Isaiah 40:1-2 Pt 1

0:01 All right, first hour and second hour is going to be Isaiah chapter forty. So if you want to turn there Isaiah chapter forty. Remember we're working through Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five. The reason we are is all because of kind of what the focus became of twenty twenty four, which really when I came, I had lots of ideas to begin twenty twenty four, if you go back to December of twenty twenty three, had lots of ideas of things we wanted to do in twenty twenty four. Of course, lots of things change the way everything happened with the church and how things are going in different directions. But one of the things I challenged everyone to do in twenty twenty four on the podcast and here well mainly on the podcast was what we called the Sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge, and the goal of that was everyone to download the sermon's two point oh app and then each day pick a random sermon as random as possible. Right, don't look could type a church, don't look at anything, Just choose a random sermon, Listen to the sermon, write down the name of the sermon, the name of the broadcaster and then write a summary of what you heard. And then the goal by the end of this year, as everyone would have one random sermon, one random sermon for every day of the entire year. That was the goal. Now, when I started the idea, like, Okay, this will be easy, this will be great if I do a podcast episode, wonderful If I don't, I've given the audience something specifically to do, so it's easy, and I didn't give it

1:32 much thought on what was going to occur. But one of the things I said I was going to do was that while everyone else was listening to sermons, I would be doing the exact same thing. The only difference is I would listen to my sermon live on the podcast and then offer my thoughts and opinions in real time. Great idea, wonderful sounds easy, right, Well, as I started reviewing sermons and inevitably what would happen. Well, one, I've become extra and we frustrated and start thinking about drinking heavily. But two is then I would realize, you know, it's easy to turn on a microphone and criticize, right, That's simple. Anybody can do that. So then I would be like Well, if I didn't like this, or I didn't like this approach, or I didn't like this, or I disagreed with this, do I just leave it there? Or do then I do something positive with it? Right? Do I turn that into some kind of teaching? Well, if you've got to look at twenty twenty four, the whole year's kind of been controlled, kind of been driven by the things I've listened to, and that we've turned it into in some cases lengthy series. I'm working on different subjects right our work on eschatology, that entire series on SSAW eighty three, and how did we end up with Isaiah forty through fifty five is because sermon after sermon after sermon, and Isaiah either forty forty three anywhere in that section would almost inevitably move us out or move or move the original recipients out of the text and move us in.

3:01 And that bothers me greatly. And people do that constantly. Pastors do that constantly with the Old Testament. They like to move us into the text, make it about us, make it about us, make it about us when, and I mean, anyone who can just think about just basic reading comprehension skills in most cases it's not about us. It's about a specific people in a specific situation. And in many cases they take a passage that should be understood to be descriptive and make it prescriptive. And there's just all kinds of hermoneutical problems. So the Isaiah forty through fifty five, because I don't know, I mean, I'm probably at sixty seventy sermons now and I don't think I have found one that even attempts to try to handle the text. And even I mean they may mention the historical context briefly, but it's almost like, here's the historical context, and then inevitably, what do they do? Boom?

3:57 It's about us, right, and it's like what, how oh does this keep happening? So because and because Pilgrim's Progress utilizes what Isaiah forty three, of course turns it into an allegory, the Heidelberg Catechism uses Isaiah chapter forty verse one. When you look at all of the different things throughout church history that takes this text and just obliterates it. Well, I mean I offered lots of criticism in the sermon reviews, but I'm like, we've got to deal with this section in a very in depth way. So now, of course I didn't realize at the time. I mean, I should have thought about the way things work, where we basically have two hours now kind of creates some logistical problems, right, because the first hour and the second hour. We know more people show up the second hour than the first hour.

4:43 So if I start something in the first hour but I don't finish it, then the second hour turns into what almost our reteaching of the first hour. So there's a lot of logistical issues. But we also know if I just reduce our teaching on Isaiah forty to fifty five to one hour, I'm gonna be dead. We're never going to finish it. So all we can do is do the best we can. So what have we done so far, Well, we've done a lot of work. We've we did an entire outline, basically an observational outline from of Isaiah forty all the way to Isaiah fifty five. We did that the last two weeks. We did an observational outline of just Isaiah chapter forty. Right. It took us two hours to do that observational outline. I think we did a pretty good job and then we've done a little bit of work already in Isaiah forty. But today we step back, and now we begin a proper study of the chapter of Isaiah chapter forty and the first hour. What is our goal here, Well, based on our outline, how did we break down the beginning part of Isaiah chapter forty for those who have been a part of the observational outline, Well, we broke Isaiah chapter forty.

