Isaiah Lesson 40

I want to say a good afternoon to everybody here in the sanctuary, people who are watching this video. This has been an amazing journey in the book of Isaiah. We'll get there in a minute, but right now, we're finishing the second half of chapter 30 of Isaiah.

Last week, Jeff did the first 18 verses of Isaiah, chapter 30. This section that we're in has various proclamations of judgment, woe unto us, and if we head it into chapter 29 of Isaiah, we start to see Ariel, oh, Ariel, and a few weeks ago, we looked at that, Jerusalem, oh, Jerusalem, and last week, Pastor Jeff took us through the continuation of the discussion, and this is gonna be continuing on for the next little bit as we consider what's going on in and around Jerusalem.

One of the interesting things is understanding when God has a message to give us and having eyes to see, ears to hear, faith to believe when God has something to say to us. In the second chapter of King, I'm sorry, this second Kings chapter six, starting in verse eight, we have this individual, the king of Aram, and it says that he was warring against Israel, and he was getting counsel from his servants, go to this place, go to that place, and he was trying to get the tactical advantage over Israel, and at this point in time, I believe we're talking about Elisha, and it appeared that Elisha was getting inside information, almost like he had a spy in King Aram's camp, and the king of, King Aram was upset, and it says in verse 12, one of his servants said, oh no, my lord, oh king, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel words that you speak in your bedroom.

This Elisha character was not at Aram, but this servant had the insight to understand that Elisha, a prophet of God, who was allowed to have insight that God gave, and so he was able to communicate to the king of Israel, even as if they were in the very bedroom and hearing the very plan.

This totally infuriated the king of Aram, and so they sent out, in verse 14, they sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city, and so here we have Elisha and a servant and a small cadre, if the king of Aram can do away with Elisha, he feels that he's doing away with a tactical advantage that Israel is somehow gaining, so they set a trap to attack.

Then it says in verse 15, now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city, and his servant said to him, alas, my master, what shall we do?

And so he answered, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And then Elisha prays, oh Lord, open the eyes of my servant so that he can see, and the eyes of the servant were opened, and there around the city, between them and this massive army of chariots and mighty men were a host of angels protecting Elisha and his people.

And so the servant was given eyes to see. As we are in this section of Isaiah, we're concentrating right now on Jerusalem, and we're concentrating on a people who have disappointed God, who have abandoned their relationship with God to the point where last week in Isaiah, well, okay, let me back up.

A couple of weeks ago in Isaiah 29, God called the people dull of hearing, unable to discern, and that there was a reason why God was not stepping forward and blessing them, because they were flat out not stepping up with God.

But then he says that God's sovereignty will prevail, and Assyria will eventually be defeated. God's giving the nation of Israel perspective to see that he is still the sovereign God. But then it shifts right back again last week as Pastor Jeff was opening up in chapter 30 and how the nation of Israel, being concerned about this powerhouse Assyria, decides to take matters in their own hands.

What do they do?

Where do they go?

Egypt.

That has gotta be one of the worst choices they could possibly make. They feel that Assyria is so mighty that there's no way they can make it. They forgot about this promise in chapter 29 that God's sovereignty will prevail and Assyria will be defeated.

They forgot all about those problems. They forgot about the covenants. They forgot about who their God really was. And as Jeff said, they stopped looking vertically towards God and they started looking horizontally.

And so they thought, right now, Egypt's not our problem. Assyria is our problem. So let's go to Egypt and let them be our ally and help us in this battle. In verses 12 and 13 in chapter 30, therefore, and he says, because you are trusting in your oppressors as opposed to trusting in me, things are gonna happen.

But yet there's another promise in the midst of this in verse 15 of chapter 30. He says, for thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in returning, and rest you shall be saved in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

There is a opportunity for the nation of Israel, even in the midst of what they're doing, even in the midst of their choosing to take care of matters in their own hands and going to Egypt, God is still calling them and he's asking them to return, to find trust, to find your strength in God.

That's gonna be your relief for what's going on. And so he encourages, but then he goes right back as he continues to tell about the judgments that are gonna be upon them because of what they're doing.

Ariel, oh Ariel, is going to shift as we move into the last part of chapter 30 with the word therefore. And it's gonna say, therefore the Lord waits. And others might say, therefore the Lord longs. There is a indication that this God, the sovereign God, does not forget his people and there is a call in the last half of chapter 30 for them to remember him.

