Isaiah 41 in Isaiah 40

0:01 All right, Isaiah chapter forty one. We will continue here in a minute from what we left off in the first hour. We'll kind of move forward. I don't know how far we're gonna get in this, hopefully it will be beneficial. Jennie was asking, where's the next part of the Salem witch Trials. I'll try to do that either this afternoon or this evening because I need to talk about John Procter and what happens to his whole story. So I'll try to do that this afternoon or this evening if everything goes well. And but for now, it's all back to Isaiah chapter forty one. Isaiah chapter forty one, and the first hour we looked at Isaiah chapter forty one, fourteen through twenty. I'm going to read it Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty. That means we should be in this hour looking at verses twenty one through twenty nine. But Sarah Danzler pointed out that there is something in Isaiah forty one, fourteenth through twenty that seems very similar to a section in Isaiah chapter forty So we're gonna at.

1:06 Least explore that, and then if we get. Done with that and we're kind of depending on the time, we may not then be able to go into the last section, so we may end up early. Because it's gonna be like when we get done, if I look at the time, do I start twenty one through twenty nine and make it halfway through and then have to stop and then next week like, that's gonna mess it all up. So we'll have to make a good decision. We'll see how this works, all right, So first let's read Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty because this will be a good reminder and get everyone on the same page. And of course online you never know which section someone's gonna click on, and you don't know if they've listened to the previous part or not. So here we go, fourteenth through twenty. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help thee saith the Lord and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

1:57 Behold. I will make thee a new sharp thresheld instrument having teeth, And thou shalt thresh the mountains, beat them small, and shall make the. Hills as chef. Thou shallt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the world wind shall scatter them. Thou shall rejoice in. The Lord, and shall glory and the Holy One of Israel. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open the rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

2:37 I will plant in the wilderness the. Cedar, the shitta tree, the myrtle, and the olive tree. I will sit in the desert the fir tree, and the pine and the box tree, together that they may see and know and consider and understand and together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. Now at end this section of scripture, I'll just read an actual summary from it by Ai, because this is how it kind of summarizes and concludes. Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty reveals God's transformative power, which we spent the last part of the first hour in great detail of all the theological problems that arises from that. All right, he takes weak Israel and verse fourteen, they began as a worm, right, everybody sees that, and he makes them strong, provides water for the thirsty, restores the land. Ultimately, this passage points to God's now this is Ai points to God's future restoration.

3:36 And his faithfulness to his people. I'm not completely convinced it's pointing to a future restoration because I believe it's simply there to do what and a very poetic metaphorical way. It's describing how the worm is going to be so transformed that no mountain, no obstacle, no nation is going to stand in the way from Judah doing what being delivered and going back to Jerusalem, rebuilding Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple. That's what it's because that's the context, right, that's the context. So we're not going to jump to a millennial kingdom. We're not going to jump to the new heavens and the new Earth yet at this point we're not.

4:16 If there's anything moving forward. In chapters forty two, forty three, forty four, forty five, forty six, forty seven. That we fill jumps, we will take care of it. Then this is too early on for it to start jumping in my estimation, okay, and it would be of no value for them. He's trying to help them what be encouraged and know God is going to be the one doing the deliverance so that they don't look to idols. I mean, that's we've talked about and because the next section is going to prove that clearly. All right, but. Uh, Sarah pointed out and and I know you didn't use these exact words, but that there is a thematic and linguistic parallel between Isaiah forty three through four and Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty. Is that a pretty fair way of describing what you were saying, Sarah?

5:10 Or is that not fair? Okay? Oh, that's very good. All right, So forty three through five. I only looked at forty three through four, but now now that you mentioned five, I probably should have considered that. But do you agree that there's thematic and linguistic parallels? Okay? Wait, so that's what I gave to Ai, I said, okay, someone in church said that there is I use linguistic and thematic parallels is what I used. And I said, okay, is this true. Is this accurate? Is this is this fair thing to say? Ai said, Yes, there are strong thematic and linguistic parallels between Isaiah forty three through four and Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty. Both this is what AI says. Passages focus on God's power to transform landscapes and situations, whether that be preparing the way for the Lord, are renewing and restoring Israel.

