Introduction to Isaiah

Introduction to the Book of Isaiah and Prayer

To the study of the book of Isaiah, we're glad that you're here. I'm gonna ask my brother, John Laskin, to open us in prayer. I'm Pastor Jeff, and we'll be teaching through the book. John, would you open us in a word of prayer, please?

Father, as we are gathered together here in the sanctuary, and as we gather in the living rooms of those who are able to watch this virtually, we come with hearts that desire to grow with you, to learn from you, so we pray, Lord, that you would bring your Holy Spirit in a special way, be with Jeff, be with myself, be with everybody who's involved.

I pray, Father, that what we do is not just learn information, but Lord, we learn about you, and that this time that we spend together will help us grow in our faith and in our walk with you. And so now, Lord, we call upon you in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Amen. Welcome to lesson one in the book of Isaiah. As we were discussing just a moment ago, this might take 100 lessons to get through, so it could be a two-year study. Every word in the scripture is important.

In fact, I think it is in Isaiah chapter 55 that we're taught that the word does not return void. As the snow falls and doesn't return to the sky until it's accomplished the work for which it was sent, so it is with God's word.

It will not return void. So we wanna take our time and allow the scriptures to speak. If you're not able to make it on Wednesdays at noon, we will try to post these on YouTube by Friday. So there will be many people following along on Fridays as well or throughout the course of the week catching up, so if you can't make it one week, don't just fall off, okay?

Get back in on the study, and you can catch up on YouTube. First question, what does it mean to be a major prophet? Isaiah is a major prophet, what does it mean? It's a longer book. That's it, it's just a longer book, believe it or not.

The major prophets are just long books, so there's nothing more important or significant. It's just you get more material, more writing. Okay, and that would include Isaiah, Jeremiah, but not Haggai and Malachi.

So.

Can I interrupt for just one second? What we would like to do, and Jeff has a handout, I'll be using handouts also, and we do want interaction, and that's why we're really excited that you folks are here.

But for those of you who are watching in your living room, you'll have an idea where we're gonna be going. So if you have questions or insights, but you're not here, email us, send us an email with either a question that you would like us to cover or an insight that you would like us to, and then we can incorporate that in our lesson, but we also strongly encourage any questions or insights that you have while you're here with us to join in that too.

Historical Context: The Split Kingdom and Isaiah's Ministry

Okay, so today we'll serve as an introduction to the book. We will reference verses and we'll talk about a few scriptures, but mostly we're getting an overview so that we have kind of a situatedness to where the book comes.

So we begin with the historical context. Isaiah writes as a major prophet. He writes during the split kingdom. So the kingdom of Israel, you'll recall, was established by God. It was a theocracy until the people begged for a king and he gave them who?

Who was their king? Saul. That they clamored for. They chose Saul because he was a head taller than everybody else, but it wasn't the outward appearance that God looks at. He looks at the heart and David ended up taking over as king when Saul was found unworthy.

David had a son whose name was? Solomon. Solomon, good. And the kingdom divided after Solomon headed up in the north and the south. Who was the king of the north? I thought Jeroboam was north. Yeah, Jeroboam to the north and Rehoboam to the south.

So now the kingdom is divided and north and south are no longer united as one.

Why did they break apart, Jeff?

Rebellion. So Rehoboam would be the true descendant, but Jeroboam, in his pride, led the split, so. Who went north, who went south? Yeah, who made up the northern kingdom? 10 tribes, right? Often called Ephraim, which would be the descendants of Joseph, Joseph and Ephraim and Manasseh, and many other tribes to the north.

Who were the southern two tribes? Judah and Benjamin. Judah and Benjamin, good. So Judah and Benjamin made up the south. So to which of the two kingdoms, north and south, does Isaiah prophesy? South. Good job.

Yeah, he prophesies to the south. We learn that, actually, if you turn to Isaiah. In the very first verse, we're told, if I can get there.

I'll read it for you. Yeah, read it, John, thank you. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Right. So that then locates us at what point in time that we're dealing in the southern kingdom. It is the kingship of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. So the years that that spans from are 739 to 681 BC.

How do we know that he made it as far as 681 BC? The last marker we have historically comes in chapter 37, verses 37 and 38. We see that Isaiah is still there prophesying when the king of Assyria is killed and his son takes the throne.

So we mark that at 681 BC. Were the people of Israel, the kings of Israel, good or bad to the north? Now, we're not talking about south yet, but in the north, were they good or bad? All of them? Every last king to the north was bad.

