Dec. 22, 2024

Isaiah 40:3-5 Pt 2

Isaiah 40:3-5 Pt 2

We conclude our study of Isaiah 40:3-5

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We conclude our study of Isaiah 40:3-5

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All right, Isaiah chapter forty. The way it should have

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worked is I needed to finish a certain thing in

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the first hour, so I wouldn't continue in the second hour,

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because when it continues in the second hour, then I

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have to do more review. But we're going to go

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through this relatively quick, and I'll just try to get

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you caught up. All right, Isaiah chapter forty. We started

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the first hour reviewing our observational outline of Isaiah forty,

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but we're not going to do that now. The goal

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this morning is verses three through five. And what our

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goal is right now, what we started in the first

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hour is we're just working our way well well. First,

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we identified all kinds of questions and issues and difficulties

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with first three through five. That's the first thing we did. Second,

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we started working through Versus three through five, not in

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a completely in depth way, but really trying to work

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through some of the issues and trying to understand how

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to approach the text. The main thing I have done

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in the first hour, and I said, I was kind

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of walking myself into a hermeneutical trap, but I was

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willing to do so as I tried to establish that

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in Isaiah forty. If you go to Isaiah thirty nine,

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five through eight, that's literal prophecy of Babylonian captivity. The

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Babylonians are literal. The king has the kaya is literal.

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If you go to Isaiah chapter one, all the places,

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the people, everything is literal. Everything is literal. The context

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of Isaiah forty, verses three through five is this is

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a message to literal Judah and literal Babylonian captivity. All right,

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that's the way we have to understand that this is

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surrounded by literal, literal, literal, literal, literal. The reason we

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have to is because every pastor goes to verses three

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through five and goes crazy with spiritual spiritual, spiritual, spiritual,

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and that's a major hermeneutical problem. All right, So in

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verse three, I'm just gonna go through this relatively quick,

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so hopefully you get it. We talked about the immediate

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and broader context. I just kind of summarized that in

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a very very very simplistic way. Then we started working

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with verse three. Verse three, we have the voice of

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Him that Christ in the wilderness, prepare ye the way

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of the Lord, make straight, and the desert a highway

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for our God in Isaiah forty verse three. Some translations

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have the voice. Other translations have a voice. Whether it's

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a or whether it's the we'll get into that later.

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The main thing I want you to realize is in

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Isaiah forty verse three, that voice is not identified. The

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voice is not identified, and the New Testament the voice

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is identified as being John the Baptist. But we cannot

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insert John the Baptist back into this section. And here's

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the reason why. This voice is telling people to prepare.

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Who is it telling to prepare people who are coming

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seven hundred years later? No, there would be of no

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value to the people in Babylonian captivity. This voice is

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telling the people at that time to prepare. That's not

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John the Baptist, because he doesn't show up for seven

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hundred years later. Everybody understand that. So this voice, whom

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we don't know who it is, tells the people to

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prepare the way of the Lord. Now, please note, this

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voice is crying into wilderness. I almost mentioned this. Let's

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just remember historically and their contexts, the road, the route

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from Babylon back to Jerusalem was wilderness. So a voice

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comes to them in their wilderness situation. They're in captivity

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in Babylon, and tells them to prepare a way for whom.

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The text says of verse three, the Lord prepare the

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way for God. This is there to prepare somehow for

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God's coming, for the Lord showing up in some way,

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shape or form. Now here's what we do know history.

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Does God show up in a literal manifestation For the

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people on Babylonian captivity? He doesn't show up like in

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the incarnation, right, he doesn't show up that way. But

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how does he show up? If we're gonna say he

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shows up? And for those in Babylonian captivity, he shows

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up and their deliverance. So they are to prepare, and

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this is the idea for God coming ultimately to deliver them.

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Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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Now this is using the language in that historical setting

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when a king would come into an area. Guess what

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would happen. The people would go before it and make

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sure the road was straight and clear and everything's good

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to go. So they're to make a way. Make and

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in fact it says make a straight, make straight in

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the desert a highway for our God. Remove what's there?

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So that God can show up. Now, this is kind

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of weird, right, because they got to make the way

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straight so that God. God can't show up unless they

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make the way straight. That would be an obvious question, right,

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But they've got to get the way straight and to

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prepare the way for our God. Now, I'm gonna use

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this phrase a number of times in this section. What

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I believe is occurring, and I'm kind of doing a

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little review and kind of jumping ahead at the same time.

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For those who weren't here in the first hour, is

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this there is a allegorical or metaphorical type language being utilized,

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or I like to use poetic language, but it's pointing

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to something literal. Right, does everybody understand that it's poetic language,

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but it's pointing to something literal. It's not pointing to

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something spiritual, because everyone likes to come to this text

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and say, hey, prepare the way for God? And how

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do you prepare the way for God in a spiritual way?

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Getting rid of your sins, reading your Bible? Sure, whatever

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the case may be, I don't think it's a reference

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to that kind of thing. I think it's a reference

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to preparing for in a literal way. Something literally has

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to be prepared well for these people for God to

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show up to deliver them. For their ultimate deliverance, some

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things have to occur between the first hour and second hour.

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Sarah was doing some research and starting about ten years

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was that correct? About ten years before the Israel's release

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from or Judah's released from Babylon in captivity. There's a

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king right of Babylon, and that king that's reigning about

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ten years before. What's a good way to describe him, Sarah,

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so that we're historically accurate, weak and ineffective and basically

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and aroundabout way, the people are kind of already free.

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He's kind of not worrying about them. He doesn't really

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care about Judah. He's just he doesn't really care. He's

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not even I think he wasn't even in the country.

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So already things are being prepared and away. The king

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doesn't even really care anymore. He's ineffective, he doesn't care.

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Said things are already happening, is what I'm trying to get.

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Things are already being prepared, and then we ultimately know

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who shows up ten years later, Cyrus shows up, and

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you know what's crazy. Sarah was reading how it all

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went down. He basically just walked in. It was peaceful,

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the people, the people. Some believe some of the accounts

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there were defectors inside of Babylon who basically just opened

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the gates and said, come on in. He just walked in. In

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other words, an prepared the way and he just walks in.

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And he walks in not as a conqueror, but as

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a liberator. I'm here to set every one free. And

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who was that? Cyrus? Yeah? Three years later, yeah, yeah,

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five point thirty six. So that like that, that's all literal, right,

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So we've got we got a voice now who is

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being told to prepare the way? See, we don't know

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who the voice is, but who's being told to prepare

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the way? That that that's up to a lot of interpretations, right,

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we could say Juda is Judas supposed to be doing

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to prepare? Is Cyrus doing? Who's doing the preparing? But

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someone is preparing something is making the way straight. And clearly,

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historically speaking, there was a lot happening in those ten

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well thirteen years. For ten years, you've got a Babylonian

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king is basically like whatever, I don't care, I'm not

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even in country. And the Israelites, for the most part,

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are kind of just for then then Cyrus just walks

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in peacefully. The Babylonians just kind of like, well, HARKing

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a left us here you where are the look? Hey

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comes in? And then three years later, how many people

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fifty thousand go back to your And that's why And

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we can see why some people wanted to stay in

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Babylon because everything had already been good for basically ten years.

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So that's something literal is going on. All of this

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language may be figurative, but it's figurative pointing to something literal.

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Does that make sense? Right? It would be like I

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could use very exaggerated or poetic language to say it

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is nine hundred degrees I think I'm going to die right. Well,

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that that is very exaggerated language. I could write it

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in a poetic way, but I would be speaking to

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something literal that it is hot. Right? Does that make sense?

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So you can use a poetic language, but you're still

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what we have a tendency to do. If it's figurative

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or allegorical language, we just immediately make it what spiritual

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and I think we have to be very careful with that.

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So we looked at all of that invers Thary, and

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the look at verse four. To carry on this idea,

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every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hills shall

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be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,

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and the rough place is plain. Now please note it's

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verse three a voice is telling someone to prepare the

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way everybody got that. Verse four is not telling them

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to do anything. It's saying this is going to happen. Now,

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what most pastors do is the valley and the mountains.

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This is all referencing pride and sin, and this is

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all going to be made right. Well, we know all

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sin is not made right, okay, because Israel does what

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when they get back the idolatry sin and they end

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up back in Roman captivity, go into New captivity. So

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I think that what this is referring to the valley

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should be exalted, the mountains should be made low, and

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the crooked should be made straight, and the rough place

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is plain. It's using figurative allegorical language to describe what

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literal everything is gonna be made right so that they

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can be delivered. And it starts ten years prior to

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their release. As Sarah pointed out that New King just basically,

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he's the king, he's the mountain, he's made low, he's ineffective,

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he's weak, nobody really cares. Everybody's kind of doing what

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they want. Right, Okay, the valley is now brought up

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because Cyrus can do what just walk right in? The

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gate is open. Like from a literal standpoint, this seems

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to describe exactly what occurred. Now it's using figurative language,

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but it's describing basically what's going to happen. Everything that

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would be an obstacle politically, physically is going to be

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what removed. And their deliverer is Cyrus. Now Cyrus is

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the human deliverer. But who is working in and through Cyrus? God?

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So it's God, but it's Cyrus. Everybody got that. And

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then what happens. So there's the voice, there's the transformation

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of the landscape. Now look what happens in verse five.

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So let's read three. We'll read three through four again.

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The voice of him, the Christ in the wilderness. Prepare

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you the way of the Lord makes straight in the

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desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,

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every mountain shall be and hill shall be made low.

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And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough

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place is plain. Again figurative language, but pointing to literal

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everything's removed to make their deliverance work. And then what

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happens in verse five? And now this seems to be

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following kind of like a chronological word. And what's gonna

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happen after all of that is done? The glory of

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the Lord should be revealed, and all the flesh shall

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see it twogether. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Now when we say the glory of the Lord is

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going to be revealed, what do we mean by that? Now?