And there's gonna be a whole series of promises indicated. Unfortunately, if we go right from there into chapter 31, which is where we will be next week, woe to those who got onto Egypt. So there is a realization that God is gonna be calling them.

He's got promises throughout the rest of this chapter for them of what life would only be like if they would only abandon what they're doing, if they would only restore themselves to him. But the reality is they're not going to.

Read verse 15 again.

Go ahead, do you have it or do you want me to read it?

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength, but you would not. This reminds me of Psalm 46 .10, which says, be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

There are powers in those phrases, the word I am, I am, I am. This is Yahweh. This is the I am. The unfortunate thing is ignoring that opportunity is gonna result in disaster.

Gotta keep your focus vertical.

Gotta keep your focus vertical. Jeff was really strong about that last week. This is gonna open up with promise upon promise as we finish up chapter 30. There's a promise of hope, there's a promise of blessings, there's a promise of plenty, and there's a promise of righteous judgment throughout the rest of this chapter if you're choosing Yahweh's way.

Who was it that said that last? Was it Neva? Somebody said, not the low way, but the Yahweh.

Who was it?

Was that Eva? Somebody said that. Somebody said that a couple of weeks ago, I like that. Ariel, oh Ariel. Elijah said and prayed and said, open the eyes that he may see. In the midst of disobedience, open your eyes and see.

In the midst of oppression, open your eyes and see. In the midst of trials and tribulation, open your eyes and see because God does offer his promises and he is faithful and true to his promises. Let's pray.

Father, as we turn to this section, in the midst of darkness and in the midst of proclamations of disobedience, God, you pull back the curtain and allow, even as Elijah prayed and the servant's eyes were opened to see, there are promises and the curtain is pulled back so that even in the midst of this disobedience, even in the midst of these threats, there are promises because Lord, you are the sovereign God, the keeper of your covenants and you are a righteous and a holy God desiring to have a relationship with your people.

Give us your words today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Bob, if you would give me, in chapter 30 of Isaiah, verse 18, please, Jeremiah 29, Barb, if you could pull that one out and Karen, would you be willing to get 2 Chronicles 7 for us, we'll be getting to that in a minute.

The Lord Longs to Be Gracious

Isaiah 30, 18, please.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion, for the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.

The Lord longs, awaits, his desire is to be gracious and to bless his people. Makes me ask the question, he is God, he is omnipotent. Why is he waiting? Okay, he loves them and that's a great answer of why, okay, why are you waiting on this platform?

Because I know there's a train coming. Okay, because he loves them.

And he wants to protect them from the train that's coming.

That's very, very true. But he's omnipotent, why can't he just make it happen now?

He's a patient God, he's waiting for us to wait on him.

Okay, he's a patient God and you're saying that he's waiting for us to wait on him.

Richard?

I think he wants their free will response. It's only in free will do you truly show yourself.

Yeah, and Pastor Jeff would use it, creaturely will, because we're only free to do the things that we're innately ready to do. There's a clue in this, he says, he exalts himself to show mercy on you. That's what he's waiting to do, to show mercy on you.

But it also said he is a God of justice. And Bob, I think you said he's waiting for us to wait on him. For a people that are intentionally choosing to not wait on God, or are choosing to not look to the vertical, but really guys, Egypt, could you come up with something better?

Don't you remember how many years you were under servitude in Egypt? Don't you remember Pharaoh who had to endure plague after plague after plague until finally when the first born are all killed? He says, fine, just get out of here, but then changed his mind and sent his chariots and his armies back out after him again.

Now, don't you guys remember being at the shore of the Red Sea? And here comes the armies of Pharaoh and you're thinking, we're done for. Don't you remember, this was Egypt. This is where you're going.

Well, for the nation of Israel, they were picking the lesser of two evils.

What were they thinking?

What were they thinking? They were picking the lesser of two evils. Anytime that you're choosing to find your protection and your security in the world, instead of in God, it is the lesser of two evils.

I think he's waiting for his covenant people to honor their covenant with him.

And what does God desire of his people?

Obedience.

Heart.

And he's dying to come to him.

So first, what's the first, according to Jesus, when he was confronted by the Pharisees, what's the first and greatest command?

Of the Lord your God.

All your heart.

All your heart.

All mind and strength.

That's right. You're right.

This is our response to God's covenant to us is it's not obedience. It's obedience from the heart. It's obedience with, it's not obedience partially. It's with our entire, entirety. So yeah, Bob, that's what he's waiting for.