How about in the south? Good or bad? Yeah. Eight or nine good ones? Yeah. Yep, that's it. But there still were an occasional good David-like king in the south. And Hezekiah would probably be classified that way, although he had some of his warts as well.

So things are bad in the south at this point. Judah is not a godly people. It is a rebellious people, and God is promising them a judgment, which is similar to what befell the north. So what happened to the north?

Eh. You're out of here. The problem was Assyria. Now, God was wielding Assyria like a tool to judge the north, and He did actually overthrow the northern kingdom. Then the king of Assyria continued to progress after the king of the south had relied upon Assyria for protection from Syria and the northern kingdom who were in alliance, Ephraim and Assyria in alliance.

He relied on Assyria. After Assyria crushed the north, what did he proceed to do? Assyria came into Jerusalem. And actually, they were neck deep in Assyrian invasion, right up to the walls of Jerusalem, never penetrating the walls, but coming right up to that point.

And we'll learn about that in the book of Isaiah, how they are finally turned away, not by might or by power, but by the spirit of God, an angel which will come and kill 185 ,000 Assyrian troops. So this is the context here historically.

It's a rebellious southern kingdom. The north has fallen. The kings of the south are wicked, but there's still hope. There's still hope of restoration. So who is the man Isaiah? What do we know about him?

Few things. Number one, his name means Jehovah saves or salvation of Jehovah. That's what the name Isaiah means. Here is a man who saw the glory of God. Where does he see the glory of God? In the book.

Chapter six. Chapter six. The year that King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord in his temple. And what were some of the descriptions that you remember from that vision? His train filled the temple. The train of his road filled the temple with glory.

High and lifted up.

What else? So it was a holy, holy, holy. Yes. Tricycle.

Yeah. Holy, holy, holy, said the seraphim. And what did Isaiah do when he saw this vision of God? He was undone. Undone. He was a man of unclean lips. God then sent the angel to grab the coal and touch his lips and take away his sin.

And so he became a prophet. He saw the glory of the Lord and then he declared the word of the Lord. So this is a man of God. Many times we think of Isaiah because he is probably the most literarily efficient writer.

He uses more Hebrew words than any other prophet. He's very articulate. He writes poetry in much of his writing. But this is also a gritty kind of prophet. In fact, in chapter 20, God tells him to go naked for three years, proclaiming judgment against Cush.

This is a gritty kind of prophet and is not afraid to call out sin and judgment on the nations. How is he treated by the kings of Israel? Especially Manasseh, the last. Well, treated well and received well?

Do kings like to be called to the carpet? No. And in fact, the tradition, a Jewish tradition, now we don't have this from the scripture. So we don't know with certainty. But it seems very likely to be the case that Isaiah died as a martyr, San in two.

There is a reference in Hebrews 11, verse 37, that some of the prophets, some who went before the men of faith of Hebrews 11, one of them, Isaiah, I think it was, was San in two. So there is a corroborating evidence to that Jewish tradition that that was how he died.

So he sealed his testimony with his own blood, willing to die for the message he was preaching. Okay, so we move into an overview of the book. Was the book of Isaiah, all 66 chapters, written by the man Isaiah?

Yes. Yes. But the scholars of today, biblical critics and liberal scholarships will say no to that question. They'll say that the first 40 chapters were written by one Isaiah, one who stood in the place and claimed to be Isaiah, and the next 16 chapters were written by, or 27 chapters were written by another.

Yeah, Deutero-Isaiah. There is, in fact, evidence for the unity of the book of Isaiah. The strongest evidence for the unity of the book of Isaiah comes with the term, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah uses that phrase more than any other prophet.

In fact, he uses it 14 times in chapters 40 to 66, and he uses it 12 times in one to three. So this repeated use, not just in the first section, but then again, 14 more times in the second section, indicates a unity of authorship from the first to the last chapter.

There's also striking verbal parallels throughout the verses from one, two, to 66, 24. One, five, to six, to 53, four, to five. You see similar usages that tie the book and actually attest to the unification that it is, in fact, only one book written by Isaiah himself.

Another couple things about the book before we break it down into its sections, the date of writing. Are there not passages that picture, let's say, Cyrus? When did Cyrus come as king of Persia, before or after this time period?

After. So how could Isaiah be the author of a book that calls Cyrus by name? What book are we studying now on Sunday morning? Revelation. He saw it in prophetic foresight, able to see what was yet future, because remember, who is the ultimate author of this book?

