Isaiah 40: Comfort

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Are you familiar with the word cacophony? Are you familiar with that word cacophony? That are you? I mean, if I was to if I was to open this up here, cacophony, right, are you familiar? Are you familiar with that word? Do you ever use it in a sentence? Cacophony? Cacophony. That's the only word that would come to my mind right before we went live on the air, was the word cacophony. It's been it's been a it's been a cacophony, right, And I'm like, wha wait? Am I am? I? Am?

0:44 I thinking of the right word. A cacophony A harsh discordant mixture of sounds. It's used in a sentence like a cacophony of deafening alarm bells. So it's a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds. You got all these sounds and it's just a Cacophony's it doesn't it doesn't mix well, it's just all messed up. Another definition goes something like a chaotic mixture, a striking combination. So I see the the Cambridge English An unpleasant mixture of loud sounds and unpleasant mixture of loud sounds. What a cacophony. As we entered the farmyard, we were met with a cacophony of animal sounds. Well, we need to talk about a cacophony, because I think I have heard enough of a cacophony of sermons that well, we're gonna have to talk about it, and we'll talk about it. Well, right after I do this, do I say good? Remember earlier today I'm kind of on the fence again ever using the word good again.

1:57 Maybe I'm just gonna I'll just say welcome everyone. It is Monday, October twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. It is currently three forty seven pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. A cacophony. This a loud mixture of unpleasant sounds, right, they don't fit together? Well, I think what I have heard recently are a lot of sermons that are well a cacophony because they don't fit well with the text they're actually preaching. You've got the text, You've got the sermon, and it just turns into a cacophony of loud, unpleasant sounds that are frustrating, that are irritating, and that drive me to drinking. Is that Do you think that's being over dramatic? Do you think am I using hyperbole? I don't really think I am.

2:54 I think that that's really how I feel. Maybe maybe you could say my feelings are not accurate, but that's how I feel. It's this just been one sermon after another sermon after another sermon that is utilizing the text, or I should say, using a section of scripture, depending on which sermon I'm listening to somewhere between Isaiah chapter forty and Isaiah chapter fifty five, and every sermon I hear utilizing some passage in Isaiah between Isaiah forty and Isaiah fifty five, it turns into a cacophony because it's an unpleasant mixture. Here's the text. Oh that's pleasant, that's the word of God. That's infallible, that's an errant. Here's a sermon, And what the sermon is doing to Isaiah forty through fifty five is unpleasant. It is chaotic, it is wrong, it is irritating, and it makes me want to just scream my full head off, and that led to all yesterday. We're starting our journey through Isaiah forty through fifty five. Now, as we are working through Isaiah forty through fifty five, a lot of it will occur at the church, but a lot of it is going to happen here behind the microphone. Now Here behind the microphone.

4:18 I won't be utilizing this as much to do straight teaching through Isaiah forty through fifty five, even though there may be some of that. I'm gonna be doing a lot of other things. Right Come along, give you a little assignments. I may we may do a little some sermon reviews. We'll just use a mixture of things. Maybe we'll throw in some Bible pop quizzes. Maybe, who knows. We'll just do a lot of extra things. Because the goal is if you stay with us and listen to everything, by the time we're done going from Isaiah forty verse one to Isaiah fifty five and finishing that chapter, you will be able to walk away going I hate him, He's an idiot, But I I learn more about Isaiah forty through fifty five than I've ever learned in my entire life. That is the goal. That's the stated goal.

5:07 Well I accomplish it, I do not know well we even finish it. Who knows. We never know how life is going to go. I could be dead twenty four hours from now, so who knows. But that is the goal, all right, that is the goal. I think we got off to a pretty decent start yesterday, right. I thought the first hour went very well. The second hour, you know, not super happy with the second hour. But because I really wasn't prepared to do the second hour, my original thought was kind of introduce Isaiah forty through fifty five and the first hour, second hour, go to Romans chapter four to continue our work on the there four. But there was people out there was there was just a I just made and not only that, it just felt like, well, now do we just change the subject. We're kind of like right here in the middle of this introduction. So I went ahead and used the second hour, so you got two plus hours of Isaiah forty five five dealing with a lot of issues. So I woke up today and I thought, you know what, since we've kind of done the introduction, we can really start working right now on Isaiah chapter forty and we can already start some work.

6:14 So I looked at Isaiah chapter forty, verse one, and I read Isaiah forty, verse one multiple times. Yesterday, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people saith your God. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people saith your God. And then in verse two speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. So comfort ye, comfort ye, my people saith your God. This idea of comfort. So here's what I want to do. First. I want to give you a little bit of an assignment. I'm not calling for you to do a full blown word study, but I want you to do at least a partial word study on the word comfort because it's used twice comfort comfort and verse one and then comfortably and verse two.

7:08 Look it up, get the definition, get the meaning, how it's used in other parts of the Bible. Understand everything about it you can. Yeah, and just I'm not gonna give you any specifics. You just start looking and see what you find. I'm gonna do. I may do a little bit of the work right now, but we will see. But here's what happened. Once I said, well, we can kind of start on Isaiah forty, I started looking up sermons on Isaiah chapter forty, verse one, and ladies and gentlemen, it was a cacophony of insanity. Every sermon was like about you and about the the very thing that started this entire series. Here's Isaiah forty verse one, and just immediately the original recipients, the original people. Oh maybe they get mentioned for three minutes in the sermon, but inevitably just start the stop watch, start the timer. Boom, they get kicked out and we get put in and over and over and over and over and over again. Even if they mentioned the original people, it was about you and it was about me, and it was about you being comforted and me being comforted. This is about us being comforted. I'm like, well, no, that's not us as we looked at yesterday. This is a we'll call this prophetic comfort, written way before the people were actually in the position that they were going to need this comfort, some say about one hundred years. But they are going to go into Babylonian exile, and this is the comfort that should go to the people in Babylonian exile. This is not for you or me. How it relates to us, we can discuss, but you have to deal with them.