And this here is a promise in the middle of this section of O Ariel, O Ariel. You guys got a problem and you guys are turning to Egypt. And then as we go into 31, again, for those of you who are going to Egypt, I've got some harsh judgment for you.

But in the middle of this, it says, God waits to be gracious to you. He waits to show mercy to you, but he's a just God. He is a God of justice. And so while the promise is of hope, the promise is that he's not going to reward sinfulness.

Who's got Jeremiah 29? Do you have that, Bob? Oh, Barb. Yeah.

29, 11?

Through 14.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back to the place in which I carried you into exile.

There are some very important concepts in there, and at the very last phrase that Barb just read, I carried you into exile. The reality is that as the nation goes into Babylon in captivity, okay, Babylon laid the final siege, and Babylon tore down the temple after the Shekinah Gloria had left, but it's God who took them into captivity, and it's God who is just waiting to hear from them.

To your point, Bob, he's waiting to hear from them. And when he does, there is this promise, is that I have plans for you, and guess what? These are some amazingly good plans. 2 Chronicles 7.

Karen?

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The promises that are coming in this section of Isaiah 30 are true, yea, verily true, because God spoke them. But at this point in time, God is giving Israel the option to listen or to not listen. Jerusalem, to listen or to not listen.

And when they don't listen, they are going to be judged for not listening. He is a God, God of justice. Rich, if you would give me verses 19 to 22, Gus, would you be willing to find Hosea chapter 14, verses one to three, and Micah, Dave, if you would find Micah, verse chapter five, if you would get those ready.

Restoration, Idols Cast Away, and the Double Fulfillment of Prophecy

Give me 19 to 22, please.

19 to 22, for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You shall eat no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he hears it, he will answer you. And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be able to lift into a corner anymore.

For your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. Wherever you turn to the right hand, or wherever you turn to the left, you will also defile the covering of your images of silver, and the ornament of your molded images of gold.

You will throw them away as an unclean thing. You will say to them, get away.

That is a great, great phrase. And what he's talking about here is a promise of a time when the people will be returning to Jerusalem, to Zion, and they are going to dwell in safety. And at the end of this, he's gonna say, we will get even to the point where, yeah, you've made carved, graven images, and you've covered them in gold and silver, and they are your idols, but you're going to see them, for what they really are, you're gonna scatter them as unclean things.

And you're gonna say to them, be gone, be gone, to have the reality that my life is going to be distorted by unclean things, be gone. Here's some of the promises that he has in here. You will weep no more.

He hears and he answers this relationship that God desires with his people. They cry to him, he answers them. Now, here's the thing in verse 20. Give me 20 one more time, please. 20? Yes.

And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, for your eyes shall see your teachers.

Okay, the people are going to go through a tough time. It says, though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. Now, let's put the onus, and let's put the ownership back on it again.

The people are going to go under siege from the nation of Assyria. They're not going to take Jerusalem, but they're going to be under siege. And in fact, we're gonna read in a little bit what's gonna happen to Assyria as God judges them.

All right, eventually Babylon comes. They are gonna go into captivity. They are going to taste the bread of adversity. They're gonna partake of the water of affliction. But God's promise through this is that he will not hide himself from them.

That he is going to restore this relationship where they see him, they hear him, they respond to him. And he will say, don't go this way. He will actually guide and direct their paths. There's a promise of restoration, even to the point where those things that they themselves have made, that they're using to distract themselves to establish their own God as an idol.

They're going to throw them away, recognizing them for what they really are, unclean things. And they're gonna say, be gone. This is one of those prophetic realizations that there is a partial experience of it when the people are going to come out of captivity and they are going to come into, after 70 years, they're gonna come back into Jerusalem and they will rebuild the temple and eventually then they'll rebuild.

There is a partial fulfillment, but not a full fulfillment because they're going to fall, again, under the oppression.

And it's also referring to the end times.

And it refers to the end times.

This reminds me of the law, the double reference of prophecy, the more immediate fulfillment and the longer fulfillment.

This one has a sense of immediacy in that God is not going to allow Assyria to prevail because chapter 29 and the first part of chapter 30, the problem is Assyria. He's not going to let them prevail. So he's going to protect them.

But then as they continue to sin, he will allow them to go into captivity. They'll be tasting the bread. They, in fact, are going to have lost a sense of total devotion to God, idols. This gets resolved.

And as Rich said, eventually we get to the millennium. But it doesn't even get resolved there because we know that at the end of the millennium, Satan is released one more time and he deceives multitudes who come after him.

