Truth in Love Matthew 2:23

Hey, good evening. This is Truth in Love. I'm so glad that you could join me this evening to spend time together with me looking at God's Word.

I'm so thankful to be able to do this and spend time together with you. This is a fantastic opportunity.

Once again, try to do some research and look and investigate what's going on with with Facebook and Facebook Live.

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I call this truth and love, and I get that from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15. Paul says,

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ.

So we want to grow up in all aspects, all aspects of Scripture. Grow up in all aspects in our lives according to his word, and we want to communicate that with one another.

And as Paul says to do that, communicate that truth in love. And so I want to be able to do that as I do the videos.

Hey Emily, thank you for commenting. It's good to see you guys. There's so much that I want to cover tonight.

I think this is the first time that I've done a part two. I watched a little bit of the video the other day just to do a little critique, and I apologize.

I guess I feel like I don't have a face for video. God has given me the countenance of,

I guess, an angry or a sad person, and I don't naturally look happy or inviting.

So I apologize for my natural look. I want to look like I am enjoying myself.

I'm enjoying my time with you. I have joy in the Lord. I want my face to reflect that, and I feel weird trying to smile the whole time.

So if I look sad or my countenance is just maybe down, please look past that.

That's just how I am naturally, and that's the way the Lord has made me. I guess it is not a face for video, but I do want to reach our community with the gospel for Jesus Christ, and I appreciate you doing that with me.

Like I said, I think this is the first time I've done a part two. If you have your Bibles, if you want to follow along, we're in Matthew because I wanted to continue to look into why

I say what I say when I make the comment, Jesus is King.

Go live in that victory. We want to live in the victory that Jesus won, the fact that He is

King, and how do we live in that victory? One of the best places to go,

I believe, is going to be Matthew, where the theme of Matthew is that Jesus is

King. He's showing us how He is King, and I just wanted to work our way through Matthew and see how

He shows us that Jesus is King, and how we can live in that victory.

Last time, we went through Matthew chapter 2, verses 19 through 23, and the theme was, or the title was, the

Christ grows in obscurity, and so does His kingdom. He has designed it to where His kingdom grows in obscurity, and we looked at how both of those truths were lived out and are being lived out today.

As we start, I think I'm going to hit on a few of those points that I missed or didn't have time for last time, but what we're going to do, the verse, we're just going to look at one verse.

It's going to be our key verse, but it's going to take us back to the Old Testament, the text that it refers to.

Matthew chapter 2, verse 23, if you have your Bibles, if you want to follow along, but it says in that verse, and came, well just to give you some context, and being mourned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee.

This will be Joseph and taking his family, Mary and Jesus, to the regions of Galilee, and verse 23, and came and resided in a city called

Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled.

He shall be called a Nazarene, and what we discovered last time was that one of the popular views is that of how to interpret this verse is

Jesus being called a Nazarene. Some folks want to make a relationship with with the

Nazarite vow, and of course one of the most famous Nazarites was

Samson. He took the Nazarite vow, and so they will want to make the comparison with Samson and Jesus, but in fact that's not what these words in this verse is referring to.

It's not referring to the Nazarite vow, and what makes it so mysterious and has perplexed folks in the past is the fact that Nazareth, Nazarene, Matthew tells us that so that was that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, but the fact of the matter is is that this wording, this text, this sentence, or however you want to say it, is not found in the

Old Testament. That he shall you I mean you would think just like in the the other three that he quotes here in in verse 6, verse 15, and verse 18 of the same chapter, and of course this is the fourth prophecy from the

Old Testament that Matthew mentions, but you would think like in the other three, the previous three, where he specifically gives you a reference, that doesn't occur in in Matthew chapter 2 verse 23.

You can't find it in the Old Testament, so you know some folks want to use that against Christianity, against the the trustworthiness of Scripture, but the fact of the matter is is that it is in the

Old Testament, just not as it is normally found or how it how

Matthew normally has referenced the Old Testament passages. So how is it how is it found?

How do we find it? Well, you have to look at the word Nazareth and Nazarene, and both of those words, both of those words mean branch, and so the passage that we go back to where this this prophecy is fulfilled is in Isaiah, and what

I want to do is not just look at that specific verse that fulfills this verse in Matthew, but just like the

New Testament audience, we want to be like the New Testament readers, the New Testament audience, where when an

Old Testament passage was referenced, they would have understood the context, they would have understood where that was coming from, and what was going on in the context of that time, so you don't want to just take one passage, you want to understand what's going on in the whole passage, in the context of what's going on, so that you can understand what the author is trying to say, what the

Holy Spirit is trying to say, and that's how the readers, the original readers, would have understood it.

