Isaiah Lesson 67

Isaiah 51 and the Promise to the Remnant

We continue on with the journey that the prophet, that God is taking us through. And as we get into it, it starts out by saying, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. That's gonna be an important concept, but as we get into the rest of this 16 verse section, it's clearly talking about promises foretelling of how God is going to care for and comfort his remnant children.

A large part of knowing that God's care for, and as he says it, it's gonna come to be, is recognizing what he has done in past. I've been spending this week on Psalm 105. It starts out in Psalm 105, in the beginning, O give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

And it's gonna go on there for many verses. He's going to talk about and recapture the things of the people. I know where we were. We were talking in Joshua 1, how the people are encouraged to remind their next generations.

You had some great thoughts. Is this coming to mind yet? Not yet, okay.

Only be strong and very curious.

Yes.

Rich, I'm gonna ask you to get to Psalm 105.

Psalm 105.

And I'm gonna have you read.

Okay.

I'm gonna have you read verses seven and eight. What's gonna happen throughout the Psalm is he's basically gonna encourage the people, I want you to remember what I have promised you, and then I want you to remember how it has come to be.

And he's gonna talk about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the covenants. And he's gonna talk about you became few in number and there was a famine in land and Joseph got sold in slavery. But then you went down to Egypt and you became very fruitful, but then you became in slavery.

And so I sent Moses and Aaron and Moses performed all these signs and it's gonna talk about all the plagues. It's just gonna rehearse all of these things. The darkness, the water and the blood, the fish die, the frogs, the swarms of flies, hail, fiery lightning bolts, locusts.

And I struck the firstborn. And then I brought Israel out. And he reminds them of all of what he has done for them and how in the desert there was a cloud by day and there was light by night and the quail and the manna that was given at night and the water that crushed forth.

And he says in verse 42, for he remembered his holy promise and Abraham his servant. So he brought his people out with joy. One of the things that I found interesting in that little phrase there in verse 43, he brought out his people with joy is applying the concept of joy could be read, he with joy brought his people out.

Or it could be read that he brought his people out that they could have joy. Either one of them is really cool because God delights in his people, but he does want to rehearse for his people. And so Psalm 105 is a rehearsal of everything that God has done.

Give me verses seven and eight, please, Rich.

Seven and eight, Psalm 105. He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever. The work which he commanded for a thousand generations.

He remembers his covenant. So now we're gonna be getting into Isaiah 51. And one of the things that's really important to do, and it was important for the nation of Israel, it was given to Joshua when they were at Shittim before they even crossed into the promised land.

And he told them to remind your people the next generation you remember what you said.

Yeah, we were talking about how we should write it on our hands, on our foreheads, on doorposts, talk about it in the morning, talk about it at noon, talk about it at night, that we have to remember his faithfulness so we can trust him for tomorrow.

Absolutely. Psalm 51 is going to be an encouragement. It's going to talk about promises of blessings that God has for his remnant. Then it's going to talk encouraging the remnant to remember that God's law is given and it prevails over all.

Isaiah 51.

Thank you, what did I say?

Psalm.

All right, Isaiah 51, thank you.

And then.

Thank you, John.

If that's the only time I do that today, we're doing good. And then there is a prayer, as is expressed, that God would rise and he would actually ransom his remnant. And then there's a reality that the remnant is comforted because of the promise of God's power.

Would you give us a word of prayer as we get started?

Yes, so Father, thank you so much that we have the privilege to open the text and let it be before us. And Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would let this word be in us, that your word would be in us and that we would love your word, that we remember what you have said, that it would help us to trust you and that we would entrust our future to you.

So Lord, I pray for my brother, John, that you would help him in teaching Isaiah 51 and I pray for all of us that we would have open hearts to hear your word in Jesus' name, amen.

The Remnant Who Seek the Lord

Give me just verse one, if you will.

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.

All right, this is going to be about the remnant. Much of Isaiah has been written to the people of Judah in large. I mean, we get to the very beginning of the book. I grow weary of your empty sacrifices.

