Isaiah 40: The Gospel

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Well, if you have your Bibles, open them to Isaiah chapter forty, because once again we turn our attention to Isaiah chapter forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five. I cannot promise you that this is going to be beneficial. I cannot promise you that this is going to be helpful. I cannot promise you anything. In fact, base off everything that's happened leading up to this moment and our study and look at Isaiah chapter forty through fifty five. It's been really negative.

0:43 It's not been very positive. It's not been very comforting. If you've been listening, you know why. It's not been very comforting. It's not been very helpful, it's not been very beneficial. It's been really all these negative terms irritating, frustrating, can fusing, confounding, discouraging, depressing. Makes me want to just give up, because for some weird reason, pastors to open their bibles to Isaiah forty through Isaiah fifty five and then they just do whatever they want to do with it. They spiritualize it, they allegorize it, they apply it, anyway they want. They don't seem that there's any guardrails, there's any rules. It's just a free for all. It's spiritual anarchy, it's chaos. It's well Christians being narcissistic, meaning we're going to make it about us, and then we're hijackers because we hijack the text and we take it wherever we want it to go. And so what we are attempting to do is we have started a series Isaiah forty through fifty five where we are attempting to study it, interpret it, explain it, and it's original textual and historical context.

1:57 So by the time we are done going through Isaiah forty through Isaiah fifty five, you understand the text in its original context better than you have ever understood it in the past. That is the goal. Well we accomplish that, I don't know, but we're going to take another step in this study and we're going to do that in just a minute. But for now, let me say welcome everyone. It is Wednesday, October thirtieth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven fifty eight am Central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Albilene, Texas. Now, the studio has not been a place of positive feelings. It's not been very it's not been very encouraging. It's been very, very, very negative.

2:51 But I'm I don't even want to say I'm hoping it's about to change because I don't know. Here's what I know. We're going to be listening to another sermon, this one on Isaiah chapter forty as well, and we're just going to see what's. Going to happen. I hate that sometimes these reviews turn out negative, but that's never my intention. My intention with these reviews are this one. I'm going to be listening to these sermons anyway, right because I listen to sermons. I love to listen to sermons. So if I love to listen to a sermon, why listen to a sermon in a room by myself when I can listen to a sermon and a room by myself, but with people around the world listening as well. So we're just listening to a sermon together. That's the goal.

3:32 That's the vibe, right. I don't know what it's going to say. You don't know what's going to say, so I don't have some agenda. I don't go find some ooh, this is a sermon I can criticize. We listen to find out well how they interpret scripture, what their perspective is, what their hypotheses is, and then we then I, I should say, I offer you a different perspective in some cases, sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree, and you get the benefit of hearing different perspectives. Well. Are listening to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five has turned very negative because of the way it has been handled. It's been spiritualized and allegorized almost to death, and so therefore, in some ways it's negative, but in other ways there is a positive. You're getting to hear two different perspectives on this very important section of scripture, and hopefully that will allow you to understand it more.

4:25 The more we listen, hopefully the more you see. Hopefully, the more we listen, and the more sermons we listen to, the more you begin to understand. Now, you may decide that their perspective is correct. All of the allegorizing, spiritualizing, and hijacking you may think is correct, and that's your prerogative. By all means, you can do that or you may decide that I am at least onto something that at least some of my critique is worthwhile and beneficial at least hopefully I'm hoping that's the case. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to go right back into this. We're gonna just another sermon. Now in this particular case, yesterday, I think I asked the question when is comfort not comfort? And I'm the argument comfort is not comfort when we go take comfort that was meant for someone else and we try to claim it for ourselves.

5:15 When we're like, hey, this comfort is for you. Sorry, I'm taking it. It's for me. Is it really my comfort? Can I really be comforted by a comfort that was not intended for me? Well, in Isaiah chapter forty, verse. One, we read these words comfort ye comfort yee. But that comfort yee, comfort yee. I'm not the yee. Okay, I'm not the them, I'm not the they comfort them. Who is the them? Well, they were referred to as my people, but. I cannot insert myself into that because this is referencing people who were in Babylonian exile. It has a specific people. Well, today we're gonna ask when is the Gospel, not the gospel.

5:56 Now do we go to Isaiah forty and make it about the gospel. Well, one could argue you can, because Isaiah chapter forty, verse three says the voice of him the crieth in the wilderness, and like, oh oh, the New Testament refers to John the Baptist. Yeah, this is this is, this is related to the gospel. But let me make this point abundantly clear. When you go to the New Testament and you see how New Testament writers use Old Testament scriptures, you will see they use them in a variety of ways. Sometimes they kind of paraphrase them, sometimes they kind of just use the idea, sometimes they quote them, and then sometimes they interpret and apply them in a way that is completely opposite, in some cases, somehow not even related to its original historical context. And you say, well, how can they do that, because they're doing it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, what many people believe as well, if the New Testament writer interprets that that way, that I can take that interpretation and read it back into the Old Testament, And I argue, you've got to be very careful in doing that.

7:00 In fact, I think it's a bad idea. When you go back to the Old Testament, you have to understand it and read it and interpret it in its original context. What the New Testament writer does with it is what the New Testament writer does with it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that we go back and reinterpret the Old Testament passage because you destroy the meaning. And Isaiah chapter forty this is written to people and bab what's written before they're there. But ultimately it's meant for the people who are in Babylonian exile. So you can't go to verse three and go, oh, that's about John to Baptists. No, no, no. The voice in the wilderness in Isaiah forty verse three is not John the Baptist in its original context. I will argue that it's the person that is referring to in Isaiah chapter forty, verse three. His name doesn't start with a jay, it starts with a C, and he's a Persian king, say, but the New Testament uses it to refer to John Great in that context, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they can. But in this context to try to jump there makes no sense because this is the comfort the people in Babylonian exile. John the Baptist is not going to provide them any comfort because by the time John the Baptist comes on the scene, all of these people have been dead for a long time.

