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Beyond the Ruins (Isaiah 54) · Prodigal Hope

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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 54,
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SPEAKER_00: an amazing prophecy that comes from Isaiah the prophet in the midst of
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SPEAKER_00: a very tumultuous season, as I hope to show you this morning.
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SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a part of Pastor Eric's scripture reading,
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SPEAKER_00: but I wanted you to notice really with me really quick verse number 11,
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SPEAKER_00: because notice how Isaiah addresses these people that he is speaking to.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 11, he says, Oh, afflicted one.
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SPEAKER_00: Storm-tossed and not comforted.
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SPEAKER_00: So you can understand that this is the way that he's describing his audience.
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SPEAKER_00: Storm-tossed, afflicted and not comforted.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course, Isaiah was a prophet sent by God.
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SPEAKER_00: He was basically a preacher sent by God to go to the people of Judah.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you understand,
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SPEAKER_00: I hope to show in just a second,
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SPEAKER_00: if you understand the context in which Isaiah is prophesying and preaching,
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SPEAKER_00: this description doesn't feel entirely accurate.
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SPEAKER_00: Judah, of course,
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SPEAKER_00: was the mostly,
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SPEAKER_00: we could say,
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SPEAKER_00: mostly in quote-unquote faithful kingdom that stayed mostly true to God for most
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SPEAKER_00: of their history, at least, when the kingdoms split apart.
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SPEAKER_00: You remember that there was a giant civil war amongst the people of God.
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SPEAKER_00: There was Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
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SPEAKER_00: And by this time, of course, by the time Isaiah is preaching...
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SPEAKER_00: Israel has already fallen.
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SPEAKER_00: They've been overrun by the Assyrians.
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SPEAKER_00: And now, of course, after a string of some pretty bad kings, Judah is facing a similar fate.
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SPEAKER_00: They're facing a similar future.
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SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah is the king at this particular juncture.
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SPEAKER_00: King Hezekiah, he was one of the good ones for the most part.
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SPEAKER_00: One of the good kings of Judah.
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SPEAKER_00: He had suffered an illness.
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SPEAKER_00: He was almost on his deathbed.
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SPEAKER_00: And he had also been, there was an attempted invasion by Assyria.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet now Judah has weathered all of that.
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SPEAKER_00: They've weathered those blows.
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SPEAKER_00: King Hezekiah, he's risen from his deathbed.
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SPEAKER_00: And they've withstood all of that.
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SPEAKER_00: So is this description accurate?
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SPEAKER_00: Afflicted, storm-tossed, and not comforted?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, no, not really.
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SPEAKER_00: Only because Isaiah isn't really talking to Hezekiah's generation.
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SPEAKER_00: He's actually preaching a sermon that he's speaking in the present tense to future generations.
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SPEAKER_00: A little confusing, but that's what he's doing.
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SPEAKER_00: He's preaching to generations way after Hezekiah's generation would be gone.
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SPEAKER_00: Flip with me really quick.
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SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this.
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SPEAKER_00: Flip with me to 2 Kings chapter number 20.
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SPEAKER_00: We went through the books of Kings a long time ago, several years ago.
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SPEAKER_00: But I want you to just see how this moment is connected.
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SPEAKER_00: I think this is a really cool moment to help us understand how the Bible is connected.
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SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can just read the Bible as if there's one book after another
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SPEAKER_00: and not really always understanding the deep interconnectedness of each book.
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SPEAKER_00: But here in 2 Kings 20, we're going to read a moment that's actually referenced in Isaiah.
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SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings 20,
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SPEAKER_00: because there's a moment at the end of Hezekiah's life that sort of serves as
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SPEAKER_00: an omen, a bad omen of things to come.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 12.
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SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings 20, verse 12.
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SPEAKER_00: This is Hezekiah.
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SPEAKER_00: He's recovered from this illness and all that kind of stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: And it says,
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SPEAKER_00: at that time,
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SPEAKER_00: Merodach Baladon, really good name, the son of Baladon, the king of Babylon...
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SPEAKER_00: Sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
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SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah, notice, welcomed them.
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SPEAKER_00: And he showed them all his treasure house,
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SPEAKER_00: the silver,
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SPEAKER_00: the gold,
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SPEAKER_00: the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses.
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SPEAKER_00: There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not know.
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SPEAKER_00: Show them.
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SPEAKER_00: So here at this juncture, Assyria, this invasion of the Assyrians on Judah has been thwarted.
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SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah has recovered.
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SPEAKER_00: And now this king of this new upstarted nation called Babylon,
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SPEAKER_00: a very ominous name as perhaps we will understand.
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SPEAKER_00: He sends this letter.
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SPEAKER_00: He sends a letter in a gift basket, if you will, to Hezekiah.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is a seeming sign of goodwill.
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SPEAKER_00: Wow, look at this.
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SPEAKER_00: I got this amazing gift basket.
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SPEAKER_00: Who knows what's in it?
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SPEAKER_00: So I can cover strawberries.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's one of those like fruit arrangements, whatever.
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SPEAKER_00: He gets it and he's just overwhelmed by this amazing gesture.
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SPEAKER_00: And so he's so flattered,
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SPEAKER_00: in fact, that he ends up escorting these envoys from Babylon all over the kingdom.
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SPEAKER_00: Hey, look at this.
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SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
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SPEAKER_00: This is my armory.