6:15 One way or the other. Both are kind of thrown in there, and it says here is a detailed comparison of the similarities and philological connections between the two passages. So we're going to break it down, all right. So first Isaiah. Forty three through four from the ESV, A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be wide, exalted, or lifted up. Every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven ground should become straight or level, and the rough places plain or smooth.

6:56 Right then, Isaiah forty one fourteen through twenty look verse for well, I'm just gonna look at selected verses. Verse fifteen. Behold I make of you. This is God speaking of Israel, a threshing sledge, new sharp and having teeth. You shall thresh the mountains. And what's going to happen to them? They're gonna be crushed. That's gonna make them low, agreed, And you should make the hills like chef verse eighteen. I will open rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and dry land springs of water. Right, So AI created a chart. All right, here's how it breaks it down. It made a chart first Isaiah forty three through four in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. It connects that to fourteen through twenty. I will open rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

7:55 So what it's simply saying is I'm going to prepare a way. Well, what's going to be need gonna be needed in their way. They're gonna need water. You're gonna need water, right, Uh, You're gonna need these things. You're gonna need water to. Be able to be prepared to make it from point A to point B. All right, So that's why it's connected and it says, here's the connection. God transforms the wilderness. Making it suitable for his presence or making it suitable for them. But God's gonna do the transformation. He's gonna do the change. We can see the similarity. Next verse four of Isaiah forty. Every valley should be lifted up, every mountains and hills should be made low.

8:40 Then, of course it's gonna connect. At to fifteen. You shall thresh the mountains, crush them, make the hills like chef. Both passages to pick the removal of obstacles, whether for the Lord's coming or for Israel's return. Wherever the case. Whatever the obstacle is, it's gonna be what removed. I remember, the obstacles can be what well, that could be physical obstacles, They could be nations. Whatever the obstacles be, they're going to be removed, all right. Next verse four, the uneven ground should become level and the rough place is plain. Verse eighteen. I will make the wilderness a pool of water. In the dry land springs of water. God smooths and restores barren places, creating new life where there was none. I think we can see the parallel, can we not? We can see the parallel, and what does it just demonstrate over and over God is in charge and he's going to prepare, provide, and remove anything that's going to prevent his people from returning to the land because he is God and he is fulfilling White. The Covenant promises again, that's the Covenant. The Covenant, the Covenant. The Covenant does that.

9:50 We all okay with that? All right? So then AI is like, here's some thematic parallels. Here's the thematic parallels. It gives me three thematic parallels. You're ready. First thematic parallel the power of God to transform. I think we can definitely see that. Isaiah forty God prepares a path by leveling mountains Isaiah forty one. He removes obstacles and provides water in the wilderness. Both passages shows. God's ability to alter nature for his divine purpose, whether preparing the way or restoring his people. So God's power to transform now it's being it's being spoken of, it's transforming landscape, but it really is going beyond that. He has the power to transform. And we spent the last hour talking about all of the philological problems. When we talk about God's power to transform, I'm not going to go back and redo that again because it.

10:42 Can turn into an entire sermon. There's all kinds of issues with that concept, and Christianity constantly teaches transformation and then while we get into all of the problems. All right, So I think we can clearly see that for Israel, what do they need to know? It's God's that has the power to transform, not whom the Babylonian idols. Don't look to the idols. God has the power to transform. Second, from barrenness to abundance. Isaiah forty three through four describes a barren wilderness being prepared for God's arrival. Verses eighteen through nineteen describes a barren land being turned into a fertile, life giving environment. I think there's no question there the. Implication God's restorative work is both spiritual preparing the way and physical providing for Israel's renewal or return. All right, from barrenness to abundance. God, God is going to provide.

11:37 Now again, if we want a parallel to us, If we want a parallel. To us, let's go back to the first one. God's power to transform. Well, First, God transforms us in what way. Positionally right? Because he takes someone. Who's a worm, who's weak, as Isaiah forty one describes it, broken bearing, whatever the case may be, and we are declared to be perfect, holy and righteous, even though we are not all right, So there's that that transformation, and then what happens in glorification. We're made practically what we are positionally, we are transformed, complete transformation, no longer a sinful body, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death.

