Oct. 27, 2024

Isaiah 40: Cyrus or John the Baptist?

Isaiah 40: Cyrus or John the Baptist?

As we prepare for a study of Isaiah 40-55, I review a sermon on Isaiah 40

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

As we prepare for a study of Isaiah 40-55, I review a sermon on Isaiah 40

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:05.919
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:12.800
the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good evening everyone.

3
00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:17.079
I know I'm interrupting. I know I'm interrupting the World Series.

4
00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:21.199
I'm interrupting college football. There's like a million things going on.

5
00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.399
I know I'm interrupting all of that. Most of you

6
00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:25.719
just look down on your device. You saw the notification.

7
00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.120
You're like, he's out of his mind. I'm watching the

8
00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.359
World Series. I'm watching the NBA, I'm watching the NHL,

9
00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.520
I'm watching college football. He's out of his mind. I'm

10
00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.560
not going to listen to another episode of the Theology

11
00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.000
Central podcast. Perfectly understood. It makes perfect sense. So you

12
00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:45.119
enjoy your sports whenever you get to this. Just no,

13
00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.640
you know you ignored me. But hey, that's okay. That's

14
00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:52.079
so I'm still here the broadcasting now. To be honest,

15
00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.600
I think I would rather be Well, the Yankees are

16
00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:56.079
currently losing, so I don't know if I want to

17
00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:58.880
be currently watching the World Series or not. But yeah,

18
00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:01.719
there's probably other things I would like to do. But

19
00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:06.359
I here, I am, and well we have to talk.

20
00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:10.159
So are you ready? Good evening everyone. It is Saturday.

21
00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:14.959
Saturday is Key Saturday, October the twenty six, twenty twenty four.

22
00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.840
It is currently eight thirty one pm Central Time, and

23
00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.599
I am coming to you live from the Theology Central

24
00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:26.879
Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now why is

25
00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.920
Saturday key? Well, because Saturday I do a lot of

26
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.680
sermon prep and I've been doing a lot of work

27
00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.280
for tomorrow. We're going to we got Romans chapter four,

28
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:39.239
and we're going to begin, I think, a very long

29
00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.319
journey through Isaiah chapter forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five.

30
00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:46.840
And the reason we're going to be doing all of

31
00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:51.000
this work is because it all started with a little game. Right,

32
00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.719
how long does it take a pastor to insert you

33
00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.400
and me? How long does it take a pastor to

34
00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.200
insert us into Isaiah chapter forty five? Three, Let's play

35
00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.480
a little game and find out. And it took less

36
00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.400
than forty seconds. And then we reviewed another sermon and

37
00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:09.520
it took well less than zero seconds because the tunitle

38
00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:14.080
of the sermon inserted us into Isaiah forty three. So

39
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.400
I have been bothered by all the ways pastors handle

40
00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.159
Isaiah forty three. Then we went back to what sixteen

41
00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:25.680
seventy eight saw how John Bunyan handled Isaiah forty three

42
00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.080
in The Pilgrim's Progress, and well that started it. Like

43
00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:32.960
at that point, I was gone, right, I mean, I

44
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.199
just started spiraling and spiraling. I'm like, Okay, we've got

45
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:38.240
to figure this section out. So I could sit here

46
00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:41.039
and just complain. I could play sermon after sermon after

47
00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.960
sermon after sermon and say this is crazy, this is crazy,

48
00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.120
this is crazy. Or I could try to do something

49
00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.639
more positive. And that's what we're going to do. Since

50
00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:51.840
Isaiah forty three falls into this section that goes from

51
00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:54.599
Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five, sometimes called the Book

52
00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.080
of Comfort, the Comfort section, well, then we're going to

53
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.680
look at the entire section. Now we're going to take

54
00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:03.560
a little bit of criticism that we have offered, and

55
00:03:03.639 --> 00:03:06.039
instead of just focusing on being critical, we're going to

56
00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:09.719
try to build something much more positive, which is hopefully

57
00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:12.400
by the time it's over, you're going to understand Isaiah

58
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:15.080
forty to Isaiah fifty five better than you ever have

59
00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.680
in your entire life. That's the goal. And we're going

60
00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:20.159
to be doing a lot of things. So I've already

61
00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:24.280
told you start work, start reading Isaiah forty to fifty

62
00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:27.560
five Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah fifty five. Make it

63
00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.240
your Make it it's your new friend. Make it your

64
00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:34.919
new friend, make it your your your new companion. Become

65
00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:37.039
very close with it. Read it and read it, and

66
00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:39.319
read it and read it and reread it, and begin

67
00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:41.960
listening to as many sermons as you can on Isaiah

68
00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.039
forty to fifty five. Between reading it, listening to sermons,

69
00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:48.800
and then joining us in our study, I can promise

70
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.800
you you're going to know more about it than people

71
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.479
who go to seminary or Bible college. You're going to

72
00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.120
know more about it. So I'm going to do my

73
00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:59.919
very best because I'm just bothered. Look, I just I

74
00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:09.479
just don't understand pastors who are and Okay, maybe maybe

75
00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:14.599
this is self serving, maybe this is selfish, maybe this

76
00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:19.199
is motivated by jealousy. I'll be willing to admit me

77
00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.279
I'm a sinner, like I've told you all the time.

78
00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:23.360
I'm just a center with a microphone. But I'm just

79
00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:27.439
gonna be honest with you. It bothers me greatly when

80
00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:29.600
I see these sermons, say on the sermon's two point

81
00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:32.839
oh app or some other platform, they'll have thousands upon

82
00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:36.399
thousands upon thousands of you know, downloads or hundreds or

83
00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:38.399
whatever the number is, and I'll be like, look at

84
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.360
how many people listen to that. I'll see all the

85
00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:44.279
comments amazing, great, wonderful. And then you listen to it

86
00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.040
and you're like, what in the name of bubblegum did

87
00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:50.759
they do to the text of scripture? What they There's

88
00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:54.319
nothing great about that? Why do they? And then you'll

89
00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:56.439
notice that they'll be, you know, a pastor of some

90
00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.199
large church. You have two, three, four, five hundred people.

91
00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:03.000
They've got resources, they've got money, they've got this, they've

92
00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:07.360
got that, And I'm like, why is that? What is popular?