God, so is it any problem for God to write things ahead of time? No, there's plenty of supernatural material in the Bible, and this would just be a case of prophecy. Not a problem for a supernaturalist.

It's only the naturalist who doesn't believe in Revelation in the first place that would have a problem with this. So really, Isaiah is written by the prophet himself. All right, let's look at a breakdown of the book.

Judgment, Redemption, and the Unity of God's Character

How many of you have heard that Isaiah has 39 chapters of judgment and 27 chapters of redemption? Anybody seen that construct? Paralleling the Bible. Now, I would agree that there is a parallel to the Bible in that there's 66 chapters, just like there's 66 books in the Bible.

39 chapters seem to be a unit, and then 27 chapters. But as I've been studying through the book of Isaiah, I don't agree with the characterization of judgment redemption. There is a lot of judgment mentioned in the first 39 books, but what I was surprised to discover is that there's also a lot of redemption in the first part.

Similarly, when we characterize the Old Testament as judgment and the New Testament as redemption, we miss the unity of the Bible. The same God who judges the Hittites with annihilation comes in the book of Revelation to judge the nations.

God is not merciful only in the New Testament and wrathful in the Old. In Revelation chapter six, verse 17, the people are crying out, from the clefts of the rock, save us from the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb.

So we need to be careful with that characterization. Wrath, mercy, no? The same God of the Old Testament we find in the New Testament, both a God of justice and a God of mercy. So we wanna be careful with that.

So I didn't break it down in those ways. Rather, I looked at nine sections. If you'll look at the overview of the book, we have, first of all, discourses regarding Judah and Jerusalem. This is 12 chapters to begin the book, dealing with the Southern Kingdom, with Judah and Jerusalem.

There are also within this section many hopeful verses. What comes to mind of a hopeful verse in these first 12 chapters of the book of Isaiah? What hope do we have there? Is it all judgment? We have the parable of the vineyard, chapter five, where God looks at Israel as a vineyard, Judah as a vineyard, and says, I expected you to bear fruit, but you never bore fruit.

So there's judgment coming to you. But is there any hope offered in the first 12 chapters? Yes. Chapter nine, verses six and following. The promise of a son given, a wonderful counselor, almighty God, the government upon his shoulders, a peace that will never end.

Remember chapter 11? The lion that lays down by the lamb,.

And a child leading, amen.

As Habakkuk also echoed that Isaiah 11 prophecy. So there is much judgment coming, and it's certain that Israel will be judged, but will they be judged by Assyria? Will Assyria do it? No, it will be Babylon.

They will have a respite, because Hezekiah will turn his face to the wall and plead with God for mercy, and God will hear his prayer, and there will be a stay on that judgment. But Babylon will come and judge, and they will go into exile.

The second section from 13 to 23 are oracles against various nations. Does anybody know some of the nations that get denounced in that section? Remember? Babylon, Egypt, Cush, Moab. Many of the nations are decried in that section.

But is there any hope for these nations offered there? Or is it just straight judgment all throughout? We'll get there, but there is hope. In fact, we're told there will come a day when there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and people will come to worship the Lord.

There's hope even for Egypt and the Assyrians, but there's also great judgment coming because of the wickedness of the nation. So in wrath, remember mercy. It's not a one or the other. God is both wrathful and merciful, and he's merciful to those who repent and come to him in faith.

Chapters 24 to 27 is an interesting section called That Day. In this section, we do see a hopeful praise. In chapter five, it's a worship service going on. We see a lot of hope in that section, and then we see, again, judgment.

Six woes or six judgments from chapters 28 to 33. The fifth section, as we have it outlined, is God's recompense and ransom for Zion. And when we get there, we'll go into more depth of what that is. So up until this point, we have Isaiah prophesying, often in poetic language, and it's a prophetic, poetic book until this point.

Look at chapters 36 to 39 in your outline. You're going to notice a major shift in the flow of the book. Now, it will read a lot more like the book of 1 Samuel or 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles.

It becomes historical narrative. And what is the history being outlined here? What's going on? Jerusalem is up to their neck. The invasion, yeah. And what will happen? Yeah, God will save. He will come and rescue.

God is salvation. Isaiah, Jehovah is salvation. They call on God, they repent. Hezekiah is pleading with the Lord, and God will send an angel to wipe out the Assyrian army. So a really powerful section.

And then Hezekiah doesn't fully fulfill his role of trusting God. He shows weakness there at the end. And then we get into the last three sections, 40 to 66. 40 to 48, I called Behold Your Redeemer. I've also heard that called The Trial of False Gods.

