102. How Does Isaiah Prove Postmillennialism?

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In this episode, we explore how the prophecies of Isaiah powerfully point to the postmillennial vision of the world being converted to Christ before His return. Drawing from passages like Isaiah 19, 45, 49, and others, we see God's promises to: 1) Convert even the fiercest pagan nations like Egypt and Assyria, making them worshippers. 2) Establish Christ's reign over all the nations, bringing an end to war as they stream to Zion. 3) Lavish the earth with blessings of provision, healing, unity and eternal life under the Messiah's rule. 4) Fill the whole earth with the knowledge of God's glory as the waters cover the seas. While the present is dark, Isaiah's inspired words burn with the hope of Christ's gradual but unstoppable conquest through the Church. He will put down all rebellion, bless the world, and unveil God's splendor until every tribe bows in wonder and worship. This is part 4 in the Biblical Case for Postmillennialism series. Be sure to check out parts 1-3 as well! Like, subscribe, and share to help get this victorious gospel vision out to more people. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/datprodcast/support [https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/datprodcast/support]

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103. How to Have a Lasting Legacy (Interview with Douglas Wilson)

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the podcast. This is episode 102, how
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Isaiah's prophecies prove post -millennialism. Introduction, the hope of a world filled with worshipers.
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As we've been talking about this for a couple of weeks now, one of the most explicit themes in the Bible is that God designed the world to be filled with human worshipers.
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From the earliest parts of Genesis, it is clear that he made humans to partner with them in filling the world with fruitful, multiplying, and worshiping people,
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Genesis 128. And while that original family sinned and fell short of that glorious vision, multiplying only sin and misery across the face of the earth, the rest of the
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Bible outlines how God would not abandon his plans and purposes, and that one day he's going to accomplish all of this through his son.
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Now, for instance, in the book of Genesis, we saw that after sin entered the world, God reiterated his promises to Noah, Genesis 9, 1.
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Those promises were that he's going to fill the world with worshipers. He stepped in and he helped during the insurrection at the
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Tower of Babel, Genesis chapter 11. He promised that through the family of Abraham, all of the families on earth were going to come under Yahweh's blessings,
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Genesis 12, 1 -3. Which means that also all the nations, including their governments of the world, are going to come under Yahweh's blessings as well,
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Genesis 22, 18. This promise again was reiterated to the next generation, to Isaac, Genesis 26, 3 -4.
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It was passed down to Jacob, Genesis 28, 14, and it was given additional clarity when it was given to Judah, whose clan would become the ruling tribe and from which
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God's own ruling son would come. Under his leadership, the nations would learn obedience to God and the world would be filled with worshipers,
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Genesis 49, 10. Now, unless we believe these promises terminate after the first book of the
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Bible, Exodus begins with the exact same theme. God begins that book making
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Israel fruitful and multiplying them, Exodus 1 -7. God himself declares his intention to fill the world with worshipers in alignment with that Garden of Eden vision in Exodus 9 -16.
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He tells that to the Pharaoh. So then, after freeing his people from Egyptian slavery,
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God calls Israel his firstborn son. That's Adamic imagery. And then he also gives them the same promises that he once gave to Adam.
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He promised that the nation would become fruitful and multiplied as they worship him and they would fill the world with the worship of Yahweh, Leviticus 26, 9.
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Now, the promise does not die out again in the sands of the wilderness.
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It doesn't die out with the death of the unfaithful generation. No. Instead, God repeats it again to the younger generation in Deuteronomy who prepare to enter and to take the new
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Edenic land, Deuteronomy 28 -13. The goal was the same as before, to fill the world with the glory of God through multiplying worshipers,
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Numbers 14 -21. Israel was to do what Adam could not do, casting out the children of the serpent, filling the garden land with worshipers.
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And once that task was complete, they were to make the entire world a garden sanctuary for the glory of God, which, as we learned, they did not do.
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Not only did they fail to complete the task that was given to them, Joshua 21, 12 -13, but as soon as their new commander died, they fell back into Adamic patterns of sin, slavery, and misery.