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SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
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SPEAKER_00: This is where I keep all my treasure and my jewels.
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SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
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SPEAKER_00: This is where I keep all my special precious documents.
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SPEAKER_00: You understand where this is going, right?
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SPEAKER_00: This is like escorting a robber through your house.
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SPEAKER_00: This is all the stuff that I keep that's really precious.
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SPEAKER_00: It's over here.
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SPEAKER_00: Here's the safe code.
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SPEAKER_00: Here's all this other stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: He's leading them through the kingdom.
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SPEAKER_00: Showing them everything.
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SPEAKER_00: As it says, he did not refrain from showing them anything.
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SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah, the prophet, he catches wind of this.
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SPEAKER_00: And he is none too happy about Hezekiah's actions.
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SPEAKER_00: Not one bit, in fact.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Isaiah the prophet,
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SPEAKER_00: same Isaiah,
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SPEAKER_00: chapter 54 that we're in,
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah the prophet,
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SPEAKER_00: he came to the king, King Hezekiah, and said to him, what did these men say?
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SPEAKER_00: And from where did they come to you?
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SPEAKER_00: What were they here for?
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SPEAKER_00: What were their intentions?
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SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah said, they have come from a far country, from Babylon, Babylon.
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SPEAKER_00: And he, Isaiah, said, What have they seen in your house?
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SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house.
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SPEAKER_00: There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.
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SPEAKER_00: What are you doing, Hezekiah?
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SPEAKER_00: And then Isaiah said, Hear the word of the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that
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SPEAKER_00: which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to where?
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SPEAKER_00: Babylon.
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SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
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SPEAKER_00: Shall be left, says the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: And some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away.
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SPEAKER_00: And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
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SPEAKER_00: What an ominous word.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah shares this word of warning of what is going to befall the people of Judah.
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SPEAKER_00: Those whom Isaiah was gleefully marching through Jerusalem are soon going to march on Jerusalem.
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SPEAKER_00: And not with good intent.
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SPEAKER_00: They're going to ransack that city.
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SPEAKER_00: They're going to leave it ruined.
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SPEAKER_00: They're going to leave it in shambles.
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SPEAKER_00: And they're going to take whatever they want with them back to Babylon.
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SPEAKER_00: Even sons and daughters of Hezekiah's realm,
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SPEAKER_00: they're going to be snatched away, ripped from their homes.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the time of affliction.
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SPEAKER_00: That Isaiah is referring to, it's going to be a time of great affliction and no comfort.
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SPEAKER_00: It's going to be exactly as desolate as Isaiah described.
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SPEAKER_00: Storm-tossed and no comfort.
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SPEAKER_00: And notice Hezekiah, he's a mostly good king.
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SPEAKER_00: He brings revival.
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SPEAKER_00: But notice the mark on his resume.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at his response to this word of Isaiah.
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SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings 20 verse 19.
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SPEAKER_00: After this word that Isaiah gives,
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SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.
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SPEAKER_00: Is it?
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SPEAKER_00: For he thought, why not?
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SPEAKER_00: If there will be peace and security in my days.
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SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
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SPEAKER_00: He's a little callous, is he not?
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SPEAKER_00: The smudge on his resume is the way he kind of shrugs at
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SPEAKER_00: the desolation that's coming to his people, to God's people.
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SPEAKER_00: At least it's not in my time.
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SPEAKER_00: They can worry about that.
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SPEAKER_00: We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Isaiah.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about it.
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SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a time of affliction.
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SPEAKER_00: The people of God are going to be storm-tossed, and they're not going to be comforted.
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SPEAKER_00: It's no accident,
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SPEAKER_00: by the way,
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SPEAKER_00: That Isaiah,
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SPEAKER_00: the preacher,
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SPEAKER_00: the prophet,
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SPEAKER_00: when he's recounting this very moment in his own prophecy,
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SPEAKER_00: he's inspired,
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SPEAKER_00: of course,
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SPEAKER_00: by the Spirit of God,
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SPEAKER_00: to follow up that non-comfort of King Hezekiah with a word of comfort
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SPEAKER_00: from God himself.
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SPEAKER_00: Go back to Isaiah, but look at chapter number 39.
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SPEAKER_00: This is cool to me at least, watching how the Bible is connected.
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SPEAKER_00: If you read chapter 39,
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SPEAKER_00: you have that same exact story we just went through in 2 Kings chapter 20 about
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SPEAKER_00: the envoys from Babylon and all that kind of stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter number 39, verse number 8.
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SPEAKER_00: It's the same exact wording.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah,
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SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,
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SPEAKER_00: for he thought, There will be peace and security in my days.
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SPEAKER_00: We just read that.
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SPEAKER_00: And what is Isaiah's response to the generation that Hezekiah seems to kind
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SPEAKER_00: of shrug off without comfort?
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SPEAKER_00: What does he say to them?
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SPEAKER_00: Chapter 40, verse 1.
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SPEAKER_00: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
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SPEAKER_00: The lack of comfort that Hezekiah was giving is the exact comfort that God wants
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SPEAKER_00: to give his people.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah and every prophet that came after him.
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SPEAKER_00: They're known for sharing prophecies of what was to come.
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SPEAKER_00: Judah being desolate.
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SPEAKER_00: Judah being ravaged.
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SPEAKER_00: And even though that devastation hadn't yet occurred.