5:58 For we made verse one and two what its own section? We separated it from verse three. Why did we separate it from verse three? Well, if you look at verse three, we are introduced to Well, now, depending on your translation, a voice are the voice? Well, before we get to the voice, we have to deal with verse one and two. So that's the section we're gonna look at. I don't know if we can finish verse one and two in an hour, but we're going to do our very best. Okay, So let's read Isaiah forty, verse one through two. I'll read it from the king James. I also have the ESV here. I have a lot of different translations if we need them. I think we'll probably need it for verse three more than anything. But we won't get to verse three right now, So here we go Isaiah chapter forty, verse one through two. We have read this so many times and all of our preparing for this, so you should almost have it memorized by now Here we go, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, Saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry under her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, this passage is obviously it's very popular during this time of year, during advent, but it's popular just because pastors love to take this and basically say to the people who are sitting in the pew, do you need comfort? Well, I'm going to preach comfort to you from this passage.

7:29 But what is the problem with that? Well, it says comfort ye, comfort ye. Any good Bible student, what ask what question? Who is the ye? And the ye is not you? And it's not me, it's them, Okay, And that's what we're going to do. So let's first begin with textual context, all right. Isaiah chapter forty, verse one through two serves as the opening to the section of Isaiah forty through fifty five that section is often referred to as what Isaiah forty through fifty five, That section is referred to as what we've talked about it like seven hundred and fifty thousand times. The Book of Comfort, the Book of Comfort, all right, the Book of Comfort.

8:18 This section, I mean it's pretty just remember how does the section begin comfort? Right? So what is the section the entire forty to fifty five called the Book of Comfort? All right? And the reason we call that not only because it starts with the word comfort and it's repeated twice, is because it marks a dramatic shift and the tone because chapters one to thirty nine is basically about what it's filled with judgment and warnings, judgment and warnings, and then all of a sudden you turn to chapter forty and what does it begin with comfort? All right? So that we can just tell from that particular I think that particular idea it's judgment and warning is one to thirty nine, and then when you get to forty to fifty five, it's about comfort, it's about hope, it's about restoration, it's about that type of thing. So that just understand, this section has a very unique message compared to what comes before all, right, has everybody got that? Now the immediate context. Look at chapter thirty nine, verses six through seven.

9:31 Chapter thirty nine, six through seven, and you look and tell me what you find. Thirty nine, six through seven. What do you find. I'm gonna make you answer the question instead of reading it to you. Behold the days come that all that is in nine house. Exactly. This is a promise of what or the prediction of the prophecy of the Babylonian captivity. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house should be carried to Babylon. That is the immediate context. That is the immediate context. Okay, Now remember historically how this works. Isaiah prophesies of the coming Babylonian captivity, and he prophesies the entire section of comfort, which is filled with the promise of restoration. It's filled with hope. And Isaiah does that.

10:28 But by the time the captivity occurs and the comfort is needed, Isaiah is what he is dead. He is long gone because it's about one hundred years before all of this occurs. It's about one hundred years after Isaiah. So just remember that that's the context. Now, why is that important? Because If the immediate context is about people in Babylonian captivity, then who is the comfort for the people in Babylonian captivity? Okay, that's not you, that's not me, that's not the church. That is judas specifically correct, They're the ones who go into Babylonian captivity. So that is the context. Isaiah forty one through two responds to this captivity by assuring the exiles of God's commitment to their restoration and signals that their judgment has a limit and it's going to end. So before they ever get to captivity, they are told two things, right, I mean, we want to simplify it. You're going into captivity, but God is going to offer comfort to you and the captivity by telling you what that it's going to have a end.

11:42 It's going to come to an end. So they are told way before they get there that this is going to occur. Does that make sense? Okay, So so there's kind of the immediate contest. So if we take the textual context, we have just the distinction between one through thirty chapters one through thirty nine and forty through fifty five, there's a clear difference. We have an immediate context which is the Babylonian context. If we were to look at the broader context, Isaiah forty through fifty five addresses Israel's return from Babylonian exile, which was historically fulfilled in what year. Yeah, we've talked. We talked about five thirty nine, around five thirty nine. Remember there's some we could get into some of the historical arguments there, but about five thirty nine, And here's the most important thing to understand about the broader context, five thirty nine BC. When what happens, what leads to their return from Babylonian captivity? Cyrus? Cyrus? Everyone write that name down. Cyrus. Okay, write that name down.