93
00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:09.399
And I know that that's a little self serving. I'm

94
00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:11.879
just gonna be honest with you, but it can become discouraging.

95
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.160
I'm like, look, so I guess to be in order

96
00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:16.360
to be a popular preacher, what I do is I

97
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.000
just make stuff up about the text and then people

98
00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:20.680
love it. So I just got to figure out what

99
00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.319
the people want make it up because no one really

100
00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.560
cares if what's being said about the text is accurate.

101
00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.519
I know that sounds very critical, very cynical, but that's

102
00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:33.800
the feeling I get sometimes I look at these sermons.

103
00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:36.680
I'm like, wait, that's got that many downloads. Everybody thinks

104
00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:42.199
it's a wonderful. It's an absolute travesty to the text.

105
00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.800
So I mean, when you go to Isaiah forty three

106
00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.480
and insert us into the text, I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,

107
00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.759
that's a problem because we don't belong in Isaiah forty three,

108
00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:58.120
in fact, the entire section. So we earlier today we

109
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.639
reviewed and started reviewing another sound Our sermon. And the

110
00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.800
reason we did so as well, because it's a sermon

111
00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:06.079
where the text is Isaiah chapter forty. In fact, the

112
00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:09.279
beginning of the sermon, they read the entire chapter. But

113
00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:12.959
the entire chapter or the entire sermon is about the

114
00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:19.639
election of twenty sixteen, And I'm like, wait, so Isaiah

115
00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:22.680
forty in fact, he read all of Isaiah forty and

116
00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:26.879
then immediately started talking about the elections presidential elections in

117
00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.720
the United States of America. Now, to be fair, he

118
00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:33.439
did get to Isaiah forty and he did start working

119
00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:38.439
on it, but it started getting very confusing, and he

120
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.399
made some very good points. He made some very good points.

121
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.079
I don't want to be all critical, but then it

122
00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:48.079
kind of just started bothering me. All right, So Isaiah

123
00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:50.800
chapter forty, let me just just remind you of a

124
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.000
couple of things, because I think it's very important, all right,

125
00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.279
the section, and because we kind of stumbled upon this

126
00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:00.399
reality in the last broadcast, right And I'm going to

127
00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:02.319
make a big deal about this tomorrow if I get

128
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.240
to it in the first hour. But I think this

129
00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:08.759
is very important because it's like I was, it was,

130
00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.040
how can I state it was? It was confusing because

131
00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:16.600
depending on which source I was reading, it didn't do

132
00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.319
a very good job of offering clarification. So let me

133
00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:23.319
offer the clarification. Right when you look at Isaiah forty

134
00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:27.480
to chapter Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five,

135
00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:31.439
we see that as a section. It's an entire section,

136
00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:38.839
all right, And this section offers comfort, hope, and assurance

137
00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:45.040
to the people of Israel during the Babylonian exile. All right,

138
00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.079
So you could say, Isaiah forty to fifty five, it's

139
00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.519
to offer comfort, it's to offer I mean, how do

140
00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:55.600
I have this written down? Comfort, hope, and assurance to

141
00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:59.720
the people of Israel during the Babylonian exile? So you

142
00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:02.120
could and then if you read that, you could think, okay,

143
00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:05.439
so then God gives these words to Isaiah, and Isaiah's

144
00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:08.360
to deliver this to the people when they're in exile. Right,

145
00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:10.519
That's how you could possibly just read. And a lot

146
00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.480
of the commentaries kind of stated that way here here,

147
00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.560
and even in the sermon we heard, it was God

148
00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:19.519
gave these words to Isaiah, and Isaiah was to bring

149
00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.920
them to the people. Now. To be fair, he did

150
00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.319
draw a distinction that this was prior to the exile,

151
00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.439
but he didn't really explain. And some of the commentaries

152
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.240
are like, this is this is the message of God

153
00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.679
to Isaiah to the people in exile. Well, that's that's

154
00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:38.360
all a little misleading and a little confusing. And here's

155
00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.879
the reason why, all right, this is very important. It

156
00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:45.440
is important to recognize that this message Isaiah forty to

157
00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:50.840
fifty five, very important, all right, was given to Isaiah

158
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:59.399
and written down long before the exile actually occurred. These

159
00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.919
words were given into Isaiah way before the exile occurs.

160
00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:06.879
Isaiah does not deliver this message to the people in exile.

161
00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:10.799
In fact, this happens depending if we look at this correctly,

162
00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:15.240
it looks like over one hundred years, meaning the people

163
00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.879
at the time who hear this message, are dead before

164
00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:21.480
the exile begins. Isaiah is dead before the exile begins.

165
00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:26.080
So everyone, So these are words too, These are prophetic

166
00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:30.519
words of comfort, of hope, of assurance, but they're not

167
00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.960
necessarily for the people at the time. All right, if

168
00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.360
we try to break this down, understand Isaiah's ministry. Isaiah

169
00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:39.480
was a prophet in Judah during the latter half of

170
00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.840
the eighth century around seven forty to seven hundred BC.

171
00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:46.360
During Isaiah's time, the dominant threat to Israel and Judah

172
00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.600
came from the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the Northern Kingdom

173
00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:53.000
of Israel and seven twenty two BC. So the Northern

174
00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:57.919
Kingdom would have been conquered during Isaiah's ministry, right, Judah

175
00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.879
under the reign of King Hezekiah. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,

176
00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:04.639
that would be correct. I want to make sure I

177
00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:07.879
was getting that right, sir. Okay. Judah under the reign

178
00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.799
of King Hezekiah survived the Assyrian threat, but Judas's future

179
00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.720
was still uncertain. Isaiah lived during the reign of several

180
00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.440
kings of Judah, and his prophecies addressed the current threats

181
00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:21.759
of Assyria and Judas's own unfaithfulness. However, Isaiah also looked

182
00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:24.840
ahead to a future events, including the rise of Babylon

183
00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:29.279
as the next great empire prophecy of the Babylonian exile.

184
00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.480
This would be future, though a babylon had not yet

185
00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:37.080
risen to power during Isaiah's lifetime. Isaiah first saw the

186
00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:40.399
Babylonian captivity that would occur in the future as a

187
00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:44.559
result of Judas ongoing rebellion against God. Isaiah thirty nine

188
00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:48.519
six through seven. Isaiah specifically prophesied that the Babylonians would

189
00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:51.919
come and take away everything from Jerusalem, including members of

190
00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:55.639
the royal family. This foreshadowed the Babylonian conquests of Jerusalem

191
00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.559
and five eighty six BC and the exile that followed.

