Isaiah 40:3-5 Pt 2

0:00 All right, Isaiah chapter forty. The way it should have worked is I needed to finish a certain thing in the first hour, so I wouldn't continue in the second hour, because when it continues in the second hour, then I have to do more review. But we're going to go through this relatively quick, and I'll just try to get you caught up. All right, Isaiah chapter forty. We started the first hour reviewing our observational outline of Isaiah forty, but we're not going to do that now. The goal this morning is verses three through five. And what our goal is right now, what we started in the first hour is we're just working our way well well. First, we identified all kinds of questions and issues and difficulties with first three through five. That's the first thing we did. Second, we started working through Versus three through five, not in a completely in depth way, but really trying to work through some of the issues and trying to understand how to approach the text. The main thing I have done in the first hour, and I said, I was kind of walking myself into a hermeneutical trap, but I was willing to do so as I tried to establish that in Isaiah forty. If you go to Isaiah thirty nine, five through eight, that's literal prophecy of Babylonian captivity. The Babylonians are literal. The king has the kaya is literal.

1:23 If you go to Isaiah chapter one, all the places, the people, everything is literal. Everything is literal. The context of Isaiah forty, verses three through five is this is a message to literal Judah and literal Babylonian captivity. All right, that's the way we have to understand that this is surrounded by literal, literal, literal, literal, literal. The reason we have to is because every pastor goes to verses three through five and goes crazy with spiritual spiritual, spiritual, spiritual, and that's a major hermeneutical problem. All right, So in verse three, I'm just gonna go through this relatively quick, so hopefully you get it. We talked about the immediate and broader context. I just kind of summarized that in a very very very simplistic way. Then we started working with verse three. Verse three, we have the voice of Him that Christ in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight, and the desert a highway for our God in Isaiah forty verse three. Some translations have the voice. Other translations have a voice. Whether it's a or whether it's the we'll get into that later.

2:33 The main thing I want you to realize is in Isaiah forty verse three, that voice is not identified. The voice is not identified, and the New Testament the voice is identified as being John the Baptist. But we cannot insert John the Baptist back into this section. And here's the reason why. This voice is telling people to prepare. Who is it telling to prepare people who are coming seven hundred years later? No, there would be of no value to the people in Babylonian captivity. This voice is telling the people at that time to prepare. That's not John the Baptist, because he doesn't show up for seven hundred years later. Everybody understand that. So this voice, whom we don't know who it is, tells the people to prepare the way of the Lord. Now, please note, this voice is crying into wilderness. I almost mentioned this. Let's just remember historically and their contexts, the road, the route from Babylon back to Jerusalem was wilderness. So a voice comes to them in their wilderness situation. They're in captivity in Babylon, and tells them to prepare a way for whom.

3:47 The text says of verse three, the Lord prepare the way for God. This is there to prepare somehow for God's coming, for the Lord showing up in some way, shape or form. Now here's what we do know history. Does God show up in a literal manifestation For the people on Babylonian captivity? He doesn't show up like in the incarnation, right, he doesn't show up that way. But how does he show up? If we're gonna say he shows up? And for those in Babylonian captivity, he shows up and their deliverance. So they are to prepare, and this is the idea for God coming ultimately to deliver them.

4:28 Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now this is using the language in that historical setting when a king would come into an area. Guess what would happen. The people would go before it and make sure the road was straight and clear and everything's good to go. So they're to make a way. Make and in fact it says make a straight, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Remove what's there? So that God can show up. Now, this is kind of weird, right, because they got to make the way straight so that God. God can't show up unless they make the way straight. That would be an obvious question, right, But they've got to get the way straight and to prepare the way for our God. Now, I'm gonna use this phrase a number of times in this section. What I believe is occurring, and I'm kind of doing a little review and kind of jumping ahead at the same time.

5:24 For those who weren't here in the first hour, is this there is a allegorical or metaphorical type language being utilized, or I like to use poetic language, but it's pointing to something literal. Right, does everybody understand that it's poetic language, but it's pointing to something literal. It's not pointing to something spiritual, because everyone likes to come to this text and say, hey, prepare the way for God? And how do you prepare the way for God in a spiritual way? Getting rid of your sins, reading your Bible? Sure, whatever the case may be, I don't think it's a reference to that kind of thing. I think it's a reference to preparing for in a literal way. Something literally has to be prepared well for these people for God to show up to deliver them. For their ultimate deliverance, some things have to occur between the first hour and second hour.

6:26 Sarah was doing some research and starting about ten years was that correct? About ten years before the Israel's release from or Judah's released from Babylon in captivity. There's a king right of Babylon, and that king that's reigning about ten years before. What's a good way to describe him, Sarah, so that we're historically accurate, weak and ineffective and basically and aroundabout way, the people are kind of already free. He's kind of not worrying about them. He doesn't really care about Judah. He's just he doesn't really care. He's not even I think he wasn't even in the country.

7:09 So already things are being prepared and away. The king doesn't even really care anymore. He's ineffective, he doesn't care. Said things are already happening, is what I'm trying to get. Things are already being prepared, and then we ultimately know who shows up ten years later, Cyrus shows up, and you know what's crazy. Sarah was reading how it all went down. He basically just walked in. It was peaceful, the people, the people. Some believe some of the accounts there were defectors inside of Babylon who basically just opened the gates and said, come on in. He just walked in. In other words, an prepared the way and he just walks in.

7:55 And he walks in not as a conqueror, but as a liberator. I'm here to set every one free. And who was that? Cyrus? Yeah? Three years later, yeah, yeah, five point thirty six. So that like that, that's all literal, right, So we've got we got a voice now who is being told to prepare the way? See, we don't know who the voice is, but who's being told to prepare the way? That that that's up to a lot of interpretations, right, we could say Juda is Judas supposed to be doing to prepare? Is Cyrus doing? Who's doing the preparing? But someone is preparing something is making the way straight. And clearly, historically speaking, there was a lot happening in those ten well thirteen years. For ten years, you've got a Babylonian king is basically like whatever, I don't care, I'm not even in country. And the Israelites, for the most part, are kind of just for then then Cyrus just walks in peacefully. The Babylonians just kind of like, well, HARKing a left us here you where are the look? Hey comes in? And then three years later, how many people fifty thousand go back to your And that's why And we can see why some people wanted to stay in Babylon because everything had already been good for basically ten years.

