Isaiah 40-55: Introduction Pt 1

0:01 All right, this morning, for the first hour, have a bible. Turn it to the Book of Isaiah. I've been listening to the podcast you know where. If you haven't, I'll get you all caught up here as fast as I can. All Right, this all started because for a podcast episode, I thought I'll have a little bit of fun, have a little bit of fun. So what I did was I told everyone listening to get a timer or a stopwatch, and that we were going to start reviewing sermons on Isaiah chapter forty three, and we were going to time how long how fast it took pastors to insert us into Isaiah chapter forty three. I'm like, this will be fun, it'll be no big deal. Here we go. So we took sermon number one. I'm like, here we go, let's start the sermon, and in less than forty seconds, less than forty seconds, the pastor had inserted us into Isaiah forty three. And I was like, well, this is it's crazy.

1:00 So I did a review of it. It got very frustrating. I got very irritating because I'm like, what is happening here to the text. So then I chose a second sermon, and that one took literally zero zero seconds because the title of the sermon was the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, And I'm like, how in the world is that Isaiah forty three And it was actually a discussion on the Heidelberg Catechism on the work of the Holy Spirit, but they used Isaiah forty three, and I'm like, what is happening here? Right? So the more we kept looking at I'm like, there, I don't get what's going on here. So let's first read the section that we never got past, verse seven. But here we go, Isaiah forty three one through seven. Let me at least read it for you Isaiah forty three, verse one. But now, thus saith, the Lord that created this is Isaiah forty three one created thee. Everybody see the word the right now.

2:00 If you see the word THEE, any good Bible student would do, what who is the thee? There? Well, then what does it say the following line, Oh, Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel? So who is he referring to? He's referring to Israel. And he goes from Jacob right, whose name was changed to Israel. Basically, he goes from the very beginning of their name right, and any what does he say, fear not? For I have redeemed THEE. I have called THEE by thy name. Thou art mine. Okay, I think we know who that's about, right, I mean I think I don't know. Like it doesn't require seminary education to figure this out. Correct. Well, then it says, when thou, who's the thou Israel. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with THEE, and through the rivers they shall not overflow THEE. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon THEE. Now, if you just look at all of that, the these the Thou. But for some weird reason, when pastors in twenty twenty four open up the Book of Isaiah, it's no longer THEE or Thou, it's you, me, we us. And I'm like, I like, I don't even understand. I mean, it's just ridiculous, right, verse three. For I'm the Lord, I'm the Lord, thy God,

3:31 the Holy One of Israel. Right, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for THEE, since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved THEE. Therefore will I give men for THEE and people for thy life. I mean, you should go in and just circle and underline all of that. Fear not, For I am with THEE. I will bring thy seed from the west, and together THEE from the west. I will say to the north give up, and to the south keep not back. Bring my sons from Afar, my daughters, from the ends of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name. For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have made him. All right. So you're like I, that seems pretty obvious who this is about, correct, I mean, I don't even know this. This is where I just start losing my mind, right, because if as believers we can't read a passage that is that clear, then ladies and gentlemen, let's just stop pretending that means the Bible cannot be understood, the Bible cannot be interpreted, and that every every bit of attempt to understand it is just it's just foolish and we're just playing a game, right if we can't figure out that. I mean, I mean, look, the there's no way we can figure out the deity

5:01 of Christ, the Trinity, we can't figure out salvation. If we cannot figure out when you've got THEE and thou and we can't figure out who the and thou is about, then ladies and gentlemen, it's just over. And to insert ourselves into the text, you're kicking those people out. So it was already frustrating, right, So we reviewed sermons. I did all kinds of discussion about it. Some of the sermons I was just baffled and how in the world this was even happening. But then it got worse because then I was looking for another random sermon and I started listening and instead of being a sermon, it was a dramatized version of a very famous book. And as soon as it was about a five minute clip from a small section of a very very famous book, everyone here knows the book. And as soon as it started playing, I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. So then I'm like, okay, everyone, put away your timers, put away your stop watches. We need to build a time machine and we need to go back to see sixteen eighty seven or sixteen seventy eight. Okay, it's numbers. I'm gonna mess him up. Sixteen seventy eight. We're gonna go back to sixteen seventy eight, and there's someone in a prison cell writing a book, and we need to go in, take the pencil from him, remove the paper, and tell him you can't write this book. Now what book? It was written in sixteen seventy eight by someone in prison.

6:26 First name his the author's name, first name, John Banyan. What book Pilgrim's Progress, Pilgrim's Progress. And so then we discovered that this is the book that started a lot of the problems. Now, as much as I have I've told everyone to read Pilgrim's Progress, as much as i've in a since recommended the book, I've always recommended the book from this perspective. Oh, this is an allegorical book. So it's always fun to go what does this represent? What does this represent? What does this represent? Because I love doing that. I did not realize the hermoneutical implications the book caused. I did not realize the influence that it caused. But it caused a lot of problems because maybe I knew it, maybe I didn't pay any attention to it. Maybe I did not perceive the threat of it, but he utilizes, he uses scriptures to justify his allegory, and so by doing that he then leads to then you interpreting the scripture from an allegorical perspective, right, So sixteen seventy eight, he's in prison, he's writing the Pilgrim's Progress, and then what did he do. There's a scene in the book called the River of Death, the river of Death, and the scene is often interpreted as drawing on Isaiah chapter forty three, which verse look at verse two. We

7:59 just read it, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire. And then this particular case, he doesn't mention the fire because he's talking about the river of death, all right, When in the allegory, Christian and hopeful must cross the river of death to reach the celestial city, which symbolizes heaven. Banyan uses the crossing to represent the final journey through death that all believers must take. For Christian the waters are turbulent and frightening, symbolizing the fear of struggle that can accompany death. Hopeful, however, crosses more peacefully, showing the assurance some believers have in their final moments. So Bunyan takes Isaiah forty three and turns it into what an allegory?