The best example of that, of course, is when Jesus is crying out from the cross, and he actually quotes a psalm, but when they heard that reference to that psalm, they would have understood all of what that, not just that one verse, but they would have understood what he was saying from that whole passage, and that passage in psalm helps explain that hard -to -understand place, that hard -to -understand message that Jesus spoke from the cross, where he says, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me, and that's a very hard concept for us to understand, but when you go back and look at the whole context, the whole passage from that psalm, it becomes more understandable, and so the same thing is true here and all the other places.

You want to look at the context of that Old Testament passage. That's what

I want to do tonight and walk through that Old Testament passage, what

Matthew is referring to as he is showing how Jesus is

King, how he is the Anointed One, how he is the Messiah, the long -awaited

Messiah, Anointed One, and he's proving that, he's showing that through this passage from Isaiah chapter 11.

Isaiah chapter 11, so if you're with me in your Bible, you want to follow along, we're in Isaiah chapter 11, and instead of reading,

I'm just gonna go through verses 1 through 10, and I'm not gonna read them all and then go back.

We'll read them as we go, so just for the sake of time, but the first verse is going to give us a recap somewhat of what we talked about last time, and I'm going to be able to point out some of the things that I left out from last time, so thank you guys for watching.

If you would, if you want to partner with me and join me in trying to reach out to our community,

I would encourage you to share, if you think this is something that would benefit others, spending time together with me looking at God's Word, sharing the message of Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to share it.

I don't want to say that as someone who's trying to get views.

I mean, that's what all these social medias, being on social media is about today, is how many views can you get, and what type of video that you can make to get the most amount of views so that you become an influencer, you can get money from YouTube, or that's not what this is about.

Let me share this with you before we get started, since we're on this. Kelly and I were watching a

TV a few minutes ago, and of course, a commercial came on, and it showed the commercial for the

Marvel movie, The Black Panther, and of course, the leading character in that, his first name is

Chadwick, and when I saw him, I was reminded of how young he was.

So I looked him up, and he was only two years older than I am, and I remembered that he died last year.

He died last year of colon cancer, and I wanted to say fun fact, but fun fact doesn't fit with the solemnness of the message there, but an interesting fact about Chadwick was that he was born in Anderson, South Carolina, and that's where he is buried today, but as I saw him, and I saw his young life, and remembered how he died last year of colon cancer,

I reflected on how many folks are out there that are far from God, and you think about the folks that are in Hollywood, that they're just chasing after fame, popularity, money.

Some of them try to tap into some type of religion, I guess to appease something in their conscience, you know, whether it's

Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, you know, a lot of stars are among those religions.

They're agnostic, they're atheist, and then

I think about the majority of folks that go to church now.

I know one of the things that, I don't want to say it, one of the paths that has been taken by people amongst our generation, and generations before us, in this modern era, is this idea of growing up, and then leaving home, sowing your wild oats, creating your own family, having children, and then they're again trying to appease something in your conscience.

You decide, well, I need to get back in church, or I at least need to get my children back in church, but there's no relationship there with God.

There's no desire to worship Him, and be with other believers, and serve Him. It's just a pattern that's so common that young people grow up, sow their wild oats, get married, have a guilty conscience maybe, and feel like that their children need to be in church, but they themselves sometimes don't even go.

They just try to get their children in church. All these thoughts roll through my mind when

I saw this young man that died last year from colon cancer, and all the different beliefs that are out there, and how many that are still far from God, that are even involved in our churches, which reminded me of how important it is for us to share the gospel, to share the love of Christ, His grace and mercy, and to do things like this, where we share

God's Word, is so important, because if they die without Christ, then they will be without Him forever, and we want folks to know

Christ, and have a relationship with Him, and have life in Him, and we want them to live with Him forever, and not face the alternative which is

God's wrath, and so those are the thoughts that went through my mind as I saw that young man in that commercial that died last year, that so many thoughts and religions and beliefs out there, and in America, we have created a place where everyone's opinion is relevant to them, and it's okay for them to have their own thoughts and opinions, as long as it's right for them, and we just we can't accept that truth.

There's only one truth, and it's the truth of the Word of God, and there's only two destinations, there's only two ways to live, in Christ or without Christ, and people need to hear that message.

If you love God, if Jesus is precious to you, and you love people, they need to hear that message, so I hope you will join me, and we do this together.

