Isaiah 40: The Context Pt 1

0:01 All right this morning, trying to figure out exactly how we should do things with missing last week, then the week before that, a lot of people were out, so we have some people probably like three weeks behind and even a week. Just from one week to the next week. We know how much can be forgotten and trying to put everything back in context, how much you review, and then of course you got the first hour, then the second hour is going to be different piece. Trying to get it all back on the same page is going to be very difficult today. So all I can do is weish just I'm just gonna jump right back in. Obviously we need to get to Romans four, because you know we've been working on that, But at the same time, we started this study of Isaiah forty to fifty five, and I don't want to get too far behind on that either, So we're just going to jump in. We'll see where we are at the end of the first hour, and then if the second hour, if we need to continue, then I'll back up a little bit and try to get everybody on the same page, and hopefully by the time we're finished sometime afternoon today, everyone who's here will at least be on the same page, and if those are not, then yeah, there's not much I can do at that point, but we'll do what we can. So just remember how this all started. It all started because I decided to review a sermon, and I decided to test, to basically do a little test, a little experiment, and ask how long it would take for a pastor to insert us to insert Christians into Isaiah chapter forty three.

1:35 And so we started the sermon, and in less than forty seconds, the pastor had inserted us into Isaiah forty three, which was somewhat confusing and frustrating, and I'm like, how in the world did that happen? We moved to another sermon and saw that the other sermon took less than zero seconds because the title of the sermon inserted us into Isaiah forty three by entitling their sermon the Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer, and they took that from Isaiah forty three. And I'm like, how in the world can do we constantly get put in Isaiah forty three. There's just that this should not be occurring. Then we got into a time machine, went back to sixteen seventy eight where someone was writing a book in a gaeil cell. That man's name was John Bunyan. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, And in The Pilgrim's Progress he uses once again Isaiah forty three, turns it into an allegory and makes it about us and every sense really Pilgrim's Progress. It seems to algorize and spiritualize Isaiah, not just forty three, but the entire section Isaiah forty through fifty five. In fact, early this week I saw a sermon on Isaiah chapter four entitled the False Church. So then that he is Isaiah Ford. So it just seems like Isaiah, you can do whatever you want with it.

2:55 So it bothered me, and it bothered me and bothered me. And one of the things I tried to do is whenever I do a review and it goes horribly wrong, it's easy to criticize, right, anybody can turn on a microphone and go, well, this sermon is trash. Anybody can do that. But I always then try to step back and go, Okay, well, if it's so bad, what can we do with the text. We did that with a Psalm eighty three, so that started, Okay, well, then we're gonna work on Isaiah forty through fifty five, and we're gonna work on it with this and mine. We're going to attempt to put it in its actual textual context and historical context so that we can alleviate and stop all of this, because it doesn't seem to end just one thing after another. Then on BBN, a Christian radio station, they do a little devotional and well they're devotional. It's called Streams in the Desert. I looked at the Streams and the Desert devotional for that particular day, and guess what it was on Isaiah forty It was on either Isaiah.

3:59 Think it was Isaiah. And once again, what did they do? They made it about us. Oh, and it's just like, I don't understand why this is such a problem, but it is a problem, and I think what it demonstrates, and I know nobody likes to hear this is when we get down to the reality of the something. We can really get down to the reality of it when it comes to the Bible. I say it over and over and over again, there are no rules governing it. Everyone does what they want with it. Everyone thinks that they're right, and in the end, all the talk about truth, and oh we care about scripture. It's just anyone can do whatever they want with it and the Bible. And I've been saying this on the podcast over and over and over. The reality is, if we want a definition of a Christian, a Christian is nothing more than a narcissistic textual hijacker. We go to the Bible. It's about us or narcissistic. We take the text, we hijacket and we fly it to wherever we want it to get because that's what we do. There's no there's just no guidelines.

5:05 We can pretend all day that there's hermoneutical guidelines, but people will just do people want to study the hermoneutical guidelines? No, do they want to apply the hermonutical guidelines. No. Everyone can make the text say whatever it wants. And you've got very famous pastors who can do weird things. With Isaiah forty to fifty five. I was just listening the other day on Moody Radio and it was on the Book of Exodus, and the whole Exodus was about us US and it's like, I don't at some point you just want to give up, so all I can do here before I give up all I can do here before I give up. Is attempt is attempt to just say, let's look at the section of scripture, look at it in a historical textual context, and see what actually happened.

5:51 So that's what we're going to do. We did two plus hours of trying to outline it and break it down. I'm going to do a quick review over that and try to talk about the chronological order and some things like that. Just remember, the entire section of Isaiah forty to fifty five is a message to Israelites in Babylonian captivity, all right. The goal was to offer hope and comfort to the exile community, assuring them that God of God's intention to restore them physically to their land spiritually as his covenant people. I cannot stress that enough. That is what it's about. If you don't understand that, you've missed everything.