8:41 And sermon after sermon after sermon. So I was listening to some and I was just getting frustrated. Many of them the sound quality was utterly just trash and disaster, and I'm like, do I go try to fix this? Then I found one, and just look at the name of it. You're ready, here's the name of it. Our Comfort for a Living, Our Comfort based on Isaiah forty one forty verse one are comfort? No, how about their comfort? How about that? No, it's just so weird, like Christians are. So it's just I just don't get it. We can go to a text that's about them, it's about they, it's about then, and it's about all of a sudden, it becomes about you, it becomes about me, and it becomes about now, And I don't understand why. It literally pushes me to the point and you probably heard it a little bit yesterday. It literally just makes me want to throw my hands up. I'm like, you know, this is just a game. This is what all we're doing is just pretending nobody cares about the meaning of the text.

9:51 Nobody does, because if we did, this kind of stuff would not happen. But not only does it happen, it's the normal way churches operate, and when in the church is like, amen, are you maun am out? Are you out? Are you out? What are you amening? You're amening the literal annihilation of the text. I don't get it. I don't get it. So so I want you to at least start doing a little bit of work on comfort, comfort, and comfortable. Are they all the same Greek word? I'm sorry? Are they all the same Hebrew word? Obviously we're in Isaiah, so it would not be the Greek word unless you're looking at the septuagen it's the Hebrew word. Are they the same three? It's all three words translated from the same Hebrew word, different Hebrew words. Figure that out? What are their meaning? How are they utilized? Just do a little bit of work. I'm not asking you to do anything.

10:43 I mean, I'm not asking you to take that much time. Just a just dig in a little bit. Now, I've got I don't know how many probably two maybe three pages of notes here. I think I have maybe more than that. I'm looking here to have it on my iPad. Yeah, I've got two major sections here. Doing a little bit of work on the Hebrew word, and I kind of looked at it from a textual, linguistic, and devotional significance of the word comfort yee, comfort yee here and then then I didn't like some of the answers. So then I went to AI and was like, uh, what's going on here? Like, because if you look up the meaning of the Hebrew word, at least the very first one, you're gonna kind of like, wait a minute, that can be translated as what like what is going on? And I don't know, maybe it caught me a little off guard.

11:34 Maybe it won't catch you off guard. Maybe you won't think anything of it. I did, so do a little bit of work. But here's what we'll do. We'll start. I didn't I listened to this one for just a maybe I don't even know, maybe a couple of seconds. So this one I didn't get very far in, but just the title our comfort for a living Again, how did we already end up in Isaiah chapter forty? I don't know, we don't need we can't even time it. There's not even a stopwatch for this because we're already in the text before the sermon even begins. It's just I just don't get it. I just don't understand. So I'm hoping that I'm completely wrong here and that this is going to be a good example, and we'll just kind of use this once again just to keep us hearing different perspectives on Isaiah forty. We're gonna be doing this all the way but through Isaiah forty through fifty five, just taking random sermons, hearing different perspectives because at least, look, even if you disagree with me, you get to hear more than one perspective, so you can go handle the Look, obviously, you can handle the text any way you want because there's nothing stopping you because Christianity, everyone can interpret the text anyway they want. I mean, that's that's the way it works. And you say, no, there's rules. There are no rules. Give me a break. There are no rules.

12:44 Whatever we claim there's hermanutical and interpretive rules. Give me a break. If there were anything close to rules, then our interpretations would be very similar. Okay, that would be very similar. There would only be slight variation, right, So let's at least listen to the beginning of this. Yeah, I don't know where this is going to go, but we'll see. I have my Bible open to Isaiah forty again, Verse one, let me read it. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Now I know I was breaking it down a little bit meet, being a little bit more precise, even though it's not following the flow of the verse. But comfort ye comfort yee. Pause my people.

13:26 I know there's no reason to pause there, but really trying to stress that phrase. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, Saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, this idea of comfort, comfort, comfort comfort. And while everyone preachers love grabbing onto this, they grab onto it, they kick the original recipients out. They may mention them briefly, and then it all becomes about you and about me. And let's see if that's what's about to happen. And the sermon that I have cued up here we go. Turn with me this morning to the fortieth chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah chapter forty. Will read together the first twenty four verses of Isaiah forty.

14:19 The Word of God at Isaiah forty. Verse one, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, seth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

15:00 The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, cry, And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. You understand that that's what he is to cry. He's to cry that all flesh is as grass. The grass withereth the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. But the word of our God shall stand forever. Ozion, that bringeth good tidings, Get thee up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings. Step thy voice with strength, lift it up.

16:04 Be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah. Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meet it out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighe the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.

16:55 Who hath directed the. Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him with whom took he counsel, and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and show to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up. The aisles as a very little thing, and lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity.

17:42 To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workmen melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, chooseth a tree that will not rob. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall. Not be moved? Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, and stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in that bringeth the princes to nothing.