We do this with our churches, we do this together outside of church, that we are reaching people for Jesus, because we want to glorify

Him, we love Him, and we love people, so with that being said, that's why

I want, if you desire, to share the video. So now let's jump into Isaiah chapter 11, because this is what

Matthew is referencing. In Matthew chapter 2 verse 23, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, and He was known as a

Nazarene, and why did He have to do that? Jesus had to fulfill, of course, all the prophecies about the

Messiah that were found in the Old Testament, and one of those prophecies was here, and there's also other references of Jesus being a branch.

Isaiah 11, of course here, Isaiah 53, Jeremiah 23 verse 5, Jeremiah 33 verse 15, just to name a few of other references of the

Messiah having the title. He must carry the title of a branch, and so for Him to do that,

He had to have been from a place He could have been called a branch.

He was called a Nazarene, someone from the branch.

It's very difficult to think about how to say that, but He had to be from somewhere where He could be called a

Nazarene, the branch, because the Messiah had to carry that title to fulfill these prophecies, and it makes you think about how wonderful and amazing, how powerful, how smart

God is to have orchestrated all these different minute details for all these prophecies, hundreds and hundreds of prophecies, to be fulfilled exactly in Jesus Christ, and we're just looking, and we're just starting here in Matthew 1 and Matthew chapter 2.

Just a few of those prophecies that we looked at are just simply amazing.

We've referenced already the other the other prophecies that Matthew mentions.

The first one that he mentions was the prophecy about Jesus being from Bethlehem, and the second one was the prophecy of the

Messiah coming out of Egypt, and then the third was the prophecy of Rachel hearing mourning from Ramah and Rachel weeping over her children, and then the fourth prophecy here is in verse 23 of the branch, and what we have to do in our mind is paint this large picture of what is actually going on and make these words come alive in our mind and paint this huge picture so we can somewhat get a grasp of the magnitude of the orchestrating that God did to make all this happen, that Mary and Joseph were from this area in Nazareth, but God had it planned where there would be a census, which this type of census didn't normally happen, but this type of census called everyone to go back to their hometown, the town of their fathers, so that a census could be taken.

So Joseph had to go back to Bethlehem and all that took to orchestrate that, and then for the

Messiah to come out of Egypt and for Jesus to fulfill that, there had to be a reason for Joseph and Mary and Jesus to flee and leave

Bethlehem to a place that was safe to go to Egypt, and so that took place, of course, when

Herod wanted to kill all the ones under two years old so that he could take care of this threat, this rumor that there was a king of the

Jews that had been born, and Herod, of course, was the king of the

Jews, so there was this threat to him and his throne, so he had to take care of this threat, which led

Joseph to take his family where it's safe so that Jesus could fulfill the prophecy and come out of Egypt, and then the prophecy of Ramah, a voice coming out of Ramah, of weeping and crying of Rachel, Rachel being

Jacob's wife, and Jacob, of course, God changed his name to Israel, so Israel oftentimes represents the whole

Jewish nation. Sometimes it just represents the northern kingdom.

Either way, in this context, in this verse, Rachel being

Jacob's wife represents the mother of the nation, and why specifically

Ramah? Well, when Israel broke covenant with God, he promised that he would bring someone, bring a nation, to take them out, take them into captivity, and so from Judah in the south and Israel in the north,

Ramah is somewhere right there around the border, and this is the place of departure where they would bring them all and they would depart from Ramah and be exiled out of their home, and so the mothers being represented by Rachel weep for the children of Israel because of the deportation, because of the exile they were taken out of their home, and then here, fulfilling this prophecy of the

Messiah, Rachel, the representative, the mother of the nation of Israel, now doesn't cry for the deporting of the children of Israel.

She is now mourning and weeping the deportation of the

Holy One of Israel, the Messiah, being deported out of his home to Egypt, and God is orchestrating all these things to happen so these prophecies can be fulfilled specifically, and then of course we have our final one in verse 23 where Jesus fulfills being as the branch, the sprout, the shoot, and of course the verse reads in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

So there's the introduction of why we're here and glorifying

God for all that he has done, and now

I want to make just a couple more points about the obscurity of Christ and his growing up that we can pull out of these passages in the

Old Testament and also back in Matthew. If you look at Isaiah chapter 6, you see where God cuts down the tree and all that's left is a stump, and we see that in Isaiah 53 that it's referred to as a stump as well, and so out from this stump you will have this shoot that will spring up from the stem of Jesse, from the stump of Jesse.

So here we have to paint this big picture just to get a small grasp of what's going on.

You have this large tree. The large tree, of course, represents this mighty nation, this line of Jesse where you have

King David as his son, and this large tree with large branches that covers so much ground, and this large tree with this large trunk,

God cuts down, and all that's left is the shoots, the small shoots that came up from that tree, and Isaiah goes on to say that the shoot grows from dry ground.