12:27 Right, So there is so if you want to apply to us. Our transformation is in two parts, right, yes, the positional, then the practical and the and the end. Between those two. We live a life of sin, failure, and sin and failure, just like Israel did. Right, So the parallel there is pretty good, right from barrenness to abundance. Same thing we we're bearing practically, we're going to always be baring in the sense we're going to be sinning. We're never gonna be able to fulfill the law of God God, so we're always going to be lacking and needing. But ultimately God he in a sense, gives us abundance positionally by giving us imputed righteousness or crediting imputed righteousness to us. And then ultimately and the new heavens and the new Earth when we are glorified correct right, so we see the power to transform. We see from barreness to abundance. Number three the removal of obstacles.

13:26 The removal of obstacles okay. Isaiah forty verse four speaks of valleys being raised and mountains being lowered, symbolizing how God removes barriers. Isaiah forty one fifteen portrays Israel crushing mountains like a threshing sledge, symbolizing God's power through his people. The implication God removes what hinders his plans, whether for his coming or Israel's deliverance. Whatever the obstacle is, God is going to do. What remove it? God's going to remove it. God's going to remove it. If you think about it, what is the thing? What is the obstacle between us and God? Sin? How does God remove sin that obstacle so to bring us together? Well, he does so, first by sending his son to die for us, and then by our faith.

14:12 He imputes the righteousness of his son to us, so I can stand before God as someone who's perfect, even though I am not. And then ultimately he will remove sin and glorification so that we spend eternity with him physically. Right, So that's how he removes that obstacle. So if you want to apply these. Three things to us, it's done in a very spiritual way. Right, the power of transformation positionally, then practically in glorification, barness to abundance positionally and then practically and then the removal of obstacles, which is the removal of sin positionally, and then practically for Israel, this is he's going to transform.

14:53 He's going to transform in a sense, anything that's in their way. He's going to transform it so that they can make to make a way for them. He's gonna give them everything they need, and he's going to remove any obstacle in their way. And that's and that happened what historically in a very literal way, because when we read the decree of Cyrus and Ezra, he basically tells them to get everything they're going to need, to do what to prepare the way, and he he removes any obstacles because he destroys whom he takes over the Babylonians. Right, everybody got that, right? What are the philological implications from all of this? Right?

15:36 Well, I think that once again shows God's sovereignty over everything. Right, got sovereignty over creation, and both passages God exhorts complete control over nature, altering landscape, removing barriers, and creating abundance where there was desolation. This connects to now According to AI, it connects to two passages, or at least. One of them. Well, we will look at both of them. Go to one O four, Go to Psalm one O four. What do you find in some one O four. I don't want to start do what God's marvelous creation and who's given in fact? How many verses in ps one oh four? Yeah, thirty five? Okay, all right, but if you'll just look here, look at some one oh four, we'll just start reading some of this. Bless the Lord, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.

16:40 Oh Lord, my God. Thou art very great. Thou are clothed with honor and majesty, Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the beams of his chamber in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind, who maketh his angel, spirits his ministers, a flaming fire, who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. Right, and in. Fact, at thy rebuke they fled the speaking of the mountains, look at this, if you look at verse six, Thou coverest it with the deep, as with a garment. The water stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled the voice of thy thunder.

17:23 They hasted away. He can literally make all the mountains what just flee disappear? Does that not sound a little bit like Isaiah? Right? They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys, unto the place where thou hast found for them. Thou has set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. Speaking of making the waters flee, he controls the waters, He controls everything. Right, So Isaiah forty and Isaiah forty one is just taking this foundational concept that who's in charge of everything? God in charge of all creation. It does what He tells it to do. Now once again, that brings us right into a brick wall of a theological dilemma.

18:12 If God is. Sovereign over every single thing. Then when things go a certain way, it leaves us with only one philological conclusion. God nobody likes that, and so for two thousand years Christians have struggled with that God is sovereign, but but he lets us do what we want. Well, then if he lets us do what we want, then he's not sovereign over us. Well then, but that means he's choosing not to exercise that sovereignty over us. So in some way he's still responsible, right since he could step in at any time and fix it. So if you I mean just and if he's not sovereign, well then okay, that just It just leads to all kinds of problems.