18:44 He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. YEA, they shall not be planted. YEA, they shall not be sown. YEA, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them, and they shall with her, And the whirlwind shall take them away as stuble. Now we could have a long discussion here about preaching technique and how sermons structure and how you do things. I'm not necessarily a fan of this way of doing things. I know many people are. You know he reads twenty four verses. He reads twenty four verses. Now, if you're following along, I guess great. But I mean to me, this is what it would do for me. This is what it would just be. This is why I don't do this, because if I was listening to it, it drives me. Because, like I'm saying, they're reading those twenty four verses, I probably by the time you get to verse twenty four, and I'm not even exaggerating, I probably have two hundred and forty questions. Right.

19:50 My mind is like, well, what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And are you going to be able to. Cover all twenty four verses? Now? On the other hand, it's a good thing to read the twenty four verses because we've now already reviewed a couple of sermons. That's a review this that have read this entire section. That means we've all heard it read now three four times and we haven't even got started working on Isaiah chapter forty. So in some ways that's a good thing, right. So I know a lot of preachers say, well, people aren't going to read this anyway, so I'm just going to read it for them. And there's a little bit of truth to that. You can tell your church we're going to be working on Isaiah chapter forty. Everyone read it and read it and read it and read it and read it and read it and read it. And then you come like the third week, and then you start asking basic questions on Isaiah chapter forty, and then you realize nobody in your church has even bothered even to pick up a Bible to read it. And then you just want to retire and give up and say, what's the stinking point nobody cares anyway? All right, Okay, not that I am familiar with that, but yeah, that can happen. Right, So, on one end, you want the people to read it.

20:57 On the other hand, you know that there's a high probability many will not, so then you read it to them. But then if you read it to them, or how much are they even retaining? And if you're not going to be able to cover to me, you should read what you're going to be able to cover, right, I mean maybe I don't know. You probably have your own preference there. I don't know. In some ways I like it, in some ways I don't because me like, right now, I've already like just just following along there, I've already got like a million questions, already got like I don't even like, I'm like, how do we even handle this text? But all right, so he's read it. Now, how quickly is he going to get to his thesis on Isaiah forty?

21:38 And well, what is that thesis going to be? How many verses is he actually going to cover? What is he going to do? Well, we're about to find out. There ends our reading of God's Holy Word this morning. The passage that we've read undergirds the teaching of the Heigelberg Catechism in the very first Lord's Day let's read together Lard's Day one. Okay, I'm starting to detect something here, all right. We realized that John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress was very instrumental in the complete allegorizing, spiritualizing, and destroying any literal meaning of parts of Isaiah chapter forty it verse was it forty three?

22:32 Isaiah forty three, verse two? And we traced at sixteen I think at seventy eight or eighty seven. I don't have the year in front of me, and it's a number sixteen hundreds. While he's in prison, he writes the Pilgrim's Progress, He allegorizes, spiritualizes a part of Isaiah forty three, and then that had a profound impact on pastors, sermons and Bible teaching moving forward. Even if people did not know that they were borrowing from what John Bunyan did Pilgrim's Progress, they continued the tradition, just not knowing maybe where it came from. But I've listened to a lot of sermons today, and I'm starting to realize the Heidelberg Catechism seems to also play a major role here. So I'm going to I'm gonna I'm gonna look here, because I don't have it in front of me. What year was the Heidelberg Catechism written? All right? Hang on let me see here. Maybe we'll get a date here in a second. Heidelberg Catechism was written in fifteen sixty three.

23:47 Fifteen sixty three, all right, and I'm going now, I'm gonna ask another question. Does the catechism Isaiah forty if I can type correctly Isaiah forty verse one to Christians and rip it out of its original context? All right, let's see here if we get an answer, I'm using AI right here, I'm using AI. Yes. The Heidelberg Catechism does apply Isaiah forty one to Christians, particularly as a message of comfort regarding forgiveness of sins and assurance in Christ. Well.

24:42 Isaiah forty one forty, chapter forty, verse one was originally directed to Israel in the context of the Babylonian exile. The Heidelberg Catechism extends the versus message of comfort to Christians as a part of spiritual redemption the use how The how To Bird Catechism uses Isaiah forty verse one. Question and Answer one of the Heidelberg Catechism famously begins with this question what is your only comfort in life and in deathphasis that this emphasis on comfort resonates with Isaiah forty verse one, where God offers comfort to his people. The Catechism's entire structure and pastoral a tone reflects an interpretation of comfort similar to what Isaiah forty verse one conveys, though applied to spirit, applied to spiritual rather than physical exile.

25:33 By linking comfort with forgiveness, grace, and assurance in Christ, the title, the catechism spiritualizes Isaiah chapter forty verse One's message of God's comfort and relief for his people. This is intended to show that just as God comforted Israel and exile, he also provides comfort to Christians through Christ's redemptive work. Does this take the verse out of its original context in a sense? Yes, Isaiah forty verse one was originally a mess of comfort to Israel regarding the end of their Babylonian exile and the promise of restoration. By applying this verse directly to Christians as a message about forgiveness and assurance in Christ, the catechism moves beyond the historical context of Israel's physical exile to a broader spiritual application. The spiritual application, though not part of the original historical setting, is intended to highlight a parallel in how God comforts all his people and times of suffering.

