Wednesday, October 18, 2023 PM

Here, okay, that helps us, that puts things into context. And as I believe many people have said, context is really king. So if you'll allow me, we'll pray real quick, we'll get started and we'll look at some passages in the Gospels where Jesus quotes Isaiah as fulfilled prophecy and I hope at the end of this, this will give you even greater confidence in the word of God.

Lord God in heaven, thank you so much for the privilege of bringing a lesson and we just pray your blessing on this time together that we enjoy it as fellowship. We enjoy it just in fellowship with each other and fellowship with you.

The way we know you is truly through your word. You define who you are and you define how you work. Please help us to see that, understand that, open our eyes and ears to the authority of you and you alone.

In Christ Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. Okay, so a brief overview of the book of Isaiah. Some people have, you hear the terms major prophets and minor prophets. That's sometimes to do with just their length.

The major prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, because they're tomes, they're huge. But then you have like Micah, Zechariah, Obadiah is a long one, that's a full chapter. They're called the minor prophets, not because they're unimportant, they're just not quite as long.

But Isaiah would be like the major of the major prophets. Has the greatest timeline. He has one of the greatest impacts. And if you read some of the post-exilic prophets, Joel, for example, is possible.

He cites Isaiah and cites Jeremiah. So you even have later prophets citing this guy. So it's important. This is what I would say. Isaiah is really about Jesus. You know, the whole Bible is about Jesus, but you can define and separate Isaiah into two parts.

We'll be in part two. But the first part is one through 39. It's all about Assyria coming in from the North, destroying the Northern kingdoms and is at the doorstep. And you have these promises of the coming King.

You have the promises of this child who would be born, this seed, this, we sing the songs every Christmas, you know, about Emmanuel. So you see this theme throughout. Isaiah talks about the holy seed who would come.

And a local fulfillment of that is Hezekiah. He's his great King and he helps deliver them from Assyria. And then that's his great victory here. And then right at the very end, he has the Babylonian emissaries who come and he's like, hey, look at all my stuff.

Look at all this stuff that we've done. Now, isn't the glory of Israel great? And the Babylonians, this is about the mid 700s go,.

Noted, thanks.

200 years later, they sack Jerusalem. The Northern kingdoms have fallen, Southern kingdom falls and they go into exile. Second part of Isaiah is really at the tail end of the exile or possibly just right after the exile.

And it talks about the restoration that comes as they come out of their exile and back into the land. It's Cyrus. You know, brings this restoration. You read about that in Ezra and Nehemiah. But even though this deliverance from Assyria is kind of local and this being delivered out of Babylon is local, the way the New Testament reads it, it's about the coming King who is Messiah and about the suffering servant in part two who actually brings about this salvation and restoration that is far beyond anything that you see in Nehemiah and Ezra.

It's greater. It's bigger. Now we can look at that and says, well, it's just you reading back into the text or spiritualizing the text. Fine. Jesus did that. And he has authority to do that. He has the authority to look at this and says, I know what you're thinking.

It's actually about me. So let's kind of dive into this a little bit. Let's listen to what the New Testament writers, especially Gospels, now Acts quotes Isaiah. Peter and Paul and John quote Isaiah. You see Isaiah in Revelation, but we're going to focus on, like I said, it's the major of the majors.

We're going to focus on 40 through 66, the second half, and our 40 through 66 is quoted in the New Testament. Well, excuse me, quoted specifically in the Gospels. So I wrote out a couple of things just to help.

Again, apologize for my notes, but in the left-hand side, you see 4X, 3X, 3X. Well, Isaiah 40, the first one that we're going to talk about, this is he was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

Going to Isaiah 40, this is how the whole section starts. This is really section two. And there are reasons for, I mean, obviously Isaiah is dead at this point. When this stuff comes out, either Isaiah wrote this and then put it away, and then they brought it back out or he taught his followers and they wrote this stuff down after him, regardless, it's attributed to Isaiah.

This is Isaiah's teaching or at least divinely inspired commentary on his teaching and Christ himself. And the New Testament writers attribute it to Isaiah. So we should as well. The way it reads in Isaiah, a voice says, cry, excuse me, a voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert, a highway for our God, every valley should be lifted up, every mountain and hill should be made low, and it goes on.

And it talks about how make straight, make even, the King is coming and they're calling him God. God is coming just like you would for a visiting King, clear the road. So when you read Isaiah 40, you're like, well, that's about God, God coming to deliver his people.