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If we take this now versus says all flesh, I

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think right there, we're gonna have to qualify them to

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some level, don't you agree. I don't think this means

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the entire world's going to see it, because even if

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you point to this being the incarnation, did the whole

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world see the incarnation? No, So it has to be limited.

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All flesh is going to see it. Where those in

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Babylonian captivity are all going to see this glory? And

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what glory is that going to be? They're in Babylonian captivity,

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and all of a sudden, the gates are opened and

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someone walks through that gate and saying I'm here to

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liberate everyone. They're all going to know that, right, was

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there gonna be anyone in Babylonian captivity going I didn't,

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I don't know what's going on? What's going on? What happened?

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Now they're all going to know. And so the glory

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of God is going to be revealed in.

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Whom and Cyrus walking through the gate because that just

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showed who just showed up in a figurative way, kind

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of in a literal way, who.

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Just showed up? We see Cyrus, but who really showed

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up God? Oh yeah, we're going to we're gonna we're

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gonna take the Ezra part. We're gonna take that chapter apart.

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That's so key here. Oh yes, yes, because that's that's

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called the Decree of Cyrus. Yeah, we're gonna definitely look

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at that because I think I now, i'll just give

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you a preview. Me and Ai had big arguments here,

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big arguments because Ai was trying to go with the

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way all Christians go and I'm like, come on, now,

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you're missing the point here. But Ai had finally acknowledged man,

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the decree of Sirius. You may be onto something. Right,

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that's basically, but I didn't like it necessarily because it's like, well,

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nobody else agrees with you. I don't care if anybody

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agrees with me. All right, this is gonna be literal

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in some way, all right, even though it's using a

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figurative language. So the glory's gonna be showed up now,

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just to go through some different things. In the immediate

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context the glory of the Lord be revealed, it has

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to refer to God's power and majesty displayed in Israel's

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deliverance from exile. You see that everyone admits and its

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immediate context that refers to God's power and majesty displayed

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in Israel's deliverance. How has God's majesty been prepared? The

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mountain has been made low, the valley has been brought

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ha ha, all of it's been made plain. It's been

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made level. And who comes walking in? Really, you can't

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get much more than a highway and a level playing

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ground when you're the conquering king and the people behind

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the walls just like open the gate and like come

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on in. That doesn't happen, Okay, that means something, maybe

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something supernatural is at work and when that happens, God's

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glory because God said that you're gonna be delivered and

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it just happened. That's the media context now, but of

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course and the New Testament, this phrase is connected to

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christ incarnation, where God's glory is revealed in Jesus. That's fine, well,

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we'll get there, but we're not there right now. I

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know pastors want to get there and go immediately to

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John the Baptist and the incarnation, but that that would

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I'm gonna I'm gonna state it again. The incarnation is

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of it own value to them and Babylonian captivity because

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the incarnation is not for how many years, seven hundred

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years later? All these people are gonna be dead, right,

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and their grandkids are gonna be dead, and their grandkids

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are gonna be dead. Ah, lot of people are gonna

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be dead before anything happens. Now. Just please note, if

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you are a Jew and you're very familiar with Isaiah

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forty verses three through five, Okay, let's try to put ourselves.

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We're gonna go to the New Testament. Here. You're a

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Jew in the New Testament and you know Isaiah forty

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three through five, and a voice shows up in the

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wilderness telling you to prepare your way for God, and

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then you hear that God has been born in a manger,

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taken on human flesh. Then you can immediately understand why

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what they thought that child was going to do? Deliver

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it sah our Cyrus has arrived. God has shown up

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in the flesh. They thought he was going to take

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out the Romans immediately you can understand why they thought.

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You can't give everyone's like, I just don't know what

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the Jews problem was. Why they didn't understand give me

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a break. You're borrowing from Isaiah forty? What is this

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about people being delivered from captivity? Where are the Jews

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when Jesus shows up in captivity? So what did they

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expect him to do? Deliver them? You can understand that, Well,

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that's why the kings, that's why the politicians would have

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been a little nervous thinking of that same concept. Right,

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So you can say, why what was going on? But

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in this context, we can't run to Jesus. We got

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to keep it here. Does that make sense? Right? Yeah,

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there's more I could go I could go here. Oh,

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we do have this? What's the last phrase there? In

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verse five? I do want to mention this, for the

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mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. This phrase underscores

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the certainty of God's promise. His word is reliable, and

301
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his promise cannot fall. Remember these people, these words and

302
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Isaiah forty three through five are given one hundred years

303
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before the captivity. So this is an't this is going

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to happen. All right, this is going to happen. There's

305
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a voice telling you prepare because this is what's going

306
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to happen. Every valley, every obstacle is going to be

307
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made low, every oh is going to be removed, and

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God is going to show up and you're going to

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be delivered. But and so it's because it's from God,

310
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it's not from anybody else. Does that makes sense? All right?

311
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So what are some of the key themes here? Well,

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I think we can definitely see God's sovereignty is all

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over this. Can we agree with that? All right? I'm

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not Others will say that we have the idea of

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repentance here in spiritual preparation. I'm not going with that.

316
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I'm not. I don't think Look, if this message was

317
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for them to repent and get right spiritually, I think

318
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the Book of Isaiah has used language that would be

319
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a lot easier to figure out than using this metaphorical language. Right, Hey,

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every mountain is going to be get yourself right spiritually.

321
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Isn't that what the first thirty nine chapters have been

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about your sin, repent your sin, and all of a sudden,

323
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Now he can't just say prepare your way by you know,

324
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fasting and repenting and getting ready for your idols. All

325
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of a sudden he can't just God can no longer

326
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speak that way. That just makes no sense. That all

327
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of a sudden he's telling them to get ready spiritually

328
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and he just can't say it in a literal. That

329
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just makes no sense to me. It makes no sense

330
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to me. I just reject that outright, all right. I

331
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think there's a So there's a there's a theme of preparation,

332
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but I just don't think it's a spiritual kind. There's

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the discussion of restoration and deliverance I think at least deliverance,

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I don't know. And there's a discussion of revealing God's glory.

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Now we could try to apply this today. We're not

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even going to try to apply this today. We're not

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even going to attempt to do that. All right, So

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this gets us to where we need to go, all right,

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so verses three through five. Everybody good with that? So

340
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how as a church, how would we explain Isaiah forty

341
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three through five to anyone that this is a message

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that God is going to literally remove all obstacles so

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that the people can be delivered. Cyrus is that deliverer

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when he shows up. In a sense, God and his

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glory has shown up to reveal the people. That's what

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this is about. All right. That maybe as an oversimplification,

347
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but you get the basic idea. Everybody good with that?

348
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All right? So here's what we need to do. And

349
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Isaiah chapter forty, verse three. Most English translations render the

350
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phrase the Hebrew phrase a voice cries rather than the

351
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voice cries. This difference is subtle but significant and understanding

352
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how this text is interpreted. So we're gonna look at

353
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some of the explanations and implications from this, all right.

354
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The Hebrew phrase and Isaiah forty verse three is its

355
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voice without a definite article. It's voice without a definite,

356
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definite article. And then you have the idea crying or calling,

357
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So almost you could say voice crying, voice calling. That's

358
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basically if you wanted to be very very literal, not

359
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a voice, voice calling, voice crying. Since there is no

360
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definite article attached to the word voice in Hebrew, the

361
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phrase is more accurately translated. And of course, if you're

362
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going to try to clean it up, a voice rather

363
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than the voice. So most say it should be a

364
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voice rather than the voice. Now, if it's a voice,

365
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that just makes it very generic, and you're not you

366
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don't feel this pressure to do what identify it? If

367
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it's the voice, you feel very much a I gotta

368
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identify the voice. Does everybody kind of see that? All right? Now?

369
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The common English translations, many translations ran the phrase as

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a voice cries to reflect the absence of the definite article.

371
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The ESV a voice cries in the wilderness, NIV a voice,

372
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the NASB a voice. A few translations use the voice

373
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the voice cries for stylistic or interpretive reasons. Uh oh,

374
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:28.519
some translations have it the voice for interpretive reasons. And

375
00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:32.440
guess one of the two translations that do that, The

376
00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:36.920
King James and the New King James. The voice the voice. Now,

377
00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:43.079
why would they possibly want to say the voice because

378
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they're borrowing from the New Testament and they're reading it

379
00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:50.319
back into it, and I actually, you cannot do that.

380
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You cannot do that because the voice that they're trying

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to point to is of no value to these individuals.

382
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They're going to be dead before that voice shows up.

383
00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:04.480
I mean they can't. Yeah, there's just so many problems

384
00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:10.000
with that, all right, So why the difference. Well, a

385
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.759
voice gives us the idea that this is a general messenger,

386
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a general voice that's come here. This translation focuses on

387
00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:23.599
the symbolic nature of the voice. The voice represents a

388
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:27.680
call to action, not necessarily a specific individual in its

389
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.920
immediate context. In other words, hey, there's a voice crying

390
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:34.720
out to prepare. It's not necessarily about identifying the voice

391
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or anything specific. It's just saying, there's a message for

392
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:43.720
you to prepare. Now, if we wanted to get very technical,

393
00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:49.799
who would be the voice from a very literal technical

394
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:59.359
perspective and its context, it would be Isaiah, right, agreed, Now,

395
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.200
he'sad but by this point, right, I mean, he does it,

396
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.480
but one hundred years before do I. But his voice

397
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.559
still calls, right exactly, The voice still calls. The voice

398
00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:14.519
still calls. So I think that makes a little bit

399
00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:19.519
of sense. Some would argue that by doing a voice,

400
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.839
it reflects the ambiguity of the original Hebrew text, leaving

401
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.400
the identity of the voice open to interpretation. Since the

402
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:31.039
Hebrew locks the definite article, a voice is closer to

403
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.279
a literal rendering. I know that's going to tick off

404
00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:37.240
KJV only people, But I'm sorry. There's no definite article

405
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:39.880
in the Hebrew. And if there's no definite definite article

406
00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:42.160
in the Hebrew, then what should we translate that as

407
00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:45.759
a voice? It just should be. That's just the way

408
00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:48.119
it should be, all right, Now, if we go with

409
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:54.240
the voice, well, this is an interpretive choice. Some translations

410
00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:58.160
use the voice to indicate a specific prophetic figure or personification.