18:53 It also points to another passage. AI tells us to look at is Joe thirty eight through forty one? What happens in Job thirty eight through forty one. I know we could read all of Psalm one four, but you get the basic idea. Yeah, thirty eight through forty one. Yeah, this is where a God asked all the questions? Is that the whole section? I believe we can look. Yeah, God speaks to Job, right, Hey, who is he that?

19:35 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge. Verse two, gird up now thy loins like a man. And then where does he start? In verse four, where hast thou? Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding? And he begins to demonstrate what his power, his power, his power, his power, his power. God is sovereign. God is in control. Now there's comfort in that, yes, and there's discomfort in that. What is the comforting part of God being in control of everything?

20:19 Right? Well, that God's in control, So that's good to know, right, there's there, there's a purpose, there's a meaning, there's a reason, there's a cause. I mean that all of that is good news, right. We find comfort in that. But sometimes it's not good news, right because if God is in charge, that's kind of job's question, Hey, where what are you doing? And sovereignty answers job not in a way that would be comforting to anyone if you went to a counseling session and going my life is falling apart, my kids are dead, I've got a disease, I've lost all my material wealth. My life is falling apart, and you basically are responded to with I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions that you can't answer, okay, and then you're gonna be like, well, man, I'm sure glad I went to that counselor.

21:07 I feel so much better about my life. Everyone always reads the Book of Job as if the story ends in such a happy way. I don't. That's a horrible thing. Your life is trash, And the best I'm gonna give you is philosophical questions. That's God's answer, right, and basically what is he? Basically when it's all sett and down, what does Job do? I'm just gonna shut up. I'm just now, I'm not gonna speak. That's difficult to understand. So the sovereignty of God is great on one end because it's like there's a purpose, there's a meaning. I mean, this stuff didn't just show up by accident. This is okay, great, I got purpose, I got meaning. But at the same time, you can be like, well, but God, if you're sovereign, then why And I could ask five hundred why.

21:58 Questions, couldn't you? Right? If God is sovereign, do I may of you give you the numbers of how many children are sexually molested every year. Nobody wants those numbers, do they do? I want to give you the numbers. How many people are being sexually trafficked trafficked in this world? Nobody wants those numbers? Right? How many women are raped? Anybody want those numbers? How many are murdered? Now? Nobody wants those numbers? Right? But is that not the obvious question when it comes to God is. Sovereign? It's very complicated, it's not. But the philological answer is God is sovereign no matter what happens, right, His sovereignty is not determined by what.

22:46 By What occurs. Circumstances does not prove or disprove God's sovereignty. He's sovereign, irregardless of the circumstances. Now, that's a very from a debate tech From a debate perspective, it really is kind of trash because it's like, you. Can't be proved wrong. Right, Hey, you say God is sovereign, Well what about this? Well, God is sovereigny regardless of this? Well I went the debate. Okay, From a debate perspective, I hate it. Right, because it's just it's it's a logical fallacy basically a circular reasoning, right, I mean, why God is sovereign? Why is God sovereign? Because God says a sovereign all right, Well, I guess that makes you feel good.

23:28 That doesn't make me feel good at all, right, it leads to lots of problems. And if God is sovereign over everything, well, then I wish you would just exercise that sovereignty over whom humans, and then that would immediately stop what murder, rape and all of that. So God doesn't exercise a sovereignty And so people say, well because of free will, But then that gets into all kinds of theological problems because if God is the one giving the free will, God knows what's gonna happen with the free will. He's still responsible, right, And obviously God doesn't always respect free will because he intervenes numerous times, right, He intervenes over over Pharaoh, over Egypt. He steps in whenever he wants. So if he can say if he steps in once, then he can step in what every single time? When Sarah is taken, God steps.

24:24 In to protect her. Well, he steps in, So I mean like that's so that it becomes very problematic in trying to figure it out. But there's no there's no question. In Isaiah forty and Isaiah forty one, Psalm one oh four, Job thirty eight through forty one, what do we demonstrate. God's sovereignty over creation? God is sovereign. That is just a theological dogmatic assertion. God is sovereign. The Church has struggled with the sovereignty of God for two thousand years. Right, Everyone will say this is the weird thing in christian If you say God is sovereign, every church, every denomination will say what amen, But then immediately start offering, well, bud, how about this free will?