And then you go to Matthew and says, Isaiah 40, this is he was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Who is the voice of one crying in the wilderness?

John the Baptist. When he says prepare the way of the Lord, who's he talking about? Jesus, the Messiah. So you read Isaiah 40, you wouldn't, is this about the Messiah? I mean, who's the one calling in the wilderness?

Well, Matthew says, yes, yes, it's about God. Yes, it's about Jesus. Yes, it's about Messiah. Yes, it is. See how you can read something in the Old Testament. And then when you see it through the lens of the new, it has a greater and expanded meaning.

As that is my early morning alarm, I always had a heart attack. That's the sound that wakes me up at 3 .30 in the morning in a hotel in St. Louis. Like, oh, oh, I am so glad to not be getting up. Oh, that was fun.

This reference has the distinction of being repeated in all four Gospels. Now there are references, there are allusions to Isaiah in multiple Gospels, but this one in particular is quoted all four times.

I said before, it only, God only has to say something once for it to be important, but when God repeats something, He really wants you to pay attention. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

This is a prophecy, and this is how the section starts. This section, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is really about Christ. So this first one falls in this first section. So I separated, there are different ways you can do this section of 40 through 66.

This is the way that I did it. 40 through 48 is an announcement of hope. Comfort, comfort my people. This is God saying, I'm coming. You're in exile, you're returning from exile. Your entire nation is shattered.

I'm coming.

He repeats a couple of themes, hope for Israel and hope for the nations, actually Gentile nations. Talks about it over and over, which is a little interesting because I thought this was all about the restoration of Israel.

So Matthew 12, eight through 21, quotes Isaiah 42 here in this section. And what does he say? What does Matthew 12, 18 say? That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, behold my servant whom I have chosen, in his name the Gentiles will trust.

The way it reads in Isaiah 42, behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen whom my soul delights. I put my spirit in him and he will bring forth justice to the nations. Further down, verse six, I will give you as a covenant for the people and a light for the nations.

Talking about, I will give you either Israel, the nation of Israel, or somebody even greater than that as a light to the nations. Matthew picks this up and says, yes, this is why Jesus came, as a light to the nations.

So this announcement of hope here, this is a huge theme in the gospels. The Gentiles coming in, Gentiles coming into the kingdom. Who here is ethnically Jewish? I'm Irish, I'm a dirty kilt. I got some German in me as well and some Russian.

I mean, so we're, there you go, yeah. French Canadian?

German?

And yeah, so you're kind of a mutt, like me. Yeah, like a mutt. We're the Gentiles, we're the ones, we're coming in. So when Jesus starts talking about the Gentiles, so when Jesus starts talking about the Gentiles, he's not talking about something new.

He's actually referencing something in context in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah promised that the Jews and Gentiles would come together. So that is, that's something that's quoted, it's quoted just right there, so.

Number three, this is Luke 2 .32. Simeon's praise to God when holding the baby, Jesus calls him a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and to the glory of your people Israel. He's quoting Isaiah 42 .6 and Isaiah 49 .6.

So he's here, he's also in here. Also restore Israel, light to the nations. But this second section talks about the suffering servant. So this is kind of general terms about how he's going to restore Israel.

And here he's talking about his servant Israel will restore Israel. This is where we start to get the idea that Christ is the fulfillment of Israel. This is where I get that idea. So, and it's also, as my father-in-law had pointed out to me, especially in Isaiah 53, when he's talking about the servant, it's singular.

It's not plural, it's a singular servant. And I was like, that's interesting. So you have a singular servant fulfilling God's mission of restoring Israel and being a light to the Gentiles. And he starts to flesh that out a little bit more.

So next one that we'll do is, yeah, we'll do four. So Matthew 8, verse seven. This is Isaiah 53, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet saying, he carried our infirmities and bore our sickness.

Luke 22, 37, also quoting from Isaiah 53. For I say to you, this is what is written must still be accomplished in me. He was numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah 53, in this section right here, the suffering servant is fulfilling this mission of God.

He's called Israel, restoring Israel, he's called Israel. Israel has gone through, needs restoration because it's so corrupt. But this servant is perfect and actually is a sacrifice for sin. And somehow, some way in verse 53, he starts talking about, he dies, he's crushed for our iniquities and dies, he's poured out to death.

