Isaiah 40:9-11

0:00 All right, Isaiah chapter forty. I know it feels like it's been a couple of years since we've been here Isaiah chapter forty. I have this tendency if we start certain teaching here from this building, from this pulpit, that if we're not here and I'm doing something just on the internet, just the podcast, I tend to save what I start here for here in the podcast. I always do something a little different because I like it to be somewhat uniformed and consistent. It's not always probably the best idea, but because of that, then we've been a while since we've been in Isaiah chapter forty. So what we're going to do is we're going to try to get caught up a little bit here. The goal today, I don't think it's going to happen, is I would like to get through verses nine through eleven in this hour, which is not going to happen, and then in the next hour, the goal was to get through twelve through seventeen, so by the end of the day we would be Isaiah forty ready to go to verse eighteen. But there's no way we're going to accomplish this. So let's try to put a lot of things together as far as the things we've been talking about and covering kind of we'll mix the podcast in with Church here is.

1:15 On the podcast, we have spent a lot. We spent a considerable amount of time and even for a broadcast I did when one of the Sundays we weren't here, we talked about AI versus Lordship Salvation. We did a lot of work on that. I'm still fascinated by AI's basically total rejection of lordship Salvation. I love the fact that it points out all of its problems. So we worked on that. But you can hear the AI part of that, which has been an essential part of everything we've been doing in twenty twenty five talking about artificial intelligence, showing how artificial intelligence and theology and how it's working and all the different issues with that. And so we've been doing all of that, and in the midst of all of that, we've been working on Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five, and we've been utilizing AI to do a lot of work on that as well. So all of this brings us to Isaiah forty through fifty five, which the reason, the reason we have been doing this entire series on Isaiah forty through fifty five is not because of how much AI messes up Isaiah forty through fifty five.

2:21 We have been doing this because of how. Much human beings have messed up sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five. Because at this. Point, I'm probably over one hundred sermons now of listening to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five and have yet to hear one that has handled the text in anything that I would refer to as an accurate way. And every situation, over and over and over the pastor takes Isaiah forty through fifty five, he almost he will pay a little lip service, talk about the original context in the original recipients, and move them out and move us in. Sometimes it's even it's just starts with us, and they spiritualized the text, allegorize the text just it's just a disaster. And I was shocked how bad that it has gotten. Other people who have listened online, they themselves have acknowledged that they've listened to somewhere between fifty and one hundred sermons and they can't find one.

3:26 So I'm just utterly. Fascinated and how bad it has gotten and that's why we are working on Isaiah forty through fifty five and why we've done so many sermon reviews. So I asked Ai this morning kind of like, you know, what in the world is going on with all of these sermons in Isaiah forty through fifty five and what is happening? Well, Ai said, there's some important things going on in regards to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five. The first thing is says that we should learn from this and see from this is philological and hermeneutical trends and preaching. That what we are seeing with.

4:07 Reviewing and listening to all these sermons in Isaiah forty through fifty five is we are witnessing in real time philological and hermeneutical trends that have entered into preaching. We're seeing these trends and we have to be able to interpret these trends. Ai said, many sermons I just listen to this. This is so important. Many sermons are shaped by philological tradition that often imposes pre existing framework onto the text. I've said that. Now, if you've. Been in this church for any lenguet the time, you've heard me say it for over twenty years. That is the thing we cannot do. And what does AI mean that many sermons are shaped by a philological tradition. Well, if you come if you come from a distance sational tradition, or if you come from a covenant theology, you take that philological tradition and you read the theilological tradition where into the text, and then you interpret the text based off what the philological tradition that you've read into the text.

5:18 And every church does that. That that's why if you go into one church and they're preaching on a passage, you're going to hear these things. And if you go into a different church and they're preaching on the same passage, they're going to say different things. Well, so everyone should raise their hand and go. That's a problem, right, because the text can't mean one thing for one group and another thing for another group. The text either has a meaning and the group should not determine that meaning. And AI is like, that's what people are doing there. Their sermons are shaped by their fill logical tradition, and then they impose that that pre existing framework onto the text, rather than allowing the text to speak on its own terms.

