the world that Assyria planted them there. And Judah is not the borders that you see here, but Judah has really been reduced to basically one city, Jerusalem. And And all the fortified cities have been conquered by Assyria. There's not much left. There's only, you know, a small remnant that's left really in the land compared to, you know, the people that were there, the population that was there before. And so Assyria was the world power of Isaiah's day. That's on the top right there. They conquered the northern kingdom. All the surrounding nations around Judah attempted to conquer Judah but were unable to. Babylon is the nation that is going to come. It's quite a few years later, about 100 years later, that Babylon really rises to power and becomes a threat and then eventually conquers Assyria. So he's talking about Babylon, but they're not really on the scene yet as any kind of threat. So that is the background. It brings us now to chapter 47, which is the first of the chapters we read this week. And verse 1 is the key verse. It says... Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Here as we look at chapter 47 of Isaiah, it's a message from the Lord for the nation of Babylon. Now again, this is well in advance of Babylon being a real threat. God is speaking to them ahead of time because he knows what Babylon is going to be like. He knows the pride that Babylon is going to have. And he knows that Babylon is going to be a real threat. And Babylon thought that they were great, that they were unstoppable. And God is saying, you're going to sit in the dust and not on your throne. And so in verses 1 through 3, God announces that he will take vengeance on Babylon. In verse 3, he says, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not arbitrate with the man. That there's no intervention that could happen. There's no intervening for the nation of Babylon. God says, I'm going to bring this judgment. I'm going to sit them down on the ground and their shame will be seen as I bring vengeance. This is well in advance of when the events happened, but it has been fulfilled as we look back on it today. Then in verses 4 through 7, God announces that Babylon showed no mercy to his people. The issue that the Lord is taking with Babylon is, although he gave them authority to conquer the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, that they did not do so in a merciful way. He says in verse 6, I was angry with my people. I have profaned my inheritance and given them into your hand. And so it's interesting here that God gave Babylon authority over Judah. He gave them into Babylon's hand. He gave them, you know, the conquering of Judah and Jerusalem. But then they took it further than what God had given to them. It's not really much different than what we saw with the nation of Assyria. Remember in Hezekiah's day when God gave to Assyria the northern kingdom and allowed Assyria to conquer them. Assyria said, well I'm going to conquer Judah too. I'm going to take Jerusalem. And God said, no you're not. I haven't given that to you. But Assyria attempted to anyways. And so God gave Assyria authority to And then Assyria took it too far and attempted to take more than God had given to it. In the same way, God has given Babylon authority. It hasn't happened yet as Isaiah is writing these things. It's going to happen eventually. It has happened as we look back at it. God gave Babylon authority and they took it too far. And they were not merciful. Even though God had given them the authority, he expected them or required that they would be merciful and they were not. And so we can see the pattern here that God gives authority but he also holds people accountable for To do with that authority what he requires of them or what he gave them that authority to do. I think it's a good point to consider. Do you have authority and are you using that authority to do something? What God has called you to do for his glory and for his purposes. And sometimes authority is given in order to bring discipline and judgment, but it needs to be measured, you know, and rightly appropriate according to what God has given. Sometimes authority is for protection, and so that needs to be administered, and it might be at great cost, but that protection must be given. Sometimes authority is given so that we might be a blessing, and so we need to do that, but we can't just... be you know lenient and let people get away with whatever again because that's out of balance and so we need to stay in the balance with the authority that God has given to us to use it for his glory and his purposes the way he has set it forth well Babylon did not and so in verses 8 through 11 God declares that desolation shall come upon you suddenly Now Babylon was a great empire. It was a powerful nation and the city itself was incredibly strong. I mean the walls were incredibly thick. It was thought to be impossible to conquer the city of Babylon as a result of their great defenses. And yet God says destruction will come upon you suddenly. In verse 9 he says, these things shall come to you in a moment, in one day. In one day, you're going to fall. In one day, this is going to happen. Not, you know, one day far off, you know that this is going to happen. But these events are going to happen in one day. It's going to take a day for you to fall, for you to be brought down to the dust. And we see this fulfilled historically. You