25:12 What about this this? And because nobody has any good answers and I don't have any good answers. On one hand, I find great comfort in God's sovereignty. On the other hand, I'm kind of bothered. Right. I mean, if you're if you're in a place, right, you go to a place, you're there and somebody starts doing horrible things to someone in your family, you may intervene, but you may go to the people who are in charge. Of the place to do what to fix the problem, to solve the problem. And what if the people when you go to say, well, where were you and I built this?

25:54 Where were you? You'd kind of be like, dude, you're trash, I'm is happening. Yeah, so but you're in charge. Yeah, so you would be like, that's messed up and aroundabout way. That's kind of what God tells job. You're suffering, Yeah were you? Where were you when I made everything? But my kids are dead? Yeah? So did you create the heavens and the earth? Do you know everything? Well? No, but my kids are dead. Yeah, I've got this horrible disease and I'm suffering. Yeah, did you make the heavens and the earth? Well? No, I mean that's that's not comforting. Okay, that's not that's not comforting.

26:37 God is sovereign now, and for Israel's case in Isaiah forty and forty one, his sovereignty is being used for them. He's going to remove all the obstacles. He's going to prepare away so that they can go back. That's great, But they could ask, well, if you're so sovereign over everything, why did we end up in this situation? And to begin with? And well, they don't know it at that time, but you know, seventy eight they're going to be wiped off the face of the earth, and in the nineteen forties, six million of them are going to be exterminated by a man by the name of Hitler. That raises some serious questions, does it not.

27:21 Again? And people want to put. Free will into it, but free will is not Everyone thinks free will is the answer, but free will doesn't answer anything because who gave people free will? Well, then you have to say God gave everyone free will? Well, and God knew what was going to happen, and then how come he can intervene at certain points that seems to go over God. This seems to not follow people's free will. It becomes and if everyone has free will, then there's no point in praying about anything because God's not intervening. If you say people are completely free and God can't intervene, then there's no point in praying because God's not intervening. But if God intervenes, then do you pray that God that Bobby will let God intervene And the whole thing just becomes a I mean, it looked like one of those conspiracy theorists in a basement with a wall with all kinds of you know, this connects to this, and this connects to this, and they're losing their minds. That's what theology sometimes feels like. Because this he becomes.

28:18 Great. God is sovereign. That is good news for Israel in this specific situation, right. And there's times God's sovereignty probably plays out in my life in a way which I don't know and I'm very grateful for. But there's other times it's played out and I don't know where why God didn't do Why did God do this or not do this, or do this or do this or why why? Some people are born in a place where there's pain, suffering, death and violence, and other people are born in a nice little family. They got everything they ever needed, a white picket fence, two dogs, a cat, and lets you can do your. Homework on the boat. Other people are born being tied up in a closet, beat with a baseball, and burn with a curling iron.

29:06 That how does that work? Right? Hey, it's great God God is sovereign. When Israel tells them to go into that land and kill everyone, it's not so great when you're the one being killed. Let me see, Well, they were pagans and Israel was what were they not idolatiers over and over and over and over and over again. Do they not offer up their own children for sacrifice? Now, depending on what actually happened in those sacrifices, we could talk about. But either way, I mean, was Israel better than those nations that they were slaughtering?

29:49 No, so it's really complicated. But in this particular case, it does demonstrate God's sovereignty over creation. Second, does it not show God's power to deliver? And Isaiah forty anticipates a new Exodus like deliverance which is later fulfilled in Christ. Isaiah forty one, fourteen through twenty speaks of God's delivering and renewing Israel. God God is not just a judge of the nations. He is also a redeemer of his people. God has the power to deliver and redeem again, that is great for whom them and their situation. He has the power to redeem and to deliver. How long were they in how? I mean, how long did the Holocaust go on? It took six million people being exterminated before finally the concentration camps were finally rescued the remaining people. I'm glad you got here.