12:56 See why are us Cyrus? Because it's his decree that lets them return. That is very important. Yes, that's when they come out, right, that's when they come out or start Remember they kind of some come and we can get to how do you date it? But all right, so Cyrus is key? Why is Cyrus key? Because so many times in this section of Isaiah forty through fifty five people take passages and may apply it to this or to that, and they seem to forget home Cyrus. You can't ignore Cyrus in this section, you want to apply it to whatever. You can't forget him, He's the historical figure. Why is that important? Well, go to verse three.

13:42 Just go to verse three. Well, and I'll just go ahead and kind of now we're going to have a major struggle when we get to verse three. But we have a voice of him that crieth in the wilderness say, prepare the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. If you go to almost any church and they preach that, immediately, where do they run to. They're under John the Baptist, because it is used in the New Testament. Now we remember, we've talked about We spent like I don't know, four months, five months talking about how New Testament writers use Old Testament scripture, and they use it in a variety of ways. Sometimes it doesn't even seem to make sense from a logical perspective, but they can use it that way because they're writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Right, we still have to follow basic hermeneutical principles. So for us, you may want to run to John the Baptist, But what do we have to first do? Understand that voice in the context of what's what's going on here? John the Baptist is not going to help them and their Babylonian captivity, is it, John the Babdi? They're all gonna be what dead by the time John the Baptist is coming along? Are the Babylonians? They're concern? Who's their concern? Rome? Right?

14:52 So we know that it did New Testament writers use it. But in this context, then what could are week possible? We ask, well, who is that voice as it relates to whom? Them preachers seem to forget that? Now, I could argue, now not everyone would agree. Well, wait a minute, could that voice be Cyrus? Since it's his decree that does what brings them out? Now, not everyone agrees with Cyrus. We have some other options. We'll talk about that, but I just don't want you to forget Cyrus in it. Does that make sense? So? The broader context of chapter forty through fifty five addresses Israel's return from Babylonian exile, historically fulfilled in five point thirty nine when Cyrus allowed the Jews to return the promise. In these chapters focus on God's faithfulness to his covenant and his role as both redeemer and creator. So when it comes to the broader context, it's addressing Israel's return because of Cyrus. This is important. The promises and Isaiah through fifty five focus on God's faithfulness to his what his covenant, covenant. So if you write down the word Cyrus, write down the word covenant. Now why is this so important because so many times people have this tendency again preachers, because they preach sermons instead of teach the text. They go to

16:23 the Book of Isaiah or anywhere in the Old Testament and they take promises and apply those promises to whom us. You can't take promises and apply them to us when those promises are given to a specific people, and those promises are dependent upon what in almost every single case in the Old Testament a covenant that God made with whom Israel. Those promises have specific connection to his covenant. Those covenant promises to Israel are not covenant promises given to whom us. Now I know, within some systems of eschatology they try to steal those promises from Israel and apply it to the Church. But that just as a hermeneutical disaster if you do that. So when we look at that. We have to say, Okay, why why is God this? This is a fulfillment of a promise given to Israel. It's not some promise given necessarily to us because we are grafted in. But there's still a distinction between the Church and Israel. And we'll make that. We'll make that argument throughout all. Right, So there's kind of the textual context, the immediate context, the broader context that gives us context is that. Everybody good with that? Now, what other kind of context do we need to look at?

17:44 There's kind of the textual context. What is the other context we need? When you do hermeneutics, you have textual context. What's the other context? Well, but we put that in context of the text right, right, so now, but historical context would be the second. Right, The historical context is the Babylonian exile six Zho five to five point thirty nine BC was a period of immense suffering for Judah. Right, So the historical context is it's captivity, but it's marked by an intense, an immense amount of suffering. They are suffering.

18:27 Why is that important? Because when we hear the message comfort, comfort, we almost immediately want to apply it to our situation, we need to apply it to their situation. They're in actual bondage, actual captivity. There is extensive, an immense, an intense suffering that they are experiencing. And some of the things that they've experienced is the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple which happened in five eighty six BC, and the loss of their land and their national identity. So they have they are suffering physically, they would be suffering emotionally, they'd be suffering mentally, and they would also be suffering spiritually because for them, if the Temple is destroyed, they have no what for for the Jewish system, they have no place of worship, no sacrificial system. That basically their entire system is what gone. That puts them in a very very very difficult situation, and it would probably lead, I think this is a fair description, it would lead to them feeling a sense of what alienation from God?

19:41 Do you think that's a fair description. They would feel like God has abandoned them. They would they would probably be questioning whether God is even God has given them up, He has done with them, he is he has completely forgotten them. Now it's in that context that what happens. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, A message of comfort is to be given to them. Now, it's not given to them by whom. It's not given to them by Isaiah because Isaiah is dead. Okay, I don't have any sermons I heard where it says Isaiah and Isaiah is dead.