9:24 So that's something literal is going on. All of this language may be figurative, but it's figurative pointing to something literal. Does that make sense? Right? It would be like I could use very exaggerated or poetic language to say it is nine hundred degrees I think I'm going to die right. Well, that that is very exaggerated language. I could write it in a poetic way, but I would be speaking to something literal that it is hot. Right? Does that make sense? So you can use a poetic language, but you're still what we have a tendency to do. If it's figurative or allegorical language, we just immediately make it what spiritual and I think we have to be very careful with that.

10:12 So we looked at all of that invers Thary, and the look at verse four. To carry on this idea, every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. Now please note it's verse three a voice is telling someone to prepare the way everybody got that. Verse four is not telling them to do anything. It's saying this is going to happen. Now, what most pastors do is the valley and the mountains. This is all referencing pride and sin, and this is all going to be made right. Well, we know all sin is not made right, okay, because Israel does what when they get back the idolatry sin and they end up back in Roman captivity, go into New captivity. So I think that what this is referring to the valley should be exalted, the mountains should be made low, and the crooked should be made straight, and the rough place is plain. It's using figurative allegorical language to describe what literal everything is gonna be made right so that they can be delivered. And it starts ten years prior to their release. As Sarah pointed out that New King just basically, he's the king, he's the mountain, he's made low, he's ineffective, he's weak, nobody really cares. Everybody's kind of doing what they want. Right, Okay, the valley is now brought up

11:47 because Cyrus can do what just walk right in? The gate is open. Like from a literal standpoint, this seems to describe exactly what occurred. Now it's using figurative language, but it's describing basically what's going to happen. Everything that would be an obstacle politically, physically is going to be what removed. And their deliverer is Cyrus. Now Cyrus is the human deliverer. But who is working in and through Cyrus? God?

12:28 So it's God, but it's Cyrus. Everybody got that. And then what happens. So there's the voice, there's the transformation of the landscape. Now look what happens in verse five. So let's read three. We'll read three through four again. The voice of him, the Christ in the wilderness. Prepare you the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain shall be and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. Again figurative language, but pointing to literal everything's removed to make their deliverance work. And then what happens in verse five? And now this seems to be following kind of like a chronological word. And what's gonna happen after all of that is done? The glory of the Lord should be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it twogether. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

13:27 Now when we say the glory of the Lord is going to be revealed, what do we mean by that? Now? If we take this now versus says all flesh, I think right there, we're gonna have to qualify them to some level, don't you agree. I don't think this means the entire world's going to see it, because even if you point to this being the incarnation, did the whole world see the incarnation? No, So it has to be limited. All flesh is going to see it. Where those in Babylonian captivity are all going to see this glory? And what glory is that going to be? They're in Babylonian captivity, and all of a sudden, the gates are opened and someone walks through that gate and saying I'm here to liberate everyone. They're all going to know that, right, was there gonna be anyone in Babylonian captivity going I didn't, I don't know what's going on? What's going on? What happened?

14:19 Now they're all going to know. And so the glory of God is going to be revealed in. Whom and Cyrus walking through the gate because that just showed who just showed up in a figurative way, kind of in a literal way, who. Just showed up? We see Cyrus, but who really showed up God? Oh yeah, we're going to we're gonna we're gonna take the Ezra part. We're gonna take that chapter apart. That's so key here. Oh yes, yes, because that's that's called the Decree of Cyrus. Yeah, we're gonna definitely look at that because I think I now, i'll just give you a preview. Me and Ai had big arguments here, big arguments because Ai was trying to go with the way all Christians go and I'm like, come on, now, you're missing the point here. But Ai had finally acknowledged man, the decree of Sirius. You may be onto something. Right, that's basically, but I didn't like it necessarily because it's like, well, nobody else agrees with you. I don't care if anybody agrees with me. All right, this is gonna be literal in some way, all right, even though it's using a figurative language. So the glory's gonna be showed up now, just to go through some different things. In the immediate context the glory of the Lord be revealed, it has to refer to God's power and majesty displayed in Israel's deliverance from exile. You see that everyone admits and its immediate context that refers to God's power and majesty displayed

15:52 in Israel's deliverance. How has God's majesty been prepared? The mountain has been made low, the valley has been brought ha ha, all of it's been made plain. It's been made level. And who comes walking in? Really, you can't get much more than a highway and a level playing ground when you're the conquering king and the people behind the walls just like open the gate and like come on in. That doesn't happen, Okay, that means something, maybe something supernatural is at work and when that happens, God's glory because God said that you're gonna be delivered and it just happened. That's the media context now, but of course and the New Testament, this phrase is connected to christ incarnation, where God's glory is revealed in Jesus. That's fine, well, we'll get there, but we're not there right now. I know pastors want to get there and go immediately to John the Baptist and the incarnation, but that that would I'm gonna I'm gonna state it again. The incarnation is of it own value to them and Babylonian captivity because the incarnation is not for how many years, seven hundred years later? All these people are gonna be dead, right, and their grandkids are gonna be dead, and their grandkids are gonna be dead. Ah, lot of people are gonna be dead before anything happens. Now. Just please note, if

17:25 you are a Jew and you're very familiar with Isaiah forty verses three through five, Okay, let's try to put ourselves. We're gonna go to the New Testament. Here. You're a Jew in the New Testament and you know Isaiah forty three through five, and a voice shows up in the wilderness telling you to prepare your way for God, and then you hear that God has been born in a manger, taken on human flesh. Then you can immediately understand why what they thought that child was going to do? Deliver it sah our Cyrus has arrived. God has shown up in the flesh. They thought he was going to take out the Romans immediately you can understand why they thought.