And even when you pray because your heart is not there, I won't listen. Much of what is there is written to the people in large to convict them of how they have turned away from God. Much of the book is written prophetically pronouncing the promise of the coming Messiah.

Chapter 53 is just a few weeks away. But then this section here has a unique application to something that we call the remnant. What or who is the remnant? Now, remember, at this time of writing, the nation hasn't gone into captivity.

This concept of the remnant may not make sense. But who or what is the remnant?

Of Israel.

Okay.

It's those who still believe. There are many Israelites who say they follow God, but there's only a remnant that actually really worship him in truth.

You are absolutely so right. And it says here, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and you who seek the Lord. There is a discriminator in this passage that there is a message given for those who hold true.

Deuteronomy 28 has in the front half, for those of you who follow the word, there are these blessings. But if you don't follow the word, there are these curses, starting in verse 15. Micah 1 .2, I'm sorry, Micah 1 .12, actually says that he is going to assemble a remnant.

Now, prophetically speaking, we do know the nation goes into captivity, and we do know that under 70 years later, with the leadership of Ezra and then Nehemiah, God works in the heart of Cyrus, and the people are allowed to return.

They don't all return, but the people are allowed to return. This concept of a remnant is very much in end times prophecy. And there is a reality that the nation of Israel, we are in what's called now the parentheses, the break between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, the church age.

And he has, in his economy, he is now using the church as his lamp, as his light. It was that under the covenant with Abraham, he would be a light. They would be the bearer of the word. Through him, all nations would be blessed.

But in Micah 2 .12, he talks about, I will assemble a remnant. John, I'm gonna ask you if you would get Isaiah 10 ready. Jeremiah 23, Bob, I'm gonna ask if you would get that ready. I'll speak on Obadiah.

And Romans 11, Josh, we have a new visitor with us, Josh. If you can see that in Romans 11, one to five, if you would have that ready. There is a promise from God to not abandon his people. And today, it seems like this church age is just going on and on forever.

The reality that he is going to bring an end to all things. I don't think it's hard to think that we are in what's known as the birth pangs. There'd be wars and pestilence and earthquakes. And there would be those who speak out as little antichrists.

It's not hard to think that we are in this phase of birth pangs. We may not be. We may just be in another cycle. And we pray for the third great awakening here in our country for a great revival. How awesome would that be to be part of that?

That being said, the nation of Israel does not seem to be the standard bearer at this point in time. So much so that there's a large theology that replaces Israel with the church in the end times. We do not believe that.

We believe that God's promise does not change. It is his call. They are his people. And there will be a remnant. Isaiah 10, do you have that ready, John?

The remnant of Israel will return. In that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of all the earth.

There cannot be a partial fulfillment of this for it to be completely fulfilled. This is a promise, and it says given to Jacob. That, oh by the way, is for the time of Rehoboam and the dividing of the northern kingdom from the southern kingdom.

This is a promise given to Jacob through the entirety of the people, and they are the sands of the sea. Only a remnant is going to survive. This, I believe, has to include the northern 10 tribes for it to actually be brought to fulfillment.

It says in Obadiah 17, and it talks about on Mount Zion, I will gather my people. Jeremiah 23, I gave that to you.

Yes, to me, yep. Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people.

Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done, declares the Lord. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them and will bring them back to their pasture where they will be fruitful and increase in number.

We do know that God does judge Babylon, but we do know that Babylon isn't gone. They're gonna be back when we get to the end of time. So the final judgment on Babylon as an opposition to God and peoples and as symbolic of the one world religion, the one world economy, that's all in Revelation.

There's fulfillment yet to come. He is going to bring his remnant back. In Romans 9, it rehearses that though you're the sands of the sea, a remnant will be saved, and this is the Lord's doing. And then Romans 11, who did I give that to, John?

I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am an Israeli of the seed of Abraham, of the child of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you know, or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars.

And I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed to the knee of Baal. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

It's written by Paul, even so at this time, there is a remnant kept by God according to his grace. This remnant will be restored, and there are some amazing promises here. I wanted to highlight some important concepts about the remnant, first of all.