6:10 And that's what we see. If you go to a lordship church, how are they going to interpret the sermon on the Mountain radically different than if you go to a non lordship church. It's the same sermon. So how can one get if you go to First John, a lordship is going to interpret it one way or not. That is the fact that that happens. Should should in reality, every single person who goes to church raise their hand and kind of go. So I'm actually not coming to church to learn the text. I'm coming to church to hear the text interpreted through a specific philological framework. Many we don't come to the church to study the Bible. We come to church to study a philological framework being imposed on the Bible. And that should lead make everyone just go then there's no point in coming to church. Now you say that people will lose their minds, but the reality is there is no point in going to church if all you're going to go to church for is to hear the philological framework, because if you already agree with the philological framework, you're simply going to hear what you already agree with. That means there's no challenge, there's no difficulty. And while there is a problem. So I just that's that's crazy. I just cannot stress that enough. So Ai said that there is there's these trends in preaching, and the first trend

7:40 is really that sermons are shaped by theilological traditions. The second trend that's happening. Ai says that many preachers tend to over spiritualize Isaiah forty through fifty five. They read New Testament reality into the text without preserving its original context regarding Israel. So what's happening in churches They take their sermons or shaped by their thoological tradition which is imposed upon the text. And secondly, preachers spiritualize Isaiah and read New Testament realities back into Isaiah and forget Israel and make it all about us.

8:22 A third thing is the. Tendency to force direct crystological connections overshadows Isaiah's immediate message to Israel and exile and how these promises function within their historical and covenantal context. So there is a tendency within preaching to force a chrystological a connection to Christ instead of doing what, well, wait a minute, this is about whom Israel and exile. Wait a minute, The promises deal with what the covenant given to Israel. All of that ys forgotten, so that it becomes about your theology.

9:04 It becomes about you, It becomes about this crystological connection, and the text gets completely abandoned. So Ai said, those are three things happening within the thiological and hermoneutical trends and preaching. A second thing Ai says is that this calls for a challenge of exegetical rigor. Many sermons focus on application first rather than careful exegesis. This leads to a sermon that emphasizes comfort, encouragement while neglecting historical context. And philological precision. So that Ai says, what we have to do is we've got to become more committed to exegetical study. The only problem is churches want whate application. What do they want?

9:51 They want comfort? What do they want encouragement? What do they not want? Historical context and pilological ps Will they say they want historical context yes? Will they say they want philological precision yes? So how can the pastor appease that while giving the people what they really want even though they don't say it. All he has to do is just say, Isaiah, it was written at this time, he just has to give a little historical tidbit, right, a little historical sound bite. Everyone in church will go, oh, that was such in depth preaching when most of it was application encouragement, and everyone walks away going, oh, love my church, and they didn't actually get anything they claim that they actually want. So AI says, obviously, we have these trends that pointed out those trends that we need a challenge for exegetical rigor. And the reason why is because sermons typically focus on application and exegesus and that preachers rely on common interpretive shortcuts repeating what has traditionally been preached, rather than engaging in fresh text driven study.

11:10 That is a major condemnation. So everybody hear that again, what do preachers rely on common interpretive shortcuts? Repeating what has traditionally been preached? Can I if I know Protestants don't like to hear that. You know what that means? We're no different than Catholics. We rely on what tradition we go with, what's traditionally been preached, how the text has traditionally been handled, and what actually. Do you not get? You do not get a fresh text driven study and What have I always said that we have to do when we come to the text.

11:52 What do we have to throw out. Everything that we've ever heard? Right, it doesn't matter how you interpreted, It doesn't matter what you've been taught. All of your preconceived idea. Even your philological framework, must be taken out back and put down. I've been saying this for twenty years. I'm glad now finally I got a tool that will agree with me. Finally. Okay. Three, The influence of popular preaching styles often prioritize this inspiration over precision, leading dis sermons that lean towards devotional reflections rather than serious textual engagement. And guess what happens if you stand behind the pulpit and you don't care about anyone's theological team. You don't care, you don't care about traditional way of preaching. You don't care. You're going to approach the text fresh, You're gonna challenge things.

12:49 You don't care about encouragement, you don't care about inspiration, you care about the text and precision. You will drive everyone out of your church. And that is a sad reality. And Ais even mentioned that before that. Hey, if you continue the way you're going, and I'm like, well, okay, well it's a little late now, all right. So AI says, here's some things we can learn. There's these trends happening and preaching we've talked about. We need these challenge for exegetical rigor because sermons focus on application and they rely on interpretive shortcuts and basically tradition and the preaching styles today often prioritizes inspiration over precision. All right. Then it goes on to say. AI goes on to say number three, the prevalence of preaching for the church rather than the text.