18:19 You can't give everyone's like, I just don't know what the Jews problem was. Why they didn't understand give me a break. You're borrowing from Isaiah forty? What is this about people being delivered from captivity? Where are the Jews when Jesus shows up in captivity? So what did they expect him to do? Deliver them? You can understand that, Well, that's why the kings, that's why the politicians would have been a little nervous thinking of that same concept. Right, So you can say, why what was going on? But in this context, we can't run to Jesus. We got to keep it here. Does that make sense? Right? Yeah, there's more I could go I could go here. Oh, we do have this? What's the last phrase there? In verse five? I do want to mention this, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. This phrase underscores the certainty of God's promise. His word is reliable, and his promise cannot fall. Remember these people, these words and Isaiah forty three through five are given one hundred years before the captivity. So this is an't this is going to happen. All right, this is going to happen. There's a voice telling you prepare because this is what's going to happen. Every valley, every obstacle is going to be made low, every oh is going to be removed, and

19:51 God is going to show up and you're going to be delivered. But and so it's because it's from God, it's not from anybody else. Does that makes sense? All right? So what are some of the key themes here? Well, I think we can definitely see God's sovereignty is all over this. Can we agree with that? All right? I'm not Others will say that we have the idea of repentance here in spiritual preparation. I'm not going with that. I'm not. I don't think Look, if this message was for them to repent and get right spiritually, I think the Book of Isaiah has used language that would be a lot easier to figure out than using this metaphorical language. Right, Hey, every mountain is going to be get yourself right spiritually.

20:40 Isn't that what the first thirty nine chapters have been about your sin, repent your sin, and all of a sudden, Now he can't just say prepare your way by you know, fasting and repenting and getting ready for your idols. All of a sudden he can't just God can no longer speak that way. That just makes no sense. That all of a sudden he's telling them to get ready spiritually and he just can't say it in a literal. That just makes no sense to me. It makes no sense to me. I just reject that outright, all right. I think there's a So there's a there's a theme of preparation, but I just don't think it's a spiritual kind. There's the discussion of restoration and deliverance I think at least deliverance, I don't know. And there's a discussion of revealing God's glory.

21:28 Now we could try to apply this today. We're not even going to try to apply this today. We're not even going to attempt to do that. All right, So this gets us to where we need to go, all right, so verses three through five. Everybody good with that? So how as a church, how would we explain Isaiah forty three through five to anyone that this is a message that God is going to literally remove all obstacles so that the people can be delivered. Cyrus is that deliverer when he shows up. In a sense, God and his glory has shown up to reveal the people. That's what this is about. All right. That maybe as an oversimplification, but you get the basic idea. Everybody good with that?

22:19 All right? So here's what we need to do. And Isaiah chapter forty, verse three. Most English translations render the phrase the Hebrew phrase a voice cries rather than the voice cries. This difference is subtle but significant and understanding how this text is interpreted. So we're gonna look at some of the explanations and implications from this, all right. The Hebrew phrase and Isaiah forty verse three is its voice without a definite article. It's voice without a definite, definite article. And then you have the idea crying or calling, So almost you could say voice crying, voice calling. That's basically if you wanted to be very very literal, not a voice, voice calling, voice crying. Since there is no definite article attached to the word voice in Hebrew, the phrase is more accurately translated. And of course, if you're going to try to clean it up, a voice rather than the voice. So most say it should be a voice rather than the voice. Now, if it's a voice, that just makes it very generic, and you're not you don't feel this pressure to do what identify it? If it's the voice, you feel very much a I gotta

23:50 identify the voice. Does everybody kind of see that? All right? Now? The common English translations, many translations ran the phrase as a voice cries to reflect the absence of the definite article. The ESV a voice cries in the wilderness, NIV a voice, the NASB a voice. A few translations use the voice the voice cries for stylistic or interpretive reasons. Uh oh, some translations have it the voice for interpretive reasons. And guess one of the two translations that do that, The King James and the New King James. The voice the voice. Now, why would they possibly want to say the voice because they're borrowing from the New Testament and they're reading it back into it, and I actually, you cannot do that.

24:51 You cannot do that because the voice that they're trying to point to is of no value to these individuals. They're going to be dead before that voice shows up. I mean they can't. Yeah, there's just so many problems with that, all right, So why the difference. Well, a voice gives us the idea that this is a general messenger, a general voice that's come here. This translation focuses on the symbolic nature of the voice. The voice represents a call to action, not necessarily a specific individual in its immediate context. In other words, hey, there's a voice crying out to prepare. It's not necessarily about identifying the voice or anything specific. It's just saying, there's a message for you to prepare. Now, if we wanted to get very technical, who would be the voice from a very literal technical perspective and its context, it would be Isaiah, right, agreed, Now, he'sad but by this point, right, I mean, he does it, but one hundred years before do I. But his voice still calls, right exactly, The voice still calls. The voice still calls. So I think that makes a little bit of sense. Some would argue that by doing a voice, it reflects the ambiguity of the original Hebrew text, leaving

26:22 the identity of the voice open to interpretation. Since the Hebrew locks the definite article, a voice is closer to a literal rendering. I know that's going to tick off KJV only people, But I'm sorry. There's no definite article in the Hebrew. And if there's no definite definite article in the Hebrew, then what should we translate that as a voice? It just should be. That's just the way it should be, all right, Now, if we go with the voice, well, this is an interpretive choice. Some translations use the voice to indicate a specific prophetic figure or personification. This often reflects a fill lot interpretation, linking the passage to whom John the Baptist. The voice may emphasize the importance of the Herald's message and its connection to God's divine plan. Right, So if we go with the implications, then how would this How would these implications impact our interpretation? Well, a voice could just represent a general prophetic call to prepare for God's coming. This is just a general call, Hey everyone prepare? What are you getting prepared? For God is showing up. Now we know how he's going to show up in Cyrus, because Cyrus is the one who's going to deliver them. It could be a symbolic figure or collective proclamation, such as the prophetic community calling the people to spiritual readiness. This could just be like the voice of Isaiah and anyone in the prophetic community is