6:37 Now when we talked a little bit about breaking it down, this is just some basic stuff here. The division of Isaiah forty through fifty five typically falls into two major sections, and section one goes from Isaiah forty Does anybody remember to forty eight? Look at that and Isaiah forty nine through fifty five. It seems to be based on a natural progression in the text, and many scholars recognize this as a reasonable structure to better help understand the flow of the message. Now when we walk through it, we can always do what we can disagree with this conclusion, but at least we're going to start with this basic concept, all right. We talked about that. Most believe that there is a shift in emphasis and a focus between these two parts, though they are closely related. All right, Isaiah forty through forty eight, that it's the idea of God's comfort and deliverance for Israel. This section emphasizes God's comfort to his people. And then we kind of talked a little bit about that section Isaiah forty nine through fifty five.

7:46 It seems to focus on the servant of the Lord and a broader plan of salvation. So those are the two main sections. I'm not going to review everything of our outline because we outlined it a lot of different ways, did we not. We broke it down and we talked about key concepts, and I think we did a lot of work. So there's kind of the basic idea. If you want to take Isaiah forty through fifty five. The main thing to understand is why it's a message to people in Babylonian captivity. The words of comfort are for whom, the people on Babylonian captivity. The promises are for whom, the people on Babylonian captivity. And it would be ridiculous for us to run in take promises and comfort not for us and say, oh, I find great comfort in it.

8:34 Why are you finding comfort and words that are not directed towards you? All right, that's the issue. So then what do we want to do. We want to know what the message of Isaiah forty to fifty five actually is in its historical context, and what's the other thing we want to accomplish? Then we want to see what can we learn from it without doing what destroying its context, destroying its original meaning, and by just unnecessarily inserting ourselves into it. And I know that goes against everything preaching is supposed to be, because we come to church to hear messages about whom us, right, because it's always about us, But it really isn't. All right, So that's a really quick overview. Now let's do this. Let's remember the proper order of events. Because I spent a lot of time on this all right, because it can get confusing, right, sometimes people will preach it even in sermons than in Isaiah forty to fifty five, that Isaiah is basically preaching this to the people. That's not true because remember there's a big Isaiah gives this message way before the event actually occur. Remember of the timing. So I'm going to go through some of that chronological order. Right, Let's start with Isaiah's ministry. His ministry is somewhere between seven forty and seven hundred BC. Everybody remember that, Okay, I remember

10:05 when we give dates, what do we have to remember if you use your study Bible, if you use a dictionary, using the encyclopedia, we may get there's going to be some variation. Right, But between seven forty and seven hundred BC, Isaiah prophesies to the people of Judah during the time of Assyria's dominance, warning of future judgment in exile by a babylon but also offering hope of future comfort and restoration. So he offers comfort for the Babylonian captivity that is not currently happening. Does everyone understand that at the time of his ministry, who's the dominant power Assyria? So who would be suffering primarily at that point the Northern Kingdom, right, Okay, everybody got that. Then, prophecy of the Babylonian exile. I cannot stress this enough. The prophecy of the Babylonian exile is all about Isaiah thirty nine. We're going to look at that in greater context today. Isaiah. And why is that so important? Because Isaiah thirty nine establishes what the context for forty to fifty five, right, and for some weird reason, pastors just seem to ignore it. I don't know why. Isaiah foretells that Babylon will one day conquer Judah and take the people into captivity. This happens more than one hundred years after Isaiah's lifetime. It's a hundred about one hundred years. Some say less, some say more about one hundred years. I'm you know, it's math, so don't quote me, you know, dogmatically on it. But let's just say this, Isaiah is dead before the Babylonian captivity occurs.

11:39 Therefore he can't be the one preaching the message of comfort to the people. And any pastor who says that is just met mixing it all up. Now I can understand why a pastor may do that, right, because it's the book of Isaiah, who is the prophet Isaiah. The words are then seen as Isaiah's words to the people in captivity. And if you and all you're doing is kind of coming to Isaiah forty through fifty five to do kind of a devotional message, or you're trying to bring comfort to the people, you can then necessarily just fall into it. And that's always the problem when you do a devotional type message, because when you do a devotional type message, what are you going to inevitably do in a devotional type message. Are you gonna spend twenty minutes going through the context, No, You're gonna jump into the text. And so therefore you just inevitably may say something I don't blame. Anybody can do that. I've done it.

12:37 Anybody can make those mistakes. That but that's the danger of devotional type preaching, and that's the danger of sermons. That's why I constantly preach against sermons, because sermons are all designed to be this nice little package where you come in and what do you want to give the people? Do you want the people to leave with understanding hermeneutical principle and the point of the text. They need what what's preaching? Almost always about application? Application, application, Well, when you focus on application, what do you almost inevitably sacrifice observation. Right, You don't spend thirty minutes in a sermon doing observational work on the text because everybody's gonna do what They're gonna go find another church, right, because it is that nobody that's kind of boring. What people say, that's very academic, that doesn't feel like a sermon. I want it to feel like a sermon. I want it to feel it's all every hand. I want to feel it like a sermon. Well, I don't know what you want. Do you want to study the Bible or do you want a sermon? If you want a sermon, then just pay me to give speeches and I'll just send it home. Write speeches and I'll follow all the templates for a good speech. Make eye contact, make sure my voice. I won't yell, but I won't get too quiet. I'll make sure I have some emotion, be funny, tell little joke, give your three little points. You're like, Oh, I had church today, it felt so good. But guess what you don't know the text.

