Foundation for understanding Ezra - Isaiahs prophecy

Praise the Lord. Is your heart and your mind clear today? Would turn in your

Bibles to the book of Isaiah, as we had mentioned last week, our plan was originally to get to the sections in Isaiah last week concerning building our foundation for understanding the book of Ezra.

Week before last we looked in detail at the book of Jeremiah and the prophecy of Jeremiah and this week we are going to look at the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the

Babylonian captivity, concerning the children of Israel. And Isaiah chapter 43, if you want to mark your spot there.

Last week we read a little bit in Romans discussing the sovereignty of God and how

God sovereignly works out our salvation through means of providence, how God provided a way not only for Israel to be saved but for the

Gentiles to be saved and it is all through Jesus Christ. There is no other way or means of salvation outside of Jesus Christ.

And to recap the purpose and the intent, I know a lot of times when we, week after week, we repeat some terminology, we repeat phrases that's intentional so that we begin to understand and we see that these truths are in the

Word of God. Concerning particularly, we've been talking a lot about the sovereignty of God for when we get to the book of Ezra, when we do get to the book of Ezra and we read through the book of Ezra, you'll see the sovereignty of God working through means of His providence.

As it was in Jeremiah, it is so here in the book of Isaiah, the prophecy of Isaiah.

I believe the ministry of Isaiah, if I'm remembering correctly, was just to give you a little bit of a history on the time.

I told you last week and the week before that the prophecies from Isaiah and Jeremiah were probably somewhere between 100 to 150 years before Israel is delivered out of Babylonian captivity which, going back and looking at the dates a little bit more on the book of Isaiah, Isaiah's ministry was somewhere between the time of about 750 to 740 before Christ.

And remember, time counts down up until the time of Christ. So Isaiah's ministry was somewhere around 740

BC to 701 BC. So about the space of 40 years.

But probably, the gap is probably more so between 100 and 200 years that this prophecy was given by the

Holy Spirit to the prophet Isaiah concerning the

Babylonian captivity. Now, when we consider the sovereignty of God, again, remember, and I want to say this once again,

I'm not attempting to tell you everything there is to know about God because we do not know everything there is to know about God.

We know only what we can know of God's nature and God's character from the

Word of God. That is our authority, that is our source, and that is where we go to find out and to know who

God is. Now, some might say, why do we need to know about the sovereignty of God? Why do we need to know about the character and the nature of God?

Because friends, the more and the better we know God, the more and the better that we are able to love

Him. Amen? Now, ma 'am, when you got married, Amanda may be loving

John just a little bit less this week, today, but you all discussed that last week, but you're here, amen?

Don't be prideful. So but seriously, as a husband and wife relationship, if we do not get to know each other, it's hard to love each other better through the years, right?

I mean, April's got some unique characteristics about her that only

I know that none of you all know. Her parents may know it because they raised her. But we must be desirous to know

God, to know who God is, to know what His character and His nature is. Remembering sovereignty is

God's right and authority to govern all things. God's providence, how He governs all things,

He governs all things by natural means, by working things, all things together for the good of those who are who love

Him and are the called according to His purpose. If there was a New Testament passage of scripture that was some of everything that we're trying to teach to you in this, it's that it's that passage of scripture that God in His sovereignty is working all things.

All of history is not about you and me. It's not about the wars that have been fought.

History is God's story of redemption. All of history is

His story. So we need not try to read ourselves into anything. So let's look here in Isaiah concerning the sovereignty of God, concerning the sovereignty of God, beginning in Isaiah chapter 43.

And what I'm going to do here this morning, I want us to go to the Lord in prayer. After we pray together,

I want to just read you my summary of the verses that we're going to look through, and then we'll go back and look at the verses individually.

But let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear God, this morning I come to you thanking you,

God, for who you are. Thanking you, dear God, for your person. Dear God, thank you for the presence of your

Holy Spirit. And Lord, I thank you that you are so kind and you are so merciful and you are so loving to us who deserve nothing but your wrath and your justice to be poured out on us.

But God, as I mentioned, God, I'm so grateful for your mercy toward us, which is long suffering, dear

God. And my prayer today is this, that those that are in attendance in this place today, who are in regular attendance of this place, dear

God, that you would be more to them, dear God, than just a speech that is given on Sunday mornings or a song that is sung, dear

God, that you would make yourself so real to them, dear God, that they would know and understand and realize that outside of you they have and are nothing, myself included,

God. For you are my very life. You are the breath in my lungs, dear

God. You are my only hope. You are my shield. You are my fortress.

Dear God, you are my strength and you are my deliverer today. Help me,

God, as I try to proclaim your blessed and your holy word today that you would receive glory and honor in your church today.