8:55 And what is the river? The waters? They represent death, and so we are going to God is going to be with us, and we're gonna make it through death to the other side. And so that sounds good. That preaches good, right, and everyone in the congregation will say, Amen, Oh, such good preaching, pastor. The only problem is has literally nothing to do with Isaiah forty three. All right, that's not what Isaiah forty three is talking about. Bunyan and allegorizes the promises in Isaiah forty three to two for his scene and the original context. Isaiah forty three speaks of God's presence with Israel through their trials, specifically as he promised to bring them through the Babylonian exile and return them to their land. For Israel, the promise that they will not be overwhelmed by the water a fire was a literal assurance of God's protection through their national hardships.

9:49 It has nothing to do with you. Nothing in Pilgrim's progress Bunyan and reinter Britz. Please note reinterprets. I'm gonna say misinterprets, but reinterprets these promises as an allegory for the Christian's journey through death. He takes the imagery of passing through waters and applies it to the spiritual experience of death, suggesting that God's presence will protect the believer through life's final trial. Thus, he fully allegorizes Isaiah forty three, adopting it to communicate hope of eternal life rather than Israel's historical deliverance. Now here's the thing. You can preach that and it may give people a sense of comfort, It may give people a sense of peace, It may give people a sense of assurance. But if your comfort and your peace and assurance is based off a complete misinterpretation of the text, what you should be what ticked off that someone is trying to give you assurance based off a misapplication of the text. But will people get upset and ticked off about it? Absolutely not, because it's not going to make them mad, because they like peace, comfort and assurance. Because the reality is, nobody in the pew really cares about the truth of what is preached as long as they agree with it. Now, if they disagree with it, then all of a sudden they care about truth. But everyone should be bothered by that. Well, is anyone bothered by No? One's bothered by it. That's the problem, all right. Bunyan's application of Isaiah forty three

11:22 in the River of Death scene is spiritual. Is a spiritualized adaptation and is meant to encourage readers by illustrating how God promised to be with Israel on their trials. So, well, that's great. He allegorizes it, he spiritualizes it to bring comfort. But you should never find comfort from an allegorized, spiritualized use of the Word of God, because that's not comfort for you. Who's the comfort for Israel? Look at Isaiah forty verse one. How does Isaiah forty verse one be in comfort? Ye? Comfort ye my people? Who are the people there? Not you? Not me? So I obviously you can hear in my voice. Got pretty ticked off by listening to all these sermons. And the reason I get ticked off is I just don't understand, right. These are sermons that have you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds either streams downloads with all these comments, Oh, this was so amazing, this is so great. Oh I got so much comfort from it, and I just want to scream it just wants it just shows you that Biblical interpretation is a joke. In fact, this is I phrased this, This is the reality. Christians are nothing more than narcissistic textual hijackers. That's all we are. We're narcissistic because we think the Bibles about us were textual hijackers, because we

12:53 go in hijack the scripture to make it about us. Then we fly the plane to wherever we want to fly it and land it and say, not only have I hijacked the plane, this is the right interpretation. And if you don't agree with me, then I'll go to a church that does. And that's all it is. It's a joke. The whole thing is a joke. Biblical hermeneutics is a joke. Bible interpretation is a joke. Everyone does what they want with the Bible. The whole thing is a joke. Everyone should just stop pretending that we take the text serious. The text has never been the authority. We've always been the authority. The Protestant Reformation was about determining who was going to be the authority. And it wasn't about making the Bible the authority. It was about making who the authority the individual. And that's the way it's been and that's the way it's going to be.

13:42 Everyone interprets the Bible in any way they want. Do they need to know hermonutics? No? Do they need to read hermonuticts? No? They get to say, this is what it means. And you're wrong. Who cares if you've been to Bible college seminary, Who cares? If you're a pastor, I'm right, you're wrong, and I will determine truth. We are as relativistic as the world. And we need to stop pretending anything other the Bible. If we just make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. And Isaiah forty three is just one of a million examples on it. Do Christians agree on what baptism is or isn't? We don't even agree the meaning of the word repentance.

14:22 Do we agree on the meaning of the word We can't even agree on the meaning of a word. So I mean, I was like you just at this point, you just want to throw up your hands and just like, you know what, let's just come to church and just let's just go around in a circle. Hey, you just tell me what the text means. Well, sounds good. You tell me what the text means sounds good? Does truth exist? Okay, it doesn't. Really. The church is not the place of truth. The church is the place of personal interpretation. And then we determined that my interpretation then is what true, and then it's binding on whom everyone. The whole thing is maddening.