13:43 That's an interesting phrase. AI says, we have a prevalence today of preaching for the church rather than preaching the text. What does AI mean by that? Many preachers feel the need to make every passage immediately applicable to modern day Christians, leading them to bypass the original audience's context. What does this mean When a pastor stands behind the pulpit, he feels like he has to do what I've got to deliver something to you that's for you, and I don't care about what was originally going on and who was originally about? So what do I do? I go to Isaiah forty and I move them out and I move you in. And do most people sitting in the pew care that I do that?

14:39 No? They say, amen, Oh what a good sermon, Oh that touched my heart, I felt God speak to me. Whatever nonsense they want to say, and their little you know, church language, that's that's what we've got. To stop it. Ai even knows that that's what we're doing, all right, So then what does Ai go on to say? This results in misapplied promises, where texts that were given to Israel about their restoration are directly claimed for the church, and instead of wrestling with how Isaiah forty through fifty five functions within Israel's prophetic and covenental framework, sermons jump to gospel connections too quickly without considering how the text would have been understood in this time. Right, So then AI give me a bunch of things that we can do to try to fix this.

15:33 Right. Something gives me all these steps, and just it goes on. It goes on for pages, giving me all kinds of things that we could do. It had been encouraging me to write a book on Isaiah forty through fifty five to try to fix the problem. Because basically it's like, hey, there's a problem, you need to try to fix it. I'm like, well, who am I? I can't fix it? Okay, I can't do anything about it. I've done over thirty three hours of study on Isaiah forty fifty five, that all on the podcast, and I don't know if we've come up with any good answers, but we've demonstrated the problem. But AI realizes there is a problem. So that's why we're doing all of this work. So with all of that said, that's why we're doing it. I just want to refresh into your mind why we are spending all of this time. With that said, let's go to Isaiah chapter forty. Let's start in verse one. Let's read to where we are so that you can see everything in its context. All right, Isaiah chapter forty, Verse one begins with comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Right. This is a message of comfort that's to be delivered to whom my people, and who are my people? Those in Babylonian captivity. Their Babyloni captivity is mentioned where chapter thirty nine five through eight. Okay, everybody, So the immediate context sets it up right. The people in captivity need to be brought a message of comfort

17:03 from whome. Verse one, saith your God, from God, And what is this word of comfort? Speak he comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry under her her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. We talked about all of that. Basically, simply put, their time is, their time of punishment is over. Their sins have been forgiven. They are going to be what delivered and brought back to the land. Okay, that was promised to them. We talked about all of that that brought us Verses three through five. The voice of Him that Christ in the wilderness. Prepare ye, the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley should be exalted, every mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We know many want to immediately run to the New Testament, talk about John the Baptist. But this is not what it's talking about in its original context, right, we would have to be in the New Testament to see why it's using that for John the Baptist, because obviously there's some similarities. But this is ultimately that there's going to be someone crying out for what to prepare the way so that the people can do what.

18:26 Return. And we connected this to whom We connected it to Cyrus. Cyrus's decree and Azra chapter one, and where he kind of calls to people to do what to prepare, and he calls for all the things that they're going to need to get them ready, and in a sense he removes all of the obstacles so that they can go back. And we talked about all of that. That brings us to verses six through eight. The voice said cry, And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the good thereof is as the flowers of the field. The grass withereth the flower faith, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass witheth the flower faith. But the word of our God shall stand forever. What is the significance of verses six through eight. It wants to remind the people of what while the frailty of life, how we will disappear? This could be pointing to whom the Babylonians, whoever's got you captive, they can just be begone in an instance. Right, you yourself are frail. But what is the one thing that will abide and stand? God's word?

19:42 And specifically what word of God is being referenced here? The word of them being delivered from their captivity? Right? In other words, what do they need to realize? Everything they're looking at? Circumstances, situations are their own frailty. It may all disappear, but God's word ultimately to them is going to abide and stand. And God had told them. In fact, remember this word of comfort was delivered over one hundred years before they even go into captivity. And it's saying that that word is still wide, enduring, still goes into effect and still will work. That brings us to where nine through eleven. All right, here we go, All right, we got less than thirty minutes. All right, here we go. I'm going to read it from two different translations. First, I'll read it for the King James nine through eleven. Everybody ready, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid, say, into the cities of Judah, behold your God.