411
00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:02.200
This often reflects a fill lot interpretation, linking the passage

412
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:07.599
to whom John the Baptist. The voice may emphasize the

413
00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:10.880
importance of the Herald's message and its connection to God's

414
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:15.799
divine plan. Right, So if we go with the implications,

415
00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:22.319
then how would this How would these implications impact our interpretation? Well,

416
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:26.039
a voice could just represent a general prophetic call to

417
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.319
prepare for God's coming. This is just a general call,

418
00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:33.400
Hey everyone prepare? What are you getting prepared? For God

419
00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:38.200
is showing up. Now we know how he's going to

420
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:41.720
show up in Cyrus, because Cyrus is the one who's

421
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.519
going to deliver them. It could be a symbolic figure

422
00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:48.599
or collective proclamation, such as the prophetic community calling the

423
00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.599
people to spiritual readiness. This could just be like the

424
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.920
voice of Isaiah and anyone in the prophetic community is

425
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.279
telling the people get ready. He's coming. God is going

426
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.079
to show up. It's supposed to meant to be like

427
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.200
a message of almost hope, because they can be filled

428
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:10.319
with despair, right, and this is like, hey, guys, guys, guys,

429
00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:12.440
God is going to show up. Now. You may be

430
00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:16.640
asking when are we there yet, but he's going to

431
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.839
show up, so you don't really need to worry about

432
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:22.119
who it is. It's just it's a voice telling the

433
00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:26.960
people to get ready. Does that make sense? All right?

434
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:29.599
So if we go with the voice, well then you

435
00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:34.359
know what they're going to do, all right. Now, I'm

436
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:38.440
gonna say if you translated the voice that's Isaiah in

437
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:41.119
the historical context. If you say that's the voice and

438
00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:43.400
you're renting the New Testament, I believe that's a problem

439
00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:47.200
until it's appropriately time to do so. But not while

440
00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.559
you're still trying to figure it out. And it's proper

441
00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:55.079
it's proper context. All right, Does that make sense? All right?

442
00:28:56.599 --> 00:29:00.720
I think that's okay. Now, some may say we should

443
00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:02.839
attempt to identify the voice and connect it with a

444
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:06.039
specific person within a historical context. What I want to

445
00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:09.119
do is now try to bring Cyrus into this somehow.

446
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:13.920
All right, I want to bring Cyrus into this. So

447
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:18.799
let's do a comparison. I'm just gonna bring Cyrus into

448
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:25.359
this general context here, right, So everybody ready, Let's compare

449
00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:31.880
Isaiah forty three through five and the Decree of Cyrus.

450
00:29:32.680 --> 00:29:34.400
All right, this is what we're going to try to

451
00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:38.559
get accomplished in before we go home. Everybody ready, So

452
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.599
we have everyone familiar with Isaiah forty three through five.

453
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:43.160
We've read it now, I don't know how many times,

454
00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:46.799
multiple times. I'll read it one more time. The voice

455
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.519
of him that criest in the wilderness, prepare ye the

456
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:52.279
way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a

457
00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:57.559
highway for our God. So the voice is telling, I mean,

458
00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:00.519
it doesn't tell. I mean, when you say prepare ye

459
00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:14.200
the way, how does the NIV translate Verse three? Just

460
00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:22.400
the whole verse first three. Okay, it just says prepare.

461
00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:24.960
It doesn't even say so. In the NIV. It doesn't

462
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:27.440
even have prepared ye the way, just as prepare the way?

463
00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:32.359
Who who is being spoken to? Right? We immediately think

464
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.240
this is telling Judah to do so? Right, But this

465
00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:38.519
would be that how are they going to prepare the

466
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:43.039
way if they're in captivity. Now that's why preachers go

467
00:30:43.079 --> 00:30:47.160
into oh well, they were to prepare them way. Spiritually, Nah,

468
00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:50.759
this is says prepare the way and make straight in

469
00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.599
the desert a highway for our God, who is supposed

470
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:57.440
to do this. How can they in captivity make the

471
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:01.039
highway straight for God? That seems it's difficult in how

472
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:03.720
they would be able to pull that off, right, Like, okay, guys,

473
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:07.440
God can't show up until we go fix it. That

474
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:12.119
seems ah, okay, all right, So just keep that in mind.

475
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:14.319
So we've read that, of course verse four, every valley

476
00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:16.799
should be exalted, every mountain and hill should be made low.

477
00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:18.960
The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place

478
00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.240
is plain. The glory of the Lord should be revealed.

479
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:25.480
All flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of

480
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.319
the Lord hath spoken it right. There's Isaiah forty three

481
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.319
through five. Everybody got that? Do we have that broken down?

482
00:31:31.319 --> 00:31:36.240
Really good? Now? Go to Ezra chapter one. Go to

483
00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:40.279
Ezra chapter one, because this is where we really need

484
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:46.680
to spend some time. All right, Ezra chapter one, Right

485
00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:56.480
there it is. It's like, who stole Ezra from my Bible?

486
00:31:56.519 --> 00:32:02.880
All right? Ezra chapter one, verses one through four. Right,

487
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:08.880
this is Some refer to this as the decree of Cyrus.

488
00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.119
All right. Some of your bibles may call it King

489
00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:19.039
Cyrus's proclamation or Cyrus's proclamation. Everybody see this, all right?

490
00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:24.799
Everybody ready? Verse one, Ezra chapter one, verse one. You

491
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.000
got Isaiah forty three through five in your mind? All right?

492
00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:33.680
You have it down now in the first year of Cyrus,

493
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:37.640
King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by

494
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:42.599
the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred

495
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:46.880
up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia. Now I

496
00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:48.920
do like the fact that it says that the word

497
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:51.000
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. Now it's

498
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:54.119
going to go more to Jeremiah. But that same phrase

499
00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:56.960
is used at the end of Isaiah forty verse five, right,

500
00:32:57.519 --> 00:32:59.480
that the mouth is to say the mouth of the Lord.

501
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.960
All right, just denote that, all right. I wish it

502
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:05.160
would have said the mouth of Isaiah. That would be

503
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:07.200
so great. Way to not but that'd be so great,

504
00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:09.359
all right, But all right, it might be fulfilled. The

505
00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:11.880
Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia,

506
00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:15.920
that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and

507
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:20.559
put it also in writing, saying, oh, that sounds interesting.

508
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:26.519
Who's going to make the proclamation? Wow? That sounds like

509
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:33.960
a voice making a proclamation, does it not. I'm not saying.

510
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:36.599
I'm not saying that that means that he's the voice.

511
00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:39.160
I'm just saying I do find it interesting, right that

512
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:46.000
he's making a proclamation. When he makes the proclamation, where's Judah,

513
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.079
They're still in captivity? Huh? Interesting? Right, okay, all right,

514
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:52.240
what's the what does he tell? What does he say?

515
00:33:52.240 --> 00:34:00.160
In verse two? Thus next word saith, Oh that he's speaking.

516
00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:07.079
How does the NIV have verse two? He speaks? That's

517
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:13.519
a voice, right, Okay? The Lord, God of Heaven. Oh,

518
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:18.000
some strong language, right there, is it? Not hath given

519
00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:24.320
me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath

520
00:34:24.519 --> 00:34:30.880
charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem, which

521
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:37.519
is in Judah. Oh that sounds like building. That's like

522
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:42.920
a proclamation. What else does he go on to say,

523
00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:52.440
who is there among you all of his people? Oh

524
00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:56.559
that's interesting. His people go back to Isaiah forty, Comfort ye,

525
00:34:56.559 --> 00:35:02.280
comfort ye, my people. So he's a parcolact. And what

526
00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:08.960
does he say to them, all of his people? His

527
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:12.159
God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem,

528
00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:14.480
which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord,

529
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:18.880
God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem.

530
00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:26.760
Do we read verse four? Yeah, we do, okay. And

531
00:35:26.760 --> 00:35:30.280
and whoever remaineth in any place where he's so journeth,

532
00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:32.440
let the men of his place help him with silver

533
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:35.760
and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts beside

534
00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:37.639
the free will offering for the house of God that

535
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:43.760
is in Jerusalem. He does what prepare, prepare everything, get

536
00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:47.119
everything ready? I mean, come on, how do you not

537
00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:54.039
connect that to Isaah forty? I don't know how you don't. Okay,

538
00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:56.760
maybe you're not as convinced as I am. All right,

539
00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:59.719
here's some of the similarities. So what I did, I

540
00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:01.719
would like I as soon as I saw this, I

541
00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:03.519
was like, I was ready to go right, But I

542
00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:07.360
was like, okay, let's just back up. So I'm like, okay, AI,

543
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:11.920
give me the similarities and give me the differences, right,

544
00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:15.039
because they can put it together. It can. It can

545
00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:17.239
build you a chart. It can. So I'm like, just

546
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:20.280
you go to town, put the similarities together. We'll see if

547
00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:23.000
we agree with AI or disagree with the similarities. All right,

548
00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:25.239
I think I just pointed out a bunch of the similarities.