And then without explanation, he's alive again. In 54 and 55, the gospel writers, as we just read in Matthew and in Luke, attributed this to Christ. Attributed that very section to Jesus. And did, we just read Luke 22, this is Jesus himself saying, for I say to you, that this which is written must still be accomplished in me and he was numbered with the transgressors, must be accomplished in me.

John 6, 45, also quoting with this second section, Isaiah 54, 13, as it is written in the prophets, they shall be taught of God. This is a great, this is a great section. I'm gonna go ahead and turn to 54, Isaiah 54, 13.

Putting it back in context, what's the mission of the suffering servant? To restore Israel, bring the Gentiles, he dies and lives again, he pays for their sins. That's what, that is the mission of the suffering servant, section two.

So you have this part in here that is, seems a little out of place. You know, John, John 6 is an incredible discussion of how God is in control of salvation. So John 6, 43, do not grumble among yourselves, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. All right, so why would Jesus quote this section here to talk about how God is in control of your salvation itself?

Well, 54 in Isaiah, oh afflicted one, storm tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones and antimony, I will lay your foundations with sapphires, I will make your pinnacles of agate and your gates of carbuncles.

This is lavish, lavish restoration. And your children shall be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children and righteousness shall be established. This is God satisfying, this is God doing it, this is God's restoring, this is God building up the nation.

He's building up the city, he's building up everything. He's the one doing it. So what better verse to put into a section in John chapter six, how God's in control and says, oh, and not only is he the one who draws, not only is he the one who saves, not only is he the one who raised you up on the last day, he's actually the one who teaches you as well.

So that's why that thing would be very appropriate. Why Jesus would quote Isaiah 54 to talk about the greatness of what God does in you. You see how looking at the context, looking at where it flows in the basic, you know, whether it's in part one, part two, part three, it starts to kind of expand your understanding of why Jesus would use these verses, why he actually appeals to the Old Testament to shore up the very things that he's teaching them.

He's not like he's doing a whole bunch of new stuff. He's like he's going over things that they should have already known. You should have already known this. What does he say to Nicodemus? Are you the teacher of Israel and you do not know these things?

I'm not telling you something that's totally innovative. This is old, well-traveled ground, but it's in a new, fresh, expanded, and more incredible way, but the basic concept is still there. It's greater through the lens of Christ, but it's not, it's, I like to say it's kind of quantitatively different, not as much qualitatively.

It's still the same stuff, but it's just expanded. A great, great verse. This is a favorite one. Matthew 21 and Mark 11, and then Luke 22, 37, all quote Isaiah 53, excuse me, Isaiah 1946, all quote Isaiah 56, seven.

So excuse me, it's Isaiah 56, seven. My house shall be a house of prayer for all the nations. What did Jesus just get finished doing? Says, my house will be a house of prayer for all nations, but you've turned it into a robber's den.

He just cleaned house. He's flipped over tables. He chased people out. He cleansed the temple.

Why?

Because the Old Testament said this temple was to be a house of prayer for all the nations. I thought the Gentiles weren't allowed in the temple. They're not, that's not kosher. Remember what Israel was supposed to be.

Israel was supposed to be, in this section, a light to the nations. They were always supposed to come in.

Why?

Because they're a priest nation. They're supposed to mediate the holiness and wonder of God to the entire world. They were supposed to draw all nations to Jerusalem, to Zion, to the temple, and show them who God is.

And instead, they were just making money. Nothing wrong with making money, but they were doing it in a pretty unscrupulous way. They were doing it in the temple, in the area where the Gentiles were supposed to be, the court of the Gentiles.

I wanted to make sure the recording put that on there. Absolutely, yes. So the court of the Gentiles, where they could come. They couldn't go into the holy place. They could come into the court of Gentiles, and they should have been able to come and learn and grow, but instead, what did they do?

They had to pay an exorbitant transaction fee to change money. And same thing, visiting Jews from other areas would have to change their money from this into the temple shekel, and they were losing out.

They weren't getting a good return on that conversion. So just all around, it was just a giant mess. And it should have been a place of prayer for all the nations, so they could come to the court of the Gentiles.

They could see the holiness of God. They could learn about His law and learn about right and wrong, but instead, they turned it into a den of thieves, and Jesus, as the Lord of the temple, as the King, says, this stops now.

So that was also out of the second section of Isaiah 54. So you know, the suffering servant dies in 53, and in 54, he's talking about a house of prayer, so he's alive. Okay, we're doing okay on time, but I'll do one more.