can look back at Daniel chapter 5. It gives, you know, the other side of it where Daniel is there with the king of Babylon, Belshazzar at the time. And remember that's the time when the hand appeared and began to write upon the wall. And the Lord said to Belshazzar, tonight you're done. You're going to be given or this kingdom is going to be given to the Medes and the Persians. And that's what happened. In one day, in one night, they marched in. They overthrew Babylon suddenly just as God announced. Then in verses 12 through 15, God says, no one shall save you. He basically tells them, go ahead and try to get out of this. You've been trusting in all these sorceries. You've been trusting in all these wise men and these people who claim to see the future. Do your enchantments. Go ahead. Give it your best shot. Nobody's going to be able to save you. You're not going to get out of this. And again, we see that fulfilled as well as Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. So here's the Babylonian Empire. Babylon, there is the capital. It was the strong city. It's right on the Euphrates River. And so it was thought to be impossible to conquer Babylon. But it happened suddenly. Cyrus was able to march in and defeat the city in one day, in basically one night. Jerusalem's over here. So they conquered Jerusalem. And this is yet to happen, but Isaiah's prophesying about what's going to happen. They conquered Jerusalem. They take the people captive over to Babylon. And so they're there in Babylon and God's going to be talking as we go through our chapters this evening about his people now being set free and released to go from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Well, as he talks about the fall of Babylon, the nation, the empire, Babylon, falls to the Persian Empire, or also known as the Medo-Persian Empire. It was the combinations of the Medes and the Persians. They joined together. They overthrow Babylon, and it's under the reign of the Persian Empire that God's people are allowed to go back to Jerusalem and allowed to go back to the land that God had given to them. And so that's what Isaiah is talking about. Again, these are well in advance of the events actually happening. And we'll see that after we look at chapter 48. So here in chapter 48, verse 20 is the key verse. God is now speaking to his people. He says, "...go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end of the earth, say, the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob." He's instructing his people to go forth from Babylon. He's speaking about their release. It's just amazing to me. Before they were taken captive, God is speaking about their release. God knows all the events that lay ahead of us. And he can speak about the captivity that is to come, but he can also speak about the release that is to come. He knows. He has it all laid out and he has his plan in the works. In verses 1 through 8, he explains, I knew you would deal treacherously. You know, God was not surprised at the actions of his people. He was not surprised when they turned against him or ignored him. He was not surprised at their idolatry. Just like he's not surprised at any of the things that we do. Sometimes we get surprised at ourselves, but God is never surprised. He says, I knew you would deal treacherously. It says that there in verse 8. He says, you were called a transgressor from the womb. You were surprised when you, you know, were found out to be so sinful. But I knew it from the get-go. You are a sinful person. It's not surprising. I knew you would deal treacherously. Now God is announcing that he's going to deliver them. And he tells them in verse 5, another reason for prophecy is so that Israel does not credit their idols for their deliverance. He announces their judgment, but he also announces their release. And he says, so that I'm telling you ahead of time so that you don't think, well, it's because I prayed to this other God and then now I got released. No, I'm telling you hundreds of years in advance so that you can know it's me, that I'm God, that I reign on high and that you are my people. He goes on in verses 9 through 11 to say, I refined you for my own sake. It's amazing how God works. He says in verse 9, for my name's sake I will defer my anger and for my praise I will restrain it from you so that you do not, so that I do not cut you off. God says, I'm doing all of this. I'm bringing the judgment. I'm bringing the release. And I'm doing all of this for my name's sake. Because you're my people. I'm doing this For my name's sake. I'm not doing this because you're so good. I'm not doing this because you deserve it. I'm not doing this because you're worthy of it. God says, I'm doing this for my name's sake. And again, I would remind you from what the Lord spoke a few weeks ago. We need to align ourselves with the Lord so that when He defends Himself, when He acts for His name's sake, He's defending us. He's acting on our behalf. It's not because we are ever worthy of anything. We can follow along with what God's saying here. He looks at me and he says, Jerry, I knew you would deal treacherously. I called you a sinner from the womb. That's no surprise. I'm not surprised by what you do or what goes on. I'm not surprised by your sinfulness, George. I knew it. I still called you. For my name's sake, I'm going to still work. I'm going to defer my anger. I'm not going to