Isaiah 40:6-8 Pt 2

0:00 All right, our number two Isaiah chapter forty we don't really have to do much of a review since it's the exact same people here, which that's a good thing. So we just jump right back into our conversation that we're having in the previous hour. Of those who will be listening online definitely will need to go back and listen to the first part here, but we'll read the section of scripture that we are so we're not really working on the section of scripture yet because we're really just working on the very first part. But Isaiah forty six through eight, we read these words the voice said cry, and he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass witheeth the flower faith, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withthereth the flower faith. But the word of our God shall stand forever. In most churches, when it comes to the sermon structure, they would just turn that into a sermon, make probably break it into three points, right, yes, and be done, and they would be done in about thirty to forty five minutes. Everybody would be like, what a great sermon, throw in some cross references, a good illustration at the beginning, a good maybe you know, emotional story at the end, and then everyone would love it because they got church. The only problem is they wouldn't actually be dealing with the issue at hand. So what is the issue at hand for us?

1:32 Starting in verse six? The issue for us at hand is trying to identify the voice in verse six. We have looked and we spend an hour considering the voice in verse three and the voice in verse six. Are they the same? Are they different? We looked at similarities, we looked at differences, We looked at arguments for and against. So what we're going to do. We had a big discussion there at the end, trying to identify the voice, possibly the voice being God in verse three and verse six. We thought that that kind of fell apart a little bit. We talked about being Isaiah. We've talked about the voice in verse three being Cyrus verse six. Maybe not the same or are the same? We've looked at a lot of different theories. So now what I want to do is step back and just kind of go back, kind of continue on in some of my notes, skip down a little bit, just do a little bit more work, and then maybe we'll circle back to some of that discussion.

2:31 Everybody okay with that? All right, but we can kind of move forward because this may offer some clarification. Maybe this will make it easier, maybe this will just make it more complicated. Let's consider this, everybody ready, Let's consider how the voices could be connected. Let's do that. Does that sound like a good idea? All right, so let's go with this. Even if the voices are distinct, they still are linked together. We've already kind of hinted at this, have we not? Whether this the same voice or whether they're different voices, whether we should identify them or shouldn't identify them. They are thematically linked together. That much everyone should be able to agree with. Are we okay with that?

3:17 And verse three, the voice announces God's coming deliverance and the need for preparation. Everybody okay with that? Verse six, the voice proclaims the reason for trusting in God's deliverance, which is human efforts are fleeting. Humans are fleeting, but God's word endures forever. So let me put those two together. How are they thematically lenked? The voice announces God's coming and deliverance, and the need to prepare for that. In verse three and verse six, the voice proclaims the reason for trusting in this deliverance, which is humans are fleeting, humans are gonna fade away, but God's word will endure forever.

4:04 All right. Together, these voices form a progressive revelation. Verse three, it's a call to prepare. Israel is urged to prepare for God's intervention symbolized by the highway imagery. Verse are. So that's the call to prepare number two. Then we have the proclamation of God's faithfulness, and verses six through eight, Israel is reminded of the transient nature of human power and the enduring reliability of God's promises, God's word. God's word is faithful because God's word endures. Man is not faithful.

4:44 Man fades away, Man's power fades away. God's word endures. So it's a progressive revelation, a call to prepare, and a proclamation of God's faithfulness. Does that make sense? All right? So what are the thiological implicat If the voices are the same. The passage reflects a single divine message with two aspects, prepare and trust in God's eternal Word. If it's if it's let me say that again. If the voices are the same, the passage reflects a single divine message, prepare and trust in God's eternal Word. If the voices are different, the voices represent different speakers or stages in God's revelation. One speaks of God's arrival. Another explains why preparation is necessary or why explains why that preparation is necessary and trustworthy. So if we have them separate, that means one has this message prepare, and then the second messenger comes and says, hey, you need to be preparing because God's word is enduring, trustworthy everything. Oh, you should be preparing. It's almost like one speaks and then another one speaks. If it's the same messenger, then he's given

6:17 both points. But here's what I want you to grab onto. Whether it's one, whether it's two, whether they can be identified or whether they can't be identified. What can we identify the message can be identified? Has everyone got that? Whether we can identify the voice, whether we can identify, whether there's one or two, we can identify the message? Does that make sense? Does everybody feel okay with that? All right? Either interpretation one voice or two voices highlights God's sovereignty and faithfulness in delivering his people all right.

7:04 While the voice in Isaiah forty verse three and the voice in Isaiah forty verse six could be the same, the shift in focus and structure suggest to some students and some scholars that they could represent two distinct proclamations. Verse three is the call to prepare. Verse six is a proclamation of human frailty and the enduring nature of God's word. Whether they are the same or whether they are different, the thematic connection between the two emphasizes the reliability of God's promise and the need to prepare spiritually for his redemptive work. Now, I don't like that last phrase, to repare spiritually, because I don't think this has anything to do with preparing spiritually. Yeah, well, that's just it's it's taking the poetic language and now you're just adding something to the poetic language. It says it's going to make the highway straight. Prepare this. I think it's a look.