20:55 Verse ten. Behold the Lord God will cometh with strong hand and his arms. She'll rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. Verse eleven. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. If I read it from the ESV, it reads like this, go up into a high mountain, Ozion, herald. Of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, Lift it up. Fear not say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

21:39 He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. All right, now, couple of things. First, I did a sermon review where I know this is going to come as a shock to you. Isaiah forty verse eleven. If we want to look at that, somehow that verse was used in a sermon supposedly proving and teaching infant baptism, which is one of the most insane things I've ever seen in my entire life. That verse has nothing to do with baptism. That verse has nothing to do with the church. That verse has literally nothing.

22:21 And you know what is so frustrating about all of this, Okay, if you go back to Isaiah forty verse two, right, it says, speak ye comfortably to whom Jerusalem. Everybody see that. Go to Isaiah forty verse nine, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings, get thee up in the high mountains, Oh Jerusalem. And then it goes on to say, be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah. What is maddening to me is in just about and what nine verses there have been now two attempts by the author to clearly indicate.

23:07 Who this message is too right. In other words, that does not require what does not require Bible college, does not require seminary, that does not even require ai that just requires basic reading comprehension. This is a message to a specific people in a specific setting. Why is it that preacher after preacher goes here and makes it about us? That is? That's why all the problems. AI was explaining what is happening in preaching? That should have never passed it the first time that should have ever happened in a sermon.

23:49 The people in the pews should have went, how did we get there? How did we get here? Text is emphatic, right, but. It raises some serious questions here. So let's let's break this down, right. We're gonna do a little bit of an exogenical study. We're gonna go as fast as we can. H here we go. I think, well, let's do this nine through eleven. Right, you look at those texts that text again, is there anything that jumps out of you that's kind of looks difficult, looks possibly confusing anything. I've got a bunch of questions we could ask who we did talk last week about questions we're supposed to ask to the text.

24:35 I'm not gonna go I was gonna go through all the questions. But it's pretty straightforward. Don't you feel that it's pretty straightforward. I don't think there's any real difficulty in nine through eleven. If we understand it within its historical context, it seems pretty simple. There may be a couple of questions we will say, in other words, this is not one of those texts that were like what and the world is going on? Let's say once we figure out the basic context that it seems to take care of all of that. But I'm gonna go and remind you of the historical context. You're ready. This passage is a part of Isaiah forty through fifty five. Isaiah forty through fifty five is often called what. Book of Comfort? Who? Is? It? Written to exiles and Babylon. Isaiah forty opens with a message of hope and restoration, promising deliverance after years of captivity. Nobody has a problem with any of that. You know why? You can't have a problem with any of that. That's all factual, okay, Right?

25:27 The immediate context, the immediate context seems to speak to God's sovereignty and his ability to fulfill his promises, contrasting him with the false gods of Babylon. If you look at the immediate context, right, if you jump down to well if you start in verse twelve, it really starts this contrast. It's going to compare God of the Bible to the God of the idols of Babylon. And we'll get into more detail, but that comes after. So this is written to people in context. Right after this, it's going to compare God, God to the God of the of the of Babylon or the idols of Babylon. So this falls right in the midst of all of that, right, Does that kind of make sense? All? Right? The literary context, So there's there's kind of the there's kind of the historical context. If we want to break context down. I just said context, but that's kind of the historical context.

26:22 The literary context. Isaiah forty begins with a call to comfort God's people Verses one through two. Can we agree with that? A declaration of His greatness and majesty Verses three through eight, and then verses nine through eleven transitions into a proclamation of God's coming salvation, focusing on his power and tenderness. Does everybody see that it's a proclamation? I think we can see. Look at what it says, bring good tidings right, say, into the cities of Judah what what do they say to the cities of Judah? And verse nine words behold your God, all right, and then it says, behold the God will come with what verse ten a strong hand. His arms shall rule for him.

27:12 Everybody see the power part? And then where's the tenderness part? Verse eleven? So it verse nine to eleven reminds them of God's power and his tenderness. I think we can agree with that, right, So there's a literary context. What's the thiological context. The text reflects themes of God's sovereignty, faithfulness, and the balance of might and compassion, which I just pointed out. And it calls for trust in God's plan even when deliverance comes through ordinary means. Now I stress that in great detail, all right. I cannot stress this enough. When that text says behold your God, remember everything that's going to transpire in their delivery rents, it is going to be done through ordinary means, not through what some kind of supernatural means, in the sense of it's not this extravagant thing like the parting of the Red Sea. There's not going to be plagues. What's ultimately going to happen one kingdom is going to be conquered by another kingdom, and that king is just going to let them go.

