Matthew 3:1-6

Hello, good evening. This is Truth in Love. I'm so glad to be with you tonight. Looking at God's Word tonight is going to be amazing.

We could talk about current events and maybe we should and maybe I should change up the topics, but you know spending time in God's Word and digging into God's Word, studying

God's Word, or just reading God's Word is such a blessing and it's so amazing and that's what

I want to do with you. Do it together as we reach our community.

I hope that you will join me in that effort to see God's kingdom grow, to see the kingdom of Christ grow, for the lost to be saved, people to come to the saving knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ.

I hope that you will join in that effort with me as we work together for that. We want to see people saved.

We want to see Christ exalted and God glorified and I hope this is a part of that kingdom work and I'm thankful to do it with you and spend time together with you.

Truth in Love came from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15. Paul tells us to speak the truth in love so that we can grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head even

Christ. So all of life is about Christ and we want to grow up in all things into Him and to do that we've got to study

God's Word. We can't go about this life on our own in our own wisdom. It's just foolishness.

We have to be in God's Word where God speaks to us about how how He would have us to live.

So thank you for joining me. If you're watching, I'd love if you would let me know that you're watching. Tell me hello.

Ask a question. Start a conversation. The floor can always be yours. I'd love to have a conversation with you.

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Maybe this will be an encouragement for at least one person. So I'm thankful that we're together.

If I can pray for you, I always try to pray at the end and if I can pray for you, I'd love to be able to do that.

Let me know that I can pray for you. All you have to do is type me. Let me get on the comment section here.

All you have to do is type me. Let me know that you'd like for me to pray for you. I'd love to be able to do that.

I'm sure other brothers and sisters in Christ of ours will see that and they would love to pray for you as well.

So we'll pray at the end and we'll pray for one another. I'd love to be able to pray for you. I've already received two prayer requests this evening before we come on live.

I'm not gonna mention names or what the circumstances are, but two gentlemen, both husbands and fathers, they're dealing with two difficult things, two different things, but two difficult things.

And so we want to remember those two gentlemen tonight as we pray and as we continue to pray, as they continue to battle these difficult situations and pray that God through the

Holy Spirit would comfort their hearts and help them and their families through these difficult times.

And so if I can pray for you, let me know that I can do that. We want to continue in the book of Matthew.

It's Tuesday night while we're doing this video live. It's Tuesday night and on Tuesdays I've been going through the book of Matthew because I wanted to look at the topic and why

I say Jesus is King. I want to remind us of that, that Jesus is King, and we want to live in that victory, that Jesus is

King. Jesus is our King. He is currently ruling and reigning, so we want to live in that victory.

And what does that mean? What does that look like? And a great place for us to go is the book of Matthew because Matthew, his main objective, it seems, is to exalt

Christ as King. And so there's really no better place to go than to look at Matthew as he presents

Jesus as King to us. And so we can worship him, we can exalt him as King, and learn how to live in that victory of Jesus being

King. We are starting tonight in Matthew chapter 3.

We're going to look at verses 1 through 6. And as I said at the beginning, looking at God's Word as I went over it and read it, it was just so exciting for me.

And I couldn't wait to share with you this time looking at God's Word because of how wonderful it is, how

God -glorifying it is, these passages that we're going to look at tonight.

But we're in Matthew chapter 3, and as we read, as we look at this, keep in mind the theme, where we want to put our effort is focusing on Jesus as King and how we can live in that victory.

So Matthew chapter 3 verses 1 through 6, he tells us, Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt in his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then Jerusalem was going out to him and all Judea and all the district around the

Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

We finished up chapter 2 looking at what we actually did two videos.

We did the end of chapter 2, and then we just focused on a part 2, which was Matthew chapter 2 verse 23, looking at Jesus, the

Nazarene, Jesus coming from Nazareth and the

Nazarene, and how Christ grew up in obscurity and how his kingdom grows up in obscurity.

And that theme kind of trickles on down into chapter 3 a little bit.

Matthew chapter 3 verse 1, it says, There's a gap here, but what he means when he says, now in those days, it's still in that time period.

So we're still in that period of the life of Christ, that first century.

But in fact, between the end of Matthew chapter 2 and the beginning of Matthew chapter 3, there's this 30, maybe less, somewhere around there, 30 year period of obscurity, of silence, where Christ is growing.

And of course, you know, we do have the passage where Jesus goes to the temple, but that's it.

Between Matthew 2 and Matthew 3, you have this gap, speaking of Christ and pointing to that period of obscurity in his life, where he's growing, and he's not making himself known, but he's growing in obscurity.