8:20 So it has to have some meaning here first. So just keep all of that in mind. But we're going to be listening to a sermon entitled Isaiah's Gospel Proclamation, So obviously they're gonna take this and try to run to the gospel. And I've already offered at least some of my concern Now, this may be great, this may be wonderful, This may be the best we've ever heard. I don't know. We're gonna find out together, all right, So we're working on Isaiah forty through fifty five. I will be doing teaching. I'll be doing verse by verse exegetical teaching of it. But with that mixed in with that will be these ongoing sermon reviews so that we can hear different perspectives and we can be challenged. So I hope you're ready.

9:07 I hope that was a pretty That was about a nine minute introduction, trying to cover a lot of things really really really really really really really fast and hopefully it was beneficial. But here we go. This is what we're here for. Another sermon on Isaiah forty. I would say, I would say fingers crossed, but that's kind of superstitious. I would say be hopeful, but that's probably naive. Let's just let it be what it is, and we're gonna find out what it is right now. Helpful to us. I want us to say that aspect of the word our subject in Isaiah forty is Isaiah's introduction of the gospel. Isaiah yep announces or proclaims good news.

10:05 That's what gospel means. It means good news. Good Now the question is Isaiah proclaiming good news? What is that good news? And who is that good news for? Is that good news for you? For me? Now we can again read Isaiah forty. Verse one, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, My people is clearly identified here in its context. Go back to chapter thirty nine, starting in verse five, you will read Isaiah thirty nine to five. Then said Isaiah, Hezekiah, hear the words of the Lord of Host. Behold the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store under this day shall be carried to Babylon. They're going into Babylonian captivity.

11:03 Then chapter forty, now everything changes. Comfort ye, comfort Ye. It's repeated twice to show that it's important. It's it's there's an urgency. These people need comfort. Why they're in Babylonian captivity. So the comfort ye? Who is the ye? Who is the my people? The people in Babylonian captivity? Right? So is it good news? Yes? It is good news. Do we go take the good news from them? Do we take the comfort from them? I don't know what's going to happen. We're a while to find out.

11:43 Good tidings. And Isaiah forty is one complete oracle. And an oracle is an utterance granted to the prophet by God, in which God himself gives the word words to the prophet, so that the prophet actually speaks. God is speaking through the prophet. Now, this is an interesting concept here, and I really appreciate this. Right, So we're already at least off to a good start here, We're off to a good start. He identifies Isaiah forty. Again, we're trying to put this all in this proper context, but we're gonna see what's going to happen here he identifies Isaiah forty as one complete oracle. Now my question is is he saying just Isaiah forty is it a complete art oracle? And then forty one is a separate complete oracle? Or is he saying Isaiah forty to fifty five is one complete oracle? Right?

12:42 So I do like the fact that he defines one oracle? Is I do define that these are God's words basically spoken through the prophet. So I'm going to do a little work here. Is Isaiah forty one complete oracle? Or is Isaiah forty through fifty five one complete oracle? Let's see what AI tells us.

13:24 All right, let's do this right now. Let's just do I'm doing a little bit of work right now, because as soon as I hear him say that, that's the first question that comes to my mind. All right, Isaiah forty through fifty five is generally understood. Now, when you hear the words generally understood means of course. I know it's a shocking. I know it's shocking. Christians don't agree on anything, all right, So I'm not shocked that it's only generally understood, meaning there's disagreement. Isaiah forty through fifty five is generally understood to be one larger oracle or prophetic section, rather than a single chapter like Isaid forty standing alone as a complete oracle. So when he says Isaiah forty is a complete oracle, I think it's more accurate to say Isaiah forty through fifty five is one complete oracle, larger oracle, one prophetic section.

14:14 I think that that's better, all right. The larger section, Isaiah forty through fifty five is often called the Book of Comfort or Second Isaiah, and has a unified theme and purpose focused on comfort, redemption, and restoration for Israel and exile. Let me state that again, Isaiah forty through fifty five is about comfort, redemption, restoration. For is ray l Israel in exile. Now, some would argue it is made up of multiple individual oracles or pro prophecies that work together to deliver this message, with Isaiah forty serving as an introduction. So some would say it's one oracle, the whole section. Some may say it's made up of individual oracles. So we have different perspectives, right, I think it may be more accurate to say the whole thing serves as an oracle, right, But.

15:17 I could then break this all down. We could break it down. I think it's better to see it as a group, but you may want to see them as individual oracles. Now we could do a little bit more work here to see how we want to get into that. But there you go. There's basically two perspectives, one basically large oracle or a large section broken into individual oracles. Now does each each chapter an oracle? Maybe they said individual oracles that make up one section. Now does that have any major emphasis on how we interpret it? Probably not, But just so you know, in many cases there's not even agreement within Christendom on how to even understand its structure.

16:09 But okay, I've got AI gave me like three pages of notes here on it, So I'm not going to go through all of it right now, or that would take up forty minutes, but just so that you know, there's at least two major perspectives right here we go. And so Isaiah forty is a complete oracle within itself. And so to begin with, I want us to simply read it, and for that purpose I will read from the English Standard version that we use. So you're going to hear the profit more than once as I go through it, because what I want to do with you is to walk through this oracle, connecting the parts. It's a task. Hopefully it will be a good task that we will enjoy. Listen to God's word Comfort, Comfort my people, says, You're God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over. Her iniquity has been pardoned, and she is received from the Lord's hand, that is, from Yahweh's hand, double for all her sins.