549
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:26.800
But let's see what they have to say. All right,

550
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:30.280
here we go. Similarities between Isaiah forty verse three through

551
00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:34.360
five and the Decree of Cyrus Number one, Restoration of Exiles.

552
00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:37.519
Both texts announced the return of the exiles from the

553
00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:41.840
babelon from Babylon to Jerusalem, or at least indicates it

554
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:45.400
or seems to speak that it's going to happen. Number

555
00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:50.840
two Divine initiative. Restoration is attributed to God's intervention. In Isaiah,

556
00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:53.039
the call is to prepare for the Lord's coming, while

557
00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:56.280
in Cyrus the decree he acknowledges that God has changed

558
00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:59.760
charged him to act. In other words, in both cases,

559
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:06.760
is doing the work God I Cirrus acknowledges it's God

560
00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:13.000
focus on Jerusalem. Both emphasis emphasize Jerusalem as central to

561
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:17.079
God's redemptive plan. Isaiah points to spiritual preparation, while Sorrus

562
00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:19.760
calls for the physical rebuilding of the temple. Now Here,

563
00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:22.719
that's where I disagree with Ai. You see what it said.

564
00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:29.320
Isaiah points to spiritual preparation, So disagree with that. But

565
00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:32.079
AI is pulling from most Christians, most Christians, And no,

566
00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:37.039
why is it gonna be spiritual preparation? Sorrus shows up?

567
00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:39.920
Does does Cyrus go, oh, guys, I need to make

568
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:44.519
sure you're spiritually prepared? No, he's like God has told me,

569
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:47.599
I'm gonna build a house. We're gonna do it. What

570
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:51.440
does he need them to do? Gather everything together? What

571
00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:56.239
does it say? And and uh ezra gold, silver animal?

572
00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:58.639
What what kind of preparation is that, ladies and gentlemen,

573
00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:07.719
physical literal. It's ridiculous to go back to Isaiah saying, oh,

574
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:12.039
they're to do the spiritual preparation. That's nonsense. Cyrus is

575
00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:15.320
showing up and delivering them whether they're spiritually prepared or not.

576
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:18.239
Because God said they're gonna be in captivity for how long?

577
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:21.440
Seventy years? He doesn't say they're gonna be in seventy years.

578
00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:26.559
If you're spiritually prepared to get out. That's ridiculous, right.

579
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:30.079
Their deliverance is not based off their faithfulness. The deliverance

580
00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:32.960
is based off God's faithfulness. But as Christians, we got

581
00:38:32.960 --> 00:38:36.079
to turn everything into a moral lesson. And it's basically like, well,

582
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:38.559
if you're good boys and girls, God will show up

583
00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:42.000
and get you out of Babylonian captivity. That's not the message.

584
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:46.199
They went into captivity because they're sin They're still sinners,

585
00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:48.679
and is bringing them out and they're gonna demonstrate they're

586
00:38:48.679 --> 00:38:52.480
still sinners because immediately they start sinning. But so they

587
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.480
were no longer. We want to think that they went

588
00:38:55.519 --> 00:38:57.840
into seventy years of captivity and they came out going,

589
00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:03.840
oh in Latin and chanting, wearing robes and we will

590
00:39:03.880 --> 00:39:08.599
never sin again. Okay, they came out and then God

591
00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:11.239
had to send profits to go. Uh. I think you

592
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.960
want to finish building the stuff since you've stopped doing

593
00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:19.320
things and become lazy and complacent and idolatrous. That's medically

594
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:24.840
answer right, right, yeah, because they're not doing much right

595
00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:28.639
Why because they weren't spiritually prepared. Even though we want

596
00:39:28.679 --> 00:39:32.760
to believe that, we always want to believe that right, Ah,

597
00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:35.960
so drives me crazy. Okay, but yeah see AI, right,

598
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:38.079
that just made me want to just scream. All right.

599
00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:44.800
Isaiah calls for preparation through leveling obstacles, while Cyrus invited

600
00:39:44.840 --> 00:39:47.760
the people to rebuild the temple practical and physical. Now

601
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:50.800
AI wanted to say that they were called to remove

602
00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:56.800
obstacles spiritually, but no, there stop that. There's nothing in

603
00:39:56.840 --> 00:40:00.079
the text that says, hey, guys, get ready spiritually. No, oh,

604
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:05.960
this is prepare. God is coming. Everything's gonna be made

605
00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:09.559
right and you're going home and you're gonna see God's glory.

606
00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:13.800
And I'm sorry who showed up and did it? Cyrus?

607
00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:20.599
Now God is involved. Even Cyrus acknowledges that. So when

608
00:40:20.599 --> 00:40:24.760
you see Cyrus showing up walking through the gates and

609
00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:28.840
a roundabout way, that's God's glory. Because God takes a

610
00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:33.719
pagan king to accomplish his purpose for his glory. Who

611
00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:37.519
gets the glory for all? Even Cyrus gives him the glory?

612
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:44.159
Does he not? That's amazing? Now? What are the differences

613
00:40:44.199 --> 00:40:51.840
between Isaiah forty and the decree of Cyrus Well number one?

614
00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:56.599
According to AI, there's a difference in speaker Isaiah forty

615
00:40:56.639 --> 00:40:59.800
a prophetic voice speaks on behalf of God the decree

616
00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:03.239
of Cyrus. Cyrus, the king of Persia, issues a rule decree.

617
00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:06.079
But when Cyrus issues the rule decree, is he not

618
00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:12.559
issuing that on behalf of God? Yes? So I'm having

619
00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:15.280
a hard time, like to me, the voice crying in

620
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:18.760
the wilderness to prepare the way. You see why I'm

621
00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:25.639
tempted to say, Cyrus. You see why I'm tempted to

622
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:29.960
do that. Now I know it's also Isaiah, right, that's

623
00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:32.639
why it's a voice. Right now. You could say, well,

624
00:41:32.679 --> 00:41:35.119
shouldn't it be plural? I think it's just there's a

625
00:41:35.159 --> 00:41:41.280
prophetic voice that's speaking, and Isaiah spoke it one hundred

626
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:47.239
years before, and Cyrus is the voice that speaks it

627
00:41:47.719 --> 00:41:52.760
literally while they're in captivity. In fact, he's ware when

628
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:58.559
he speaks it. He's there, Cyrus is in he's shown

629
00:41:58.679 --> 00:42:00.400
up and he's like, all right, guys, I want you

630
00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:02.440
to do this. They're not like, well, this is a

631
00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:04.880
voice from one hundred years ago. It's a voice that

632
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.599
was present at that time. Like does that not I

633
00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:15.000
mean that? I don't understand. Okay, all right, the focus

634
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:17.800
of the message, and I see, oh, this is where

635
00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:19.559
AI say, I want This is where I wanted to

636
00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:23.239
start having a major fight with Ai. I was like,

637
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:24.960
come on, come out on the computer. We need to

638
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.519
have a physical fight, all right, because just what Ai says,

639
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:34.000
the focus of the message Isaiah for three through five

640
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:37.519
spiritual preparation for God's coming in the revelation of his glory.

641
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:42.280
What are you talking about? The decree of Sorrus, a

642
00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:47.199
political and logistical directive to rebuild the temple. Yeah, and

643
00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:51.079
Isaiah was talking about the political and logistical preparation and

644
00:42:51.159 --> 00:42:53.760
what God was going to do by removing everything so

645
00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:57.280
Sorrus can walk right in, which is exactly what happened. Literally,

646
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.440
I don't understand why we have to make it so

647
00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:08.760
complicated imagery. Now here's what Ai says Isaiah forty three

648
00:43:08.840 --> 00:43:12.280
through five, symbolic. I do agree it's symbolic, or it's poetic.

649
00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:15.239
I do agree with that. Valleys lifted, mountains, made low,

650
00:43:15.559 --> 00:43:20.599
rough places smooth. But here's what I hate. Ai then

651
00:43:20.679 --> 00:43:27.119
put in parentheses spiritual preparation. It won't leave that alone

652
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:32.760
because that's how every sermon approaches it. Why does it

653
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:36.159
have to be spiritual preparation because it seems to give

654
00:43:36.199 --> 00:43:39.880
the idea that, hey, you guys gotta get yourself right

655
00:43:40.039 --> 00:43:45.599
before God shows up. Well, if I'm gonna get myself

656
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:48.159
right before God shows up, then I don't need God.

657
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:52.639
He's never gonna show up right because I'm never gonna

658
00:43:52.639 --> 00:43:57.000
be spiritually prepared. I have major issues with that. The

659
00:43:57.079 --> 00:44:01.679
Decree of Cyrus is practical returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding

660
00:44:01.719 --> 00:44:05.880
the temple. Physical restoration. Physical restoration is what the people

661
00:44:05.960 --> 00:44:08.480
need in their particular situation. When are they going to

662
00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:12.000
ever be spiritually restored? If we talk about Israel, when

663
00:44:12.039 --> 00:44:14.440
are they ever going to be spiritually restored? Then we

664
00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:16.880
have to go to Ezekiel and the fulfillment of the

665
00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:20.239
New Covenant. When God's going to give them a new heart,

666
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:23.079
he does not give them a new heart in Babylonian captivity,

667
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:25.119
because if they did, they never would ended up in

668
00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:27.360
Roman captivity and they wouldn't have been wiped off the

669
00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:31.320
face of the earth to seventy a day. Because when

670
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:33.880
they get the new heart, what happens. According to Ezekiel,

671
00:44:34.440 --> 00:44:37.159
they get the land and there's no more idolatry and

672
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:43.400
there's no more sin. Well, that's something that has never occurred,

673
00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:51.159
So oh drives me crazy. So scope all right, The

674
00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:55.079
next difference Isaiah forty three through five is universal, all

675
00:44:55.119 --> 00:44:59.079
flesh shall see it together, emphasizing God's glory for all nations. Well,

676
00:45:01.079 --> 00:45:03.920
the decree of Cyrus is practical directed at the Israelites

677
00:45:03.960 --> 00:45:06.199
and their temple in Jerusalem. I don't see that that's

678
00:45:06.199 --> 00:45:09.840
a difference. All flesh is going to see it. Come on,

679
00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:13.440
let's just be honest. Even in that setting, the world

680
00:45:13.519 --> 00:45:17.920
may hear about Cyrus, but I don't even know if

681
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:20.719
we can even guarantee that. I think the point is

682
00:45:21.159 --> 00:45:23.599
is all flesh. Who's going to be the flesh who's

683
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:26.440
going to see it? All those in Judah, well, the

684
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:34.039
Babylonians are going to see it, all the kingdoms. Now,

685
00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:37.239
how literal do we make that? Is he saying in

686
00:45:37.239 --> 00:45:39.199
in just a kind of a poetic way, because in

687
00:45:39.239 --> 00:45:43.519
a roundabout way, he's now defeated the Babylonians, He's got Israel.