14:10 Now you'll think you know the text because it gives the impression. All right, so we have to understand this is the reason we do these things. Right, So we have Isaiah's ministry, we have the prophecy of the Babylonian exile, which and that happens. The exile happens about after Isaiah is dead. Let's say it that way. The Babylonian exile occurs between around five eighty six PC. And I think it was Sarah who brought this up, what two weeks ago? Yeah, there's there is some dispute on like, okay, when do we count when do we say that the Babylonian exile started? And remember it's kind of like, well does it start here? Does it start here? And that's because there's like there's control, but they're not complete control. And then there's like, well then some people are taken but other people are left, and it's there's kind of it's a process. So where you date it can themity sometimes well is it seventy years or what? Depends on where you start the date and where you can get into all of those discussions.

15:07 Does that make sense? Everybody? Okay with that? All right? So around five eighty six PC Babylon conquers Jerusalem, destroys the temple, and takes the people of Judah into exile. Right, So there's we have the ministry, we have the prophecy, we have the exile, we have the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies Isaiah forty through fifty five. The message of comfort in Isaiah forty through fifty five becomes particularly relevant during Babylonian exile is it assures the people of God's plan to deliver them from exile. All right, So really, when we say the fulfillment of the prophecy, if the prophecy is basically words of comfort, the words of comfort become applicable during the captivity. Does that make sense? Now? Those words of comfort in Isaiah forty fifth. Now this will be the philological and harmoneutical dispute. Are all of the promises and all the words of comfort in Isaiah forty through fifty five fulfilled at the end of the Babylonian exile or are there promises that point to things far after?

16:21 That will be the issue we'll have to because anything that was not fulfilled when they came out of the Babylonian exile. What will become the dispute anything that was not fulfilled? Okay, well, then the argument does, well, is it fulfilled in the church or will it be fulfilled literally in the future. All right, We've talked about this when we were talking about eschatology. Right, this is the never ending debate, and we'll we'll see when we get there. Right, But the primary message of comfort is fulfilled during the Babylonian exile because it's giving them the words, and then those words find their ultimate fulfillment when the Babylonian captivity comes to an end. All right. Then number five that return from exile around five point thirty nine BC and after and even the return is kind of a process as well. Cyrus, everybody remember his name. Cyrus of Persia, conquers Babylon, allows the Jews to return to their homeland, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy of Israel's restoration. Right, and Cyrus, you need to write in all capital letters, circle it, thirty seven exclamation points because he becomes the central figure in Isaiah forty through fifty five. Let me state that again.

17:42 Cyrus is one of the central figures of Isaiah forty through fifty five. All right, Now that may make some people very uncomfortable, but there are some prophecies in Isaiah forty through fifty five we immediately may want to run to Christ and you better slow down because it may be pointing to Cyrus verst and foremost, especially in its historical context. And we'll get to that as we move forward. All right, everybody got that? Okay, Now I have a whole nother section here. I'm gonna skip it all. So now that's all of our kind of review. See that took a long time right there, just doing all of that.

18:25 We added a little bit extra in, but we get it all there. Now, we cannot begin a study of Isaiah forty through fifty five without looking at something else first. What do we have to look at before we can really dig into Isaiah forty through fifty five. Obviously we have to look at all the background, we have to outline it, the timing, all of those things. But there is something else we have to look at that we have not looked at yet before we get to Isaiah forty through fifty five. Does anybody know what that would be something we have to look at before we can start actually looking at Isaiah chapter forty, We definitely have to go back to chapter thirty nine, all right, because the context of Isaiah forty through fifty five can be traced back to Isaiah chapter thirty nine. And let's all start in verse five Isaiah thirty nine to five. Everyone there, What do we read in thirty nine to five? Then said Isaiah? Two, has Akiah hear the word of the Lord of Host? Now why is this significant in thirty nine to five? Well, because we have Isaiah speaking to a literal person who's has Akiah, the king right, king of Judah. All right, So now so we know this,

19:56 Why is this so important? Where is it? Placing it in a history oracle context? Is it an allegory? Do we spiritualize it? No? All right? So what is the message? Look at verse six, what's the first word? Behold? This is trying to get their attention, right or has a guy's attention behold? Then what does he say? The days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day should be carried to Babylon. Nothing should be left saith the Lord. Now why is all that important? Because is this not making it literal. Yeah, is this talking about your ingrown tone now and you need comfort? No, this is not about you. It's about them. They're going to be taken to where it even names the place, does it not Babylon? All right? Everything is being laid out.