17:34 A voice of one crying out, Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness, make a straight highway for our God. In the desert. Every valley will be lifted up. In every mountain and hill will be reveled. The uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plaine, and the glory of Yahweh will appear in All humanity together will see it. For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken. A voice was saying, cry out, Another said, what should I cry out? All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of Yahweh blows on them. Indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever. Zion, Herald of good News. Go up on a high mountain, Jerusalem, Herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, raise it up.

18:31 Do not be. Afraid, say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. See Sovereign Yahweh comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him. He protects his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms. He carries him in the fold of his garment. He gently leaves those said are nursing. Who has measured the waters of the hollow of his hand are marked off the heavens with the span of his hand. Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, or weighed the mountains on the balance of the hills on the scales. Who has directed the spirit of Yahweh? Or who gave him counsel, Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding, or taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding. Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket. They're considered as a peck of dust on the scales. He lifts up the islands like fine dust. The leman on cedars who are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough or a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him.

19:40 They are considered by him as empty nothingness with whom will you compare God? What lightness will you set up? For comparison with him? An idol something that has smelt or cast, and a metal worker plates with gold and makes silver chains for a poor person, contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth. God is enthroned above the circle of the earth is inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads him out like a tent to live in.

20:25 He reduces princes to nothing, and makes judges of the earth like a waste lamb. They are barely planted, barely sown. Their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them, and they wither in the whirlwind carries them away like stubble. To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? Asked the Holy One? Look up and see who created these? He brings out the stars by number. He calls them all by name, because of his great power and strength. Not one of them is missing. Jacob, why do you say in Israel? Why do you My way is hidden from Yahweh and my claim is ignored by my God? Do you not know?

21:06 Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary. There is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Yous may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, But those who trust in Yahweh renew their strength. They were sore on wings like eagles. They were run and not become weary. They will walk and not fame. Now we've seen now a lot of these sermons that the approach by most of the pastors is to read either the entire chapter or a large section of it.

21:57 All right, we've had this discussion. Good bad, I don't know. I look for our purposes, it works great, right because over and over you're hearing it being read over and over and over and over again. So that's what you're supposed to be doing. Anyway, I gave you already the assignment to be reading Isaiah forty through fifty five and make it your new best friend. Read it over and over and over. So the more you hear it, the more you see, the better, the more structure you see, so that it's beneficial for that from a preaching perspective. It's hard for me because if I'm sitting there, my mind is already I probably by the time he gets the verse thirty one, my brain probably has already got five hundred and seventy two questions. Right, I'm probably go like, what about this? And what about this?

22:41 And what does this mean? What does this mean? And what does this mean? So I'm gonna have to then turn off my brain, you know, slam on the brakes, and then go Okay, now where is he going to go? Because I'm going to be I'm almost going to be wanting to have my notebook out going over what about this and what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And what about this? But it's me, so this becomes personal preference thing. But he read it, read it great better than I would have read it, very articulated, very clearly, wrote, read at a very good pace. Everything was great about that. That's awesome. We've heard Isaiah chapter forty. Now let's see what his approach is, what his hypotheses is, what his thesis is, and how he's going to approach this chapter. Right, So here we go.

23:34 Thus says log the prophet in the name of Yahweh announces good news. Well, what is the good news? Here's a good news. Comfort my people speak tenderly, speak to their heart and tell them that her warfare has been warfare. Well, what is happening here is that Israel Judah is seen as coming back from the exile. Perhaps you remember when we begin the section on Isaiah that we talked about the fact that Isaiah is divided into two sections. The first section of Isaiah chapters one through thirty nine. This is pre exile. Isaiah lives before Judah is taken into exile.

25:00 Off he sent to Judah, and he proclaims that God is sending judgment to the people, and that judgment will take the form of Babylon, who will take the people captive, who will destroy Jerusalem. Judgment is coming. All right. This makes me at least happy, because this is the first sermon that we've had that even attempts to deal with the historical context, the textual context. The time anything, I mean, this has been I mean almost everything else has been. So just like Isaiah forty, it's about you, it's about me, I mean, like almost inevitably.

25:42 So at least here he's putting it in its context. I'm very happy about this. Is this is at least somewhat encouraging. This is like, all right, great, we're getting somewhere. He breaks it down, all right. He even acknowledges Isaiah lives before the exile, and I'm assuming he's going to acknowledge that Isaiah is dead when the ex al occurs. So right now he putting it in it in a chronological order, He's putting it in a textual context, a historical context. All this is all this is. Oh, I'm so happy. I was about to just give up and think it never occurs. So all right, here we go, here we go, let's see what happens. Isaiah forty begins a second section of Isaiah. It is written from the perspective as if the exile has ended.

26:34 Now there are those who claim that Isaiah wrote one part and another Isaiah wrote a second part. But that's not necessarily to be true at all, because God, who gives the prophets, the insight and the visions, can certainly bridge the gap of one hundred years or even a thousand years. Isaiah speaks for God from God's perspective, and so in Isaiah forty, through the end of what we call the prophet Isaiah, he speaks as though to the people who have been judged, they have been exile, and now they've been brought back, and he's from that respective that this chapter opens. That's his speak, sweet tender consolation to my people.

27:33 Okay, this is interesting the way he's describing this, that it's being written from the perspective that it's over. Now. That may be true. I'm not completely disagreeing in my mind. Okay. So, so Isaiah's giving these words about one hundred years before they even go into captivity. Right, So the original audience, they're not even in captivity yet it's there. They're there. So these words are obvious need to be remembered, to be preserved to some level so that when the people go into captivity they can hear the words. So I think it's being written from the perspective of when you are in it. Here are the words God is saying to you.