30:54 Thank you American troops for showing up. Thank you. I mean six million people are dead, so that right there is complicated. Right, Hey, I'm glad you showed up. You know here now and their case they're in Babylon captivity. We know why they're in Babylon captivity. But again, God could, I mean, God can deliver and redeem whenever he wants. It's just sometimes he doesn't deliver and redeem when we want. From a practical standpoint, but I think we see God's sovereignty over creation. We see God's power to deliver and redeem. Now. I know, at least you guys are used to me saying things like this. I always feel bad for the people online because they get mad at me and they get upset. If the church was bigger, I people would get mad. I'm telling you if I said this kind of stuff in almost any church in abling this morning, what would happen. We know what would happen. They would get up and get mad and walk out. Because I'm not supposed to say these things. But anything I'm saying, I'm not saying anything that's not true, right, I mean, these are This is the reality people face. Sometimes churches don't understand why a Christian kid goes to college and walks away from their faith because they get confronted with the very kind of realities I'm pointing out you should be confronted with them where not in a college classroom, but in the pew in church, because these are realities that deep down.

32:18 You know are true. You know these, you know this conflict. Anyone who hasks faith should know. Man, I'm believing a God in whom I cannot see, but I see all of this stuff. This sometimes makes no sense, and it is sometimes contradictory to the power that we assigned to God. We assign absolute power to God. We assigned complete knowledge to God. Okay, well, and all knowing, all powerful God. I'm sorry, there's some questions, right, Yes. I think that's fair. So this Isaiah forty, Isaiah forty one, along with someone oh four and thirty through forty one, shows God's sovereignty over creation, his power to deliver and redeem. All right, And now some will argue that this also foreshadows We talked about this in the Last Hour, the Messianic Age, maybe the Millennial Kingdom, maybe the new heavens and the New Earth. Let's just go through a number of scriptures. Right, we know Isaiah forty three through four shows up. Ready, everybody got their bibles. Matthew three to three, you can look at it. What do you see in Matthew three to three. I'm gonna turn to these, for this is

33:59 he that was spoken of by the prophet. That's Isaiah right. Saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Look at Mark one to three. You're gonna probably find very similar language. Mark chapter one, verse three, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make. His path straight, right, Luke three, Just so that there's no confusion, Luke three, four through six, As it is written in the Book of the Words of Isaiah, the prophet saying, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord.

34:49 Make his path straight. Every valley should be filled, every mountain and hills shall be brought low, and crookeds shall be made straight, and the rough way shall be made smooth, and all the flesh. Shall see the salvation of God. Right. John chapter one, verse twenty three. I mean this is in When it's repeated this many times, you know it's significant. Right, he said, I am the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. All right, So what does this mean? Well, all of these passages are foreshadowing at. Least the coming of the Messiah to some level. Right, just as all of these obstacles, all of this stuff is going to be made right so that Israel can return to Jerusalem. All of the obstacles will be removed so that the Messiah can appear. John the Baptist was there to help prepare that.

35:45 Right. He was there to prepare the. Coming of the Messiah. Right, same concept, everyone agrees there. Right, if you look at Isaiah forty one, eighteen through nineteen, we've already looked at it, but you can see it right there, Isaiah forty one, eighteen through nineteen. We've looked at it now multiple times. Right, I will open the rivers, I will plant in the wilderness. See all of that. Right. Some say this echoes later prophecies of restoration, which we see in Isaiah fifty five, which we read in the first hour Isaiah fifty five twelve through thirteen and Revelation twenty two to one through two. Some believe Isaiah forty one eighteen nineteen. I mean those has an immediate historical context of what He's going to remove everything, prepare everything for Israel.

36:38 To go back to Judah. It's also promising and kind of foreshadowing the kind of the restoration and how everything will be during the Millennial Kingdom and then ultimately and the New Heavens and the New Earth and Revelation twenty two right, So ultimately, the imagery of transformation in both passages Isaiah forty and Isaiah forty one finds ultimate fulfillment in Christ, who removes spiritual obstacles and brings restoration. So ultimately, God's sovereignty and his power to redeem will ultimately be fulfilled in Christ, who sovereignly will redeem people and save them from their sins positionally and then ultimately will restore everything in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

37:29 So do you see how. That works in Israel? God is sovereign. Yes, God has the power to redeem. Yes, these passages indicate that, but they also point to the ultimate fulfillment because part of it is quoted in the New Testament as applying to John the Baptist, which is pointing to Christ. Christ. Christ is God's sovereign answer to deliver and redeem people, but not in the way that maybe we necessarily would think, right, because He redeems us by saving us positionally and then waiting till eternity to restore us in a practical sins.

