Extreme Makeover: Earth Edition--Isaiah Series

            Call me biased, but I don’t understand why some people can’t appreciate the beauty of Kansas. People who say, “there’s nothing to look at,” just don’t get it! When you can see for miles around you in every direction, there’s too much to look at, and that’s part of the beauty—being able to take in so much at once.

            Honestly, we can see beauty all over our planet—awe-inspiring, breath-taking beauty! But let’s pause and remember that our planet is under a curse from God. The same sky that gives us sunsets gives us tornadoes. How amazing is it that we still see such beauty in our planet even after it has been blemished because of mankind’s sin!

            As we have worked through the book of Isaiah, we have read numerous prophecies about a future kingdom in this world in which the effects of The Curse will be almost completely scaled back. Mankind will once again live at peace with God, each other, and the even the animal world, and we will behold this planet in all of the glory which God created for it. How amazing to think that the beauty of this world could get even better!

            As we close our study of Isaiah today, we will read one more prophecy about this extreme makeover along with one final warning about embracing God by faith before it is too late.

1. What’s the purpose of a kingdom of peace in this world?

            Before we jump into the text this morning, I’d like to briefly follow a rabbit trail and answer a question that may have come to your mind as we’ve been studying Isaiah. Over and over again, we have read prophecies about a time of blessing which I have interpreted to refer to a future kingdom that will be established in this world. We often refer to this kingdom as the “Millennium,” or the “1,000-year kingdom of Christ.” But not all Christians have interpreted these prophecies in the same way. Some groups and denominations have interpreted these prophecies as metaphors which refer to the spiritual blessings that we enjoy through Jesus Christ. So for example, they might interpret prophecies about peace among the nations to refer to peace among Christians today, or a prophecy about Israel being re-gathered to the Promised Land might be interpreted as a prophecy of God’s people being taken to their home in heaven. And so, some people have questioned what the purpose of a Millennium in this world would be. I would like to briefly give two answers to that question.

            A. To prevent Satan from having the final victory over Planet Earth

            As history stands today, Satan has delivered quite a blow to God’s creation by introducing sin into this world through mankind, which caused God to place a curse upon humanity and the planet in which we live. Now, if the history of our planet were to end this way, then Satan would have scored a final victory over Planet Earth by permanently disrupting God’s original plan for it.

            I don’t think the Lord has any intention of giving Satan the last laugh over this planet. That is part of the reason that I think these prophecies that we have read should be interpreted literally and not as metaphors. By establishing a kingdom of peace and righteousness in this world, God will fulfill His original plan for it and prevent Satan from having the final victory.

            B. To demonstrate God’s faithfulness to keep His word

            There can be little doubt that believers in the Old Testament expected God’s promises of blessing to be fulfilled literally. Thus, they were looking forward to a kingdom of peace and righteousness in this world. This was their hope for the future, but if the Old Testament prophecies were actually metaphors, then we must conclude that God allowed Old Testament believers to persist in believing something that was actually a false hope.

            In my opinion, this idea casts doubt upon God’s New Testament promises as well. If the Old Testament prophecies were metaphors, what guarantee do we have that New Testament prophecies are not actually metaphors as well? How would we know that statements about heaven aren’t really metaphors for simply ceasing to exist after we die?

            For the sake of God’s faithfulness to keep His word, I believe that the hope of Old Testament believers will be fulfilled literally; thus, there will be a kingdom of peace and righteousness in this world. Moreover, when we look at the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming into this world, we find that they were fulfilled literally. I believe this observation gives us every reason to think that prophecies about Jesus’ second coming will be fulfilled literally as well.

So with those thoughts in mind, I believe the description that we read in the latter half of chapter 65 is a description of a time that will literally come to pass in this world.  Let’s take a look at this description.

2. God will roll back the effects of The Curse in almost every way (65:17-25)

            The Lord begins v. 17 by saying, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” That phrase might sound familiar, especially if you have read the book of Revelation. The apostle John uses the same phrase in Revelation 21:1 as he starts to describe our eternal home with God. However, John and Isaiah must be describing two different points in the future because in Isaiah’s description, as we’ll see, there is still the life cycle of people being born and people dying. Birth and death will not occur in our eternal home with God, so Isaiah is apparently describing “phase one” of a two-part reconstruction of our world. This first phase will occur during Christ’s kingdom on earth as virtually all of the effects of The Curse will be removed. Let’s highlight a few parts of this description.

            A. Humanity will enjoy peace and gladness (65:18-19, 21-23)

            Human beings were not created to be at odds with each other, and we see here that peace will prevail during this time [READ 65:18-19, 21-23].

            B. Long life spans will be the norm (65:20)

            This future kingdom will present an interesting situation. We will live in this kingdom, but we will already have our heavenly bodies—the same kind of body that Jesus had after He rose from the grave. If you remember our study from a few weeks ago, we noted that we will be taken out of the world at the Rapture and given our heavenly bodies at that time. Later, we will come back to the world with Jesus to live here with Him during this kingdom.

            So we will no longer face death, but there will be some people who have lived on earth right up to the start of Jesus’ kingdom. These people will still have their earthly bodies, so they will continue to have children and they will continue to die. But apparently, long life spans will once again be the norm, as they were in the early chapters of Genesis [READ 65:20].

            C. People will enjoy close communication and fellowship with God (65:24)

            In Genesis 1-2, we read about Adam and Eve enjoying unhindered fellowship with God. This kind of intimacy will exist between God and man once again [READ 65:24].

            D. Peace will reign among animals and between animals and men (65:25)

            We read a virtually identical prophecy back in chapter 11, and now the Lord restates it through Isaiah here at the end of the book [READ 65:25].

Once again, we find so much to look forward to as we contemplate this future kingdom which Christ will establish in this world.  We will bask in all that is good about this world with virtually none of these things which are bad! This time will be a thorough foretaste of our eternal home with God, but as the Lord has repeatedly warned us, we must embrace Him from the heart by faith if we want to enjoy these blessings. The fate of those who reject Him will be far different, so in chapter 66…

3. God issues a final warning and promise of blessing (66:1-24)

            In the first part of this chapter, the Lord issues a final warning against the idolatry and hypocritical worship of some of the people. He warns them that they better not think of Him the way they think about their idols [READ 66:1-2a]. These verses are a subtle jab against the mindset of idolatry. Idol worshipers approached worship with the idea that they were doing favors for their god. It was an “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch my back” kind of mindset. But God goes on to stress that such a mindset doesn’t fly in true worship of Him [READ 66:2b].

            The Hebrew term for “humble” in this verse conveys the idea of spiritual poverty. This is the humility that acknowledges that I have absolutely nothing I could use to gain God’s favor. This attitude says, “I am spiritually bankrupt;” I have no spiritual “currency,” so to speak, that would allow me to get anything from God. This is the attitude of the person who truly embraces God by faith. As the hymnwriter put it, “nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling.”

            God makes it clear that anyone who would worship Him with the attitude that he is doing God a favor which God must then repay is actually offering God something that is offensive to Him [READ 66:3-4].

            My friends, we must understand that God is not fooled by hypocritical worship. If we think that we are doing God a favor by showing up at church or putting Him under obligation to us by putting some money in the offering plate, we better think again! True worship of God flows from the understanding that I am in complete spiritual poverty, yet through Christ, God has lavished upon me the riches of His grace.

            So much more could be said about this marvelous book of Scripture. Even in this long series of sermons, we have barely scratched the surface of the depths of insight in this book. Perhaps the central lesson that we should take with us from this study is that a vastly different fate awaits those who embrace God through Jesus by faith and those who do not. Some of the people in Israel thought they were okay with God because they were born in the right family or because they did the right religious activities. We must not fall into the same error! Being born into a Christian family does not make you right with God; attending church every Sunday does not make you right with God. We can only become right with God by confessing that we are sinners who deserve His wrath, and expressing our faith in Him by believing that Jesus paid the full price for our sins through His death on the cross and proved it by rising from the grave. We must each personally embrace that gift of salvation in order to be right with God. I urge you to do so today!