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SPEAKER_00: It wasn't in their time.
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SPEAKER_00: It was still yet to come.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah is writing with just painful clarity.
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SPEAKER_00: Almost as if it had come.
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SPEAKER_00: He's giving words of comfort from God to beleaguered souls.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is what dominates Isaiah's writing from chapter number 40 all the way
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SPEAKER_00: through almost the end of the book.
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SPEAKER_00: He's sharing a message of hope and peace and reconciliation and salvation.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is why,
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SPEAKER_00: by the way,
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SPEAKER_00: the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is sometimes referred to as
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SPEAKER_00: the fifth gospel.
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SPEAKER_00: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can include Isaiah in there too.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because he's elaborating promise after promise that God's people can cling to,
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SPEAKER_00: that they can hold fast to, even when they endure an exile that is yet to come.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what they can cling to.
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SPEAKER_00: He gives them words of comfort.
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SPEAKER_00: If you read those chapters,
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SPEAKER_00: by the way, we're going to hasten on, but if you read those chapters...
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SPEAKER_00: He gives them words of comfort.
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SPEAKER_00: He tells them that their enemies will be made into nothing.
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SPEAKER_00: That God's going to judge even the enemies that are yet to come for them.
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SPEAKER_00: And he tells them how God is going to be their only savior.
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SPEAKER_00: He tells them all about how God's going to redeem them and release them
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SPEAKER_00: by using other kings to judge other nations.
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SPEAKER_00: And it all culminates in this wonderful promise.
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SPEAKER_00: The promise of the servant of the Lord who's going to bring all of this to pass.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 52.
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SPEAKER_00: If you're on 54, flip over backwards.
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SPEAKER_00: One page, look at chapter 52.
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SPEAKER_00: You might recognize these words.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 52 verse 13.
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SPEAKER_00: Behold, my servant shall act wisely.
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SPEAKER_00: He shall be high and lifted up and he shall be exalted.
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SPEAKER_00: As many as were astonished at you,
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SPEAKER_00: his appearance was so marred beyond any human semblance,
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SPEAKER_00: and his form beyond that of the children of mankind,
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SPEAKER_00: so shall he sprinkle many nations.
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SPEAKER_00: Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see.
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SPEAKER_00: And that which they have not heard, they understand.
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SPEAKER_00: Even though no one in Isaiah's day was going to be around to see it,
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SPEAKER_00: the coming generations,
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SPEAKER_00: yes, they would suffer unimaginable sorrow and loss and heartache.
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SPEAKER_00: It was going to be devastating.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet, even before any of that occurred...
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SPEAKER_00: Before any tear was shed over Judah's crumbling walls, they could take heart.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because God's word is a word of first and foremost, a word of comfort and good news.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 52 verse 7, what does he say?
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SPEAKER_00: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
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SPEAKER_00: who publishes peace,
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SPEAKER_00: who brings good news of happiness,
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SPEAKER_00: who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.
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SPEAKER_00: And the essence of that good news, as you find out throughout the rest of Isaiah, is what?
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SPEAKER_00: It's God's servant and what he would accomplish.
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SPEAKER_00: That's why Isaiah 53 follows that right after it.
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SPEAKER_00: The servant who bears the griefs and the sorrows and the cares and every affliction
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SPEAKER_00: of God's people.
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SPEAKER_00: All of that would happen because of this servant,
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SPEAKER_00: what he would accomplish for them and how through his death he would form
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SPEAKER_00: a new people who are made righteous by the righteousness he gives them.
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SPEAKER_00: That's the promise of God's word to God's people in the midst of their affliction.
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SPEAKER_00: And so now we come to chapter 54 and what do we find?
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SPEAKER_00: All of this is a response to what God has done.
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SPEAKER_00: You see what Isaiah is doing?
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SPEAKER_00: He's giving his people,
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SPEAKER_00: he's giving future generations rock solid promise and hope
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SPEAKER_00: that they can sink their teeth into.
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SPEAKER_00: And then respond by praising and acknowledging the God
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SPEAKER_00: that has been preserving them throughout all of their generations and lifetimes.
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SPEAKER_00: And the point is this.
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SPEAKER_00: Since every word of this promise was written before any wall ever crumbled down.
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SPEAKER_00: The promises that Isaiah is giving his people don't depend on their situation.
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SPEAKER_00: They're good throughout it all.
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SPEAKER_00: Before, in the middle, and after, these promises hold true.
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SPEAKER_00: And so our response to the promises holds true as well, no matter the situation.
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SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to three things this morning that I want to go through
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SPEAKER_00: in this chapter, Isaiah 54.
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SPEAKER_00: As Isaiah is bringing all of this to bear on God's people, he's also bringing it to bear on us.
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SPEAKER_00: Our response in the midst of situations that seem tumultuous,
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SPEAKER_00: when we feel storm-tossed,
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SPEAKER_00: what's our response because of what God has already accomplished?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, number one, we can sing of a promise that you can't see.
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SPEAKER_00: Sing of a promise that you can't see.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah begins and he begins by calling out those,
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SPEAKER_00: these women who can't bear children to break out in song.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 54 verse 1.
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SPEAKER_00: Sing, O barren one who did not bear.
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SPEAKER_00: Break forth into singing and cry aloud.
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SPEAKER_00: You who have not been in labor.