For it's in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, amen and amen. Here in the book of Isaiah, we're going to be looking through most of the 43rd chapter in just about six to eight verses,

I think, in the 44th chapter. And then, Lord willing, we're going to end up in the book of Ezra reading probably the first three verses of the first chapter of the book of Ezra to you in leading into our study of Ezra.

But here in Isaiah, we're going to be looking at Isaiah chapter 43. We're going to see that the

Lord speaks and as though up what may be 100 to 200 years future events taking place, he is in his omniscience reminding

Israel that he will see to their ultimate deliverance.

Know this, it is the work of God that we are reading about here. It is

God's sovereign hand at work through his omniscience because he knows all things and he is everywhere at all times and he is omnipotent.

He is the king of kings and he is the Lord of lords. There are none who are beside him and that there are none who are above him, but all we are below him.

In the latter portion of this 43rd chapter, we're going to see that the Lord pleads with unfaithful

Israel to consider, to think about his pleadings with them and to know that sin will not go unpunished.

Know this, everyone wants to pretend the term and the scripture,

God is love and he is love, but he is so loving, he is so good and he is so holy that he cannot and will not and allow sin to go unpunished.

Amen. So going on, I want you to know later and then we can move into when we move into the 44th chapter of Isaiah, we're going to see the

Lord calls for Israel to remember. So he calls them in chapter 43 to consider, to think about what he's saying.

And then in 44, as we remember, he's speaking as though this is already taking place.

He's calling them to remember when they are delivered out of Babylonian captivity, that what he has said to them is being fulfilled.

God's not limited by time and space as we all are. Going on, we're going to see the character and the nature of the

Lord in these statements. We're going to see his holiness. We're going to see his faithfulness.

We're going to see his sovereignty. We're going to see his omniscience. We're going to see his loving kindness.

We're going to see his grace and we're going to see his mercy through it all.

In the same chapter, Isaiah 44, we're going to read how the Lord will sovereignly and providentially put

King Cyrus in position and place to bring about the deliverance of Israel, just as he had said some 100 to 200 years beforehand.

So that being said, let's begin to look. Let's look at our first section of Scripture, verses 1 through 7 here in chapter 43.

I want you to notice the very first thing here the prophet Isaiah tells us. But now thus says the

Lord. This tells us who is doing the talking here. This is the message from the

Lord. And the Lord there is all capitalized in your Bibles. It probably should be.

It is in mind, which means that is the term that the Hebrews referred to the

Lord as Yahweh, the eternal self existent one. Now, you are more than welcome to consider yourself sovereign if you are number one eternal in and of yourself and if you exist in and of yourselves.

How many folks does that leave out? You everybody ought to be raising your hand right now.

You are neither eternal nor are you self existent. The eternal self existent one.

But now thus says the Lord who created you. Oh, Jacob. This tells us who is being addressed here.

The the one who created you. Oh, Jacob. And he who formed you.

Oh, Israel. In other words, he chose the where and he chose the when of their lives.

Now, I don't know about you all, but I have come to the recognition and the realization that I had.

I had no say so in the matter of who I was born unto. Did you?

You were born unto the parents you were born unto. And Amanda, think to yourself,

I mean, when growing up and I know Natalie's probably she's she's such a little diva.

She's probably thought this. You've said something to her. She may think, who do you think you are? And as a as a young lady,

Amanda, you probably thought the same thing about your mama, right? She will tell you something. You'll say, who do you think you are?

And and she probably rightly quickly reminds you, I'm the one that gave birth to you.

You're in this world because of me. The Lord speaks to Israel and he says,

I am the eternal self existent one. Who created you? And he then he says this, fear not, fear not.

Remember, he's speaking in this up to 200 years beforehand and he's speaking as though it's happening right then.

He's encouraging the children of Israel ahead of time. And he's saying, fear not, for I have redeemed you.

We have one redeemer and that is the Lord Almighty. He said,

I have called you by name. Oh, my friend, that's a that's a statement of personal knowledge.

You need to know this. The psalmist put it this way. I will praise you, God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Before I came forth out of my mother's womb, you knew me. The Lord told the prophet

Jeremiah in the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah, he said, before you were born,

I called thee, I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. It's a personal knowledge that God has.

He said, I called you by your name. And then he says this, you are mine.

Oh, we sing that song from time to time here. April sings that I belong to Jesus.

Who do you belong to today? Do you belong to yourself or do you belong to God? By the way, you will know whose you are and whose you are will be demonstrated in the life that you live.