27:56 telling the people get ready. He's coming. God is going to show up. It's supposed to meant to be like a message of almost hope, because they can be filled with despair, right, and this is like, hey, guys, guys, guys, God is going to show up. Now. You may be asking when are we there yet, but he's going to show up, so you don't really need to worry about who it is. It's just it's a voice telling the people to get ready. Does that make sense? All right? So if we go with the voice, well then you know what they're going to do, all right. Now, I'm gonna say if you translated the voice that's Isaiah in the historical context. If you say that's the voice and you're renting the New Testament, I believe that's a problem until it's appropriately time to do so. But not while you're still trying to figure it out. And it's proper it's proper context. All right, Does that make sense? All right?

28:56 I think that's okay. Now, some may say we should attempt to identify the voice and connect it with a specific person within a historical context. What I want to do is now try to bring Cyrus into this somehow. All right, I want to bring Cyrus into this. So let's do a comparison. I'm just gonna bring Cyrus into this general context here, right, So everybody ready, Let's compare Isaiah forty three through five and the Decree of Cyrus. All right, this is what we're going to try to get accomplished in before we go home. Everybody ready, So we have everyone familiar with Isaiah forty three through five.

29:41 We've read it now, I don't know how many times, multiple times. I'll read it one more time. The voice of him that criest in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. So the voice is telling, I mean, it doesn't tell. I mean, when you say prepare ye the way, how does the NIV translate Verse three? Just the whole verse first three. Okay, it just says prepare.

30:22 It doesn't even say so. In the NIV. It doesn't even have prepared ye the way, just as prepare the way? Who who is being spoken to? Right? We immediately think this is telling Judah to do so? Right, But this would be that how are they going to prepare the way if they're in captivity. Now that's why preachers go into oh well, they were to prepare them way. Spiritually, Nah, this is says prepare the way and make straight in the desert a highway for our God, who is supposed to do this. How can they in captivity make the highway straight for God? That seems it's difficult in how they would be able to pull that off, right, Like, okay, guys, God can't show up until we go fix it. That seems ah, okay, all right, So just keep that in mind.

31:12 So we've read that, of course verse four, every valley should be exalted, every mountain and hill should be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. The glory of the Lord should be revealed. All flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it right. There's Isaiah forty three through five. Everybody got that? Do we have that broken down? Really good? Now? Go to Ezra chapter one. Go to Ezra chapter one, because this is where we really need to spend some time. All right, Ezra chapter one, Right there it is. It's like, who stole Ezra from my Bible?

31:56 All right? Ezra chapter one, verses one through four. Right, this is Some refer to this as the decree of Cyrus. All right. Some of your bibles may call it King Cyrus's proclamation or Cyrus's proclamation. Everybody see this, all right? Everybody ready? Verse one, Ezra chapter one, verse one. You got Isaiah forty three through five in your mind? All right? You have it down now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia. Now I do like the fact that it says that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. Now it's going to go more to Jeremiah. But that same phrase is used at the end of Isaiah forty verse five, right, that the mouth is to say the mouth of the Lord.

33:00 All right, just denote that, all right. I wish it would have said the mouth of Isaiah. That would be so great. Way to not but that'd be so great, all right, But all right, it might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, oh, that sounds interesting. Who's going to make the proclamation? Wow? That sounds like a voice making a proclamation, does it not. I'm not saying. I'm not saying that that means that he's the voice. I'm just saying I do find it interesting, right that he's making a proclamation. When he makes the proclamation, where's Judah, They're still in captivity? Huh? Interesting? Right, okay, all right, what's the what does he tell? What does he say?

33:52 In verse two? Thus next word saith, Oh that he's speaking. How does the NIV have verse two? He speaks? That's a voice, right, Okay? The Lord, God of Heaven. Oh, some strong language, right there, is it? Not hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Oh that sounds like building. That's like a proclamation. What else does he go on to say, who is there among you all of his people? Oh that's interesting. His people go back to Isaiah forty, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. So he's a parcolact. And what does he say to them, all of his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem.

35:21 Do we read verse four? Yeah, we do, okay. And and whoever remaineth in any place where he's so journeth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts beside the free will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. He does what prepare, prepare everything, get everything ready? I mean, come on, how do you not connect that to Isaah forty? I don't know how you don't. Okay, maybe you're not as convinced as I am. All right, here's some of the similarities. So what I did, I would like I as soon as I saw this, I was like, I was ready to go right, But I was like, okay, let's just back up. So I'm like, okay, AI, give me the similarities and give me the differences, right, because they can put it together. It can. It can build you a chart. It can. So I'm like, just you go to town, put the similarities together. We'll see if we agree with AI or disagree with the similarities. All right, I think I just pointed out a bunch of the similarities.

36:25 But let's see what they have to say. All right, here we go. Similarities between Isaiah forty verse three through five and the Decree of Cyrus Number one, Restoration of Exiles. Both texts announced the return of the exiles from the babelon from Babylon to Jerusalem, or at least indicates it or seems to speak that it's going to happen. Number two Divine initiative. Restoration is attributed to God's intervention. In Isaiah, the call is to prepare for the Lord's coming, while in Cyrus the decree he acknowledges that God has changed charged him to act. In other words, in both cases, is doing the work God I Cirrus acknowledges it's God focus on Jerusalem. Both emphasis emphasize Jerusalem as central to God's redemptive plan. Isaiah points to spiritual preparation, while Sorrus calls for the physical rebuilding of the temple. Now Here, that's where I disagree with Ai. You see what it said.

