Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture - Isaiah 40-45
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Welcome to our journey through scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. And ⁓ we are ⁓ continuing our chronological walk ⁓ through the Bible. We are going to be in Isaiah chapter forty to forty five today. ⁓ Isaiah forty to forty five. ⁓ this is ⁓ kind of a the we're we're transitioning to a to a new phase in the life of Israel. ⁓ they've experienced the exile, been taken many of them have already been ⁓ taken into Babylon, Jerusalem has been destroyed. Now we're in that in-between time. This is probably about twenty years after ⁓ they were taken into exile and and that that kind of that time frame. And ⁓ now it's beginning to look ⁓ and ⁓ Isaiah ⁓ the these chapters here are actually very hopeful because it's looking towards ⁓ Israel's return to Jerusalem. So the people who are in exile eventually will be returning. ⁓ it's gonna still take a while. Persia is going to overthrow Babylon. ⁓ so there's still a lot that's going to ha to happen historically, ⁓ but God is beginning to prepare the people for going back to Jerusalem. So ⁓ these chapters in Isaiah are very different. ⁓ many of the chapters that we've been reading have been kind of a downer, right? They've just been t talking about how bad the people have been, how they haven't paid attention, how they haven't listened, and there's going to the r the result is going to be that they are going to be conquered and taken away from the land. These chapters are now Kind of looking now, God is going to restore you, right? You have you have now paid the price ⁓ for turning your back on God, for following other gods, ⁓ but God is still faithful and he is return will return you to Jerusalem. So chapter forty, Isaiah chapter forty, ⁓ is is just a a very comforting chapter. It starts off says, Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your Lord. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, cry out to her. ⁓ that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God, every valley shall be exalted, every nation mountain and hill brought low, the crooked path shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. That's a just a an encouraging word. Okay, you've been through it all, but now God is going to prepare a way for you to ⁓ come back. ⁓ it's interesting, just real quickly, some people will question whether this is the same Isaiah that was ⁓ prophesying in in the early part of Isaiah. Some people think there's there's two different ⁓ people at least that could be considered Isaiah. I you know, that that stuff is is interesting and you can can look at that. ⁓ you know, some say that this may be a a protege of Isaiah ⁓ who ⁓ has taken Isaiah's mantle, right? And kind of now he is ⁓ proclaiming and and ⁓ following what God is saying. Either way, I believe this is the word of God. ⁓ we can debate all of that stuff, but I believe this is ⁓ inspired by God. ⁓ and Isaiah is continuing to prophesy to the people and and hey, good for Isaiah. He gets to move from prophesying doom and destruction to to hope and ⁓ re re repentance and restoration. So so we but we do is it is definitely a different ⁓ atmosphere and a different attitude, ⁓ demeanor in these passages for sure. ⁓ I I love this passage, ⁓ verse six says the voice said, Cry out, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all is loveliness ⁓ is like the flower of the field, the grass withered, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass, the grass w withers, the flowers fade, but the word of God stands forever. Right. So this is that important balance. ⁓ we are nothing. We are like grass that fades and withers and we are created in the image of God and God loves us and He cares for us. Right? But we have to have to understand there is a huge gap between us and God. And it's when we get into trouble when we start rearranging that order or sh or closing that gap that that we start going our own way. We need to recognize Who God is and that He is all powerful. and He chooses to love us and to be in a relationship with us. Verse 21 says, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits in the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out ⁓ stretch out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. Again, recognizing you better recognize who God is. And then verse twenty seven says, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God? Have you not known? Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable, he gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. You know, I I love that that's a very familiar passage of mounting up with wings like eagles and But again, understanding the context that this is given, and the people are still in exile, right? This message is is not when they feel like they're soaring above. ⁓ this is a message whenever they are are at their lowest. ⁓ and and God is reminding them that he will pick them up. But they also need to do their part. They need to recognize who he is. They need to recognize that ⁓ he is the one true God. ⁓ that is that is how we are able ⁓ to soar with wings as eagles to to walk and not be weary, ⁓ is by recognizing who God is and our relationship ⁓ with him. Chapter forty one, ⁓ Israel ⁓ is kind of assured of God's help. You said it starts off because keep silence before me, O coastlands, and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near, let them speak, let us come near together for judgment. Right so so again, acknowledging the judgment, but then allowing God to renew your strength. ⁓ verse eight But you, Israel, are my servant, ⁓ Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham my friend, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from the farthest regions, and said to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you and Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I I just I just love those those verses. Again, fear not, do not be dismayed. I will uphold you with my right hand, no, my righteous right hand, which is I will uphold you with a hand that does what is right, that that calls you to do what is right. Verse th thirteen, for I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not, I will help you. Again, fear not is is something that is seen throughout scripture. ⁓ you know, it is easy for us to be overcome with fear. We see the results of that all around us. ⁓ that is why we have to trust in God and and and understand ⁓ the the gap between us and him. And how much greater he is than us. Our only fear should be of him, ⁓ not in anything else. I love that this talks a lot about these no many of these chapters talk a lot about the futility of idols, because that was the the the ultimate deal breaker. ⁓ it wasn't just the immorality of the people, it was the fact that they were worshiping other gods, that they were ⁓ following idols. Starting in ⁓ verse twenty two, let them bring forth and show us what will happen, let them show the former things what they were, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them, or declare us th things to come, show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do evil, d do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together. So it's basically taunting, saying, Okay, let's