28:25 It is supernatural in the sense God is involved, but it's not. But it's going to be. God's power is going to be played out under ordinary means. And what do we have a tendency to do with ordinary means? We don't see God? Right? Does that make sense? And so this is a sense for them to see God's hand in the ordinary. We spend a lot of time talking about that. All right, So there's the historical context, the literary context, and the theological context. Now let's kind of go through and exegetical analysis of it. All right, let's start in verse nine. What do we have in verse nine?

29:08 What do we call this. A proclamation? I think that's good, right. I think AI would agree with that. It's a proclamation, go up on a high mountain, O Zion. And then depending on your translation, go up on a high mountain, O Zion or O Zion that bring us good tidings, get thee up in the high mountain. So Zion is to get up in a high mountain. Now Zion, and some will say Zion and Jerusalem. It's really the same thing. It is personified as someone bringing good news, almost like a messenger bringing good news to God's salvation. Now, why would this be if it's Zion slash Jerusalem. It's kind of like the same thing. Zion, bring good tidings, get up in a high mountain. Oh, Jerusalem, bring good tidings. Zion and Jerusalem.

30:04 If that's basically the same thing, what is the significance of Jerusalem within this historical context? It's laid in waste right Number one? Number two? Jerusalem was what in relation to Judah the capital? So, hey, Jerusalem, you need to bring good news? And what and where does it say to bring the good news? Right? Then? Verse nine say unto whom the cities of Judah. All right, So Zion is personified as the person to bring this good news, the good And what is the good news that they are to deliver? Right? Well, yeah, it's it's the beholder God is basically news of deliverance and that and and look to God. Right. The idea of lift up your voice reflects urgency and confidence, emphasizing that the message is not to be hidden. Hey, speak up, speak loud, speak to the people, that this is a message from God.

31:10 And what you were to say and behold your God. This is the central proclamation. This is to see and recognize God as the true deliverer. Ultimately, that sets up the contrast with the Babylonian idols. Now, I think what's being set up here is this. Okay, these people have been in Babylon captivity for how long? Somewhere around seventy years. We don't know exactly when they would have received this man, I mean, the message was given to them before they even go into captivity. But they've been in captivity and they've been in Babylon for seventy years. And what is the one thing we know about Babylon? What is one thing we can all agree about Babylon? Okay, they were the world power, but they were very very spiritual, but spiritual in a kind of way. Were they monotheistic or were they polytheistic? That they definitely are not monotheistic. Right, they've got idols everywhere, right, polytheistic. They've got a God for this, a God for that, and it's attached to this idol and this idol and this idol and this idol and this idol and this idol. So what could be the danger for those who now have been there for ten twenty thirty forty fifty sixty years. Some people were born and raised in it. They have seen all of these idols everywhere, right, So they may have attached

32:42 faith to these idols, or it may be hard for them to perceive a God in whom they cannot see, because they've been living in a place where all the gods can be seen. That this section is a key section here, right, because it says behold your God. When it says behold your God, where are they to look to see their God? Do they look to an idol? No, they have to behold God. But no, and they have to behold of God in whom they cannot see. And they need to. Behold God and actions which may not seem like God is involved, because who's going to be the one delivering them Cyrus, who is a pagan king. So they're going to have to behold God where God doesn't appear to be.

33:41 That that's the key message here, right. If you don't understand the Babylonian idolatry, this start, this falls completely apart. So we'll have to spend some considerable time looking at the idolatry and all the different gods that Babylon had, so that you'll have a better understand ending here, right, But this is setting up the contrast. I want to make sure you understand. And we're going to do a lot of thing about the about the transitioning here. But if you go verses twelve and following, it's about comparing God with false gods, comparing God with idols. That behold your God is the key phrase here. Does that make sense all?

34:23 Right? Verse ten? What does verse ten say? Behold the Lord God comes with what a strong hand? So behold God? So immediately what it wants to do. We've got this proclamation and it's and we see all these things about your proclamation. The key proclamation is behold your God. And then immediately what we see is we see God's power and sovereignty. And verse ten, verse nine is all about the proclamation. Verse ten is all about God's power and sovereignty. Behold the Lord comes with might. Coming signifies his active intervention in history. Some translations, he comes well, he says, strong hand and his arm. Everybody see that.