26:27 All right, So there you go. We can read more here, but you get the basic idea. So immediately, I think the Heidelberg Catechism becomes a major part here. We see Isaiah forty three to two being greatly spiritualized and ripped out of its context by John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress, and we see Isaiah chapter forty verse one being spiritualized and basically ripped out of its original context by the Heidelberg Catechism. Now it what's so funny is a lot of people who are very committed to the Pilgrim's Progress by A. Bunyan and the Heidelberg Catechism tend to be the kind of churches that say, we care about the exegesus of God's Word, and we care about preaching it and teaching it accurately. But in many cases they're so spiritualizing it that I don't I just make it about whatever you want at this point. So this is another sermon.

27:21 I think I listened to five, or at least started five, and listened to all of them, and all of them I think were Heidelberg Catechism Heidelberg Catechism, Heidelberg Catechism and taking Isaiah forty one and just going boom, this is about you, this is about me. And look at the title of the message our comfort for living, not their comfort, our comfort. But this was a message to a specific people and a specific situation, and what they needed was comfort in their physical exile, their physical bondage, and what their hope was was for deliverance from their physical bondage and physical exile. All right, well, we could just stop right there. We could just stop right there and go this is we see, this is why we're doing the study in Isaiah forty through fifty five. How many sermons do I need to show you that will demonstrate the need for the series that we're doing. But let's give them the opportunity, because I am sure that they will at least circle back to the original context, they will explain it. But I am finding it interesting that we're kind of finding the sources for the spiritualizing. The sources are not coming from the scripture. They're coming from things outside of scripture. Heidelberg Pilgrim's Progress. We've got two sources fifteen hundred and sixteen hundreds that completely spiritualize Isaiah, and at least in Isaiah forty three and in Isaiah chapter forty verse one. Right now, let's see what they do here.

28:54 What is I only comfort in life and death? That I would body and soul both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood hath fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head. Yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation. And therefore by his holy spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto him. How many things are necessary for THEE to know that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily. Three The first, great my sins and miseries are, The second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries. The third, how I shall express my gratitude.

30:12 To God for such deliverances. So we spend all that time reading twenty four verses and Isaiah forty. Then immediately pivot go to a catechism written in hang on here, I got the date fifteen sixty three and a section that's about well us as believers and somehow putting them together. If I'm I'm going to lose my voice, put them together. Now, that's now, it may all fit, it may all all may all work.

30:55 So we got to give it time. But just note what just happened. We read twenty four verses and Isaiah four and the next thing you know, we're in fifteen sixty three, fifteen sixty three. Isaiah's ministry was what between seven forty seven fifty PC to seven hundred BC, somewhere around that time in the seven hundred BC. Now we're in fifteen sixty three a d. Now we're looking at a catechism that is obviously now going to connect it to Isaiah forty. And the catechism is not making it about those and Babylonian captivity. It makes it about us. Now. I know what many people say, but well, you're just being picky, and there's a way to connect this and that you can play all the games you want you can, I mean, feel free to I mean, obviously, the Bible interpretation is really just a game. You just make it say whatever you want. But if you care about the text, you have to be like, how did we get how did we get there? Now? Is there parallels? You can point out parallels, that's perfectly okay. You may be able to find some similarities, but you got to deal with the people here. Now, after he's done all of that, I'm assuming now we're going to go back to the original context, at least for a brief period of time.

32:17 Let's time. If you want to do this, now, get your stop watch, get your time around. It's time. How much time is actually spent with the original recipients and how quickly so, how much time is spent with them? And then well, how much time is spent on us? Let's see what happens here. I am not going to say very much this morning about the history behind the writing of the Heidelberg Catechism. I urge you to consult the internet. There are articles available on the internet about the history of the Heidelberg Catechism.

33:02 I recommend to you a little book, a slim paperback. There's a copy. There may even be multiple copies in our church Library. The book is entitled Three Men Came to Heidelberg and the references to the three men whom God used to produce the Heidelberg Catechism. You can remember who they are by remembering three peas. Isn't it funny? In theology? If you agree with the document, God use these men to produce the Heidelberg Catechism. God use these men to produce the London Baptist Confession of Faith.

33:50 God use these men to produce And so if you agree with them, God use the men to produce it. But if it's a document that you don't agree with, God didn't use those a man to produce those documents. So if you agree with the theology, God used them. Now, if God used them to produce it, does that mean it has been the infallibility of God? If God is the one directing and guiding the producing of the Heidelberg Catechism, is it infallible? If God used the man to produce the London Baptist is it infallible? Well wait a minute, we got a problem right, because the London Baptist would disagree with the Westminster on certain points. And uh oh wait, so who was God using a Spurgeon put together the Puritan Catechism. So what if the catechisms differ on maybe on I don't know, Lord's Supper and baptism issues? Which one was God using? Was God using the man who did infant baptism? Or was God using the man who were opposed to infant baptism? Whom was God using?

34:56 Oh? God was using the man you agree with? And he wasn't using the man you disagree with? How convenient? Or men instead of saying God you, how about men based off their theological understanding produced documents? Right? I mean, wouldn't that be better? Because then you don't get into the idea that well, because again, if I say this is the sermon God gave me, then how dare you question the sermon because God gave it to me? So basically it's infallible. Right, But it's just funny. Isaiah forty. We just spent all this time reading twenty four verses in Isaiah forty. Now we've read the Heidelberg Catechism. Now he's going to give you a book about the Heidelberg Catechism.