When the Saints Go Marching In--Isaiah Series

            Over the last two weeks, the nations of the world have been battling in London for athletic supremacy. Countries take great pride in their success at the Olympics. I’ve even heard that some countries are planning to form commissions to investigate why they didn’t win more medals!

            This competitive spirit shouldn’t surprise us, because its characterized the history of our race. Ever since human beings were dispersed by God from the Tower of Babel, our history has been marked by competition and conflict. Sometimes that conflict has been waged on the ballfield, and sometimes it has been waged on the battlefield, but the goal has always been the same—supremacy.

            According to the Bible, history is moving toward a period of time in which the nation of Israel will be exalted over all the other nations of the world—not because there’s anything particularly special about Israel, but simply because God has chosen to stake His reputation upon her destiny.

            If we are to take God’s promises in the Old Testament at face value, then we must conclude that there are glorious days ahead for the nation of Israel—not because of anything they will accomplish, but because of the king who will one day reign over them: the Lord Jesus Christ!

            The final chapters of Isaiah describe the climax of human history in which Israel will play a leading role because of her coming King. This may seem like an odd step for studying Isaiah, but I’d like to direct your attention first of all to the last chapter of Zechariah. Zechariah 14 describes in very straightforward terms the same events that Isaiah describes in more poetic terms. Sometimes, with poetic language, its tricky to discern a precise sequence of events, so Zechariah will give us the framework that will help us understand the prophecies of Isaiah [READ Zechariah 14:1-19]. Let’s make sure we grasp the broad outline of these verses. They describe a time when the Lord will physically appear in Jerusalem to defeat some armies that are gathered there against the people of Israel. The Lord will then become king over all the earth, and all the nations will become subservient to Him. These are the events that we usually call the Second Coming and the Millennium, and you can read more about them in Revelation 19-20.

            So with this outline of events in mind, let’s look at Isaiah’s description of these events in chapters 59-62. Our main points this morning focus on the metaphor of a change of wardrobe that these chapters describe—first for the Lord, then for His people.

I. The Lord puts on His battle armor to come as a Savior to Jerusalem (59:14-21)

            The prophecy in Zechariah focused on the external threat to Jerusalem from foreign armies. Isaiah focuses on the internal spiritual condition of Israel, and we see that it will not be universally pleasing to the Lord [READ 59:14-20]. These verses describe the coming of the Lord that we read about in Zechariah, when the Lord will come with deliverance and protection for those who are in God’s family, and vengeance against those who are not.

            The Lord will then establish His kingdom in Jerusalem, as Isaiah had already prophesied in chapters 2, 9, and 11. Isaiah poetically describes this time as a change to garments of praise rather than garments of mourning.

II. The Lord gives His people garments of praise rather than mourning (60:1-62:12)

           

            A. The nations will be drawn to Israel with offerings and praise for her God (60:1-9)

            B. The children of Israel will be gathered to the homeland that God promised to their ancestor, Abraham (60:1-9)

            These first two points are both characteristics of this time that Isaiah describes in 60:1-9 [READ 60:1-9]. Verse 9 offers an important point of emphasis. This passage describes a parade of people coming to Israel with their wealth, but v. 9 emphasizes that these gifts are “for the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel.”

            Israel will be blessed, however, because of their association with Jesus, their King. Think of the way that friends and relatives of famous people tend to get special treatment—that’s the basic idea.

            C. The children of Israel will enjoy peace, blessing, and security (60:10-12, 18)

            [READ 60:10-12, 18] Since the time that the Jewish people first settled in the Promised Land, it has hardly known a time of extended peace, but such is the Lord’s promise for the time of His kingdom.

            D. The children of Israel will all embrace righteousness (60:21)

            [READ 60:21] Notice again that all of this is for the Lord’s glory. This point highlights the reason that this kingdom on earth has been delayed for so long—the Jewish people as a whole have never embraced the righteousness of God; they have never embraced His plan of salvation. When Jesus first began to preach in the Gospels, His message was “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The king was here, and I believe He was genuinely offering to establish His kingdom, but the people were not spiritually prepared for it, so He called them to repent. By and large, however, Jesus was rejected by the Jewish people, but this rejection only served to further God’s plan to provide forgiveness for sins by sending Jesus to the cross. But when Jesus returns, there will be Jewish believers waiting to greet Him, and they will be the foundation of a righteous remnant who will live in Christ’s kingdom.

            E. Mourning and oppression will give way to comfort, gladness, and praise (61:1-4)

            [READ 61:1-4]

            F. Jerusalem will be honored throughout the Earth (62:1-12)

            [READ 62:1-7]

            And so, in the kingdom of Christ, God will finally fulfill all of the promises that He made to the people of Israel—first to Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, then to all the people through Moses, then to King David, then to all the people again through the prophecy of the New Covenant that Jesus referred to during the Last Supper. But how does all of this apply to you and me—children of God living in the here and now? Will we live in this kingdom on Earth? We certainly will!

            When Jesus returns to set up His kingdom, you and I will have already been taken out of the world at the Rapture, but we will accompany Christ when He comes back into this world. Zechariah 14:5 said that after the nations have gathered against Jerusalem to battle, “then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.” So a group referred to here as “the holy ones” will be coming with Christ.

            When we compare this verse to the description of Christ’s coming in Revelation 19, we can see that “the holy ones” are you and me! Turn with me to Revelation 19 [READ Rev. 19:11-14] Now these clothes of fine linen were just mentioned in vv. 7-8 [READ Rev. 19:7-8]. So the clothes of fine linen represent righteous deeds done by the saints who are part of the bride of Christ. And according to Ephesians 5, the bride of Christ consists of believers from today—those who are living in what we call “the church age.”

            So when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom, you and I will be in the cavalry right behind Him! What an honor—to join our Lord in His glorious return and triumph! We will be given a role to play in His kingdom based on our obedience to Him today, and we will enjoy the blessings of that time when Jesus—the head of the church—will be King and Lord over all things.

            If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior from your sins, welcome to your destiny!! Someday, we will see this world the way that God created it to be in almost every detail. Doesn’t it thrill your heart to think about it? It should, and thinking about this glorious destiny can keep your joy from eroding today as you face the temporary pressures of this world.

The Faithfulness of a True Husband--Isaiah Series

            How long has it been since you really thought about the vows that you made to your spouse on your wedding day? Can you even remember exactly what you promised to do for your spouse “until death do you part?” Many people have found it very meaningful to renew their vows and thus remind themselves of their promises to each other.

            In our study of Isaiah this morning, we are going to read about God renewing His vows to Israel, so to speak. At various places in the Old Testament, God called Himself the husband of Israel and He took vows, so to speak—He made unconditional promises to them concerning blessings that He planned to give them.

            But there had always been a growing problem in this marriage—God is holy, and humans are not, so how could a holy God have a relationship with unholy people? We discovered the answer last week in chapter 53 in the sacrificial death of the Servant. With God’s plan for taking care of sin now revealed, the Lord once again affirms His promises to Israel and makes a free offer of salvation to anyone who would recognize their need and receive it.

            So picture yourself now watching a husband renew his vows to his wife, and let’s read chapter 54.

1. The Lord renews His wedding vows with Israel (Ch. 54)

            Let me just read this chapter and make a few brief comments, because the words are beautiful and largely self-explanatory. Israel and her God had had a rocky marriage because Israel had been frequently unfaithful to her vows. She had faced and still would face some painful consequences because of those sins. In the first several verses, God compares Israel to a barren woman who may have thought that she didn’t have a joyous future to look forward to, but the reality would be much different [READ 54:1-3]. In these verses, God is re-affirming His promise to Abraham that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars of the sky, and His promise to David that the kingdom of Israel would one day be firmly established and would suffer violence no more.

            The Lord then continues in v. 4 [READ 54:4-10]. I want to briefly emphasize vv. 9-10 because they are very important for the way we think about God’s plan for the future. Some of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ in other churches hold to the belief that God has no future plans for the nation of Israel, but rather all of the promises that God made in the Old Testament are being fulfilled today through God’s work within and among Christians. I feel compelled to disagree with that idea because of verses just like these. The Lord states that His promise of steadfast love to Israel is just like the promise He made to Noah that He would never again flood the whole earth. That promise to Noah was permanent, and I think God’s promises to Israel are permanent as well.