21:03 Then what does it say in verse seven? And of thy sons thou shalt issue that shall issue from thee. And thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget, shall they take away? And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon. This that has a KaiA to Isaiah. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in many days? There is the what the prophecy? All right? There is the prophecy. That's kind of funny in that way. Right. The Babylonian exile is foretold as a consequence of Judah's unfaithfulness, marking a significant turning point in the Book of Isaiah.

21:49 This prophecy establishes the context of judgment and impending exile, which sets the stage for the message of comfort and restoration that unfolds in Isaiah forty through fifty five, So how could we stay I'll say it in a more blunt way, unless you are the people taken into Babylonian captivity. Keep your stinking self out of Isaiah forty through fifty five, right, And I don't know why preachers feel like that they have the right to go in and insert us there. Okay, And I don't care. Pilgrim's progress is spoken of in hushed tones of reverence. But I'm sorry the book led to lots of problems with how people then handle these texts.

22:37 All right. Quoting Isaiah thirty nine to sixty eight again, I'm going to read it in a different translation. This is ESV. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs and the palace of the king of Babylon. In Isaiah forty nine, the prophet tells King Hezekiah that Judah will eventually be conquered by Babylon and that all of its treasures and many of its peoples will be taken into exile. This prophecy of exile provides the backdrop for the message that follows in Isaiah forty through fifty five.

23:23 I cannot stress that enough. It provides the context. It gives everything we need. So let's look at how Isaiah thirty nine sixty eight kind of basically contextualizes Isaiah forty through fifty five. I'm gonna break it down into specific points, all right, Number one, it's a transition. Isaiah thirty nine going into Isaiah forty builds a transition from judgment to comfort. There's a change, because what is Isaiah forty? Verse one starts with comfort? Right? Isaiah forty opens with the words comfort, comfort my people, signaling a shift from the judgment foretold in Isaiah thirty nine to a message of hope and restoration.

24:05 This promise of comfort directly addresses the situation of exile announced in Isaiah thirty nine, where God's people are assured that their time of suffering and captivity will not be the final word. The entire section of Isaiah forty through fifty five can be seen as a response to the looming reality of exile announced in Isaiah thirty nine, with the aim of offering hope that God will redeem and restore his people despite their disobedience. So forty, when you get to the word comfort, any good Bible student should say what when you hear comfort? Ye? Comfort? Ye? Any good Bible student should stop right there and do what Why do they need comfort? But what does preaching do?

25:01 Preaching says, what do you need comfort for this morning? I don't have many sermons I heard. Are you here this morning? Are you stressed? Are you concerned about the problems going on in our world? Are you having difficulties with your children? Is there stress in your marriage? Well, this morning You've come to God's house and I've got a word of comfort for you. And it's like, just stop talking. No, you don't. You don't have a word of comfort for me. If you're quoting Isaya chapter forty ray, I would raise my hand and be like, is there anyone here who's been recently in Babylonian captivity? Then stop talking, But the preacher says it in such a preacher kind of voice, and then the people leave in saying, pastor, I feel so much I feel so much comfort. This morning, thank you, that was so encouraging, And then they get on social media going all the pastor's words were so comforting to me this morning. Do you realize how utterly foolish we look that if someone in fifth grade could not figure out how to read Isaiah forty, they shouldn't go to sixth grade, right, that's reading comprehension. One oh one agreed or no ever I'm getting looks like maybe not okay Isaiah? Yes, they it should be if you are a Christian and you can't understand that when you read the words comfort ye, comfort yee, And what does it say, go on read the rest of the verse, saith,

26:33 you're God, but it's comfort whom my people? When you hear comfort, what's the first question you should ask, as a good Bible student? Comfort from what my people? What's the next question? Who is that referring to? That's not complicated, that's basic reading. And it's so weird that the institution that says we need to read God's word, we need to read God's word won't teach people how to basically read it. If the public school won't teach reading comprehension, then the church should teach read we need reading comprehension. When people say, what's the first thing you need in discipleship reading comprehension test. Don't teach about the Church, don't teach about the Trinity, don't teach about the deity of Christ.

27:21 Hand out reading comprehension test, and if they fell reading comprehension tests, take their Bibles from them and don't let them have a Bible until they can. That's how it should be. You go into a Bible bookstore and you're like, I'd like to purchase the Bible. I'm sorry, come back here. They take you to a back room, they sit you down, they give you a reading comprehension test. You fell it. I'm sorry you can't have a Bible. And I say that you think I'm just I'm being sarcastic. There's a level of seriousness to that, because when people take the Bible and do weird things with it, what happens, Really bad things happen. Okay, crazy things happen. I mean horrible things have happened with the misuse of the Bible. Has it not? Because you're dealing with something where now you feel like you have God supporting what you think, well, you better make sure you know what you're talking about.