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And this period is known as the Judges, Judges 21 -25 is a good example of that period.
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And they carried that sin and wickedness into the period of the kings. You can read about that in 1 Kings all the way through 2
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Chronicles. It is a dumpster fire of sorts, and it is a roller coaster of faithfulness, unfaithfulness.
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Yet with all of that failure embedded within Israel's history, the ones who followed after their father Adam into subjugation and sin,
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God did not forget his promises. He promised that he was going to send an anointed king who would come, 1
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Samuel 2 -10, and that anointed king was going to reign upon a throne in the city of Jerusalem, and that reign would never end, 1
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Samuel 7, and he would be the one who would bring about the obedience of the nations that was promised to Judah, and he would be what
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Israel and Adam could never be. Now, in the meantime, while the people of Israel were waiting for their coming king to arrive,
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God gave them an entire hymn book that celebrated, anticipated, and even reverberated with God's plan to fill the world with worshipers through his anointed king.
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God would send a king who was going to be his own son, Psalm 2 -7. He would be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, Psalm 1 -10 -4.
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He would have an eternal reign that accomplishes everything that Yahweh set out to do in the garden through Adam, Psalm 45 -6, 89 -36 -37.
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God is going to give the nations to this coming king as his inheritance, Psalm 2 -8.
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He's the one who's going to reign over that kingdom from God's right hand, Psalm 1 -10 -1. He will be the king who will rule with an iron scepter over all of his enemies,
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Psalm 2 -9, Psalm 110 -5 -6, and he's going to be the king who will judge the world according to righteousness unlike the kings of men,
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Psalm 9 -8, Psalm 22 -28, Psalm 67 -4, Psalm 72 -11, Psalm 96 -10 -13.
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The whole book of Psalms is filled with these promises that they were to sing to the glory of God.
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He's going to be the one who's going to heap up the dead bodies of those who hate him, Psalm 1 -10. He's going to bring God's peace and God's righteousness to those who love him,
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Psalm 72 -3 and verse 7. God's glory and his salvation are going to be given to the people of God who are like the lost sheep scattered to the ends of the earth,
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Psalm 22 -27, 67 -2, 72 -19, 96 -3, 98 -2 -3, and once he saves all of them, he's going to make them serve him and worship him, but not obligatorily, willingly, and joyfully,
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Psalm 67 -1 -4, 96 -1 -3, and 1 -10 -3. He's going to fill the world with worshipers and worship.
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All the kings of the earth and all of the kingdoms of the earth are going to bow down and serve him, Psalm 72 -11.
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His name is going to reverberate throughout the generations, Psalm 72 -17. His name is going to echo from sea to shining sea,
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Psalm 72 -8. The end result of all of this is that his reign is going to bring
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Yahweh's blessings promised to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and Israel to the nations,
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Psalm 72 -17 -19. These were the songs that Israel was commanded to sing.
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There was no defeatist attitude in the nation of Israel. They were singing about a triumphant God who was going to conquer the world.
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That's what the book of Psalms is all about. Now today, we begin the final section of the
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Old Testament eschatology, which we're going to take a couple weeks in order to cover it because there's just honestly too much information.
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It's called the prophets. The prophets, the final section of the Old Testament history, and the prophets exist when the kings of Israel and Judah are languishing, failing at the very end of their era, and they're preparing to be removed by God.
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The kings were the placeholders that God called to rule on Jesus's throne until he came.
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They were to help God's people be fruitful, to help multiply them, to prepare them to take dominion over the face of the earth so that God's vision of filling the world with worshipers would be moving in the right direction.
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But instead of doing this, the kings actually brought more sin, more misery, and more pain and failure upon the land.
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They got the people of God captured by invading armies. They led them away from Yahweh worship on every hilltop and high place in the nation in rebellion against their creator, and the prophets were sent by God to call the kings and the wicked people that they were ruling over to repent and to turn back to him before he annihilated them.