35:09 She'll rule for him. Everybody sees the idea of the arm in the hand. This is a metaphor for his power. And authority often used to describe his deliverance. Look in Exodus chapter six, and just tell me what you find in verse six. I cannot verify for sure if this is accurate. But let's look there Exodus six. I believe verse six. There may not be anything there, but just to see. Because this idea of the arm, this idea of his hand was Exodus six six. Say, okay, the stretched out arm and Exodit sixty six is connected with what deliverance? What is this arm connected with delivering them from Babylon? It's the same thing, right, it's the same concept.

36:11 Does everybody see that? All right? So I want you to see behold your God. And that's the proclamation, and then it immediately wants them to focus on God's power and sovereignty. His arm is going, He's coming. He's going to intervene by his strong arm. He's going to deliver you. And what is coming with him? His reward is with him, and his work is before him. Right. The phrase indicates that God's bringing both blessing for his people and judgment for their enemies. Right. This language echoes imagery of a victorious king returning with his spoils. Right, So The proclamation is behold your God. And what do they need to see about God? His power? They need to see his atrevention, they need to see his strength, they need to see him coming. Why because it's going to be difficult for them to see God in all of this. It's the idea that don't forget God in what's about to happen. Okay, then what happens now? So I think we have the proclamation, we have the idea of God's power and sovereignty. And then what do we have in verse eleven? We have the shepherd or we could refer to this as we could call it God's tenderness and care, the tenderness and care of a shepherd.

37:37 But it's changing the focus from power to now. Like you said, like a shepherd, he gathers the lambs with his arm, he carries him in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. It's all about it's balancing the power with this compassionate care. All right, If we want to break this down a little bit, he will tend his flock life like a shepherd. The shepherd imagery conveys God's intimate care and protection. This contrast with the power we had in verse ten. It shows God has multiple you know, there's aspects to his character. He will gather the lambs. The imagery of gathering and carrying reflects God's compassion gently lead those with the young. This highlights God's patience and understanding of human frailty. Like hey, in a sense, Israel is always viewed almost like a child. Right, They are a child, and sometimes they need discipline, they need guidance, they need care, they need provision.

38:35 And does that change after all of this time. No, they still need the exact same things because of their same frailty. It's just as there is, it's always been. So we have a proclamation, behold your God. They want God wants them to understand his power. They want him them to understand his tenderness. That's a good way to break this down. He wants them to see his power. He wants them to see his tenderness. All right, Now, before we break down all the ways that this is often mishandled, I just want you to get that if we break the text down, we can simply state it this way.

39:18 Right, this is a call. For a message to be proclaimed to all those in captivity, right, all those from Judah, and that message. Is behold your God. And there's two things they want them to understand about God, his power, or you could say three things, his power, his coming, intervention, and his tenderness. I think we could we could do that way all right, Behold your God, see his power, behold his intervention, and see his tender care. And why is this being done? This is being done?

39:59 What I cannot enough because God is going to work in the most ordinary way you have ever seen. That there's a chance they could miss God and possibly attach what is happening to whom an. Idol or a god of Babylon. And it's like, don't do that because if you think about what happened in the Exodus, they had been where in Egypt for what four hundred years? And when they are delivered, what do they ultimately turn to after a period of time a golden calf? Where would they get the idea of a golden calf from the Egyptians worshiped cattle in many cases, right, we talked about that. So they were borrowing from Egyptian religious concepts and mixing it with their belief in the God of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, well, guess what they're now when Babylonian kept him, what is the concern They're going to come out of Babylonian captivity and bring what their Babylonian religion that they've been around.

41:09 And this is behold God, See God. Don't look to those idles see God. And it's hard to see God when we don't see God. We have to see God in a different way, right, and it's very difficult for us to see God in the ordinary. We look. We want to see the supernatural. Right, we want to see a miracle. We want to see the sky's part. We want to see fire come from heaven. We want to see someone raised from the dead. We want to see someone walking on the water. We want we want to see the storm calm and No. Sometimes it's like, behold God, his power and tenderness, and it may be exercise or demonstrated in an ordinary way, and you're going to miss it, or you're going to attach what you're seeing to.