688
00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:47.639
So I just think when it says all flesh, we

689
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:49.880
don't have to make sure every single person in the

690
00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:51.760
world's going to see it. At the same time. The

691
00:45:51.800 --> 00:45:55.119
point is the Babylonians see it. All of them know

692
00:45:55.440 --> 00:45:58.719
that Cyrus has taken over, and all of Judah knows

693
00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:02.800
Cyrus has taken over, so all the people and surrounding

694
00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:06.400
nations immediately close would know what's going on. Obviously, Obviously

695
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:07.960
there are people in other parts of the world who

696
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:13.000
never knew Cyrus existed. Okay, does that make sense? All right?

697
00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:17.400
The glory of the Lord Isaiah forty verses three through

698
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:22.559
five central to the prophecy. God's glory is revealed. What

699
00:46:22.760 --> 00:46:26.199
just happened here? God's glory is revealed in his redemptive work.

700
00:46:26.559 --> 00:46:29.639
The Decree of Cyrus implied, but not explicitly emphasized. The

701
00:46:29.679 --> 00:46:34.519
focus is on the temple of God's dwelling place. Okay,

702
00:46:33.079 --> 00:46:38.079
I think the Decree of Cyrus shows where God's glory

703
00:46:38.079 --> 00:46:42.400
shows up and Cirrus and he gives God glory. So

704
00:46:42.559 --> 00:46:47.760
I don't see there's a difference. Then the AI wanted

705
00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:50.760
to talk about the roles of human agency. It says

706
00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:55.920
Isaiah forty three through five, exiles are called to spiritual readiness,

707
00:46:55.960 --> 00:46:58.679
symbolizing the removal of obstacles to God's work. Is he?

708
00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:02.320
That's where once again, I don't they're not called to

709
00:47:02.360 --> 00:47:07.559
spiritual anything again. Go back to Isaiah forty verse three,

710
00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:11.800
when it says prepare the way. It doesn't identify who

711
00:47:11.880 --> 00:47:13.960
is preparing the way? Does that make sense? It just

712
00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:17.440
says it doesn't. It says the NIV. I like it.

713
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:21.039
It doesn't say you. It just says, prepare the way,

714
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:24.880
prepare the way. Now you could say, well, that is

715
00:47:24.920 --> 00:47:28.239
being spoken to whoever is told to prepare the way

716
00:47:28.400 --> 00:47:31.800
is to prepare the way, and that preparation could have

717
00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:36.280
lots of different things, And I don't think it's necessarily spiritual.

718
00:47:36.599 --> 00:47:39.199
The Decree of Cyrus plays a key role as God's

719
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:43.840
instrument with exiles tasks to physical rebuild. Yes, the exiles.

720
00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:55.760
Cyrus clearly identifies who has to be involved. All right, okay,

721
00:47:57.039 --> 00:47:59.880
so this is what So I kept pushing. I'm running

722
00:47:59.880 --> 00:48:04.639
out of time here. So I kept trying to push Ai, like,

723
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:07.119
come on, come on now, we gotta work together here,

724
00:48:07.119 --> 00:48:09.440
come on, stop fighting me here. So this is what

725
00:48:09.559 --> 00:48:12.679
AI was finally able to kind of give me. All right.

726
00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:16.440
The similarities between Isaiah forty three through five and the

727
00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:19.960
Decree of Cyrus could support the idea that Cyrus is

728
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:23.000
at least indirectly connected to the fulfillment of the prophecy

729
00:48:23.039 --> 00:48:28.559
in Isaiah forty three. But you're ready, it is unlikely

730
00:48:29.079 --> 00:48:32.000
that Cyrus himself is the voice crying out in the wilderness.

731
00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:34.840
Here's an analysis of why Cirrus may play a role

732
00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:38.000
in the prophecy's fulfillment but is not the voice itself.

733
00:48:38.159 --> 00:48:40.760
So now AI still wants to argue with me. It

734
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:43.440
does not like that. Now I do love that about AI.

735
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:45.320
It's not just willing to go with what I want.

736
00:48:45.440 --> 00:48:48.440
I like that right, argue with me? Right? This is

737
00:48:48.480 --> 00:48:52.559
good because hermoneutically, if you just go That's why AI.

738
00:48:52.599 --> 00:48:55.599
To me, this is why AI is better than any commentary,

739
00:48:56.079 --> 00:48:58.199
because commentary is I'm just gonna find the commentary that

740
00:48:58.239 --> 00:49:02.000
does what agrees with me. Why that's not now and

741
00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:04.599
I have a limited of how many commentaries that can check.

742
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:07.360
AI is willing to have real time back and forth.

743
00:49:07.440 --> 00:49:09.199
So it's going to try to argue to it with me.

744
00:49:09.599 --> 00:49:13.039
Why Cyrus is not the voice right now, Let's just

745
00:49:13.079 --> 00:49:17.159
make it very clear. I think the voice, if you

746
00:49:17.159 --> 00:49:22.639
wanted to argue the voice could have three three possibilities,

747
00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:25.519
and I think they can all be in view. Isaiah

748
00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:29.119
is clearly the original voice because he writes us one

749
00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:33.000
hundred years before this happened. He's writing before Cyrus is

750
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:36.840
even on the scene, all right, So he's clearly the

751
00:49:36.880 --> 00:49:40.280
original voice. You can't deny Cyrus is the voice in

752
00:49:40.320 --> 00:49:44.719
the moment because he's literally speaking to the literal people.

753
00:49:45.159 --> 00:49:48.199
Isaiah is not speaking to those people in a literal way.

754
00:49:48.400 --> 00:49:50.599
He's just giving the words that someone's going to have

755
00:49:50.639 --> 00:49:52.880
to go deliver to the people because they don't have

756
00:49:52.920 --> 00:49:56.119
a copy of Isaiah in their back pocket. Right, So

757
00:49:56.199 --> 00:50:00.760
Cyrus is the voice for the moment, and then John

758
00:50:00.800 --> 00:50:05.559
the Baptist is the voice for seven hundred years into

759
00:50:05.559 --> 00:50:09.000
the future. So you've got a voice one hundred years before,

760
00:50:09.639 --> 00:50:11.880
a voice in the moment, and a voice seven hundred

761
00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:17.400
years later. Does that make sense? Well, this is what

762
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:21.440
AI is going to argue the role of the voice

763
00:50:21.440 --> 00:50:24.480
in Isaiah forty verse three. The voice in Isaiah forty

764
00:50:24.519 --> 00:50:28.199
three calls for preparation for the Lord's coming, symbolizing by

765
00:50:28.440 --> 00:50:31.280
symbolized by making a straight highway in the wilderness. The

766
00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:35.559
focus is on spiritual and symbolic preparations. See AI cannot

767
00:50:35.599 --> 00:50:39.599
leave it alone, leveling mountains and raising valleys for God's intervention.

768
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:43.199
The voice is proclaiming God's arrival and urgent readiness rather

769
00:50:43.239 --> 00:50:47.440
than directly acting as the means of deliverance. Now there

770
00:50:47.480 --> 00:50:50.599
you may have it. I do agree that in Isaiah forty,

771
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:55.360
verse three, it is the hey prepare for God's coming,

772
00:50:56.039 --> 00:50:59.199
not necessarily the voice is the deliverer. That's that is

773
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:04.280
a good argument. I will agree with that. But in Ezra,

774
00:51:05.320 --> 00:51:09.519
Cyrus is not only the deliverer, He's also the voice?

775
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:13.800
Is he not? So can he not be both? I

776
00:51:13.800 --> 00:51:18.559
don't know. All right, Cyrus is a key figure, you think, so.

777
00:51:19.239 --> 00:51:24.960
He facilitates Israel's return from Babylon. His role is practical

778
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.199
and political. Now this is where I disagree, a ISAs

779
00:51:29.280 --> 00:51:39.280
Cyrus's role is not prophetic, I'm not. I disagree. He's

780
00:51:39.400 --> 00:51:42.920
literally the very person fulfilling all the prophecy, is he not?

781
00:51:46.920 --> 00:51:51.079
He's literally the one who fulfilled si Oh in Isaiah

782
00:51:51.159 --> 00:51:53.400
forty we've already talked about. He's mentioned how many times

783
00:51:53.440 --> 00:51:55.400
in Isaiah forty fifty five. I don't have the number

784
00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:59.079
in front of me. He's mentioned multiple times by name,

785
00:52:00.559 --> 00:52:09.920
by name, So I know, man, I disagree with this strongly. Okay.

786
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:18.800
He Cyrus said he issues the decree as a chapter one,

787
00:52:18.880 --> 00:52:21.840
verses one through four, and acts as God's instrument, but

788
00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:27.599
he does not cry out or symbolically prepares the people's hearts.