28:14 Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry under her that our warfare is accomplished. This is telling the people in it, hey, that it's all. Coming to an end. I don't know if it's being written from the perspective that it's already over. I think it's being written from the perspective you're in it. But here's the thing, it's all. Coming to an end, right, I don't know. I mean, maybe you could say it's written from the perspective like it's already over, But I think it's being more written from the perspective you're in it, because they're going to be in it. Here are the words of comfort. What are the words of comfort? This is all coming to an end. It is going to come to an end.

28:55 It is at an end, it has been done. I don't know, Like you said, well, when, like, when do they hear these words? They obviously would have heard these words, maybe, you know. I don't think. I don't think whoever began to preach or proclaim these words to the people waited until the last day. I think they were hearing these words constantly, so I guess in some ways it was telling them. I guess you could look at it from that perspective that the people were being told it's over even though it wasn't over. So maybe then from that case, you could say it is coming from the perspective that it's over. Hey, from the perspective it's being given it's over even though it really wasn't over.

29:36 Okay, maybe I can see that. Maybe I can see that, But I think it needs to be very much stressed that these would have been words given to the people while they were in it. So they're in it comfort, but hey, it's going to. Come to an end. I kind of see it like, Hey, this is letting you know it's going to come to an end. I understand in some ways though, it's being written as if it has come to an end. So I think there's a little bit of. There's a little of. Both maybe and that maybe maybe you can decide which way you would want to look at it. If you've ever experienced deep grief, deep hurt and grief, then you can understand something of what the prophet is trying to say. In God's name, God wants to comfort the heart of his people after they have been through tremendous suffering. It's been seventy years. That's three or four generations of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren. When the people are returning, they had no remembrance of ever living in Jerusalem, for they never had. They were born in Babylon, and that's the Lord of modern day Iraq.

31:03 That's where they had grown up. And now they're coming back. They're coming back to their homeland, to the land that God had given their forefathers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the land where God had made himself known, the temple had been built, and the true worship of God had been offered. Console my people speak gingerly to their heart, and this is what you need to tell them. Tell them from the lexum of English Bible translation, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled her prison term is over. That's what it means, because Babylon had been the prison house for God's people, because they had violated the covenant that God had established with Israel own Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. If you can recall what had happened.

32:12 God brought Israel out of Egypt. He brought them to Mount Sinai, and there he established covenant with them. They entered into this covenant with God. You will be my people and I will be your God. You must obey these rules, these regulations. You must live in accordance with this law, and if you do, then I will bless you. And great blessings are listed. You can find them in Deuteronomy chapter twenty seven. But if you do not keep my covenant, then judgment curses will fall upon you, and we find those listed in Deuteronomy twenty eight.

32:53 All right, this is good stuff. I'm going to emphasize. They could not keep it. We cannot keep it. No one can keep it because it's law. We cannot keep God's law. Saved or unsaved, you cannot keep the law of God because law demands perfection. You will never be perfect, it says, be holy as he is holy. You cannot do that. You never will be able to do it. You you are that in your position because of an imputed righteousness, But in your practice you continue to sin. You live and sin, your in perpetual sin. And if you think anything other than that, you're delusional. Right, It's law. So what is the law supposed to do? Demonstrate your inability, demonstrate your guilt, and then bring you to the foot of the.

33:34 Cross that says he did it for you. All right. So, but just so that you know, the entire Old Testament is the story of Israel not being able to do what the law demands them to do, even though they thought they could. Even though they thought they would, they. Didn't because no one can, because God's law demands perfection internally and externally. I want you to hear the curses, because this is what Bibylon was all about. For hundreds of years, Israel, the people of the Hebrews, had violated the covenant with God.

34:18 Primarily they did this by idolatry, by the worship of other gods alongside Jehovah or in place of Jehovah. But they mixed constantly the true worship of God with idolatry and with the licentiousness that came with idolatry. Because the idolatry of the Canaanite people was very much rooted in agriculture, in sensual practices that were to help fertilize the land. This was an attraction, and this is what they fell into. Time and time again. God said ultimately enough, and when he said enough, the curse fell upon the land. Here is what God has said Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

35:27 Oh, this is so good, This is so good. I didn't even think about this. So I think before you do Isaiah forty. It's almost imperative that you go back to Isaiah thirty nine read verses five through eight, because that sets up the historical and textual context for Isaiah forty. Right, But you cannot read Isaiah thirty nine, five through eight without understanding Deuteronomy twenty eight and all the curses they are in now going to experience all the curses in Deuteronomy twenty eight because of their disobedience. So what you need to do is list all the ways they disobeyed and all the curses that are laid out for them, and then you see and you have a better historical context of what.

36:18 They are experiencing. So then that makes the word comfort, That makes those words comfort ye, comfort, ye, even that much more powerful. So I'm great, I'm gonna I'm gonna definitely utilize this. I'm gonna change up my entire approach because this is good stuff. This is awesome, this is this is by hand, hands down, the best we have heard on this. All right. Everyone else at this point had already so inserted us into. The text that we don't need. In some cases, they never even really dealt with the text. This is a first one where we man, this is good stuff. This is good. I'm not saying we're not.

36:59 I'm not gonna have any dis agreement, but man, alive, this is so whoo. This gives me some sense of hope. All right, So let's see where he takes it. This is good. He's in Deuteronomy twenty eight. You definitely need to connect Deuteronomy twenty eight to Isaiah thirty. Nine, five through eight. All of that sets up the historical textual context for Isaiah forty. You cannot miss that context. This Deuteronomy twenty eight, verse sixty three latter part. And Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no despite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, where Yahweh will give you. There a trim heart and failing eyes and elanguishing soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you.