15:04 So then I was like, Okay, Now, one of the things I try to do whenever I do any reviews for any messages. I know I can just continue to get ticked off and continue to get irritated, but I always try to step back. We did it with Psaum eighty three. I always try to step back and go, well, I've got to do something positive with this, right, I gotta do it because I could just keep listening to sermons and then you know, get a door dash direct, you know, bringing me alcohol and just be behind the microphone getting drunk as I review sermons on Isaiah forty three, because it's going to lead me to drinking, because that's just insane, right, And like, I don't get it because it's not even about Bible college or seminary. It's just about I mean, that's just reading comprehension one oh one.

15:47 And it's like, I I'm gonna blame the public schools. The public schools haven't taught people how to read, and then they come to church, and then the church just doubles down on our inability to read, because just we should be able to figure this out, should we not? But I'm like, okay, what do I do with this? So here's what we're going to do. I don't know which hour we're going to use because we still got work on romans to do, but we're going to began a lengthy series from going from Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five. And the reason we're going to go from Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five is because that's one entire section, all right, forty to fifty five. Okay. In fact, I was reviewing a sermon on Isaiah forty just the other day, and guess what, Isaiah forty somehow turned into a discussion about the twenty sixteen presidential election. How in the world do you get Isaiah forty to the presidential election of twenty sixteen. How does this even happen? Okay, no, it's just nobody cares and all the comments under the sermon, Oh this was a great sermon. Oh this was amazing.

17:00 Oh this is so great, and it's like, no, this is trash, and it's trash not just because I disagree. It's trash, because that's not what Isaiah forty is about. Does everyone understand that, Like, it's not about me. Look, I can someone can preach a different theology and I may disagree with the theology. That's one thing. It's one thing to go to a text of scripture and literally make it say something that it doesn't say under any reasonable understanding of reading. Right. This is not about different interpretation, right. This is not about like, oh they're lordship or I'm not lordship, or they're all millennial and I'm not a millennial.

17:40 This is about how do we read words? And if we can't agree as Christians and how to read words, then maybe we should just stop being in a religion where the revelation of God is in written form? Right? Why just abandon Christianity? Because the whole the Bible is not I've said it a million times. The Bible is not the authority. The Bible is not the authority. The individual is the authority, and we can read it any way we want. So that's what we're going to begin. We're just gonna begin going. We're gonna go from Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five. It's not going to always be truly verse by verse, but what the goal is, by the time we're done with those chapters and that section, you're going to know it better than you've ever known it in the entire history of your life. And we've not done a lot of work on Isaiah forty to fifty five in the history of the church. So it's going to be very important. And the reason we're doing it is because I'm sick and tired of listening to sermons that seem to think that Isaiah forty through fifty five is a canna plato and you can just turn it into whatever you want. It's not. Now, guess what, when you deal with the text and you're true to the text, what is almost one thing you can guarantee is going to happen. It's not going to be as interesting and as fun preaching, right because because it's fun to preach by doing what making it about us? If I'm make it about us, that's cool, that's fine, that's awesome. Right.

19:10 If I just make it about the text, you may be like, well then it's. Kind of boory. What am I supposed to do with that? Okay, yeah, what about me? I'm gonna find me in it. If it's not about me, I don't want to come to church. I went three little points and a nice little sermon. I can get out at noon, go to the buffet. Well, if you deal with the text, guess what it may be. Maybe, oh, I know the word that this church has been criticified too academic feels like I'm in school. Well it's a text, right, So we got to figure it out. So that's what we're going to do. You can hear my frustrations. Just it's just maddening. You just pick random sermons and you're just like, what is happening? I don't get this. So we're gonna try to figure it out. So everybody ready, we're gonna do It's. Uh, well, we got a little bit of time. We're gonna see how far we can get.

20:02 All right, So we're gonna take the section Isaiah forty to fifty five. All right, Now, a lot of what we're gonna do is this is introductory work. We're gonna cover things. We may repeat them because one of the key ways of learning is what repetition. All right, So if I go forward, then kind of back back up, go forward, kind of back back up. I'm gonna be adding different layers so we get this down. So everybody ready, make sure you've got a cleaning page on maybe a new notebook. Here we go, be Isaiah forty to fifty five. If this is the last thing we ever do here, then we're going to make sure we know this better than any other church on the history in the history of Earth. Okay, so we're going to try to understand this. Everybody ready, all right, Isaiah forty through fifty five. This section has been given various names by scholars and theologians.

20:51 They've given these names to reflect the themes and content of these chapters. I'm gonna give you some of the most common names used to describe this section throughout church history. You ready, all right? This section Isaiah forty to fifty five has been called Number one, the Book of Comfort or the Book of Consolation, the Book of Comfort or the Book of Consolation. Why do you think possibly they've called it that? How does Isaiah forty one begin? For chapter forty verse one begin? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God? Right? This title reflects the opening words of Isaiah chapter forty, verse one, where God commands comfort for his people. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

21:43 This chapter emphasizes hope, restoration, and God's faithfulness to his covenant people despite their exile and suffering. Now I'm not going to go too far into this, but I want to emphasize a couple of things. Chapter forty emphasizes hope, restoration, and god faithfulness to his covenant people. That's key, right, because how does the verse read. Look at Isaiah forty verse one, comfort ye my people? Who is the my people? Well, it seems that you can just put everyone there if you want. But I think it has a specific context, do you at least I think so? Or we'll try to figure that out, all right? So what's the first name?