37:23 Isaiah points to spiritual preparation, So disagree with that. But AI is pulling from most Christians, most Christians, And no, why is it gonna be spiritual preparation? Sorrus shows up? Does does Cyrus go, oh, guys, I need to make sure you're spiritually prepared? No, he's like God has told me, I'm gonna build a house. We're gonna do it. What does he need them to do? Gather everything together? What does it say? And and uh ezra gold, silver animal? What what kind of preparation is that, ladies and gentlemen, physical literal. It's ridiculous to go back to Isaiah saying, oh, they're to do the spiritual preparation. That's nonsense. Cyrus is showing up and delivering them whether they're spiritually prepared or not.

38:15 Because God said they're gonna be in captivity for how long? Seventy years? He doesn't say they're gonna be in seventy years. If you're spiritually prepared to get out. That's ridiculous, right. Their deliverance is not based off their faithfulness. The deliverance is based off God's faithfulness. But as Christians, we got to turn everything into a moral lesson. And it's basically like, well, if you're good boys and girls, God will show up and get you out of Babylonian captivity. That's not the message. They went into captivity because they're sin They're still sinners, and is bringing them out and they're gonna demonstrate they're still sinners because immediately they start sinning. But so they were no longer. We want to think that they went into seventy years of captivity and they came out going, oh in Latin and chanting, wearing robes and we will never sin again. Okay, they came out and then God had to send profits to go. Uh. I think you want to finish building the stuff since you've stopped doing things and become lazy and complacent and idolatrous. That's medically answer right, right, yeah, because they're not doing much right Why because they weren't spiritually prepared. Even though we want to believe that, we always want to believe that right, Ah, so drives me crazy. Okay, but yeah see AI, right, that just made me want to just scream. All right.

39:39 Isaiah calls for preparation through leveling obstacles, while Cyrus invited the people to rebuild the temple practical and physical. Now AI wanted to say that they were called to remove obstacles spiritually, but no, there stop that. There's nothing in the text that says, hey, guys, get ready spiritually. No, oh, this is prepare. God is coming. Everything's gonna be made right and you're going home and you're gonna see God's glory. And I'm sorry who showed up and did it? Cyrus? Now God is involved. Even Cyrus acknowledges that. So when you see Cyrus showing up walking through the gates and a roundabout way, that's God's glory. Because God takes a pagan king to accomplish his purpose for his glory. Who gets the glory for all? Even Cyrus gives him the glory?

40:37 Does he not? That's amazing? Now? What are the differences between Isaiah forty and the decree of Cyrus Well number one? According to AI, there's a difference in speaker Isaiah forty a prophetic voice speaks on behalf of God the decree of Cyrus. Cyrus, the king of Persia, issues a rule decree. But when Cyrus issues the rule decree, is he not issuing that on behalf of God? Yes? So I'm having a hard time, like to me, the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way. You see why I'm tempted to say, Cyrus. You see why I'm tempted to do that. Now I know it's also Isaiah, right, that's why it's a voice. Right now. You could say, well, shouldn't it be plural? I think it's just there's a prophetic voice that's speaking, and Isaiah spoke it one hundred years before, and Cyrus is the voice that speaks it literally while they're in captivity. In fact, he's ware when he speaks it. He's there, Cyrus is in he's shown up and he's like, all right, guys, I want you to do this. They're not like, well, this is a voice from one hundred years ago. It's a voice that was present at that time. Like does that not I

42:09 mean that? I don't understand. Okay, all right, the focus of the message, and I see, oh, this is where AI say, I want This is where I wanted to start having a major fight with Ai. I was like, come on, come out on the computer. We need to have a physical fight, all right, because just what Ai says, the focus of the message Isaiah for three through five spiritual preparation for God's coming in the revelation of his glory. What are you talking about? The decree of Sorrus, a political and logistical directive to rebuild the temple. Yeah, and Isaiah was talking about the political and logistical preparation and what God was going to do by removing everything so Sorrus can walk right in, which is exactly what happened. Literally, I don't understand why we have to make it so complicated imagery. Now here's what Ai says Isaiah forty three through five, symbolic. I do agree it's symbolic, or it's poetic.

43:12 I do agree with that. Valleys lifted, mountains, made low, rough places smooth. But here's what I hate. Ai then put in parentheses spiritual preparation. It won't leave that alone because that's how every sermon approaches it. Why does it have to be spiritual preparation because it seems to give the idea that, hey, you guys gotta get yourself right before God shows up. Well, if I'm gonna get myself right before God shows up, then I don't need God. He's never gonna show up right because I'm never gonna be spiritually prepared. I have major issues with that. The Decree of Cyrus is practical returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. Physical restoration. Physical restoration is what the people need in their particular situation. When are they going to ever be spiritually restored? If we talk about Israel, when are they ever going to be spiritually restored? Then we have to go to Ezekiel and the fulfillment of the New Covenant. When God's going to give them a new heart, he does not give them a new heart in Babylonian captivity, because if they did, they never would ended up in Roman captivity and they wouldn't have been wiped off the face of the earth to seventy a day. Because when they get the new heart, what happens. According to Ezekiel, they get the land and there's no more idolatry and there's no more sin. Well, that's something that has never occurred,

44:44 So oh drives me crazy. So scope all right, The next difference Isaiah forty three through five is universal, all flesh shall see it together, emphasizing God's glory for all nations. Well, the decree of Cyrus is practical directed at the Israelites and their temple in Jerusalem. I don't see that that's a difference. All flesh is going to see it. Come on, let's just be honest. Even in that setting, the world may hear about Cyrus, but I don't even know if we can even guarantee that. I think the point is is all flesh. Who's going to be the flesh who's going to see it? All those in Judah, well, the Babylonians are going to see it, all the kingdoms. Now, how literal do we make that? Is he saying in in just a kind of a poetic way, because in a roundabout way, he's now defeated the Babylonians, He's got Israel.