789
00:52:27.719 --> 00:52:29.760
I don't think the heart have to be prepared. I

790
00:52:29.760 --> 00:52:32.440
think that's where the mistake is. But what do you

791
00:52:32.559 --> 00:52:35.599
mean he doesn't cry out? What in the world does

792
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:39.199
It's say an Ezra. Now it may not use the

793
00:52:39.199 --> 00:52:43.599
word cry out, but he speaks when you give a proclamation,

794
00:52:44.079 --> 00:52:49.840
and you're the king that's crying out, right, And he

795
00:52:49.920 --> 00:52:53.039
literally tells the people to prepare. I mean, how do

796
00:52:53.119 --> 00:52:57.599
I don't understand. Oh, this drives me crazy right now.

797
00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:04.280
But one positive thing about AI, it does say, well, okay,

798
00:53:04.400 --> 00:53:07.800
there are some similarities, all right, So here are the

799
00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:14.119
undeniable parallels between the imagery and Isaiah forty and Cyrus's role.

800
00:53:14.960 --> 00:53:19.480
So AI says, this is undeniable. These things are in common.

801
00:53:19.800 --> 00:53:25.559
The highway imagery, Cyrus's decree facilitates the physical return of

802
00:53:25.679 --> 00:53:29.800
the exiles, mirroring the preparation of a highway described in

803
00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:35.719
Isaiah forty verse three. No, he literally prepares like a

804
00:53:35.840 --> 00:53:39.880
highway in a sense, he's gonna prepare the way. But

805
00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:42.840
is Ezra gonna go do the work? I'm sorry, is

806
00:53:43.079 --> 00:53:46.079
Cyrus gonna go do the work? No, he's gonna tell

807
00:53:46.119 --> 00:53:48.320
other people to prepare, which we see in the little

808
00:53:48.840 --> 00:53:54.360
How can you say? Is not the voice? I don't ah?

809
00:53:54.360 --> 00:53:59.119
That drives me crazy? All right? But this could symbolize

810
00:53:59.559 --> 00:54:04.119
the literal clearing of obstacles for the exiles journey back

811
00:54:04.159 --> 00:54:08.159
to Jerusalem. You think it could symbolize that, I'd be shocked.

812
00:54:08.880 --> 00:54:12.760
Come on, he's the literal one coming in doing what guys?

813
00:54:13.039 --> 00:54:17.119
Everything's ready, The Babylonians are out of your way. Everything's ready,

814
00:54:17.239 --> 00:54:19.960
and he tells them to get everything ready, that everything

815
00:54:19.960 --> 00:54:22.400
you need. And then but he says he's gonna be

816
00:54:22.440 --> 00:54:25.159
the one who builds it. Did you notice that I'm

817
00:54:25.199 --> 00:54:27.599
gonna be the one who builds it? But I want

818
00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:31.440
you to get ready. He's all over this. There's no

819
00:54:31.480 --> 00:54:34.280
way to get Cyrus out of this. There's just no way,

820
00:54:34.920 --> 00:54:39.599
all right. Both Isaiah forty and Cyrus's decree emphasizes God's

821
00:54:39.599 --> 00:54:44.280
control over history. Can we agree with that? Right? And

822
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:48.039
Isaiah forty, the preparation is for the Lord and Cirrus's decree,

823
00:54:48.079 --> 00:54:51.199
God is explicitly acknowledged as the one who directs Cirrus.

824
00:54:51.320 --> 00:54:57.880
God is the one directing Cyrus, all right. The deliverance

825
00:54:57.880 --> 00:55:02.199
of Israel. Both passages focus on the restoration of Israel,

826
00:55:02.360 --> 00:55:09.880
with Corrus as the agent of their release and return. Okay,

827
00:55:10.599 --> 00:55:14.440
now guess what. Ai then pushes back again and says, wait,

828
00:55:14.440 --> 00:55:19.000
but wait, there's key differences that suggest it's not Cyrus.

829
00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:23.000
It does not want it to be Cyrus. It does

830
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:26.079
not like it in any way, shape or form. So

831
00:55:26.280 --> 00:55:29.559
you're ready for these key differences quickly. And I don't

832
00:55:29.559 --> 00:55:32.199
know why this is supposedly a difference the focus on

833
00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:36.079
God's glory. Isaiah forty focuses on God's arrival and the

834
00:55:36.119 --> 00:55:38.840
revelation of his glory to all flesh. Cirrus is an

835
00:55:38.880 --> 00:55:43.280
instrument of God, but the voice emphasizes preparation for God himself.

836
00:55:43.840 --> 00:55:47.599
But I think when Cyrus shows up, that is in

837
00:55:47.679 --> 00:55:54.079
a sense, God's showing up. I mean, look, no, if

838
00:55:54.719 --> 00:55:57.719
God does not literally show up in either situation, right,

839
00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:00.880
but Cyrus literally shows up and he says, who brought

840
00:56:00.960 --> 00:56:04.480
him there? God? I just I don't see how that

841
00:56:05.159 --> 00:56:09.039
does anything. Sorrus's decree primarily focuses on the rebuilding of

842
00:56:09.039 --> 00:56:13.400
the temple, not the broader spiritual preparation or universal revelation

843
00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:17.239
described in Isaiah forty You are assuming it's spiritual preparation.

844
00:56:19.400 --> 00:56:21.800
Everyone look at Isaiah forty three through five again. Just

845
00:56:21.840 --> 00:56:24.599
look at it again and tell me if you see

846
00:56:24.639 --> 00:56:30.480
anything there that screams this is spiritual preparation. You just

847
00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:34.719
tell me if and if you can disagree, that's okay.

848
00:56:35.199 --> 00:56:43.239
I mean you're wrong, but you can disagree anything there

849
00:56:43.239 --> 00:56:49.000
that screams spiritual this is spirit spiritual preparation. There's nothing there.

850
00:56:51.880 --> 00:56:55.519
You know where you get that from? You? Where do

851
00:56:55.559 --> 00:57:00.480
you get the spiritual preparation from John the Baptist? You're

852
00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:03.599
reading John the Baptist back into this. That's that's not

853
00:57:03.840 --> 00:57:11.119
the case here, all right? Does that make sense? All right?

854
00:57:11.840 --> 00:57:17.079
He goes Ai says the voice is symbolic and prophetic,

855
00:57:17.320 --> 00:57:21.199
representing a call to spiritual preparation. It can't leave it alone.

856
00:57:22.039 --> 00:57:24.960
Sarrus's role is practical and political, issuing a decree to

857
00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.239
facilitate physical restoration. Sorus does not deliver a prophetic message

858
00:57:29.400 --> 00:57:32.639
or engage in spiritual preparing for God's coming? What do

859
00:57:32.719 --> 00:57:36.039
you mean he does not deliver a prophetic message in

860
00:57:36.039 --> 00:57:39.559
a sense, he's delivering the fulfillment of a prophetic message?

861
00:57:39.639 --> 00:57:44.800
Is he not? But what Ai can't get around what

862
00:57:45.280 --> 00:57:49.920
Isaiah forty is spiritual prep and ezra and the decree

863
00:57:50.280 --> 00:57:55.719
is physical. He I keep saying, he AI cannot separate that,

864
00:57:55.880 --> 00:58:03.760
and you have to all right now, this is the

865
00:58:03.760 --> 00:58:10.199
one good argument. Cyrus is explicitly mentioned later in Isaiah

866
00:58:10.400 --> 00:58:13.239
chapter forty four twenty eight forty five to one, but

867
00:58:13.400 --> 00:58:16.800
not in Isaiah forty three. This omission suggests that the

868
00:58:16.880 --> 00:58:19.440
voice in Isaiah forty three is not intended to directly

869
00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:24.159
refer to Cyrus. Well guess what, John the Baptist is

870
00:58:24.199 --> 00:58:27.639
not explicitly mentioned in Isaiah forty verse three. Isaiah is

871
00:58:27.679 --> 00:58:30.760
not explicitly mentioned in Isaiah forty verse three. So just

872
00:58:30.800 --> 00:58:34.400
because someone's name is not explicitly mentioned doesn't mean though

873
00:58:34.440 --> 00:58:36.960
you can't draw a correlation, right, I mean, like, I

874
00:58:37.159 --> 00:58:51.920
don't know if that necessarily proves anything, All right, okay,

875
00:58:52.119 --> 00:58:55.519
uh yeah, Well I'm gonna I think, well, I think

876
00:58:55.519 --> 00:58:58.079
we've done enough here. I've got a lot here to

877
00:58:58.119 --> 00:59:03.199
go through. Yeah, I mean, I got pages here, but

878
00:59:03.360 --> 00:59:10.480
I think, yeah, right, I got pages here. I'm not

879
00:59:10.519 --> 00:59:21.400
gonna go through all of this. Yeah. Literally, I got

880
00:59:21.440 --> 00:59:26.519
so many notes here and I could break it all down.

881
00:59:26.519 --> 00:59:28.679
But I mean we could be here for six months

882
00:59:28.719 --> 00:59:31.400
on this issue. So here's what I'm going to say.

883
00:59:31.719 --> 00:59:40.480
All right, go back to Isaiah forty Isaiah forty three

884
00:59:40.519 --> 00:59:49.400
through five. Everybody ready, Isaiah forty verse three the voice

885
00:59:49.519 --> 00:59:53.920
or a voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Okay,

886
00:59:54.760 --> 00:59:59.679
this voice. Clearly Isaiah is in view because he's the

887
00:59:59.719 --> 01:00:04.079
one who ultimately give this message. Correct, the voice of

888
01:00:04.159 --> 01:00:08.440
him that cries in the wilderness. To some level, Cyrus

889
01:00:08.480 --> 01:00:11.960
is involved because Cyrus is the voice for the actual time.