22:28 Book of Comfort or Book of Consolation? Second? The second one no pun intended, is sometimes referred to as second Isaiah or doutero. Isaiah number two is second. To get it number two. That's nobody finds that funny okay okay. Number two is Second Isaiah Dutero Isaiah. Some scholars refer to Isaiah forty through fifty five as Second Isaiah or Dutero Isaiah to distinguish it from the earlier chapters chapters one through thirty nine of the book. This title is based on the view that these chapters forty through fifty five represent a distinct section potentially written or addressed to the exiles in Babylon, and they differ in tone, content, and audience from chapters one through thirty nine, which focuses more on judgment and the Assyrian threat. So one through thirty nine is about judgment and about the threat of Assyria.

23:35 Starting in chapter forty, we see obviously a drastic change in tone because it starts not with judgment, with what comfort comfort? Right? Everybody see that. I mean, I'm gonna repeat forty verse one amount a million times, all right. So it's a separate section. Not only that, it seems to be focusing on Babylon and the Babylonian exile or babylan captivity. So it's a complete separate section. Everybody got that, all right? So it's called second Isaiah Ordutero Isaiah. All right, that's the second possible name. So number one, Book of Comfort. Number two, second Isaiah, if you want to just go that.

24:18 Number three, the Book of Redemption, the Book of Redemption. This name highlights the theme of redemption found throughout Isaiah forty through fifty five, where God promises to redeem is re from Babylonian captivity and to restore them to their lands. It also points to the spiritual redemption prophesied and relation to the suffering servant and the forgiveness of sins. But the idea is, this is the Book of Redemption, and the primary redemption is redeeming people in Babylonian exile to come back to the land. That's the primary redemption here.

24:59 Now you may say there's more important redemption mentioned in it, but this is the context. Though. Everybody got that. So what's the first possible name for the section comfort constellation? Number two, Second Isaiah, Dutero Isaiah, Number three, the Book of Redemption, all right? Number four The Servant Song or the Servant songs. The Servant song or the Servant songs. Some scholars refer to Isaiah forty through fifty five as the Servant's Songs or Servant's Song because of the significant focus on the servant of the Lord, a figure who appears prominently in these chapters particularly. Everybody got your bibles.

25:47 Look in Isaiah forty two and see if you see the servant of the Lord mentioned forty two. You see it? What does it saying forty two to one? Behold my servant? Everybody see that? All right? Look at chapter forty nine. Do you see something similar in forty nine? Okay, what's diverse? Verse three? And said unto me, thou art my servant?

26:29 Now this one is identified, oh Israel. But we have this idea of servant. Right, everybody see it? How about chapter fifty? Yeah, over and over and over in forty nine, alright, you're gonna see it over and over and over. Okay, chapter fifty do you find it in chapter fifty fifty may be questionable? Oh? Ten? Okay? Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant? Everybody see it? See the idea of the servant? Okay, and look at fifty two and fifty three. Yeah, we definitely know. In fifty three do we find it in fifty two thirteen everybody see it. Behold my servant, everybody see it? And then chapter fifty three sometimes referred to as the Suffering Servant. Correct, does it mention the word servant? There?

27:45 What verse? We see it as the suffering servant? But is it mentioned in fifty three or do we just impose it? It's only eleven verses, so obviously speaking of someone, right, I don't know if we see it, but we typically refer to this as the suffering servant, do we not? Okay? So we can put there there? But these there are sometimes referred to as servant songs. Is sometimes how it's described, speak of the servant's role and bringing justice, light and salvation through suffering and redemption. So some refer to forty to fifty five as the servants Songs. I think that's probably the more appropriate title, if you're gonna go with that.

28:40 When the servant. Songs, Okay, yeah, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify many? There we go, thank you for finding it. We typically refer to the whole chapter as the suffering Servant, but there we go, all right, everybody got that? So it's mentioned in all of those chapters, all right? How about number five? Sometimes called the Prophecy of Restoration, This title reflects the promise of national restoration for Israel. These chapters look forward to Israel's return from babylon exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It emphasizes the future hope that God offers his people and their time of suffering. All right, So what's number one? The Book of Comfort or Consolation? Number two, second Isaiah Dutero, Isaiah, number three, the Book of Redemption, Number four the Servant Songs.

29:41 Number five the Prophecy of Restoration, and number six the Book of the Suffering Servant, the Book of the Suffering Servant. This title emphasizes the central role of the suffering servant, particularly in Isaiah fifty two, chapter thirteen all the way to fifty three. Twelve passage presents the servant as the one who will atone for the sins of the people through his suffering and death, a key theme and understanding God's redemptive plan. Yeah, kind of goes along, but it's some Just call it the Book of the Suffering Servative versus the servant songs. All right, everybody got those, So they give them different titles. And why do they give them different titles? They're focusing the title may focus on a specific aspect of it, all right, So we can call it, I like the idea comfort just because it starts in chapter forty, verse one with comfort, and so that kind of begins to section. Right. Does that make sense? Yes? Okay, I think it makes some sense. Right, So those are the different sections. Okay, now those are the different titles.