Because Yahweh will present himself as the unique Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer of Israel. But he will hold himself up over against the false gods of the nations. So in this section, you'll actually see God taunting the false gods that people make.

The woodcarver makes an idol, and he prays to it. And then he uses the part of the wood that he didn't cut to make an idol to burn and make a fire. So what is that idol really worth in the first place?

It's just fuel for the fire. It's worthless, it cannot speak, and Isaiah will mock the gods of the nations. But the point is to lift up Jehovah as the one true God. There's no comparable one. There's no other God.

Yep. We see in Isaiah 43, I think it's 10 and 11, a really important witnessing verse for discussing this with Jehovah's witnesses and with Mormons. Because they believe that other gods can progress to be like Jehovah.

But there are no other gods besides him. So very important section of scripture there in the trial of false gods, behold your Redeemer. And then we have your Redeemer will save, chapters 49 to 57. And of course, we'll talk about in just a minute, chapter 53.

We have with us a Messianic Jew who's saved not many years ago. Several of you. 30 years. Yeah. And how did Isaiah 53 factor into your conversion to Christ? Were you familiar with that? Or is that something you learned later?

In case the microphone didn't pick up on that, she said when she read it, she was hysterical crying because she felt like she was lied to her whole life. Isaiah 53 is just like turning on the lights to say this is the Messiah.

Jesus is the Messiah. So then we have your Redeemer will come. And we have promises of the second coming and many beautiful pictures of the Redeemer in the last section. Now, before moving on to my last section of this introduction, I wanted to point out just what we're talking about here, that Isaiah is replete with prophecies of Jesus Christ.

Prophecies of Jesus Christ in Isaiah

Amen. Wow. I mean, Messianic Jews will attest to this, but so many of us have read these chapters and it's strengthened our faith. We realize that this is a book that was written 739 to 681 years before Christ.

And yet it foretells so many things. What are some of the ones that come to mind before you look at the sheet? When you think of prophecies in Isaiah, John, what do you think of? Oh, the lamb. The lamb.

That's in Isaiah 53. We are led like, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,.

Yet he did not open his mouth. So you gotta go back, all the way back to Egypt where the lamb was slain in the blood over the lentil.

Yep, the Exodus 12 killing of the Passover lamb is now shown to be a person. It can't be Israel because the pronoun usage is in Isaiah 53. He is led like a lamb to the slaughter. Wow. Chapter seven, verse 14.

Behold, I will give you a sign. The virgin shall be with child and shall give birth. Yeah. When we get to that, we will see there was a double fulfillment in Isaiah chapter seven. Isaiah had a son. Anybody know Isaiah's son's name?

I knew you would know. Meir Shalal Hashbaz. Who else can say that? You can say it, yeah.

There will be a quiz. You have to pronounce that to graduate this course. But there's a near fulfillment to the promise that this dangerous country, Syria, in league with the frame, that looks like they're gonna crush the south.

God says, don't worry about them. Before your son can even say anything, you will have a son. And you're gonna name him Meir Shalal Hashbaz. So there was a near fulfillment to that prophecy. But there's a double meaning to that Hebrew word.

Young virgin, which is the prophet's wife, will have a son. But the sign is bigger. It expands beyond the near fulfillment to a far fulfillment that there will be a son given. And this is expanded then in Isaiah chapter nine.

He will be called what? Almighty, wonderful counselor. Everlasting father. Almighty God. That's all part of the same prophecy. We don't wanna separate chapter seven from chapter nine. That all flows together.

And there in that section from seven to 11, there are prophecies again and again. There's the rock of stumbling. Jesus will be a rock of offense to Israel and to Judah. There's the light to the nations, chapter nine.

Galilee of the nations will see a great light. Jesus came to Galilee as the light to the nations. There's the stump from Jesse of chapter 11. The stump from Jesse will bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord will be on him.

That seven-fold spirit that Revelation describes, remember that prophecy again and again? The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears, but in righteousness he will judge the needy and with justice give decisions for the poor of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth.

That's his word, his sword. This is the prophecy of Isaiah 11, the coming Messiah. And that's then when the lion lays down next to the lamb. Yeah?

Isaiah 7, verse eight. Yes. But it's clarified.

Yes, and in the Septuagint, there's not that double meaning. That's the Greek translation. It only means virgin. So, and that's what Matthew picks up on, the Greek translation of the Hebrew at that point.