35:50 What about Isaiah forty? Okay, what about Isaiah ford? Maybe we're going to get to it in a minute. But he's gonna give us the three peas to remember the three men who came to Heidelberg, whom I'm going to say, based off their philological understanding, produced the Heidelberg Catechism more than putting God involved in it. But okay, here we go. There was a Prince, Frederick the Third the Pieus, not to be confused with another Frederick the Third the Wives, who was ruler of Northern Germany the Palatinate at the time of Martin Luther, some forty to fifty years before the writing of the Heidelberg Catechism. There is a fine chapter in Professor Hanko's book Portraits of Faithful Saints, chapter twenty eight that is entitled the Two Fredericks, and he talks about both Frederick the Wise, Luther's ruler, and this Frederick the Third, the Pious. Besides Frederick, there was also a preacher, a prince, and a preacher. The preacher was

37:21 castper Olivian ence. He was Frederick's court preacher. I do appreciate him saying olivianis or however you say it, because I never can say it correctly. Whenever I've taught on the Heidelberg Catechism and see see, because I have to say that, because see, there'll be someone listening, like you just don't know anything about the Reformation. You don't know anything about these documents. I've taught the Heidelberg Catechism. Okay, I've taught about the Reformation. I'm very reformed in my theology. But being reformed in your theology doesn't mean I can't say, huh, did they use Isaia chapter forty verse one? Because I have some problems with it? Because guess what, I don't believe any of the documents are infallible other than God's word.

38:09 So I can question and I can challenge because I'm not committed to a team. I don't care about your theological team. I don't care. Your team has no saying on me, can't tell me what to do. I don't care about your theological team because theological teams drive me crazy because you know what they do. You're more committed to the team than you are to the text. Oh boy, am I allowed to say that? Everybody's got to pick a team? And where are the jersey? And follow the party line? That's what you must do, and just and how do you interpret the Bible according to the party line, according to your team. You never question, you never challenge.

38:50 You just follow that, and then everyone's happy and we say we're right and everyone else is wrong. I think the Heidelberg Catechism is amazing. I think everyone should read it. I think everyone should study it. I think everyone should read it and study the Pilgrim's Progress. I can tell everyone to read it. I can tell everyone to study it. I can say how great I think it is in many aspects. I can also challenge it and question it and say, hmm, how does Isaiah forty verse one fit this? And I have every right to how in the world is John Bunyan utilizing Isaiah forty three, verse two in the Pilgrim's Progress. I have every right to question that, and so do any good Bible student has the right to go. I appreciate the documents. I appreciate the commentaries.

39:41 I appreciate the allegory. I appreciate this. I appreciate that. But I'm having a problem with how the text is being utilized. Frederick actually ransomed him out of prison and made him his court preachers, so that he menaced in the castle of Heidelberg and to the family of Frederick, but also to all the servants and everyone connected with the palace that was his congregation. Besides a prince and a preacher, there was a professor, a professor who was largely responsible for the writing of the Heidelberg Catechism, and that professor was Zacharias or Zignis, professor of theology.

40:44 I do appreciate him saying your science as well, because many of these names I don't think I ever get. I think I just said, hey, there were some three guys who showed up. I probably didn't even say the names correctly, But so I do appreciate that. Look, this is good history. Look from a church history perspective, this is that's awesome, this is great. You should be taking notes, you should get this. But we read twenty four verses in Isaiah forty. Now we're going to get there. I'm going to pretend that I believe that. Oh, no, I know it has to be. I'm just going he's going to say something about it.

41:25 Let's see in the University of Heidelberg, and he too had been brought to Heidelberg by Frederick the third. But what I do want to do this morning is to call your attention to the title above the Heidelberg Catechism, and if you are able to look at that title with me a moment. The title above the Heilberg Catechism reads like this, the Catechism or method of instruction in the Christian Religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed churches and schools in Holland, that is, the Netherlands and in America. That is a very significant title that not only explains somewhat the origin of the catechism, but the purpose, the purpose in the writing of the catechism.

42:45 First of all, that title is significant because it refers to this document as a catechism. That makes it unique among our three forms of unity. That makes it distinct from the Belgiic Confession, and that makes it distinct from the Canons of Dort. It is a catechism. With and just remember, I've taught on the Canons of Dort, I've taught on the Belgian Confession, I've taught on the Heidelberg Catechism. In fact, in our church, I think there was a time there was a bunch of them laying around the three forms of Unity, and I had people.

43:28 I told everyone to read them. I told everyone to study them. So I'm not opposed to any of this stuff, not in any way, shape or form. I'm all for it. What about Isaiah chapter forty? What about Isaiah chapter forty? All right, so let's see if he gets to it here. With questions that are asked and responded to with their answers. The word catechism is actually a biblical word. It occurs in the Greek New Testament. The Greek word for catechise is caught, a oh, cut a oh. But listen to that Greek word and the last part of the word from which we get our English word echo, And that's what a catechism is. It's an echo. It's a response back to the question that was asked.

44:43 That's an awesome explanation of a catechism. I like that. I have taught on the Greek word. I don't think I explained it quite that way. So that's really good. It's given me insight. I love all of this. This is great. I would highly recommend you listening to this. You're getting good history. But we started off by reading twenty four verses in the Book of Isaiah, and so far none of this is about None of this would help the people here, the people in Babylonian captivity. The Heidelberg Catechism wasn't going to be much help to them because they were going to be way dead before it ever came around. In fact, fifteen it's written in the fifteen eighty something they're long dead because they were long gone. Okay, you're talking. It took five hundred plus years even to get to well zero ad. Okay, they're long dead before this point, long dead. Okay, like two thousand years. They are long gone. Okay, well I'm my math maybe horrible.