30:54 I should say, those are the different titles for the section. Now, what we're going to do in the next thing is that's the possible titles. I don't know if we'll come up with a title. I think we'll possibly maybe wait until we're done and then see if a title kind of we think focuses on the majority of it. Where I'm going to go with the Book of Comfort or the section of Comfort just because of how it starts, That's kind of where I'm going to go. But before we can move on, we have to deal with the subject related to timing. And this can get a little confusing, all right, everybody ready, all right? Isaiah forty through fifty five is sometimes referred to as a message of comfort for Israel in exile. That's how it sometimes referred to.

31:40 It's a book of comfort for those in exile. But this is very important. This words of comfort for those in exile was spoken, was written, was given way before the people ever went into exile. And this can be somewhat confusing if you're not paying attention and listen, or if even if you're listening to sermons. All right, the section of Isaiah forty through fifty five offers comfort, hope, and assurance to the people of Israel during their Babylonian exile. However, it is important to recognize that this message was given to Isaiah and written down long before the exile actually occurred.

32:26 So many times you will read a commentary that or a sermon saying, this is Isaiah speaking to the people in exile, or this is a message to the people in exile, and in your mind, how do you interpret that that they're going through it right then? Or the one of the sermons we spoke of we listened to yesterday. Now he kind of corrected it, but he almost said, God gives these words to Isaiah for Isaiah to talk to the people. Well, okay, wait, a minute. Isaiah couldn't be preaching this the people in exile because Isaiah is way dead before the exile occurs. All right, do you see how that can be confusing? All right? Now again most sermons, most churches, who cares about being accurate? Because the passage is about whom as it becomes about us?

33:18 So who cares about those little, you know, academic details that you don't want church to feel like a seminary, right, But well, if it doesn't feel like a seminary, then the people in the pew can completely misinterpret. Are you ready for a little bit of kind of like a timeline? All right, here we go, let's kind of go through a little bit of kind of going through some order here. Isaiah's Ministry eighth century BC. Isaiah was a prophet in Judah during the latter half of the eighth century, around seven forty to seven hundred BC. Seven forty to seven hundred BC. During Isaiah's time, the dominant threat to Israel and Judah came from the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the Northern Kingdom in seven twenty two BC. So when Isaiah's ministrying, who's the threat Assyria? Not Babylon. In fact, the north is taken when around seven twenty two. I always say around because you know, depending on the different books you read, you're gonna get some variation. Okay, So seven twenty two that would have been during Isaiah's ministry, which was between seven forty and seven hundred, right. Judah under the reign of King Hezekiah, survived the Assyrian threat. We read about this and Isaiah thirty six and thirty seven. Most would say that that's what is referring to. But Judah's future

34:48 was still uncertain. Now it was only uncertain in whose mind. It was uncertain in the minds of maybe the people. It was not uncertain in the mind of God, all right, because God knew what was going to happen. Let's make sure we have that down, all right. Isaiah lived during the reign of several kings of Judah, and his prophecies addressed the current threats of Assyria and Judah's own unfaithfulness. However, Isaiah also looked ahead to future events, including the rise of Babylon as the next great empire. So Isaiah's ministry is eighth century BC, and his focus. He talks a lot about Assyria. He does look to the future, but this is all way before Babylon comes to power. All right, So number one, I want you to see Isaiah's ministry.

35:37 Number two the prophecy of the Babylonian exile, which is a future event. Though Babylon had not yet risen to power during Isaiah's lifetime. Everyone hear that Babylon had not risen to power during whose lifetime Isaiah? That's very important, all right. Isaiah foresaw the Babylonian captivity that would occur in the future as a result of judah ongoing rebellion against God. Look at Isaiah thirty nine six through seven. Isaiah thirty nine six through seven, and just tell me what you see. I'm not going to tell you what you should see. Everybody see. I want to make sure everybody sees it the day. Yeah, everyone's going to Babylon.

36:25 Everybody see that in Isaiah thirty nine, sixty through seven. All right. So preceding the section of comfort, what is there a clearer indication of what's going to happen Babylonian captivity? Does everyone see that? So before you get so, what is the setting for forty through fifty five Babylonian captivity. What is the setting for forty to fifty five Babylonian captivity? But this is spoken way before the Babylonian captivity even occurs. Everybody understand that, all right. So in Isaiah thirty nine six through seven, Isaiah specifically prophesied that the Babylonians would come take away everything from Jerusalem, including members of the royal family. This foreshadowed the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. And what year five eighty six, when does Isaiah minister seven forty to seven hundred, meaning that when Isaiah was preaching, those people will be dead before the Babylonian exile occurs.