And Jesus, being called a Nazarene, fulfilled the prophet, where the prophet says that from Jesse, from the stem of Jesse, would come a sprout, a branch.

And Isaiah also says that it would come forth from dry ground, where no other plant could grow, this plant can grow.

And Jesus is the only one that could grow from this dry ground. The genealogy had...there

was no mention of Christ genealogy. There was a gap there. There's just this obscurity of Jesus' early life.

And as we look and see how this theme of obscurity kind of trickles down into chapter 3, we're also going to be seeing in chapter 3 this compare and contrast of what

Christ is bringing and what's here on the earth, where they were at this time, and what

Christ is bringing, this awakening that he's bringing to them.

There's going to be this compare and contrast. And I hope you see this compare and contrast that we're going to look at.

But in those days, John the Baptist, and of course, John is fulfilling his prophetic role that was given to his father and his mother at that time.

He's beginning his ministry, and he's fulfilling that prophetic role. And it says that he came or arrived on the scene, and he's preaching.

Or in other words, maybe a better explanation is John is proclaiming as a herald.

So he's announcing. And maybe if you've done Bible studies before, you've heard the comparison to a king sending out an announcement or a king preparing his arrival.

But he would have a predecessor who would sound a trumpet and read the proclamation.

There was this predecessor that would come before this important information or before the king himself.

And that's the prophetic role that John was fulfilling here. He arrived on the scene, and this preaching was a proclamation of a herald.

I mean, he was lifting his voice, and he was giving this proclamation.

It wasn't quiet. He wasn't shy about it. He was lifting his voice as a herald to the people that were coming.

And it says that he was in the wilderness of Judea. And I think that's one of the places where we can see that this compare and contrast begins to start.

He was in the wilderness of Judea. Of course, he's fulfilling the Bible prophecy, fulfilling his role.

But if you think about it, and I don't want to make too much of my own interjection, but I just see this.

I see this compare and contrast where John, the herald of the king to come, he's announcing his arrival and not just announcing his arrival, but he's announcing this kingdom, this kingdom that's coming with this king, and that a transfer needs to take place.

And that transfer is also part of the compare and contrast that we see here in Matthew chapter 3.

But you look at John and his role and what he's doing here in the wilderness of Judea as the proclaimer, the messenger that precedes the king.

He's doing it in the wilderness of Judea where in a kingdom, you would have the palace or the castle and you would have the walls.

Jerusalem had their protective walls and they had the temple and they had the palaces and they had the marketplaces and they had everything that a capital city, you would expect them to have.

And a king would be in his palace and his herald would go out into the streets where the people were and herald this message of the king or herald the arrival of the king in the city, in the big city, the protected city to show his prowess, his power, his elevate his status or to show off his status or what he wanted you to see of him.

But you have this comparison and contrasting of here you have

Jerusalem, the capital city where the great temple was and the great palace was where the ruler, the authorities would live.

And yet the herald of our king was in the wilderness of Judea and the contrasting and comparing that I see is the thought of this is where they are and apart from Christ we are, but this is where they are spiritually.

They think and they are worshiping and they are living as people who feel like they have this great status.

I mean, they're living and they have this capital city where even if they're far away, they can travel back to for the festivals, for the sacrifices.

They have this place that they can return to and it's big and it's magnificent and it's wonderful.

And it's a place with traffic where people are coming and trading and selling and it's just this wonderful place.

And their status, who they feel they are is wrapped up in this place, this big, wonderful place.

But spiritually, I think the wilderness of Judea is representation of where they are and apart from Christ, we are, we're in the wilderness.

And the language that's used here and the other passes that we're going to look at speaks to that, speaks to that wilderness, that rugged terrain that we're in spiritually.

And then his message, starting in verse two, Matthew tells us what his message is.

And the first part of his message, of course, he says, repent. And this is, it says a present imperative where it's something that you do and then you continue to do.

So that he was calling them to repent. And of course, if you look at repent, repent is telling us that, looking at the definition and the understanding of repent is telling us that it's a change of mind.

It's a change of heart, a change of thinking, a change of mind. But it's not first.

According to the raw definition, it's a change of mind, change of thinking, not first the change of action, but the change of thinking, the change of mind results in, therefore, the change of behavior, the change of action.

And that's what he was calling them to. And we're going to see this visually here in just a second.

But this repentance is the first thing that he's calling them to. And we're going to see why that is too, as we look at the other passage.

But he says, repent for there's, there's a reason for this repentance.

A reason for this repentance. It's because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Wow. How can I, how can I continue to talk and not look down on my notes and see all the things that I skipped that I wanted to say?