Let us not pretend. Let us not sugarcoat it. Let's not make it easy and palatable for everybody to hear.

But friend, if you are saved, you will live according to the gospel. Or you will deny the faith of God, you will blaspheme the name of the

Lord by that. He goes on here to say this, when you pass through the waters, verse two,

I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.

Keep in mind here, in very important passage of Scripture, April brought it to our attention in Sunday school.

And I'm going to phrase it just a little different way here. Do not read the Scripture and every text of Scripture that you read as something that is prescribed to be experienced by every believer.

This is a descriptive passage of Scripture. This is not the normal experience of every believer.

This is describing what would take place in the lives of the children of Israel. Because remember what

God did when they were in Egypt's bondage? What did God do? God delivered them out of Egypt's bondage and he carried them through the

Red Sea on dry ground. But keep in mind, this is not a prescriptive text.

It's not prescribing. This is describing to us what God did. And then in verse three, he says this, for I am the

Lord your God. I am Yahweh. That is my title. I am the eternal self -existent one.

And my title means this, that I claim ownership under you.

When he says, and I am your God. He goes on to say this, the holy one of Israel, your savior,

I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba in your place.

Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored. And he says, and I have loved you.

Therefore, I will give men for you and people for your life.

In verse five, he continues encouraging them. He says, fear not, for I am with you.

I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west.

Verse six, I will say to the north, give them up. And to the south, do not keep them back.

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Verse seven, everyone who is called by my name, whom

I have created for my glory. I have formed him. Yes, I have made him.

Verse five and six, we see God telling them that he is going to bring them out of that captivity.

He's going to bring them from the north. He's going to bring them from the east. He's going to gather them from the west.

He's going to bring all of them together. And he says, this is who is going to be included in what

I'm doing. He said, everyone who is called by my name. If you are the called of God, if you are saved by the grace of God, if you have been born again of the

Holy Spirit of God, you are gods and you will not be lost. You are not forgotten.

You are not going to be left out. He keeps his own and he keeps his own, not just through a little bit, but all the way to the very end.

And he said this, everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory.

Why were you made for the glory of God? What is the chief end of all men? To glorify

God and to enjoy him forever. That is your purpose in life.

He goes on here to say, if we move on, verse eight, verse eight, he says this, bring up the blind people who have eyes and the deaf who have ears.

Let all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled.

Who among them can declare this and show us former things?

He is speaking to the children of Israel and he is leading into this statement that he's getting ready to make here.

Let's just go ahead and read this. He says this, who among them can declare this and show us former things?

Let them bring out their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say it is truth.

Remembering, keeping in mind this is 100 to 200 years before they are delivered out of captivity.

God is encouraging them. God is telling them exactly what's going to take place, what's going to happen, how it's going to happen.

And he encourages them. And he says, can any of you stand as a witness and give a testimony to the fact that you have not heard these things that have already been said by me?

And here in verse 9 or verse 10, he says this, you are my witnesses.

He's telling the children of Israel, you are my witnesses, says the

Lord, speaking there concerning their captivity. And he said, you are my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.

Notice the construction of every single word and passage of this, of the scriptures.

Grammar is important, by the way. I hated math in school. I can't add two and two without having to stop and think about it.

But I loved reading. I loved English. How many of you remember a sentence structure, the simple sentence structure?

How many of you know you've got to have a noun and a verb, right? You remember, some of you may or may not remember,

I remember a book called Green Mustard. I don't know why I remember that. See, spot, run, whatever.

OK, so there's a noun is the person, place or thing in a sentence. Every sentence has to have that.

The verb is the action that takes place within the sentence. So in see, spot, run, you would see the structure as this.

You would see spot as the noun and run as the verb. In every text we read here, we see the

Lord as the noun. He is the person, place and thing. He is everything.

And he is the one doing the activity in every statement that is made.

He said, you are my witnesses, says the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen.

I is the noun chosen is the verb that you may know and believe me.

It is important that we know God. And number one, that you know that God is faithful and true and that he never, ever changes.

He goes on to say this, that you may know and understand that I am he before me, there was no

God formed, nor shall there be after me.

I, even I am the Lord and beside me, there is no savior.

And then in verse 12, he says, I have declared. We live in a time where much is going on within the church.

Many are saying they're making decrees and declarations. Friend, you can decree and declare all that you want, but you are not

God. You cannot create something from nothing. You can do nothing but that what

God provides unto us. God said, I have declared and I have saved, they were delivered by the strong hand of the

Lord. He said, I have proclaimed. And I love this. And there was no foreign

God among you. I have declared, I have decreed, I have saved, I have proclaimed.