And it isn't until the great white throne judgment that all of this, all of this is experienced in its totality and its finality. Hosea 14.

Hosea, Hosea 14.

Yeah.

Oh Lord, return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen into iniquity. Take with your worst and turn to the Lord. Say unto him, take away our iniquity and receive us graciously so we will render the calves of our lips.

He wants the people to acknowledge and to remove that iniquity from their very lives. That's what he's calling for. With that being done, the relationship gets established in a glorious way. Micah 5.

Dave?

And in that day, declare to the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and you will destroy the chariots. And I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. And I will cut off sorceries from your hand and you shall have no more pillows of bewitchings.

And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands. And I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities.

And in anger and wrath, I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.

There is a promise here that God is going to execute his judgment, his cleansing judgment within the nation of Israel, and then his final judgment against those nations that would dare to stand up against him.

We do know that this prophecy is actually gonna be fulfilled for Assyria. We'll read that in a little bit. But then as we go into Revelation, we have the beast, we have the Antichrist, rallying all nations behind him, futilely trying to defeat Israel because they're not going to, all right?

There'll be the Battle of Armageddon. Time and time again, Satan's goal is to banish worship of God from all of creation because he wants to be made like the Most High. It's not gonna work. And Micah says that God will not only remove iniquity from within his people, but he will punish all nations who are standing up against him to the point where the people will be cleansed to the point where they will get rid of their idols and say, be gone, no more.

He is promising plenty for the people. 23 to 26, Louise, I'm gonna ask if you would get that ready. And I'm going to speak to the Deuteronomy and Job, but Revelation 19, help me, Carol, thank you. Revelation 19, 17, if you would get that ready for me.

Plenty, Restoration, and the Judgment of the Nations

23 to 26, please.

And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground and bread for the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day, your livestock will graze in large pastures and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

And on every lofty mountain and every high hill, there will be brooks running with water in the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days.

In the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

There's restoration coming, folks. I love to think back and try to apply, what was it like in the Garden of Eden before the fall? What do you think? What was it like in the Garden of Eden before the fall?

Perfection.

It was great.

Perfection, it was great.

Beyond our imagination.

Totally beyond our imagination. Everything, nothing was, after the fall, by the sweat of your brow, you will, and thorns and thistles and all manners of devolution. I like the word that Jeff uses. We have been devolving ever since the garden.

Not evolving, we've been devolving. This is, I see pictures in here of what it must have been like. He gives the rain. Well, okay, I don't know that it was raining back then. We can theologically talk that the rains only start at the time of Noah.

Okay, fine.

But Adam and Eve, they were to work the ground. They were on an all-inclusive. They were to be doing the work as God would have called them but the ground would have given produce. That's here, the livestock grazing and pastures, the brooks, just the total serenity.

I would imagine as the early settlers coming into this country, if they, okay, confession is good for the soul. I like TV sometimes. I like the show Little House on a Prairie.

I still watch it.

Sure you can, you can still watch it. As Charles. And what was his wife's name?

Carolyn.

Carolyn, come over the hill and they see this beautiful prairie where they're gonna build their house. It's a scene of serenity. Well, we know that it isn't because the show has a lot of drama to it also but imagine coming over a hill and seeing the beautiness of this and the light of the moon and the light of the sun, the purity, no more pollution, no more anything, just blessings of people.

But here's, I think, the best blessing of all. Give me verse 26 again, please, Louise, and it's gonna be the last part of this verse I wanna emphasize.

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be sevenfold as the light of seven days. In the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blood.

There it is right there. In the day the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by all of those nasty people that are around him. That's not what it says. The wounds that he inflicted.

He's the sovereign God. And for people who have been disobedient and who have chosen to go to Egypt instead of him, there is judgment to be found. And it said, and though the Lord gave you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, he gave them those things for his righteous judgment and for his sovereign will.

The Lord is gonna bind up all the brokenness and he's gonna heal all the wounds. He's the one who inflicted them and he had to, but he's the one that's gonna heal him. And if I'm looking at the promise of plenty, I can look at the pastors and I can look at the livestock and I can look at the brooks and the beautiful sunlight and everything else to have him heal us from our brokenness.

That's the plenty. That's the plenty that he's got. The promises are gonna go on as we look in 27 to 33. Let me just say something here. Deuteronomy 28, it says, if you obey, okay? And then it says the Lord will restore.