This shoot grows in a place where no other plant can grow, only this shoot.

Any other plant would die, but this shoot grows from dry ground, and this is where we get the concept of Christ and his kingdom growing in obscurity, where you had once had this large tree that was massive, and this lineage, when you think about a family tree from King David, you have this massive, important lineage.

That's why the trunk is so strong and so massive, and David's nation covered so much ground, but yet it was cut down to nonexistence, to where all you have left is this stump, and that around the stump is just simply dry ground where nothing else can grow, but yet out from this dry ground, coming out from this stem, this stump is a branch which is going to bear fruit, and the kingdom from this shoot, from this sprout, is going to grow into a kingdom from dry ground where nothing else can grow, into a kingdom that fills the whole earth and lasts forever.

Isn't that amazing how God works? If we go back to Matthew, this is one last point on the obscurity of Christ.

If you go back to Matthew, and if you look in chapter 1, of course we covered the genealogies in a past video, but there's something interesting to notice, and this is related to the tree representing the lineage of Jesse and King David, and how important and noticeable that tree would have been.

If you look at the genealogies that Matthew gives us in Matthew chapter 1, and you follow the names, follow the names from the beginning, and follow them down until you get to, of course,

Jesse, and you get to David, think about that massive lineage, that massive tree, family tree, and then you get to a guy named

Zerubbabel, and from the beginning of the list until Zerubbabel, if you will go to your references and look up each one of those names, you can find a reference, you can find that individual in the

Old Testament, but here's something interesting.

After you get past Zerubbabel, you'll find this gap of silence, where you can't find a reference to any of Christ's lineage after Zerubbabel.

So here you have this massive lineage, this massive family tree that's so strong and powerful, but God cuts it down, and then there's this shoot that springs up, not from this massive lineage creating this family tree, but from Jesse, from these unknowns comes this shoot that grows in dry ground.

So we see how Christ grows from a lineage of obscurity, of nobodies.

We know their lineage because the Jews were good at keeping their lineage and their family trees and who they belonged to, but the strong family lineage, the strong family tree was not the one.

It came from the gap, the unmentions in the

Old Testament. So we see there another example of Christ coming from obscurity, and think about Christ as that shoot growing in a place where nothing else can grow, and just making a practical point, the growth of, and I'm transitioning from Christ to his kingdom here, so the growth of God's kingdom does not depend on good soul.

The growth of God's kingdom, the growth of Jesus's kingdom does not depend on good soul.

So in our day and time, when you watch the news, when you look at the newspaper, when you look around you and see what's going on, don't be discouraged.

Don't be pessimistic, because Christ's kingdom does not need good soul to continue to grow.

There is a promise that his kingdom is going to fill the whole earth, and that it's going to last forever, and the world around us may look like dry ground.

How can God's kingdom grow? I think it has been referenced here recently that there was a famous pastor whom

I love and respect, but the quote coming from him, supposedly he's saying that we lose down here, and that we are on a sinking ship.

If we are in God's kingdom, if we are in Christ, we are in a ship that will never sink.

They said the Titanic wouldn't sink, and it did, but the ship that we're in, if we're in Christ, we're in a ship that will not sink.

This ship will not go down. It will continue to grow, and it will last forever. We can look around this world and see all the dry ground around us, but God doesn't need good soul to grow his kingdom.

He is going to continue to grow his kingdom, no matter what the circumstances that you see around you.

So don't be discouraged. Don't be pessimistic. Keep your eyes on things above.

Keep your eyes on Christ, because that promise will be fulfilled in Christ.

Two other references. If you look at Mark, and going back to the theme of Christ's kingdom growing in obscurity,

Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 26,

Jesus says to her, I'm in John.

Sorry about that. I should have all these places marked.

Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 26, and he said,

Jesus saying, the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soul.

And remember we just talked about that Christ doesn't need good soul, but he's telling us what the kingdom is like.

He's like a man who casts a seed upon the soul, and goes to bed at night, and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows.

How? He himself does not know. The soul produces crops by itself.

First the blade, and then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

Christ is going to grow his kingdom, and we may not be seeing how it all operates, and the mystery of how

God is working, but it is growing, and it will grow, even if we don't see it.

That's why we can't focus on the dry ground around us. And then of course, like the the verses we referenced last time, in verses 30 through 32, and Jesus said, how shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

It is like a mustard seed, which when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.

And we talked about that last time, how the kingdom of God started out small, and now it does fill the whole earth, and it is filling the whole earth with millions and millions of followers of Christ.