            Thus, I think God does have a future plan for the nation of Israel, and I think we are reading about that plan in verses like vv. 11-17. The Lord is apparently speaking about the city of Jerusalem as He says [READ 54:11-17].

Thus, on the basis of the Servant’s sacrifice that was prophesied in chapter 53, a holy God can re-affirm all of His promises to an unholy people, because a plan is in place for their sins to be forgiven. But the Servant’s sacrifice was never intended just for the people of Israel. It is available to anyone who will claim it as their own. So we see in the next chapter that…

  

2. The Lord invites all comers to find their soul’s satisfaction in Him (Ch. 55)

            Listen to the invitation in v. 1 [READ 55:1]. Notice the odd language of this invitation—the Lord is inviting those who have no money to come and buy from Him. How can you buy something when you have no money? (I think the government needs to ask that question a little more often!) How can you buy something when you have no money? Only if someone else pays the price for you! When we consider our salvation, the old saying rings true—there is no such thing as a free lunch. Forgiveness of sins is offered freely to us, but make no mistake—the price for forgiveness has been paid, and it has been paid by the blood of Christ, as we learned in chapter 53.

            The Lord goes on to state that we will find true satisfaction for our souls if we will accept His offer [READ 55:1-3]. Now what is this reference to King David all about? Well, it touches on promises that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7, where the Lord stated that He would raise up one of David’s descendents to fulfill all of the promises of peace and prosperity that God had made to Israel. You may remember that in Isaiah 9, the prophet spoke of a child who would be born who would sit on David’s throne, and this child would be called “the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6-7). And just to make Himself clear, God led the angel Gabriel to tell Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Luke 1 that Jesus was the descendent and the child that the Old Testament talked about (Luke 1:32-33).

            So the reference to David reminds us of all that David’s descendent was prophesied to accomplish, and when we come to God to find our soul’s salvation in Him, we get to participate in all the blessings that are available through Jesus Christ—the Son of David, the Son of God. These blessings include forgiveness of sins and reunion with God as well as the right to live one day in the kingdom of peace and righteousness that Jesus will establish in this world. As children of God and spiritual siblings of Jesus, we have a place secured for us in His kingdom.

            Verses 4-5 speak of David’s role as a witness to the promises that God has made, and in v. 6, Isaiah makes a passionate appeal for his readers to come to God before it is too late [READ 55:6-9]. Normally, when we hear vv. 8-9, we think of the difference between how much God knows and how little we know by comparison. That thought is true, but its really not the comparison that the Lord is making here. Rather, he is emphasizing that His thoughts and ways are holy and right, and ours are wicked and unrighteous. That is precisely what He said back in v. 7 [READ 55:7].

            You see, this difference in our thoughts and ways is the obstacle that separates us from God. This difference is why we don’t have peace with God until we come to Him for salvation. Our lives are on a path that is wicked, but we don’t realize it because our thoughts are unrighteous, which means they don’t line up with God’s standards, which describe the way things really are. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” My friends, please hear me—if you have never come to God through Jesus Christ to find forgiveness for your sins, you are on the way to death! You must realize that sin has deceived you and told you that you’re okay, but God is telling you the way things really are. But as Isaiah said, if you will recognize the danger that you’re in and forsake your wicked way, God will have compassion on you and abundantly pardon you.

            God is offering you His pardon today, and He will always make good on His word. Look at the next verses [READ 55:10-13]. God will always make good on His word, and His plan is one that will bring joy and peace to His people.

  

3. The Lord reassures us of His full acceptance and His reward for obedience (Ch. 56:1-8)

            In the first part of chapter 56, the Lord mentions two groups of people who were tempted to think that they were “second-class citizens” among God’s people. The first group was foreigners, people who were not ethnically Jewish. The second was eunuchs, people who were unable to have children. It is not uncommon for people in churches today to wonder if they are “second-class citizens” among God’s people. People who did not grow up in Christian homes can be tempted to think this way, as well as people who have had a very public moral failure that they have repented of. Or sometimes people think that if they’re not a pastor or a missionary, they are on some kind of second tier with God.

            But God doesn’t put His children in any such categories. What He looks for is obedience, which He promises to reward. Let’s read vv. 1-8 [READ 56:1-8]. You can see from these verses that God’s true concern is obedience.

            One command that he emphasizes here is the command for the people to keep the Sabbath, which is a word that refers to a period of rest. This command was a major test of faith and obedience for the people in the Old Testament. This command had two parts to it. First, the people were supposed to reserve the seventh and final day of each week to be a day for rest and worship. Second, they were supposed to let their ground lie fallow every seventh year without planting on it or harvesting from it. God had promised them that every sixth year, He would give them a harvest that would last them until the harvest of the eighth year—which was the first year of the next cycle.

            These commands were meant to teach the people to orient their lives around obeying God’s commands. All week long, they would have to keep in mind that the Sabbath was coming, and they would need to get their work done before it came. Every sixth year, they would face a major crisis of faith—will we obey God and believe that He will provide for us?

            Now, do those lessons sound familiar? Do you hear echoes of Jesus’ teaching in those lessons? Remember, the Lord said in Matthew 6, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:31-33). What is the lesson? Obey God, and He will provide! Let Him worry about meeting your needs—you just concentrate on obeying Him!

            The Lord also calls us to orient our lives around obeying Him. In Matthew 16:24-25, He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

            My friends, if you are a child of God, you don’t need to worry that you might be on some second tier. Just obey Him and He will reward you! And if you have never come to God by accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made for you, please understand the error of your way. Jesus died to pay for your sins, and His resurrection is proof that God accepted His payment and offers you forgiveness. Accept Him as your Savior today, and find true satisfaction for your soul.

The Suffering and Triumph of The Servant--Isaiah Series

             In the aftermath of World War I, 900 German soldiers who had violated international law were put on trial for war crimes. It was an open-and-shut case; they were sure to be found guilty. But in a dramatic move, the former crown prince of Germany volunteered to be their substitute. He offered to face both the allegations against the men and the penalty that they were sure to receive. Though his offer was very selfless, it was ultimately refused because it was so impractical—how could one man possibly bear the penalties of 900 men?

            Many people have asked the same question with respect to Jesus Christ—how could He possibly bear the penalty for the sins of the entire world? This claim almost seems too outrageous to be true, but in our study of Isaiah today, we will see that this kind of substitution has been God’s plan for our salvation all along.

            As Olympic athletes long to win the gold medal, so preachers long to preach from Isaiah 53. This passage is so moving and precious that I don’t think I can do it justice, but I hope that I can shed some light on it today and drive its sobering message home to your hearts.

            As we have been studying Isaiah, we’ve been faced with a constant tension. On the one hand, Isaiah has told us about a glorious kingdom that the Lord Himself will one day set up in this world through the people of Israel. On the other hand, we’ve discovered that the people of Israel—and the people of the whole world—are not fit to be part of this kingdom because of their sin. God knew this, of course, but what did He have in mind to solve this problem? Isaiah 53 gives us the answer.

            This chapter is a prophecy about a man whom God simply calls “my servant,” and it describes his early life, his reception by the people around him, his death as a sacrifice for our sins, and the exaltation and honor that he will receive after fulfilling God’s will. Let’s follow this progression of the servant’s life and death.

1. The Servant’s Early Life and Rejection (52:13-53:3)

            The prophecy of chapter 53 actually begins at the end of chapter 52. Just so you know, the Bible wasn’t originally written with chapter divisions—they were added in the 1200’s to help people find the passage they were looking for. Sometimes we find a place where the chapter division feels off by a few verses, but that’s no big deal because we can simply start at the beginning of a section, wherever it begins.

            Let’s jump right into the text [READ 52:13-15; “sprinkle” is a picture of something sinful being cleansed]. These verses tell of the servant reaching unbelievable heights by going through an unimaginable low. It is plain from v. 13 that his ultimate destiny is one of glory and honor, but the path which takes him there is marked with grotesque suffering. Yet this very suffering and disfigurement will bring about forgiveness of sins, and the mighty people of the earth will be shocked when they see the fulfillment of these prophecies.