8:05 Let me state it this way. Let's step back in history, because I'll turn a lot of sermons. Do this right, So, is everybody ready for a very important theological question was Israel. Was Judah going to be delivered from Babylonian captivity? No matter how spiritual or unspiritual, they were going to be yes, because they were going to be there for how many years? Irregardless whether they were going to be spiritual or ear or unspiritual. They were coming out of captivity. And guess what, we know what happened when they came out of captivity. They weren't that spiritual. So everyone tries to make it like I've even heard a pastor say they were going to be delivered if they prepared. No, that is not true.

8:49 They were going to be delivered irregardless because God said it was seventy years. And why was it seventy years? Because see, yeah, the daper point was because they had not followed the Sabbath for the land. So I don't forget the spiritual press if. Oh, I'm so sick of that. I know that's how sermons have to preach. But that's why I hate sermons. Prepare was needed to be prepared physical tangible material. In fact, if go back to the Decree of Cyrus, what is he stay in like verse five?

9:30 I think of it, he named some people and some I think some materials. I could be wrong. I'm going for memory the family. Does it mention some materials or gold, silver somewhere in that maybe four verse four? All physical prep? Does it say that they repented, read their Bible with the church, did devotions with the church, camp, did the walking to amas? Read purpose driven life? None of that? Okay?

10:15 What was the preparation? The prep was removing all obstacles? Right? You could say the prep had two stages, remove all obstacles and gather all required materials. And that occurred. Yeah. See Cyrus literally tells them what to prepare. So this is no spiritual preparation. Everyone understand that this is not a sermon on Hey, this is what you need to do. So the preparing had nothing to do with it. So everybody understand that. All right. So I then was after I kind of looked at some of this, well, uh so what could how did this? How could this be looked at? So I went to AI and I asked AI a question about how could we look at this?

11:11 And this is what AI said. It would be entirely accurate. Oh and just a funny thing about AI yesterday. Okay, so this just cracked me up your sday. I just this is a side note, just to you know, break the flow up a little bit here since this is so academic. Yesterday I got ready to review a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen and nineteen, right, so, I said, I. Uh, So, I asked Ai, I'm gonna review a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. Do you have any advice for me? You know what, Ai said, be very cautious because pastors frequently misuse, misupply, and misinterpret Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. Then Ai gave me all the ways pastors misused and then I review the sermon and guess what the sermon did? Every single thing Ai said it does.

12:07 And I'm like, yeah, I need Ai to tell me I can't be cautious listening to sermons because they misused the scriptures. That's that means it's so frequent that even AI knows it. That's that's embarrassing ladies. That's that ticks me off. That just means you it would be more valuable to burn all the churches to the ground and just listen to Ai, because AI has a better understanding of how to handle the text. That's a bad that's it. You know who's to blame for that? Human beings are to blame for that, okay, because we can't seem to handle this text of scripture in any meaningful way. But I talked to Ai in regards to this section, and AI said it would be entirely accurate to interpret both voices and Isaiah forty verse three and Isaiah forty verse six as messages proclaiming the message God wants declared, with each serving a distinct purpose. So AI said that it would be very accurate to see Isaiah forty verse three and verse eight that these voices are messengers that God wants to declare a particular message. All right, the first voice, This is how AI breaks it down, right, you ready?

13:32 Isaiah forty verse three. AI refers to this first voice as the messenger of preparation. The first voice is a messenger, a herald, recalling for the preparation of the wave for God's arrival. This involves addressing obstacles that might hinder his work. The message is forward looking, urging action, prepare the way of the Lord. It is to mobilize the people and and to prepare for God's intervention to emphasize that God is coming to deliver and restore his people. I think we can agree with that, all right? That now, just please note the AI does not identify the messenger as God.

14:22 In verse three. It identifies it as a person. Doesn't say who. Now again, when I read all of that, I'm sorry, I can't get away from it. It sounds like whom. It sounds like Cyrus. Ladies and gentlemen. Look, this first voice is It's forward looking, it's urging action. It's to mobilize the people to prepare for God's intervention. What don't we read in the decree? Cyrus is mobilizing the people? Is he not? I mean literally, whenever I read anything about that verse voice, it screams to me, Sorry, I can't get away from it. And look, everyone in the world may disagree with me. I just can't get away from it. I go read that decree, I read Isaiah forty verses three through five, and I'm like, how do I don't I don't get it. Here's the second voice.

15:22 Are you ready? The second voice is the teacher of eternal truth. That's how AI defines the second voice, the teacher of eternal truth. The second voice is a teacher or a reminder, emphasizing key theological truths about humanity and God. The message shifts to reflection, highlighting the transient of human life right and the enduring nature of God's word. The purpose is to contrast human frailty with God's eternal sovereignty and faithfulness, to build trust in God's promises by reminding the people that while human efforts fade, God's word and his redemptive plan endure forever. All right, I think we can see that now if you go back to the decree of Cyrus. What does Cyrus want the people to know?