And how it grows, we may not know, but we can trust that it is. Just a few other points, just a few other ways that Christ's kingdom grows in obscurity, or how mysterious it can be sometimes.

You can look at Matthew, Matthew chapter 24 verses 36 through 44, and Jesus is saying, of that day and hour, no one knows.

God leaves many things in this kingdom, and how it operates as a mystery. In 1

Thessalonians 5, 1 through 3, the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

2 Peter 3 10, day of the Lord will come like a thief. And Revelation 3 3,

I will come like a thief. You will not know what hour

I will come to you. So there's a lot of mystery, there's a lot of unknown, there's a lot of things that we don't see, but we can't get pessimistic, we can't get discouraged, we need to keep our eyes on Christ.

Now let's continue in Matthew, Isaiah chapter 11, the passage that Matthew references as the fulfillment there in Matthew here, fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 11.

Looking at verse 2, and hopefully these next few, several verses will go a little bit quicker.

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the

Lord. So this is this is describing who this

Messiah will will be, that he will be anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah goes on to say in chapter 61 that as the

Messiah will fulfill, that the Spirit of the

Lord is upon me, that's a going to be fulfilled in the Messiah, the Spirit of the

Lord is upon me. And then Luke chapter 4 verse 1 says

Jesus full of the Holy Spirit. So there Jesus and Luke is giving evidence that he is fulfilling this prophecy because Jesus is full of the

Holy Spirit, he is the anointed one, he is full of the Holy Spirit. And then Luke chapter 4 continues on right there following that passage or that text, referencing back to Isaiah 61, which we just read, where it says that the

Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And Luke quotes Isaiah chapter 61, he says being being full of the

Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit being upon me, he is anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captive, sight to the blind, free the oppressed, and proclaim the favorable year of the

Lord. So this anointing, this being filled with the Holy Spirit produces in him this task, this fulfilling this task to do these things.

And then if we, this is interesting how it's it's worded here, but if you'll look at it like a sandwich, verse 3 part

A, the beginning of verse 3, and then verse 5 part B, the second half of verse 5, it kind of shows the the character of the

Messiah that will come. Verse 3 part A says, and he will delight in the fear of the

Lord. And verse 5 part B says, and righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness the belt about his waist.

This is showing his character and who he is and his relationship with God and how he how he views the

Lord. And then we go on in the middle there, verses 3 through 5, we're gonna see what he does as as the anointed one, the one being filled with the

Holy Spirit, we're gonna see what he does along with, you know, fulfilling

Isaiah chapter 61 in Isaiah chapter 4. This is what this is what the

Messiah will do. And again in verse 3, and he will delight in the fear of the

Lord and he will not judge but what his eyes see. This is so important. This is so important for us today.

He will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear.

But with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth and will stride the earth with the rot of his mouth and with the breath of his lips will he slay the wicked.

So when he when he's making his judgments, when he is performing these acts, listen what it says and how he says he does it.

It says he will not he will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his his ears hear.

And we are we are we are accused even even if we don't don't do it of judging with our eyes and judging with with our ears and we're talking about the the the great sin of racism that has always been around and still around today but let me proclaim this this is how

Jesus as a fulfilling of Old Testament prophecy showing that he is the

Messiah the anointed one the promised one to come fulfilling these prophecies and how he worked being full of the

Holy Spirit this is how God operates that Jesus when he judges he does not judge by what his eyes see like that's where that's where racism comes from that's where all these other judgmental aspects of who we are it comes from what we see and what we hear with our ears then we make judgment calls about our preferences about we what we like what we don't like but this is not how the the

Holy One of God the anointed one the Messiah this is not how he judges he does not not judge with what the

I see and what's so important for us to remember as Christians as Jesus was called a

Nazarene carrying that title of branch if we are in him we have been grafted into that branch and therefore we are

Nazarenes and being in him as Christians again I said this in a previous video we are not a part of this world system where many even many

Christians claim that there is we are guilty because we are a part of this system we are guilty of systemic racism because this system is is racist and since we're in the culture and in that system and we are a certain type of person that we are just naturally racist because we fall into that category we fall into that system but let me tell you

Christian who we are in Christ if we have been grafted into that branch we are ourselves a

Nazarene a branch we are from Nazareth we are from Christ and in Christ and in Christ just like him we do not judge with what the

I see and we do not judge we do not make a decision by what the ears hear that's not how we judge that's not how we look at people we look at people in and through Christ and his eyes and we are not a part of any system of this world we are part of the kingdom of God that's how he operates and that's how we as his followers that's how we operate and so with that being said