38:08 Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning, you will say, if only it were evening, And at the evening you will say, if only it were morning, because of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall see. The curse. Now, the curse has fallen upon the people more than once. But this was the first time, when Babylon came and destroyed the temple and took away the holy vessels and most of the people into Babylonian captivity for seventy years in fulfillment of the prophecy that was given to Jerrem Maya and to the other prophets. It's following that first judgment, that first falling of the curse that Isaiah speaks the Gospel, the good news that we're considering. That is not the end of the curses that fall upon Israel. For the second curse came after the appearance of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It happened in seventy a d. When Rome came to Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, scattered the peoples. Now,

39:48 even before that, before Babylon even came Israel, the Northern Kingdom had been taken over by Assyria, and the people had been scattered. The curse falls more than once upon the Hebrew people. Why because of the violation of the Mosaic Covenant. Now, the Mosaic Covenant is a covenant that God entered into with Israel, no other nation. But when you enter into covenant with God, you must be careful. You must obey the covenant. You must live in accordance with the covenant.

40:34 All great, all great ideas, all points. And Yes, Israel entered into the Mosaic Covenant. Israel did, and the Mosaic Covenant clearly. Had You must do this. It clearly is a covenant of works. There's no way to get around that. I mean, it is. And we talked about this when we when we looked at the dispensations, we looked at the dispensations and the covenants. So I think that's I think it's very, very, very important to realize that. So let's let's let's continue to see where he goes here. The Mosaic Covenant, though God is gracious in many ways with it, was primarily a covenant of works. Well that's the background. But now the Babylonian activity is announced, is coming to an end, and so the good news comes.

41:33 Comfort my people, says your God. Comfort my people, speak tenderly to the heart of Jerusalem, and tell them that their time of suffering has ended. Tell them that her time of forced labor is over, and her iniquity has been part. She has endured the punishment that was meeted by My hand, and from her perspective, she's paid double for her sins. Now, Israel did not actually pay for their sin. They justly deserve the punishment. And now the punishment is over. Think of a prisoner. He's gone to prison.

42:24 He has committed a serious crime. He was committed to twenty five years. The twenty five years are over. He's now free. This is the beginning. You're back. I want to comfort your heart. Now, how does God go about comforting their heart? Well, here's something that's in the background. If you've been with a people that have been repeatedly violators of the Covenant and have repeatedly found themselves at the receiving hand of God's punishment because halls of their sin, what's going to prevent God from in the future doing and again? How can I know when it's over? How can I know when real forgiveness and permanent status of acceptance has come.

43:23 Oh, that's a great question. That's a brilliant question. And it's historical context. Yeah, even though, hey, here's comfort because this time is up, but it would be a temporal comfort, right, it would only be like, but what's gonna prevent it from happening again? Because we know what happens. Right, they're comforted, they come out of Babylonian captivity, But when you open up your New Testament, they're under the Hill of Rome. And then when you get to you know, later on in the Gospels, we have the whole discussion about what's going to happen in seventy a d. And then they're wiped off the face of the earth. So at its very best would be temporal comfort. What will bring lasting comfort? So now you could then bring a correlation because where he's going to go, he wants to get to the true comfort, which is the Gospel. But we cannot ignore that this temporal comfort happens here. There is a temporal comfort. Now for Israel, there is a temporal comfort, but there is a long lasting comfort because well, God's going to make a new covenant with them. Why because while they fell under the mosaic covenant. Right, So this is where you can kind of bring some concepts together and it makes sense, and he's maintaining still the historical and textual context. Now it could get you could just so quickly jump to the other you forget this.

44:48 But at least he has mentioned everything that puts us here. Let's see how he does this. This is actually, this is very interesting. When can I be assured of the gospel? Assurance? I believe that's what Isaiah is announcing to them. So we move from verses one and two. Okay, now this is where I have a little bit of a disagreement. I don't think Isaiah is announcing to them the gospel assurance, the Gospel comfort. What he's announcing to them clearly is their immediate comfort, in their immediate situation.

45:39 To say otherwise, I think, now see, if we're not careful, we're going to once again begin a little bit of taking it out of its context. I know we always want to run to other things, but for them, they would have any other comfort. And again, let's make it very clear. These people are in Babylonian captivity, all right, So let's make the that's very clear, all right. If you're going to offer them a gospel comfort, they're all going to be long dead before that gospel comfort comes about, because their comfort that they need is in their immediate context. Right, So let's make sure we at least establish that fact.

46:24 Diverse Three a voice, a one crying out, Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness, make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Where do we hear these words? We hear them in Matthew, we hear them in Mark, we hear them in Luke. We hear them in the mouth of John the Baptizer, as he announces the coming of the Kingdom of God in the days of our Lord and Savior Jeezesus Christ. This is a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. For here is the messenger that precedes the coming of the Messiah.

47:13 Oh man man man, see I disagree here. This is a prophecy of someone who's going to come and bring them out of their Babylonian exile. The New Testament takes. It, utilizes it for its purpose, but it's doing so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which makes it acceptable to do. But I don't think you take that. Read it back into Isaiah and go This is a prophecy about the coming Messiah. This is a prophecy about. Their immediate deliverer, which is going to bring about the end of the Babylonian captivity. And his name is not Jesus, his name is not John the Baptist. His name is Cyrus.