16:18 Go back to the Ezra, Go back to the decree of Cyrus. I know I'm not gonna let this go, and but that's okay, I can't let it go. Just look at what Cyrus seems to be trying to convey to the people. What does he seem to want the people to know? How many? Okay? Where do you see that he is? He wants the people to know that the authority comes from God. Okay, so he wants the people to know God is involved? Right? Okay? Can wait? Does everyone feel comfortable with saying that? Because I don't because I am biased here, right, yeah, Lord God, he uses the Lord, right, he uses the covenant name, the national name of God, right, Okay, the Lord God. What word does he use for God is the Elohim? Lord is Jehovah, Jehovah and God. I don't know if he's using what's he's using here? I don't think it's Lohim.

17:29 We'll see here. I didn't think about it. I'm just curious because I mean, I mean a lot. This is why a lot of people the Decree of Cyrus is controversial from a lot of perspectives. Oh, it's Elohim. Okay, So Elohim is nothing really, that's pretty common. So that's nothing unique there about that one. Okay, yeah, he's but he appointed me. See yeah, it's all God a point to me to do what? All right? Does he say anything else? Okay? How does he begin the next section? Okay?

18:18 Anything among you God? Okay? I didn't know if he says anything about God said or God's nothing along those lines. But he's very clear that it's God, right, very clear that it's God. It's not man. So so the uh, yeah, so we we can see that the first voice and the sex. So the first voice is a messenger of preparation. The second voice is a teacher of eternal truth. Everybody got that? Yes? Okay? So these voices in a sense are distinct. Yet they can't they there's a they compliment.

18:59 They create a complementary message, right. The first voice calls to action, focus on the need for preparation and removing obstacles. The people are to respond by aligning themselves with God's plan. Right, I think that's simple. Right. The first voice calls action. What are the people to do to the first voice Isaiah forty verse three, There to simply do what they're to follow there to prepare to see it. In verse three, okay, the second voice calls to trust, teaches that the ultimate deliverance depends on God, not human strength. What is the audience to do with the second voice? They just basically they're just to believe and be reminded that, hey, humans are frail, God's word will endure forever. Together, these two voices urge the people to actively prepare, and it gives them the philological foundation for why they can trust because God has said so, all right. This dual function aligns with how God often uses messengers. In scripture, harolds or messengers announce his coming. John the Baptist does this, and obviously the New Testament to prepare the way, and teachers remind people of his truth. So this fits the broader context of Isaiah forty, which is both a called a readiness and a reassurance of God's enduring faithfulness. This understanding reinforces two key theological truths, God's called action he uses

20:33 messengers to challenge people to work, and God's sovereign faithfulness and reminds people that while human strength is fleeting, his word will endure forever. Both voices serve as instruments of God's redemptive plan, delivering a complimentary message that addresses both the need for action and the assurance for divine reliability. All right, so I think we can see that, can we not? So what should we do then? With the voice? Issue? This is what This is what I suggest. As much as I look, I will argue this, and so I'm gonna make one argument. So what should we do with the voice? You may want to write these points down, right, So we'll try to make some individual points here. You ready.

21:25 The first thing we should do with the voices are you ready? Is just focus on the message more than the voice first. Now, typically I would say we should identify the voice first, but in this particular case, just let's identify the message first, right, and we get the message, prepare, God is coming, right, Why should you prepare? Because human beings are going to fly, fail, fall, fade, be blown away. But God's word endures forever. You've got a reason to prepare because God said it's going to happen, and his word last, it outlasts anybody else, right, And that that is comforting? And which way, why is it comforting that God's word will outlast any human Well? One, it's comforting because well that means, hey, if the Babylonian's in charge, sooner or later, they're going to fade away. God's word is going to If you see your own people start to die, your own family members start to remember they're in captivity for seventy years. What that reassures them that even though we may die, God's word is going to endure forever. Right, So it gives you that comfort, all right, So we can we can get that, Yes, we get the message. Everyone can get the message. Now, So that's the first thing we need to grow. The second thing I am going to make this statement. I know it may not be popular. Popular, we cannot just overlook Cyrus

22:59 in the yes. And here's the reason I want to so stress Cyrus is that if I stress Cyrus, what am I forcing you to do with the text to maintain in its historical context. I don't want you to leave the historical context. Sermon after sermon, who gets and all the sermons I've listened to, Who's almost never mentioned In any of the sermons I've listened to, Cyrus is never even hinted at. You've got to know Cyrus's involvement here, right, So I think we have to do that. Three, the struggle and identifying the voice, whether it's one, two, and who it may or may not be. Even though it may feel like it's futile and it's not worth it, it's worth it because it's forcing you to do what to get into the text. So the exercise and trying to figure this out, even though it may feel futile, it's worth it because it's getting you into the text.