This is a promise all the way back in Deuteronomy. They have left Egypt before they go into the promised land. He knows that they are going to disobey because the latter part of that chapter says, but if you don't, these are the curses, okay?

If you obey, it says he will restore. He will restore. Job went through some pretty tough times and it says at the end of it, Job 42 .10, and the Lord restored to Job more than he ever had before.

More than he ever had.

Revelation 17, Carol, if you have that, 19 verse 17.

Revelation 17 or not?

19, I'm sorry, Revelation 19 verse 17.

Okay.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky, come gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh of kings, captains and strong warriors of horses and their riders and all of humanity,.

Both free and slave, small and great.

Then I saw the beasts gathering the kings of the earth and their armies in order to fight against the one.

Okay, that's good. Looking at that passage, you've got to understand, who is he calling? The vultures. And why is he calling the vultures? What do vultures do?

They eat flesh.

They eat dead flesh.

They eat dead flesh. The people that have stood up in opposition to God, the fallen armies, the vultures, they're going to have a field day and they're going to clean them. The world being cleansed of all of these evil influences.

And then he

You just studied that passage in church. The pastor said there's going to be two banquets. You can either feast in one or be on the menu in the other.

Which do you choose? I want to feast. I want to feast. God is promising plenty, but yet, but yet he is going to execute judgment on those who fall, which takes us into 27 to 33. Sandy, I'm going to ask if you would read that and I will speak for the rest of the passages.

Give me 27 to 33.

Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place. Burning is his anger and dense is his smoke. His lips are filled with indignation and his tongue is like a consuming fire. His breath is like an overflowing torrent which reaches to the neck to shake the nation's back and to put in the jaws of the people the bridle which leads to ruin.

Okay, let's stop there for a second. I'll have you continue. This is a heavy passage. The name of the Lord comes from afar. His anger, his lips, his fury, his tongue, a devouring fire, his breath like an over, the nations he will be comforted because these nations that are standing up against you, you don't have to go to Egypt.

Be comforted because your country, which seems like it's abandoning God, he knows. Be comforted. The oppression and the persecution that's going on to those pastors up in Canada right now, God is still sovereign.

There is no evil that is so powerful that it will survive the day of God's coming. It says the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger. I really, I gravitate when I hear something like this.

It doesn't say the Lord is coming from afar. It says the name of the Lord is coming from afar. There is power in the name of the Lord and calling and claiming the name of the Lord. It says just his very name comes from, burning with anger.

He, in this particular case right here, he is talking about the Assyrian oppression that the people feel is beyond hope.

Proverbs 18 .10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is saved.

The name of the Lord.

Do you want to feast or do you want to be feasted upon?

I don't think they'd like to play a bridge. They wouldn't like, mine didn't like Daniel.

Because he was half christal, half backbone.

That's Charles's version of that.

Isaiah 37, we'll be getting there in a couple of years. I say, Isaiah 37, okay, we're going to have to read that. Chris, if you could get Isaiah 37, verses 36 to 38. The people of Jerusalem are concerned.

Okay, they have sinned and they have found God's anger and his ire and his wrath against them. And God has brought the Assyrians to come around them and to lay siege on them. So much so that they're afraid and they got to go to Egypt to try to get some help.

These Assyrians that seem like they're all that. Give me that if you would. 37, verses 36 to 38.

And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185 ,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived in Nineveh.

And as he was worshiping in the house of Nishrach, his god, Adramelech and Sherezer, his sons, struck him down with a sword. And after they escaped into the land of Aravat, Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.

They're not all that. Shennacherib who thought he was all that, he's not all that. It says that he will sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. Sandy, continue on 99 to 33, please.

29?

That too.

You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival and gladness of your heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute. To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel. And the Lord will cause his voice of authority to be heard and the descending of his arm to be seen in fierce anger and in the flame of a consuming fire in Calv 'res, Daphne, and Helstert.

For at the voice of the Lord, Assyria will be terrified when he strikes with the rod. And every blow of the rod of punishment which the Lord will lay on him will be with the music of tambourines and lyres and in battles.

Brandishing weapons, he will fight them. For the tupef has long been ready. Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, a pyre of fire with plenty of wood. The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets in a fire.

There's two sides to this little section here. The beginning of it, he's speaking to Ariel, speaking to his people, speaking to Jerusalem. You'll have a song in the night when the holy feast is kept. This is the promise that continues out after verse 26, the promise of plenty.