cut you off because, well, you're my people. You're my child. And so instead what he does in verse 10, he says, I have refined you, but not as silver. I've tested you in the furnace of affliction. So God says, look, I'm refining you through the midst of this with affliction. That's how I bring out those impurities. Now why is God doing this? Well we see it all throughout the scriptures. One example is Revelation chapter 3 verse 19. God says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. The furnace of affliction is not because God hates us. If God hates us, He would just let us go and not even deal with us at all. No, the furnace of affliction is God saying, I love you. So be zealous, repent. Turn to me. Draw near to me. I want to work in you through this. I'm doing some refining. And again, he says, I refined you for my own sake because you're my child. Verses 12 through 19, he goes on to say, I am the Lord your God. He calls out to them, listen to me. I am the first and the last, he says. I'm the creator. Listen to me. Pay attention to me. Take heed to what I say. In verse 18 he says, This is God's message to all of us. Oh, oh that you had heeded my commandments. Listen to my commands. Follow my instruction and you'll have peace like a river. You'll have peace. If you really want peace, obey the Lord. That's what he says. Well then in verses 20 through 22, he tells them to go forth from Babylon. Go forth. Get out of there. Now again, they're not in Babylon right now. Babylon's not even a threat. Assyria is the threat. But God knows what is to come. He's laying out the future in advance. And so now the time is for their release, for them to leave Babylon and go back to the promised land. Now we see this fulfilled. And we studied it already earlier as we went through the Bible in three years, when we went through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. And remember in Ezra and Nehemiah, we saw the people returning. Not everybody from Babylon returned, but those who were willing, they joined up. They went with Zerubbabel, they went with Ezra, and a group also went with Nehemiah, and they returned to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the city and rebuild the temple as well. And so God is announcing this ahead of time and later on we see it fulfilled. So again, looking at our timeline, at about 710 BC is when the estimate is that Hezekiah had the illness that he recovered from. And it was in 539 BC that the Persian Empire conquers Babylon. So we're talking about 170 years ago. Later, the events that Isaiah is talking about are fulfilled and God says... Go forth from Babylon. Get out of there. It's about 539 or 538 BC when Cyrus allows the people to leave Babylon and go back to the land. Now, 170 years, you know, it's pretty amazing Isaiah is able to prophesy about this. It gives us some insight into how much the Lord knows and how amazing it is that he was working through Isaiah in this way. So I did the math backwards. Right now we're in 2013. Let's go back to 1842 in the United States of America. Any idea who was president in 1842? Well, it was the 10th president. His name was John Tyler. And you're saying, well, that doesn't mean a whole lot to me. Well, remember the 16th president was Abraham Lincoln. So six presidents before Abraham Lincoln, John Tyler's in an office. Picture him sitting Writing down some instruction that we see fulfilled today. I mean, that would be absolutely amazing. And that's what God did. He spoke through the prophet Isaiah 170 years before it would happen. And we see it fulfilled just exactly the way that he declared. Because God knows all things. He's a big God. The creator of the heavens and the earth. Well, now as we head on into chapter 49, for the rest of our time this evening, we're really going to be focusing on Jesus, the servant, my servant, God will be talking about over and over again throughout these chapters. He's picturing and talking about the Messiah that would come, which we now understand is Jesus. And so we're focusing mostly on Jesus as we go forward in these chapters. Chapter 49, verse 6 is the key verse. It says, Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Here as we begin to look at this servant, we see in verses 1 through 4 that he is called from the womb to be his servant. Jesus was called the servant from the womb. It gives us some insight here as he's talking about the servant that he would be born. The Messiah, we understand, is also God himself. But he was born. And we see here the foreshadowing of, the foretelling of the humanity of Jesus Christ. That he would, although he's God, become man. He would be born and from the womb he would be called the servant. It's interesting that Paul talks about the servanthood of Jesus in Philippians chapter 2 and how he emptied himself. And came in the form of a man. He came in the likeness of a bondservant. It's this idea here that is being talked about. From the womb, he emptied himself and became a man, became a servant. In verse 2 it says, he's made my mouth like a sharp sword. Again, there's some great imagery here. You see in Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus returns on the white horse, right? And the sword proceeds out of his mouth. Maybe you also consider the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's what Jesus spoke. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. And so we see this fulfilled. The Messiah was born. Jesus Christ was born. Then in verses 5 through 13, God says, I will give you as a light to the Gentiles. I like verse 6 a lot. He says, look, Jesus, you're too amazing to To only be instrumental in returning the nation of Israel back to me. So I'm going to expand your mission. I'm going to expand your work to include all of humanity. Not just the Jewish people, but all of the Gentiles. It's too small of a thing to just bring back the nation of Israel. That's not enough, God says. I'm going to use you. I'm going to send you as a light source. To the Gentiles. And so the Messiah. The Savior. That God has been promising. Since the very beginning. Here Isaiah reveals. It's not just a Savior for Israel. But a Savior for all people. It was something that was not understood. By the Jewish people in Jesus' day. They hated the Gentiles. They thought God wanted to just. You know keep the fires of hell lit. With the Gentiles. That's why they existed. But. God from the very beginning has wanted to save all people and so he's giving the servant as a light to the Gentiles. You can check out Romans chapter 9, 10 and 11 if you want to dig into this a little bit more. How God's primary concern is his people, the nation of Israel, but we've been grafted in and so we have this light to the Gentiles that we are able to receive and be saved. Well then in verses 14 through 21, God says, I will not forget Zion. He's promising his people, I've not forgotten you. I will not forget you. There will never come a time where I have forgotten you. He asked the question in verse 15, can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Now think about that for a moment. Is it possible for a woman to forget her nursing child? And we understand what the Lord is saying here. Is it possible? Yeah, it's possible. But it's incredibly rare. And for most people, it's kind of unthinkable. That would never happen. But occasionally, especially in the depravity that we live in, we do see that happen. And so God says, surely they may forget. Even though a mom loves her nursing child so much, she still might forget. Yet... God says, I will not forget you. He's using this just to illustrate the point that he will not forget. Even if a woman could forget her nursing child, it's possible, even though it's unusual, but even though it might happen, God will never forget Zion. He will never forget his people. He goes on to ask, can a woman not have compassion on her own child? Again, it's the same idea. It's possible, it's unusual, but But God says, not with me. I will have compassion. I will not forget you. He says in verse 16, see, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. Zion is such a part of God. He says, I've inscribed you on my hands. I will not forget you. He's not done with Israel. He's not given up on Israel. It will never happen. Well then in verses 22 through 26, God says, I will contend with him who contends with you. Not only will I not forget you, but I'm going to contend with those who come against you. I will feed those, he says in verse 26, those who oppress you, I'll feed them their own flesh. They come against you, they're going to regret it, he says, because he will never forget his people. Well, in the timeline again we see in 710 BC is Hezekiah's illness. It's roughly around that time that we understand Isaiah is writing these things. The things he's talking about are fulfilled in Jesus Christ which happened about 700 years later. The birth of Christ around 2 BC, the death of Christ around 32 AD. And we see, you know, these prophecies about the Messiah fulfilled in Jesus. And that's not the last of it. We'll see much more as we go forward. So chapter 50 verse 6 now. He says, In verses 1 through 3, God tells them that it was for their iniquities that they had sold themselves. They sold themselves. God is explaining to them, I didn't do this to you. You did this to yourself. You sold yourselves into slavery as a result of your sinfulness. Now at this point, he's speaking to those who are captive in Babylon. He's saying, you guys did this to yourselves. You brought this upon yourselves. By your iniquities. And with your iniquities, you sold yourself into slavery. Then in verses 4 through 9, he says, the Lord God will help me. Again, now he's talking about Jesus. He says in verse 5, the Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. It talks here a little bit about the relationship that Jesus had with the Father. Remember, he was always getting off alone with the Father to pray? No. This is what was going on. God had opened his ear. And it says that he was not rebellious. He did not turn away. It would have been rebellious for Jesus to defend himself or stop the crucifixion. That would have been rebellion against the Father. But he listened to the Father. He paid attention. He did what the Father said. And so in verse 6 he says, I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. Find someone who has a beard around you and just pluck out a couple of hairs and see what they do. It's a painful thing. It's a painful thing. But he was submitted to the Father. And to pull away, to not allow it, it would be rebellion against God. But he was not going to rebel against God. And so he was submitted to what was to come. Verse 7, he goes on to say, For the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. So in the midst of