192
00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:03.840
The Babylonian exile was God's judgment on Judah for its

193
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:07.080
continued idolatry and disobedience to the Covenant. This judgment came

194
00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:14.399
over one hundred years after Isaiah's death. All Right, So

195
00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:17.360
these are words of comfort, but they're not They are

196
00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:22.120
words of comfort that for a situation that's over one

197
00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:27.399
hundred years away. Right, that's very very important. Okay, So

198
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.600
the way the sermon we heard today was kind of

199
00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:32.639
like well, Isaiah was to take these words to the

200
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:37.320
people and offer them comfort. They're still in their sin,

201
00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.159
they're still in their rebellion, and their rebellion is going

202
00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:44.519
to lead them to seventy years of exile and Babylon.

203
00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.200
So it was very like he did not clean it

204
00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:49.440
up at all. In fact, if you're just sitting in

205
00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.320
the pew, you may have been all discombobulated and confused.

206
00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:53.840
And in fact, if you go back and listen to

207
00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:57.000
my review, I even got a little confused. And not

208
00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.159
only because of the sermon. I was looking at more.

209
00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.120
I was looking at my study Bible, was looking at commentaries,

210
00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:07.039
and the way even they described it was, Hey, these

211
00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:09.120
are the words to those in exile. But they did

212
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.000
not stop to go. However, when these words were given,

213
00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:17.440
it was still one hundred years before they went into exile. Right,

214
00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.519
So Isaiah forty through fifty five, which was a message

215
00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:24.559
of comfort and restoration, was written before the exile. Isaiah

216
00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.360
forty through fifty five was likely written during Isaiah's lifetime

217
00:12:27.399 --> 00:12:31.440
around the eighth century BC, well before the Babylonian exile occurred.

218
00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.759
These chapters contained prophecies meant to comfort Israel in the

219
00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.240
future when they would be in Babylonian exile. In this section,

220
00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.960
God speaks words of comfort to the exiled Israelites. Now

221
00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.360
he does, but he does so one hundred years before

222
00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.120
it happens. You have to understand that. Now again, here's

223
00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:56.240
what happens. If your entire sermon is about you, me,

224
00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:01.440
the election you, then you don't make time for this

225
00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.879
kind of information because you're so wanting to shove us

226
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.960
into it, all right, so that the timing of this

227
00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:12.480
is important. So here we go Isaiah, Chapter forty, Verse one,

228
00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:17.039
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Now

229
00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.120
the way these people are going to be comforted is

230
00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.360
this prophetic comfort. Now, this is the message that's going

231
00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.440
to bring comfort to the people when they are in exile.

232
00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.000
Now are what are these words of comfort? Verse two,

233
00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.360
speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Now when it says, be

234
00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.120
a comfort my people, this is not you, this is

235
00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:37.720
not me. This is not about the election of twenty sixteen,

236
00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:41.039
the election of twenty twenty, the election of twenty twenty four,

237
00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:44.759
or any other election. These are words to the people

238
00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.679
and Babylonian exile. Those are the people who need comforted.

239
00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:53.519
These words of comfort are for them. Speak ye comfortably

240
00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:56.000
to Jerusalem. I mean, you're getting the idea. My people

241
00:13:56.039 --> 00:13:59.159
is Israel, Jerusalem, You're getting the idea. Cry under her

242
00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:04.039
that her war fair is accomplished, her warfare is accomplished,

243
00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:08.720
her suffering, her exile, her captivity. It's all come to

244
00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:14.879
an end, right, that her iniquity is pardoned, that all

245
00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:17.519
of the suffering has come to an end. And remember,

246
00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.320
many times future events are spoken in past tense. Now

247
00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:23.919
that the message today that we were reviewing did acknowledge that,

248
00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:26.320
and that was very good and worth the entire sermon.

249
00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:30.559
But hey, your sins have been pardoned, for she hath

250
00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:34.399
received of the Lord, for she that is Israel Judah.

251
00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.240
They have received of the Lord a hand double of

252
00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:40.799
all her sins. Now there's much disagreement on the double part.

253
00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.399
Did they receive double? But the main thing is they

254
00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:47.919
have suffered, They have suffered, they have suffered. They have

255
00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:51.600
paid for their sins by their suffering, by the destruction

256
00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.600
of the temple, captivity, death, slave, all the things that

257
00:14:55.639 --> 00:15:00.799
have happened to them, it has all been accomplished God,

258
00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.240
that God has put them in the captivity, and now

259
00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:09.080
it has come to end. End. Now in the sermon

260
00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:13.159
that we were listening to today. The pastor then made

261
00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:19.399
a kind of a startling comment, are you ready? How

262
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:24.639
did this happen? And so how did this happen? Which

263
00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:26.879
would be how did this happen? How did what happen?

264
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.320
How did the Babylonian exile come to an end? And

265
00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:33.960
how were all of these wonderful things? Your warfare is ended,

266
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.039
you've been forgiven and you have received of the Lord's

267
00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:40.120
hand double for all your sins. How does this all

268
00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:42.639
come to an end? How is this all fulfilled? How

269
00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:45.039
does this all happen? And then he made the startling

270
00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:51.840
comment because God comes to the earth, wait what And

271
00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:58.039
the pastor jumps from the five hundred BC timeframe to well,

272
00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:02.000
the time of christ incarnation, and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait,

273
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.639
So Christ's incarnation is like five hundred years away. Christ's

274
00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.159
coming to earth did not bring about the Babylonian exile

275
00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.000
coming to an end. In fact, it's completely separate. So

276
00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.720
what he does He starts spiritualizing this, your warfare, your

277
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.080
your sins are a part. This is all spiritual and

278
00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:24.159
this is all fulfilled in Christ. He starts spiritualizing it,

279
00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:26.279
and you're like, wait a minute. If we put this

280
00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.600
in any kind of historical context, you can't point to

281
00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:33.720
Christ as the one that fulfills the fixes the Babylonian captivity.