24:05 A lot of people say, well, see, if you don't really have a good conclusion, why waste two hours doing it? Because it's forced us to do what we've spent hours. We spent now almost two hours going through the text over and over and over and over again. So what should you always remember? You should remember all of the things that we have discussed. All right, So now let's work through six through eight. So what conclusion should we come to? Yeah, I think the conclusion we should come to is it's almost impossible for us to identify the voice it really is. I know everybody wants to run to John the Baptist. That doesn't help us in the historical context. I want to run to Cyrus. Why do I want to run to Cyrus? Because it forces us into the historical context, which is why I feel gets already abandoned. But I know this, his voices are giving very important information to whom, to those people in captivity.

25:07 All right, So now let's just go through six through eight and we'll just try to bring out some points here so that we can leave here with something specific. Does that sound good? All right? So first, let's look at the contextual kind of overview. Let's look at the immediate context and the historical context and the literary context. All right, everybody ready, right, the immediate context. These verses Verses six through eight follow the initial comfort and preparation themes of Isaiah forty right. Verses one through two proclaim God's comfort for his people and announce they're basically Deliverance three through five introduces a voice calling for preparation for God's coming revealing his glory, and verses six through eight shifts the focus to contrast human frailty with the enduring reliability of God's word. That's the immediate context. Everybody agree with that, that's simple, straightforward. We've established that now like ten different ways, have we not? That's the immediate context.

26:06 What's the historical context? This is addressed to Israel during the Babylonian exile, and the passage remains reminds the people their oppression is temporary and weak in comparison to their God, and their hope lies in God's eternal promise, not in human power. We got that. That's historical context. So do we have the immediate context? Do we have the historical context? Everybody should say, man, what's the literary context? Isaiah forty begins what is known as what the Book of Comfort goes all the way to chapter fifty five. This is designed to reassure the exiled israel Israelites of God's plan to restore them. And what literary thing that you need to remember about this section is what type of literary style is being used over and over and over poetics? Right.

27:01 It employes vivid imagery and metaphors to contrast human frailty with God's sovereignty. Right, everybody got that? So what is the three context here that we looked at? Immediate, historical, literary. Right, All of that is just a reminder. We're going to do that every section, every section, I'm going to give you the immediate, the historical, literary, or some other form of context, because the context puts it all together. All right, Now, if we just start working verses six to eight, let's just take some of this apart, all right, Let's start in verse six, right, and I'm going to read from this translation. We have a voice says cry, And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. Right, A voice says cry? Can ever want agree? A voice says cry? Likely this seems to be a divine command, Right, I think we can agree with that? Voice emphasizes the need to proclaim an essential truth to these people? Right cry out? Right? Look, in verse six, a voice says, cry, that's important. This voice wants someone to cry something out that's obviously important. When it says to cry it out, that is almost emphasizing what yell it? Raise your voice.

28:23 It doesn't just say speak it, cry it with some passion, with some emphasis. This is important. The people need to know this, can we and then we have the dialogue that kind of intervenes here in this section, Right, what shall I cry? This response mirrors the humility of the prophet or messenger who seeks to clarity from God about the message, because the voice just says, cry, what's the obvious question? What am I supposed to say? Meaning that the messenger understands that it's not to go proclaim what their message? That the messenger understands is supposed to proclaim.

29:10 Whoever this voice is calling out, you got I gotta proclaim your message, right, I gotta go proclaim your message whoever, whoever they understand it. It's it's got to be your message. Okay? Can we all agree with that? Right? What's next after that? What shall I cry? Then? Immediately? What's after it, Yeah, what does it say exact words? Next a couple of words. Does it say all flesh is all men are like grass? Or all flesh is as grass? It refers to humanity, emphasizing morality and frailty. Right. The metaphor compares human life to grass, which is fragile and short lived. Right, it's trying to show you that what when it comes to human life, what is it like grass? It grows up and then what happens to it fades cut down? Right in Texas, if we do get grass that actually shows up, it shows up for a little bit of time, and then what happens to it? You can you can look out the window over there. It's that brown. I don't know what that stuff is, right, you step on it, and what happens to it? Just and it just does? What?

30:23 And the Texas wind? That's that's uh, that's human beings. That's human beings right now, we can we want to immediately make it about us, but we got to put it in its context. That's they're probably realizing that one they're gonna they see the frailty of their own life. Right, they're in captivity. People have died. But it also is a reminder, and it's gonna be hard for them to see. They probably would have a hard time seeing the Babylonians in that way, as we've already mentioned, right, the metaphors comparing human life to grass, which is fragile and short lived all and know what else does it say? After all?

31:04 Flesh is grass and all the goodliness and some translations some have the idea of all its beauty. But whatever is good about it, whatever is beautiful about it, whatever is positive about it, is what it's like the flower of the field, right, So it can be It can mean faithful, It can mean loyalty, it can mean splendor, it can mean whatever it is humanity, even humanity and its best form right or as fleeting as wildflowers which bloom briefly before they wither. So in other words, as humans.