this, Jesus, he's hearing from the Father. He's submitted to the Father. And so he gives his back to those who struck him. He could have removed his back from those who struck him. He could have removed their backs from them. I mean, he could have just wiped them out. But he was submitted to the Father. Why? He says, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I've set my face like flint. I'm determined. God's with me. He will not abandon me. He will not leave me nor forsake me. I'm setting my face like flint. It doesn't matter how the beating is. It doesn't matter how much they beat. It doesn't matter how difficult it is. It doesn't matter how much they bring. My face is like flint. I'm going to be faithful to the Father. Verses 10 through 11, he asks the question, then who among you fears the Lord? Looking at Jesus' example, if you fear the Lord, then trust Him and rely upon Him. And it doesn't matter what kind of beating you receive, be faithful to endure and to stand fast because He will never leave you nor forsake you. That's not just the promise to Jesus, but Jesus also extends that promise to us. So be faithful to the Lord. Do you fear the Lord? Then trust Him. Even if it hurts, even if there's some blood that's shed, trust Him. He will be faithful to you. Well then in Isaiah chapter 51 verse 3 is the key verse. It tells us that the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. In verses 1 through 11 we see this portion that the Lord will comfort Zion. Again, God is addressing the people who are in captivity here in these passages. They're not in captivity yet. They've experienced some great devastation by the nation of Assyria. Babylon's going to come in about a hundred years or so, take them away captive, lead them to Babylon. And God's saying to them, I'm still going to comfort Zion. I'm going to bring you back to this land. I'm going to restore you. He says in verse 11 that the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Again, these things have been fulfilled. They were released from Babylon after the Persians conquered Babylon and they were allowed to go back to Jerusalem. In verses 12 through 16, he tells them that they've forgotten the Lord their maker. He says in verse 12, I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die? And the son of man who will be made like grass. He's talking to his people. He says, what do you think you're doing? And who do you think you are? It's a good question to ask yourself. Who do you think you are? Now he's asking them this question because they were basing their decisions upon their fear of Of the people who were coming against them. Their decisions were based upon their fear of man. And so God says, who do you think you are? Who do you think that you are? You do not know how important you are to God if you fear man. If you don't understand how important you are to the Lord, it's going to be very easy to fear man. And to base your decisions on that fear of that person or those people or that group or that nation, whatever it might be. But God says, who are you that you should be afraid of a man who's going to die? You don't understand who you are if you fear man. If you fear that person, if you fear those people, you don't understand who you are and how important you are to me. But then the next question we need to ask is, who do you think God is? Because another reason we fear man is because, well, we don't know how big God is. And if you don't know how big God is, you're going to fear man. He says in verse 12, you forget the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. I'm the almighty God. I'm the creator. You've forgotten that. And so you feared man thinking that I can't help. Because you've forgotten that I'm the one who stretched out the heavens. We talked about that last week. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and he doesn't need someone on the other side to hold up the other end. Because he's big. He stretches out the curtains. He doesn't need help with it. He laid the foundations of the earth. He's the creator. Who do you think God is? If you forget the Lord your maker, then you will fear man. If you forget who you are and how important you are to God, then you will fear man. And that's exactly what had happened to the people of Israel. They had forgotten their God. They had forgotten who He said they are to Him. And as a result of the fear of the people that were coming against them, they continued in rebellion against God. Jesus said something similar in Luke chapter 12. He said, don't be afraid of those who kill the body and then after that they have no more that they can do. No, you need to fear God. And if you fear God, trust Him just like Jesus did. Endure the storm. Endure the pain. Endure the difficulty. You're more valuable than sparrows and God pays attention. He knows about every detail of them. So fear God. Trust God. Don't forget Him. Well, in verses 17 through 20, He explains that you have drunk the cup of His fury. You've received the wrath for your rebellion. The cup represents this wrath, this judgment that was brought as a result of their rebellion against God. But now in verses 21 through 23, he says, I'm going to put that cup into the hand of those who afflict you. Now again, remember Babylon was the instrument that God used, but they didn't show mercy. And so God says, I'm going to take the cup out of Israel's hands. I'm going to put it in Babylon's hands because they afflicted you. beyond what I instructed them to do. Well, now we go into chapter 52, verse 11 is the key verse. Again, he says, In verses 1 through 6, he tells his people to shake themselves from the dust. Now we saw in the previous chapter, chapter 51 verse 23, that Babylon essentially said to Judah, lie down that we may walk on you. That's the judgment that they brought upon Judah. And so now God says, here you are lying on the ground because they walked all over you. Now shake yourself from the dust. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. Verse 6, he says, And so God says, I'm going to bring you back. It's time to get up. Dust yourself off and start walking with me again. Start following me as I call you back. Now we see this is partially fulfilled because it was fulfilled as they left Babylon and went back to Jerusalem. And so God says, But as we've seen a lot in the prophet Isaiah, the ultimate fulfillment of these things really takes place during the millennium when he establishes them permanently. In verses 7 through 10, we see that the Lord has redeemed Jerusalem. He's redeemed Jerusalem. He's purchased Jerusalem back and he's calling his people to return. Verse 7 says, It says, This is quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 10. How beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news, speaking of the gospel message. And so we see multiple things being referred to here. It speaks of the return of God. with that we saw under ezra and nehemiah the return to jerusalem speaks regarding those who bring the gospel the great the great news of the gospel but then also it speaks and looks forward to that millennial kingdom when jesus christ rules and reigns well then in verses 11 through 12 again god says depart go out from there he says touch no unclean thing you who bear the vessels of the lord And we can see in the book of Ezra chapter 1 when Cyrus gives the command, hey, you guys can go back to Jerusalem. He also empties out the treasury and said, here's all the vessels that we took from Jerusalem. Here, take them back as you go to rebuild the temple. And so God says to those bearing those things, that first trip back to Jerusalem, depart, touch no unclean thing, be clean, and go out from the midst of her. He also says in verse 12, you shall not go out with haste. This isn't going to be, you know, some great escape plan. You're going to be released to go back. It's not going to be that you sneak off and you get out with haste. It's not that they're trying to break out of prison or something like that. No, they're going to be given the right and given the command to go back. And again, we see this fulfilled. You can read all about it in Ezra chapter 1 as the command is given and the people are released to return. Well then in verses 13 through 15 we direct our attention once again at the Messiah, at Jesus. And he says that my servant shall be exalted. He says in verse 13, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. His servant is going to be exalted, be very high. How high? Well, Paul tells us in Philippians 2, he's going to have the name that's above every name and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. is Lord and so we see this fulfilled in Jesus Christ but some of the things that he talks about in here are fulfilled when Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom here upon the earth so it's partially fulfilled because what we see verse 14 his visage was marred because of the beatings that he received but he does not yet rule and reign here on the earth and that's also what Isaiah talks about here so it's yet to be fulfilled those portions of it Now chapter 53 verse 5 is the key verse. It says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. Here chapter 53 is a very famous chapter because it speaks very clearly about the sufferings of Jesus. In verses 1 through 3 we see that he is despised and rejected. You would think that when the Messiah, the Savior comes, he would be welcomed and celebrated. But no, when the Messiah comes, he will be despised and rejected. He will be a man who's acquainted with sorrows. This passage is quoted in John chapter 12, explaining that although Jesus did many signs, the people did not believe him. They didn't believe in Jesus. There was a few. Sure, there was the disciples. There was a few. But the people as a whole, they did not receive him. They did not believe him. We see also here in verse 2 that Jesus was not super attractive. He didn't walk by and go, ooh, that's a good looking guy. It says that he has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. Maybe that's not how you picture Jesus in your head. But Isaiah says, there's nothing really special about his appearance. In verse 3, again, it says, He's despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Here he pictures for us the suffering servant. This is what the people of Jesus' day missed. They were not expecting the Messiah to come with suffering. They were expecting him to come with glory. They were looking for the millennial kingdom. They missed that it was also prophesied that he would come as a suffering servant. And so we see this fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. He was despised. He was rejected. Can you imagine that? Jesus Christ, the creator, first and the last, being God, became man to be despised and