890
01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:15.599
Isaiah's the voice from one hundred years before. Cyrus is

891
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:20.119
literally the voice that walks literally into Babylon and literally

892
01:00:20.159 --> 01:00:25.800
speaks directly to whom to Israel and what and where

893
01:00:25.840 --> 01:00:28.920
are they at. They're in Babylon, they're in the wilderness.

894
01:00:31.119 --> 01:00:32.960
He literally goes out, and what does he tell them

895
01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:37.840
to do together? To prepare to get ready, right, because

896
01:00:37.880 --> 01:00:43.039
they're gonna go do what rebuild the temple? Right? So

897
01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:46.079
he literally shows up now and this also points to

898
01:00:46.559 --> 01:00:49.119
because the New Testament takes it and points to John

899
01:00:49.199 --> 01:00:54.199
the Baptist. Now, I will argue John the Baptist is

900
01:00:54.239 --> 01:01:00.679
the one who's gonna make it spiritual. Right here is

901
01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:05.920
physical deliverance right, make straight in the desert a highway

902
01:01:06.079 --> 01:01:13.079
for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every

903
01:01:13.119 --> 01:01:15.480
mountain and hills shall be made low, and the crooked

904
01:01:15.559 --> 01:01:18.199
shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain.

905
01:01:18.360 --> 01:01:21.440
We're going to say that this is symbolic, figurative, poetic

906
01:01:21.559 --> 01:01:27.320
language that points to what all obstacles being removed so

907
01:01:27.800 --> 01:01:31.719
that what can occur in a sense where God can

908
01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:38.079
show up, utilizing Cyrus and take the people and bring

909
01:01:38.159 --> 01:01:43.960
them to the temple so that they can rebuild it all. Right, Now,

910
01:01:43.559 --> 01:01:46.960
this works a couple of ways. It really starts. All

911
01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:50.840
of this starts really ten years before Cyrus shows up,

912
01:01:50.960 --> 01:01:55.639
because the Babylonian king is weak and effective, doesn't basically

913
01:01:55.639 --> 01:01:57.440
do anything. The people have kind of already been set

914
01:01:57.480 --> 01:02:01.920
free or really everything's already been made ready to go.

915
01:02:02.280 --> 01:02:05.559
And then it seems like people in Babylon defect and

916
01:02:05.679 --> 01:02:07.920
just like, okay, here's Cyrus, come on in our king.

917
01:02:07.960 --> 01:02:09.679
We don't know where our king went, just come on

918
01:02:09.760 --> 01:02:12.119
in and he shows up not as a conqueror as

919
01:02:12.159 --> 01:02:18.360
a liberator to set the people free in a literal way,

920
01:02:20.280 --> 01:02:24.199
So all the making everything ready starts ten years before,

921
01:02:24.440 --> 01:02:27.320
and it continues after he shows up to make sure

922
01:02:27.360 --> 01:02:29.400
everything is ready to go so that the people can

923
01:02:29.440 --> 01:02:32.360
do what go and to make sure they have all

924
01:02:32.400 --> 01:02:36.559
the provisions and everything they need so that they can

925
01:02:36.599 --> 01:02:39.119
go back and build the temple. And he's going to

926
01:02:39.159 --> 01:02:42.280
take credit for it, okay, because he says God told

927
01:02:42.360 --> 01:02:48.239
him to do that, right, And then verse five, and

928
01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:50.599
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Isn't it interesting?

929
01:02:50.599 --> 01:02:54.119
They're going to go rebuild wide the temple. The temple

930
01:02:54.199 --> 01:02:57.960
is the sign of God's glory, but in a roundabout way,

931
01:02:58.079 --> 01:03:02.199
when Cyrus walks through the gate and it says God's

932
01:03:02.239 --> 01:03:05.639
glory is being revealed. Why because God has kept his word.

933
01:03:06.960 --> 01:03:10.519
He kept his word, ladies and gentlemen, seventy years of captivity.

934
01:03:10.800 --> 01:03:16.199
God has shown up and delivered the people. That's good news, right,

935
01:03:16.400 --> 01:03:18.719
And they're going to go back and rebuild the temple.

936
01:03:18.960 --> 01:03:21.719
They're all connected to God's glory. And what does the

937
01:03:21.760 --> 01:03:25.719
text go on to say, all flesh will see it? Well, definitely,

938
01:03:25.840 --> 01:03:27.880
all the people involved are going to see it, right,

939
01:03:28.039 --> 01:03:32.880
no question. And this is the key phrase for the

940
01:03:32.920 --> 01:03:35.280
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. What do we

941
01:03:35.360 --> 01:03:41.960
take from this? This is God sovereignly working out everything

942
01:03:42.079 --> 01:03:45.960
he intends, and nothing gets in his way. And when

943
01:03:46.039 --> 01:03:50.719
God says something is going to happen, it's going to happen.

944
01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:54.679
His word is being fulfilled. And so what can we

945
01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:58.599
take from that, Well, this is where we can find

946
01:03:58.599 --> 01:04:01.760
a spiritual application. We want to apply it to us.

947
01:04:03.159 --> 01:04:04.880
I'm going to go through this over and over again.

948
01:04:04.920 --> 01:04:10.400
Where are we Babylonian captivity? We're in a physical literal

949
01:04:10.440 --> 01:04:15.840
captivity to sinful body, sinful nature, a body that's corrupted.

950
01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:21.519
We live in a world where there's pain, suffering, and death. Right, Yes,

951
01:04:22.360 --> 01:04:27.639
that's the world we live in. I mean, war, famine,

952
01:04:27.760 --> 01:04:31.079
all the things that go on, suffering, suffering, suffering, suffering.

953
01:04:31.239 --> 01:04:36.880
But God's word has proclaimed by the mouth of God

954
01:04:37.239 --> 01:04:40.719
that there will come a time all of that is

955
01:04:40.760 --> 01:04:44.360
gonna go away. Now, it may not happen in my lifetime,

956
01:04:44.639 --> 01:04:48.119
but well, but this way, when my lifetime ends, I'm

957
01:04:48.159 --> 01:04:50.840
set free from all of it, right, because I get

958
01:04:50.840 --> 01:04:54.760
a new body, no more pain, no more suffering, no

959
01:04:54.840 --> 01:04:57.039
more death, and there will be an eternal kingdom that

960
01:04:57.119 --> 01:05:01.239
will last forever. So there is a literal fulfillment of

961
01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:04.480
me being set free. Now you can say, but there's

962
01:05:04.480 --> 01:05:08.920
a spiritual deliverance. We'll let John the Baptist deal with that, correct,

963
01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:11.159
But if we want to find kind of a fulfillment,

964
01:05:11.400 --> 01:05:14.800
we are in literal Babylonian captivity, and we're gonna literally

965
01:05:14.840 --> 01:05:17.800
be set free, just like they were literally set free.

966
01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:21.639
And guess what they had to wait seventy years. I

967
01:05:21.719 --> 01:05:24.320
may have to wait seven years. Maybe if they even

968
01:05:24.320 --> 01:05:27.679
make it to seventy, right, maybe Christ will come back.

969
01:05:27.719 --> 01:05:30.000
When Christ comes back, he's gonna come back a little

970
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:33.480
different than Cyrus. He's coming back on a horse with

971
01:05:33.519 --> 01:05:35.280
a sword, and a whole lot of people are going

972
01:05:35.320 --> 01:05:37.920
to die, and then he's gonna set up his kingdom.

973
01:05:39.199 --> 01:05:43.039
But if I'm not here for that, right, I still

974
01:05:43.119 --> 01:05:48.599
know that I'm going to be delivered in a literal way. Correct.

975
01:05:50.119 --> 01:05:53.840
That I think is Isaiah forty three through five. Now

976
01:05:54.039 --> 01:05:56.039
I did not even cover I mean literally, you don't

977
01:05:56.039 --> 01:06:00.599
even know how many notes I have here, Like I

978
01:06:00.639 --> 01:06:02.920
probably have ten pages of notes. We didn't even get

979
01:06:02.920 --> 01:06:07.000
to all, right, But I think we covered it as

980
01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:09.400
well as we did. Everybody feel comfortable with it. The

981
01:06:09.480 --> 01:06:11.679
kids are gonna be like, yes, man, that's great, I

982
01:06:11.719 --> 01:06:15.559
got it. Good to go done. Let me go home, right, understand.

983
01:06:18.920 --> 01:06:21.880
I think I think we covered it pretty good, that

984
01:06:21.960 --> 01:06:30.119
we missed anything. Okay, all right, Now now it goes

985
01:06:30.159 --> 01:06:34.119
on the internet and there's gonna be massive disagreements with

986
01:06:34.199 --> 01:06:37.440
all of it that that's okay, that's okay, all right,

987
01:06:37.440 --> 01:06:40.239
and please note AI never completely. I think when I

988
01:06:40.280 --> 01:06:44.280
finally pushed AI, it did acknowledge finally. I don't think

989
01:06:44.320 --> 01:06:47.800
I copied it down. Basically, it was like, well, you're right,

990
01:06:47.960 --> 01:06:52.920
the Isaiah and Ezra, that's that's far more like there's

991
01:06:52.960 --> 01:06:56.559
a lot there to to see a connection, maybe more.

992
01:06:56.800 --> 01:06:58.960
But the thing is, and I didn't I should have

993
01:06:59.000 --> 01:07:02.079
pushed AI. Well, what if we say that the preparation

994
01:07:02.239 --> 01:07:04.639
in Isaiah forty is not spiritual? Then it would have

995
01:07:04.719 --> 01:07:07.360
been completely on my side. But it could not let

996
01:07:07.400 --> 01:07:09.559
that go. I didn't push it on that. I should have.