28:14 People may think that this is who cares if we add comfort when it's not really for us. Well, it matters because you're not handling the word of God. So it's a transition from judgment to comfort. Has everybody got that? And also it's a promise of deliverance and return. Much of Isaiah forty through fifty five addresses the return from exile using language that evokes freedom from captivity and restoration to the land. This message of deliverance builds directly on the prophecy of exile and Isaiah thirty nine. Now why is it so important when you read real words of freedom of restoration? It's freedom and restoration from what Babylonian captivity, not your problems or your addiction or your struggles. It has nothing to do with that. Does that make sense.

29:12 It's about a literal captivity. But that's how it will be preached. And once again, that's a problem everybody. So everybody understands that concept. The theme of redemption return are God's response to the exile. Let me make sure the themes of redemption and return is God's response to the exile. Isaiah forty four to twenty eight. Everybody, look at Isaiah forty four twenty eight. What do you find in Isaiah forty four twenty eight? Okay, Cyrus is the shepherd. Go to forty five, verses one through four. Cyrus is the anointed.

30:04 What else does it say in those four verses in Isaiah forty five, He's gonna make the ways straight, make the way He's just keep the Isaiah forty five in your mind. Here's what I want you to understand. So the restoration, the freedom, the deliverance is from what Babylonian exile? Who is the deliverer? Cyrus? The deliverer is Cyrus. The freedom is from Babylonian exile. You can't just come into these passages and just start doing whatever you want with them.

30:53 There's gotta be a stop to that. So number so, how does this all fix? The contextualizes Isaiah forty through fifty five transitions from judgment to comfort. It's a promise of deliverance and return and a promise of a deliverer there as well. And then Isaiah number three. God's sovereignty and faithfulness is emphasized in this section. Isaiah forty through fifty five emphasizes God's sovereignty over nations and his faithfulness to his covenant promises. The context of Isaiah. Thirty nine establishes Babylon as a dominant power, but Isaiah forty through fifty five we reassures Israel that God is sovereign over all the next nations, including Babylon, and will fulfill his promises to his people despite their captivity. So in a sense, it shows God is The nations may have power, but who's the ultimate power controlling all of it? God, which raises a million questions, does it not? If God has all this power over nations, well, then why do things work the way they do? Right? I mean that's the truble philosophical problem. But we won't try to fix that philosophical problem now because well there's no answer to it, all right. But all right, so everybody got that. Now this is important? All right? Ready, this is trivia question why and this is going to set up a very important conversation we're going to have. Don't know if we'll get through it this hour, but this is so important.

32:21 Why do the people go into Babylonian captivity? Yeah? Well, thirty nine says that's the waere why idolatry or because we could say because of what sin? Disobedience? All right, just keep that in mind. All right. I'm going to stress that over and over and over because that's the key to this, right, that's the key here. So just keep that in mind. But guess what. Isaiah forty through fifty five demonstrates that in spite of their disobedience and sin, God's mercy and faithfulness will ultimately prevail. His commitment to redeem Israel is unwavering. All right, Look at Isaiah forty three one through two, forty three one through two. What does it say, fear not, for I have redeemed these Here's what I want you to remember. This point is God's sovereignty. It shows his sovereignty over the nations. But what else does it demonstrate God's sovereignty and faithfulness even when the people are unfaithful. Who's the sovereign one here?

33:44 Not Israel but God? And even though they are unfaithful, God remains faithful. His sovereignty is seeing even in his mercy and his forgiveness. Does that make sense? All right? Next, So going through these just basic points, we have a transition from judgment to comfort. Number two, we have a promise of deliverance and return. Number three we see God's sovereignty and faithfulness. Number four we have the introduction of the servant of the Lord, which I have already pointed out. Isaiah forty nine to fifty three introduces the servant of the Lord really introduced before that, but it plays a key role in Israel's spiritual restoration. The servant's role in bringing justice to salvation further address the consequences of judas disobedience outlined in Isaiah thirty nine, promising a future redemption that goes beyond merely returning to the land. All right, So this idea of the servant, the servant, the servant and the servant ultimately points to Cyrus, but it also hints at deeper things that we'll get into. But the servant, just remember the servant of the Lord has mentioned numerous times.

34:45 All right, just keep that we have the servant of the Lord. The key here we just cannot is so key. And but the servant of the Lord is necessary because of what Isaiah thirty nine is focus is to fix what happens in Isaiah thirty nine. Thirty nine is still the key here. All right. It's also important that in number five, God's promise of a new covenant Isaiah forty through fifty five also seems to foreshadow a new covenant relationship between God and his people, which addresses the spiritual failures that led to their exile in the first place. So this is important. If there's a new covenant, it still falls into the context of Isaiah thirty nine, meaning Isaiah, because of their disobedience, exile occurred. What is the one thing we know about Israel? Even after they were delivered from their exile, They're going to continue to disobey, So they need something greater than just being brought back from captivity, and that points to the New Covenant. But the new Covenant would still be addressed to whom, to the people who would come out of Babylonian exile, which then changes how Christians again once again is the major problem in how Christians handles the New Covenant. All right, So everybody got all of that. So in Isaiah thirty nine, it provides the critical context for Isaiah forty through fifty five.