Going back to, if you'll forgive me, let me briefly go back. I'm going back to John the

Baptist. There was, there was 430 years, just, just speaking of this, this obscurity that, that Matthew seems to draw out and how it trickles down into chapter three.

You have 430 years of silence from the prophets of God, from Malachi to John the

Baptist. And yeah,

I think that was it until we get down to, to verse, verse four and we're almost there, but, but he goes from repentance for this reason, for the kingdom of heaven is, is at hand.

What I've learned is that this terminology of the kingdom of heaven is unique to Matthew.

And it speaks of this, the kingdom of the Messiah, but it speaks, it's speaking to us in a, in a broader sense, when it speaks of the kingdom of heaven.

We're, we're accustomed to, and we're familiar with the terminology of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Christ.

Here, Matthew uses the kingdom of heaven, and I think he uses it to introduce us to a broader understanding of this kingdom.

Vincent says it in this way. It's, it's origin, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the

Messiah, it's origin, it's end, it's king, it's character, it's destiny of its subjects, the laws, institutions, privileges are all heavenly.

And I want to make sure that I don't know exactly what

Vincent meant by heavenly. Of course, he's drawing the connection there to the kingdom of heaven.

So therefore all these descriptions make them all heavenly.

But I don't think that I want to portray this and, and for us to understand this as a location.

Like this is, these things are happening there. I don't,

I don't want us to understand it as a location. What I think it's pointing us to when it says, you know, all these things, it's origin, end, king, character, destination, laws, institution, privileges are all heavenly.

What I think it's speaking of is the seat of authority, the place of authority where Christ rules.

And so we, we think of all these things coming together and, and having their coming under submission from an authority under heaven.

And then he goes on to say that this kingdom of Messiah is the actual consummation, the full bringing together of the prophetic idea.

So you're looking at the prophecies, which Matthew continues to do. He continued to quote the prophets.

So this idea of the kingdom of heaven, and remember

I said, it's Matthew trying to broaden our understanding of this kingdom. It's this kingdom of the

Messiah is actual full consummation of the prophetic idea from the prophets of the old

Testament of the rule of God without any national limitation.

So participation rests only on faith in Jesus. It is the combination of all rights of Christian citizenship in this world and eternal blessedness in the next.

Or in other words, as scripture using scriptural language in this age and the age to come.

So we're not, we don't separate the two. It's both together in this world and in the eternal blessedness or this age and the age to come.

We're seeing those things together. This, this kingdom, those two things are, are underneath this authority of heaven currently and, and in the future, in all senses are only different sides of the same coin.

So in, in all the different senses of this kingdom, all the different things that he pointed out there, there, the only difference is that they're just different sides of the same coin.

Or he says, they're only different sides of the same great idea.

And that idea is this, this coin is this, the subjection of all things, this age and the age to come rule authority, everything, this world, the eternal blessedness, this age, the age to come, everything in it is underneath this heavenly authority.

He says the subjection of all things to God in Christ.

So I think Vincent here helps us to, to elaborate and understand what

Matthew wants us to understand, where, when he uses this term kingdom of heaven, he wants us to, to have a broader understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is.

So you have repentance, the call to repentance, the changing of mind, which generates a change of behavior, a change of even location.

And we're going to see this physically representing, representing it spiritually.

And then the entrance or participation, as Vincent says, is faith in Christ.

So you have repentance and then the kingdom of heaven, which is representative of, representative of faith in Christ as a, to be able to be a participant.

Okay. So you have repentance and faith and a broader understanding of the kingdom of heaven. And he says,

John says it's at hand. It is, it's here. And so this is, this is an immediate concern.

That's why he's proclaiming as a Herald. This is an immediate concern for you, bringing the consummation, the full consummation of this prophetic, prophetic thought, this prophetic idea, what we were looking for is at hand.

So therefore it is an immediate concern for you, my audience, is what

John is trying to portray. And then we're going to, we're going to skip over verse three, because I want to take just a little bit more time for verse three.

And I hope that if you or if you listen, you'll, you'll bear with me. It may take just a few extra minutes, but, but it's, it's, it will be really good to look at God's word together.

And then verse four, continue to look at John. Now, John himself, speaking of John, had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt about his waist.

And his food was locusts and wild honey. I read something that never triggered in my mind before, and maybe it has yours, maybe it hasn't.

But if you've ever, have you ever thought that scripture never references what

Jesus wore? But here, the Bible tells us what John wore.

So of course, there has to be a reason for explaining what his wardrobe was and what he ate.

Otherwise it wouldn't be in there. It's in there for a purpose. You know, otherwise it would be more important to know more about Jesus.