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SPEAKER_00: For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her
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SPEAKER_00: who is married, says the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: This seems not only a little bit astonishing,
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SPEAKER_00: this request,
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SPEAKER_00: a little bit surprising,
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SPEAKER_00: but also maybe a little bit, maybe a lot of it, inappropriate.
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SPEAKER_00: Telling a wife who is barren,
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SPEAKER_00: who can't bear children, to sing for joy seems a little cold, doesn't Isaiah?
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SPEAKER_00: This is a little insensitive.
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SPEAKER_00: This is a little bit absurd, what you're asking for.
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SPEAKER_00: Especially in those days,
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SPEAKER_00: a woman,
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SPEAKER_00: there was no such thing as IVF and all those other ways
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SPEAKER_00: that women can explore infertility.
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SPEAKER_00: But in those days,
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SPEAKER_00: a woman couldn't,
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SPEAKER_00: if she couldn't give her husband children, let alone an heir, it bore great shame.
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SPEAKER_00: It was a mark of shame for her.
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SPEAKER_00: Following her wherever she went,
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SPEAKER_00: she would feel it in her bones, this disgrace of what she couldn't produce.
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SPEAKER_00: So, what would she have to sing about?
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SPEAKER_00: Why is Isaiah calling these who can't bear children to break forth into song?
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SPEAKER_00: Well Isaiah tells us that it's precisely these who are barren who would bear children.
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SPEAKER_00: There's this beautiful reversal, this surprise that's happening.
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SPEAKER_00: And they would bear children so much so that they would have to,
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SPEAKER_00: as he says, enlarge their tents.
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SPEAKER_00: Their homes would have to be expanded.
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SPEAKER_00: There would have to be tons and tons of expansion projects on all the homes.
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SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 1, Sing, O barren one who did not bear.
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SPEAKER_00: Break forth into singing and cry aloud.
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SPEAKER_00: You who have not been in labor for the children of the desolate will be more than
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SPEAKER_00: the children of her who was married, says the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out.
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SPEAKER_00: Do not hold back.
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SPEAKER_00: Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes for you will spread abroad to
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SPEAKER_00: the right and to the left and your offspring will possess the nations
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SPEAKER_00: and will people the desolate cities.
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SPEAKER_00: So many offspring,
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SPEAKER_00: so many ancestors that they're going to be populating the cities
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SPEAKER_00: and reestablishing them.
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SPEAKER_00: Those desolate places, they're going to be reestablished.
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SPEAKER_00: These words come, of course, as a total surprise.
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SPEAKER_00: One that would not make much sense in the moment.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because the woman's barrenness is still there.
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SPEAKER_00: He just says nothing about necessarily taking it away.
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SPEAKER_00: Yet he's saying in the future it's going to be taken away.
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SPEAKER_00: But she still couldn't have children of her own in the moment.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet right there in the middle of all that she's given this promise.
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SPEAKER_00: This beautiful promise from the lips of Isaiah that's coming from God
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SPEAKER_00: to these people who are weary, who are crestfallen, who are so down and discouraged.
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SPEAKER_00: Yes, that those who are appalled,
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SPEAKER_00: those who are desolate by the lack of children would bring forth more children
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SPEAKER_00: than she who was married.
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SPEAKER_00: So yes, he tells them, go ahead and start preparing.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and start preparing as if it's true.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Don't hold back, he says.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: Despite what your eyes are telling you.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: The promise of this is a reversal of fortunes.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's no mere rumor.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: This is the truth of God's grace.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: It always comes as a surprise to those who are hard pressed and storm tossed.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And this promise that this barren woman would bear children reveals
19:03
SPEAKER_00: a beautiful biblical pattern.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: They're going to find throughout the scriptures from Sarah to Rebecca to Rachel
19:12
SPEAKER_00: to Hannah to the mother of Samson.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: You could definitely say that our God has a habit of creating life out of barren wombs.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of his thing.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: He likes to do that.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: He likes to surprise.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: He likes to reverse fortunes.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: He has a penchant to create life out of places that seem impossible.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: And this is both practical and spiritual because God only meets the needs
19:40
SPEAKER_00: of all those infertile wives of patriarchs that we just listed.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: And he keeps his promises to them.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: But also at the same time,
19:48
SPEAKER_00: he meets the needs of desolate and desperate people right where they are.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: How?
19:54
SPEAKER_00: By making seeming impossible promises and always coming through.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Go with me really quick.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Keep your finger here, but go with me to Romans chapter number 4.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see, again, notice how all of Scripture is connected.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: It's all about Jesus, yes, but watch how all of this is connected.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Even here,
20:15
SPEAKER_00: as Paul is speaking to a church in Rome,
20:18
SPEAKER_00: many centuries later,
20:20
SPEAKER_00: and he's going to use the same exact argument that
20:24
SPEAKER_00: the prophet Isaiah is telling these people.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: How can they take comfort in times when they are afflicted and storm-tossed,
20:30
SPEAKER_00: when everything seems ruined?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Well,
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Paul is going to make the same argument about our hope and our standing before God
20:37
SPEAKER_00: the Father.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Notice Romans chapter 4 and look at verse number 16.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Romans 4, 16.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: He says, that is why he's making this argument about faith alone, of course.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: This beautiful section of Romans.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And he says, that is why it depends on faith.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Right?