Luke 4, 17 through 19. This is the third section. This is restoration through the conquering king, the conquering servant, the conquering messenger. I mean, this whole section here is about the king. Now, this is, restoration is coming through this conquering messenger, this servant.

Kingdoms come, the new Jerusalem, new heavens and new earth. You read chapter 66, and it just, it becomes mind-boggling. That same imagery is used in Revelation to describe the new heavens and the new earth.

So you have old Jerusalem over here was all corrupt. New Jerusalem is the new place where everybody's gonna live, and it's gonna include Gentiles, which is odd to the first century Jew, but not odd for the rest of Isaiah, because that has been the whole theme, that all the nations were going to come in.

So in this one section, so Luke 4, 17 through 19 says, "'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, "'because he has anointed me to preach "'the gospel to the poor today. "'This is fulfilled in your hearing.'".

Isaiah 61 .1, the scroll of Isaiah is handed to Jesus himself. He stands in the synagogue. He actually may sit down to teach me. He stands and says, "'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, "'because the Lord has anointed me "'to bring good news to the poor.

"'He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, "'proclaim liberty to the captives, "'and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, "'to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, "'or the favorable year of the Lord, "'or the year of Jubilee.'".

That's the section that Jesus reads and says, then he sits down, and all staring at him, and he says, "'This has now been fulfilled in your hearing.'". Like, well, okay. So when he's talking about, we are coming to release the captives, they're thinking, good, time to get these Romans out of here.

But that's kind of not what he does. He, looking at the theme of Isaiah, looking at the whole theme of it, he does something that made them so angry they drove him out of the town. So 17 through 19.

All right.

"'They all spoke well of him "'and marveled at the gracious words "'that were coming from his mouth. "'They said, is this not Joseph's son? "'And he said to them, "'Doubtless you will quote this proverb to me, "'Positioned, heal yourself.'".

Meaning, if you have the ability to heal, heal yourself first, take care of your own people first. Now you will quote me that proverb. He says, all right, yeah. So obviously, you're thinking that I'm gonna take care of this first.

But that's not what he does. He goes through and he starts talking about, "'In truth, I tell you, "'there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, "'when the heavens were shut up for three years "'and six months, and a great famine came over the land.

"'Elijah was sent to none of them.'". None of the widows in Israel, but he went only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, a Gentile, a woman who was a widow. "'And there were many lepers in Israel "'in the time of the prophet Elisha, "'and none of them were cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.

"'And when they heard those things in the synagogue, "'they were filled with wrath.'". So when Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 and says, hey, claim liberty of the captives, favorable year of the Lord, he then gives them two other passages from their own scriptures that say, these guys helped the Gentiles.

They skipped over some of the people in Israel and actually helped Gentiles. That's what we should be doing as well. They're like, no, we need to kick the Romans out. He says, you're missing the whole point of Isaiah.

We're pulling in the nations. The Messiah has come, I'm here. This is now fulfilled in your hearing. The kingdom has come. New Jerusalem is getting ready to descend. I am the king, and it all centers on me.

All the nations are gonna be drawn to me. And they didn't like that. And if they had read all of Isaiah, which they probably read many times, many of them memorized it. They missed that, how they were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles.

Now, there are more verses on there that I think we could keep going over. But there's actually one other verse that's quoted four times. John 12 references it. It's Isaiah 6 .10. Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.

God has to open our eyes and open our hearts. Our hearts are blind. They're closed off. So that verse, Isaiah 6 .10, is quoted in all four Gospels as well. It is tragic, it is heartbreaking, and it is nonetheless true.

Why could they not see, even though it was all over Isaiah that the Gentiles would come? They were blind, and their hearts were hard. And they needed the kind of restoration that the suffering servant could bring, which was a renewal of their heart, a renewal of their mind, a renewal of their spirit.

What does Ezekiel say? I will give you a new spirit, and I will take your heart of stone and give you heart of flesh, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes. They needed a complete and total recreation, just like us.

So, summary. Why is Isaiah 40 through 66 so important to the Gospels? Why is it quoted so much? Why does Jesus rely upon it to display his authority? Any ideas on why this section? That's exactly what I think, that Jesus was literally showing them, this is prophecy being fulfilled in your hearing, you should follow me.