But we don't, we don't hear or know about what Jesus is wearing other than, you know, the, the, the lady with the issue for 12 years.

She just wanted to touch the hem of his garment. So we know Jesus wore a garment with a hem.

That's about it. That's about all we know what Jesus wore. But here specifically, we're told what John the

Baptist is wearing as he is in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming this message that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And I think it's for a purpose. And this is what I think that that purpose is.

If you look in second Kings 1 .8, you'll see that the prophet

Elijah wore a garment of camel hair and a leather belt.

And also in Zechariah chapter 13, verse four, it kind of tells us there that this was the traditional garb of the prophets.

So John was representing himself as a prophet of God, speaking, speaking on behalf of God to the people so that when, when the people came, they would have recognized, they would have known and understood by his traditional dress that he was presenting himself and his message as a prophet and a prophecy from God.

So that's the explanation for his dress, his wardrobe, and why he wore that.

So they would recognize who he was and what he was doing. And, you know, how, how can we say that this is

Matthew is trying to make a connection between John the Baptist and Elijah just because of what they wore?

Well, we can confirm that, of course, by Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11 and 14,

Jesus confirmed himself that John was the Elijah that was foretold to come before, actually

Malachi verse, Jesus does confirm that in Matthew 11.

And he confirms that the prophecy that's in Malachi chapter four, verse five,

I will send Elijah. And Jesus said, John is, is Elijah that, that was prophesied to come.

And Malachi says before the great and terrible day of the

Lord. And that's so important to remember that the prophecy is more than Malachi telling us,

I will send Elijah and that John fulfills that, that prophecy of Elijah coming.

But the rest of the prophecy tells us that he's coming before the great and terrible day of the

Lord. So important for us to remember because our, our theology from Genesis to revelation must be consistent.

And if John the Baptist is this Elijah fulfilling this prophecy in Malachi and the rest of the prophecy is about this great and terrible, he's coming before this great and terrible day of the

Lord. How does that fit in with the rest of scripture?

How does that work together? How does that fit together? And of course that's a, that's a different, different subject altogether, a different rabbit trail.

We don't have time to go down, but I just wanted to encourage you to, to take the whole verse, look at the whole context, the immediate context, the greater context of the book, the

Bible, the history and geography and the consistency of scripture, because one, one, one way of understanding a certain topic in the

Bible can't contradict other beliefs that we have.

There's got to be a consistency and there is consistency within scripture.

If there's contradictions and there's, there's areas that do not flow well, that's on our part, the interpreter, the

Bible flows, the Bible is consistent. And so we, we have to find out how we're wrong and how we can understand it to where the

Bible is consistent to us. I hope that makes sense. And, and speaking of that, that terrible day of the

Lord, John somewhat, I think references that idea.

Luke tells us in Luke chapter three, verse seven, Luke tells us about more of the conversation that John had with the audience that was coming, the multitude, the crowd that was coming, that was coming to hear him be baptized, whatever reason that they were coming.

This was his, part of his message to them specifically. And I think it's, it's referencing, continuing to reference this

Malachi chapter four, verse five. He says to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Isn't that interesting? We don't speak about this, this time of Jesus on earth and, and part of, part of what he is accomplishing and fulfilling in prophecy was this great and terrible day of the

Lord, this, this wrath to come. And John, John speaking to the crowd, he says to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

And he says, don't rely on Abraham as your father. Don't, don't fool yourself.

Don't be misguided. He says, God can raise up stones to worship him.

So don't rely on your lineage. There's wrath coming. And that's, again, a whole different rabbit trail, a whole different topic, subject.

But I just say that to encourage us to, to be consistent, to look at the whole context of what's going on in scripture.

So I think that's why Matthew tells us what John wore and what was going on here in his, his, his wardrobe and his diet and how it points to the prophets of old and how his audience would have understood and known that.

And then in verse five, I keep hitting the table. In verse five says, then

Jerusalem was going out to him. So they were going out of Jerusalem and all it says, all

Judea and all the districts around the Jordan.

Now I think in, in this case, and it's, it's very true.

It's very true that, and maybe you've heard this before. The word all means all of course, we agree on that, but how it's used can be used hyperbolically and over -exaggeration.

And some places, some people disagree on that, on how it's used or that it's ever used or that it's ever used like that because they'll say all means all always all the time.

It means all you know, they'll say those types of clever phrases, but you just simply have to go back to the birth of Christ where it says all, all of the world was taxed.

We know that's hyperbolic language. It's because he was not ruler over the whole world.

It was, it was his world, his, his kingdom that he was calling to be taxed.