31:51 If you take anything good in us, you think anything strong in us, anything powerful in us, it's only what temporary. That's the point. It's fleeting. It's temporary, all right? Everybody see that? Does that? Break that down pretty good? Everybody got that? All right? Now, what happens in verse seven? The first part is the grass withthereth and the flower fades. The metaphor deepens not only not only as human life brief, but it's also subject to decay and disappearance. The grass withthereth, the flower fadeth, it just is gone. It's just re emphasizing that. Can we agree? And then it says what next?

32:46 Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it? Now, some translations have when the breath of the Lord bloweth upon it? Does someone see that? Because the word spirit can be the word breath, right, so that it could be translated a number of different ways. Here, all right, but what does this seem to be referring to? That's by God's hand. This is demonstrating God's power. Very good, This is demonstrating that this, as one would say, it symbolizes God's judgment or the natural fragility of creation under his control. But the idea refers to God's sovereign power.

33:32 The phrase reminds the audience that even human frailty is under God's sovereignty. In a sense, God is the one who does the way. What's the imagery, whether it's a flower, whether it's grass, what happens when God breathes upon it? It's gone? So, in other words, it's almost like you take it, and God goes and it's demonstrating, not it demonstrating how frail we are. It's contrasting our frailty to God's power. He simply breathes upon it. So now what and it's context. What does that mean for the people listening? Yeah, you could? And the and the message here is the Babylonians God can do what with yeah? And he and he and they leave in the most like ridiculous way.

34:32 Right you got you got the king of Babylon who's like, I don't care. He just kind of walks away, and then Cyrus just kind of walks, just kind of walks in, and he's like, all right, guys leave. I mean that you couldn't write that in a story. People would be like, that's too stupid, that's not the way it works. But that's literally the way it worked historically. The Babylonian king just kind of goes a wall and Cyrus just come and the kind of just basically open the gates and Cyrus just walks stay and it's like I'm hearing to free you, okay, And they're like, what is happening here? Demonstrating what God's sovereignty he just makes it all go away?

35:17 And then what does it say at the end of verse seven? Surely the people are what our grass? The metaphors applied directly to the audience, affirming that humanity's power and permanence are illusions. It's all going away, The people is grass. It's all going away, all right? So now what does that bring us to verse eight? All right, the grass withereth, the flower phades, but the word of our Lord stands for other the grass wither it the flower phase. This repetition reinforces the transient, the transience of human life. That's what it's just being repetitive. If is it not human life? It withereth the flower fadeth. But what's the key phrase there? That word? But right? Because then that does what negates everything that comes before? And what?

36:18 And what is a state that the God's word, the word of our God, shall stand forever. This is the eternity, eternity and reliability of God's word. This is the his The theological assertion being stated here is that, hey, all of this other stuff may fall apart, God's word is the only thing that's going to last. God promises are immutable, trustworthy, and unchanging. That's what they're really supposed to get from this. Right, this voice is supposed to tell the people God said it, it's going to happen. And again, that's why it reminds me of Cyrus's decree. Everyone. I know, you don't know me.

37:03 I know I just walked through the gate. I know I'm a Persian king. But let me tell you something, God, your God, Jehovah has told me that I'm going to do what build back your city, build back your temple. God told me that, right. I mean, when you read that decree and Ezra, isn't that just shocking to you? How he is? He not dogmatic? He asserts it with what complete certainty that it's God that's told him to do this? Right, So, well, there's a certainty here. God's word is the reason. Now this should directly comfort the exiles by affirming that God's covenant with Israel and door and not only that god word endures forever. There's a lot of elements to that for them. Right did God make a promise to them a long time ago in his covenants? Those covenants are going to what end or forever?

38:05 Did he promise that? And the beginning of Isaiah forty that they're gonna they're basically their captivity is over. Yes, that's going to stant. Did he promise that to captivity be seventy years? Yes, that's going to stant. All of that is to bring comfort to those individuals. All right, everybody got that. That's kind of an exogetical walk through that section six through eight. We kind of exogetically walk through it. So then what do we want to do. Let's pull some key themes out from that. You ready for some key themes? I think we can see the first one. What's the first key theme you get from Versus six to eight? The first one the freilty or a futility of a humanity of our lives. Right, humanity is like grass and flowers, beautiful but fragile. The imagery reminds us of our dependence on God and the futility of placing our hope in human stream. We just got to see it's it's fading and it's hard for us as humans to grasp onto that. I think I think I think age is what helps you catch on to it.

39:10 Right when you're young, you think, what, I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this, and then it doesn't take long. Then all of a sudden you wake up one day going, it's gone, because all of a sudden you realize you've lived more life than you have because at some point you start being you start the clock, you start counting down, right before you're counting up, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, And then all of a sudden you wake up one day going, man, I may have ten years left. Like if I look at the entire history of my family line, I probably have ten years if I'm lucky, because no one makes it beyond that Hamlet family. So I would probably have like ten years left in my life if I'm being like remotely honest with the way now I'm not.