45:44 So I just think when it says all flesh, we don't have to make sure every single person in the world's going to see it. At the same time. The point is the Babylonians see it. All of them know that Cyrus has taken over, and all of Judah knows Cyrus has taken over, so all the people and surrounding nations immediately close would know what's going on. Obviously, Obviously there are people in other parts of the world who never knew Cyrus existed. Okay, does that make sense? All right? The glory of the Lord Isaiah forty verses three through five central to the prophecy. God's glory is revealed. What just happened here? God's glory is revealed in his redemptive work.

46:26 The Decree of Cyrus implied, but not explicitly emphasized. The focus is on the temple of God's dwelling place. Okay, I think the Decree of Cyrus shows where God's glory shows up and Cirrus and he gives God glory. So I don't see there's a difference. Then the AI wanted to talk about the roles of human agency. It says Isaiah forty three through five, exiles are called to spiritual readiness, symbolizing the removal of obstacles to God's work. Is he? That's where once again, I don't they're not called to spiritual anything again. Go back to Isaiah forty verse three, when it says prepare the way. It doesn't identify who is preparing the way? Does that make sense? It just says it doesn't. It says the NIV. I like it.

47:17 It doesn't say you. It just says, prepare the way, prepare the way. Now you could say, well, that is being spoken to whoever is told to prepare the way is to prepare the way, and that preparation could have lots of different things, And I don't think it's necessarily spiritual. The Decree of Cyrus plays a key role as God's instrument with exiles tasks to physical rebuild. Yes, the exiles. Cyrus clearly identifies who has to be involved. All right, okay, so this is what So I kept pushing. I'm running out of time here. So I kept trying to push Ai, like, come on, come on now, we gotta work together here, come on, stop fighting me here. So this is what AI was finally able to kind of give me. All right.

48:13 The similarities between Isaiah forty three through five and the Decree of Cyrus could support the idea that Cyrus is at least indirectly connected to the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah forty three. But you're ready, it is unlikely that Cyrus himself is the voice crying out in the wilderness. Here's an analysis of why Cirrus may play a role in the prophecy's fulfillment but is not the voice itself. So now AI still wants to argue with me. It does not like that. Now I do love that about AI. It's not just willing to go with what I want. I like that right, argue with me? Right? This is good because hermoneutically, if you just go That's why AI. To me, this is why AI is better than any commentary, because commentary is I'm just gonna find the commentary that does what agrees with me. Why that's not now and I have a limited of how many commentaries that can check.

49:04 AI is willing to have real time back and forth. So it's going to try to argue to it with me. Why Cyrus is not the voice right now, Let's just make it very clear. I think the voice, if you wanted to argue the voice could have three three possibilities, and I think they can all be in view. Isaiah is clearly the original voice because he writes us one hundred years before this happened. He's writing before Cyrus is even on the scene, all right, So he's clearly the original voice. You can't deny Cyrus is the voice in the moment because he's literally speaking to the literal people.

49:45 Isaiah is not speaking to those people in a literal way. He's just giving the words that someone's going to have to go deliver to the people because they don't have a copy of Isaiah in their back pocket. Right, So Cyrus is the voice for the moment, and then John the Baptist is the voice for seven hundred years into the future. So you've got a voice one hundred years before, a voice in the moment, and a voice seven hundred years later. Does that make sense? Well, this is what AI is going to argue the role of the voice in Isaiah forty verse three. The voice in Isaiah forty three calls for preparation for the Lord's coming, symbolizing by symbolized by making a straight highway in the wilderness. The focus is on spiritual and symbolic preparations. See AI cannot leave it alone, leveling mountains and raising valleys for God's intervention.

50:39 The voice is proclaiming God's arrival and urgent readiness rather than directly acting as the means of deliverance. Now there you may have it. I do agree that in Isaiah forty, verse three, it is the hey prepare for God's coming, not necessarily the voice is the deliverer. That's that is a good argument. I will agree with that. But in Ezra, Cyrus is not only the deliverer, He's also the voice? Is he not? So can he not be both? I don't know. All right, Cyrus is a key figure, you think, so. He facilitates Israel's return from Babylon. His role is practical and political. Now this is where I disagree, a ISAs Cyrus's role is not prophetic, I'm not. I disagree. He's literally the very person fulfilling all the prophecy, is he not?

51:46 He's literally the one who fulfilled si Oh in Isaiah forty we've already talked about. He's mentioned how many times in Isaiah forty fifty five. I don't have the number in front of me. He's mentioned multiple times by name, by name, So I know, man, I disagree with this strongly. Okay. He Cyrus said he issues the decree as a chapter one, verses one through four, and acts as God's instrument, but he does not cry out or symbolically prepares the people's hearts.

52:27 I don't think the heart have to be prepared. I think that's where the mistake is. But what do you mean he doesn't cry out? What in the world does It's say an Ezra. Now it may not use the word cry out, but he speaks when you give a proclamation, and you're the king that's crying out, right, And he literally tells the people to prepare. I mean, how do I don't understand. Oh, this drives me crazy right now. But one positive thing about AI, it does say, well, okay, there are some similarities, all right, So here are the undeniable parallels between the imagery and Isaiah forty and Cyrus's role.

53:14 So AI says, this is undeniable. These things are in common. The highway imagery, Cyrus's decree facilitates the physical return of the exiles, mirroring the preparation of a highway described in Isaiah forty verse three. No, he literally prepares like a highway in a sense, he's gonna prepare the way. But is Ezra gonna go do the work? I'm sorry, is Cyrus gonna go do the work? No, he's gonna tell other people to prepare, which we see in the little How can you say? Is not the voice? I don't ah? That drives me crazy? All right? But this could symbolize the literal clearing of obstacles for the exiles journey back to Jerusalem. You think it could symbolize that, I'd be shocked.

54:08 Come on, he's the literal one coming in doing what guys? Everything's ready, The Babylonians are out of your way. Everything's ready, and he tells them to get everything ready, that everything you need. And then but he says he's gonna be the one who builds it. Did you notice that I'm gonna be the one who builds it? But I want you to get ready. He's all over this. There's no way to get Cyrus out of this. There's just no way, all right. Both Isaiah forty and Cyrus's decree emphasizes God's control over history. Can we agree with that? Right? And Isaiah forty, the preparation is for the Lord and Cirrus's decree, God is explicitly acknowledged as the one who directs Cirrus.