It is the bloodline of God's people. The remnant, and you mentioned we are the remnant, and we are as we're grafted in. But as included here in this, the remnant that he talks about are the bloodline of Israel, remnant.

The second thing that has to be understood is that these are people who receive the covenant promise from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God says, I will remain faithful to my covenant. That being said, God's people are punished because of their unfaithfulness.

They go into captivity. And at this point in time, because they rejected their Messiah, there is a new covenant there, and the fulfillment of the promise that all nations would be blessed. So there is punishment.

That being said, it is God who remembers and is faithful in his love and mercy. And he is gonna identify the remnant based on those who seek after God and those who desire righteousness. And that's really what it says here in Isaiah 51 .1.

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord. Now this remnant have a purpose, and I do believe that if you go into the end time teaching, that this remnant is called for a special service during the end times.

If you go into Revelation 7, one to four, you have listed 12 ,000 from all 12 tribes, including the 10 northern tribes, 12 ,000 from every 10 to 12, who are called and who are sealed. It can be understood, perhaps, that the two witnesses are part of these.

That may or may, they may be special. But Zechariah 8, Ivan, if you would get Zechariah 8, 20 to 23, these, the 144 ,000 are going to be there as a special witness and testimony to the rest of the world during the Great Tribulation.

And they're gonna have the opportunity to be a blessing in a special way. If you haven't, go ahead and read it. Since thus says the Lord of Hosts, it will yet be that people will come, even the inhabitants of many cities, the inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts.

I will also go, so many people and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, in those days, 10 men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

Isn't that beautiful? In this horrific time of the Tribulation, God will be stirring within the hearts of people, recognizing that God is God, okay? He could have ended things immediately at the beginning of the Tribulation, but he does give seven years.

And it says there that 10 men will grab the hem of one Jew and say, take us to Jerusalem, take me to your leader. These are those 144 ,000. This is his remnant that he's going to bring in to special ministry and to special blessings, to creation according to his, according to his name.

Look to Abraham and Sarah, the Rock from Which You Were Hewn

Jeff, give me verses one to three this time, please. And as you do with Deuteronomy 6, Joyce, Sandy, Deuteronomy 7, I'll just talk to Nehemiah, and back over here, Rich, if you get Nehemiah 7. Nehemiah 7 for me, I'll just talk to Genesis 12.

Go ahead, one to three.

All right, Isaiah 51, one to three. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you.

For he has but one when I called him, he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the Lord comforts Zion, he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord.

Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Listen to me, look to me, the rock, look to me, Abraham and Sarah. Listen to me is a rather interesting word, and it starts out, Deuteronomy 6, four to nine.

She. Go ahead.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And that passage is known as?

The Shema.

Shema of Israel. What is the impact of that word there in the Shema? What is the impact of it?

Hear.

Hear, that's excellent. He's telling you, I want you to hear, I want you to look, I want you to remember, I want you to pay attention to the words that are given to you right now. And there he has it at the beginning of this right here, Shema, Shema, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord.

Now look to the rock, look to me, look to the fact that I have established you as a people, look to Abram and Sarah, your ancestors, you call them your forefathers, look to them. And in Nehemiah, when the people have come out now in the second return from captivity, the priests stand up and they proclaim the history of their faith.

And much of what is said here, they proclaim to them so that the people have the recollection, they have an understanding of what God has already done for them. These are the people that God wants. And Deuteronomy 7, oh, okay, yes.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the purest of all people.

But because the Lord loved you, kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

We have a people, and at this point in time we are focusing on the remnant. And at the basis of all of it, they are God's chosen holy people. That's their privilege is that they are chosen. Not because of what they are, but it clearly says over and over again, but because of God's love.

Genesis 12 is gonna give the I wills, I wills, the promises given to Abraham. And just for time, we'll hold off on Nehemiah 9. God who chose Abraham promises to fulfill them. And so he's telling these people, look to Abraham and look to Sarah.