45:45 You get the idea. They're long gone. Okay, so but okay, the Heidelberg Catechism. I'm glad the Heidelberg Catechism is going to help the people. I know he's not saying this, but it's just kind of funny that he just read about this and all it's talking about is the Heidelberg Catechism, and it's like, and now, this is good. I just don't know what has to do with Isaiah forty. But all right, all right, all right, this is all good history. That's very good to know it. And I am very much a promoter of catechisms, support catechisms. So I'm kind. I'm going to get all the emails from people criticized. No, I'm all for this stuff. I just why did we read Isaiah forty? I know at some point he's going to get to it.

46:27 That word, as I said, occurs in the New Testament, for example Luke one Versus three and four. Luke is writing to Theophilis, it seemed good to me, also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto the in order most excellent Theophilis, that thou might just know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed, And the word there is catechis.

47:08 Luke says to Theophilis, that thou might just know the certainty of those things in which thou hast been catechised, And that word also occurs in Acts eighteen, verses twenty four. And twenty five. This in connection with the work of Apollos who came to Ephesus. Do you feel like we're getting further in further away from chapter forty. Do you have any feeling that we're just like we've just we've left we like I why I don't, I don't know, all right, let's see if we it's got to get back to it, right, It's got to get back to it.

47:55 After the Apostle Paul had returned from Ephesus to the congregation at Antioch. In Acts eighteen twenty four and. Twenty five, we read, and a certain Jew named Apolis, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord. Knowing only the Baptism of John. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord. And once again the word there is catechised. A polus had been catechised in the way of the Lord. As a catechism, the Heidelbergism was designed as a method of instruction, a method of instruction in the reform faith, aimed especially at the youth of the church. That secondly, that explains the catechetical structure of

49:26 the catechism and India's introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism. Frederick made very plain that that was the outstanding purpose of the Heidelberg Catechism. Its focus is on the youth of the church, the covenant youth of the Church's focus is to bring the covenant youth of the church to maturity, so that they confess their faith and take their place in the life of the congregation. The fact that it was directed to the youth especially also comes out in the reference to the schools in that introduction method of instruction in the Christian religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed churches and schools in Holland and in America.

50:31 The reference there is to the Christian schools. The reference is to the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism by school masters, by teachers to their pupils, so that the instruction in the Christian school dovetailed with the instruction in the church, and by implication also the instruction in the Covenant family. In the third place, the Heidelberg Catechism intends to be a summary of the main doctrines of Holy Scripture, a summary of the truths of the Word of God. That's plain also in the introduction by that reference to the Christian religion. The Heidelberg Catechism aims to instruct the youth in the Christian religion that is the only proper religion, that is the religion of the worship and service of God, in distinction from every false religion, every other religion than the Christian religion.

52:01 I don't you're probably laughing at this point. I'm starting to cry, all this is good. Why did we start with twenty four verses of Isaiah? What is this? And what does any of this have to do with the people. It's like, it's like it's like, here's all these people in captivity and it's like, hey, hey, listen, listen, here's your comfort. And we hit play and they're like, what is this talking about. It's talking about your comfort, guys, we're in stinking captivity. Yeah, but they're gonna ride a Heidelberg Catechism and somehow Isaiah forty is gonna be connected to it. Well, is that for us? Nah? Forget you, forget you. We don't care. We care about everyone after fifteen whatever year it was, after the fifteen hundreds. Now, I'm just gonna let it play a little bit more.

52:56 I was just gonna see if it even turns to it. It even turns to it at this point, is. A false religion, that's the perspective of the Catechism. It isn't the caves. That they're different. World religions are like different flavors of ice cream, vanilla, butter, pecan chocolate. You take your pick and is simply a matter of your preference. That's what we're being told by many today. That's not the caves. The Christian religion is the only religion that is pleasing to God.

53:43 In the Christian. Religion, exclusively in the Christian religion is their comfort and salvation. In the fourth place, that title is significant because it identifies the Catechism with Christ. The religion that is the true religion is the Christian. Religion. Christ will figure. Prominently in nearly everyone of the fifty two lords days of the Heidelberg Catechism, and that prominence of Christ is evident already in the first Lord's Day of the Catechism.

54:41 What is thy only comfort? It's belonging to Jesus Christ. Is hey, guys in Babylonian exile, what is your only comfort? That I belong to Christ? Literally makes no sense. It has nothing to do with Isiah forty verse one. What oh man a lot? Okay, let's oh man man man man man man man man. Okay, all right, let's let's let's we'll just go on, We'll go a little longer.

55:28 In fact, the divisions of the Catechism can be divided according to Christ. The first section is deliverance or misery, that is the misery of those who are outside of Jesus Christ. The misery and Isaiah forty are people who are in Babylonian exile. Okay, that's their first misery. Now, whatever their sins are, we can The sins are mentioned here, but the sins are mentioned in relation to how they have violated God's covenant, and now God is punishing them in their captivity. All right, all right, but I get.

56:19 I don't know. Let's just keep listening. The second section is deliverance and redemption, which is in Jesus Christ. The deliverance and redemption in Isaiah chapter forty is a physical deliverance from physical bondage. And the third section is gratitude, the thankfulness that we owe to God for the saving work of Jesus Christ. The Christian.

57:00 Religion. It is also the God glorifying religion, that is the Reformed faith. Notice that in that title, the Christian religion and the Reformed faith are identified method of instruction in the Christian religion, as the same is taught in the Reformed. Churches and schools.