54:51 God is the one directing Cyrus, all right. The deliverance of Israel. Both passages focus on the restoration of Israel, with Corrus as the agent of their release and return. Okay, now guess what. Ai then pushes back again and says, wait, but wait, there's key differences that suggest it's not Cyrus. It does not want it to be Cyrus. It does not like it in any way, shape or form. So you're ready for these key differences quickly. And I don't know why this is supposedly a difference the focus on God's glory. Isaiah forty focuses on God's arrival and the revelation of his glory to all flesh. Cirrus is an instrument of God, but the voice emphasizes preparation for God himself.

55:43 But I think when Cyrus shows up, that is in a sense, God's showing up. I mean, look, no, if God does not literally show up in either situation, right, but Cyrus literally shows up and he says, who brought him there? God? I just I don't see how that does anything. Sorrus's decree primarily focuses on the rebuilding of the temple, not the broader spiritual preparation or universal revelation described in Isaiah forty You are assuming it's spiritual preparation. Everyone look at Isaiah forty three through five again. Just look at it again and tell me if you see anything there that screams this is spiritual preparation. You just tell me if and if you can disagree, that's okay.

56:35 I mean you're wrong, but you can disagree anything there that screams spiritual this is spirit spiritual preparation. There's nothing there. You know where you get that from? You? Where do you get the spiritual preparation from John the Baptist? You're reading John the Baptist back into this. That's that's not the case here, all right? Does that make sense? All right? He goes Ai says the voice is symbolic and prophetic, representing a call to spiritual preparation. It can't leave it alone.

57:22 Sarrus's role is practical and political, issuing a decree to facilitate physical restoration. Sorus does not deliver a prophetic message or engage in spiritual preparing for God's coming? What do you mean he does not deliver a prophetic message in a sense, he's delivering the fulfillment of a prophetic message? Is he not? But what Ai can't get around what Isaiah forty is spiritual prep and ezra and the decree is physical. He I keep saying, he AI cannot separate that, and you have to all right now, this is the one good argument. Cyrus is explicitly mentioned later in Isaiah chapter forty four twenty eight forty five to one, but not in Isaiah forty three. This omission suggests that the voice in Isaiah forty three is not intended to directly refer to Cyrus. Well guess what, John the Baptist is not explicitly mentioned in Isaiah forty verse three. Isaiah is not explicitly mentioned in Isaiah forty verse three. So just because someone's name is not explicitly mentioned doesn't mean though you can't draw a correlation, right, I mean, like, I don't know if that necessarily proves anything, All right, okay,

58:52 uh yeah, Well I'm gonna I think, well, I think we've done enough here. I've got a lot here to go through. Yeah, I mean, I got pages here, but I think, yeah, right, I got pages here. I'm not gonna go through all of this. Yeah. Literally, I got so many notes here and I could break it all down. But I mean we could be here for six months on this issue. So here's what I'm going to say. All right, go back to Isaiah forty Isaiah forty three through five. Everybody ready, Isaiah forty verse three the voice or a voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Okay, this voice. Clearly Isaiah is in view because he's the one who ultimately give this message. Correct, the voice of him that cries in the wilderness. To some level, Cyrus is involved because Cyrus is the voice for the actual time.

1:00:12 Isaiah's the voice from one hundred years before. Cyrus is literally the voice that walks literally into Babylon and literally speaks directly to whom to Israel and what and where are they at. They're in Babylon, they're in the wilderness. He literally goes out, and what does he tell them to do together? To prepare to get ready, right, because they're gonna go do what rebuild the temple? Right? So he literally shows up now and this also points to because the New Testament takes it and points to John the Baptist. Now, I will argue John the Baptist is the one who's gonna make it spiritual. Right here is physical deliverance right, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hills shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain.

1:01:18 We're going to say that this is symbolic, figurative, poetic language that points to what all obstacles being removed so that what can occur in a sense where God can show up, utilizing Cyrus and take the people and bring them to the temple so that they can rebuild it all. Right, Now, this works a couple of ways. It really starts. All of this starts really ten years before Cyrus shows up, because the Babylonian king is weak and effective, doesn't basically do anything. The people have kind of already been set free or really everything's already been made ready to go.

1:02:02 And then it seems like people in Babylon defect and just like, okay, here's Cyrus, come on in our king. We don't know where our king went, just come on in and he shows up not as a conqueror as a liberator to set the people free in a literal way, So all the making everything ready starts ten years before, and it continues after he shows up to make sure everything is ready to go so that the people can do what go and to make sure they have all the provisions and everything they need so that they can go back and build the temple. And he's going to take credit for it, okay, because he says God told him to do that, right, And then verse five, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Isn't it interesting?

1:02:50 They're going to go rebuild wide the temple. The temple is the sign of God's glory, but in a roundabout way, when Cyrus walks through the gate and it says God's glory is being revealed. Why because God has kept his word. He kept his word, ladies and gentlemen, seventy years of captivity. God has shown up and delivered the people. That's good news, right, And they're going to go back and rebuild the temple. They're all connected to God's glory. And what does the text go on to say, all flesh will see it? Well, definitely, all the people involved are going to see it, right, no question. And this is the key phrase for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. What do we take from this? This is God sovereignly working out everything he intends, and nothing gets in his way. And when God says something is going to happen, it's going to happen.

1:03:51 His word is being fulfilled. And so what can we take from that, Well, this is where we can find a spiritual application. We want to apply it to us. I'm going to go through this over and over again. Where are we Babylonian captivity? We're in a physical literal captivity to sinful body, sinful nature, a body that's corrupted. We live in a world where there's pain, suffering, and death. Right, Yes, that's the world we live in. I mean, war, famine, all the things that go on, suffering, suffering, suffering, suffering.