I'm gonna move right along again Matthew 23 is a fulfillment of this passage

Isaiah chapter 11 and here's an interesting passage these next few verses are very interesting because it has to do with how you interpret it and and how you view eschatology or end times and of that's a subject that I've I've hit on in the past in in other videos and you may be familiar you may have not remembered where they came from like I do sometimes but you may be familiar with these verses once we read them and how they are related to in times and eschatology but looking at verses 6 through 7 and the wolf and a lot of people think this says or used to say lion but it's always said wolf and the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid and the calf with the young lion and with the fatling together and the little boy will lead them also the cow will and the bear will graze their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox so I'm sure you're familiar with that passage you've heard it before and you know how it relates to in times in the end in in the last days in the new kingdom in the new heavens a new earth the the animals will they'll get along and they won't be devouring each other and I would totally agree with the fact that that picture is accurate when when all things are said and done and all this the the last enemy of Christ which is death is done away with and and all things are completely made new yes all animal kingdom will get along as as it's portrayed and as it as it as it reads here all mankind all animal kingdom and mankind and animal kingdom will all get along when all is when all is redeemed in in the end but we can also look at this in a different light understanding it in its context because what we just read from verses three through five was that this is how the

Messiah is going to deal with man how he will be a judge how he will be a fair judge how he will strike the earth with a rod and rod of his mouth breath of his lips he will slay the wicked so he's dealing with people in verses three through five and so in the context it's possible that the this picture of these animals getting along is a is a picture of the nations of the earth growing in peace in in this new kingdom as it grows as God's kingdom as the kingdom of Christ grows and fills the earth peace will come with it and so the the peoples will get along in Christ and I need to make that point and reiterate in Christ is where there's peace just because there's

Christians here on the earth and the kingdom is growing if if you are still outside of Christ or if a nation is still outside of Christ of course there's gonna be enmity and and there's not gonna be peace but that peace is going to be in Christ and of course it's going to spread and grow until it fills the whole earth so apart from Christ there's no no peace and we can look back at Noah and of course

Noah being in the Old Testament is going to point himself and in his that story of the flood and Noah points to Christ one way is that when

Noah was building the ark and he finished and he covered the the ark with pitch or or tar the same word that is used for for pitch and tar is the same word that is used for atonement and it points to Christ as he as he how he is our our pitch our tar and and seals and protects and saves us he atones for our sins and saves us from the wrath of God and I think another way that we can view

Noah in light of this text with with the animals you know it was a supernatural thing that God brought all the animals that he wanted to save into the ark

God did that God brought all those animals that he wanted to save into the ark it was a supernatural thing and I also think it was a supernatural thing and if you've ever been to the the ark encounter in in Kentucky there with answers in Genesis and the the

Creation Museum they have portrayed how Noah had a place and a system to take care of each of the different animals but even if that was the case where Noah had a place for all the individual animals to stay and live while they were in the ark

I still believe it had to be a supernatural thing for all of those animals to live that amount of time and that confined space and and they didn't tear each other apart each other and the animals didn't destroy man while they were in there

I believe that aspect of it too was a supernatural thing and so this this picture that that Isaiah is using of the animals getting along together is a picture of this of a supernatural work that God is doing in man where two nations that hate each other so much that they would they would as they would rather the other die than do any anything good for them would bring them together where they would live in peace oh one verse that we can look at we can go back to Isaiah chapter 2 starting in verse 1 it says the word which

Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem verse 2 now be careful and not skip over these words when you're thinking about eschatology or interpretation you can't skip over words verse 2 starts out with the word now and I just wanted to reiterate that now it will come about that in the last days all right

I want to skip just a little bit and go to verse 4 and he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war this is what this is what the kingdom of Christ is is growing and is and is creating in this world a place of peace and remember we can look at all the dry ground around us and how bad things are but the sprout the shoot from Jesse stem grows in dry ground where nothing else can grow and it grows in obscurity but it's a kingdom that will last and will fill the earth and we can bank on it we can trust in it if you look at Ephesians Ephesians chapter

Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 through 18 listen to this therefore remember that formerly you he's speaking to his audience remember that you the

Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so -called so -called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands remember that you were at that time separate from Christ excluded from the

Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you did you skip over that word verse 13 but now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off had been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups wolves and the lambs both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances that in himself he might make the two into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have our access in one spirit to the

Father that's what Christ came to do to bring people who hated each other together and make them one to make us one that's why we don't judge with our eyes it when we're in Christ when we see through the eyes of Christ and we judge as he judges we look at our fellow man as our brother and sister in Christ if they're in Christ they are our brother and sister now verse 8 says we looked at the animals having peace with one another and what that may represent verse 8 is interesting as well it says and the nursing child will play by the hole of the