            So the servant was headed for glorious heights, but the beginning of his journey would not be marked by widespread acceptance and admiration. Look at 53:1-2 [READ 53:1-2; the phrase “arm of the Lord” refers to the servant and pictures Him as the very power of God reaching down into the world]. These words succinctly describe Jesus’ early life to a “t.” The Lord grew up in an unremarkable family in an even less remarkable town. When he first began to preach, his neighbors were offended, because to them he was just “the carpenter’s son”—a peasant just like they were. His family tried to drag Him home at one point because they thought He was out of His mind!

            Jesus did not fit the stereotype of an important person, and thus, by and large, He was not received as one. This attitude toward Jesus remains the same today. I saw this thought graphically portrayed a few years ago at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In a certain room, you will find a magnificent painting depicting Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana from John 2. It is the largest painting in the museum, and it is magnificent to behold, but most people ignore it because of the painting across the room—the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is considered an all-time masterpiece, though no one could really tell you why it deserves more attention than the painting of Christ across the room. Yet there people stand, with their backs turned toward Christ, because His painting is not a world-famous masterpiece.

            That is how most people think of Jesus still today—He is not considered a masterpiece! Most people will say that Jesus is a great moral teacher, but that’s just political correctness more than anything else. Anyone who takes a serious look at the claims and teachings of Jesus Christ will either fall down and worship Him or they will neuter His message, leaving it impotent and unrecognizable. Make no mistakes my friends—rejection is our natural reaction toward Jesus. It is my natural reaction to Jesus, and it is your natural reaction to Jesus as well.

            Jesus continued to face rejection throughout His life, and the climax of it is described in verse 3 [READ 53:3]. The metaphor in this verse portrays Jesus like someone who has an infectious disease and is thus repulsive to other people. Some of you remember the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in this country, when people were scared and disgusted by the thought of being close to that disease. That’s a glimpse of the rejection that Jesus faced, which of course reached its peak at His crucifixion, which is prophesied in the next section.

2. The Servant’s Death as Our Substitute (53:4-9)

            Verses 4-6 begin to clear up any confusion about what was actually happening to Jesus in His crucifixion [READ 53:4-6]. When the eyes of man looked at Jesus upon the cross, they couldn’t see the reality. The Jews thought they saw an imposter who falsely claimed to be God, and was finally getting the punishment He deserved. The Romans thought they saw a fool who claimed to be a king greater than Caesar. But when God looked at Jesus on the cross, He saw your sin and my sin. He saw the servant—His only Son—as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! As 2 Corinthians 5:21 states, “he became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

            Don’t you see? He was wearing your crown of thorns! He bled from the wounds that were meant for me! He bore the penalty for our sins so that we might be healed, because we had all gone astray—every one of us. Don’t you see? He didn’t die for anything He had done, but for everything we have done.

            Verses 7-9 predict some amazing facts about the details of Jesus’ crucifixion. I have been told by those who focus on evangelism to Jews that they will often read this chapter to Jewish people without telling them its from the Old Testament and then they will ask their listeners to identify who this chapter is talking about. They all easily recognize that its talking about Jesus, and if you’re familiar with His story at all, it is not hard to see why.

            Verses 7-8 describe the way that Jesus would quietly and willingly endure injustice in His trials [READ 53:7-8]. Verse 6 compared us to sheep because of our tendency to wander away; verse 7 compared Jesus to sheep because of His willingness to calmly go along with those who were about to put Him to death. When Jesus stood before the high priest, He only spoke words which condemned him even further in that man’s eyes, and when he stood before King Herod, He simply said nothing at all. Jesus willingly endured injustice which led to His crucifixion.

            In our country, we are keenly aware of individual rights. We have a Bill of Rights in our Constitution; we must be read our rights if we are arrested. We can hardly imagine allowing someone to violate our rights, yet when Jesus was on trial, the Creator stood before His creatures and was willing to endure the greatest injustice in history—why? So He could launch a great escape? No—so He could fulfill the plan of God and die for you and me.

            Verse 9 then describes the circumstances of his burial [READ 53:9]. The first phrase about the “wicked” refers to the criminals who were crucified with Jesus, and the statement about the rich man applies to Joseph of Arimathea, the man who boldly asked for Jesus’ body in order to give Him a proper burial.

            These verses remind us that these events did not happen by accident. Nothing mentioned in this chapter took Jesus by surprise—His life went according to plan! When he came into this world, He knew what the plan was, and as He grew up as a Jewish boy hearing the Old Testament proclaimed, He was hearing His own autobiography! When Jesus died, chaos appeared to reign—the sky turned black, the earth quaked, the veil in the Temple was torn in two. Yet the unexpected had never been more expected, and chaos had never been under greater control!

Isaiah then reveals that the servant’s humiliation was not the final word. There would be more to the story! The dark valley of death would only be the pathway to the glorious light of victory and triumph!

3. The Servant’s Victory and Exaltation (53:10-12)

            Verse 10 picks up the thought of the servant’s innocence from verse 9, and it says [READ 53:10-12a]. For the first part of v. 12, I think the Holman Christian Standard Bible offers a better translation—“Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil.” Jesus’ exaltation involved receiving authority over all people. Jesus—in His own words from Matthew 28—has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He has received the name of “Lord,” the name which is above every name, and it will not be shared. Why is this? [READ 53:12b].

            This exaltation is why 52:15 says that kings will shut their mouths. Humanity will be astonished when Jesus’ exaltation is revealed at His Second Coming, because the “Man of Sorrows” will have become the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

            But please notice that v. 12 tells us that Jesus hasn’t just sat back and enjoyed His victory and exaltation. It says that He “makes intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus is at work right now to apply the blessings that He purchased with His blood to the lives of men, women, and children throughout the world. He is offering the healing that His wounds have purchased and the peace that His punishment has secured. He offers us forgiveness of our sins so that we can be accounted righteous—seen as holy and pure and clean in the eyes of God.

            Make no mistake, my friends—Jesus did not die because He had sinned; He died because you and I have sinned. But He was willing to bear the punishment for our sins, and His resurrection is the proof that we will be forgiven and have eternal life in Him if we will confess our sins to God and believe that Jesus is the sacrifice for our sins through which we can be forgiven. I urge you and warn you today to repent—to come to your senses and change your mind about your rebellion against God and to accept Jesus as your Savior. He is coming again, and you can embrace Him today as your Savior, or stand before Him on that day as your judge!

            If you have already accepted Jesus as your Savior, never forget what had to be done to purchase your salvation. Peter said that if we’re not growing in obedience to Jesus, we must have amnesia, because we’ve forgotten what was done to purchase our salvation. The book of Hebrews says that those who go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth profane the blood of Christ and outrage the Spirit of grace. May we never again take the sacrifice of Christ so lightly by sinning against our Savior!

            I leave you today with a poem from a man who understood the sacrifice of Christ and the depths from which he had been saved:

One Hanging On A Tree

In evil long I took delight,

Unawed by shame or fear,

Till a new object struck my sight,

And stopp’d my wild career:

I saw One hanging on a Tree

In agonies and blood,

Who fix’d His languid eyes on me.

As near His Cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,

Can I forget that look:

It seem’d to charge me with His death,

Though not a word He spoke:

My conscience felt and own’d the guilt,

And plunged me in despair:

I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,

And help’d to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did!

But now my tears are vain:

Where shall my trembling soul be hid'

For I the Lord have slain!

  

A second look He gave, which said, 

“I freely all forgive;

This blood is for thy ransom paid;

I die that thou may’st live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays

In all its blackest hue,

Such is the mystery of grace,

It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,

My spirit now I’ve fill’d,

That I should such a life destroy,

Yet live by Him I kill’d!

Those words were written by John Newton, the former slave trader who also wrote these words:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I’m found

Was blind but now I see!

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come

‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we’d first begun!

Becoming a True Fan of Jesus--Isaiah Series

     There’s an old saying which states that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That’s just one of the reasons that we find things like Elvis impersonators in the world (actually, I guess I don’t really know what the other reasons are!). People love “The King,” and what better way is there to show that love than dress up like him and try to imitate everything about him! This principle also explains why we find events like Star Trek conventions and football games where thousands of adoring fans dress-up in the jersey of their favorite player.