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Not only to the adherent of the law,
21:02
SPEAKER_00: but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: As it is written,
21:07
SPEAKER_00: I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in
21:11
SPEAKER_00: whom he believed,
21:13
SPEAKER_00: who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: That's an awesome phrase.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: In hope, he, Abraham, believed against hope.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: That he should become the father of many nations,
21:28
SPEAKER_00: as he had been told, so shall your offspring be.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body,
21:34
SPEAKER_00: which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Wow, Paul, thanks for that.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: Or when he considered the bareness of Saren's womb.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God,
21:47
SPEAKER_00: but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
21:50
SPEAKER_00: fully convinced, notice that God was able to do what he had promised.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: You see what he's saying?
21:59
SPEAKER_00: That Abraham,
22:00
SPEAKER_00: despite all of the impossibility of his situation,
22:04
SPEAKER_00: believed yet even still in what God had promised.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Of course, if you read Genesis, there's a lot in the midst of all of that.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Because Abraham wavered and waffled constantly with what God had promised.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: But Paul is sort of giving us an overview.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: That despite what was against them, Sarah's age, Abraham's age...
22:26
SPEAKER_00: He still put his faith in the promises of God.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: And he grew fully convinced that God could do what he promised to do.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: Even when it seemed impossible.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Even when he couldn't see it.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: And what has God promised to do?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: I love that phrase in verse number 17.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: What has God promised to do?
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Give life to the dead and call things into existence that do not exist.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: The promises of God, you see.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: They don't run on the logic of what's possible.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: Of what makes sense to us.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Even when we can't see it, we are called.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Just like Paul is saying to people that don't understand.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Abraham and Sarah don't understand how God is going to bring forth a son of promise.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Even to people like Isaiah is referencing.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Where they don't understand how their desolation is going to be made into restoration.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: He is calling them to sing even of a promise when they can't see it.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Why?
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Because this is God's penchant.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: He traffics in the impossible.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: That's what grace does.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Surprises us in places where we least expected.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And this means we can sing even when it feels impossible.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: That means that our faith is sturdy even when we are storm-tossed and we are afflicted.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Like the barren woman who's, as Isaiah is referencing, who tell, hey, decorate a nursery.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: And it's not even occupied yet.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and do it.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Enlarge your house.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Expand it.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: The people of God.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: We, the church, we are told, we could say, to stretch our curtains.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: To lengthen our cords and to drive stakes of our tents even deeper.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: That's what he means when he says strengthen the stakes.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Drive them deeper into the ground.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: For us, that means into promises that though they're unseen, they are in no way uncertain.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: This is not just trivial optimism.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, buck up.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: No, this is what faith sounds like.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like what Mary prays for.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Nothing will be impossible with God.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Why?
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the God of it.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Faith doesn't sing because the circumstances necessarily change.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: No, we can sing because we know who has spoken, who has given us those promises.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Sing of a promise you can't see.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: Number two, I have to hasten.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: Number two, rest in a love you can't lose.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: The people of God are being called to respond.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: They are being called to sing and yes, also rest in a love they can't lose.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Judah finds herself, the people of Judah find themselves at the center of this prophecy.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: If you turn back to Isaiah 54.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: A prophecy, by the way, which doesn't do them a lot of favors because it likes them.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: It compares them both to a barren woman and also a scorned widow.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: But once again, Judah,
25:32
SPEAKER_00: their expectations are turned sort of upside down,
25:34
SPEAKER_00: if you will, in light of the promises that God makes to them.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 4.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 54 verse 4.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Fear not,
25:43
SPEAKER_00: for you will not be ashamed,
25:45
SPEAKER_00: be not confounded,
25:46
SPEAKER_00: for you will not be disgraced,
25:48
SPEAKER_00: for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: You will remember no more.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: The disgrace of being a barren young bride and also the reproach of being a grieving widow.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to hover over you.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to haunt you.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to always be following you.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: All of that shame, all of that dishonor is going to be taken away.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Is it going to be forgotten?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: How?
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Why?
26:12
SPEAKER_00: How can you say that, Isaiah?
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Because there's one.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: There's someone who is unwaveringly committed to them.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Despite their fluctuating commitment to him.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: And who is it?
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, he tells us in verse number five.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: For your maker is your husband.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: The Lord of hosts is his name.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: The Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: And the God of the whole earth, he is called.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah's words are turning their attention to Yahweh, to the Lord.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: Who despite Judah's infidelity and unfaithfulness acts as what?
26:56
SPEAKER_00: As a faithful husband to them.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: This prophecy like many others.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: If you read Isaiah's prophecy it begins with a very searing indictment on God's people.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Calling them out.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Calling them, in fact, calling them an estranged wife and an adulterous bride.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't mince words.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Go with me really quick just so you can see it.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Go to the very first chapter of Isaiah.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: This is how he begins his preaching series, if you will.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: This is how he begins his prophecy.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 1, look at verse number 2.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: This is how he begins.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: This is a word coming straight from God.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Children I have reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: But Israel does not know.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: My people do not understand.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Ah, sinful nation.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: A people laden with iniquity.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Offspring of evildoers.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Children who deal corruptly.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: They have forsaken the Lord.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: They are utterly estranged.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: And then jump down and look at verse number 21.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: How?