And there was no foreign God among you. None of the gods, the idols that were worshipped in their rebellion against God, none of the idols were able to do what

God has done because their idols were made of wood. Their idols were made of stone.

What is your idol made out of today? I'd say to you, repent, turn from the worship of idols to serve the living

God today. He goes on here to say this. Indeed, before the day was,

I am he. What a statement. He talks about the past. He says before the day was past, before the day was ever thought of, he said,

I am he. That's a personal pronoun and it's a personal pronoun used in the present tense.

God was saying way back when, as far back as you can think about the past being, I was there.

I am there. He did not say I was. He did not say I will be.

Jesus said I am. He goes on here to say this. And there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

I work and who will reverse it? He goes on.

Let's move on to verse 14 here next. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One, for your sake,

I will sin. Listen to what he says. I will sin to Babylon. He's remember he's speaking to them some hundred to two hundred years beforehand.

And he's saying for your sake, I'm going to sin to Babylon and I'm going to bring down all of them as fugitives.

The Chaldeans who rejoice in their ships, I'll bring them all down. He said, I am the

Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.

Thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, who brings forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power.

They shall lie down together and they shall not rise. They are extinguished like a quenched wick.

Do you see the sovereignty of God here? He said the army and the horse, they have their power because of him.

If anything, I got to get it. I think my water's over here. The army and the power even are from the

Lord. And then he makes a very peculiar statement here. He says this, do not remember the former things.

Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.

Verse 19, he said, behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.

Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Matthew Henry, concerning this 18th verse, made this commentary. He said he promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in the days of old so that they should have not have reason to ask by way of complaint, as Gideon did.

Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? For they should see them repeated.

Nay, they should see them outdone. He said, remember not the former things from them to take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present things as if the former days were better than these.

No, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them. And yet know enough by the events of your own day to convince you that the

Lord is God alone. And for him, the mercies of the

Lord are new every morning, according to Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations, the mercies of the

Lord are new every morning. So he said, do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old.

And when he said, behold, I do a new thing. Remember, this is not prescriptive. This is describing to the children of Israel what he's going to do.

He's saying comparatively what I did for you by bringing you out of Egypt, what

I did for you then compared to what's going to take place here. He said it's not going to even come close to being a comparison.

Remember the Lord. And he goes on. Let's let's move forward just a little bit here.

Let's move down to verse 22, verse 22. The Lord begins to plead with unfaithful

Israel, and he says this to them, but you have not called upon me, O Jacob, and you have been weary of me,

O Israel. He goes on in verse 24 to say this, you have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins.

You have wearied me with your iniquities. Remembering again, God is too loving to let sin go unpunished.

He has encouraged them. He has reminded them of his goodness. He has reminded them that his faithfulness will endure from everlasting to everlasting.

But there is a consequence for sin. The wages of sin is death is what the

Bible teaches us. There is a natural consequence of sin. That's why that's why it's easier and easier.

And the more that you understand and know is, as we tell you, told you this, God is not the author of sin.

Why do bad things happen? Bad things happen because of the curse of sin. It is the natural course of events.

We're not promised to be taken out of that natural course of events and never have to suffer those things.

It is what it is by nature. And so remembering what

God has told them, what God has reminded them, how God has encouraged them to consider who he is and his mercy and his grace.

He yet says, you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

In a parent -child relationship, children, if any children are listening, still awake.

Christian, if you do something that you sin against them, you do something terribly wrong.

You can tell that you're about to be in trouble when they say, I'm getting tired of you continuing to do this.

That's what the Lord is saying. He said, you are wearing me with your sins. You are burdening me down with your iniquities.

But then, listen in verse 25, what the Lord says, I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions.

For whose sake? For his own sake. And I will not remember your sins.

And then he says, put me in remembrance. Remember this. Put me in remembrance. Let us contend together.

State your case that you may be acquitted. Your first father has sinned. We are under the curse of sin because of the original sin that took place in the

Garden of Eden. Everybody understand that? That's called the doctrine of original sin. We are all under the curse of sin because of that.

And it is no different here in this early time as it is today for us. Your first father sinned and your mediators have transgressed against me.

There were many issues concerning the priesthood that God had set up and ordained to be men who served him day and night and who faithfully did service unto the

Lord. And they did just as what goes on in our day, in our time.

Men are perverting the word of God. They're perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're turning the truth of God into a lie so that the creature might be served more than the creator.

And it deserves to be preached against today just as hard as it was preached against then because the

God we serve is the very same. He goes on and he says, therefore,

I will profane the princes of the sanctuary. That's the result of sin. And I will give

Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches. In the book of Romans, we read that when folks served the creature more than the creator, that God turned them over to the desires of their flesh and thereby sin would carry out its natural course in their lives.