So yes, the word all can be all of a certain thing or, or maybe hyperbolic language and over -exaggeration.

And here, obviously it says that then

Jerusalem, now we say that we take the

Bible literally, did the city itself, the walls, did they come down to where John was being baptized?

Did the earth move? We have to read the Bible literally the way it meant us to read it.

Jerusalem, meaning the people was going out, out of Jerusalem to him and, and all of Judea.

We've got to understand that not every single person left their post and went out, but it was, you know, the majority, a great number.

You know, we even use, we even use that type of language. Just for an example, let's say that there's a, we've been going through this pandemic and we can't have public events, but then let's say that we're the, the stipulations on getting together are lifted and we can have our local parade.

Finally, we can have our local parade and the news reporter comes and they say, all of such and such was there to see the parade.

Well, we know that not every single citizen of that city or county was there, but when he says all of such and such city was there, we understand that it seemed like everybody was there because it was such a great multitude.

That's what's going on here. That's interpreting and understanding scripture with a consistency, interpreting it in its context, the way it means it.

But a great multitude from Jerusalem, all Judea and the districts around the

Jordan, they were coming to John. And this is where I saw again, the, the comparing and contrasting, um, we talked about how

John was proclaiming as a herald in the wilderness of Judea.

And where were they coming from? They were coming from, they were coming out of Jerusalem to the wilderness of Judea.

And so if this is where they are spiritually in the wilderness, where they think they are spiritually is in Jerusalem, the, the temple of God, they, they are righteous.

They are God's children. And you can, you can hear, uh, you can understand their mindset when

John tells them, because he knew their mindset when he tells them the, when we quoted the verse from Luke, Luke three, seven, when he tells them, um, don't, don't say to yourself, we're, we're children of Abraham.

This is where their mindset was. We are God's people.

We have the temple, the great temple. We are, um, descendants. We have the lineage.

We are Abraham's children. So where they truly were was in the wilderness of Judea, where they thought they were was in the great capital city,

God's promised land with the great temple. They thought they were in Jerusalem in a real right relationship with God.

But what needed to happen was a repentance, a coming out of Jerusalem, changing their mind.

This is not right. I need to come out of Jerusalem and go to the wilderness, to the dry ground where the branch is growing and go to this branch where I can sit under his limbs and his tree and be protected and be satisfied spiritually.

I think that is what it's pointing to. And what I see, and like I said,

I don't want to take too much and put too much into that, but I can see that spiritual compare and contrast.

And then in verse six, and they, the people that were coming out to John in the wilderness, and they were being baptized by him,

John the Baptist in the Jordan river as they were confessing their sin.

Do you see that connection there? Today, we speak of baptism as a public profession of faith.

It's a symbol of, it's an outward symbol of what has happened on the inside.

But these things coincided with each other.

They happened together. All these things were done publicly.

It wasn't a private confession with just them and John. The confession and the baptism coincided with one another, and both were public proclamations.

The confession of sin was a public proclamation and the baptism was a public proclamation.

And there was more to it. I can visualize seeing people in our churches being baptized, and it's a joyous occasion, but it's just, it's a simple ceremony where they enter the water, they go under the water and come out of the water.

And it represents that death and spiritual death and salvation that God does within us.

And it's a beautiful thing, but it's a simple ceremony. But baptism, this baptism language that the

Bible uses in the Old Testament, here in the New Testament as well, and this baptism language and it being done publicly was more of a deal than what we probably understand it to be.

Because it was a public proclamation going along with this confession of sin that I am wrong.

And what was the message? Repent. I am wrong. I have been doing wrong, and I want to forsake that.

And what was the second half of the message? The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

So therefore, this transfer of location is happening. And I'm proclaiming that with my public baptism, where I thought

I was in a right place, in a right relationship with God, because I was a child of Abraham.

I was from Jerusalem. This is my people and my city that was promised and given to us by God.

And because of these things, I'm in a right relationship with God. Because I do these things,

I'm in a right relationship with God. But baptism in response to the kingdom of heaven is a public transfer of,

I am symbolizing my transfer from who I was to who

I am and where I am.

I'm in this new and different. I'm acknowledging and accepting that this was wrong in this kingdom of heaven.

This is where I'm supposed to be. That was wrong, and it was, is, I'm forsaking that.

And that's why I think baptism is much deeper and more profound than what we often understand it to be.

It was a big deal for this public proclamation. And then there's, of course, a third thing that's public, and we're going to see that in just a second.

But repentance, this confession of sin was public. Baptism, the symbol of transferring from what was wrong to the kingdom that's right was public.