28:15
SPEAKER_00: The faithful city has become a whore.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Notice this is what Isaiah is calling out.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: They've fallen.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: They've been unfaithful.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: And now their judgment is coming home to roost, so to speak.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: And this is very natural, this comparison that's being made.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: God often compares his covenant with the people that he has covenanted with Israel,
28:46
SPEAKER_00: the Israelites.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: He often compares it to a marriage where,
28:49
SPEAKER_00: you know,
28:49
SPEAKER_00: of course,
28:50
SPEAKER_00: both parties are meant to commit themselves to each other for rich or for poor
28:53
SPEAKER_00: and all that stuff.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: And time and again, what do we find?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: What do we find is that Israel themselves, they prove to be a very unfaithful spouse.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Reaching for other gods,
29:06
SPEAKER_00: reaching for other sources of truth and vitality and life and meaning,
29:11
SPEAKER_00: reaching for all of that,
29:12
SPEAKER_00: even while the one true God, Yahweh,
29:14
SPEAKER_00: who brought them through all of what they went through in the wilderness,
29:18
SPEAKER_00: even as he pledged himself to them and promised to be their God,
29:25
SPEAKER_00: they still reach for others.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: And therefore,
29:28
SPEAKER_00: what we can say is this,
29:29
SPEAKER_00: back in Isaiah 54,
29:30
SPEAKER_00: that all of that shame and All of that reproach that they felt,
29:36
SPEAKER_00: it was self-inflicted.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: It came because they were reaching out.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: It came because they were rebelling.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: They were evildoers who had fallen away.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: It came because they failed to remain a chaste bride in relationship with the one true God.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: Which explains why Isaiah says there's a season of exile that's looming.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6 of our text, for the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Like a young bride who's suddenly cast off,
30:14
SPEAKER_00: the people of God would be made to feel the ache of his abandonment.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: That's what Isaiah is telling them, that this is looming, this is coming.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Their unfaithfulness,
30:24
SPEAKER_00: their betrayal is going to lead directly to the Lord leaving them for a while.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: And it's warranted.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: But notice he follows this up.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Isaiah is doing.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: He's speaking again.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Remember who he's speaking to?
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Afflicted, storm-tossed, not comforted people.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all that, what does he do?
30:42
SPEAKER_00: He says to them that the pain of that isn't without purpose.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Because the judgment of God's rejection is not going to continue forever.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Verse number seven.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: For a brief moment I deserted you.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: But with great compassion I will gather you.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Says the Lord your Redeemer.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: This is like the days of Noah to me.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says there.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: It feels like this moment of desolation and ruin is like a rising tide,
31:36
SPEAKER_00: like a tide that just keeps on rising,
31:39
SPEAKER_00: like a flood that's going to cover the whole earth.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: It's just going to keep rising and rising and rising.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: And no, he says, no,
31:45
SPEAKER_00: God is telling his people, no, there are limits to what I am putting you through.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Just like in the days of Noah.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: No, this is not going to go on forever.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: This flood is not going to rise above your heads.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: This judgment isn't going to go on unceasingly.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: No, as he says to them,
32:05
SPEAKER_00: just like in the days of Noah,
32:06
SPEAKER_00: where that flood eventually ended and the waters receded and
32:10
SPEAKER_00: the sun shined out again.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: And God gave his word with the seal of the rainbow that he would never do that again.
32:17
SPEAKER_00: What is he saying to these people?
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Yes, this brief moment of rejection is going to come, but then it's going to give way.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: In much the same way, their exile wouldn't be forever.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: Because God, as he says, God is their husband.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: And their redeemer.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Verse number five.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: For your maker is your husband.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: The Lord of hosts is his name.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: The God of the whole earth.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: He is called.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: And with love, as he says, the word is compassion.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: Love.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: That affection that is springing from deep within God's heart.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: He is bringing his bride close.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: He gathers them to himself.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Did you notice that word in verse number seven?
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Even though I deserted you for a moment, but with great compassion, I will gather you.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to bring you back again.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Instead of filing for divorce,
33:13
SPEAKER_00: we could say, the Lord comes and calls his unfaithful bride back to himself.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number, flip over actually to chapter number 62.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Because the same analogy holds true in this beautiful, beautiful passage.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: Look at Isaiah 62 verse 4.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: He says, you shall no more be termed forsaken.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And your land shall no more be termed desolate.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: But you shall be called, my delight is in her.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: That's her name.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: And your land married.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: See, this is the promise of God.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of God where they,
34:04
SPEAKER_00: where God's people reached for other gods, idols that could never satisfy.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: God reaches for them.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: In everlasting love.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: With great compassion.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: And this brings us to this wonderful seal.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: You want to know that this is true?
34:23
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that this is true, Isaiah?
34:25
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that this is not going to just go on forever?
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, he compares it.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: The most permanent things in his creation.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: They can't even compare to how permanent God's love is for his people.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 10.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: For the mountains may depart...
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And the hills, they may be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: It's never going to be taken away.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: And my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: This promise can't be thwarted.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: It can't be changed.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be altered.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Even through all the winding ways of exile and return and being regathered and going
35:11
SPEAKER_00: through desolate, storm-tossed, afflicted seasons without comfort.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: What are God's people called to sink their teeth into?
35:19
SPEAKER_00: It's the promise of God's love.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: And they are called to rest in it.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: And why?