Yeah, so God has, God has attacked this from so many different angles that his word is true at every single point, in near fulfillment and in far fulfillment. Yeah. Yes. Layers of mystery, right. And a mystery, biblically speaking, is something that was hidden, which is now revealed by God.

Yeah. Yep. Yes. Wow. Yeah, you say it's like he's lifted a veil. And now you see. Now you see. And that's beautiful. Amen. And that's a picture of Isaiah 6, that as that word goes forth to some, it's blinding.

There's a hardening. But for those who can see, it's like the light has come on. Yeah. Wow. Okay, so a few more prophecies of the Messiah. In chapter 35, his signs of healing. Anybody know the prophecy of Isaiah 40, three to five?

Preceded by a forerunner? That's, that is in Isaiah 40. Yes. Is that? Okay. And I might have marked that wrong, but you have the coming of a forerunner. And who turns out to be the forerunner of Messiah?

John the baptizer. Yeah. Yeah, look at Isaiah 40, verse three. A voice cries, in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. So the part you quoted comes in just a minute, Rich. A little bit later. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

You're getting the chills. Amen. And so John the Baptist comes to make straight the way of the Lord. And he calls the nation to repentance, and he baptizes not the baptism of the washing of sin, but the baptism of repentance.

Turning away from sin. It's only Christ that will come and baptize with the Spirit and with fire. This is a forerunner that's making way, making ready the way, a straight path for our God to come. And of course, the highway for our God, Emmanuel, God with us, he comes in the flesh.

God himself comes. And he's announced by a forerunner. Just amazing. Chapter 42, the light for the nations. Kind of like chapter nine, where you have the light for Galilee. Now he's the light for the nations.

And then we would be remiss not to at least read a couple verses from Isaiah 53. John, would you read, how about just like the first six verses of Isaiah 53? Everybody turn to Isaiah 53. Guys, evangelistically, this is a tool.

Sometimes you can just print this up and show it to someone. And they'll say, who is this talking about? Every person you give that to is, oh, this thing is talking about Jesus, you know, the Christian.

And then tell them that this was written 700 years before Christ came, prophetically. Great evangelistic method. John, would you read, just say like.

Maybe the first six or seven verses? Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness.

And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised.

We esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did not, yet, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Very good. Amen.

Who else could that be? Right, that's what they're taught.

Yeah, and they're, yep, yep.

There are debates you can watch online where Christians and Jewish apologists will debate this. There's just no way to make it work when you look at the actual language of the text. Common sense. Yeah, Mitch Glazer from, I think, Jews for Jesus and Michael Brown.

Great resources out there if you wanna watch and see that interplay. All right, who read these words in the temple? The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Jesus. Jesus, where was he? In his home synagogue, he opened that scroll and began to read, and what did he say?

These words are fulfilled in your hearing.

Wow. Isaiah 62, and he only stopped regarding, Yeah. You know, passages regarding his first coming.

Yes, he didn't read the second coming. Yeah, that's Isaiah 61, one and two. Okay, so in closing today, we're gonna try to be done at about 45 minutes each week, and then we can continue to talk after that, yeah.

He was a grown man, yeah, and it was a synagogue. In the temple, as a 12-year-old boy, he stayed back and debated with the teachers, but then as he grew and began his ministry, that's kind of how he announced himself as the Messiah.

He used the words of Isaiah 61. Yeah, as a man, probably around 30 years old. I take him actually to be a little older than 30. It says he was around 30, but yeah. Because he was probably born before zero, and I think he died in 33, yeah.

Yeah, so he may have died at age 37, but in any case, he's in his young 30s, either 30 to 33 or 34. All right, so some of the biggest reasons to devote oneself to this study. This is important, especially for everybody that's watching online.

You might decide, you know what, I'm not sure I can devote myself to a study of Isaiah. What's the point? That's a lot of work. Why is this so important to do? Number one, and this is why I wanna do it.

This is why I was just intent on, I was gonna preach Isaiah, but then decided to do this book as a Wednesday study instead. It is because many people in this culture are gripped by a spirit of fear. Fear.

Because of the politics of what's going on, because of the course of this nation, and just because life is fearful, there's a lot to actually be afraid of. There's real dangers. In fact, all of us are gonna die, right?

But again and again, Isaiah calls us not to fear what people fear. In Isaiah chapter eight, he says, do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, and do not dread what they dread.

He goes on to teach us the fear of the Lord. Isaiah chapter eight, that we should fear God and trust in Him. And as we study this book, and we recognize the horrible things that Jerusalem went through, God was still with them.