And as I bless them, as I promise to them, I will be there for you. In verse three, it says, the Lord comforts Zion. Barbara, I'm gonna ask if you would get Acts 2 ready. Acts 2 is actually a recitation of Psalms 16, verses seven through 11.

It's the reality of the joy and the worship and the reality of just comfort, coming knowing of God's promise and having a joy in God. If you've got two, verses 25 to 28, please.

My fingers work to turn these pages.

Sure. Now, at the end of verse three here, it's going to say that he's going to make the wastelands like Eden. He's gonna make the deserts like the garden of the Lord. We've already heard this phraseology already in Isaiah.

It's, yeah, a little bit, but it will be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in the millennial reign. And it says, the joy and gladness will be found in her. I don't think that there is really joy and gladness yet in the Jewish people, but there is a time where his remnant are going to experience the gardens and just like Eden, and they will have this joy and the gladness, and their Thanksgiving's gonna be filled with a song of joy.

This is what's coming for the remnant. Do you have that passage?

Yes.

David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken, therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let the Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence.

Can you see that picture of, I'm not talking about the circumstances you're in, but I'm talking about having a vision of God on his throne. I'm having a vision about a reality that this is the God of promised covenants.

This is my hope, and so therefore my joy is fulfilled. This is what he is giving to the remnant. He is encouraging them to understand the future hope that they have and will always have. Verses four to eight.

Sandy, you're gonna get Romans, I'm sorry, not Sandy. Carol, you're gonna get Romans 7 -12. Now, Rich, you've got Psalm 19, and I will talk to the other ones there. So give me verses four to eight, please.

All right, Isaiah 51, four through eight. Give attention to me, my people, stop.

Okay, I do this, I love to do this. This is not Shema. He starts out this passage in verse one. Listen to me, Shema. This is a different word that he has here. It's keshav, and it's not used very often, it will show up in Proverbs 4, 20 to 21.

This is pay close attention. This is an emphatic Shema. This is what I've got to say. I want your ears really perked up. I want you to really give me your full attention to what I have to say now.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay, give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples.

The coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilements, for the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.

Oh man, I love this. This is a projection of what's gonna happen to the world, and what is the world going to be brought under? The law of God. This is a promise to this remnant, and okay, we did see it.

Babylon was judged by God, and we do see that happening, but now we're in this realm, this church age. Yeah, I got news for you. I think I mentioned it last week. We know the end of the book, God wins, but I got news for you.

On every page of the book, God wins, because he can't be defeated. It says here, I want you to, the kashaw, I want you to pay close attention to what I have, and this is a message now given to his remnant to understand what's gonna happen to the rest of the world, okay?

So this is now a proclamation of what's gonna happen to the rest of the world, so that the remnant will know before it happens that God said it will happen. He says the law is gonna go out from me. You know, Pastor Jeff has been talking a lot lately, and about how the world is just ignoring.

You know, they just have a way of ignoring and setting up their own standards of righteousness.

It's gonna last for a while, for a little while.

It doesn't satisfy, and it says here that the law is gonna come out from me, and he is going to set up justice for a light to the peoples. This meaning to the peoples, not you Jews, and not you remnant, this is the rest of humanity that the truth and the reality of God's law is going to be unstoppable.

Matthew 5 talks about a light on a city cannot be hid. All right, don't put your light under a bull, but put it out and it gives light to everyone in the house. When the light of God shines, ain't nothing can stop that light of God, and it says here, I will set my justice to the peoples.

They may think that they're not under the light, but they are. It says my righteousness is at hand, and my salvation goes out, and this picture is so awesome. My arm will judge the people. That's a picture of the power of God, the sovereign power of God that the world cannot stand up against.

It says the coast lands hold for me. This is a picture of the islands and the hithers and the yonders, is that there is going to, the world is going to know that there is a God. I think we read in Zechariah that at that time, 10 people are going to grab the hem of one Jew and say, take me to your leader.

The world will see, the world will see. And then he goes on and he says, I want you to do something for me. I want you to look at the heavens, and now I want you to look at the earth. Pretty awesome stuff.