282
00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:34.480
That's not.

283
00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.840
That's not the way it happened. So I was baffled

284
00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:41.120
by that. Now, the reason he did that is because

285
00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:44.039
of verses three through five. Because if you look at

286
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:47.559
Isaiah forty three through five, you read the voice of

287
00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:50.480
him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye. The way

288
00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:54.080
of the Lord makes straight, and the desert a highway

289
00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:58.279
for our God. Now you know that these verses are

290
00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:01.039
referenced in the New Testament, and they are applied to

291
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.920
John the Baptist. So that's why he said, hey, how

292
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:10.200
is this fulfilled? There? But wait a minute. Sometimes in

293
00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:16.039
the Old Testament a prophecy may have an immediate context,

294
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:20.839
and then it is used in a future context when

295
00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.839
the Gospel writers use this, when this is cided of

296
00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:30.279
John the Baptist, now wait a minute, that obviously is

297
00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:35.559
now utilizing it in a completely separate textual and historical context.

298
00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:38.319
But your job as a good Bible student is like,

299
00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.559
wait a minute, what does this have to do for Look,

300
00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.680
Verses three through five has to have something to do

301
00:17:44.759 --> 00:17:48.480
with the people who are in Babylonian captivity, because these

302
00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:51.200
are words of comfort to them, not words of comfort

303
00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:55.519
for people living five hundred years later. This is primarily

304
00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.079
for the people living in Babylonian exile. What are the

305
00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:03.319
words of comfort there? What is this have anything to

306
00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:05.839
do with Well, we're gonna talk about that. But what

307
00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:07.519
we're gonna do is gonna go back to the sermon

308
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.359
and just pick it back up. Now he's kind of

309
00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:13.440
right in the middle explaining Isaiah forty two. He's doing

310
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.759
a little bit of spiritualizing, right, He's already entered. He's

311
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.920
already inserted Christ and the Isaiah forty two. He's already

312
00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:25.359
basically he's taken the phrase my people, and it's gone

313
00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:28.519
way beyond Israel. He's already doing a lot of things

314
00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.079
with the text. Now, just remember the volume is a

315
00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:33.119
little lower on this. I was going to go ahead

316
00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.680
and fix it, but I had it queued up and

317
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.559
ready to go, and if I went and fixed it,

318
00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.400
then I would have to download it, then upload it,

319
00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:43.599
then artificially increase the volume, then download it, then upload

320
00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.480
it again, and then I would have lost the place

321
00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:47.400
I had saved, and I had to go back and

322
00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:49.039
listen and try to find a place to start it.

323
00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:52.400
So I hope it's okay. I didn't hear any emails

324
00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:55.519
complaining too much about the volume in the first one.

325
00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:57.599
But so here we go. We're going to go back

326
00:18:57.640 --> 00:18:59.319
a little bit, and what we're gonna do is we're

327
00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:01.559
waiting for him to say. He's going to say something

328
00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:05.400
along these lines, how does this occur? How does this happen?

329
00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:11.119
And just remember he's taking a historical situation, the Babylonian

330
00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:15.480
captivity of Judah. He's going to ask, how is this,

331
00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:18.519
how does this come to an end? How is this accomplished?

332
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.799
How what is the solution to it? And then he's

333
00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:23.839
going to just jump five hundred years into the future

334
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:30.759
and say, because of Christ, that just logically completely falls apart.

335
00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.480
So let's just see how this plays out, because I'm

336
00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:37.720
just baffled by this. And then I'm going to offer

337
00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:40.640
you what I think. I think there's a solution. I

338
00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:47.200
think I think there's a All right, let's just see

339
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:47.720
what happens.

340
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:56.079
And he says, now Jerusalem, Israel has received abundant judgment

341
00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.119
from the Lord's hand for all of her sins. She

342
00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:03.759
has suffered enough for her sin, though she's not suffered

343
00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:08.279
as much as she deserved. And so even though this

344
00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.400
severe judgment would come through the Babylonians and others, for

345
00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:15.119
hundreds of years before Christ, they were becoming a time

346
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:19.559
in which God says, that's enough. Now people deserve to

347
00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:24.319
be punished far more, but there will be a satisfaction

348
00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.319
in their place. Now, how is this going to happen?

349
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.799
How is this comfort, this cessation of warfare and misery,

350
00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.599
this forgiveness of iniquity, this ending of judgment?

351
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:40.920
How is it going to come? Verses three through five tell.

352
00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:44.839
Us, Now he says, how is it going to end?

353
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:47.279
How is it gonna How is this going to be accomplished? Now,

354
00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:49.480
when you say how this is going to come to end,

355
00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:51.799
how it's going to be accomplished, you have to be

356
00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:55.279
speaking of the Babylonian exile, which came to an end

357
00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:01.640
seventy years after began, way before Christ comes comes to earth. Look,

358
00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:04.359
before Christ comes to earth, not only have they come

359
00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:07.480
out of Babblon exile. Not only have they rebuilt the Temple,

360
00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.920
they've now gone back under some form of captivity, because

361
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:14.000
they're under the heel of Rome. So all of that

362
00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.720
has occurred, a lot of other things have occurred before

363
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.319
Christ comes onto the scene. So he's like, it's basically like,

364
00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:22.880
hey guys, you're in a really bad state, but just wait,

365
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.559
Christ is gonna come and fix Well no, no, no,

366
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:29.279
not not the historical setting. Christ is not coming to fix.

367
00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:32.599
That was the whole problem in the first place. Right

368
00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:34.599
when they when Christ showed up and they thought he

369
00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.119
was the Missagah, they thought he's gonna fix our problem.

370
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.720
He's gonna get rid, He's gonna get rid of all

371
00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:42.359
of our enemies, right that that's what they were expecting

372
00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.559
to happen at that point in time, right, Okay, so

373
00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:47.640
so this is just weird, right, but just watch what

374
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.279
he does here, and then we're gonna We're gonna I'm

375
00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:55.680
just I just oh. Sometimes I get so baffled by

376
00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:58.400
the handling of God's I really do. I just don't

377
00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:02.680
understand sometimes, But maybe I miss something. So we're going

378
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.559
to listen to a little bit and then let him

379
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:07.079
put it together. And then I'm going to offer a well,

380
00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.039
probably obviously, as I always do, I completely well, I

381
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.119
hate to say it, I was gonna say, I'm going

382
00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.680
to offer a completely unique perspective. But there's nothing unique

383
00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:20.519
about what I'm about to offer. What I'm about to

384
00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:25.079
offer is simply an explanation that's based off the historical

385
00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:31.200
and textual context that's there. Really isn't anything unique about it.