36:16 It explains why Judah will suffer exile and Babylon, and it sets up the need for comfort and hope. Isaiah forty through fifty five offers this hope, addressing Israel's brokenness in God's plan of restoration. This section reassures Israel that despite the consequences of their actions, God will remain faithful and demonstrate His power and mercy through their return from exile and through the promise of spiritual redemption. But reach beyond more than just a physical restoration. So the spiritual restoration spoken of ultimately points to which covenant the spiritual restoration points to? The New Covenant restoration speaks to a lot of the covenants God had made previously in the Old Testament with them, right, Okay, So you have this covenantal concept overrides everything, and we cannot forget that the covenants are made with whom Israel. The Old Testament covenants are made with whom Israel. The New Covenant is made with whom Israel. I cannot stress that enough. The New Covenant is made with whom Israel. You go to almost any Christian you know who goes to church anywhere, not only in this city, anywhere, and you say who's the New Covenant with they will say us. In fact, I learned in fact one of the a famous sermon that I preached multiple times. When I did would do an overview of the whole Bible, I would say, the Old

37:46 Testament is God's covenant with Israel, and the New Testament is a covenant with the Church. I said that over and over and over again, because I was an idiot who obviously could can't read. Because I should have stopped listening to preachers and the sermons. If I would have just read the actual text. Who is the New covenant with the House of Israel, the House of Judah. It's not even complicated. But I was so taught over and over and over and over and over and over again, sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon. The New Testament is God's covenant with the Church. Stop it. It's God's covenant with Israel, and we're simply graft it in. But the covenant is ultimately made with whom Israel. So those promises of the Covenant are first and foremost for Israel.

38:37 If you forget that, the whole Bible begins to just turn into a big allegory. If we do that, it makes more sense. All right, everybody got all of that, all right now, So there is why Isaiah thirty nine, how it sets up the contextualization for forty through fifty five. But we still got to do a little bit more work here, all right. When we look at the context, we need to write down three words law, sin and covenant. Law, sin and covenant. The context of Isaiah forty is indeed connected to Isaiah thirty nine five through eight, where the impending Babylonian captivity is foretold due to judas persistent disobedience to the law given at Cyini. This disobedience led to their experiencing the curses outlined in Deuteronomy twenty eight. Right, so let's all remember go back to Deuteronomy twenty eight.

39:45 Open your bible to Deuteronomy twenty eight. This is very important. Deuteronomy twenty eight outlines the curses that would happen if they do not do what if they do not obey? Right, God will bless. But what will happen if they disobey? If you look at verse fifteen. But it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken into the voice of the Lord that God to observe to do all his commandments and his statues which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee.

40:39 So let me make this very clear. When you're reading Isaiah forty through fifty five, this is setting up the comfort and deliverance from the judgment that occurs in the Babylonian captivity. What does the babylon If you want to talk about what the Babylonian captivity pictures? What is the Babylonian captivity picture? If you want to say it pictures something, what does it picture? From a thiological standpoint? If anyone just does basic reading comprehension, the Babylonian captivity pictures the end result of doing what living under the law. When you live under the law, what do you get? Cursed? Cursed?

41:24 Does anyone who doesn't do what? What does the text say, we just read it. For anyone who does not obey all all the law demands what kind of perfection? Perfection? Okay, right, it demands complete obedience? Right, all you got to obey, You've got to be perfect. Does anyone fulfill that? No? Did Israel ever fulfill that? No? So what is the end result of living under the law. It's basically Babylonian captivity. It's cursed that's what it pictures, that's what it demonstrates. But that's that's not a nobody really likes them. But I cannot stress that enough. All Right, This disobedience led to the experiencing the curses outline in Deuteronomy twenty eight, which warned of the consequences for forsaking God's commandments. So what I'm going to give you, and we're gonna at least start, I'm gonna outline and summarize the laws they disobeyed and the curses they suffered as described in the context of the Babylonian captivity. So we're gonna look at actually which laws and things they did that leads to the Babylonian captivity. Why because if we understand the curses and we understand what they did, that creates a more dramatic picture, right, because you need a dramatic picture before you read the words in Isaiah forty verse one, which read comfort Ye, comfort ye my people, Saith God or

43:00 saith God. Right, I think it says Saith You're God. I wanted someone look at Isaiah forty verse one, just make sure I don't misquote it. I hate when I paraphrase it. Incorrectly, which I do all the time. Isaiah forty verse one. Okay, well, it'll still give a basic idea. Whoever gets there first. Saith you're God. Okay, I was pretty close, right, Saith You're God. So when when you read those words, you see what can happen. Why is it so easy for us to grab those words and say, oh, comfort for me, Because we're not understanding the dire picture that has been painted for us and is at least hinted at in Isaiah thirty nine. Isaiah thirty nine is like, you people are going into captivity. Why are they going into captivity because of Deuteronomy twenty eight. They're getting all the curses? Why because they did not obey the law.