48:02 He's the one who brings them out. He's the one who cries out, let them go back. He's the one who gives the decree. He's the one who lets them return. He's the one who lets them go rebuild Jerusalem in the temple. He's the one. He's the one who makes the path straight. He's the one who makes it all. Ready creates in a sense, a highway for them to go. It's Cyrus. You have to acknowledge that, at least in its historical context. If he does not acknowledge Cyrus here, then then he's destroyed the entire All of that time he spent establishing this historical context is about to be immediately annihilated unless you say no, no. For these people, it's not John the Baptist or Jesus. For these people, it's Cyrus.

49:00 It's John in the wilderness preparing the way of who Yahweh. Don't don't fail to grasp what the prophet is actually saying here. You need to look at the word itself in the Hebrew. A voice is calling in the wilderness, clear the way of y hwh Yahweh, Jehovah, Jehovah. That's the personal name of Almighty God, given to Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus thirty three.

49:51 You can look this up and correct me. Is it also not the Covenant name for God? I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I think it's related to the Covenant. Maybe the national name for God Israel it's very Israel focused. I think I think that that's fair to say it's very Israel focused. Well, God, yes he made the Mosaic Covenant, but there's the other covenants he made, right, the Abrahamic Covenant. So there is one hand. God made the Mosaic Covenant, which is workspace, but then there's the Covenant of Grace. All right, I don't want to go for. I'm not going to go, and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna distinguish that phrase from how Covenant theology would look at it. But he made the Abrahamic Covenant, which ultimately promised they're going to get the land. So God ultimately will be the one that's going to fix everything for them. But in this particular case, look, they can't just stay in Babylon because sooner or later they all have to Well, first he's got to preserve Judah because obviously that's where the Messiah will ultimately come. But this immediate context here is that they're God, the national God of Israel, the Covenant God of Israel is going to remove them from bondage. And how is he going to do this through? I think you can even go read this if you need to. I think we can see Cyrus being literally named things like the anointed God's servant.

51:22 Cyrus is going to be the one, the human instrument whom God is going to utilize to bring them out. That's the context here. So when he says, we pay attention to what he's really saying. What he's really saying is, hey, guys, you can find comfort in this. This your captivity. It's all come to an end. And there is a voice crying in the wilderness, and well, it's going to bring about your uh, the end of your captivity. I think that we can't ignore that context. Clear the way for Yahweh, make a highway smooth in the desert for our God God. Every valley will be lifted, etc.

52:04 The ground will be prepared for him, because Yahweh is coming among his people in order to redeem them. Do you understand what he's saying. The prophet is telling us. God is telling us through the Prophet that Yahweh himself will come among the people to redeem them, to forgive them of their sin by taking care of it for them. And the rest of Isaiah. The Prophet will unfold this for us. The gospel is truly preached in the prophet Isaiah.

52:51 Isaiah twelve is a proclamation of the gospel. But here beginning in Isaiah forty in forty two, will take up the chosen of the Lord, that's the name of the Messiah. In Isaiah fifty two, he continues in his ministry. In fifty three he dies, on behalf of these people he's raised from the dead. The rest of Isaiah unfolds the meaning of the work of the Messiah on behalf of the people of God. Yeah, okay, and all right, I'm gonna do a little I'm gonna do a little bit of work here, okay. Isiah and Isaiah forty four twenty eight, so it's within the same section, and Isaiah forty five one through four specifically mentioned Cyrus as god shepherd and anointed one, choosing to accomplish God's purpose of freeing as people. And this way Cyrus is an instrument and fulfilling the deliverance that Isaiah forty announces. All right, So you could argue Isaiah forty verse three is not about Cyrus himself. You could argue it's about God coming to deliver his people. But Cyrus acts as the means in which the prophecy is.

54:08 Fulfilled, all right. So, so we could argue it that way that the voice of him crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the desert a highway of your God. You could say that's a prophetic voice, that's God saying this. But Cyrus is going to be the human instrument which brings this about. So, I you just can't forget Cyrus here, you just can't. I know, you want to go to We want to go to the Gospel. We want to go to the Gospel. But you can't forget Cyrus is literally going to be mentioned in the very section. Say that's why you can't separate forty from the rest of the section. Forty is just the introduction to the entire section. Well, what does it introduced?

54:54 What it introduces? Hey, you need to be comforted. Why because all of your captivity he is finally coming to an end, and there is a voice in the wilderness crying for this. Well, it's giving you a sign of something's going to come. Well, who's going to come? Well, when you get to Isaiah forty four and forty five, it's none other than Cyrus. He's literally mentioned, right here in the text. It's not that I'm I'm not adding anything to the text. I'm staying within the confines of the text. Yahway's coming among us to redeem us. Yahweh is coming in his own person, in the incarnate Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, there are distinctions between the Father and Son and the Spirit, and yet they are one God.

55:48 So that when Jesus appears, the incarnate one God himself has appeared. He's appeared in the incarnate Messiah, our savior. This is whom God sends himself in the person of his son. Then we move the verse five. A voice was saying, cry out, trying to get into the to the moment, Isaiah's hearing these things. I don't know if he's seeing things, but he's definitely hearing things. A voice is saying cry out. Another says what should I cry?

56:35 Perhaps missus Isaiah saying what should I cry? Or maybe he just hear's another voice, what shall cry out? What should I cry? Here's the answer. All humanity is grass, and all this goodness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade. When the breath of Yahweh blows on it. Indeed, the people of grass, the grass withers, the flowers say, but the word of our God remains forever. Okay, cry out? What should I cry out? Well? Cry out that humanity is fragile, that humanity has no staying power, but God does, and God's word endures forever.