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Because they are called to know that they can't lose it.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't earn it.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: It was given.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: It was given.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: This is why he says, this is my love for you.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: My God's love is steadfast.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: It's a covenant of peace that's stronger than any marriage vow.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: Precisely because this peace that he's promising them was bought with his own blood.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Flip back one page.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 53 verse 5.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: He was pierced for our transgressions.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: He was crushed for our iniquities.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: And upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: And with his wounds we are healed.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Because of what the servant did,
36:06
SPEAKER_00: God's people are called to sing and rest in what he accomplished.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: And this means so too we can't.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: We can rest even during times of upheaval and confusion
36:20
SPEAKER_00: because what remains steady even when everything else isn't is God's love for you.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: This is the most bankable thing in life.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's looking for something to bank on.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: What can I rest in?
36:31
SPEAKER_00: What can I find securities in?
36:34
SPEAKER_00: It's the love of God for you.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: As he says, The mountains are going to waffle.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: They're going to waver.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: The mountains may crumble to dust.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: The hills, they may be flattened into a prairie.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: But guess what never changes?
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Guess what never is going to depart from you?
36:51
SPEAKER_00: It's my love for you.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: Even when you feel alone.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: God isn't leaving you.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: Even when you feel life is crumbling in on you.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: We can rest in this love that is never going to be taken away.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, I have to hasten.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: Last point.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: Sing of a promise you can't see.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Rest in a love you can't lose.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, number three.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Hope in a city you can't build.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: This brings us back to verse number 11.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: If you'll notice, again, he says, Oh afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: I will make your pinnacles of agate,
37:40
SPEAKER_00: your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of all this,
37:47
SPEAKER_00: he's addressing these people,
37:48
SPEAKER_00: future generations,
37:50
SPEAKER_00: who are going to be absolutely ravaged by what life throws at them.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: And he gives them this word of promise,
37:58
SPEAKER_00: this word that pierces all of that unrest, all of that distress.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: A word that gives them hope beyond hope is encapsulated by this vision
38:08
SPEAKER_00: that Isaiah has, this word of promise about this city.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: The city that's going to be rebuilt.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 11, or excuse me, verse 12.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Imagine.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Again, try and put yourself in Isaiah's shoes,
38:40
SPEAKER_00: talking to people as he's addressing future generations.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: Imagine what these words would have done to people in Judah who actually saw Jerusalem fall.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: It'd be like finding a document from the Revolutionary War and we're reading it
38:57
SPEAKER_00: and saying, wow, this actually helps us understand our moment.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: Because basically around 100 or 200 years after Isaiah preaches this, Jerusalem falls.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem falls in devastating fashion as Nebuchadnezzar marches the Babylonians in
39:14
SPEAKER_00: and through Jerusalem.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: They march and they take everything.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: So imagine a person of Judah finding a leaf of a paper from Isaiah's preaching.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: And they find this text.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: That the city that's decimated...
39:33
SPEAKER_00: That the city whose gates have been breached and reduced to rubble is going to be rebuilt.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be restored.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: All of that disillusion would fall away in these words of hope.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: Why?
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Because where their homes were ripped from their foundations,
39:54
SPEAKER_00: God is giving them a promise that a new city is going to be built from those ashes.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: From all of that rubble, there's going to be a new city that rises up.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: And notice who does the building.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: I will set...
40:11
SPEAKER_00: I will lay your foundations.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: I will make your pinnacles.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: I will establish your gates.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: All of this is happening because of who God is.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: God, you see,
40:23
SPEAKER_00: is giving him a promise that he's the master architect of this new city
40:27
SPEAKER_00: which would house the people of God's promise.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: And out of those ruins, God would establish a kingdom of righteousness.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Beauty, peace,
40:38
SPEAKER_00: justice,
40:39
SPEAKER_00: truth is going to be established by him and the citizens of this new kingdom.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: They would be free from all of that oppression that harmed them.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: They would be gathered and kept in this place of God's peace.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: As he says, a place that's far from oppression and terror.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: That's what the city is looking forward to.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: A kingdom of righteousness that would serve as an unimpeachable refuge to the people of God.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And those who would be brought inside the city, they are safe, they are secure.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Why?
41:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, because the builder of the city is no less than Yahweh,
41:19
SPEAKER_00: the sovereign one, who rules and overrules over everything.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 15.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: Whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon
41:36
SPEAKER_00: for its purpose.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: I have also created the ravager to destroy.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed
41:42
SPEAKER_00: and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication,
41:51
SPEAKER_00: actually that word is, and their righteousness from me.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: Declares the Lord.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: What is he telling these people?
42:00
SPEAKER_00: That with me,
42:01
SPEAKER_00: my word of promise to you,
42:03
SPEAKER_00: that no man-made weapon can ever threaten what God establishes.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: It can't threaten it.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: It can't unseat it.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: And this is our hope.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: This is the hope that holds us fast.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: That steadies even our storm-tossed souls.
42:18
SPEAKER_00: That the city that God is fashioning here is one that is fashioned by Him.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: He's the builder of it.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: He's the establisher of it.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: And He's inviting every storm-tossed, oppressed, weary soul to find rest in Him.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: A place that they can't build on their own, but that He builds for them.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: And of course...
42:39
SPEAKER_00: This city that Isaiah is prophesying and preaching about is
42:43
SPEAKER_00: an Old Testament reference to what would be true in Jesus.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom that Jesus ushers in.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: See, of course, as we know and we believe and we confess.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ is the servant of the Lord who makes all of these things come about.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: He is the servant who dies so that his offspring might prosper.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: Like Isaiah 53 verse 10.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt
43:18
SPEAKER_00: and he shall see his offspring prosper.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: He shall prolong his days.