Cobra and the weaned child will put his hand on the Vipers den they will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain okay so there's there's a child playing around the hole of a

Cobra and the weaned child will put his hand on the Vipers den notice what the verses don't say the verses don't say anything about the

Cobra or the Viper being there it just references the hole and the den of the

Cobra and the Viper and the child playing around it if that's the case if that's the correct interpretation and I'm open to be corrected and there's many many folks out there way smarter than I am but if that's the case that the children are playing in an empty hole that was formerly occupied by these snakes what is going on what is that a picture of possibly two things possibly both things the first option

John chapter 12 verses 31 through 37 just as he is known in Genesis he is referenced here in John chapter 12

Satan as the serpent and that language that I that I don't want us to miss and I apologize for continuing to flip

I should have all these passages marked but um John chapter 12 verses 31 now we cannot skip over these words these words are so important and this word now continues to come up in our verses but this is going on at that time right then verse 31 says in John chapter 12 now judgment is upon this world this is

Jesus speaking judgment is upon this world now again now the ruler of this world shall be cast out and who was who was thank you

Tim appreciate that I hope it's correct well it doesn't matter what

I hope I want to have a correct interpretation and if I'm wrong and of course there's going to be many folks that disagree but I hope to find that out if I'm interpreting correctly or incorrectly but John chapter 12 points out very clearly that now judgment is on the world and and now the ruler of this world shall be cast out and who was who was the ruler of the world the serpent

Satan and if he's cast out where is he no longer he is no longer in his home in his den in his home so the child can play without getting bit because the ruler of this world the serpent has been cast out isn't that amazing what

Jesus has done and how we can live in the new earth without the ruler ruling as he did deceiving the nations and the child can play around the hole around the den and not get bit and then the other option and it could be either it could be both

Luke chapter 3 verse 7 there's a group of people that are referenced as serpents and maybe you're thinking about who that group of people is it says you brood of vipers the

I believe it's the leaders I'm not sure I was reading it

I think I don't think Luke is specific it says that the crowd is there and he speaks to them and he says you brood of vipers who warned you to flee the wrath of God to repent who warned you and he's clear he speaks to them and calls them you brood of vipers here's a group of people referenced as serpents as vipers just like in Isaiah and who do they represent they represent

Israel the nation of Israel the Jewish people at that time and just like the

Jewish people over and over and over again broke covenant broke covenant broke covenant at this time

Jesus remember what John says now judgment has come into the world Luke says here in chapter 3 right after right after that verse where he calls them a brood of vipers in verse 9 he says the axe is already laid out where at the root of the trees and it goes back to where the the tree that they have built that they have grown at the root there's an axe laid and is going to be chopped down thrown away thrown into the fire and burned up and it's this dead religion that cannot save this religion of works this religion that the

Pharisees that and the Sadducees and all the other Jewish leaders were were leading the people to believe that to be right with God you had to follow all these commands their way and how they understood it not

God's way but their way and this dead religion he said you you you

Jesus said to them you make people twice the sons of hell that you are

I think I quoted that correctly correct me if I'm wrong they were leading people to hell and the axe was already laid to chop down this tree but Isaiah 11 says that a shoot will come up from a tree that has been chopped down and it will grow from dry ground when no other plant can grow and it will grow into this massive kingdom that will fill the whole earth and last forever and then in verse 9 of Isaiah chapter 11 they will not hurt or destroy him in all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the

Lord of course we're fulfilling that today with if we're following the mandate from our

Lord Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 Jesus says all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth therefore go based on my authority go and preach the gospel baptizing them and teaching them all that I've commanded you so there's our mandate to fill the whole earth with the knowledge of the

Lord and then going back to Isaiah chapter 2 where we were at just a few minutes ago chapter 2 we're going to read those verses that we left out

Isaiah chapter 2 starting in verse 2 because we already read verse 1 now will come about in the last days the mountain of the house of the

Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it and this goes back to verses 6 & 7 where Christ is bringing peace and bringing all the nations together and bringing all the peoples together and creating peace and making us one people the mountain of the house of the

Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it and many peoples will come and say come let us come up to the mountain of the

Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us concerning his ways the knowledge of the

Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea and that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the

Lord from Jerusalem and he will judge between the nations and render decisions for many peoples we think about the mountain here that will be far above all the other mountains that's also referenced if you will remember in Daniel chapter 2 where Daniel interprets the vision of the statue made of all these different types of materials and each material represents a different nation and then there's this rock that is cut out from a mountain and thrown at the feet of the statue and this rock that has been cut out that wasn't cut out by the hands of man that was thrown at the feet of the statue and crushed every layer of that statue this rock crushed all those nations that were represented there and then