Friends, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. And I'm pleading with you all as people of Reformation Church, but more so if you say that you have the testimony of being a

Christian, that you live lives worthy of Jesus Christ, that you bring forth fruit worthy of the repentance that you say that you have in your life, because God is holy and God will not be mocked.

You will reap exactly what you sow in life. The scripture goes on to tell us this, considering this passage.

One more thing. Matthew Henry said he called them scholars of disobedience for their teachers had transgressed against God.

They were guilty of gross, scandalous sins. And the people, no doubt, would learn to do as they did.

It is ill with the people when their leaders cause them to err and their teachers who should reform them, corrupt them.

The state of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong. God is in absolute and total control.

But things run wild this way and that way because men of God refuse to stand up on the simple truth of what the word of God says.

And so as the as so goes the priesthood or the preachers, so will go the people.

If the preacher has a light view of sin, if the preacher has a low view of God, guess what?

If all I did was come in here and slapped you on the back every week, said God wants to do something good for you, you need to reach out into your destiny.

You need to do this and you do that. Friends, you know what would happen before long? That's all that you would think about.

And you would think life is all about you. Life ain't about you. It ain't about me. It's about Him, the

Holy One, the Lord of glory. Let's move forward. Isaiah 44 verse one.

And I'm sorry, verse 20, 21 and 22, chapter 44, verse 21 and 22.

Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. This is the

Lord reminding them again of his faithfulness. I have formed you. You are my servant.

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. They are to remember this during their time of captivity.

Seventy years is a long time to live. It is.

And so for 70 years they are in this captivity and God is saying, remember what

I'm telling you today, that I have not forgotten you. And then he said again,

I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions and like a cloud your sins return to me for I have redeemed you.

And then in verses 24 through 28, the

Lord says this, Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb,

I am the Lord, I am Yahweh, the eternal self -existent

One who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers and drives diviners mad, who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolishness.

Oh, I fast forward to the New Testament. What did the Apostle Paul teach concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ?

It was foolishness to the world. It is foolishness unto the world. It is a stumbling block.

Oh, but friends, to those of us who are being saved by the power of God, it is all.

Amen. He goes on to say this, let's move down and finish here. Who frustrates the signs of babblers, verse 26, who confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers.

Remember, God is reminding them up to 200 years before of what

He is going to do. And He's saying, mark it down. I will perform the word of my servant

Isaiah that is telling you what He is telling you right now. I will fulfill what

I have said by the mouth of my messengers, who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited, who says to the cities of Judah, you shall be built, and I will raise up her waste places.

The action and the noun. The noun is God. The action is what

He does. He will raise up. He will create. He, and He goes on, verse 27, it says, who says to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up the rivers, and then here in verse 28, who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple, your foundation shall be laid.

I want you to know that God is so sovereign that He not only 100 to 200 years before time told exactly to the year and to the person that was going to be an authority at this time, the children of Israel, how

He was going to bring deliverance unto them. He said by Cyrus.

By Cyrus, and He calls him my shepherd. Now, Cyrus was not a holy man.

We'll get into this eventually. And if you would, go ahead and just be turning back to the book of Ezra chapter 1.

Ezra chapter 1. Cyrus was not a holy man.

He was not necessarily a good king. He was not necessarily a godly king. But God called him His shepherd because God sovereignly and providentially placed him at the place

He was in at the time He was in to bring His people to deliverance. Let us never complain about how things are.

God knows what He's doing. He is in absolute and total control. Oh, you remember what

He said there in Isaiah. He said, Cyrus will be my shepherd. He'll perform all my pleasure.

And this is what He'll say to Jerusalem. You shall be built. And to the temple your foundation shall be laid.

Let's fast forward as we turn back to the book of Ezra chapter 1. To the year around,

I think it's 538 B .C. When the children of Israel began to move out of Babylonian captivity.

Listen to what the Scripture says in the book of Ezra chapter 1. Now, in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the

Lord by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah might be fulfilled, because he spoke it in Jeremiah 2. He said, the

Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing saying, thus says

Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me.

He even recognized God's authority. And He has commanded me to build Him a house.

Where at? Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is among you of all

His people? May His God be with Him and let Him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the

Lord God of Israel. He is God, which is in Jerusalem.

100 to 200 years the Lord told them before this was going to go down, how it was going to go down.

And here in the book of Ezra as we finally entered into it, and that's where we're going to stop today. We see

God's word being fulfilled. The sovereignty of God working through means of His providence.

Working all things together. For the good of them who love

God and are called according to His purpose. How good is