            Now, if this idea about imitation is true, it offers us a great way to think about following Jesus Christ. If we adore Him and want to be His disciple (or student), then we should seek to imitate Him in every way that we possibly can. We should try to act the way that He did and embrace the same priorities that He did. We should hold the same opinions that He did and promote them the same way that He did.

            Isaiah 49-52 brings us into the heart of a prophecy about Jesus Christ, who is referred to in these chapters as simply “The Servant.” These chapters describe some of the achievements that He will accomplish for the Lord, and they also describe the attitude with which He will accomplish them. There is much that we can learn from His attitude that will help us imitate Him today. Let’s see first of all what He will accomplish, and then we’ll focus specifically on His attitude.

1. What Will The Servant Do?

A. He will be used by God to fulfill God’s promises to Abraham (49:8-26; 52:7-10)

            When God first spoke to Abraham and told Him that He was going to bless the whole world through His family, He made some significant promises to Abraham. One of those promises was that Abraham’s descendents would possess the land of Palestine as an inheritance from the Lord. The people of Isaiah’s time may have doubted this promise because they were constantly under threat from other nations, but this passage makes it clear that although the people would be taken out of their land for a time as an act of discipline, God would use The Servant to establish them in their land once again [READ 49:8-23]. God made it very clear in these verses that He had not forgotten about the children of Israel and He had not cast aside His promise to them. Though they would lose their land for a time, they would be established in it once again. Earlier prophecies in this book make it clear that these prophecies will be fulfilled when the Lord Himself reigns from Jerusalem over a kingdom of righteousness and peace.

B. He will extend God’s salvation to the ends of the earth (49:5-6)

            Lest we think that God was only concerned about Israel and cared nothing about the rest of the world, we see here that The Servant would be a source of salvation for the whole world. God has always been concerned about all of humanity; He had simply chosen Israel to be a pipeline of blessings to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, Israel had clogged up the pipeline with their sin, but the Lord states here that He would use His servant to take salvation to the ends of the earth [READ 49:5-6].

All in all, we are seeing a certain overlap with prophecies that we have already read—that the Lord Himself will reign from Jerusalem, re-gather the children of Israel in their land, and extend His blessings and His reign over all the earth. In chapter 53, we will read a prophecy about the crucial events that will make all of this possible. But for the rest of our time, I would like to focus on the attitude with which The Servant serves the Lord. He models the kind of attitude that we should have in our service for God.

2. How Can We Imitate The Servant?

A. We can look to God for fulfillment in the midst of frustration (49:4)

            Let’s face it—serving God can be very frustrating at times. We don’t always see the fruit that we want to see from our efforts. Moreover, service requires sacrifice, and its easy to feel like our sacrifices are going unnoticed, unappreciated, and unrewarded.  Even Jesus experienced frustration in serving God the Father. At times, Jesus spoke to His disciples and said things like, “How is it that you fail to understand?” and “How much longer must I endure you?”

            Isaiah briefly mentioned some of this frustration that The Servant would feel, and he also mentions the attitude that allowed The Servant to handle it [READ 49:1-4]. The end of v. 4 contains the attitude that we must embrace to handle the frustrations that come as we serve. The Servant felt like His labor had not produced the desired result, but He looked to the Lord and acknowledged that God would reward Him for His labor. Jesus endured the most undeserved treatment in history. He deserved nothing but honor and worship, but by and large He received insults, rejection, and a wrongful conviction. But 1 Peter 2:23 says that He “continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

            Jesus simply placed Himself in the hands of the Father! The only opinion that ultimately mattered to Him was the Father’s! He remembered as well that God does not overlook nor forget the smallest act of service performed in His name.

            One day, God will show His pleasure with our service and reward us for it. That’s the real fruit that we should hope for from our service. If our obedience to God doesn’t produce the results we’d like to see from it today, that’s no big deal, because one day we will see results from it when we receive our recompense from God.

B. We can be accepting of and obedient to God’s teaching—even in the face of insults and opposition (50:4-9; 51:7-8)

            Follow with me as I read a couple of passages [READ 50:4-9; 51:7-8]. In the passage from chapter 50, The Servant describes how the Lord opened His ear to learn, and he states that he did not disobey even in the face of opposition. And how did he remain faithful? He kept a long-term perspective about the whole situation. He knew that one day God was going to render His verdict about him, and the truth would be established for all time. Meanwhile, his adversaries were going to fade out of the picture like an early-morning fog that disappears in the heat of the day.

            Opposition from other people is one of the greatest obstacles that we face as we try to obey God, and we often face this opposition because obeying God makes us stand out from the crowd. The great philosopher Kermit the Frog once sang “It’s not easy being green,” because he tended to blend into his surroundings and get overlooked by others. Well, when we obey biblical standards, we face just the opposite—we stick out like a sore thumb! We stand out among everyone else, and as the old saying goes, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down!

            But we have a very strange reaction when we face opposition for our obedience—we say that it is “unfair” that we be treated this way. We think that life should be nothing but sunshine and rainbows when we obey God, but in thinking like this, we are perhaps the only servants in history who think that we should have it better than our Master! We say that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus, but have you seen where His footsteps led? They led to the cross, and Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). We are following a man who is carrying a cross, so why are we so surprised that the trip isn’t always a pleasant one? What did we expect when we decided to follow a man who was hated and rejected by many of the people around him?

            But you must remember this—you are never more like Jesus than when you suffer for doing what is right! So in those moments, we just have to respond the way that Jesus did, by remembering that after the suffering there is glory; there is vindication; there is the declaration of a God who promises to make all things right!! Only that hope will allow us to persevere in obeying God. Nothing else can carry us through those times of opposition, so call these things to mind, as Jesus did.

C. We can trust in God rather than relying on ourselves (50:10-11)

            Let’s read 50:10-11 [READ 50:10-11]. Quite a pronouncement against those who rely on themselves! The activity described here of building a fire and making torches represents a sinful self-reliance. God certainly is not against hard work or ingenuity or initiative. The context makes it clear that this activity is carried out as a replacement for trusting in God. That’s when our efforts become sinful—when we believe that we can’t count on God or trust Him to keep His word, thus we have to figure everything out ourselves.

            But The Servant—the Lord Jesus—models a different way for us—the way of relying upon God. When I read the Gospels, I am often amazed by how much time Jesus spends in prayer. I’m always tempted to think that if anyone could get by with just a meager amount of prayer, it was Jesus, yet we find Him so often going off by Himself to spend time alone in prayer.

            I am equally amazed when I read Jesus making statements like, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). Can you honestly make that statement? Can you say that serving God satisfies you the way that food satisfies a hungry appetite? That kind of attitude takes trust in God, because as we’ve seen, serving God can be very frustrating at times. Finding this kind of satisfaction requires that we trust God and believe that His commands are the very best way to live—even if it doesn’t look that way at the moment!

            If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, then to display fan-like devotion to Jesus, it is clear what we must do—we must imitate Him! That doesn’t mean dressing like Him or wearing the same hairstyle; rather, it means that we express the same kind of character that He had, we embrace the same kinds of attitudes and opinions as He did, and we persevere in these things even when we face opposition. Jesus once told His closest followers, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has shown us how to persevere through tribulations by looking to the glory that lies ahead. Let us follow Him confidently even through the valley of death, knowing that He is leading us to greener pastures. 

Advance Warning--Isaiah Series

Among students, few words inspire more fear and panic than the words “pop quiz.” We don’t like to be unprepared or caught off-guard, especially when something important like a grade is at stake. I know many adults still have nightmares about forgetting about a test—or how about those wacky dreams where you find out on the last day of the semester that you were enrolled in a class that you never attended!

 Most teachers are kind enough to announce major tests ahead of time so that students will have the opportunity to get ready for them. God acted in much the same way when He gave prophecies about the future in the Bible. God didn’t give us knowledge about future things so that we could impress our friends with charts about the end times! He revealed these details so that we can be prepared for these events and learn the right lessons from them—both before and after they take place.