41:59 A false deity. And that's the message here. It's very simple. You don't even need me to help you with that, do you now? So I asked Ai, what are some of the ways this text is often mishandled right over. Spiritualizing the passage. Some interpretations ignore the historical context of the Babylonian exile and apply the text solely to spiritual deliverance. Okay, well, this is not about spiritual deliverance. Does everybody understand that, behold God, he is coming to intervene in what way? In a material, physical way from their captivity. Another thing is pastors will misapply the shepherd imagery in verse eleven.

42:45 The shepherd imagery is sometimes applied narrowly to church leaders or pastors without recognizing its primary reference to God himself as the shepherd of his people. Or we may try to run and make it about Jesus, but this is about God, God shepherding whom the captives coming out of captivity. Right number three. This is important Ai, This is what AI says. Another way that this is commonly mishandled, neglecting the ordinary means of deliverance. Many fail to recognize that God's deliverance in this context came through Cyrus, a human king, rather than supernatural intervention, leading to an over emphasis on miraculous expectations. This is not about having any miraculous expectations.

43:32 This is god fulfilling a promise, but doing so in an ordinary way. And when God moves in an ordinary way, we have a tendency to do what miss God. That's the point here that cannot be overemphasized, all right. Number four. Many pastors will isolate this passage from the larger narrative. This passage is sometimes treated as a standalone without coming to the broader themes of Isaiah forty through fifty five. All right, so we can't do that. So then AI says, here are some lessons and applications. So I'm gonna do it this whole. We're almost out of time, all right.

44:16 I mean we've already covered I mean, there's nothing here in the text. But if you were to what were some lessons or applications and verses nine through eleven that you can see what would be some lessons and applications you can see in the text that would be correct to apply to us, even if you don't have multiple ones. There should be just one big lesson that I think screams to us from nine to eleven, and that is what Okay, okay, that's a good one. How I would say is we have to learn to behold God within what ordinary means. God's power and God's tenderness can be present and be working, even though all we see is what one kingdom defeated by another kingdom, and this king lets us go back. Yet in all of that, what are we seeing God's power and God's tenderness? What does it look like just something happening in the news? Right, it's hard to see God. That The whole point of this text is for them to see God and the ordinary.

45:36 We have to learn because even in the Bible, typically God is working in which way if you could take out even Biblical history in ordinary ways? Ordinary ways is the common way in which he works. He doesn't always work. In the super How many times did he depart the Red Sea? Was? How many times did he send plagues? Was right? I mean? And go on and you get the point. How many times did he destroy a city by fire? Right? You see that there? It's always these supernatural events? Are they're supernatural? Meaning what? They're not natural? They're not common. So we've got to see God in the ordinary, which is hard to do that.

46:20 I think that's the point, all right, So I think that's the main lesson I want you to take from this, And I think it's important, and Ai points this out faith in the midst of idolatry. Just as the exiles were surrounded by Babylonian idols. We must resist the temptation to trust invisible, tangible things over the invisible, invisible God. We tend to. Take our focus and our attention and put it where on tangible and visible And what are they tempted to do? Put it on the tangible and visible idols that were present in Babylon? Does that make sense? All right? Now? I have all the discussion questions. I got things we could do for further study. I think you get the basic idea. So let's just read it one more time.

47:06 Isaiah forty nine to eleven. I don't think we need to do a lot more work here. I mean, there's a lot more we could do, but I think you got the basic idea. O Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get thee up in the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid, say into the cities of Judah, watch the proclamation, Behold your God. Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand his arms. She'll rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, his work before him, that shows his power and his intervention in verse ten and the verse eleven shows his what tender care. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. We've broken down all three verses, we placed it in its historical context. We've done a little application, and what if we once again demonstrated that you can handle the text correctly and it doesn't require that much work, did it? It didn't yet, We've got we talked about all the problems and the church that are leading to these texts being mishandled. All right, any questions? All right?

48:20 I went through that fast, but we had to finish it. I can't if we stopped in the middle of that, the next hour would be all messed up. Right, So we'll now move on to versus nine through. We'll transition from nine to eleven to twelve to seventeen, and we'll do that in the next hour. We're going to do more focusing on a transition here than anything, but we'll do that in the next hour. All right, let's pray, Lord, God, we've come before you this morning. Lord, there's something clearly wrong and the way modern preaching is handling Isaiah forty through fifty five. Forgive us for all the times we've mishandled it. Help us avoid those same errors and problems, and help us in our next hour. As we look at this, Lord, just continue to have We just wanna continue to be dedicated and committed to studying your word.

49:11 And we asked this in chees his name, and Gods people said