386
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.559
But for some weird reason, now that is radical. And

387
00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.359
what are you talking about? Yeah, because I don't play church,

388
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.920
because I'm so sick and tired of how churches handled

389
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.279
the word of God. But all right, here we go.

390
00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:48.799
A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord

391
00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:51.359
in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert, a high

392
00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.759
way of our God. For our God. Let every valley

393
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:57.880
be lifted up and every mountain, and he'll be made low.

394
00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:01.319
Let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged

395
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:05.759
terrain abroad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will

396
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:09.319
be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. For

397
00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.519
the mouth of the Lord has spoken, how's all this coming?

398
00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:13.279
Are going to happen?

399
00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:18.519
God's going to come to Earth. That's how it's going

400
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.839
to happen. Prepare a way for God, the creator of

401
00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:27.039
the universe, is going to come to Jerusalem. And that's

402
00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:29.279
how He's going to comfort and forgive of of herse hands.

403
00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:35.880
Into warfare and in his anger, God's coming to Jerusalem.

404
00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:39.400
Now the minute you take this and you jump to

405
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.279
that you left. Then how did they come out of

406
00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:46.799
Babylonian captivity? Are you saying that these words of comfort,

407
00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:50.240
because this is what you're saying, hey, these words of

408
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.920
comfort are for the people in Babylonian exile. And then

409
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:57.240
the words are, hey, guys, sorry, I'm not coming to

410
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:00.279
comfort you. I'm going to come and comfort people five

411
00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.920
hundred years after you. You're out of luck, just forget you,

412
00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.119
you just drop dead. Like that makes no sense. Then

413
00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:10.559
these would not be words of comfort to those in

414
00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:13.960
Babylonian exile. These would be words of comfort to those

415
00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:19.519
under the boot of Rome. Or you say, these have

416
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.680
nothing to do with any of that, and then just

417
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:25.799
turn it all spiritual and just spiritualize it all, which

418
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:29.240
is why everyone tends to do like who cares about

419
00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:31.839
what was actually going Let's just turn it into whatever

420
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:40.839
we want. That makes no that makes no sense, all right,

421
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.799
But let him let him explain it, and then we're

422
00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:45.720
gonna do a little bit of work here. We're gonna

423
00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:47.759
do a little bit of work here right now. Whenever

424
00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:50.960
we start working on just make sure. You know, I'll

425
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.000
have to go through some of this relatively quick. I'll

426
00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:55.680
go through this some of this relatively quick, so you

427
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.200
but you will hear. You are gonna hear some levels

428
00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:01.839
of some amount of rep petition as we work through

429
00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:06.839
Isaiah forty through fifty five, especially when we insert sermon reviews.

430
00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:09.480
Now we're kind of kicking off this entire study with

431
00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.960
a sermon review. So the sermon review. Sometimes it's gonna

432
00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:15.720
give you a preview of what I'm gonna cover. Sometimes

433
00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.200
it's gonna be repeating what has already been covered. But

434
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:22.279
repetition is the key to learning. So you're gonna hear it.

435
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.680
Sometimes medi just straight teaching it. Sometimes you're gonna hear

436
00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:28.720
me repeating it when I'm doing a review. But it's

437
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.000
gonna help. So right now, you should already understand. You

438
00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.799
already already probably now know more about Isaiah forty through

439
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.000
fifty five. They're probably more Christian than most Christians who

440
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:39.359
go to your church. You understand now the timing. You're

441
00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.799
already understanding how people spiritualize it. You're hopefully already getting

442
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:48.640
a good amount of understanding. But let's let's take this part. Man,

443
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:51.640
Yeah verses three through five. Okay, this is just this

444
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:53.720
is just crazy, the way He is putting this together.

445
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:57.200
And nothing can stopping.

446
00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:03.480
Everybody in and outside Jerusalem will throw up hindrances, There'll

447
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.160
be all kinds of obstacles.

448
00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.200
But God will clear the way.

449
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.440
He'll make smooth in the desert a highway for himself.

450
00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:13.440
Every valley will be lifted up, every mountain will be

451
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.480
made low, the rough ground.

452
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.519
Made a plain, the rugged terrain of broad valley.

453
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:22.079
Nothing is going to keep God from revealing his glory

454
00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:30.759
in Jerusalem, and all flesh will see it. Now you

455
00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:32.759
remember reading any of these words of the New Testaments.

456
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:36.880
You remember how the Gospel according to Mark begins, for instance,

457
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:38.559
and various.

458
00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:39.079
Other the Gospels.

459
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:43.279
It's talking about John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ,

460
00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:47.559
God incarnate God in human flesh. He tells John the Baptist,

461
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.000
I want you, through the preaching of repentance, and through

462
00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.839
the baptism of repentance, to prepare the way for God to.

463
00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:59.200
Come to Palestine. And of course he did.

464
00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:03.240
And God was the Lord Jesus Christ was God in

465
00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:08.680
human flesh. And notice the words in the last part

466
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.119
of verse five, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken,

467
00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:16.880
this is certain to happen. It's guaranteed to happen. The

468
00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.680
God himself has spoken this to Isaiah. This is not

469
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:24.279
simply Isaiah's opinion. This is not simply Isaiah's words. This

470
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.799
is the inherent word of Almighty God speaking through Isaiah

471
00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.160
the message in verse one, he commanded him to preach

472
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:39.440
about the Lord Jesus Christ. So how does apostasy come

473
00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:43.039
to an end? How does the judgment of God come

474
00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:47.799
to an end? How did turning their backs on God

475
00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:50.799
and God's judgment come to an end in ancient Israel?

476
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:55.000
Through God coming to earth in the Lord Jesus Christ

477
00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:59.839
and doing everything that was necessary to save his people.

478
00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:00.000
From their wath.

479
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:04.799
There is absolutely no doubt that it would happen.

480
00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:10.079
There's absolutely no doubt from our perspective that it did happen.