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Yet, even while watching Israel collapse into a Syrian genocide and Judah falling headlong into exile in Babylon, the prophets also remind
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God's people that God's plans will not fail. Even though his people fail, he's going to bring his promises about in the proper time, and all those who remain must remember and cling to those promises.
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The remnant of God is to cling to the promises of God because he is going to accomplish everything that he said.
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Now, with that, the section of the Old Testament called the prophets becomes this rich treasure chest of post -millennial hope, and it's so deep and so wide, we cannot possibly cover it in a single week.
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So today, we're just going to look at the book of Isaiah, and we're just going to look at four specific promises that God made through the mouth of this prophet that prove to the remaining remnant of Judah that God is not going to give up on his promises.
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He's not going to give up on his plans, and he will fill the world full of worshipers before the history of the world is finished.
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So with that, promise one, God will convert the pagans.
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Now, despite the failures of the judges and the kings, despite the failure of everyone in the
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Old Testament, God has not abandoned his plan to rescue men, women, and children from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth.
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Instead of enacting this glorious vision through inglorious people, God had long ago promised to send his son,
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Genesis 3 .15, and he's going to be the one who would gather up a worldwide people around himself, fulfilling
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God's very good vision in Genesis 1. Now, this comes into crystal clear clarity in the writings of the prophet
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Isaiah. I'll give you a few examples of this. The first one comes from Isaiah 19. Now, in that chapter, the prophet
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Isaiah provides remarkable insight into God's plan. In this stunning passage, we see a stunning prophecy concerning Egypt and Assyria, which are two nations who represent the fiercest hatred and rejection of God and his people.
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These are the bullies of the Old Testament. These are the ones that you would expect would be thrown first into hell if there was a list of nations that needed to be there, especially in the
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Old Testament. So, Isaiah describes the Lord's judgment on Egypt.
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He describes a civil war that's going to happen in Isaiah 19. He describes economic devastation, the failures of its leaders.
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That's all in chapters 19, verse 1 through 15. And that's not really all that shocking because Egypt and Assyria deserve the judgment of God.
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But what is astonishing about this chapter is how the passage continues. Isaiah goes on to say that God is not going to destroy all of Egypt and Assyria, but he's going to spare a remnant of them and that he's going to redeem and save some of them, adding them among the covenant people of God.
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It says that they will be right alongside of Israel and Judah. Here's a summary of some of these promises.
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The Egyptians are going to come to fear the Lord and worship him, Isaiah 19, 16 through 17.
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The cities in Egypt are going to speak Hebrew and swear allegiance to the Lord. Isaiah 19, verse 18.
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They're going to set up an altar and a pillar to the Lord in the nation of Egypt. That's 19, 19.
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The Lord is going to send a savior, a mighty one who we know is the Christ, in order to deliver them,
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Isaiah 19, 20. Egypt and Assyria will then know the Lord, Isaiah 19, 21 through 22.
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A highway is going to connect Egypt and Assyria so that united worship can flourish among the united people,
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Isaiah 19, 23. Egypt and Assyria will be a blessing in the world for the Lord himself is going to bless them,
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Isaiah 19, 24 through 25. This fantastic prophecy shows
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God's plan to take the most vicious and rebellious people on earth and extend his covenant love to them.
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Under Christ's rule as savior, enemies of God are going to repent, worship him, and become blessings to the world.
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The Lord is going to make them objects of his redeeming love, no longer objects of his furious wrath.
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And he's going to use them to fill the world with worshipers. And he's going to use them to bring his covenant blessings to all the peoples on earth.
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And that is the point. God is not going to allow his world -filling project to become thwarted by sin, idolatry, or even the greatest enemies that the
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Old Testament ever knew. No, if the Egyptians and the Assyrians are going to try to stop the
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Lord from fulfilling his world -filling prophecies, then God's going to convert them and he's going to make them into a part of his plan because his plan will never be overturned.
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There's another example in Isaiah 45, where the Lord reveals his sovereignty over the nations and his intention to save people from all the earth's extremities.
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He's speaking to Cyrus and he calls him his anointed one. Here's what God says in Isaiah 45, 13.