Daniel says that this rock will grow into the largest mountain that there is and that's the mountain represented here in Isaiah the mountain that is above all the other hills the one that they all the nations will stream to to to hear the teachings of his ways so that they can walk in his paths and it says and the word of the

Lord from Jerusalem now here's another aspect of eschatology or in times one interpretation uses this passage to say that there is going to that that Jesus is going to return to earth later to establish his earthly kingdom and he's going to reign in Jerusalem and that's why it says all people are going to all the nations are going to come to Jerusalem because that is where Jesus is going to rule but as we've seen here and in other videos

Jesus is ruling now he has already ascended into heaven he's sitting on the throne of David why because he's the king and where the king is that's where the throne is and he's sitting on the throne of David and he is ruling and reigning and God says

Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 28 that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth he already has all authority

Jesus is king right now of heaven and the earth and Hebrews instead of this verse telling us that the nations will we need to look for this future rain earthly reign of Christ in Jerusalem we need to look at this this verse and say that these people are the nations are looking to her to Jerusalem in a different way in what way is that Hebrews chapter 11 verses 22 through 24 says that there is a heavenly

Jerusalem and that's where Jesus is reigning now so the nations are coming to this heavenly

Jerusalem looking to this heavenly Jerusalem to its king so that they can learn from him and to walk in his ways so Christ is ruling now in the heavenly

Jerusalem on the throne of David and as the kingdom is growing and he is bringing peace and he is making his people who were different people who hated each other he's making them into one and bringing peace among men he is we are looking to him our king so we can walk in his path and walk in his wisdom and learn from him and that's what everyone will be doing as he he draws them and brings all the nations to himself and then the last verse verse 10 of Isaiah Isaiah 11 verse 10 and for the sake of time

I'm not going to read the Romans passage but Rome Isaiah chapter 11 verse 10 then it will come about in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse the nations will resort to the root of Jesse and this passage and I'll also it's it's related to versus six and seven where God is bringing peace but this this passage in verse 10

Paul references this passage in Romans chapter 15 verses 5 through 12 as Jesus this

Messiah is the Savior and the God of the Gentiles he is the the hope of the

Gentiles is what it says so Paul sees this passage

Isaiah chapter 11 as speaking of nations and God bringing peace among nations in Christ and how

Jesus is the hope of the Gentiles in Ephesians how he's made the two groups into one and then the very last part which we which we touched on in the last video in part one who will stand as a signal for the peoples and his resting place will be glorious Jesus is our resting place and we referenced this in the last video

Micah chapter 4 verse 4 it says that the Messiah which is Jesus is the fig tree that every man can sit under and not fear we want to be grafted in to his branch and be a

Nazarene as he is a Nazarene and see our fellow man as Christ sees man and love men as God loves men and live with at peace with with men and share the gospel with men so that they too can rest under this fig tree rest in his kingdom because as I mentioned before the alternative is facing the wrath of God but we can be in the ark of Christ with our sins atoned for and forgiven and be safe and secure in him and sit under him without fear if you do not know

Jesus Christ I would encourage you to repent of your sins apologize and turn from them and in faith turn towards Jesus Christ putting your faith and trust in him to save you to graft you in to his branch and be a part of his kingdom he says he will cause you to go from death to life you will be transferred as Colossians says from the the domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son a kingdom that grows from dry ground where nothing else can grow to a tree that bears fruit that will fill the whole earth and that will never end

I hope that was encouraging to you and Tim I'm gonna

I want to read this when I get when I finish and get off because I've already gone an hour and 20 minutes thank you guys for watching and and I if it was encouraging to you

I hope you will share I hope you will give me feedback on how I can improve our time together if I can pray for you let me know at any time let me know just send me a message send me an email however you can get in contact with me just let me know that I can pray for you and how

I can improve for God's glory let's pray together father thank you for the time that you're giving us together to spend in your word thank you for Jesus our fig tree thank you for Jesus our anointed fulfillment the fulfillment of all the prophecies our

Savior our priest our King thank you for your kingdom and letting us be a part of a kingdom being in a ship an ark that will never sink thank you for letting us be a part of a kingdom that's going to grow and fill the earth and never pass away your kingdom is forever so father we worship you and give you glory and we give you praise father we we want to pray for all those that are suffering from disease and illness and kovat right now and the families that are struggling we pray for the people in our nation help us to be help us to be kind help us to give father help us to share the good news of your gospel we pray this in Jesus name amen thank you guys for watching remember that Jesus is