And then what else is public and not private is the proclamation ourselves of this good news.

And that's why you see sometimes in baptisms today, where the pastor, the elders will have the baptismal candidate to share their testimony of how

God has worked in them repentance and faith towards Christ, a message of the good news and what it has done in them and for them.

Because it's not a, it's not a private thing and it's not a simple ceremony.

It's a public proclamation. And we, as the recipients of the baptism are proclaiming it publicly and not just with the action, but with our words, just like John the

Baptist, he was proclaiming as a herald with his voice and visually with water baptism.

And that's what we are called to do. So what I want to look at now with the remainder of the time that we have together, which, you know, there's no real time limits on here.

I hope you will stick with me, but we're going to go back to verse three for just a second, because it says for this is the one

John the Baptist referred to by Isaiah and Matthew continues to quote the prophets saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the

Lord, make his paths straight. So John is fulfilling this prophetic word from Isaiah and Matthew is calling attention to that fulfillment of that verse.

And this particular prophecy is found in Isaiah chapter 40 verse three.

And if we flip back, if you're with me, if you have your Bibles open, you can follow along with me.

The prophecy that Matthew is speaking of is Isaiah chapter 40 verse three, a voice is calling, clear the way of the

Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our

God. And then there's that fulfillment and Matthew points that out to us.

But just as I've said in the past, when they heard a small quote, when they heard a small quote from the

Old Testament, their knowledge of the context would have come to mind, come flooding in their mind.

And they would have understood the whole passage, the whole context that, you know, where we just focus on verse to verse and compare verse to verse.

This by Matthew, and this is consistent throughout, you know, the

New Testament, of course, by Matthew quoting this verse, that was basically the same or similar to us saying, here's the reference.

Here's the passage that I want you to remember or look up or read.

And so by him quoting this one verse, Matthew was pointing to this, this passage, this whole passage.

And of course, like I've done in the past, I want to look at Isaiah chapter 40, not just verse three, but the whole chapter.

And I know it's a lot, chapters can be a lot, but it's so wonderful and refreshing and powerful to read what they would have understood when

Matthew pointed out Isaiah chapter 40 verse three, they would have thought back to Isaiah chapter 40.

So think about Jesus being King, living in that victory and Matthew speaking to us about John the

Baptist, his fulfillment of this prophecy and the message that they would have heard.

I'm recalling Isaiah and the message from Isaiah. So we're going to step into their shoes and recall the message of Isaiah as we look at Isaiah chapter 40.

And I'm going to read and just make a few brief comments as we read along.

So I hope you will follow along with me. Starting in verse one, it says, comfort, oh, comfort my people says

God. So this is opening up as a passage of comfort. Remember the context.

John is fulfilling the prophecy. He's preaching his message.

And he's also speaking to them roughly in some cases, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee the wrath to come.

But Matthew was pointing us back to this passage in Isaiah, this comfort passage.

Comfort, oh, comfort my people says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the

Lord's hand double for all her sins. So we know that the fall of Jerusalem came, that Jerusalem was wiped out.

We know that warfare had not ended. So we understand this as the

New Testament writers did as fulfillment of spiritual prophecy in spiritual terms in this way, the warfare of sin.

Verse three, of course, is our passage. A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our

God. Then verse four, how do we do that? So his calling is to clear the way in the wilderness, make smooth the desert pass.

And listen to this description. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low.

So what happens when the valley is lifted up and the mountain and hill is made low? It comes together. You have this level plain now and let the rough ground become a plain.

And here's this verse, these words that I was referencing earlier and the rugged terrain, the wilderness that they were in, he says, and the rugged terrain, as in you're walking through a jungle that's thick with vines and weeds and trees, and you're having to machete or pull away so that you can navigate through, make the rugged terrain a broad valley to where there's no obstacles.

There's no stumbling blocks. You're not going to stumble and fall or roll down the hill.

Everything is level, it's plain, and it's broad.

There's nothing getting in your way. He says, then the glory of the

Lord will be revealed. So when John the Baptist is preaching, clear the way for the

Lord, make it level and plain and broaden this path.

Because when you do, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed. Get rid of all the stumbling blocks that's in your way, which is the sin.

You're wrong thinking about this religion that you're in, your idolatry, your adultery.

God called them adulterers because of their idolatry. All this sin, forsake it.

That's why John was calling them to repentance. This repentance was a leveling, was a planning, was a broadening of the path so that then the glory of the

Lord could be or will be revealed. And all flesh, and there's this exaggerated language, all flesh will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Okay. We hear that, the mouth of the

Lord has spoken. So that's kind of like the gavel going down, but he doesn't just, oh, this is so good.