20:24 I don't don't know why you're thinking he's the one delivering the message. Someone else has to take the message to them, right? Someone? Are they do they have copies of Isaiah in their back pocket? No? Can they pull it up on their phone? No? Or someone who has the message needs to do what to deliver it? If you know the words of Isaiah forty, this would be the time someone would have to go to the people and say comfort ye, comfort yee. And probably what would be the very first words that would come out of their mouth just shut up? Comfort? Do you care to look around? Right? They would probably have some difficulty accepting that, right, And that would be I think that's I think that's fair to say that anyone would have those things. So it offers them some I think if we want to just mainly two basic concepts, it offers them or three.

21:22 This message in this historical context, they're supposed to be offered comfort, and basically, what's the main message of their comfort in verse basically two? Look at verse two, what's if we want to summarize where they're supposed to get their comfort from delivery? Yeah, now we'll break down each phrase, but I think we can kind of summarize it that it's insinuating that basically there's coming in end to what to the suffering? There's an end coming, right, there's an income.

22:12 Basically the comfort is an assurance that their suffering will end. Now it does it give them a day or time at this point, no, but at least it's saying, hey, it's it's all gonna be taken care of. It's all. And in fact, it's almost spoken of what and which tints it's happened in past tens. So now, in some ways there could be comfort, but it could be a little confusing. Right if you're if you're, if you're in Babylonian captivity. As someone walks up and says comfort, yee comfort ye my people saith your God, and then he gives those words verse two, you may be looking around like, wait a minute, has it are our sins paid? For our sin has been pardoned, like what's but it's spoken of in past tense to try to assure them that it has, it's been taken care of, and it will happen.

22:59 Their question would probably be, what are we there yet? You know when when? And that would be a fair question. That would be a fair question. So in this historical context they get our being given. Uh, what's being offered to them is comfort? Second reassurance? All right, this would reassure them. It says, comfort ye, comfort ye. Look carefully at that phrase in verse one, comfort ye, comfort ye. What's the next two words? My people? What? What would what would that do? Not only obviously you have the comfort which we've talked about, it would give them reassurance of what that they are still in a covenant relationship with God, my people. That speaks of their covenantal relationship, so that would give them some reassurance of that. How about a third thing, right you? If you look at verse two, that her iniquity is pardoned, you see that the n wouldest part this would give them hope of God's promise of restoration and forgiveness. So, in a sense, within the historical context of suffering, God offers them comfort, reassurance, and hope, comfort, reassurance, and hope within their context, not about us, but about them, Okay, in their context. Now, let's be fair there, it would still be it would be very difficult for them to realize that, understand it.

24:27 It may even be difficult for them to do what believe it. Just keep that in mind because they would look around going you're out of your mind, like, I don't know what you're talking about. Go away? All right, So there is the textual context. We've looked at the and within that framework, we've looked at the immediate context. We've looked at the broader context. We've looked at the historical context. Everybody feel comfortable with all of that? Everybody good with that? All right? Now, let's look at grammar, some grammar and the linguistic kind of sections here, some some specific things about the the the grammar, and about some of the phrases used. All right, Let's start with the phrase comfort comfort my people, right, comfort comfort. Obviously, when we look at that, what's the most important thing that jumps out at us in verse one is it's repetition. Right?

25:22 Why is that important? Because the repetition of this of this word of this phrase emphasizes urgency and certainty. There's an urgency comfort my people. Comfort my people. There's an urgency they need comfort now. Right. If you repeat for someone to do something, what are you you're emphasizing not only the importance of it, what else are you emphasizing urgency? Do it now. So there's a message here, comfort my p people. Do this now. God is commanding possibly either the prophets or spiritual leaders. He's telling someone to bring comfort to his people. It's basically like, hey, if anyone is listening, take the comfort to my people. Whoever gets this message, bring it to the people now, because they are in a historically, what's the setting, a time of immense suffering. So linguistically we can see that there's an emphasis here to do so now does that make sense? Now?

26:40 This idea to comfort seems to bring the idea to console, to comfort. Obviously that's how it's translated. It can also imply compassionate action, signaling that this comfort is more than words. It involves God's active action or active of restoration. So the idea is comfort my people, Comfort my people. But it's carrying the idea that comfort them, not with just mere words comfort them, with the assurance that God is going to do what do something, do something, just to say, oh, comfort, comfort, Everything's going to be okay. Now it's going to be something more what substantial? Right, And it's saying that God is to do what, He's going to do something, He's going to be involved, He's that it's a promise of God's action, which is very important. However, though that can still be frustrating. So I don't want us to think.