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He, that's Cyrus, will build my city and will let my exiles go free without any payment or reward, says the
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Lord of hosts, Isaiah 45, 13. Now, while Cyrus was a present day reference during the time of Isaiah, this promise actually echoes forward to a greater anointed one, a greater ruler, the
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Messiah and Lord Jesus Christ, who would rebuild God's kingdom and would set the spiritual exiles free.
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The prophecy continues. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am
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God and there is no other. Did you hear that? Let me say it one more time for you. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am
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God and there is no other. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and will not turn back.
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That to me, every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance.
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Isaiah 45, 22 through 23. It cannot get much clearer than this.
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Here we see God's intention to bring salvation to the farthest reaches of the globe.
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And he not only says that it will happen, but he swears by his own character that this is what he is determined to do, leaving no room for us to ever doubt the fulfillment of his promises.
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The Messiah that he will send will draw all people to himself and he will do what no person before him could have ever done.
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He will make worshipers out of every nation, tribe, and tongue, causing every knee to bow in allegiance to him.
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This universal worship has always been God's plan from the very beginning. Isaiah 45 says it so clearly that we can't even deny it.
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The result is that all who come to the Lord will declare his righteousness and draw strength from him as worshipers.
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From the most defiant God haters like Egypt and Assyria to the very furthest, remotest parts of the world,
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God is going to have a multitude of worshipers from everywhere. And he's going to blanket everywhere with his people.
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That's what it says, Isaiah 45. Look it up yourself. Here's another example, Isaiah 49 and the enemies of God that are mentioned there.
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Now, in addition to redeeming his fiercest enemies in Isaiah 19 and drawing worshipers from the farthest reaches of the globe in Isaiah 45,
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God is going to gather a universal assortment of people, like we said last week, yellow, brown, red, black, white, all of it.
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And he's going to bring them to his son who is portrayed as the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 49. In the opening verses of this great chapter,
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God's servant, this is a prophecy about Jesus. He declares what his mission is going to be.
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Jesus says, he made me a polished shaft, concealed me in his quiver. And he said to me, you are my servant,
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Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Now, while this passage certainly demonstrates how the singular servant of the
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Lord, the Messiah, is going to take on and complete and fulfill the corporate national promises of Israel, it also shows how he's going to accomplish it where Israel fails.
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Verse 6 says as much. Is it too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones in Israel?
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Isaiah 49 6. You see, the Messiah's role is to restore faithless and rebellious
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Israel and to bring God's salvation back to the world. This is reinforced in verse 12.
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Behold, these will come from afar and low. These will come from north and they will come from the west and these from the land of Sanim, which is modern day
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China. What God is saying is he's going to restore Israel. Paul tells us that Israel is the church.
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So no matter how far away or how hostile the peoples of the nations are, they're going to be drawn to Jesus and they're going to be giving over, given over to this servant of the
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Lord figure who is going to bring them into his family, the church, and he's going to make them his new Israel bride.
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And he's going to overcome all of their rebellion, all of their sin. He's going to bring together a worldwide kingdom through the gospel.
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Isaiah provides God's answer on how this is possible. In verse 13, he says, shout for joy,
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O heavens and rejoice, O earth. Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains, for the
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Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
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Isaiah 49, 13. Notice that God is commanding all of the hosts of heaven and earth to worship him because of his world -filling promises.
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He is not just ordering the pagans to do something that they are going to be judged for never being able to complete.
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No, he's promising that he is going to make the world into his people by uniting
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Gentiles with his son as his beloved bride. And when God does this, he's going to make the earth one flesh with his son.
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The true Israel, Jesus Christ is going to bring his people to himself.
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Isaiah 49, 14 through 21, saying all flesh will know that I am the Lord. All flesh will know that I am your savior and your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.
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Isaiah 49, 25 through 26. Through the work of the servant of the
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Lord, the Messiah, God is going to confront and conquer every force that tries to stop him.
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Whether hostile nations, human tyrants, or spiritual powers, nothing is going to prevent him from filling the world with his covenant people who will bring his light to the nations.