Isaiah doesn't just stop there because the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

That should be good enough. That should be good enough for us. That should be good enough for the hearer of Isaiah, but Isaiah doesn't stop there.

He says, a voice says, call out. Then he answered, what shall

I call out? And this is the Lord. This is the

Lord that has spoken. Okay. Remember that this, this message that he's giving them, this is the

Lord. He's going to be to us and to the audience that he's writing to. This is the

Lord. I'm going to describe him to you that has spoken. So you better believe his message.

He says, all flesh is grass. Flesh meaning mankind, men and women.

All flesh is grass and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers. Who's the grass? Mankind. The flower fades when just the breath of the

Lord blows upon it. This is the Lord who's giving us a message and just his breath can cause us to wither.

Surely the people are grass. Verse eight, the grass withers, the flower fades.

Then he says, but the word, this message that you've heard, the word of our

God stands forever. This is the

Lord. This is how powerful he is and his word is going to stand forever.

Now, verse nine, get yourselves up. He says, get up.

He said, get up on a high mountain, O Zion. Hold on to that.

He says, get up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news.

Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news.

So you remember how we talked about those three things that are publicly announced, the confession, the baptism, and the proclamation of the good news.

That's what's happening here. He's saying, here's the message of the Lord. And here's the

Lord of the message. His word, he has spoken, the

Lord has spoken, and he is our God and his word stands forever. Now, therefore, stand up on a high mountain,

O Zion, the people of God, the bearer of good news.

Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, the people of God. Who are the people of God?

Those of us whom God has saved. We are God's people. So I would say that God is speaking to us to say, get up on a high mountain, bearer of good news.

What's your good news? The gospel of Jesus Christ. Lift up your voice mightily.

John was proclaiming as a herald. He wasn't whispering. He was using his voice and he was proclaiming.

Isaiah is telling us to get up on a high mountain, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, people of God, bearer of good news, lift it up and do not fear.

We look around us and how bad the world is and how we feel that the world is coming down on Christianity, on us as Christians.

But God says to his people, this is my message. This is the

Lord of that message. This is who I am and this is how powerful I am. You, people of God, bearer of bad news, lift up your voices and do not fear.

Don't put your eyes on the world. Lift up your voice and do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your

God. Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with his arm ruling for him.

Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him like a shepherd.

And this is Isaiah's teaching us about his character. He has authority.

He has rule, but also like a shepherd, he will tend his flock.

In his arm, he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom.

He will gently lead the nursing ewes. So here you have our

God as that's powerful. And then you have our God with us is gentle and protective.

Who has measured, he's speaking of God, who has measured the waters in the hallow of his hand and marked off the heavens by its span.

God measures the heavens with the span of his hand and calculated the dust on the earth by measure and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills and a pair of scales.

This is how big our God is. The God who is holding you close to his bosom, that's gently taking care of you, that is compassionate on you is so big.

He measures the heavens with the span of his hands. Here's the question he asked then, who has directed the spirit of the

Lord? Anybody here? Or as a counselor has informed him, does the spirit of the

Lord have a counselor? Anyone here? With whom did he, the spirit of the

Lord consult and who gave him the spirit of the Lord understanding? And who taught him the spirit of the

Lord in the path of justice and taught him knowledge?

Any of us? And informed him of the way of understanding.

Who of us have taught the spirit of the Lord? Behold, this is our

Lord. This is our God. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales.

You're looking around at the world and you fear the world coming down on Christianity.

You fear the world coming down on Christians. It says, behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales.

Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor it's beast enough for a burnt offering.

He's that big. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless.

This that we fear out here to the Lord is meaningless. It's like dust.

This nation, this attack on us as Christians, our enemies are like dust to him.

They're meaningless. They're nothing. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with him?

As for the idol, a craftsman casts it. A goldsmith plates it with gold and a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot.

He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.

Do you not know? And this next session reminds me of a section we're looking at or we looked at on Wednesday nights,

Mark chapter six, if I remember correctly, where Jesus has performed all these miracles before his disciples.

He's fed 5 ,000 men plus women and children. He's walked on water. He's calmed the sea.

He's done all these great things. And then yet he says to them, do you yet not understand?

And this is what's going on here. Verse 21, do you not know?

Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the vault of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

And that reminded me of John the Baptist. What was John the Baptist diet? It was locust.

John the Baptist ate locust. That was his meal. That was his meat. He called it meat. And it was one of the few insects that Leviticus says were clean, but it was his meat, his sustenance.