481
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.200
Now in verses six through.

482
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:18.519
Eight, ladies and gentlemen, that is the most confusing, confounding.

483
00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:22.319
So so, when Jesus came, all of apostasy and all

484
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:26.000
of that, all the sin stopped from Israel? No it didn't.

485
00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:30.160
So like, now you're what is happening here?

486
00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:30.559
All right?

487
00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.720
So, ladies and gentlemen, let me fix this for you. Okay,

488
00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:38.319
comfort ye, comfort ye? My people? Who are the people?

489
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.599
These are the people in Babylonian captivity. Right, you can

490
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.319
go back to Isaiah thirty nine. You can start putting

491
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:47.960
this together. And what's going to happen, all right, because

492
00:28:48.119 --> 00:28:51.000
the Babylonians are gonna come, They're gonna take them, and

493
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.079
they're gonna be in captivity for seventy years. They're gonna

494
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:56.319
need comforted during that time. Right, We're already we can.

495
00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:58.400
We can go back and put all of this together.

496
00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:01.079
So what is the what is these says? Your warfare

497
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:05.519
is accomplished. So the time of suffering, the time of pain,

498
00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:09.200
and the time of exile, it has been accomplished. It's

499
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:12.319
spoken of as a past tense, right because it has

500
00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:14.759
been because it's all going to come to an end.

501
00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:17.920
Your iniquity is pardon. Hey, you've been suffering for these

502
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:21.000
seventy years because of your iniquity, but it has been pardoned.

503
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:23.799
You have received of the Lord's hand double for all

504
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:27.599
her sins. You have suffered abundantly for everything that you

505
00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:29.799
have done, and you have paid and a sense for

506
00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:33.880
your sins. Almost everyone understands it that way. So all

507
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.039
of a sudden. In verse three, we see the voice

508
00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:38.359
of him that cries in the wilderness. Prepare you the

509
00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:40.960
way of Lord makes straight in the desert a highway

510
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.200
for our God. Every valley should be exalted, every mountain

511
00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:46.400
and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall

512
00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.319
be made straight, and in the rough place plain, and

513
00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.279
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all

514
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:53.240
flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the

515
00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:57.000
Lord has spoken it. Something is going to happen. Something's

516
00:29:57.079 --> 00:30:00.119
going to come, that God is going to come and

517
00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.599
well do something that's going to bring them great amount

518
00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:07.519
of comfort. So let's now put this in its historical context.

519
00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:09.440
I know you're like, but there's a cross reference in

520
00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:14.000
the New Testament. Yes, how the New Testament utilizes it

521
00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:18.200
is very worthy of study and is of great importance.

522
00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:21.680
But how this is being utilized within its historical context

523
00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.160
should be the goal if you're actually a Bible student

524
00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.240
of the text. Now, if you just want to make

525
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:30.279
a sermon, forget the original recipients and just make it

526
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:33.119
about whatever you want. But if you care about the text,

527
00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:37.000
you got to care about the original recipients, all right,

528
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.160
So here we go. Isaiah forty opens a new section

529
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.640
of the Book of Isaiah, which is This section is

530
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.559
forty chapter forty to fifty five. This is often called

531
00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:54.720
the Book of Comfort or Consolation, written in the context

532
00:30:54.759 --> 00:30:58.319
of Israel's exile and Babylon, though the exile had not

533
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.440
yet happened during isaiah lifetime. Isaiah forty three through five

534
00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:04.240
is a part of a large message of hope and

535
00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:06.960
restoration given to Israel, a people who would soon face

536
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:13.000
exile and would need assurance of God's future deliverance and restoration. Historically,

537
00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:17.759
these verses, if I can speak correctly, point forward to

538
00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:20.359
a time when Israel would be in captivity in Babylon,

539
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:24.200
which would occur in five eighty six BC, and God's

540
00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:28.799
promise of their eventual return to Jerusalem. Isaiah's writing in

541
00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:32.240
the eighth century BC, long before the Babylonian captivity, but

542
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:35.640
his message is prophetic, addressing a future generation of Israelites

543
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:38.799
who would experience the consequences of their rebellion and who

544
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:43.400
would long for deliverance. So there's the context. You don't

545
00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:46.200
jump to John the Baptist, you don't jump to Jesus,

546
00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:49.480
you don't jump to any of that. This is the context.

547
00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:55.160
So the textual context and meaning. A voice cries in

548
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:58.359
the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, makes straight

549
00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:01.119
in the desert, a highway for our God. The voice

550
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:04.599
here is likely that of a prophetic figure or God's messenger,

551
00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:08.279
announcing the coming of God's deliverance. The wilderness and desert

552
00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:12.200
symbolize the spiritual barrenness of Israel's exile and the literal

553
00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:16.119
geographic distance between Babylon, where the Israelites would be exiled,

554
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:19.400
and Jerusalem, their home. The preparation of a highway presents

555
00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:21.839
the removal of obstacles to make way for God's coming

556
00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:24.559
to redeem and restore his people. The highway as a

557
00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:27.279
metaphor for God leading his people out of exile back

558
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:30.200
to the land, similar to the exodus from Egypt. Every

559
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:33.000
valley should be lifted up, every mountain and heel made low.

560
00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:36.519
The uneven ground should become level, and the rough places plain.

561
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:39.680
This describes the dramatic transformation that will occur as God

562
00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:42.400
prepares to deliver his people. The leveling of valleys and

563
00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:45.880
mountains indicates that of barriers, physical and spiritual, that will

564
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:49.599
be removed and preparation for God restoring Israel. The metaphor

565
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.759
suggests that nothing will hinder God from rescuing his people

566
00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:56.920
from Babylon and bringing them back to Jerusalem. It symbolizes

567
00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:59.920
the ease with which God will act, making their return

568
00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:05.920
swift and sure, I mean that's what it's about. Hey, Hey, God,

569
00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.680
make the way playing. God is coming. He's gonna get

570
00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:10.759
rid of all of this, and you are gonna be

571
00:33:10.839 --> 00:33:16.200
brought back. This doesn't happen when Jesus shows up, because

572
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:18.880
they've already been out of battling captivity, They've already built,

573
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:21.160
rebuilt the Ta. This has got to be referring to

574
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:24.119
something else. So I've got I got pages of notes

575
00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:28.400
here dealing with more on this. Okay, but I'm gonna

576
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:31.279
skip down because I was like, I think I know

577
00:33:31.319 --> 00:33:33.000
who this is. I think I think I know who

578
00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:38.599
this is referring to in its historical context. So I

579
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:44.039
did a little research, and I asked a very important question.