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Isaiah 49, 8 through 9. He will not stop until his servant,
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Jesus, has liberated all the captives, converted all the world's populations from being a planet burgeoning with God -haters into a world overflowing with worshipers.
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He's going to make his enemies his friends. Let me give you a few other examples of this. We can actually keep going, but you know,
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I'm just going to give you a few more. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. Isaiah 52, 10.
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God called Jesus to be commander in general over all the peoples on earth that had formerly never heard of him.
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Isaiah 55, 4 through 5. Every foreigner and stranger is going to join themselves to the
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Lord at some point in the future, and they're going to learn to love him through the work of the Messiah. Isaiah 56, 6 through 8.
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We could consider how the nations are going to leave their addiction to darkness, and they're going to step into the light of Jesus before he returns to end human history.
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Isaiah 60, verse 3. We could allude to the promises of a worldwide missionary effort by the church that's going to continue until all of the nations are converted to God, offering back to him the nations as a pleasing sacrifice and offering because of our faithful evangelistic effort.
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Isaiah 66, 18 through 20. And while there's certainly so much more that we could point to, the point has been well demonstrated.
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The first thing that God uses Isaiah the prophet to promise is that he is going to deal with the problem of sin by sending his son.
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And his son is going to apply his salvation to the entire world. There's no getting around this in Isaiah.
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It is too evident to avoid it or ignore it. The Messiah is going to save a worldwide family of redeemed worshipers, and he will not be thwarted.
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If you don't believe that, you don't believe Jesus. Promise two. Jesus is going to rule the nations.
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The prophetic vision of Isaiah burns with vivid imagery of the day when
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Jesus, the promised Messiah, will establish his reign over all the earth. The second significant promise holds out staggering hope for the remnant in Isaiah's day, but it also encourages all of us today on the direction that God is taking human history.
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He is not taking human history to a cataclysmic failure. He is taking human history, although it looks like a
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Bitcoin chart. It goes up and then it crashes, then it goes up and then it crashes. It's always going up, but it's going up in a very strange sort of way.
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If you think about world history like that, you will not be discouraged when we hit momentary valleys in route to where God is taking us.
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In Isaiah chapter two, Isaiah turns his eyes to the last days, and he beholds this awe -inspiring vision of what life is going to be like under the
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Messiah's reign. He says, now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the
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Lord's house will be established as the chief of all the mountains. And it will be raised up above the hills and all the nations will stream to it.
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Isaiah 2, 2. Isaiah envisions a time when the glory of the
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Lord will be so supremely exalted that all of the nations will flow to him like an unstoppable river flowing towards its destination.
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He continues in chapter two, and many people will come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the
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Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the
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Lord from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2, 3. No longer hostile to God, the nations, the multitudes of the world are going to be depicted as eager students of Jesus streaming to Zion to sit at the
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Lord's feet like Mary in the gospels and to be instructed by his paths. Because the
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Lord is going to send his word out from Jerusalem, Acts 1, 8. And he will ensure that the gospel is preached to every single creature under heaven,
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Colossians 1, 23. And as the gospel increasingly wins over the world,
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Jesus is going to increasingly settle the disputes among the nations, Isaiah 2, 4.
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And he's going to judge supremely as the lawgiver over every tribe, tongue, and people. Now, that sweeping cosmic vision, we're not glorious enough.
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It grows to inconceivable portions in this chapter under Christ's righteous rule, all war and all violence are eventually going to be eliminated by God.
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Isaiah tells us this. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
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Nation will not lift up sword against nation. And never again will they learn war,
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Isaiah 2, 4. Now, if we take these promises as true and accurate, which you would have to be a liberal higher critic not to, then under the rule of Jesus, the nations are going to become increasingly more peaceful over time until war itself is eliminated forever.
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This is not a mere spiritual promise as the amillennial types are prone to see it. And it is not a temporary promise as the premillennial see it, where Jesus is only going to reign for a peace -filled thousand years at the end of time before chaos and violence break out again.
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No, God says that the nations will never learn war again. In the premillennial vision,
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God comes himself and physically reigns on earth for a thousand years of peace, and then the nations learn war again.