27:45 I want us to try to put us in the situation if you are in that captivity, at least initially, all these words of comfort, these words of reassurance, these words of hope, are going to probably do what What is going to be your initial emotional response to anything that we're hearing right now? Just be honest. I know we're in church, and church is the place where Christians can't be honest, but it should be the place where we can be. Yeah, if you're in that situation, you're probably gonna be more frustrating. Right. Well, wait a minute, So now God's gonna do something, what would be my question? Well, where was he at the beginning of this? How long?

28:27 When does the message show up. How long are they in captivity? Total? Seventy years? Does the message show up in year one? Does the message show up in year ten? Does it show up in year twenty? Well, if it shows up in year one, you may get all excited, but you're probably gonna lose that excitement about year thirty. True. Well, I mean it was available to whoever preached it to them. I mean that wasn't like copies. Yeah, but I'm just saying, even if the message showed up to you on day one, even if you knew prior to going in, Oh, I got Isaiah forty through fifty five memorized. Let's say you had it memorized. Okay, you enter into into captivity day one.

29:15 Oh kids, it's gonna be okay. Listen, I'm gonna recite to you Isaiah forty through fifty five. Ah, those are wonderful words. Okay, great, Now, how about ten years later? At this point, what's your thinking going to be? Uh? What's going on here? What's going on? If you don't receive the message for four say you're forty years in, what is going to be your thoughts? So? Now God's going to show up after forty years? In other words. No matter where you get the message, it's going to be somewhat difficult for you to process and understand. I know, we don't preach it that way in church. You're just supposed to preach it as what and this so wonder full that God brought his words of comfort to these people and they all received it and everybody was happy and they lived happily ever after boring captivity. That's all they're known. And you've had other people who these words of comfort, they die, they don't even experience the comfort.

30:23 So I want you to see that, like that makes it more realistic. See this is always taken out and it's basically, hey, you're suffering today. Comfort ye comfort yea. And they preach it to the people. Well, even if you preach it to people, even in that context, they didn't get what they didn't get the action in any way, shape or form. So we have to make sure we put it in a realistic context because if we don't, I think it does major damage. So we have the word comfort, comfort, it's repeated, we have what it's about. It's about to console to comfort, but it can apply compassionate action. It signals that the comfort is more than words.

31:03 It involves God's active restoration. You also have the phrase my people. Now, this is the use of possessive language. Reaffirms the covenantal relationship. Despite their exile, Israel is still God's chosen people. Right. So when we look at the linguistic makeup here, we have comfort comfort, right, and then we have the phrase my people. Just remember, in both cases, what I'm trying to demonstrate to you is comfort and reminding them that hey, you're still God's people, You're still in relationship with Him. As comforting as it could be, it could also lead to what some frustration and bitterness and confusion, right, Because it's wonderful to say, hey, guys, I know you're in exile, I know you're in bondage, but guess what, You're still God's chosen people. Now that's in church. We're supposed to say what to that? Oh? Amen, that's so good, right? But in reality, what would you be thinking? You've promised me comfort, you're telling me I'm still God's people, and your words would probably not Again, I know you're in church, so you can't say what you would really say, but in reality we would say, who cares that I'm still God's people who cares that You're promised me in comfort? Because what am I experiencing? Suffering? Right?

32:39 Keep that in mind, Okay, because we don't want to We don't want to turn this into some weird church Disney movie. It's the reality is these are words being given to these people where what let me state it this way, their reality would call into question all of these words. I want you to fill that tension. All right. Then, so we have comfort, comfort, we have my people, all right, and which again it's possessive language. It reaffirms the covenantal relationship. Despite the rex Ale, Israel is still God's chosen people. Then look at that another phrase. Look at in verse two, we have comfort, ye comfort e my people. Look at verse two the phrase speak ye comfortably to to Jerusalem, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. All right, So we're just looking at the grammar and the language being used. We're really trying to break down some of the phrases. Okay, now this is important. What is significant that he says, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Forget the word comfortably at the moment to Jerusalem. Why is it significant that it says to speak to Jerusalem Okay was the capital of the Northern Kingdom, all right, Samaria, Okay was the capital

34:09 of the Southern Kingdom. There we go, who's in captivity by the Southern Kingdom. So speak comfortably to Jerusalem? Right, So it's say it's identifying who this is to be spoken to. So, in other words, the text leaves us no question who this is about. How preachers come along and move these people out and move us in. I'll never understand this is for them. And now it's being spoken to Jerusalem, which is somewhat ironic. What happened to Jerusalem? It was destroyed. What happened to the temple? So you want me to speak comfortably to a place that's utterly been laid to waste, all right? So that just you have to see that the language being used here should draw your attention as a good Bible student. Now, the phrase speak tenderly means to speak to the heart, some would argue in Hebrew. It conveys a tone of intimate reassurance.