see, see if these idols ⁓ see what they do. Or do they do good or do they do evil? ⁓ and of course that's kind of said in a mocking way. ⁓ chapter forty two, ⁓ it says, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break and smoking flax he will not quench, he will bring forth justice for the truth, he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands shall wait for his laws. You know, some will say this is Jesus. There's an there's a there is a connection ⁓ there, but but I I think it that this could be referring to an an earthly ⁓ leader who will do this that hasn't come yet. ⁓ there's different different interpretations, but ⁓ but again, I think ⁓ the main point is this is where God is moving. ⁓ that he's he's moving the people towards ⁓ towards this, that he has has not abandoned them. it does re ⁓ the it also throughout this reminds Israel of their disobedience, how important that is for them and it and it's important for us to always recognize Where we have fallen short and where we have been disobedient. Verse twenty one says the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. He will exalt the law and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered. All of them are snared in holes and they are hidden in prison houses, they are for prey and no one delivers, for plunder and no one says restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear from time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord? He against whom I he against whom we have sinned, for they would not walk in his ways, nor were they obedient to his law. Therefore he has poured on him the fury of his anger and the strength of his battle, he has set him on fire all around. Yet he did not know, and it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart. ⁓ They they did not turn their hearts to the to the Lord, but then it that flows right into chapter forty three. But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, he formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, and I have called you by your name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you, for I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel. your Savior. So God brought the fire, but then He will walk with the people through the fire. ⁓ just a neat illustration ⁓ there. at the end of chapter 43 is kind of that ⁓ just the continuing to for the people to remember where they have fallen short and pleading with them not to continue, right? I said it says, I I, even I He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins, put me in remembrance, let us contend together, state your case that you may be acquitted. Your fur your first father sinned, and your ⁓ mediators have transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of this sanctuary, I will give Jacob to the curse as Israel to reproaches. So that is what had happened. That's that's why they're in Babylon right now. And but but now the tide is beginning to turn where God will be returning them back to Jerusalem. ⁓ chapter forty-four and forty-five talk a lot about just God being the one true God. It just kind of re-emphasizes. this is why I I it is disturbing how how much we debate even within Christian circles ⁓ about the validity and ⁓ of other religions and and things like that that clearly are not worshiping the God of Scripture. And I know we s struggle with that and the the there are lots of good people who ⁓ believe and follow in these other religions. ⁓ it is it's hard for me to justify that there's any other one true God whenever you read things like this in in Scripture. Verse six of chapter forty four Thus says the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer The Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God, and who who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people in the things that are coming and shall come. Let them show these to them. Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Indeed there is no other rock. I know not one. Those who make an image all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit. They are their own witnesses, they neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all this companions would be ashamed, and the workmen they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yet they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together. ⁓ verse eighteen, They do not know or understand, for he has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, their heart so that they cannot understand, and no one considers in his heart, nor is their knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned half of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals, I have roasted meat and eaten it, and shall I make the rest of it an abomination. Shall I fall down before the block of wood? He feeds on ashes, a deceived heart has turned him aside, and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say Is there not a lie in my right hand? Again, this is mocking the ⁓ the idols and the how people are deceived and they think that they can ⁓ offer sacrifices to these other idols and that it will will bring about ⁓ benefit to them, but they are all a lie. ⁓ says ⁓ this Judah talking about how Judah will be restored verse twenty four. Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, and he who has formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers, and drives diviners mad, who turns wise men backwards and makes their knowledge foolishness, who confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers. Who who say says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited, to the cities of Judah you shall be built, and I will raise her up ⁓ w raise up her waste places, who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers, who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built, and to the temple your foundation is laid. then chapter forty five says. ⁓ it talks about how Persia, s King Cyrus is going to be used to punish ⁓ Babylon. ⁓ verse twenty two says, Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To him men shall come and shall not and all shall be ashamed, who are incensed against him, and the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. these are encouraging ⁓ words, but yet there is that reminder of who God is, that we we have to choose to follow him, ⁓ that we we do not follow other gods and ⁓ we live in a society right now, we you know, we think that like Rome and we look back at the ancient times with the Greek gods and ⁓ you know, all of the Roman pagan rituals and things like that and and how they were fine with people worshiping multiple gods and in fact it was encouraged. That was the one thing they didn't like about Jews and about Christians, is that they worshiped one true God. Well, we're in that place right now. there's not as many people sacrificing bulls and following that type of pagan ⁓ rituals. ⁓ but the ideology ⁓ is the same. many people, in fact I would say most people, just consider all most all religions valid and and equally true. but yet I believe the word of God. That's that's th I I'm I I'm sticking with it, and it says there is only one true God. And that is who I will believe in and that is who will inform my worldview. ⁓ read Isaiah chapter forty-six through fifty-one. Forty-six through fifty-one. All right. See you all.