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Well, this violates Isaiah 2. In Jesus's kingdom, the nations never learn war again.
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There is never a rebellion. There is not an Armageddon at the end of human history because under the lordship of Jesus, there is no more war.
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By his spirit and through his church, war is going to be abolished on the face of the earth.
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Aggression and war -torn planet that we live on, a promise that we are obviously still waiting to see fulfilled, will never again return to the feeding trough of violence.
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It will become peaceful. It will be a peaceful world that worships him in spirit and in truth, and it will not be a world thrown into an antichrist -led rebellion called
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Armageddon. I'm sorry, Isaiah 2 .4 disallows that view.
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Now, the same promises resound in Isaiah 9, describing the unending expansion of Messiah's government.
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Again, this passage is disallowed by every other eschatological view of postmillennialism.
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The only view, postmillennialism is the only one that gets this verse right. It says, now remember, unto us is born a child and to us a son is given.
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That's Isaiah 9 .6. Look at what it says after that. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of the peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.
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The zeal of the lord of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9 .7, Christ will so forcefully extend his righteous reign over all the nations, and he will over time demolish every opposing rule, authority, and power, and he will do this so that his reign of peace will never end.
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It says it will never end. There will never be a moment when another rebellion breaks out when his reign has taken over the entire planet.
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If you do not believe this, if you do not believe that peace and worship is in our future, then you doubt
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God himself and you spit in the face of his promises. These things are clear in the book of Isaiah.
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Probably some of the clearest passages in the Bible come out of Isaiah. We either have to believe it or we have to doubt
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God. That's where we come down to. In another portrayal of the Messiah, Isaiah envisions the wealth and the glory of the nations that are going to stream into his kingdom.
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Isaiah says this, your gates, that's Messiah's gates, will be open continually and they will not be closed day or night so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations with their kings led in procession,
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Isaiah 60 .11. This is not an isolated event. Actually, this is looking forward to Revelation chapter 21, by the way, that this is
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Messiah's kingdom. It depicts the end of human economies that are built on sin, misery, and death, and it looks forward to a day when all of the nation's wealth and treasures are going to be turned over to the dominion of Jesus, and he's going to be the one who sets the agenda for global economics.
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Unbelievable promise right there, Isaiah 60 .11. These visions could not be more contrary to the circumstances of Isaiah's day, so that we know they're not fulfilled in Isaiah's days.
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But they also could not be more contrary to the premillennial doom and gloom eschatological defeatism that we see in America today.
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In many ways, I know that these promises stand in opposition to our current situation.
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I know our economy is bad. Our government spends money on all kinds of things. I remember it during COVID that we sent money down to Argentina to trans their children, and we sent money to some
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European nation to do this or that. We bought weapons and sent them to Ukraine. We're spending money on godless things.
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But that does not mean that these incredible promises are nothing but God's hot air and wind that are never going to come true.
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For the last 2000 years, the Messiah's government has been increasing, and it will continue to expand until it has filled the world with Spirit -filled people.
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And those Spirit -filled people are going to be the ones who turn their swords into plowshares. And the world at that point is going to come under the magnificent rule of righteousness and peace that the
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Messiah will bring. And the whole world is going to behold the glory of Christ, and they're going to stream into Zion, which is an image of his church.
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They're going to worship him and obey him, and there will be no more war.
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No matter how bleak the present age is, the Lord's zeal is going to accomplish this reality, or you don't believe the
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Bible. That's really as simple as I can make it. The third promise, by Jesus, he's going to bring blessings to the nation.
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The visions of Isaiah do not merely depict the Messiah conquering the nations and ruling over them with an iron scepter, no.
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The prophet's inspired words also paint a breathtaking picture of how Jesus is going to lavish his blessings upon the people of earth.
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He's going to transform the entire world into a paradise garden again, resonating with unbridled joy and eternal, joyful celebrations.