35:10 It is akin to a almost to a lover or parent addressing someone in distress. It's like someone is in distress and you're speaking very comfortably to them, very tenderly to them. You're trying to speak you you're understanding. In other words, your words are indicating you understand their situation. And to say speak it to Jerusalem really captures that because Jerusalem is destroyed, so it is say speak tenderly. In other words, don't just come in and be like, hey, get over it. You're probably everything's gonna be okay. It's like, whoa, you're it's indicating you know that they're suffering. Does that make sense? You know that they're suff Sometimes people can speak comfort in a very uncomforting way. This is speaking it in a comforting way, all right. And then of course you could argue, obviously, I think the reason Jerusalem is mentioned here is because it's the capital. Some would argue it's symbolic of the entire nation, representing the community of God's people. I think it's identifying not just the nation, the entire nation. I think what it's identifying is it's the capital of the Southern Kingdom, and who is in Babylonian captivity the Southern Kingdom. So this is a specific word to them. This is not to the to because by this time what's already happened to the Northern Kingdom.

36:35 The Assyrians have already destroyed. They're gone, right, So in this particular case, it's really focused in on the Southern Kingdom, if that makes sense. All right, So we're looking at the grammar and the language being used. We have comfort comfort, We've talked about that, right, my people, we've talked about that. Right, speak tenderly or comfortably to Jerusalem. We talked about that. Now what comes after speak comfortably to Jerusalem? What's the next phrase? Well, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem? And then it says to do what cry under her or proclaim to her? So the first part is just hey, be comforting, be very comfortable. It's almost like the way you should address them, right, speak tenderly or speak comfortably. More, that language is trying to say, this is how I want you to speak. Then to say proclaim to her, this is the content of what I want you to say.

37:38 Does everybody see that to speak tenderly tells you how to do it? Proclaim to her is this is what I want you to say. And it's broken down into specific things that are to be said. How many specific things are to be said to Jerusalem to Judah? According to verse two it's a three okay. Number one, okay, warfare is accomplished. According to the King James will break the language down. Number two, iniquity is pardoned or sent is paid for. Number three okay, three specific things are to be said. All right, So there is a call fort hey, someone bring comfort to my people. Right? The comfort is explained. My people is explained. How are you to bring this comfort? You're just speaking what way to them? No? No, no, the very first part of verse two you're to speak tenderly.

38:44 This is how you are to speak to them. Everybody got that? Now what is the content of that message? There are three specific things you are to say to them. What is the first thing that is to be said to them? Okay? Now, depending on your translation, we probably have a number of translations here. King James has her warfare is ended. The NIV has her hard service has been completed. Do we have the ESV here? What does it say? Warfare is ending? Okay? So warfare is ended hard service. It's an interesting phrase and at first it can seem somewhat like what is it talking about? So let's try to break it down the term warfare here as using the King James can mean military service or guess what else, it can mean hardship, which some would argue military services. That, okay, it symbolizes this is what is symbolizing the end of her suffering and punishment under Babylonian exile. The perfect tense is being used, which indicates that the resolution is so it's certain. It is spoken as if it's already accomplished. Now imagine you're here, you're in You're in Babylonian captivity. Right, someone gets the message,

40:14 how you got to go tell these people? So they gather you around, they gather your family around, right, hey, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Okay, that's really to the messengers. What you're supposed to do is bring comfort, all right. So they show up and they're supposed to speak tenderly to you. Right, that's good. You like their tender approach. They seem to be empathetic, they seem to be compassionate. And then the first thing that proclaimed to you is that the warfare has ended, your hardship has ended. Now come on, now, come on. It's almost so ridiculous it's hard for me to even like, it's hard to even read it with a straight face. You're sitting there, you're where you're in the suffering, and someone comes you, knocks on your door to give you a message of comfort and like, hey, your warfare is ended, and so what do you think. You're like, Okay, well then let's go. No, no, no, you can't leave it. But you just said it's ended.