He was still their defender, and He took care of His children. We do not need to be afraid. But beyond not fearing the bad thing that can happen to us, we also have to not fear speaking the word of the Lord.

Can you imagine when Isaiah heard the call to go preach naked for three years? Now, by the way, that's not normative for the church. That's not prescriptive. That's descriptive of a certain thing. And prescriptive scriptures would actually outlaw us from doing similarly.

Okay, but in that particular call that he had from God as a prophet in the Old Testament, can you imagine the fear that gripped him when he was called to do that, to preach to Cush in chapter 20? What's that?

I think it's literal nakedness. There's some debate, but it seems to be because that's what was gonna happen to Egypt and Cush. They were going to be led away with their private parts exposed. Into captivity by the Assyrians.

And he's warning them mercifully that if they would repent and trust in God, they could be at least saved spiritually from their sin. And they're warned of this coming judgment. Very often, God will warn of a coming judgment.

So Isaiah then ends his life as a martyr. Son and two, and yet having an eternal reward. We, brothers and sisters, we need to be braver, bolder, more like Isaiah. Fearless in the face of opposition because we will be opposed.

And as we study God's word, he takes away our fear. He takes away the anxiety and he teaches us to fear the Lord.

Psalm 37 and the Fear of God

Can I? Yeah, add to that. Can I share? Jeff and I were, before we got together here, we spent time in prayer and we often will go into the Psalms. Psalm 37, if you study Psalm 37, it speaks a lot about the evil, the characteristics of evil, the impact of evil, the oppression of evil.

And it also includes a ton of encouragement. And if you're talking about how Isaiah is going to help you overcome fear, I just wanted to read two verses that we spent time with. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way.

That's verse 23. This is not necessarily a passage that talks about predestination, but it talks about somebody who has a heart bent towards the Lord. The Lord watches him. Yes. The Lord watches him. So I'll read that again.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He delights in his way. Though he fall. And it doesn't live an option. We are going to fall. And that's something that could become an attack. If you fall, Satan's gonna knock you down because of it.

And it goes and it says, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him with his hand. And if you wanna go into Isaiah and if you want to look at how his promises, how his proclamations need to encourage us in a time of fear, you can go so many places in the book of Psalms.

But that was one that the wicked, the evil, are attacking, they are attacking. But God's got my back. And even if I slip up, even then God's got my back. Amen.

Sovereignty, Compatibilism, and Trusting God's Plan

The second big reason is to rest in sovereignty. In chapter 10, we learn that Assyria will come and conquer the northern tribes. They've done that. And they will come and surround Jerusalem. But God speaks to that and says, have I not commanded that long in advance that you would turn these fortified cities into heaps of ruin?

And the principle that will come out of Isaiah chapter 10 is God's sovereignty even in the willfulness of man. And here's the big theological word that we'll talk about when we get to chapter 10. Compatibilism, compatibilism.

Because the sovereignty of God and the willfulness of man are not opposed. It says in chapter 10 that, Isaiah chapter 10, that when Assyria is conquering and when they're doing the evil that they plan to do, they have a certain intention in their heart.

But God has his own plan, his own purpose in what he's doing. So the two things are compatible and work together. Assyria is fulfilling its own will. It's doing what it wants to do, what it intends to do, to turn fortified cities into ruin.

But God is fulfilling a higher purpose. And he's the one that's wielding them like a tool. They don't realize it, but they're just a hammer in his hand that he's using to judge his own people and to bring them to repentance.

And so that's called compatibilism. So we'll get into that understanding of a very high, high view of God's sovereignty without erasing the willfulness of man. Yeah? Yeah, Jeff.

Yes. Proverbs 19, verse 21, many.

Proverbs 19, 21, many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the counsel of the Lord that will stand. Wow, that's so good. Or in his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

There's a both and. So we'll get into that. But God's sovereignty is so huge in this book that he is in control. And if he was in control of the Assyrians coming in on Jerusalem and ultimately the Babylonian exile, guys, he's in control of America.

He's in control of your life. He's in control. We can trust him and rest in his sovereignty. Number three, the prophecies of Christ. It's not just academic for us to know these. These are important for evangelism.

These are important for beholding Christ. In 2 Corinthians, the last verse of chapter four, I believe it is, we behold Christ. We behold his glory. And that's how we're transformed. So when we look at Christ in the Old Testament, we're beholding him, we're seeing aspects of who he is, and that's how we'll be sanctified.