 In Isaiah 44-48, God made some very specific prophecies about His plan for the Jewish people and the nations around them—prophecies that are so specific that critics of the Bible claim they must have been written after the fact. After all, the only other explanation is that the Bible is true and has a supernatural origin! Let’s read about these amazing prophecies and the lessons that God would have us learn from them. 

1. God offers specific prophecies about His plan for Israel (44:24-45:13; 46:1-7; 47:1-15)

 In this section of the book of Isaiah, God makes two very specific prophecies about His plan for Israel and the nations around them. First, He states that a man named Cyrus would one day act from a position of authority for the good of the Jewish people by allowing them to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple of God. Now remember, in Isaiah’s day, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were still standing. The city’s downfall had not yet taken place; this prophecy told of events that would happen almost 150 years down the road! [READ 44:24-28]

 Second, the Lord declared that Babylon would be suddenly overthrown from a position of security and dominance over other nations. Both of these prophecies were fulfilled by a man named Cyrus the Great, who was the king of the Persian Empire. Cyrus invaded and defeated Babylon and then issued a decree that any Jews living in his empire were free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. Turn with me to Ezra 1, and we’ll read a record of this decree [READ Ezra 1:1-4].

 I want to spend a bit more time discussing this idea of prophecy because it shows us just how unique the Bible really is. The fact that the Bible has made such detailed prophecies that later came true sets it apart from all other books and individuals who have tried to predict the future. All other so-called prophets have encountered one of two problems with their prophecies—either their prophecies were so vague that they cannot be proven true or false, or their prophecies just flat-out did not come to pass and were thus false prophecies.

 Nostradamus is a good example of a so-called prophet whose prophecies were too vague to be proven true or false. Nostradamus was a Frenchman who lived in the 1500’s, and he wrote many four-line poems called “quatrains” that were supposedly predictions of the future. Here is one example:

The young lion will overcome the older one,
In a field of combat in single fight:
He will pierce his eyes in their golden cage;
Two wounds in one, then he dies a cruel death.

 Think for a moment about the kind of event to which this prophecy could refer. Fans of Nostradamus claim that this prophecy was fulfilled by two kings fighting in a jousting match. Now, after I gave you that interpretation, you could read these words again and say, “Yeah, okay. That kind of makes sense.” But you could only say that after I told you the supposed interpretation. As it stands, this prophecy is so vague that it could refer to several different events and people. Notice how different this prophecy is from Isaiah’s prophecy—Isaiah mentioned a specific person named Cyrus, a specific country, a specific city, and a specific building. Its not hard to prove whether or not Isaiah’s prophecy came true.

 Other so-called prophets have made predictions that were specific but which simply did not come true. The prophecies of Joseph Smith are a good example of prophecies that did not come true. Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon church, and he made many prophecies about specific events that simply didn’t happen. For example, in the early 1800’s, he predicted that the city with streets of gold described in Revelation would be built in Independence, MO within a generation. Well, I used to live not far from Independence, MO, and I can tell you that it looks nothing like the city described in Revelation! His prophecy simply did not come true, but if we consider Isaiah’s prophecy, we can look in the history books and see that history played out precisely as Isaiah predicted it would.

 The fact that the Bible has specifically and accurately predicted the future reveals just how unique this book truly is. God has given mankind glimpses of His plan before that plan has actually unfolded, and even today we are looking forward to prophecies about the future that still await fulfillment. But why has God revealed prophecies like these that we read in Isaiah? Well, God gives us an explanation for that question as well.

2. God explains why He has given these prophecies (45:4-7; 48:3-5, 11, 17-19)

 First, in Isaiah 45:4-7, God states that He has revealed these events to show His unique identity as the one true God [READ 45:4-7]. When these events would come to pass and people would discover that God had prophesied them more than a century in advance, they would have clear proof that the God of Israel is unique—greater than all the other so-called gods whom people might worship.

The prophecies of Scripture can have the same effect today. Easter and Christmas give us a great opportunity to proclaim that Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection not only happened, but they were actually the fulfillment of prophecies that were made centuries in advance. The events of Jesus’ life were not only significant by themselves, they were also significant because they were part of a larger plan that God announced beforehand, so that when they happened, we could see His deity on full display.

Second, the Lord states that He announced these events in advance so that when they happened, the credit for them could not be given to any other so-called gods [READ 48:3-5, 11]. The scenario that the Lord describes here is not hard to imagine. Remember—the people of Israel lived with so-called gods all around them. It was normal at that time for people to worship any number of different gods. So when these events came to pass, the Jews could have been tempted to give credit for them to other so-called gods, and so God prophesied these things in advance so that when they happened, it would be obvious that He was behind them.

Third, the Lord stated that He had announced these events to His people so that He could bless them. God wanted His people to trust Him and obey Him so that He could bless them; thus, He gave them these prophecies so that they could change their ways and be ready for Him to act [READ 48:17-19]. Can you hear the grieving heart of God as He laments the blessings that His people had thrown away? Like a kind teacher who wants her students to succeed rather than fail, God had instructed His people and given them advance warning so that they could ace His test! He warned them about discipline to come so that they would repent, and He told them about blessings to come so that they would have the hope to stay on the narrow way.

The fact that God gives us advance warning about things to come shows us that He desires to save rather than condemn. If God simply wanted to condemn us, He could leave us totally in the dark about the future, and then one day His judgment would fall on us without any warning and that would be the end of the story. But God desires to save and forgive, and so we see Him in this passage extending a call far and wide for people to come to Him and be saved. 

3. God invites all people to embrace Him as the one true God (45:20-23)

Please follow along as I read 45:20-23 [READ 45:20-23]. Notice the boundless extent of God’s offer of salvation! He extends His invitation far and wide, inviting all people to embrace Him as the one true God, casting aside all other things that they may worship to be reunited with their Creator and pardoned by Him. Every other object of worship in this world is powerless to save us from the guilt of our sins; thus, it is absolutely crucial that we embrace God as the one and only source of salvation, for to place our hope in anything else is to place our hope in a mirage and a façade—an unreal imposter.

I think the apostle Paul really said it best in Acts 17 when he was calling for a group of philosophers to leave behind their idols and embrace the living God. Please turn there with me [READ Acts 17:22-31]. There has never been any excuse to doubt that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of the Bible—is the one true God, but now God has given us the ultimate demonstration of this truth through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as Paul said, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because God is going to judge the world by the Lord Jesus Christ. Your response to Jesus is the determining factor of your verdict from God. According to John 3:36, God’s criteria for judgment is very simple—“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

My friend, you must realize today that anything you may worship apart from Jesus cannot save you. He is the only one who can save, and you can receive His salvation from sin and from Hell by confessing how wrong you have been to sin against Him and acknowledging that He alone can save you on the basis of His death and resurrection. Confess your rebellion against Him, accept Him as the only God and Savior, and you will have His pardon today!