41:20 It is, but it's not now. This creates the difficulty in a lot of ways with what I mean, if we're honest with it, this is the difficulty of faith versus reality correct and it also demonstrates that we what do we have a tendency to do now, We're gonna I'm gonna put us here, I'm gonna bring us into this at least temporarily. We have a tendency to see any promises in the Bible as being for the now and happening in the now, which typically leads to lost lots of discouragement, disillusionment, disappointment, and leads people to being on TikTok making videos about deconstructing their faith because it's very difficult to process when people in the church constantly give you promises about the now that is not for the now, that promise for them, even though it's certain in the mind of God. It is still what for them an unfulfilled promise As far as the practical ramifications, yes, and this has been a problem throughout two thousand years of church history, where people go to the Bible, they'll find a promise and almost just assume that God's going

42:54 to do this or going to do this, or going to do this, or going to do this or going to do this in the now, and we have no guest guarantee of that. What is our guarantee for us practically that there will be a time that what will occur sin will be over, or will get a new body, There'll be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. In the meantime, what can we realistically expect in this life? Pain, suffering, death, sin, failure, struggle, weakness.

43:39 The Church likes to almost try to take those promises for eternity and bring them into the present, and that creates a feeling that, well, this is going to occur. They would have felt the same way. They're receiving a promise that the warfare is ended. It's only ended where the warfare ended in this text, It's ended in the mind of God. Where is it not ended? In practice? Does that make sense. The warfare has ended? Where in this text, in the mind of God in Babylon has it ended? Did the Babylonians get the message? No, nobody had gotten the message. God is saying it has ended.

44:27 Does everyone understand that we cannot take promises that are not for the now and make them about the now? We are so bad at that. The Church has been doing it for two thousand years. I mean, you could argue the entire birth of the charismatic movement is a really a great example of this. Right, does God guarantee healing in the Atonement? Yes, but for when eternity. Charismatics want to apply it to the now. Everyone does that, right, Everyone loves to do that. And it's another A good example of this is the never ending conflict within Christendom that they do not do a very good job of drawing a distinction between a positional reality and a practical reality. Right, if anyone is in crisis, a new creature, old things are passed away, all things have become new. That is not a practical reality. If that was a practical reality, what would be the result of that practical reality? We would not have a sinful nature, and we would be sinless. Okay, well, so therefore that's not a practical reality, even though churches preach it as a practical reality. What is the reality? Positionally, I'm a new creature. Old things are passed away because I am saved by what kind of righteousness? Imputed, not infuse.

45:57 That's the entire Protestant Reformation, meaning I am declared to be that which I am not. So the church loves to take that imputed righteousness and declare it almost as an infused righteousness, which is Roman Catholicism. And then people think, okay, so now that I'm a Christian. Basically the way it's even if it's not explicitly stated, it's almost like, now that I'm a Christian, basically, I have now power to overcome sin. I have this, I have this and all of these promises. And then they start living their lives and what did they discover? A completely opposite reality to what is being preached. And that leads many to say what Christianity is fraudulent. Christianity is not helpful because they've been given fraudulent promises. Now, in many cases the promises are not truly fraudulent, they're just what misapplied wrong time, wrong place, wrong understanding. So for the bout, for those in Babylonian captivity, that promise sounds wonderful, that your warfare is ended, that your hardship is over, that it's come to an end. The only problem is it's not happened practically, and it's hard to hold on to a promise in which you cannot yet see. How do we see the fulfillment of the promise? Well, it starts the word starts

47:28 with it F F A I T A faith. Okay, isn't that the end message of the entire Bible? Right? Abraham was given promises? Could he see them? No? All right, okay, that's the message of the whole Bible. God gives promises in which cannot necessarily be perceived by sight or by intellect at the time. Now we have to understand those promises through are intellect by reading and study, but we have to have the ability to discern, Wait a minute, when is that promise? For in their case, they just have someone saying, hey, guys, your warfare is ended, and they're like, are you out of your mind? And that would be fair for them to think that way, would it not? Right? So just understand The perfect tense indicates that the resolution is so certain that is spoken as has already been accomplished, even though it hasn't. What's the next phrase, Her iniquity is pardoned. Everybody see that her iniquity is pardoned. Now the idea here seems to be it means to be accepted or to be appeased. This seems to suggest that God has accepted satisfaction for their sins and the penalty has been paid. So however you

49:02 want to understand it, it's just reminding them that what your sins have been pardoned, your iniquity has been forgiven. Now that's good news, because why are they in Babylonian captivity because of their sin? Isaiah one through thirty nine outlines all of their sin idolatry over and over and over. They didn't listen to the warnings. So that's a good thing, right, because if they're in Babylonian captivity because of their sin, what needs to be addressed their sin? So now that gives them assurance, It gives them the idea that it's been appeased. The language, it means it's been accepted, the pardon has been accepted. God's wrath has been appeased. That kind of I think God has accepted satisfaction for their sins.