And John ate the grasshoppers, the locust. And so that imagery hits me here when it says, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

They're nothing. They're so small. For John the Baptist, he could eat them.

They were nothing to him. And it's the same with the Lord. The inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

They're nothing. Who sketches out the heavens like a curtain. That's what God does. Sketches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

And now the technology and the information that we have today, that makes these verses so much more amazing that we're nowhere near close to understanding the universe, but we have a lot more knowledge than they did here.

And what we do know when we read that the Lord stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in is so glorious and so amazing that that's our

God. That's the Lord who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted.

Scarcely have they been sold. Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but he merely blows on them and they wither.

And the storm carries them away like stubble. To whom then will you liken me?

Who was like me, he says, that I should be his equal, says the

Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created the stars.

The one who leads forth their host by number. He calls them by name because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power.

Not one of them is missing the stars. Why do you say,

O Jacob, and assert, O Israel? And here comes this compassion that he was speaking of earlier.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from the

Lord and the justice due me escapes the notice of my

God? The Lord's response is, do you not know, as Jesus was speaking to the disciples, do you not yet understand?

Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

There's not a moment that he does not see. And there's not a moment that he does not care.

He never becomes weary and he never becomes tired. He is always looking out for you.

His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength.

What an encouragement this last section is, especially going through this pandemic, being isolated, dealing with our thoughts, having to deal with our thoughts and loneliness, having to deal with being sick, having to deal with losing loved ones during this pandemic and not being able to visit, or just the fact of losing a loved one is deep, deep hurt.

God gives us this message. He gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might, he increases power.

Though youths grow weary and tired, even young people, eventually they get tired and vigorous young men stumble badly.

Yet those who wait for the Lord or those who hope in the

Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run and not get tired and they will walk and not become weary.

That is the message of our God, of who he is. And he describes who he is so that we can, he's so kind to do that so that we can trust his word.

And he doesn't have to do that. He could just give us his word and say, this is my word.

This is how it's going to be. And that's it. But for us who are weak, he says, this is my message.

This is my word. And this is who I am. And because of who I am, you can trust the power of my word and the power of my promises.

And this message that he is giving to us, he says, you people of God, get up on the high mountain.

This is not a private message. And this is just not a simple ceremony, a visual so that others may see

Jesus in us. No, God does not call us to that. God calls all of Christianity, the repentance, the confession, the baptism, the actions, what we do, how we live, our behavior, and the good news all to be public proclamations.

And he says, get up, you people of God, you bearer of good news, get up on the mountain, lift your voice for the word of God stands forever.

Lift up your voice, he says, and do not fear. You people of God, Christian, lift up your voice.

Do not look at troubled world around us. Lift up your voice and proclaim the good news of the gospel.

You bearer of good news and do not fear. And the good news is that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

If you have never repented of your sins and turn toward Jesus Christ and put your faith and trust in him,

I would encourage you to do that today. Please turn to Christ.

Be in his kingdom. His promise is everlasting. His promise will stand forever.

It cannot waver. And there's no one to compare to God. There's no one that can counsel

God. He has all wisdom, all glory, all power, and all strength.

And he can give us power when we're weary. And our deepest weariness is our sinful condition.

Our wilderness in Judea. Forsaken, repent of your sins.

Make the past broad and clear so that there is no stumbling.

For when the Lord reveals himself to you in his glory, you will run to him in faith, putting your trust in him.

Let's continue to share that message. Thank you for sharing this time with me tonight.

I hope it was encouraging. Looking at God's word tonight was just was so powerful for me.

I hope it was encouraging to you. Let's pray together. I do want to remember the two gentlemen that I mentioned earlier and their families.

If I can pray for you, please let me know. All you have to do is type me and I'll see the notification.

I'll be glad to do that. So let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this time that you've given us to have together.

And Father, help us to hear this message and see who you are and know that we can trust you.

Thank you for the good news and thank you for making us the bearers of good news.

Father, use us to proclaim your gospel and to bear that good news and share it with others.

How good you are, how great you are, how wonderful you are.

Father, we pray for those two gentlemen that were mentioned to me earlier this evening, that you would help them to recover in the areas that they're battling right now, that you would make yourself known, reveal yourselves in their mind and their heart and their lives and their family.

I pray that you would help their families, that you would encourage them and strengthen them in this time.

Father, I pray and ask that you would help and bless all those who are grieving tonight. I pray for your glory in their lives, the strength to strengthen their heart.

We thank you for the gospel and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.

Thank you for watching. I hope if it was encouraging to you, you would be inclined to share it with others.

The word of God was so powerful. Remember that Jesus is king. Go live in that victory and let's continue to go out there together, share the gospel.