580
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:48.880
Could Isaiah forty three through five, in its historical context

581
00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:57.799
be pointing to Cyrus? See why r U s Here's

582
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:04.759
what I found. Forty three through five and its historical

583
00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:08.960
context can be understood as pointing to Cyrus, the Persian

584
00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:13.360
king who would later act as God's chosen instrument to

585
00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:18.760
deliver Israel from Babylonian captivity. While the passage primarily focuses

586
00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:21.760
on God's divine action to bring his people back from exile,

587
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:26.039
Cyrus is the historical figure who plays a significant role

588
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:32.559
in the fulfillment of this promise. Cyrus the Great, the

589
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:36.360
founder of the Persian Empire, conquered Babylon in five thirty

590
00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:40.800
nine BC and issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles

591
00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:45.320
to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem,

592
00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:48.159
and this is recorded in Ezra chapter one, Versus one

593
00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:51.679
through four. Here's the one who comes. He's the one

594
00:34:51.719 --> 00:34:54.239
who prepares the way. He's the one who makes the

595
00:34:54.280 --> 00:35:01.199
path straight. And Isaiah forty four, twenty e eight and

596
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:06.079
Isaiah forty five to one. Cyrus is explicitly mentioned as

597
00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:10.400
God's Anointed, a rare title for a non Israelite ruler

598
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:13.880
chosen to fulfill God's purpose in restoring Israel. He is

599
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:18.400
described as God's shepherd and anointed who will rebuild Jerusalem

600
00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:24.199
and set the exiles free. Prepare ye the way of

601
00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:26.760
the Lord. In Isaiah forty three and the context of

602
00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:29.559
Israel's return from exile, the phrase prepare the way of

603
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.280
the Lord can be seen symbolically referring to the path

604
00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:37.400
of deliverance that God would create using Cyrus as his instrument.

605
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:40.880
Cyrus's decree to allow the exiles to return from home

606
00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:43.360
would be the practical means by which the way for

607
00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:46.920
God's people to return to Jerusalem was prepared. Makes straight

608
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.719
in the desert a highway for our God Isaiah forty three.

609
00:35:49.800 --> 00:35:52.360
The image of a highway being prepared and the wilderness

610
00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:55.880
points to the removal of obstacles for Israel's return. In

611
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:58.920
a sense, Cyrus is the human agent who paves the

612
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:02.519
way for his for this highway by conquering Babylon and

613
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:05.760
issuing a decree for the Jews to return. God uses

614
00:36:05.800 --> 00:36:08.320
Cyrus to clear the path and make the way for

615
00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.360
his people to return from Babylon, effective making a highway

616
00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:15.000
for them through the wilderness back to Jerusalem. Every valley

617
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:17.079
should be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will

618
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:20.079
be made low. The imagery emphasizes that God will flatten

619
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:22.400
the obstacles that stand in the way for Israel's return.

620
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:27.360
Cyrus's conquest of Babylon represents one such obstacle being removed.

621
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:29.840
His rise to power, and his actions would make the

622
00:36:29.880 --> 00:36:34.840
return of the exiles possible, fulfilling God's promise, the glory

623
00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:36.880
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh

624
00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:39.280
shall see it. In Isaiah's time, the glory of the

625
00:36:39.320 --> 00:36:42.599
Lord was often associated with God's intervention and history to

626
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:45.719
save his people. The return of the exiles under Cyrus's

627
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:48.599
decree would be seen as a manifestation of God's glory

628
00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:52.079
and faithfulness to his promise. Even though Sorrus himself may

629
00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:54.639
not have been aware of God's greater purpose, his action

630
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:58.280
revealed God's glory as the one who controls nations and

631
00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:03.800
kings to fulfill his redemptive plans. Ladies and gentlemen, Isaiah

632
00:37:03.880 --> 00:37:08.760
forty three through five, in its historical context, is about Cyrus,

633
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:13.239
the Persian king who prepared the way for and was

634
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:17.400
the human instrument to bring his people out of Babylonian

635
00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:22.239
captivity and to comeback and rebuild Jerusalem rebuild the Temple,

636
00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:27.920
which was accomplished in history way before John the Baptist,

637
00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:31.480
way before Christ comes to Earth, way before the incarnation,

638
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:34.920
way before Jesus comes into the Temple, way before any

639
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:43.079
of that occurs. Now, the New Testament writers takes this

640
00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:50.599
and then applies it to something different. And we talked

641
00:37:50.599 --> 00:37:53.800
about this in our early study of the Book of Romans,

642
00:37:54.280 --> 00:37:56.239
and we did an entire like, I don't know seven

643
00:37:56.320 --> 00:38:01.039
eight ten parts and how New Testament writers use Old

644
00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:04.639
Testament passages. They use them in a variety of ways.

645
00:38:04.760 --> 00:38:07.800
Sometimes it seems like sometimes they seem to use it

646
00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:10.519
in a way that has no it doesn't. They're using

647
00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:12.440
it in a way that seems to be completely different

648
00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:15.360
than the original context. But they can do so because

649
00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:18.199
they're doing so under the inspiration of God. That doesn't

650
00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:21.800
mean I can go do that, but they can. If

651
00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:24.440
the New Testament writer, under the inspiration of God wants

652
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:26.639
to take these passages and then apply it to a

653
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:29.599
different situation, in a different context, they have the right

654
00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:32.360
to do so. That doesn't mean we can. All right,

655
00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:35.199
they're doing it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

656
00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:39.320
But in the historical context, what hey, people be comforted?

657
00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:40.239
Be comforted?

658
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:41.159
Why?

659
00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:43.639
Because Hey, this is all coming to an end. Your

660
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:46.320
captivity is coming to an end, your suffering, your sins

661
00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:49.159
have been forgiven. You have you have suffered enough, you

662
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.719
have you have in a sense received from God a

663
00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:56.559
double for all your sins, you have suffered. But there's

664
00:38:56.599 --> 00:39:03.320
going to come a voice in the wilderness. And this voice,

665
00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:10.000
and this ultimately points to someone well outside of Israel. Right,

666
00:39:11.159 --> 00:39:13.960
it's going to be a Persian king, and he's going

667
00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:16.159
to come and he's going to make the path straight.