Especially the teachers of Israel should have been without excuse. They have the scriptures. What advantage does the Jew have? Great in every respect. They have the laws, they have the prophets, they have these things.

It is a great advantage to be Jewish, to be sure. But Paul also says a true Jew is the one who is circumcised in heart. You have to have that new heart, new eyes to see those things, just like us. So in that respect, the Jew and Gentile are totally equal.

We have the same need, and we have the same savior. Two points. Jesus is the suffering servant of that second section. He is called Israel. He succeeds where old Israel failed. He is the one that succeeds in this mission where the old Israel failed.

So that's why I say that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel. He is the one who receives the promises and both Jews and Gentiles who are united in him by faith are joint heirs of those promises. The kingdom really does start with Jesus' first coming.

It's not all to the end. It actually does start, it's inaugurated. What did Jesus say? The kingdom of God is in your midst. Well, because the king was there. I would say, wherever the king is, that's what the kingdom is.

And Jesus is present among his people. We are united to him, and we are so united to him, we're actually seated in heavenly places with him. Now, where is he? He's seated at the right hand of God the Father on the throne.

There's not another throne, like a better throne that he's going to get. He is seated at the right hand of God now in all power and authority, above every power and authority. It's not like, okay, all right, he has everything.

What more?

There's nothing more.

That's it.

He has all power and authority now. He rules now. The kingdom started now. Or in one way of saying it's inaugurated, it'll be consummated at the very end, because right now we operate on faith, and we wait for his return, where he will make all things right.

Isaiah 66 is a global restoration. It includes Gentiles. You can see verse 12, verse 18, verse 19, verse 20. He even goes so far as to give them a special status. These people that come from afar, whether they were Jews that have been exiled and brought from foreign lands, or whether they're Gentiles themselves, they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord on horses and chariots and litters and on mules and on dromedaries to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel in the house of the Lord.

And some of them I will take for priests and Levites. No more temple, no more court of the Gentiles in the temple. Be able to go into the holy place. Be able to go into the most holy place. There'll be priests and Gentiles, they'll be holy.

They'll be able to serve. Why can we enter into the holy of holies now? Because Christ is our high priest and we're united to him. So there's more that we could talk about and I'm going to pause there or stop there and open it up for any questions or comments about some of these verses, Jesus using Isaiah, where it fits in here.

There are other references that is not exhaustive. I know I missed some. I used the commentary, the great and old commentary of Google to find those. But yeah, so I'm certain that I've missed some. But as you read the gospels, things are going to sound familiar if you've read Isaiah.

So yes, keep reading the gospels. But if you get a chance, read 40 through 66. And if you're anything like me, the first time you go through it in its entirety, you're going to be like, what did I just read?

That's okay, that's okay. It's very foreign to us. It's a different language, it's been translated and it's about a different culture. And it's about a Jewish culture that was in Babylon and is now coming back, trying to find their old culture.

But that culture is going to be expanded with all these other cultures and nations. And it's going to be read through the lens of Christ. So like, okay, it's hard to be a little confused. That's fine.

But read it, keep it in context. You can even get, and Amy does this. She listens to, in the morning, she likes to listen to the Bible audio. And she's playing as she's getting ready. What a great way to just have it in your mind.

And you're going to read these things in the New Testament. Like, that sounds familiar. Where is that from? And you can use your little study reference and cross references and see it. So I encourage you to do that.

Look through Isaiah, read Isaiah, and then you'll find those references. Any other comments or questions that are things that you guys have found that reminded you of something you've read, maybe in Isaiah?

Certainly, yes, ma 'am.

I can't, does that say Babylon?

It does, yes. As far as the world powers go, the focus here in this first part is Assyria, who destroyed the northern kingdom. Babylon is a sub, kind of a sub power, second tier power here, goes to Hezekiah.

And then they go into exile. And then Babylon is the one that's getting judged here. So the focus is on them, even though for the post-exile, it's really Medeo-Persia that takes over Babylon. So, but that's the focus.

If you had to pick between the two, Assyria and Babylon. 700s and 500s. Okay, well, let's pray and we'll be dismissed. Lord God in heaven, thank you again for our time together. Please bless this study time and help us to see you in the scriptures.

Open our eyes, our ears, soften our hearts, and help us to see that Christ fulfilled prophecy. He does exactly what he said he was going to do. And that's why we can trust him when he says he is coming back.

And we will be raised up just as he was raised up. In Christ Jesus' holy name we pray, amen.