57:43 In the Reformed churches and schools, the Reform faith is not merely one among other faiths. But the viewpoint of the Heidelberg Catechism is that the Reform faith is this would be identified with the Christian religion. More and more there are those who are abandoning the Christian religion. Okay, ladies and gentlemen. This is one of the things about doing reviews without listening. I mean, this is just I don't I don't even know what to do with this.

58:26 So I'm just going to go through some of my notes relatively quick here. All right, So your assignment is the word the word comfort comfort comfortable comfortably and verse one comfort ye comfort yee, and the verse two speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. I want you to look up all three words. Are they the same Hebrew word, different Hebrew words? What are their meaning? And how are they used? A right, just do a little bit basic work. I'm going to do some of it for you right here, right Isaiah. Chapter forty, verse one marks a distinct shift in the Book of Isaiah. From the early chapters which one through thirty nine, they focus largely on judgment and warnings.

59:09 A new message of hope and restoration restoration for God's people starts in chapter forty, so one through thirty nine is basically about judgment and warning, and then a new message of hope and restoration starts in chapter forty. The repetition of the words comfort serves as an introduction to a section which goes from Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah fifty five, which is focused on God's plan to deliver Israel from exile and restore them to their land. It speaks of him delivering them from physical exile and bringing them into physical land. The double use of the word comfort emphasizes the urgency and certainty of God's desire to console his people. It signals that their time of judgment is coming to an end and God is about to act in mercy. The restoration for Israel and the historical context this comfort is specifically for Israel, who would soon be in Babylonian exile. This exile was a result of their sins and rebellion against God, but now God is offering a message of consolation, signaling that their punishment has been sufficient and their restoration is on the horizon. So there's kind of the textual significance. It's a turning point.

1:00:24 It's a change from the warnings and judgment. Now there's a sense of comfort, a sense of trying to offer something positive in light of what they would be going through when this what went for about the time this comfort is to be given. Now there's a linguistic significance the Hebrew word for comfort, which is, let's go back to it, the Hebrew word for comfort. Here is a wait I left at I'm over in first John. Here, let's go to Isaiah chapter forty. Go to Isaiah chapter forty one. It's this Hebrew word. All right. I guess we haven't listened to it yet. All right, here we go.

1:01:04 It's this Hebrew word. Strong's age fifty one sixty two, nahm Nahem. All right, it's used one hundred and eight times. All right, so Naham. I could do a lot of work right there on Nahem. But I'm not going to right now. I'm going to go back to some of my notes and go through it this way. All right. Nahem is the linguistic significance, the Hebrew word here nahem, which is the imperative form of the verb. This verb means to comfort, to console, or show compassion. The imperative form used twice reflects God's command to bring comfort to his people, emphasizing the urgency of the task. It's the idea comfort them, comfort them now. Now, you got to do it now, they need it now. There's an urgency that the people need comfort, all right. I think that's very important. The repetition of the word comfort adds intensity and emphasis. In Hebrew, repetition is often used to strengthen a message or show the certainty and the importance. The doubling here suggests that God's comfort is complete, abundant and sure, bring them complete, abundant, sure comfort, and do it now they need it now. Or even though this was written before it occurred, the point is there's going to be urgency when they're in this situation. There's going to be an urgency for comfort, all right, which I think if

1:02:37 you want to see what's a parallel, what's an application, Well, when people are in their sin and they're suffering, there is an urgency to bring them comfort now. See there you could connect it if you want to write. But the idea here is there's an urgency, especially for these people compassion and reassurance. The root meaning of nachem includes the idea of soothing consoling in times of sorrow or distress. It conveys a sense of compassion and reassurance, promising that God will bring relief from their suffering and restore his people's sense of security. All right, now, I've got more notes here, but I won't get into those right now.

1:03:17 But for me, I was like, hmm, there's there's something here about this Hebrew word that was catching me off guard. So I'm going to go back to the antilinear. I'm going to go back to the antilinear. The Hebrew word. If I said Greek word, I apologize. I'm trying to hurry because I'm running out of time. The Hebrew word strong's age fifty one sixty two sham naham. All right. The Hebrew word here, if you look at the it's okay, it's translated comfort fifty seven times, but forty one times it's translated repent. That's what caught my attention. The strongest definition of nahem is to sigh, breathe strongly, to be sorry.

1:04:07 I'm like what. So then I looked at the outline of biblical usage to be sorry, to console oneself, to repent, to regret, to comfort, to be comforted, to be sorry, be moved, to pity, have compassion, to be sorry, rue, suffer, grief, repent. So it's that idea to be sorry, like over and over and over and over. It's how it's use. And I'm like, well, that's interesting, right, how do I fit this? Right? Comfort ye? Comfort ye? The people? Well, comfort ye? The people? Well, who's the sorry one? Who's the one? Who is it? Because they're repenting? Like, how do we understand this? So I had to do a little bit of work. So I went to Ai on this, and AI gave me this hang on, I got to go back up to I'll pass all of this stuff dealing with the Heidelberg Catechism.

1:04:55 All right, here we go, Here we go. So I asked Ai this. The Hebrew word translated comfort seems to carry the idea of to be sorry. What does this mean? Yes? The Hebrew word nacham, often translated as comfort in Isaiah often translated his comfort and Isaiah forty verse one, can also carry the meaning of to be sorry or to repent in different contexts. This broader semantic range provides deeper insight into the nature of the comfort God is offering. Let's explore what this means. The linguistic range of nahem. The root is versatile word and Hebrew, and its meaning can carry a variety, can carry a lot of variety based on its context, comfort, console, and context. Like Isaiah forty one, Nachem is commonly translated as comfort or console, meaning to provide relief, consolation, or encouragement to someone in distress.