37:37 Isaiah will be dead before it occurs. All right. So if you hear a preacher say God gave him the message to Isaiah to go preach to the people in exile, that's trash. Now I can understand why a preacher may do that. It's trash, But I can at least have sympathy for a pastor who does, because if you look at any commentary, the commentaries will say this is Isaiah's message to the people in exile, which seems to indicate that Isaiah was the one delivering the message went away. He's delivering the message. He's just delivering the message about one hundred and forty years before it happens, meaning Isaiah's already dead and the people are already dead. So the people who go into exile are the children of the people who was around when Isaiah was around? Are the children's children? You get the idea, right, So that's very important to understand because so much of the preaching I just I get frustrated with it. In fact, one of the things I was listening to I even got confused for a minute because the way the preacher said it.

38:47 I think even in the podcast, I'm like, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, Okay, I gotta correct this, because I was even confused because I had I had a study Bible who gave notes that made it sound like it was happening, and I'm like, wait, wait a minute. And so then I caught it, and then I had to back up and correct it in the podcast because even I got confused because depending on how you read what, depending on what source you're reading, it's just like you think, oh, this is happening right now. Now. Some people say, well, who cares? Well, you know why we should care, because what's the one thing we should care about. Look, yes, we should obviously care about our own sin and be convicted by it. Yes, but the one thing we should also care about is being accurate with the word of God.

39:31 We should at least care about that. I know that that seems like that nobody actually really cares about being accurate. Nobody really. I mean, the reality is, nobody cares. Look, as long as you are a good communicator, you kiss babies, you shake hands, you have lots of activities, and you just do all the right things, people are gonna come to your church. Okay, But the one thing people don't care about in church is the accuracy of the preaching. Because if they actually cared, they would be a great There would be a lot more concern than really is. But we have to be at least concerned. Does that make sense? All? Right? Now? The Babylonian exile was God's judgment on Judah for its continued idolatry and disributed it to the Covenant. This judgment comes, are ready, ready, I'm gonna make an emphatic statement. This judgment comes over one hundred years after Isaiah is dead. Right now, now, and one of the sermons we listened to, they did make a great point. Many times in the Bible, prophetic statements or prophetic events are spoken of as in past tens, and the reason they are done so is because God speaks of these events as being so certain that you can see them as being passed even though they're yet future.

40:52 And that can be very confusing and reading. But it's a literary device. It's a literary device to say this is so sure that you don't have anything to worry about, right it's done. Because when you read some of this section, you'll be like, well, wait a minute, this sounds like it's already happened, or well it's britten and prophesied one hundred years before it even occurs. But God sometimes will speak of an event as passed even though it's yet future, even for the people who are getting the original message, and that can be all confusing, right, But it's a literary device to say that what God says is going to happen is as good as done. Right now, that's awesome, But you got to catch the literary device, right. You gotta be clever enough to catch it, right. If you're not catch it you're and because the Bible doesn't give you a little timestamp, like like when you're watching a movie and it's not linear, it'll be like, you know, six months before or five years later. Well, some movies don't do that, and then people get all confused and going, well, I didn't understand what happened. Well, because it's nonlinear. Right, we've talked about nonlinear storytelling, right? What have I talked about?

41:56 Nonlinear story Also? Anytime someone watches a movie, was that linear nonar storytelling? Uh? Just stop watching movies? Okay? Right? But and I say that because if we can't figure out a movie, you can't figure out the Bible. Because it's same concepts, right, it's what it's interpretation, it's hermeneutics, right, linear nonlinear. Well, in some cases the Bible, you're like, well, wait a minute, what is happening here? I thought this hasn't happened. It hasn't happened yet for them? Does that make sense? Are we good? So? When? So? The Babylonian exile was God's judgment on Judah for its continued idolatry. That's some loud motorcycles, okay, all right? And disobedience to the Covenant. This judgment comes one hundred years after Isaiah's death, right, So number one, what do we have here? Isaiah's ministry eighth century. Everybody got that seven forty to seven hundred.

42:47 The prophecy of the Babylonian Exile is a future event that happens over one hundred years after Isaiah's long dead, meaning the original people who we have heard the message would be long gone, right everybody? Now, that does raise some weird questions, does it not? I mean, from a practical standpoint, doesn't that kind of confuse you? All right? I kind of want to raise my hand, like if I'm in God's classroom and I'm like uh and hula okay, And I'm like, yeah, I've got a question. Why are you sending Isaiah one hundred years before it happens? If you want the people to be comforted, why wouldn't you send Isaiah at the moment, or at least a few years before. Why so far in advance. I don't have a good answer, but I think it's a reasonable question, is it not? Okay? All right? Now? So number three, So number one we have Isaiah's ministry. Number two, we have the prophecy of Babylonian Exile. Number three, Isaiah forty through fifty five, is a message of comfort and restoration written before the exile. It's a message of comfort and restoration before the exile. Isaiah forty through fifty five were likely written during Isaiah's lifetime around the eighth century BC, well before the Babylonian x Ale occurred. These chapters contain prophecies meant to comfort Israel in the future when they would be in Babylonian exile. Now, I'm gonna try to remain calm, but this is where I get ticked off

44:18 at Christianity. If these words were given to Isaiah to the people so that they could be comforted in the future when they go through a horrible, horrible situation. They're gonna go through a horrible situation. Does everyone understand what's going to happen? Jerusalem is gonna be destroyed, the Temple's gonna be destroyed, They're gonna be carried off into slavery. That's a horrible thing, right, And how dare some stinking preacher stand behind a pulpit on a Sunday and say, I'm gonna take these words of comfort and just slap them in the face and say, forget you. We're gonna steal them for ourselves. Do you understand how messed up that is? Right, they'd be like, something horrible happens to Sarah, something horrible, tragic, right, and then someone's gonna write her a letter to give her words of comfort, and I take it. And I'm like, well, I'm just gonna take this and say thank you for the words of comfort.