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On the mountain of Zion, to which the nations are going to stream, the Lord of hosts is going to prepare a lavish banquet for all people,
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Isaiah 25, 6. No longer will famine and lack and poverty afflict the inhabitants of the earth, for the messianic king is going to splay out a sumptuous feast.
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He's going to give rich blessings with the finest provisions, and the people of earth are going to taste and see that the
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Lord is good as they sup on his generous bounty. The nations of Africa will no longer have famine.
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The third world countries will no longer be poor. What this is saying is that Messiah is going to lift everyone out of poverty into banqueting.
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But this is no ordinary banquet. Isaiah declares that on this mountain, the Lord will swallow up death for all time,
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Isaiah 25, 8. The shroud of mourning and tears that has cloaked humanity in sorrow since the very days of Eden is going to be stripped away.
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The curse is going to be eternally repealed as the Messiah destroys the final enemy death itself, which is going to usher us into the eternal state.
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Vineyards before that vineyards are going to slope with overflowing succulent clusters of ripened fruit from shore to shore.
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It's going to burst forth with the with the choicest grapes. Isaiah prophesies that on that day, it shoots will bud and its blossoms will sprout and will fill the face of the earth with fruit, which is a sign of his messianic prosperity.
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Isaiah 27, 6. Scarcity is going to be abolished as the life giving vines of God's bountiful blessings are going to reverberate all throughout the earth.
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No more will ethnic animosity and cultural divides or linguistic barriers fracture the family of God or the family of man.
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The Messiah is going to lovingly gather the foreigners and they're going to join together to the
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Lord from every nation and every tongue. Isaiah 56, 6. That means ethnocentrism is going to be eliminated under his kingdom.
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He's going to bring all of this assortment of various people into his holy mountain.
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He's going to make them joyful in the house of prayer. Isaiah 56, 7. He's going to unite together a diverse people into united worship.
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And he's going to bring this redeemed harmony together from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
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Under the peaceful reign of Jesus, the Messiah, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is going to cover the earth as the water covers the sea.
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Habakkuk 2, 14. The nations are going to bask in the warmth and the radiance of his infinite blessings as death, mourning, crying, and pain are forever banished.
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Revelation 21, 4. This is the cosmic climax to which all of history is inexorably marching.
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Promise four. Jesus will cover the world with the knowledge of God. Now, these trumpet blasts of Isaiah's prophecies do not merely herald the
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Messiah's global conquest and his lavishing of paradisal blessings upon the nations.
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These inspired words also ring out with resounding assurance that through Christ, the entire earth is going to be flooded with the radiant knowledge and the resplendent glory of the one and only
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Christ. He will be increasingly exalted through church history as one nation after another who were previously strangers to the commonwealth of Israel are going to stream to him in reverence and worship.
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Isaiah 55, 5. This in -gathering of the Gentile nations does not involve shallow confessionalism.
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It doesn't involve easy believism or nominalism where everyone and no one become a genuine
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Christian, where cultural Christianity abounds like it does in America. No, God is promising a reformation of the globe where those who formerly lived in their lies are now craving and aching for the truth of God.
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He promises to show the nations his fame, his renowned, and his glory through Jesus, Isaiah 66, 18 through 19.
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And he will powerfully reveal himself to those who are sitting in darkness, dispatching his redeemed heralds,
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Christians, to bring the illuminating gospel all over the face of the earth, Matthew 28, 19 through 20.
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Brothers and sisters, the knowledge of the Lord presently existing in small, dimly glowing pockets and tiny iridescent remnants is going to continue to increase until the world shines with the blinding, brilliant, supernova -like light under the radiant rule of Messiah.
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Isaiah foresaw this remarkable unveiling, and he said, they will not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountain for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
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Lord as the water covers the sea, Isaiah 11, 9. As the tides of revelation surge and they supernaturally wash over every coastline, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God will displace all darkness, instilling peace and wholeness in its wake.
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And this cataclysmic dawn is nothing less than the universal advent for which all creation groans.
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Isaiah prophesied this, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together,
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Isaiah 40, verse 5. No tribe will be overlooked. No people group will be burned by this astounding epiphany.