38:12 Which defies our ideas? Does it not? Right? There is how it all plays out, So what is the conclusion here? Isaiah forty three through four and Isaiah forty one fourteen through twenty both depict God's power to transform desolate places, remove obstacles. And prepare the way for his purpose. Do we agree on that? If you look at Isaiah forty one Isaiah forty three through four, they depict God's power to transform desolate places, remove obstacles, and prepare the way for his purpose. Right. While Isaiah forty anticipates the coming of the Lord, Isaiah forty one describes the renewal of his people. Together, they emphasize God's sovereignty, redemption, and ultimate restoration. And I want you to see that his sovereignty, his redemption, and his ultimate restoration. Right, God is sovereign and Israel's deliverance. Yes, he's going to be sovereign in their ultimate restoration. He was sovereign in their restoration back to the Jerusalem. He will be sovereign in their restoration in the millennial.

39:22 Kingdom, he will be. He's sovereign and over all of it. Does it always make sense from a human perspective. No, it doesn't. Right, there's so many things about Israel that makes no sense. Well, God, you could have prevented this. You could have done this, You could have stopped this, and we question it all. Anyone looking at the history of Israel should. Be questioning it. God could have fixed this, He could have stopped this, He could have prevented this. Nothing. Well guess what, it plays out the same way for us, as I've already said. God is sovereign and our salvation. Yes, completely sovereign. Does it always make sense, No, it doesn't make sense and any way, shape or form. Wait, wait, you're gonna create.

40:03 You're gonna create Outam and Eve so that they will fall, so that we will all. Be born sinners. We're all born centers, we're all born condemned. That seems to make no sense. Right. And if I'm born a sinner and if I have a sinful nature, well wait, I'm already the cards are already stacked against me, are they not? And if I'm truly born a center, then what does that mean about my will? Well, my will's gonna be impacted by that sin. So then is it truly free? Well? How do I how can I test to see if man truly has a free will? Just tell them to obey God perfectly? Can anyone do that? That proves we don't have a free will?

40:48 Free wills? Just I mean, anyone who argues you have a free will, then I'll be like, just obey the Bible perfectly. They can't do it. That means their will is not free. Because if I can't do what the Bible. Says, and then I've got to identify what is keeping me from doing it. What is keeping me from doing it? Is my sinful nature, all right, So if nobody can obey it, that means then no, what are we going to do? Well God sovereignly? Then, now, people don't like this. Before the foundations of the world chose Okay, look, I don't like that, But God chose Israel. Yes, he chooses us, then he redeems us. But he redeems this in a way that doesn't seem to make sense, right, because we think we should be redeemed in what way?

41:37 In a transformative way? Right? But he redeems us by an imputed righteousness, not an infused righteousness, which seems to make no sense. You're gonna declare me to be that which I am not. That seems to make no stake. And then he is going to transform me. But what's frustrating. He's not gonna transform me to win till I want to be transformed now. But the same thing is true of is He promises them complete transformation, does he not? In Ezekiel and in Jeremiah. He's gonna give them a new heart. They're no longer going to turn to idols. They're going to fulfill all of his commands. Has that happened?

42:18 No, that's insane. He says he's gonna transform them. Why didn't he transform them? I don't know before they went into Egyptian captivity. Wouldn't that have made more sense? But he didn't. So in some. Ways we should not expect anything different than what he's done for Israel. He left them not transformed practically, but they were still His people that he made a covenant with. Right, they fell, fall, all the. Problems that take place that's gone on throughout history, and it parallels us. We're saved where God's chosen, but yet we fall, we sin, but we're still His chosen.