49:52 The penalty has been paid now in their particular case. That basically it's been paid by what kind of and their particular case by their suffering. Right, So it's kind of you know, just make sure we understand it. I know we want to run and turn it into something else, but in this context, that's what it's referring to. Does that make sense? Right? What's the third phrase? She has received the Lord's hand double for all her sins? Everybody see that? All right? This is probably from a Remember we're looking at the grammar and the language here. This is probably the phrase that causes the most trouble. There's not agreement on exactly what is meant here right now.

50:44 We may have different translations that may offer how does the ESV read that phrase she's received? Okay, I understands the NIV. Okay. So with translations not helping us too much, how would you interpret that phrase? I'll just ask you, how would you interpret that phrase? You're teaching a Bible study and someone raises their hand, going, what does that mean? What do you tell them? Okay, there's two interpretations offered in church history. You ready number one. It means that Israel's punishment has been severe but sufficient, indicating that justice has been fully satisfied. They've received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. In other words, they have paid above and beyond for their sins by their suffering. Right.

51:53 That's interpretation number one. What do you think interpretation number two is okay? The second is that it refers to overflowing grace, emphasizing that God's restoration is greater than their suffering. In other words, that God is done more for them than their sins. They have received of the Lord's hand double for all your sins. In other words, you have sinned, but God's grace is greater than your sin, and you're gonna receive double for all of it. You're gonna receive even more grace, meaning you're not just gonna have an ending to this. It's gonna be They're gonna be restored, you're gonna get to go back to the land, you're gonna get to rebuild the temple all. In other words, all the things God is going to do is double.

52:46 You have your sin, but God's gonna do double for you. So it's either seen as a negative you've received double for your says you've really suffered, or it's positive God's gonna do double for you because of your sins, He's gonna even do more for you. I don't know which ones do you prefer? How do you prefer it? And don't ask me which one is the right one, because nobody is ever agreed in church history. It is very confusing. The language here is not easy. The language here, if you look think of it this way. Let's ask ourselves this considering what is the tone being given here? Speak ye wa to Jerusalem tenderly, comfortably? So the message is supposed to be a tender, comforting one. Which one is more comforting? Hey, you have suffered twice as much as you even needed to for your sin. That's not much comfort. Hey, God is going to do double for you even though you have sin. He's going to go above and beyond for you. That seems to be more comforting. So I would argue for the context of comfort, but that's me reading into it. But yeah, the other one, being more negative almost is like you got you got twice some of the much you deserve. Well, thank you so much for that. Okay, yeah, exactly because the land oh yeah, yeah, yeah,

54:25 there was a specific reason they were given seventy years, right, because they had not followed the sabbaths for the land, right, so that God's gonna say I'm gonna give the land a sabbath. Right, you wouldn't do it, but I will, right, So right, So, but I just think in the context is more tender. So I think it has to be a more positive. I could be wrong, I could be wrong, all right. So what if we looked at oh man, we're I knew, we're not gonna see now the next hour, we're gonna have to now repeat all of this. All right, here we go. So we have looked at the textual context, the textual context. We looked at the immediate context, did we not? Some just say yes, we looked at the immediate context. We looked at the broader context, did we not? Yeah?

55:08 We looked at the historical context, did we not? Yes? Okay, good, all right, just say yes, all right. Then we have looked at the grammar and linguistic words and how it's all put together. We could call it a grammar and linguistic analysis, and we want to call it that we've analyzed the grammar in the language being used, and what have we looked at the phrases comfort, comfort, right, my people speak to hinderly to Jerusalem. Warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, she was received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. And that leads us too. Well, we need to look at an exegetical insights to the text.

55:50 But we have to stop right now, and we'll do this in the next hour, because we're going to finish this section no matter why. Okay, because once we get to verse three and five, all the wills come off and I who knows what's going to happen? Right, We've got to figure out who the voice is and nobody knows and everybody argues and okay, and it becomes a problem. So we'll figure that out, right, and then how do we get to where else? But there's a lot we have to do in this section, so we'll do that. Any questions about any of that, all right, I'm going to assume I did such a good job. You have no questions, but if you do, you can ask in between a right, let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this morning. Lord, forgive us if we've ever mishandled this section of scripture in the past. Lord, I hope we will understand it better in the present so that we can handle it better in the future. And we ask this in Jesus name. And God's people said