43:58 So if we see they're disobe and see the things they're suffering, when you get to the words of comfort, you don't go, oh that's for me. You're like, well, man, these people desperately need it, and you put it in its proper context. So that's why we're going to do this. Even some people may say it's belaboring the point. I don't care. This is what we're going to do, all right, So are we going to go through this everybody ready for this, because I think that's very, very, very important. Right. So we're going to outline and summarize the laws they disobeyed and the curses they suffered. Right, the laws they disobeyed in the law and the curses they suffered. So number one, an overview of disobeyed laws. Let's do an overview of those disobeyed laws. The laws given them Mount Sinai, primarily in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, includes commands related to worship, justice, purity, idolatry, and Sabbath observance, and ethical behavior. I think that's all.

44:57 I think that's a good description. Do you agree the I was giving him mout Sinai in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy include commands related to what number one, worship, number two, justice, number three, purity, number four, idolatry, number five, the Sabbath, and number six ethical behavior. Judah's disobedience involved repeated violations of these laws over generations. They broke these laws over and over and over and over again. And what should we say about that? Truth? So do we? So if you want a spiritual picture, we're getting a spiritual picture. Right.

45:49 The Babylonian captivity is the end result of not keeping the law. We are all in Babylonian captivity in a sense from that sense. But the comfort is not a comfort about oh, oh, you're having a bad day at work. Comfort, ye, stop it. The comfort would be comfort about what being cursed under the law. That if there's any comfort for us, that would be the comfort. Does that make any sense? All right? Here are some of the key laws Judah disobeyed. Everybody ready, go to Exodus chapter twenty, verses three through five.

46:30 Everybody should know this, all right? What's Exodus twenty three through five say you will have no other guys before me? Does it not mention graven images there as well? Or is that the previous verse? Okay? Verse four? Right, So have no other gods, no graven images, don't bow down to them? All right? All of those types of words. Everybody see that Nexodus three through five. This is the first Some would call this the first and second commandments I forbids worship of other gods and making idols. Wouldever, one agree with that description? It forbids worshiping other gods and making idols. Despite this, Judah repeatedly fell into idolatry and worshiped gods of different kinds. Right, Let's see if these cross references work. I was trying to choose which cross references, so I may have written down the wrong ones. Well, can just you can verify really quick? Go to Second King's twenty one eleven. I think there's one there. Second King's twenty one eleven. I hope this works. There you go, Second King's twenty one eleven. There we go. There was idolatry doing wickedness. All right? Do you see that? Everybody

48:01 see Second King's twenty one eleven. Everybody an agreement with that? That that's there? Go to Second Chronicles twenty eight two through four. Second Chronicles twenty eight two through four. That first one a cross reference is pretty good. Hopefully that My second cross reference was twenty eight two through four. Second Chronicles twenty eight two through four. My first one worked, all right. That's all kinds of false worship, all kinds of idolatry, even sacrifice going on, all kinds of horrible things going on. These texts prove that even though God gave them very specific commands, what did they do? They violated them repeatedly, over and over and over again. Go to Deuteronomy chapter twelve, before we even get to Deuteronomy twenty eight. Deuteronomy chapter twelve, verses two through four. What do you read in Deuteronomy twelve two through four. Okay,

49:33 for those who online who didn't hear that in Deuteronomy twelve two through four they were commanded to destroy pagan worship sites. But what did they do? And often they adopted them instead of and built high places and worshiped other gods. They're told in Deuteronomy two through four to do what, go in and utterly destroy all of it, wipe it all out. They did not do that. They failed over and over and over and over again. So number one, we have worship in idolatry, and I think you see that right. We have worship in idolatry, and they failed countless times. How about number two? Go to Exodus chapter twenty eight through eleven. Exodus chapter twenty eight through eleven. What do we have here? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We see the same Sabbath laws established to Leviticus twenty five, verses one through seven.

50:32 If you would like to look at them, Leviticus twenty five to one through seven. You have Sabbath laws rules that they were to follow. The Sabbath law required both a weekly Sabbath and Sabbath years for the rest of the land every seven years. Judah ignored these commands, particularly the Sabbath years, as they did not allow the land to rest. I wrong, but look at Second Chronicles I believe thirty six twenty one. Second Chronicles thirty six twenty one. I'm thinking it's a number, so it could be all it could be like one hundred miles away. Second Chronicles thirty six twenty one. Okay, Right, so there's a little bit there that's not as clear as I probably would like it, but you get the basic idea. The land was supposed to rest and over and over and over.