57:27 What's the prophet saying? What God is saying is that you can bank on my word, because I speak it, it shall come to pass. Yes, we can. Who can bank on his word? Israel can bank on his word that it. Will come to pass. What will come to pass them being delivered from Babylonian exile. And I'm just utterly shocked that he's not mentioning Cyrus here, even on sources that are somewhat questionable, right, even on sources that say, even on sources that say things that, well, this is not directly about Cirrus. Even in sources that say that they still say things like this. Cyrus plays an essential role in allowing the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and effectively prepare the way for their return by issuing a decree that grants them freedom to rebuild the temple and settle on their homeland. Asra chapter one Verses one through four records this. In this sense, he facilitates the physical aspect of Israel's return. But Isaiah forty verse three speaks more broadly than simply Cyrus's role. So I got no problem trying to say that it speaks more broadly.

58:41 But even in sources that say, well, Isaiah forty verse three is not specifically about Sorrus, even they have to admit, well, and around about way, he's the one who prepares the way, and aroundabout way, he is the one giving the decree. So I mean, it's not about Cyrus, But well, I mean it's about Sorrus. Even sources that are critical of that. Still has to acknowledge it. Cyrus as a historical instrument of God's deliverance. Isaiah forty four to twenty eight and Isaiah forty five to one named Cyrus's god shepherd, an anointed one chosen to fulfill God's purpose for releasing the exile. By issuing a decree that allows the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem, Cyrus indeeds prepares the way for their physical restoration to the land.

59:26 So again, even in a source that's somewhat like, no, it's not really about Cyrus. It even has to acknowledge it. This decree can be viewed as Cyrus's cry to release these exiles, allowing them to return, rebuild, and establish, re establish their lives in Judah. His actions aligned with broader promises of Isaiah forty to bring comfort and deliverance to Israel. So even they have to acknowledge. Yeah, well, he is the one and the one kind of crying out for this stabb and his decree is, in a sense, his cry the prophetic call of Isaiah forty verse three. However, Isaiah forty three does not refer specifically to Cyrus. Instead, it speaks more generally about the preparation of a path for God for God's return to his people. The voice in the wilderness calling to prepare the way is a metaphor for spiritual and natural national preparation as God and acts his promised deliverance.

1:00:22 So see they kind of want to move away. It's not Sorrus. But then look at the very next paragraph. While Cyrus plays an instrumental role, the passage refers to God's sovereignty action and restoring Israel, with Cyrus. Acting as a means through which the restoration occurs. So I'm just saying, like, even in a source that's like, well, it's not really Cyrus. Well, I mean it is Cyrus. I mean it's not. But I don't know why we're so. Hesitant to just say, hey, in its historical context, this is Cyrus. So he's just completely like, he did such a good job putting it in its historical context. Him going back to Deuteronomy twenty eight, all, that's brilliant.

1:01:07 Going back to the Mosaic Covenant, that's brilliant. It's so brilliant. And then all of a sudden, what happens. Er we flipped the car fifteen times. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't jump to John the Baptist. John the Baptist is not coming for what another five hundred over five hundred years. It's these people are gonna be long dead. They don't need John the Baptist and their context. They need someone else who's going to come along. While he's mentioned literally in Isaiah forty four, in Isaiah forty five, he may even be mentioned before that. He may even be mentioned for before that. In fact, let me just.

1:01:49 Look here, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna search here. I'm gonna search, I'm gonna I'm gonna do a search here. Yeah, this is becoming this is so good, but it's becoming a little frustrating. Okay, hang on, I're doing your search forty through fifty five, right, this is this is becoming a big this is I think this is going to become the big hermeneutical issue here.

1:02:30 All right, I want you to write down these references, all right. Cyrus is mentioned in Isaiah I think a total of four times. Isaiah forty four to twenty eight, Isaiah forty five to one, Isaiah forty five two through three, and Isaiah forty five thirteen. Cyrus is mentioned four times. How do you go to Isaiah forty and forget Cyrus, especially right here in this section. If you leave Cyrus out of Isaiah forty, ladies and gentlemen, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, you can't do this. I know we want to run to John the Baptist. I know we want to runto the Gospel, But the immediate context here is about Cyrus.

1:03:30 Because God's word is firm, God's word remains forever. What is that word? What word is the prophet to proclaim. Here's the word Zion, Harold good news. Goobin on high mountain, Jerusalem, Harold good news. Raise your voice loudly raise it. Do not be afraid. What shall I say? What shall I cry out? Behold your God? Here is your God. That's what he's to proclaim. Say. Sovereign Yahweh comes the Kinghovah comes with strength and his power establishes his rule.

1:04:23 His wages are with him, his reward accompanies him. He protects his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arm. He carries him in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those at a nursing. Here's the message. Sovereign God comes to his people to redeem them. He comes to establish his kingdom among them. This is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God that John was talking about in the Wilderness, that Jesus talked about in his ministry. Jesus is the king of the Kingdom of God.

1:05:06 Oh I see, now we're gonna jump to Jesus. We're gonna jump. We're gonna jump to Jesus again. Oh see, this is where things start. Falling apart for me. All right. The ah, I understand, we want to jump here, but the original. So in Isaiah forty verses three through five, Cyrus has to be spoken of. And if Cyrus is forgotten, we're in trouble. So you just need to write Cyrus somewhere above Isaiah forty three through five. It's its own special. Section, all right. Then when it talks about God's word is going to stand forever, what word is going to stand forever? Well, it's the word of their promised deliverance. So when we read.