1:04:31 But God's word has proclaimed by the mouth of God that there will come a time all of that is gonna go away. Now, it may not happen in my lifetime, but well, but this way, when my lifetime ends, I'm set free from all of it, right, because I get a new body, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, and there will be an eternal kingdom that will last forever. So there is a literal fulfillment of me being set free. Now you can say, but there's a spiritual deliverance. We'll let John the Baptist deal with that, correct, But if we want to find kind of a fulfillment, we are in literal Babylonian captivity, and we're gonna literally be set free, just like they were literally set free.

1:05:18 And guess what they had to wait seventy years. I may have to wait seven years. Maybe if they even make it to seventy, right, maybe Christ will come back. When Christ comes back, he's gonna come back a little different than Cyrus. He's coming back on a horse with a sword, and a whole lot of people are going to die, and then he's gonna set up his kingdom. But if I'm not here for that, right, I still know that I'm going to be delivered in a literal way. Correct. That I think is Isaiah forty three through five. Now I did not even cover I mean literally, you don't even know how many notes I have here, Like I probably have ten pages of notes. We didn't even get to all, right, But I think we covered it as well as we did. Everybody feel comfortable with it. The kids are gonna be like, yes, man, that's great, I got it. Good to go done. Let me go home, right, understand.

1:06:18 I think I think we covered it pretty good, that we missed anything. Okay, all right, Now now it goes on the internet and there's gonna be massive disagreements with all of it that that's okay, that's okay, all right, and please note AI never completely. I think when I finally pushed AI, it did acknowledge finally. I don't think I copied it down. Basically, it was like, well, you're right, the Isaiah and Ezra, that's that's far more like there's a lot there to to see a connection, maybe more. But the thing is, and I didn't I should have pushed AI. Well, what if we say that the preparation in Isaiah forty is not spiritual? Then it would have been completely on my side. But it could not let that go. I didn't push it on that. I should have.

1:07:09 I may go back and push it and see if what it will do. Because you're reading that into the text. You're reading that into the text. You just read no, no way, no way, yeah, over and over and well, because it's yeah, it's because it's so radically different than the way it's it's typically approached. And as I said in the first hour, on the way here, I was listening to a sermon on Isaiah forty three through five. You know what, the three major points was made in the midst of the sermon that you need to show up to church early to prepare yourself for worship. And second, you need to meditate on the scripture that's going to be preached that day before you get there to prepare yourself.

1:07:57 And number three, you should meditate and look and review the hymns that are going to be sung so that you can prepare yourself. What does any of that have to do with Isaiah forty three through five. Now, you know what's so frustrating is when I was young and learning to preach, I would have taken that and went to town with it. Prepare your way for God. You need to be prepared for God. And I mean I could go full blown fundamental Baptist on it, right, I would have my three points. May are you prepared for God today? Well, you need to come to the altar and make things right. And people would come to the altar and cry, oh, what a good sermon, pastor, And none of us would have walked away understanding Isaiah forty three through five. That's why sermons are the worst thing that's ever been invented in the history of Christianity, because sermons keep you from the actual text to walk through the text like that that didn't feel like a sermon?

1:08:49 Did it? No? Because it wasn't And I would have been accused of it being too much like a school. Well, I know this. We've had two thousand years of churches trying to do sermons and you know what we hear year after year after year. Christians are biblically illiterate. Christians are theologically illiterate. So how are we going to fix the problem. Well, small groups will fix the problems. Small groups. There's just small Bible studies with snacks and everyone gets to hold hands and sing kumbai Ya. That's not fixing the problem. We've had decades of small groups still haven't fixed the problem. You know why nobody wants to fix the problem because nobody wants to do what actually do what we just did. Because if you do what I just did in any church, guess what would happen to me.

1:09:37 I wouldn't have a job, or everybody would leave. Everyone talks a big game. I want to be in a place that studies the Bible. No, you don't. Just stop it Like I'm such to a point out if someone wants to walk through the door and going this is the church I want, just leave, Just leave, because how many people walk through this front door saying this is what I want? They got it, and they didn't want it anymore because they just want me to have a team and preach that team and make them all feel good. To stop it. I'm so sick of it. It's all such a game. The church is a game, and nobody wants to actual get to the text. You get to the text, it gets ugly and difficult. Did we leave with all the answers? No? But guess what we did.

1:10:20 We just dealt with the text, probably more than any other church has ever dealt with the text. And I'm not trying to be arrogant. It's not because I'm spiritual. Has nothing to do with spiritual, just says I'm just gonna figure out the text. And I don't know how you can see Isaiah forty three through five and not think Cyrus. You know why you can't see Cyrus because all you ever hear is John the Baptist, which was no value to those people. I would love for you to go running into Babylonian captivity. Hey, guys, I got some great news for you. Seven hundred years from now, John the Baptist is gonna show up. Who and your Messiah's gonna show up seven hundred years from now? Well, thank you? Just could you just leave now? All right, kids, we're all gonna die here. Good news. I got some good news. They need someone to show up going. No no, no, no, no, no no. Get ready And they heard that voice when Cyrus spoke and said, get ready, you're going and you're gonna build a house for God because God told me to tell you that's what's going to occur. I don't know how you don't see Isaiah forty three through five all over that, And that doesn't lessen the beauty and the power of it. Right. I know people said, but what is about me? Well, and about us? I already explained how it fits us. Just the problem is the passage is not really about us. I know that's shocking.

1:11:54 All right, let's pray. Look at we come for you this afternoon. Thank you for us being in a place where we can do this. I wish more people would long for this and want this and desire this, But as long as I can, I'm going to continue to try to handle the text in a way that may be different than everyone else, but may get us closer to the actual meaning of it. We know we're still far from it in this church. We're nowhere close to the ultimate meaning of any text because it's a lifetime of study by imperfect, sinful people who definitely are very fallible. We are grateful that your word is perfect, your word is infallible, and we ask your forgiveness that are fallible hands sometimes twist it and misunderstand it. And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said thank you.