42:58 We're in a covenant with him. But ultimately Israel will be transformed and who else will be transformed? Us? And if we go, If we look at it from a maybe a chronological perspective, the millennial kingdom is before the new heavens and the new Earth. So Israel is transformed before all of us in a sense. So this section, this connection shows God's sovereignty, his redemption, and his transformative power. But it all is fulfilled in Christ all right. So Isaiah forty three through four and Isaiah forty one fourteen through twenty depicts God's power to transform desolate places, remove obstacles, and prepare the way for his purpose. While Isaiah forty anticipates the coming, Isaiah forty one describes the renewal of his people. Together, they emphasize God's sovereignty, redemption, and ultimate restoration or ultimate transformation. There we have it there's the connection between the two right now, I knew there's no way we can do the next section right at noon, So I knew that was I had to kind of just extend that out a little bit longer because I was going to get caught in between.

44:15 So there we go. Any questions about that now, I'm glad Sarah brought that up. That's why that's good. Observational That's what we're supposed to do in Bible studies, were supposed to observe. What's interesting is in the observational outline created by AI, it did not draw that immediate correlation. I think it mentioned it briefly, but it didn't do much with it. So that's why sometimes we have to even when we're using a tool like AI, we've got to do our own observation of the text. Now, once we gave it to AI, it immediately said, yeah, there's something here, but it didn't just immediately provide it to us, right, So in fact, i'd have to look at my observational outline. But I think I think AI may have briefly mentioned it, but it wasn't in great detail. Sarah's the one who really pointed it out. But there is a thematic and linguistic connection. And what's interesting then it kind of takes this idea of his sovereignty, the transformation, and the redemption.

45:14 And because you put forty one. Connected to forty then you can put it to Christ because it's quoted in the New Testament, which kind of brings the whole full picture, the historical, the historical and far as Babylonian captivity, Christ, salvation spiritual, but then ultimately points to Israel and the Millennial Kingdom. So it kind of gets all three elements together, right, Israel and their contexts there, Salvation with Christ. Which is very critical to saving. Israel as well because all Israel will be saved, and then ultimately the Millennial Kingdom and the restoration. It brings all of it together. Maybe not nice and neat, but it does so. So that leaves us with next week twenty one to what twenty nine right, the end of the well end the chapter next week right, so we'll see what we do. We may do that the first hour and or do that the second hour. Do something different in the first hour, because I don't want to start forty two until we can you know what I'm saying, It'll be like yeah, absolutely, okay, oh yeah, yeah, which fits perfectly with forty one.

46:42 Yeah. If everybody will look at forty five forty verse five, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mountain, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, And then look at forty one is it verse twenty Oh. That they may see and know? Well maybe yeah for everyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, forty five forty first five and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it. And then in forty one twenty that they may see, they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord.

47:37 Yeah. I think in some ways God is going to do all of this. Everyone's going to see that Israel has been brought back. I mean, everyone's going to know they rebuilt Jerusalem, right, and all flesh sees. The same concept. Right. So God's gonna work in a sovereign way so that the world sees his power working in Israel to bring him back, and then in Christ the world will see the salvation. I mean, because everyone, almost every culture, everyone has some understanding of Christ to some level. They may believe something completely different. The Arab world may believe he was just a prophet of Muhammad Mohammad, but they know something about Christ. Everywhere that people believe something about Christ.

48:28 So in a sense, the world has seen the salvation, provided they may reject it, they may turn it into something else. So the same concepts show up. Yeah, I mean the core the parallels are striking and very very much there all the world right, which fits perfectly with it all together, right, And Luke is the one who writes acts about going into Samaria and the other most parts of the world right and tracks Paul's missionary journeys, which makes sense because he's in a sense showing the practical fulfillment of it, right, So all of it fits together perfectly. So yeah, those are great observations. All right. So we'll finish forty one next week.

49:09 Like I said, I either I don't know how we'll do it, and then we have forty. Two and we'll move forward. And I don't know how long it's going to take us, but we're going to understand this better than all the sermons I've listened to on it. So all right, let's pray, Lord God, we come before you this afternoon, or thank you for just having a place where we can come and make observation and study and question and challenge. Lord. I think there's it's got to be true of everyone in this room. It's got to be true of everyone online. If we're truly honest, we're not giving a church answer. There's times, Lord, we struggle with your sovereignty, with your knowledge. We don't understand it at times, Lord, but we acknowledge that it's true whether we understand it, and all we can do is humble ourselves before it. And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said seven