1:05:51 So, when we read the phrase behold your God, it is indeed a reference to God's presence and power being revealed through Israel's deliverance. It's in this context the call to behold your God is an invitation for the people to recognize in which witness God's intervention in bringing them back from Babylonian exile. This statement reflects the idea that God's character, faithfulness, and sovereignty will be displayed through their restoration. The call to behold your. God is an exclamation of God's presence and active involvement in the events of history, and encourages the people to look beyonder immediate circumstances and recognize that their deliverance from exile is a divine act orchestrated by God himself. God orchestrates it, He's using cyrus. But this is all about Behold God and this immediate historical context. This is not jumping immediately to Jesus and all of that. The phrase suggests that God's power and faithfulness are visibly displayed and the way he rescues and restores his people through their liberation from Babylon. By saying Behold your God, the prophet is calling attention to the fact that God is fulfilling his promise to Israel after a period of judgment in exile.

1:07:06 This is a declaration of hope and renewal, assuring that the God has not forgotten them, but now acting on their behalf. The deliverance is not just a political event. It is a philological movement where God is faithful to his covenant on full display. The people are encouraged to receive the deliverance as a sign of God's loyalty to his promises. Behold your God, how do you see God? He is delivering you, He is restoring you. It's in that historical context. All right, I'm going to let him finish, and then we'll wrap it up. Look, there's so much good here. By no means am I trying to be critical.

1:07:47 I'm already going to be utilizing some of the things he did to I'm changing my complete introduction in how I'm going to do things Sunday based off this. I mean, this just changed everything completely. I love this, but my fear is exactly what I thought was going to happen. Next thing, you know, we've forgotten. We've forgotten the historic See, we were establishing the historical context, and then we get to three and then all of a sudden, boom, forget the historical context. Now we're John the Baptists. Now behold, your God is jumping to Jesus. Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Slow down. We didn't leave Babylonian exile. We're still right there in that context.

1:08:30 And he came and established that king kingdom. He established it in his own person, among his own disciples at the beginning. It's here present in its spiritual form, in a mystery form, but it shall come in all of its power and glory at the consummation of the last day. God has come among us in the Messiah, and he comes to Ruin. But what kind of ruler is there. He's a shepherd ruler. He rules like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep. He rules with tenderness, He rules with love, he rules with care. Now there's a transition in the Prothetic Oracle. The transition is almost a like it almost all of a sudden, he's talking about God and talking about God coming to us like a sheep.

1:09:44 Okay, he's gonna he's going to change. He's going to change focus here, So we'll stop right there. He did read verse eleven. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and shall gather his lambs with an arm, and carry them and his buzz, and shall gently lead those that are young. All right, just so that you know, Cyrus is called a shepherd, and Isaiah forty four to twenty eight, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem she shall be built, and of the Temple your foundation shall be laid. In this verse, Cyrus is specifically named and given the title shepherd, which is unusual for a foreign ruler, but underscores his role as God's chosen instrument to fulfill his purpose for Israel. Shepherd here symbolizes a leader who will guide Israel back to their land and help facilitate the rebuilding of Jerusalem into the temple. Isaiah forty eleven and Cyrus possible association in this passage. The image of a shepherd refers to God's own tender care and guidance for his people, much like shepherd's care for his flock. The shepherd here is God himself, who promises to comfort and restore Israel. The verse emphasizes God's compassion and personal involvement, while Cyrus plays a role in Israel's deliverance. Isaiah forty eleven is not directly a reference to Cyrus, and said it's depicting God's character as a shepherd who gently cares for his people. Shot Cyrus, though titled shepherd in Isaiah forty four, serves more as an instrument of God's will than a personal caretaker of the people. So they say

1:11:18 it is about God, but in a roundabout way. Well, Cyrus is a shepherd, and around about way he does lead the people. In a round about way, he does facilitate their restoration and their rebuilding. So it's not about Cyrus. But once again, so over and over, even in commentaries that don't necessarily want to say this Cyrus, they all have to say, over and over and over, well, I mean Cyrus, I mean well Cyrus, I mean I mean well Cyrus. I mean it's not about Cyrus, but I mean Cyrus. You can't just remove Cyrus from this, you can't. He's all over it. He's all over it, ladies and gentlemen, he is all over it.

1:12:01 To ignore that is to ignore the. Very like the sermon did so good establishing historical context, and then we get to verse three through five, and then it's like it's it's almost like a drug. We're like, oh wait, wait, wait, let's it forget forget these people, let's go to the New Testament. Now he hasn't completely forgotten these people, but he's quickly moving on. He's now to John the Baptist, he's to Jesus, he's. On to these other things. Well, these other things are of no value to the people in Babylonian captivity in their immediate context. You can't just forget them. They're the ones suffering, they're the ones who need comfort, all.

1:12:51 Right, that was seventy two minutes of some good stuff. Now, one of the things we're gonna do in these reviews is a lot of times what we're reviewing you're gonna hear later, all put together and kind of done in a different way. So he got us. He did some really good things. I love the Deuteronomy twenty eight and the Mosaic Covenant part that was man. That was perfect. So that gave me all kinds of new ideas. But you can't get to three and forget. I'm just gonna state it again. If you don't see Cyrus starting in three, then I don't know what you're doing, because Cyrus is going to be Cyrus is clearly key here. He's forty four, He's mentioned four times. You can't forget Cyrus, whether named or not named, because he becomes the key central figure humanly speaking of their deliverance, of their restoration, of them being brought back into the land of the rebuilding, the temple of them rebuilding Jerusalem. It is Cyrus the human facilitator.

1:14:00 This god is the one God is seen as the one directing, guiding, and accomplishing it. But Cyrus is the human instrument and to forget Cyrus here, You're just forgetting the historical context. All right, we'll stop there. Thanks for listening. I need food desperately, right so I'm going to go find food, and I hope the feeding of God's word has been somewhat beneficial. But please jump into this Isaiah forty through fifty five. Read read, Read, Read, read, read. Prepare yourself to try to learn more about this than you've ever known in the past. All Right, thanks for listening everyone, have a great day. God bless