43:22
SPEAKER_00: The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
43:26
SPEAKER_00: That's who Jesus is.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who brings all of this about.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who shoulders all of our grief and all of our sorrow and all
43:32
SPEAKER_00: of our guilt all the way to the grave.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: And out of his death, what do we find?
43:39
SPEAKER_00: God is laying a foundation stone for the city that can't be shaken.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: For this city.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: A city of refuge?
43:47
SPEAKER_00: A city of righteousness?
43:49
SPEAKER_00: What does Isaiah say?
43:50
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 28.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go there, but write this down.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 28 verse 16.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: What does the Lord say?
43:54
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the one who has laid a foundation in Zion.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: A stone.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: A tested stone.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: A precious cornerstone of a sure foundation.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: And Paul picks that up.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2 verse 20.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus, he says, himself is that cornerstone.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: So what do we find here?
44:16
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah's audience, they never saw that city.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: They never saw that city established.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: Not in all of its true divine glory.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: They saw a foretaste of it, yes, when Jerusalem was rebuilt generations later.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: But the ultimate realization of this city that Isaiah is alluding to,
44:37
SPEAKER_00: this city of God, this city that God's building, it was beyond them.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
44:43
SPEAKER_00: It's beyond us too.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: We, this morning, are still longing for that city whose designer and builder is God.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: But we are still yet seeing it from afar by faith.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: We are waiting for that day when all of that promise of this city is going
45:03
SPEAKER_00: to be established and secure and safe because of what Jesus did,
45:07
SPEAKER_00: because of what the servant did through his death and resurrection.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: We are waiting for that city to give way to reality.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: And what is that reality?
45:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, go with me to the end of the book.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: The end of the whole, actually, the end of the Bible.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: Go with me to Revelation chapter 21.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: You want to see what the ultimate realization of this city that Isaiah sees?
45:32
SPEAKER_00: It's the same city that John saw.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 21 verse 1, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: For the first heaven was the first and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: And I saw the holy city,
45:49
SPEAKER_00: new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
45:52
SPEAKER_00: prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be
46:05
SPEAKER_00: with them as their God.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: He will wipe away every tear.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: From their eyes and death shall be no more,
46:12
SPEAKER_00: neither shall there be any mourning,
46:14
SPEAKER_00: nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
46:19
SPEAKER_00: And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
46:25
SPEAKER_00: Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: And look at how this kingdom, look at how this city is established.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 19.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: The first was jasper,
46:43
SPEAKER_00: the second sapphire,
46:44
SPEAKER_00: the third agate,
46:44
SPEAKER_00: the fourth emerald,
46:45
SPEAKER_00: the fifth onyx,
46:46
SPEAKER_00: the sixth carnelian,
46:47
SPEAKER_00: the seventh crystallite,
46:48
SPEAKER_00: the eighth beryl,
46:49
SPEAKER_00: the ninth topaz,
46:50
SPEAKER_00: the tenth chrysophrase,
46:52
SPEAKER_00: the eleventh jason,
46:54
SPEAKER_00: the twelfth amethyst,
46:55
SPEAKER_00: and the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: And the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord, the God Almighty and the Lamb.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: And the city had no need of sun nor moon to shine on it,
47:13
SPEAKER_00: for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: By its light will the nations walk,
47:20
SPEAKER_00: and the kings of the earth will bring their glory unto it,
47:23
SPEAKER_00: and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no more night there.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations,
47:32
SPEAKER_00: but nothing unclean will ever enter it,
47:35
SPEAKER_00: nor anyone who does what is detestable or false,
47:37
SPEAKER_00: but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: That's the promise that Isaiah was seeing.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: That city.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: Safe and secure and unimpeachable.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: And guess what,
47:51
SPEAKER_00: my friends,
47:51
SPEAKER_00: this morning, if you believe in Jesus, you belong to that city right now.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: You are citizens of heaven first.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Citizens of a kingdom that hasn't yet, yet, even yet you cannot see.
48:08
SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
48:10
SPEAKER_00: It means that we can sing because of what the servant has done.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: We can sing, we can rest, and we can hope even in the ruins of life.
48:18
SPEAKER_00: Ruins that we've experienced in the past.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: We can sing and rest and we can hope.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: And yes, even in the ruins that are still yet ahead of us.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what's going to happen in the next 10 years.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Next one year.
48:33
SPEAKER_00: But the promises of God are good regardless of situation or circumstance.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: Which means our response is the same regardless of situation or circumstance.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: Sing.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: Sing.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: Rest, hope.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: Even when we can't see the future, this is what the gospel lets us do.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: It lets us sing anyways.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: Because the future is already secure in Christ.
48:56
SPEAKER_00: And where your sin tries to convince you that you've lost God's love, the gospel bids you rest.
49:04
SPEAKER_00: Because he's already paid for all your sins.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: And where everything feels like it's turning into ash and rubble, the gospel...
49:14
SPEAKER_00: It gives us hope because the foundation is laid in Christ himself.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: What are we seeing this morning?
49:22
SPEAKER_00: Christ alone, our hope and life and death.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: This is what we confess.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: And this is what,
49:27
SPEAKER_00: yes, this is what gives us hope and joy and meaning in the ruins and beyond them.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: This is the good news, my friends.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray this morning.