668
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:20.559
How he's going to destroy the Babylonians. He's going to

669
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:24.800
offer a decree the way he's going to be made,

670
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:26.159
and then you're going to be able to come back.

671
00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:29.000
And God's glory will be revealed because God's glory will

672
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.320
be revealed because God is in charge of the entire

673
00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:37.360
situation and can even use a Persian king to accomplish

674
00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:46.000
his purpose in his will. That's the comfort pointing to

675
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:49.039
John the Baptist. Now, how does the John the Baptist

676
00:39:49.119 --> 00:39:52.960
part fit into the overall Well, that's a different story.

677
00:39:53.760 --> 00:40:01.400
I wanted you to simply see the actual historical context.

678
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:11.039
We just started a sermon that obliterated the historical context,

679
00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:17.679
ignored it, annihilated it, erased it, ripped it out. Did

680
00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:33.199
not even care the people living in Babylonian exile. If

681
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:37.800
there's comfort for them, the comfort would have to happen

682
00:40:38.440 --> 00:40:44.679
for them. Right, It's of no comfort to say, hey, guys,

683
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:48.400
you're all going to die. Nothing's coming to help you.

684
00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:51.000
You're going to suffer. But five hundred years from now,

685
00:40:51.320 --> 00:40:53.400
something good's going to happen. Well, we're all going to

686
00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:56.519
be dead. But obviously something happened because they went from

687
00:40:56.519 --> 00:41:00.880
Babylonian captivity to coming out of babylon captivity to rebuilding Jerusalem,

688
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:04.800
rebuilding the Temple. So something did happen. But don't say, well,

689
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:07.559
you know how it happened. You know what made it happen,

690
00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:11.039
God come to earth. Did it happened before God showed

691
00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:17.119
up in the incarnation? That makes the nose, It destroys

692
00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:27.840
the text. All right, now you see why we're going

693
00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:30.800
to be studying this, why we're going to spend the time,

694
00:41:31.400 --> 00:41:42.800
why we're going to do this work, because time and

695
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:45.679
time again, the Word of God is just Plato in

696
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:48.239
the hands of people and just do whatever they want

697
00:41:48.239 --> 00:41:52.599
with it. Now, if you wanted to make your sermon

698
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:55.000
about if you're going to quote this, a lot of

699
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:58.719
people will quote this fast approaching Advent season, Christmas season,

700
00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:01.800
people will start, you know, wanting to quote this. You

701
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:05.000
watch if your church quotes it and ask them how

702
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:06.800
come when we quote this we don't deal with the

703
00:42:06.840 --> 00:42:09.320
fact that this would possibly be referring to Cyrus in

704
00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:12.480
its historical context. Why do we just rip it out

705
00:42:12.519 --> 00:42:16.079
of its context? Why do we do that? Who do

706
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:24.960
we think we are? We're narcissistic textual hijackers. We want

707
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:27.840
it to be about us. We take the text, we

708
00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:38.159
hijack it, and then we fly it to wherever we want.

709
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:43.119
Isaiah forty to fifty five, Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah

710
00:42:43.199 --> 00:42:46.880
chapter fifty five. In this section, as we've seen in

711
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:50.280
Isaiah forty three, what we're seeing in Isaiah forty so far,

712
00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:53.119
every sermon that we've even attempted to listen to in

713
00:42:53.159 --> 00:43:00.280
this section follows no rules except take the text to

714
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:06.079
make it about everything other than the original context. Now,

715
00:43:06.079 --> 00:43:08.599
maybe the sermon we're listened to he will circle back

716
00:43:08.599 --> 00:43:11.719
and get more to back to the original context. But

717
00:43:12.079 --> 00:43:14.679
you can see what he did right there. He set

718
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:18.119
up Hey, how does how is this accomplished? When Jesus

719
00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:21.679
he just immediately he skipped a five hundred year time

720
00:43:21.719 --> 00:43:32.199
span without even offering an explanation. I don't know what

721
00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:36.639
else to say. I want to do more, but we'll

722
00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:40.280
be talking about it over the next little while so, hey,

723
00:43:40.280 --> 00:43:43.440
please join us. Get your Bible ready. Isaiah forty to

724
00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:46.159
fifty five. Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah, chapter fifty five.

725
00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:48.199
Read it, read it, read it, read it, read it,

726
00:43:48.239 --> 00:43:50.320
read it, read it, read it, read it. Start listening

727
00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:53.760
to sermon after sermon after sermon, And all I can

728
00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:56.840
promise is, I don't know how quickly we can make

729
00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.320
it through it, but I'm hoping whenever we're done, and

730
00:43:59.400 --> 00:44:01.440
I I don't want to be, you know, stuck in

731
00:44:01.719 --> 00:44:04.199
it forever. So I want to make it, move it,

732
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:06.920
you know, move through it at some form of a

733
00:44:07.039 --> 00:44:09.599
I think, at a decent rate of speed. What we're

734
00:44:09.639 --> 00:44:12.519
gonna hopefully do, though, is you're going to understand it

735
00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:21.119
better than you ever have. So there you go. Thanks

736
00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:25.039
for listening. Everyone, have a good Saturday night. Remember when

737
00:44:25.039 --> 00:44:29.719
you go to church tomorrow, don't be a narcissistic textual hijacker,

738
00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:37.199
and don't allow plato sermons to take the text just

739
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:39.199
turn it into whatever they want to turn it into.

740
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:41.360
I'm not saying you make a scene. I'm not saying

741
00:44:41.400 --> 00:44:43.800
you be rude. I'm just saying you'd be aware of

742
00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:47.039
what's happening and then in your own mind you handle

743
00:44:47.079 --> 00:44:49.559
the text correctly. It's not necessarily your job to go

744
00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:53.000
create a scene and try to fix everyone, but it

745
00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:56.320
is your responsibility to ensure that you understand the word

746
00:44:56.360 --> 00:45:00.440
of God correctly. All right, thanks for listening Godlass