rejected. It's amazing what Jesus endured for our sake. Verses 4 through 6. He goes on to explain that the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. The whole point of the suffering servant's existence was to bear the sins of many, to bear the iniquity of us all. He bore our sin upon the cross. And so we see this fulfilled. It was fulfilled by Jesus. When he died upon the cross, he took our place. He received the penalty that we deserved for sin. Verses 7 through 9 explains that he was cut off from the living. In other words, he was put to death. Verse 7 tells us that he didn't open his mouth and we see that fulfilled in Matthew chapter 27. Pilate's like, hey, aren't you going to defend yourself? What do you say about all these accusations? But he answered him not a word. Verse 9 is an interesting prophecy because it says that his grave will be with the wicked and yet at his death it will be with the rich. And we see that fulfilled by the cross. His grave was with the wicked in that he was crucified. Thieves on either side. He was with the wicked at his death. But then he was buried with the rich. Remember Joseph of Arimathea. He was rich. He was wealthy. And he buried him in his own tomb. And so he was with the wicked at his death but buried with the rich. And then in verses 10 through 12 he says, My servant shall justify many. Why is the servant going to suffer in this way? Verse 11, he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. The whole point is he's suffering for a purpose, for a reason. He's going to see the labor of his soul. He's going to be satisfied because through his work, many will be justified. Many will be brought into right relationship with God. Many will be reconciled with God. This is all fulfilled by Jesus Christ as we look back almost 2,000 years ago. Now, on the timeline here, Isaiah is prophesying this around 710 B.C. So this is all happening about 740 years later is when Jesus experiences these things that Isaiah is proclaiming. 700 years later, you go backwards from us today, 700 years later, Before today, 1313 A.D., that was before Martin Luther, before the discovery of America, someone writes about Pastor George and what he's going to be wearing and what he's going to suffer through and the kind of Starbucks drink he's going to order. I mean, that's kind of what is happening here. Isaiah is proclaiming these things about the Messiah, which Jesus fulfills. It's amazing. Chapter 54, verse 10. As he talks to his people, he says in verses 1 through 3, Now, as Isaiah is speaking these things, Judah has been contracted. I mean, the cities have been conquered. They've been reduced. They don't have much left. Specifically, he's speaking to the captives in Babylon. They don't even have the land anymore. And God's saying, I'm not done with you. I'm going to bring you back into the land. And not only that, but the land that you had is not going to be room enough anymore. You're going to expand to the left and the right. And so now as we look forward in chapter 54, these are things that are yet to be fulfilled, that will be fulfilled when Jesus rules and reigns here upon the earth for the thousand years. In verses 4 through 10, he explains that you will not be ashamed. Again, when Jesus rules and reigns, they will not be ashamed. They will be established. He's explaining here that he has a permanent covenant with Israel. Verse 10, for the mountains shall depart, the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you. He's making it abundantly clear to his people and to the rest of us. His covenant with them is permanent. He has not forsaken his people. He's not turned away from them. He still has this plan for them. And so verses 11 through 17 he explains, No weapon formed against you shall prosper because I'm for you. Now you're going to receive judgment because, well, you're in rebellion. That's not a weapon formed against you. That's part of my plan to bring you to repentance, to refine you as silver. It's part of what I'm doing. But no weapon against you shall prosper. You will be established. You will not have need to fear. Again, looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of this when Jesus rules and reigns there in Jerusalem. Chapter 55 now, verse 1 is the key verse. He says, Here God gives the invitation to His people. And we can extend this as well to us. Everyone who thirsts, are you thirsty? Jesus says, come to me and drink. Here the Lord says, come to the waters. You don't have any money? That's okay. Come, buy and eat. Without money, without price. It's an invitation to partake of the Lord. He says in verse 2, this is a very important verse. You should probably mark this down, maybe memorize it. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? He says, listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. How many times are you unsatisfied? And you keep spending your money. You keep investing yourself and expending yourself for things that don't satisfy you. Turn that around. How do you do that? God says, listen to me. Do what I say. Pay attention to me. Spend time with me. And then you'll find abundant life. Your soul will delight itself in abundance. So pay attention to the Lord. Spend time in His words. Seek Him. Verse 6 and 7, He says, Seek the Lord while He may be found. When may God be found? When? Right now. Right now. That's the point. Your opportunity to seek God will come to an end. So repent and seek God. And stop feeding yourself on things that won't satisfy you. No, invest yourself and immerse yourself in the things of God. He says in verse 7, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts return to the Lord. And notice what it says there at the end of verse 7. And he will have mercy on him for he will abundantly pardon him. The amazing thing about God is when we're in rebellion and we pursue those things that can't satisfy, and even though we knew better and God told us so, but even though we pursue them, when we repent and return to the Lord, God has mercy and He abundantly pardons. All you got to do is just return to the Lord. Turn back to Him and you will be forgiven. Verses 8 through 11, God explains, My ways are higher than your ways. The previous passages... explanation enough for that right because that's not how we are someone comes back after we told them not to do it we told them hey this is what's going to happen you're going to be miserable if you do this and then they come back to us and say oh man i blew it you're like yeah keep crawling for a little bit longer before we want to talk to you there's no abundant part in here god's not like that his ways are higher his ways are better we don't understand his ways that's why we have to obey him if it makes sense to us it's probably not the best thing for us to do If you do a lot of stuff because it makes sense to you, you probably need to check yourself. You should be doing a lot of things that don't make sense because his thoughts are not our thoughts. Verse 12 through 13, he says, you shall go out with joy and peace. You're going to go out with joy. You're going to be led forth with peace. As you obey me, as you walk with me, as you listen to me, I've got great things in store for you. Now for the nation of Israel as a whole, this is not yet fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in the millennium. But those who come right now to, Jesus said, if you're thirsty, come to me and drink. We can have this life that he refers to. This abundant life. This abundant pardon that he promises. Alright, let's finish it up now. In chapter 56 verse 8. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him. In verses 1 and 2 he says, keep justice and righteousness. The Lord speaks and says, keep justice, do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come. My righteousness is going to be revealed. So hold fast, be faithful, keep doing what I've called you to do. Then in verses 3 through 8, he explains that the Lord will gather Israel and others. The work that God is doing is going to be for Israel, but he's also going to expand that to include the Gentiles. Again, Romans 9, 10, and 11, we've been grafted in as Gentiles to God's plan of salvation for his people. And the same is true as we look forward to the millennium when God establishes his kingdom, the whole world benefits as he rules and reigns there in Jerusalem. He's going to gather Israel back to himself as well as others. But then in verses 9 through 12, he explains that his watchmen are blind. The leaders of his people are blind. And they're not paying attention. And so they're not being faithful. They're not keeping justice and doing righteousness. Instead, he explains in verse 12, here's how they are. They say, come, I will bring wine. And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as today and much more abundant. Look at the contrast. And this is a good thought to finish on. The contrast between verse 1 and verse 12. The contrast between what God says and what people say. God says, keep justice, do righteousness. Be obedient. Live out the word of God. Be faithful to do what's right as you walk with God. That's what God says. People say, hey, come, bring some kind of alcohol. Let's indulge ourselves. Tomorrow is going to be just like today. We've got all the time in the world. We don't got to worry about that. In fact, tomorrow is going to be better so we can waste the day and we can be wasted today. That's what people say. God says, listen, I'm about to do a work. Keep justice and do righteousness. And so as we wrap up our time together, it's a strong exhortation for us. Don't listen to the world. Don't listen to people. Don't listen to blind leaders who say you have plenty of time. Tomorrow is going to be just like today. In fact, it's going to be better. No, listen to the Lord. He says, do righteousness. Keep justice. Be faithful. Be obedient. Even if it hurts. Even if you have to endure some beatings. Be faithful. Because I'm about to be revealed. And I will not leave you nor forsake you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your great promises to us and that we can rest in you. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to tune out the voices of this world that tell us there's time later on to be serious about you. That tell us there's time later on to change and to repent. But Lord, you call to us and remind us that the need for repentance is for right now. There's an urgency for us to walk with you. The need for us to grow in our relationship with you is for right now. It's urgent that we keep justice and do righteousness, that we live out our obedience to you. And so Lord, help us to take you at your word, to listen to you and to pursue you, to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. 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