God on Trial--Isaiah Series

In 2007, a state senator in Nebraska decided to make a point against frivolous lawsuits, so he decided to draw some attention to the issue by suing God. Senator Ernie Chambers, an agnostic, filed suit to force God to cease carrying out harmful acts of nature and making threats to send people to Hell. The first judge to hear the case dismissed it, saying that God could not be properly notified of the lawsuit since He has no home address. Chambers appealed the ruling by arguing that since God is supposed to know everything, He surely knew about the lawsuit. The lawsuit eventually died when the appeals court stated that it does not address abstract or hypothetical questions. People haven’t always taken God to court quite so literally, but through our actions people have often put God on trial and demanded proof that He is God and that His word can be trusted. So in Isaiah 41-44, God throws open the doors of His courtroom and invites the world to come in to settle the question about His deity. Is He truly the one and only God, or can the idols of the nations make a claim to be divine as well? Let’s take a seat in the courtroom as God makes His case! The Case for God’s Deity Exhibit A—God’s control over the nations (41:1-4, 11-13) Let’s read 41:1-4 [READ 41:1-4]. As we can see, God’s first claim is that He is in control over the nations. His words here refer to the power players of the Middle East who were building empires—like the Assyrians. As we have read previously in this book, these nations truly were seeking to advance their own agenda, but God claimed that they were actually carrying out His will. In these verses, God claims that He both stirred up the conquering nations and gave the other nations into their hands. Now of course, the other nations would have laughed at the idea that they were controlled by the God of Israel—especially since many of them were harassing Israel at this time. But the unique history of the nation of Israel shows God’s claim to be true. Throughout these chapters, God describes Israel as His chosen people, His servant, and His witnesses, whom He had established as a nation for Himself. Certainly no other nation could claim to have the miraculous origins and preservation that Israel had with their liberation from Egypt and conquest of the Promised Land. And if the nations would not accept the evidence of the past, God promised to give additional evidence of His control over the nations in the future [READ 41:11-13]. Exhibit B—God’s fulfilled predictions (41:21-29) Let’s read God’s challenge in 41:21-29 [READ 41:21-29]. The ability to accurately predict the future is clearly a divine power. Regardless of what you may hear from psychics on late-night TV, everyone knows that humans cannot predict the future with accuracy. So God’s challenge makes perfect sense—if these idols are gods, then they should be able to accurately predict the future, but as God states, they are utterly unable to do so. The Lord’s ability to accurately declare what will happen in the future is a powerful testimony to His deity, but honestly, it says even more about God than we normally think. We often think that when God predicts the future, He looks into the future and tells us what He sees—like a sailor looking through a submarine’s periscope and reporting on what he can see. But in reality, God knows the future because He plans the future and then carries it out. God is more like an architect showing us his plans for a building. An architect can tell you exactly what a building will look like because he has planned it out. That is the way that we should think about God’s knowledge of the future. So the idols of the nations are powerless to declare the future because they are powerless to do anything about the future. They cannot do good or harm, as God challenges them to do in v. 23. Thus, their weakness is put on full display. Exhibit C—God’s gracious redemption (43:1-2, 25; 44:21-22) With this point, we are talking about God’s response of grace and mercy to Israel’s sins. But how does redemption show that the God of Israel is the true God? Well, as the old cliché states, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Human beings are not naturally inclined toward grace and mercy—we are inclined toward revenge and ruthlessness. There is a scene in the movie Braveheart when the daughter-in-law of the King of England is trying to convince him that an act of mercy toward the rebellious Scots would demonstrate his greatness. He responds by saying, “My greatness will be displayed when Scotland lies in ashes!” That is how we as humans think, but God strikes a perfect balance between justice and mercy, and His true greatness drives Him to help His wayward creatures. Look at 43:1-2. God has just spoken of Israel’s sinfulness and the discipline that He carried out on them, then we read these words [READ 43:1-2]. In v. 1, the Hebrew text uses wording that calls to mind an Old Testament idea that is beautifully portrayed in the book of Ruth. The idea is that of the kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer was someone who had the right to help a family member out of a desperate situation. If a person had to sell some property because of financial hardship, the kinsman-redeemer could step in and buy back the land for his relative. If a man died without having any children, the kinsman-redeemer could marry his widow to ensure her well-being and raise a child who would carry on the deceased man’s name. Now in the book of Ruth, you may remember that when Naomi returned to Israel with Ruth, these two widows were destitute. They had no way to provide for themselves except through Ruth’s labors to pick up grain that fell on the ground during harvest. You may also remember that when Naomi found out that Ruth had run into Boaz, she was thrilled because Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer—he was a relative who was in a position to help them out of their desperate situation. So when God says in Isaiah 43:1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine,” He is describing himself as our kinsman-redeemer. He has treated us like His own relative and has lovingly helped us out of our desperate situation. Now the centerpiece of God’s redemption is always—always—the forgiveness of sins. No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, our greatest need is always to be at peace with God by having our sins forgiven, and so God emphasizes forgiveness in these chapters. In 43:25 He says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Then, in 44:21-22, He says [READ 44:21-22]. Now if we only look at the evidence that God presents, we have an open and shut case for His deity. God is obviously different from the lifeless idols of the nations. The only reason that anyone had to doubt this conclusion is that God’s people were not serving as good witnesses. God’s redemption was not on full display because God’s people were not living like redeemed people. His control over the nations was constantly being doubted by His own people as they ran around making alliances with anyone who would have them. So God describes in chapter 42 a servant whom He would send who would express all the actions of deity that He describes in this section. We can look back on this now and see that it was a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Servant of the Lord as God’s Witness (42:1-9) Notice in the first four verses how the servant will show God’s control over the nations [READ 42:1-4]. The servant is described as having governing power over the nations to establish and execute justice in the earth, and the nations are pictured as eagerly waiting to hear His commands. Next, notice how the servant functions as a redeemer to save people out of a desperate situation [READ 42:5-7]. Finally, in vv. 8-9, we see that when the servant arrives and carries out his ministry, he will fulfill prophecy and thus show God’s ability to declare the future [READ 42:8-9]. In the person of Jesus the Christ—the Messiah—we have the perfect witness to all that God is. Colossians 1:15 states that “He is the image of the invisible God.” People in ancient times were tremendously confused that Christians had no statues—no visible images—of their God. They actually called the Christians “atheists” because they didn’t worship a God whom you could see. But the truth is, we do have an image of our God, it just isn’t a dead piece of wood or stone—it is a person who lived among us and showed us what God is like. Many people over the years have said, “If God wants so desperately for us to believe in Him, why doesn’t He come down out of the clouds and show Himself? Why doesn’t He just appear?” What these people are choosing to ignore is that God already has!! He was here, He lived with us, and we have a record of it in the Bible! The God whom we worship as the only God is guilty as charged! He is the Lord of all—the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Redeemer. So how should we respond to a God like this? These chapters spell it out for us. First, we do not need to fear in this life because of who our God is. Nine times in these chapters, God tells us not to be afraid because He is with us, He will help us, He has redeemed us, He has chosen us, He is one true Rock—a solid foundation on which to build. Second, we are to praise Him and give Him glory—that is, we are to declare His incomparable worth and status, and thus exalt Him. As I stated earlier, the only reason that people really have to doubt that our God is the one true God is that God’s people don’t live like it. If we are God’s witnesses, what kind of case can be made for His uniqueness and divinity? If someone examined your life to determine if the God that you worship is the one true God, what verdict would they reach? Would they conclude that your God must be powerful because you display so much confidence in Him? Would they conclude that He must be in control because you do not live in fear of what may come? Would they conclude that He alone has the power to redeem from sin because you are not burdened with guilt and sinful behavior does not rule your life? What is the verdict? The court is in session all around you right now. Let’s see to it that we are good witnesses!