40:08 I know God is ultimately sovereign, but I'm saying from a practical standpoint, I got probably ten years left. That's a weird way to look at life, is it. I that's kind of depressing, isn't I? You know how fast ten years goes, that's that's half of what I did in the military. Okay, that's depressing. Okay for some people that's their entire high school career. Okay, and I'm joking, okay, Joe, But that's that goes back when you're young, ten years seems like a million a million years. You're never gonna get those ten years, right, remember when I can't remember when you first joined the military. You're like people that get to that end of that first four years and they're like, I just don't know if I can do this anymore. If you stay in, all of a sudden you're at ten years and you're like, what just happened?

40:55 And then next thing you know, the second ten goes by like this, and a lot of people like I can't do I can't do it. When you look, when you start counting down, your whole perspective changes, and what do you begin to realize just how temporal, how frail, and how transient life is. Can you imagine being Babylonian captivity? They would have really understood the frailty of life? Would they have not? I mean they've been there for how many years? Well, depending on when they get the message, ten years, twenty years, thirty years and seventy means a lot of people were never going to see freedom. That frailty is a powerful lesson here. The sovereignty of God.

41:40 Can we agree that that's a major emphasis here? God's breath emphasizes his control over creation and history. Nothing happens outside of God's sovereign will, including the rise and fall of nations. God's controlling it all. What's the difficult part about that? I can't. The most complicated part in life for us as believers is understanding God's sovereignty because it makes no sense? Does it come on? Has God's sovereignty ever made sense in your life? Maybe for you, not for me? I can bring up a million issues, can I? And I I mean? I mean, we can talk about God's sovereignty right now? Do we want to talk about what's going on in Gaza? Do we want to talk about what's going on in Ukraine death? Do you want to talk about how many children were sexually molested in twenty twenty four? Do you want to talk about how many people are victims of human trafficking and sex trafficking?

42:41 How many people were beaten in physical abuse or domestic abuse? Do we want to go on crime. Well, when God is sovereign, what's the obvious question? Well, then do something right. So it's always hard, but God is sovereign, but it can be hard to assess that if all, if God can just breathe and make life go away, then he can just breathe and keep life healthy preserved. And I don't nobody has to die of cancer or suffer or get old. But that's not the way it works, is it. That doesn't deny his sovereignty, but it does call it into question in our mind. I think that that's okay, a third lesson? So what's the first lesson? Frailty of humanity?

43:26 Second the sovereignty of God? What's the third lesson? And this section sixty eight, the one that everyone goes to, the Word of God endures forever. Right, God's word is contrasted with transient nature of humanity. Human life faids. God's promises remain. This ensures that his covenant faithfulness is unaffected by human frailty. All right, God's covenant last. Man doesn't right God's covenant last. It doesn't matter what else happens, because God made his comany. His word stands. His word is eternal does Does everyone get that? All? Right? So how about some historical and philological application here? Right? How about historical application for Israel. I think we've covered this.

44:18 I think everyone feels comfortable with this. Right. The Israelites were in Babylonian captivity, surrounded by a powerful empire that seemed insurmountable. This passage reassures them that Babylon's might is leading. God's promises of restoration will endure. Can we everyone can agree with that? Right? That's pretty truthful. And despite Israel's failure, God's covenant remains intact. His word to redeem or restore his people's stands firm. This shows God's word. God is faithful. He is faithful to his word even when we remain unfaithful to it. We may be faithless faithful if you preach this that, hey, God will do this, if you do this, That's not what this text is about. This is God's word endures. And guess what when we talk about the frailty of man and that we were like grass and we wither away, you know what else withers away?

45:20 Our morality, good, our gooding, good listeners, our goodness, okay, our godliness? It all corrupts and faith it always breaks down no matter how Look, when you first become a Christian, right at that very moment, depending on when you got saved, if you guys saved older in life's at that feeling you feel like you're gonna do what. There's a feeling that you're gonna You're gonna be the best Christian. You're gonna serve God. You're gonna do only that which is right. You're gonna love God. You're never gonna think the wrong thing, do the wrong thing. You really have that passion and zeal for it, and nobody should ever want to diminish anyone's passion and zeal. You want to applaud that, you don't want to throw water on it. Right, But what ultimately happens. You begin to realize you fail here, you fell, here, you fall, you fall, you fall, and then all of that apparent godliness and goodness begins to what fade away?

46:27 But what endures God's word? And what does God's word say? That He sent his only son to save sinners of whom we are chief right, and we say by an imputed righteousness, And that righteousness remains irregardless of what I do or don't do. So God's word endures forever. That's and we see this in Israel. God's word remains truthful for them no matter what does everybody say. I cannot stress that enough right, that it shows God's faithfulness to them.