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The veil will be removed from all the nations, Isaiah 25, 7, and the glory of God will blaze brilliantly forth so that all humanity can gaze upon the splendor of Yahweh.
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This is what is coming. The church of Jesus has got to stop preparing to lose.
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The church should not be making plans for the world to continue going from bad to worse.
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The world will increasingly come under the command of King Jesus, our general.
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He's going to put down all rebellion and he's going to bless and gather a global people to himself.
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And he will do that. And he'll do what Adam should have done but could not do.
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And he will fill the world with worshipers who are filled with the knowledge and the glory of God.
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Now, while this vision is undoubtedly breathtaking, it is true. The question is whether or not we will believe it.
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Conclusion. The prophecies of Isaiah blaze with all inspiring visions of a world set ablaze by God's glory through his triumphant Messiah, Jesus Christ.
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I want you to let that panoramic revelation not merely inform your mind, but I want you to let it ignite you with an unquenchable flame of hope that you can live with today.
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Though sin and darkness have certainly shrouded the nations in the deepest night, the dawn, the dawn that is coming from on high is relentlessly breaking forth.
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Isaiah thunders this message throughout the gospel of Isaiah that he gives to us.
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And he tells us that the radiant light of Jesus Christ, that God himself is going to dispel the shadows and he's going to illuminate every corner of the world with his splendor.
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From the uttermost ends of the earth, he's going to summon worshipers. He's going to convert even his fiercest enemies into joyful revelers in Zion's everlasting festivities.
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Rebel nations and warring kingdoms are going to become converted. They're going to stream like mighty rivers to the holy mountain.
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They're going to behold Emmanuel's terrible majesty and beauty, and they're going to praise him for it.
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At the thunder of his voice, they're going to beat their swords into plowshares. Their F -15s are going to be nothing more than museum relics gathering dust, and their
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M4 carbines are going to be melted down to make hoes and rakes for garden life.
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His peace is going to proliferate under his righteous rule, and it's going to continue increasingly happening until it's finished.
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Famine, lack, disease, death itself, all of these cruel taskmasters who have tyrannized humanity from Eden until now,
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Christ is going to vanquish them all. He's going to transcendently transform this world into a lavish, sumptuous, eternal feast before the beaming smiles of the redeemed nations are finished.
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Church, this is the cosmic climax toward which all of human history is inescapably hurling.
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Let that truth be the bonfire in your soul where you draw your strength, your passion, your zeal, and your certainty from.
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The knowledge of God's glory in Christ is going to drench this planet's circumference as entirely as the oceans are engulfed by water.
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Our king is deploying his end -time armada, that's you and I, to announce the bridegroom's arrival and to beckon the world to come to the marriage supper of the lamb.
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So go, unfurl the banner of Christ's gospel without faltering, without failing, and without doubting.
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Gaze upon the beauty of Christ until it brands his vision into your very bones and then blaze across the continents with the prized truth that you have emblazoning your hearts.
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Jesus is conqueror. Jesus is king. Jesus is bringing blessings.
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Jesus is unveiling his truth to all the nations and soon, and I don't know how long soon is, every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation will be lost in the goodness of his gospel, found forever in his love.
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Until next time, God bless you. Thank you so much for watching another episode of the broadcast.
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We just hit 500 subscribers yesterday. That's three and a half months on YouTube and we went from zero to 500.
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I cannot wait to see what God continues to do as he makes this message known to more people.
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We have lived in a defeatist Christianity for far too long. We've lived in a Christian world where Christians are retreating and they're running like no one, with no one even chasing them.
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We've acted like we're the tail instead of the head. And through this series, what
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I've been trying so hard to do is to convince you that God wins, that Christ wins, that he will have the victory.
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So hold your head up high, run the race that God has given you. Tell your friends, neighbors, co -workers, family members, all your acquaintances, tell them about Christ and his gospel.
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And if you can support this show, sharing it, liking it, sending it to friends helps get this message out to more people for sure.
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Thank you for your support. Thank you for all that you've done to help this channel thrive. We'll see you again next time on the podcast.