1:05:54 So at least and this context, the idea is, Hey, these people, Yes they're suffering for their sin, Yes they're in captivity, but someone needs to go. It can't be Isaiah. He's going to be dead before them. All the people alive who are current receiving the original prophecy, they're going to be dead. But someone is going to have to go to these people suffering and bring them comfort. All right, So if we're going to bring this to if we're going to apply this to us, when you see people in sin, sometimes they need to be comforted, right right, But it can also mean the ida to be sorry, to repent In other contexts, knockham can mean to be sorry or to change one's mind. This meaning is typically applies to situations where there is an acknowledgment of regret or a decision after a course of action to relent.

1:06:43 Knock Ham also means to relent or to have compassion. This meaning is often used to describe God's decision to withhold judgment or punishment after deciding to show mercy. All right, so hang on, let me go back to I just lost everything here, right, just lost all my notes. Okay, here we go. We can go back here to this all right. So to be sorry in relation to comfort. When we consider the meaning of knockham to be sorry, it implies a sense of sorrow or regret, But when it is used in the context of comfort, as in Isaiah chapter forty, verse one, it suggests more nuanced understanding of God's attitude towards Israel. All right. In the context of Isaiah forty verse one, the idea of God being sorry because could suggest that God, after a period of judgment and discipline the Babylonian exile, is now expressing compassion for his people. It as though God is responding to their suffering by offering comfort. And relief, acknowledging the hardship that they have endured. This does not mean that God is regretting his judgment in a literal sense, but a point to the fact that after a season of just punishment, he is ready to bring comfort and restoration to his peace.

1:08:00 In other words, God is now relenting from his disciplinary action and turning towards restoration. And you kind of see a little bit of this in verse two where he says, Hey, you've received from the Lord's hand double for all your sins. You have suffered and suffered. Now comfort ye, comfort ye. In a sense, I'm relenting, I'm turning from discipline to comfort. I think that there's a little bit of idea I think that fits somewhat here. It shows this, It shows God's change of posture, and some Contextsknockham conveys a change in direction, such as when God decides to withhold further punishment, and this sense Isaiah forty one could indicate that God is changing his posture from judgment exile to comfort restoration.

1:08:51 After the appropriate amount of judgment has been administered, God is now sorry in a sense for the extent of their suffering and is offering compassion, and hope. All right, Now, there's a lot more here, but I just want you to see that those words comfort ye, comfort yee, there's a lot going on, and those Hebrew words there, there's a lot going on. It carries the idea of sorry. If you look at all the different things that can carry, there's a lot happening. You can't just read comfort ye comfort yee and just move on. There's a lot there. And just so that you know the word comfortably in fact, since we're just already here and I want you to get something out of this besince that sermon review was a disaster of epic proportions. Comfortably, just so that you know is a different Hebrew word if I said Greek, I apologize it is this.

1:09:44 Strong's age thirty eight twenty Lave, lave. Lave, That is weird. Hey on, comfortably. I'm gonna look at that again, lave it is? That is weird? All right? Because yeah, issues five hundred and ninety three times, that's an interesting word, speak ye comfortably. I wonder if all translations use that. See now we can see that's the thing we need to be doing. That's the kind of work we need to be doing. But obviously they you read Isaiah forty verses one through twenty four. I don't even know why it was read. Maybe at some point in the sermon he'll he'll get to it. But yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously you know what it's going to be used about. It's about us. It's about us, it's not about us. And if you want to draw some correlation, the correlation would be this, when someone is suffering as a result of their sins and they are broken, they need comfort. Now we talked about when do you bring comfort, when do you bring law? We can talk about that, but sometimes we don't want to bring comfort, we want to bring well. We can get into a whole discussion there.

1:10:54 But there is the comfort ye comfort ye comfort yee, comfort yee. Those are the same Hebrew words comfortably, it's a completely different Hebrew word. You may want to do work on the two Hebrew words and just see all of the nuance there and then try to then see what that shows in the text. Now we'll go back over all of this in greater detail at a different time. But man, yeah, you see why. I think the thing we take from this is that so much of the spiritualizing and so much of the allegorizing of Isaiah forty comes from different sources. The Pilgrim's Progress does it to Isaiah forty three to two, and the Heidelberg Catechism really just uses Isaiah forty verse one to talk about our comfort. Now, is there a parallel. You can draw a parallel, but remember the comfort in Isaiah forty one. It's not about our comfort. It's about them. Now we can draw parallel, but you got to be careful how you draw the parallel.

1:12:00 You can't jump to us until you've spent a considerable amount of time with the original people. And that's not about their spiritual comfort. It's more about their actual being comforted from the exile. It's going to go from exile to restoration, and it's not a spiritual restoration. It's a physical restoration unless you come to a section that deals with the New Covenant, and then you get to the spiritual aspect, but then it's the New Covenant about it. Okay, well, now we can get we can go all day. I'm working on all of this. All right, there we go. That was yeah, I give up, all right, thank you for listening everyone. Everyone have a good day. I quit.

1:12:44 I really do. I just I don't even know. I'm gonna have to go. I'm gonna go listen to a little bit more of that and then maybe we'll do another uh well, we'll we'll review the part that actually talks about Isaiah if it does so, I'm gonna upload this. While i'm uploading this, I'm going to uh listen to the rest of that and see what I can find. All right, thanks for listening everyone, Have a great day. God bless