45:18 You're be like, well, no, no, the for Sarah. Forget Sarah. We don't care about her. I want the comfort, I want the promises. That's exactly what we do. And we do it in the name of Jesus, in the name of God, in the name of being a church. Now it's just messed up. There's nothing godly about that. How dare we take comfort meant for them and turn it into about us. You're not there, get yourself out of it. When you realize what's happening. This is God saying I'm gonna have the comfort waiting for them. In some ways, this is kind of like, hey, even before it starts, you're already gonna know comfort is coming. That's pretty awesome, right, But no, that's not awesome for us because what do we want? We want the comfort. But when you take comfort that belongs to someone else, is it really your comfort?

46:21 In this section, God speaks words of comfort to the exiled Israelites, offering them hope of future restoration and deliverance from captivity. Look at Isaiah forty verses one through two. I'm gonna have you read this probably fifty times, all right? What does it say? Comfort? Ye? Comfort ye, my people, saith your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. That's not the church. Sick and tired of hearing that it is okay, and cry unto her, that's not the Church, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

47:11 Everybody see that these chapters speak directly to a post exile audience. Though who would eventually return from who will eventually return from Babylon? They were written long before the exile, showing that God had already planned their restoration even before their judgment occurred. Isaiah forty through forty eight focuses on the immediate return from Babylon, while Isaiah forty nine through fifty five introduces the servant of the Lord and points to a greater spiritual restoration beyond just the return from exile. All right, everybody got that? So Isaiah forty through fifty five is a message of comfort and restoration written before the problem even happens. How dare us come in and hijacket? Okay?

47:56 Forty through forty eight focuses on the immediate return from Babylon. Forty nine through fifty nine. Forty nine through fifty five introduces the servant, which points to a greater spiritual restoration beyond the exile. And we'll get into all it well, Brett, We're going to break the entire section down here soon, all right. Number four The Babylonian Exile five eighty six PC. The Babylonian Exile began when King Ebucinezer of Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem and five eighty six PC, carrying the people into exile. The people of Israel were captive for approximately seventy years. During this time, they experienced great suffering and question their future, but God's promise of deliverance or restoration remained during this exile. The prophecies of Isaiah forty through fifty five would have been incredibly relevant to the people, offering them a hope of a future return to their land. The Babylonian exile is prominent and reading forty to fifty five. So when you read Isaiah forty to fifty five, what do you need to see written across it? Babylonian exile. That's not you. This is the same trash we do with Jeremiah. Right. The plans I have for you, they're not for you. Now, say when you do this, when you teach this, you just take Christians off. They don't like it. They get offended, they get mad because they want it all about them, and if you call them out on it, they just get mad at you and say you're just being too picky or your whatever whatever words they want to use. But

49:27 it's about the Babylonian exile. Number five, the Return from Exile five thirty nine BC and after and five thirty nine BC. Cyrus the Great. Now, I want you to write Cyrus the Great down, and I want you to circle it about seventy five times and thirty seven exclamation points, just to take people off who don't think you should use more than one exclamation point. All right, I mean, and I'm not joking. I want you to put Cyrus to just take an entire page, put Cyrus the Great in all caps, and then circle it, circle it, and then all kinds of exclamation points. You think I'm joking? This is critical here, right, you'll see why. And five point thirty nine BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon in issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple. Where do we read about that happening? Ezra chapter one, verses one through four. It's a historical event. It's talked about in the Bible, Cyrus the Great. If you listen to my discussion last night on the podcast, you know why I'm so emphasizing this, Okay, because once again I was reviewing another sermon from Isaiah forty to fifty five that once again did wacky things with the text. All right, In fact, do you want a little preview, Do you want a little preview? Look at Isaiah chapter forty. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God, speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry under her that her warfare is accomplished, that her

51:00 iniquity as pardon for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, this is what the pastor that we were reviewing said, Well, that sounds great. All these things are going to happen. How is it going to happen. Who's going to make it happen? You know how it happens because God himself will come to this earth. Well wait, wait, wait, wait, what are they referring to. Look at verse three the voice of Him that Christ and the wilderness prepare. Ye, the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. Well where is that quoted? And the New Testament? So the pastor said, hey, they this verse forty, chapter forty, verse two is going to be accomplished. Is when Jesus comes to earth in the incarnation. Well, that's literally the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life.

51:55 When are they released by Cyrus? That's five hundred plus years before the incarnation, So why are you connecting it to the incarnation? It makes no sense. By the time the incarnation has happened, what has happened? They've come out of Babylonian captivity, right, They've rebuilt Jerusalem, they've rebuilt the temple. Oh, and they now found themself under the Hill of Rome. A lot has happened in five hundred years. So you can't say that the way it's accomplished by Jesus coming to the earth, because it was accomplished before then. So then guess what when we read Isaiah forty verse three about the voice in the wilderness, who's going to prepare the way and make everything straight? Guess who that's probably our reference of, and it's historical context saus Oh, I'm not supposed to say that now. Now, if you remember that, we did like twelve parts in our beginning to study of Romans where we talked about how New Testament writers use Old Testament scripture. Remember I did like twelve parts on this because I said it was one of the most important hermoneutical lessons you could learn, right, And why did I spend twelve parts on it? Because guess what?