Setting the Story Straight--Isaiah Series

For the last 12 years or so, Hollywood has been in love with prequels—movies that tell the back story of other movies that have already been made. To my knowledge, it all started with the Star Wars trilogy when George Lucas decided to go back and tell the story of how Darth Vader became Darth Vader. Since then, several sci-fi and superhero franchises have received the prequel treatment, including Star Trek, X-Men, Batman, and now Spider-Man. The purpose of a prequel is to enhance your understanding of the original story by giving you some of the background details that led up to it. As we return to our study of Isaiah today, we will be looking at a prequel to the dramatic rescue of Israel that we read about last time we were in this book. When we last read about King Hezekiah, he and his people were in grave danger of being conquered by the Assyrians, but God accomplished a dramatic rescue by sending an angel to slay 185,000 Assyrian troops. That was quite a story, and King Hezekiah showed tremendous faith in the midst of those dark days. But lest we forget who the real hero of the story was, Isaiah goes on in chapters 38-39 to give us some of the back story of King Hezekiah, and we learn that Hezekiah would not have even been alive in those dark days were it not for the grace of God. While we can certainly appreciate the human heroes of the Bible, Isaiah reminds us to never forget who the real hero is! Let’s learn how God prepared Hezekiah for his moment of great faith during the Assyrian invasion. 1. God applies loving grace to Hezekiah’s fatal illness (Ch. 38) Let’s read this story [READ 38:1-3]. Now, beside the obviously unpleasant thought of dying, Hezekiah was probably so troubled by this news for two reasons. First, he seems to understand that his illness was an act of discipline for some sin or sins that he had committed. We’ll see this more clearly in v. 17. The Bible does view sin as one possible cause of illness. I think God will make it very clear to us if an illness is a discipline for sin, and Hezekiah seems convinced that he is facing discipline here. He was obviously devastated at the thought of dying out of fellowship with God. Second, Hezekiah apparently did not have a son at this point and thus had no heir to his throne. He discover this when we learn how old his son was when he became king after Hezekiah’s eventual death. So Hezekiah was probably also thinking about what would happen to his family and his kingdom if he were to die without an heir. Well, the Lord was listening to Hezekiah’s prayer, and He gave a very gracious response [READ 38:4-8]. Not only did God choose to heal Hezekiah, but notice the extent of God’s gracious response. He wasn’t just going to give Hezekiah another day or another month or another year—He promised him a full 15 years of life! Then God assured Hezekiah that He would protect him from his most dreaded enemies—the Assyrians. So Hezekiah would have reason to believe that the next 15 years would be 15 good years—years of safety and security. Then, as we’ll read in a moment, Hezekiah asked for a sign to confirm this message, and God granted Him a miraculous sign to remove all doubt about His promises. So Hezekiah received far more than he could have ever hoped for, but isn’t that always true of God’s grace? Remember—the very idea of grace is receiving something that you don’t deserve. So not only are we undeserving of little acts of grace, but God pours out His grace upon us and lavishes it upon us. As John 1:16 says of Jesus, “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” I remember hearing a pastor compare God’s grace to eating pancakes at his grandma’s house. He said that when he was a boy, his mother would only pour a little syrup on his pancakes because she was thinking about how much sugar he was eating. But when he ate pancakes at grandma’s house, grandma would let it flow! She would pour out the syrup and let it run over the sides until the pancakes were just floating like an island in a sea of syrup. That’s what God is like when He shows grace—He just lets it flow! So if you’re ever tempted to think that God has been stingy with His grace in your life, you need to think again! God’s grace is lavish and excessive, and its designed to fill our hearts with gratitude, just as it did for Hezekiah. Hezekiah wrote a psalm to recall these events and how he learned from them. Let’s read his words [READ 38:9-14]. Hezekiah’s poetry really gives us a sense of what he was feeling, but he also gives us a glimpse of what he learned that gave him a new dedication to God [READ 38:15-20; note v. 15 NIV “I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul”]. Hezekiah realized how this whole experience had ultimately been good for him, and he had a renewed commitment to praise God and thank Him. This experience was also preparing Hezekiah for a significant test during the Assyrian invasion. Who knows how Hezekiah would have responded if he had not gone through this time? Would he have had the same faith if he had not already seen God’s power over nature with the sign of the shadow, and ultimately God’s power over his own life through this healing? Remember that God knows His whole plan for our lives, and struggles that we face today may be preparing us for victory in even greater struggles tomorrow. Let me make one quick side comment about v. 21 [READ 38:21-22]. Verse 21 tells us that God worked through the means of a medical treatment. I think verses like this tell us that God is not opposed to working through medical treatments in order to heal us. I heard a story not long ago of a boy who died from a burst appendix because his parents believed that God would only heal in response to prayer. They believed it was wrong to seek out medical help. But my friends, all healing comes from God, and His glory is not diminished if He chooses to heal through medicine. So we see from this chapter that Hezekiah would not have even been alive to display great faith if it had not been for God’s grace. But there was another important event that also prepared Hezekiah for the Assyrian invasion. 2. God applies severe mercy to Hezekiah’s naïve pride (Ch. 39) I borrowed this phrase “severe mercy” from a book with that title by a man named Sheldon Vanauken. In this book, Mr. Vanauken writes about his love story with his wife. Their romance was one that all married couples would love to have. But after many years together, his wife died of an illness, and he was left without the love of his life. Mr. Vanauken describes this loss as a severe mercy—severe because of the deep loss that he experienced, but merciful because the loss drove him closer to God. Thus, his story is one of seeing the grace and mercy of God shine through during painful circumstances. Hezekiah faced a somewhat comparable situation through some news that he received from Isaiah. Let’s read about this incident [READ 39:1-2]. Here is where Hezekiah showed some naïve pride by showing the Babylonians so much. His actions would be comparable to our president receiving ambassadors and showing them around the Pentagon, showing them all of our nuclear missiles, and giving them secrets of national security! Its hard to know exactly what he was thinking. Perhaps he thought, “I need to show these men how great I am to convince them that I am worthy of all the trouble they went to to come here.” Or perhaps he was hoping to make an alliance with the Babylonians to fight off Assyria. We know that Judah’s kings were constantly tempted to trust in friends and firepower rather than God. Either way, Hezekiah was naïve, and he revealed a sinful pride in all that God had given him. Well, Hezekiah then received some news from Isaiah that would become a severe mercy for him [READ 39:3-7]. What a devastating prophecy to hear! Everything that Hezekiah had just been bragging about would be carried away—and by the very people whom he may have thought were now his friends. And not only would Hezekiah’s things be carried away, but all of the things that had been passed on to him by previous kings and all of the things that he hoped to pass on to kings after him. And some of his own descendents would be conquered by the people whom he had just trusted, and they would be humbled and placed into servitude. This was severe news, indeed, and Hezekiah’s response has long been puzzling to students of the Bible [READ 39:8]. It is very easy to read this verse and conclude that Hezekiah is being horribly selfish and celebrating the fact that he will apparently get off scot-free. But we can’t jump to conclusions about what the word “good” means in this verse. Both the English word “good” and the Hebrew word behind it have a wide range of meaning. My dictionary listed 20 definitions for the word “good!” I think it is more likely that Hezekiah is saying that God’s word is appropriate and fitting. Given the lessons he just learned from his healing and the tremendous faith he is about to display during the Assyrian invasion, I think he is expressing a humble resignation to the will of God, saying that whatever God does is appropriate and justified. I also think that Hezekiah’s final statement is an indication that God has been merciful to him. His actions have contributed to these future consequences; God would be justified to bring down these consequences now, during Hezekiah’s time. I think Hezekiah realizes that yet acknowledges God’s mercy for delaying the consequences that are to come. All in all, I think the severe mercy of this news prepared Hezekiah for his greatest test yet during the Assyrian invasion. He learned that he couldn’t trust in money or weapons or so-called friends because all of those things could be taken away. The only option was to trust in the living God who holds our lives in His hand—who even controls nature and the future itself! Trusting in anything less would have doomed Hezekiah and his people, but his faith had been forged in the crucible of trials that had trained him to trust in God alone. My friends, consider this—Hezekiah did not know what kind of test was about to come his way when he lay sick or when he received visitors from Babylon. He didn’t know that he was about to face the most pivotal moment of his life. But God did—and God was preparing him for a great spiritual victory by taking him through the training ground of trials. We face many moments in life that don’t make sense to us at that moment, but we must remember that their importance may become very clear to us in due time. Today’s trials may simply be the prequels to tomorrow’s victories, and those victories may not have come unless we had been trained by the trials. We also have the incredible blessing of knowing how the last chapter of our lives will play out. Jesus told us that He has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us. You and I have a reservation there—the angels are putting the mints out on the pillows as we speak! So we may not know what the next chapter of life holds for us, but we do know how the story will turn out, don’t we? So can’t we live with greater faith today since we know how the story ends? We’re like characters in a movie who already know how the movie ends! What an awesome advantage for life! Don’t you think Dorothy would have liked to see the final scenes of “The Wizard of Oz” when she was first picked up by that tornado? That could have saved her a lot of trouble! Don’t you think Luke Skywalker would have liked to see “Return of the Jedi” before he had to go through “The Empire Strikes Back?” My friends, we’ve already seen the closing scenes of this movie called “life,” and we’ve seen the credits, too! Who is directing all of this? God! Who wrote the screenplay? God! Who plays the starring role? Jesus! So we don’t know what the next scene has in store for us—big deal! We know how the story turns out, and we know the director who will get us there! Today’s trials may just be the prequel to tomorrow’s main attraction, but no matter what, we know the sequel to this life is gonna be a blockbuster!