47:09 So there's kind of the historical application for Israel. What about some philological insights for us? Well, it shows God's eternal nature and it gives us for some kind of redemptive hope. We could we could kind of add more to that, But let's apply it for us today. Is there any application for us today? What are some app versus six to eight? Is there application for us today? Well, let me go back. I've tried to establish this the entire time we've been in Isaiah forty. So let me establish it again. Okay, you've got I want to I want to have this so ingrained in your brain that the minute I talk about application for day for today, everyone says the same thing. As Israel or Judah was in Babylonian captivity in a similar way, we are in our own Babylonian captivity? Are we not? Yes? Where do we live in a fallen world? Right? Are we captive to this fallen world. Yes, what are we captive to the corruption of our body? You get sick, gets weak, and it dies. Agreed. We are held captive to a sin nature, all right? And we're in a world where there's going to be pain, suffering and death because even Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation, right, So are we trapped there? There's no way for us to get out of it? Can you escape your sinful nature?

48:40 Can you escape your corruptible body? And can you escape all of the issues in this world? You can try to escape some of them, but for the most part, you're forced to deal with them over and over and over and over and over and over again. Are you not? Does that get tiring? Frustrating and sometimes you want to throw your hands up and say I quit. Okay every single day? Right, So we can relate to being in captivity, can we not? Now? The message to them is what? What is the message to them in captivity? Well, one, their captivity is coming to an end. Is there a message of that related to us? Yeah, it's all gonna come to an end. It's called glorification, right, So it's gonna we have the same promise, just in a different way. Yes, And do we need to be reminded that the frailty of humanity? Yes, because sometimes we see forces people. I used to say this because my military career, I always stayed in the same place for very long periods of time. Right.

49:42 I didn't move around like most people in the military. Right, So I learned I could just live it, you know, no matter how much someone got on my nerves or bothered me, even if they were the boss. My attitude always was I'll be here when you're gone, because I always stayed in the same place forever. Right, So even if I had a commander that was all up in my case or whatever, you're gonna be leaving and I'm still gonna be right here and all of the stuff that you thought was so important and all of your new ideas, guess what's gonna happen to your ideas. We're gonna change them the second you walk out the door. In fact, I even had that I could take you to the place at die Saur Force Space in the hospital where this commander was all in my face and I literally said those words that you're gonna leave and I'm still gonna be here, and guess what the second you walk out that door. Guess what I'm going to do.

50:35 I'm gonna change every single thing that you have told me to do. So guess what the day he retired and was walking out the sidewalk, guess what I did. I walked out there to say you're gone. And guess what I'm gonna do when I walk right back into that building, changing everything you told me to do? Right, Because that's that's the way it is, right, human power, Everything is what It's temporary? Right, So do we not need to we need to be reminded that not only of all the forces around us are temporary, but what else do we need to be reminded? We are temporary? So then that can mean that sometimes we try to grab onto things that's nothing more than what like sand that's just gonna We try to grab onto things it's not going. You know, you can sit around remembering the good old days. But the good old days what they're good and gone? Okay, it doesn't matter how glorious those those those old days, they're gone. It's everything is temporary.

51:39 We need to be reminded of that, do we not? Yes? I think I think we need to recognize the human frailty we have to see that. Right, our trust is not in human strength, it's not even in our own goodliness, it's not in our own ability. Or we can't even trust on our own morality because it's transient. And I know Christians, it's shocking. It's so weird to me that Christians always like, what is happening? So many people are falling into sin. People have been falling into sin since canaan Abel because we are frail, weak, sinful human beings.

52:20 That's what we do, right, We've got to see that. So then what do we turn to? What would be then the application for us? We turned to God's word, which endures forever. Israel had a specific message to them that endures forever. And that's why I reject a lot of the systems of eschatology that replaces us with Israel, because then that doesn't mean God's word was enduring. Right, So if that, guess what Israel I believe will be saved and God will give them the land? Right now, guess what we what promises? Can I hold on to that?

53:05 I'm say by an imputed righteousness. You know why I want to hold on to that, because irregardless of my righteousness or my feelings. What do I know? My salvation is dependent upon that righteousness that's given to me by God's God's Word tells me and points me too. Right, So there is something I can hold on to in contrast to that which is transient. Does that make sense right? The if I think it's in one Peter, I think the same phrase shows up in first Peter. Let me look here about the grass withering. But it's connected to something else. If I remember correctly. I'm going by memory, So don't if this turns out to be wrong, don't say how did you not know? Verse twenty two, Oh, no, Verse twenty three, Yes, look at verse twenty three. One Peter one twenty three. Everybody ready being born again, not of what not of perishable seed or corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which does what liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

54:33 The grass withereth, and the flower thereof felleth away. But the Word of the Lord endured forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. How does Peter use this phrase. He applies it to what the gospel. The gospel is the enduring word that we hold on to everything around us, your morality, church, past, people, people who hate you, people who gossip about you. None of them matter. They're all gonna fade away. You know what's gonna last the gospel that was preached to me. And guess what that gospel is. You are a sinner.

55:14 God is holy. He sent his son to save sinners, and he saved you by faith alone, because of Christ alone, by an imputed righteousness, not an infused righteousness. That last. Everything else will fade away. That's how Peter takes it and applies it to us directly. All right, does that make sense? All right? So then how can we break this down? Go back to Isaiah forty verse six. A voice wants a message to be cried out. Everybody see that verse six, And we should ask what is that message that should be cried out? For them? They would be asking, hey, what message do you want me to cry?