53:17 New Testament writers used Old Testament passages in ways that make absolutely no sense. Sometimes right, sometimes they paraphrase it, sometimes they take a little phrase. Sometimes they use it to reman this. I mean that we're like, what in the world's going on? Here's the thing. They can do whatever they want with the text because they're doing it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We can't. So in the New Testament, this part is now he is used to reference whom John the Baptist. That does not mean it's referencing John de Baptist to the original audience, because John de Baptist is not coming around for when well, if this is given during the time of Isaiah, John the Baptist is not showing up to the scene for over seven hundred years. Okay, has nothing to do with John de Baptists. Now, if the New Testament writers want to use it, then that's fine. They have the authority to do so. But in the historical context, that's not John the Baptist. The only person who makes sense is whom Currus, because he is the one who does what he makes straight the path. He's the one who does it.

54:23 So we'll talk about Cyrus being more of a fulfillment of this. But I just want you to see that, all right, Everybody see that. Everybody got that, all right? So if we break this down, Oh, mem we're already after eleven Okay, here we go, all right, So we have Isaiah's Ministry eighth century BC. Number two. We have the prophecy of the Babylonian Exile, which is a future event. Number three. We have Isaiah forty three fifty five, which is a message of comfort and restoration written before the exile. Number four, we have the Babylonian Exile, which is five eighty six BC. Number five. We have the return from Exile which is five thirty nine and under Cyrus the Great. Now we need to put these in proper order, but we're out of time, so we're gonna have to stop, all right, So we'll stop. I know, I'm gonnaugh. I need to get to Romans chapter four, but I think we'll just use the next hour to just continue this since we're right here. I mean, I want to go to Romans four, but we'll at least get the introduction of this done in two parts today, right, So we'll stop now. If you have any questions, have them ready, and then we can try to answer them at the beginning of the next hour, and then we'll see if we can finish at least the introduction here. I want to get the introduction because it's gonna be a long journey through chapters forty through fifty five. You know, you know, I'm gonna try not to go our normal verse by verse, but it's gonna be a We're gonna be taken at apart and we have no choice. I mean, like, the preaching on this section of Scriptures is abysmal. It's horrible.

55:52 It's just I don't know what it is. But people just think they can just go to these sections. And we know some of these sections are gonna be quoted doing I mean, they have forty verse three the voice of Him in the Willness, it's getting ready to be advent time, and it's going to be quoted. And guess who's going to be completely left out? The original recipients because we don't care about them. We just want to put it on a Christmas card, or we want to just talk about us us us us us us. Is there an application obviously, because the New Testament uses it, but you use it in the New Testament way when you're reading the New Testament, when you're reading here, what do you need to do understand it in its context?

56:36 I mean everybody says context, context, context, but nobody actually believes it, right, because we actually believed it, we'd be like Huh, what is going on in verse three? You can't tell me that the way verse two is accomplished is by Jesus coming to the earth, because that would do would that be of any comfort to them? Hey, guys, I know you're in captivity, but your solution is coming five hundred years you're all gonna be dead. That there's gotta be some that's not comfort. Hey, five hundred years from now, someone's going to come. And I wouldn't even fix all the problems. Because even when Jesus came back, that was one of the big misconceptions, Right, what did the Jews think when he showed up that he was going to fix all that. He didn't fix all of their physical problems. He didn't take care of their captivity.

57:23 In fact, seventy eight d they're wipped off the face of the earth. He doesn't fix the things. They thought. That's why they finally got ticked off and they were like, you know what, crucify him. We need somebody else. They didn't understand either, because it is confusing, is it not? So there had to be some comfort for them. But the comfort for them obviously the cyrus seventy years later, they're going to defeat the Babylonians, and then what is he going to do? He gives literally a decree for them to go back and rebuild Jerusalem. He makes the pack, he removes the obstacles. Right, what is the obstacle from them? I'm leaving Babylon. Babylon who defeats the Babylonians Persians? Cyrus?

58:09 So who makes the way straight? Cyrus? All right, that's the only way to understand it from a historical standpoint, is it not? But do we ever do you ever hear it preached in its historical context? No? Which, yeah, I give up. I just sometimes you just want to just say, there's no point and even attempting this. But all right, we're going to attempt it. So we'll stop now. Then we'll wait a few minutes and then we'll get started, and then we'll do the next hour. Right, Lord God, we come before you this morning. We asked you to be with the peerces and the medical situation there. Pray for everyone involved there, Pray for anyone else's out today.

58:50 The Lord just continued to just we are grateful and thankful for us to have a place where we can deal with some of these questions and hermonutical issues in a way that we couldn't somewhere else. We are grateful for that, and as long as we're here, I pray that we continue to do our best to be committed to doing this very thing. And we have sis in Jesus name it Gost people said