Yeah.

And you've got your confidence based on your science and your computers, and you've got your confidence based on what you believe you can touch and feel and prove. He says, take a look at them. What's going to happen to them?

Yeah, guess what? The heavens will go up like smoke, and the earth is going to wear out like a garment. This is what you think you're putting your trust in, and he's telling this to the peoples of the world.

Go ahead and look at what's out there. It isn't going to last. Don't put your hopes in there. They who dwell in it will die in like manner. But, and I love again when you see that word there, my salvation will be forever.

My righteousness will never be dismayed, defeated, put aside. This is God promising to the remnant his law prevails over all people, over all creations. Romans 7, 12, who's got that?

Go ahead.

But still the law itself is holy and right and good.

His law is being attacked as being irrelevant today. There was a episode of a show that Sandy and I, and I confess we like those shows sometimes, the West Wing, and President Jet Bartlett attacks this conservative person who is standing against homosexuality because it says in the Bible, and he says, but what about in the Bible where it says if your wife does such and such, you should stone her?

And he attacks the law as being irrelevant and insignificant and obsolete. He doesn't get it. He doesn't get it. Pastor Jet, you kind of highlighted there are variations of the law. Do you want to highlight that?

Well, there's some things that are fulfilled in Christ, as in like the Sabbath, he is our rest, the dietary laws are complete in him. The things that distinctly marked Israel under the theocracy that they were in covenant with in the Old Testament were completed in Christ, not abolished, but fulfilled in him in his death, burial, resurrection.

But the morality of the law, the ethics of what's right and wrong with sexual ethics and all manner of not stealing and all of these things are eternal because they derive from just the natural law of the universe as God has made things to be.

So they don't change.

They don't change. And for time, I'm just gonna talk, I'll get back to you for another one. Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect. It is right, it is pure, it is desirable. And then Jesus, in actually addressing this question in Matthew 5, 17 to 18, I have not come to abolish the law.

I have come to fulfill it until everything passes away, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen by any means will disappear from the law until everything is fulfilled. The law stands. It's not the dietary law and it's not these other things.

It is the law of God, the 10 commandments identified by the greatest love, Lord, you're God with all your heart and all your soul, and all your mind, second like it, love your neighbor as yourself. This law does not go away.

And his law will go out into all the peoples and it will go out as a light to all peoples and many are gonna respond to it. 10 will hold the helm of one Jew and say, please take me because yours is true.

Now, if you think you don't need to worry about this, look at your heavens and earth, boom, they're gone. But my righteousness lasts forever. Listen to me, you who know righteousness. The people in whose heart is my law.

Don't fear the man. Don't fear the reproach of man. They're gonna go away. They're gonna all go away. Don't be afraid of man because my righteousness is forever. My salvation to all generations. Give me verses nine through 11, please.

Exodus, I better just talk to these, but go ahead.

Okay, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old.

Okay, now, I apologize. I have, we have to put perspective again here. This is now pleading to God. This is now a prayer pleading to God. Wake up, put on your strength, arm of the Lord. This is now a prayer beseeching God's action.

Go ahead, start it again.

Okay, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old. The generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces? Who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep?

Who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

This is an amazing prayer of confidence in God. They're saying, at the time, this should be the remnant saying, God, awake, we need your arm. We need your power. We need your power right now. Please, please, it's time, awake as in days old.

I think of what it must have felt like for Daniel in captivity to be reading in the scroll and saying one, two, 60, 61, 60, 70. I think I know what I'm supposed to do right now because he said after 70 years, I need to pray.

God, now is the time and he answered that prayer. The nation of Israel, the remnant calling to God, wake up, wake up, please. Wasn't you who cut Rahab in pieces? By the way, this is not Rahab the harlot.

Of Jerusalem, this is a metaphor for Egypt. This is a metaphor for Egypt and you're gonna get that out of Isaiah 30, verses six and seven. As the nation will go down through the Negev and they would go down, Rahab is Egypt.