56:04 And what is that message? Number one? The frailty of humanity? In verse six and seven. Can we see that human life is frail? And I'm going to add so I'm going to say the first. So there's a call for a message to be proclaimed. The first part of that message is the frail to humanity. The second part of that phrase is God is sovereign over it because his breath breathes upon it, right. And then third the enduring word of God. It is enduring. All of that message was applicable to them, and it's applicable to us in the same sense that we are in Babylonian captivity. And guess what we need to be reminded that life is frail.

56:52 God is sovereign, but his word endures forever. And what how does this word apply to us? Peter says, it applies to the gods in a sense. What was and the gospel is what good news? What was the good news to them? Freedom from captivity? What is the good news for us? That we have been saved by an imputed righteousness which guarantees us deliverance from all of our Babylonian captivity? When where there is a new heaven, new earth, no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death. Does that all fit together? All? Right? So there we go.

57:34 We've done it. We've went from Isaiah forty verse one all the way to verse eight, any questions, did we figure out who the voices are? No, we didn't. But what do I want you to remember about the voices? Okay? I want you to remember the message of the voice. Secondly, I want you not to forget cyrus okay, because it puts us in a historical context. And number three, I want you to see that even though we never were able to figure it out, the exercise of working through it may have felt feutile. You may have felt like, well, that was a waste of time. What did it do?

58:19 What did it keep us doing? For an hour? We made us go through that text over and over and over and over and over again. Right. So, sometimes sometimes the pursuit of an answer is what is valuable, not the answer. And Bible study, the pursuit of the answer is more important than sometimes the answer, because sometimes all of your pursuit will end up wear Don't I don't really know. Don't feel that that pursuit was then not valuable, because what did it? If you're pursuing it? We spent an hour working on that, right, Sarah even threw out a new idea and we worked on that for a little bit, right, And we went back and forth and came up with all kinds of different ideas, and we tried and tried and tried, and we don't really have a good answer. But we know this. These voices are messengers and we need to hear the message. They needed to prepare, and that definitely has historical. The other the second message is, hey, here's the reason you need to prepare because everything around you is going to fade away, but God's word is going to last. And that's a good way to end twenty twenty four. Is in twenty twenty five, what is the one thing we'll be confronted with throughout twenty twenty five? The frailty of human beings? Right, your own frailty. What's going to happen in twenty twenty five?

59:44 People are going to die, right, people are going to get sick, They're going to get injured, going to get hurt. They're going to be emotionally hurt, physically hurt. There's going to be pain, there's going to be suffering, there's going to bea Is that all a guarantee? I know that sounds not very that's not a very hopeful message. It's true, ladies and gentlemen, all those things are going to happen. It could be some of us, right, some of us may not be here by the end of twenty twenty five. But what will be here, God's word will endure. Everything else around you crumbles and faiths. But that's so. What can we cling to the truth and specifically for us, the Gospel message? And yes, what else can we know in twenty twenty five? God is still sovereign that can and guess what we have a sovereign God in whom we cannot see as we live in a world in which we can see, and all the things that we witness in this world calls into question the existence of that sovereign God we just have. That's the reality of Christianity.

1:00:51 That's why faith comes into play, because by sight, what would we what conclusion would we come to if we were looking at by sight? Be like there is no God? That Israel would have been questioning the existence of God in their situation where they have not, And it is bizarre that the person who shows up that says, hey, guys, God has has told me that I'm gonna take care all of it. They would have been baffled. Can you even try to wrap your mind around that scene, Hey, what's going on with the Babylonian kings kind of disappeared. Yeah, it's all good, but we're about to open the gates to whom the Persian king? Oh, no, is he worse than the Babylonian king. Well, they opened the gates and all of a sudden he comes walking in and he's like, God has sent me here to tell you that God once that I am going to do that. That would have been bizarre for them to even comprehend. You know, it's so crazy. But up to for seventy years, they would have been having a hard time believing God was involved in anything because they were doing what for seventy years, suffering and dying. Well, it's great. Someone comes says, hey, God is all powerful and sovereign. Well then mine is it? Yeah?

1:02:10 I don't know. Get me out of Babylonian captivity, you know, raise my family back from the dead so they can see us being getting together. You know, there'd be a lot of questions. So but that's the reality we all we all endure, all right, and we live in all right. Let's pray Lord, are we come before you this afternoon? Lord? As we end this year and we thank you that we have. We probably at the beginning of this year didn't even know we would still even be in this building. Lord, you have kept us here, and we don't know what happens in the next year, but we trust in you. And whether the church is here, whether the church is not here, whether we are here, whether we are not here, your word endures forever. And what you say will happen is what will happen. And we can be grateful that my salvation is a sure thing because you have proclaimed it, and it has nothing to do with my faithfulness or unfaithfulness.

1:03:03 And we praise you, and we think Jesus, and it's in his name we pray. And God's people said Amen.