997
01:07:09.639 --> 01:07:11.800
I may go back and push it and see if

998
01:07:11.880 --> 01:07:15.079
what it will do. Because you're reading that into the text.

999
01:07:15.920 --> 01:07:18.679
You're reading that into the text. You just read no,

1000
01:07:18.679 --> 01:07:29.440
no way, no way, yeah, over and over and well,

1001
01:07:29.480 --> 01:07:32.840
because it's yeah, it's because it's so radically different than

1002
01:07:32.840 --> 01:07:35.679
the way it's it's typically approached. And as I said

1003
01:07:35.679 --> 01:07:37.239
in the first hour, on the way here, I was

1004
01:07:37.280 --> 01:07:39.639
listening to a sermon on Isaiah forty three through five.

1005
01:07:42.199 --> 01:07:44.920
You know what, the three major points was made in

1006
01:07:44.960 --> 01:07:47.920
the midst of the sermon that you need to show

1007
01:07:48.000 --> 01:07:52.800
up to church early to prepare yourself for worship. And second,

1008
01:07:52.840 --> 01:07:54.760
you need to meditate on the scripture that's going to

1009
01:07:54.760 --> 01:07:57.679
be preached that day before you get there to prepare yourself.

1010
01:07:57.840 --> 01:08:01.559
And number three, you should meditate and look and review

1011
01:08:01.599 --> 01:08:03.280
the hymns that are going to be sung so that

1012
01:08:03.320 --> 01:08:05.639
you can prepare yourself. What does any of that have

1013
01:08:05.679 --> 01:08:09.199
to do with Isaiah forty three through five. Now, you

1014
01:08:09.239 --> 01:08:11.639
know what's so frustrating is when I was young and

1015
01:08:11.719 --> 01:08:14.000
learning to preach, I would have taken that and went

1016
01:08:14.039 --> 01:08:18.720
to town with it. Prepare your way for God. You

1017
01:08:18.840 --> 01:08:21.239
need to be prepared for God. And I mean I

1018
01:08:21.239 --> 01:08:23.760
could go full blown fundamental Baptist on it, right, I

1019
01:08:23.760 --> 01:08:26.760
would have my three points. May are you prepared for

1020
01:08:26.880 --> 01:08:29.159
God today? Well, you need to come to the altar

1021
01:08:29.279 --> 01:08:31.039
and make things right. And people would come to the

1022
01:08:31.039 --> 01:08:33.159
altar and cry, oh, what a good sermon, pastor, And

1023
01:08:33.199 --> 01:08:35.439
none of us would have walked away understanding Isaiah forty

1024
01:08:35.439 --> 01:08:37.520
three through five. That's why sermons are the worst thing

1025
01:08:37.560 --> 01:08:42.560
that's ever been invented in the history of Christianity, because

1026
01:08:42.640 --> 01:08:47.079
sermons keep you from the actual text to walk through

1027
01:08:47.079 --> 01:08:48.960
the text like that that didn't feel like a sermon?

1028
01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:51.560
Did it? No? Because it wasn't And I would have

1029
01:08:51.560 --> 01:08:55.439
been accused of it being too much like a school. Well,

1030
01:08:55.760 --> 01:08:58.520
I know this. We've had two thousand years of churches

1031
01:08:58.560 --> 01:09:01.359
trying to do sermons and you know what we hear

1032
01:09:01.600 --> 01:09:04.399
year after year after year. Christians are biblically illiterate. Christians

1033
01:09:04.439 --> 01:09:07.199
are theologically illiterate. So how are we going to fix

1034
01:09:07.239 --> 01:09:10.720
the problem. Well, small groups will fix the problems. Small groups.

1035
01:09:10.720 --> 01:09:14.720
There's just small Bible studies with snacks and everyone gets

1036
01:09:14.760 --> 01:09:17.800
to hold hands and sing kumbai Ya. That's not fixing

1037
01:09:17.840 --> 01:09:21.279
the problem. We've had decades of small groups still haven't

1038
01:09:21.279 --> 01:09:23.640
fixed the problem. You know why nobody wants to fix

1039
01:09:23.680 --> 01:09:27.880
the problem because nobody wants to do what actually do

1040
01:09:27.960 --> 01:09:33.000
what we just did. Because if you do what I

1041
01:09:33.199 --> 01:09:35.680
just did in any church, guess what would happen to me.

1042
01:09:37.399 --> 01:09:42.880
I wouldn't have a job, or everybody would leave. Everyone

1043
01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:44.760
talks a big game. I want to be in a

1044
01:09:44.800 --> 01:09:48.159
place that studies the Bible. No, you don't. Just stop

1045
01:09:48.199 --> 01:09:50.800
it Like I'm such to a point out if someone

1046
01:09:50.800 --> 01:09:52.279
wants to walk through the door and going this is

1047
01:09:52.359 --> 01:09:56.159
the church I want, just leave, Just leave, because how

1048
01:09:56.159 --> 01:09:58.279
many people walk through this front door saying this is

1049
01:09:58.319 --> 01:10:01.279
what I want? They got it, and they didn't want

1050
01:10:01.319 --> 01:10:04.159
it anymore because they just want me to have a

1051
01:10:04.199 --> 01:10:07.319
team and preach that team and make them all feel good.

1052
01:10:07.319 --> 01:10:09.439
To stop it. I'm so sick of it. It's all

1053
01:10:09.439 --> 01:10:13.159
such a game. The church is a game, and nobody

1054
01:10:13.159 --> 01:10:15.119
wants to actual get to the text. You get to

1055
01:10:15.159 --> 01:10:18.319
the text, it gets ugly and difficult. Did we leave

1056
01:10:18.359 --> 01:10:20.920
with all the answers? No? But guess what we did.

1057
01:10:20.960 --> 01:10:22.720
We just dealt with the text, probably more than any

1058
01:10:22.720 --> 01:10:24.640
other church has ever dealt with the text. And I'm

1059
01:10:24.640 --> 01:10:27.199
not trying to be arrogant. It's not because I'm spiritual.

1060
01:10:27.600 --> 01:10:30.399
Has nothing to do with spiritual, just says I'm just

1061
01:10:30.439 --> 01:10:33.680
gonna figure out the text. And I don't know how

1062
01:10:33.720 --> 01:10:35.560
you can see Isaiah forty three through five and not

1063
01:10:35.640 --> 01:10:38.960
think Cyrus. You know why you can't see Cyrus because

1064
01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:41.720
all you ever hear is John the Baptist, which was

1065
01:10:42.000 --> 01:10:45.960
no value to those people. I would love for you

1066
01:10:46.000 --> 01:10:48.920
to go running into Babylonian captivity. Hey, guys, I got

1067
01:10:48.920 --> 01:10:53.159
some great news for you. Seven hundred years from now,

1068
01:10:55.439 --> 01:10:58.479
John the Baptist is gonna show up. Who and your

1069
01:10:58.520 --> 01:11:04.079
Messiah's gonna show up seven hundred years from now? Well,

1070
01:11:05.039 --> 01:11:08.560
thank you? Just could you just leave now? All right, kids,

1071
01:11:08.720 --> 01:11:13.800
we're all gonna die here. Good news. I got some

1072
01:11:13.880 --> 01:11:18.680
good news. They need someone to show up going. No no, no, no, no,

1073
01:11:18.680 --> 01:11:23.239
no no. Get ready And they heard that voice when

1074
01:11:23.319 --> 01:11:28.000
Cyrus spoke and said, get ready, you're going and you're

1075
01:11:28.000 --> 01:11:32.680
gonna build a house for God because God told me

1076
01:11:33.159 --> 01:11:35.600
to tell you that's what's going to occur. I don't

1077
01:11:35.640 --> 01:11:37.479
know how you don't see Isaiah forty three through five

1078
01:11:37.520 --> 01:11:41.880
all over that, And that doesn't lessen the beauty and

1079
01:11:41.960 --> 01:11:45.560
the power of it. Right. I know people said, but

1080
01:11:45.640 --> 01:11:48.520
what is about me? Well, and about us? I already

1081
01:11:48.520 --> 01:11:50.880
explained how it fits us. Just the problem is the

1082
01:11:50.880 --> 01:11:53.960
passage is not really about us. I know that's shocking.

1083
01:11:54.000 --> 01:11:55.439
All right, let's pray. Look at we come for you

1084
01:11:55.520 --> 01:11:58.039
this afternoon. Thank you for us being in a place

1085
01:11:58.039 --> 01:12:01.600
where we can do this. I wish more people would

1086
01:12:01.680 --> 01:12:05.159
long for this and want this and desire this, But

1087
01:12:05.680 --> 01:12:08.720
as long as I can, I'm going to continue to

1088
01:12:08.760 --> 01:12:12.000
try to handle the text in a way that may

1089
01:12:12.000 --> 01:12:14.640
be different than everyone else, but may get us closer

1090
01:12:14.680 --> 01:12:17.560
to the actual meaning of it. We know we're still

1091
01:12:17.640 --> 01:12:20.119
far from it in this church. We're nowhere close to

1092
01:12:20.199 --> 01:12:23.840
the ultimate meaning of any text because it's a lifetime

1093
01:12:23.840 --> 01:12:29.199
of study by imperfect, sinful people who definitely are very fallible.

1094
01:12:29.600 --> 01:12:33.600
We are grateful that your word is perfect, your word

1095
01:12:33.640 --> 01:12:37.239
is infallible, and we ask your forgiveness that are fallible

1096
01:12:37.319 --> 01:12:41.079
hands sometimes twist it and misunderstand it. And we asked

1097
01:12:41.079 --> 01:12:48.560
this in Jesus name, and God's people said thank you.