51:39 They did not follow that. All right, this specific dispecific I'm sorry, go ahead, Oh okay, so all right, there we go. Okay that maybe I yeah, taking them to taking them into captivity allowed the land to do what now, fulfill the Sabbath. Okay, very good, I'm glad you caught the twenty twenty one. I knew I was off probably somewhere. The specific disobedience contributed directly to the duration of their exile, as the land was given its rest during the seventy years of captivity. Okay, so I just I needed verse twenty there, right, So what happened because they did not obey the sabbath. They go into captivity so that the land gets the Sabbath. And that's why you have the seventy years specifically, so that I mean that shows you when you hear comfort, ye, comfort, ye, they need comfort because they've done everything you could possibly do wrong, all right, which which is the show's mercy? All right? Now we'll just mention the third one, right, all right? So we have worship in idolatry Exodus twenty three through five violated it.

53:01 They have sabbath observance Exodus twenty eight through eleven, they violated it. That's why they actually go into captivity. I have more scripture here, but we don't have time to get into all of it right now. Okay. Number three, Justice and care for the vulnerable. Justice and care for the vulnerable. Look at Deuteronomy chapter fifteen seven through eleven. Deuteronomy fifteen seven through eleven, Deuteronomy fifteen seven through eleven. What happens here Deuteronomy fifteen verse seven, If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates and thy land, which the Lord thy God give THEE. Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand wide under him. I shall surely lend him so for his need and that which he wanteth.

54:03 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying the servant the seventh year, the year of release is at hand. And then I be evil against the poor brother, and thou givest him not, and he cry unto Lord against THEE, and it be a sin unto THEE. Thou shall surely give him. And thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him, because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless THEE and all thy works. And then all thou puttest thou hand unto, for the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command THEE, saying thou shalt open thy hand white unto thy brother, to the poor and to the needy in thy land. A r What are they supposed to do? Take care of the poor, That's what they are supposed to do. Look at Deuteronomy chapter twenty four, four seventeen. What is this Read twenty four to seventeen.

55:05 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the the alien, the stranger, the immigrant. There was rules on how they treated the immigrants. I know that's a crazy concept, but it was the rule there right. Nor of the fatherless, nor take a widow's raiment to pledge. But thou shall remember that thou was a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord, thy God redeemed thee. That's therefore I command THEE to do this thing. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thine field and forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shall not go again to fetch it. It shall be for the who's it four verse nineteen. It's for the stranger.

55:54 In other words, you don't go back and get your crop. You'll leave it for whom, the alien, the immigrants, so that they can have it. I know these are crazy laws that we can't believe that actually exists. When those beat as sign olive trees, thou shall not go over the bows against It should be for the stranger, for the fatherless. When thou gatherest grapes in the vineyard, thou should not glean it afterwards. It should be for the stranger. The idea is, hey, there's these things that should that You could say, this is mine, and God says, do what leave it for the alien, Leave it for the immigrant, leave it for the stranger. Those are those are very important laws. All right. However, what do you think Judah did.

56:43 They were oppressive, failing to provide justice to the vulnerable. And we'll look at some cross references in the next hour. So here's what I want to see. Isaiah thirty nine is the captivity. The captivity is Listen, you cannot read Isaiah thirty nine, and you can not read Isaiah forty through fifty five without connecting it to Deuteronomy twenty eight and following, because twenty eight and following gives the curses for those who do not obey the law. And guess what they're experiencing, and that captivity the curses. So when you hear comfort, it's comfort to a people who've been suffering the curses of not keeping the law. And that comfort is based off what God's covenant to his people, God's mercy, God's grace, not the people deserving it. Now, that starts setting up a picture that may have application to us to some level, but the application deals with what a more salvafic application. Not Oh, you're going through a rough day, read Isaiah forty and you'll feel better, Because that's not bringing comfort to anybody. That's giving people a fraudulent comfort. You're giving people a lie to make them feel better. Well, I don't know. At some point

58:14 you should get sick of the lies that pastors have told you to help you feel better. But nobody really cares because it makes you feel better. You're more worried about the comfort you're given than the truth you were given. But fraudulent comfort should actually tick you off, should make you mad. Right if a doctor gives you a fraudulent If he gives you a fake pill, right, like a sugar pill, but he tells you that this is going to bring great comfort, at some point, should you not get ticked off that he didn't actually give you medication? Now, I guess some people are like, well, it made me feel better. I guess that's all that matters. You think you know you want the truth, right, or maybe that's an outdated concept. So we'll have to stop there. We'll try to take it further, but there's a lot there to take apart. Is there? Not all right? Because we got to go through everything. Everything is going to set up those beautiful words in Isaiah forty. But those words are not beautiful unless we have all of this additional context.

59:17 So we'll stop right there. Lorg God, we come before you this morning. Lord, does we try to work through this to try to find the appropriate context. Lord, help us see what these people were going through, why they were going through it, and then understand the power of your words in Isaiah forty. Forgive us for what we've done to these words, how we've misappropriated them, ripped them out of their contexts, twisted them, and offered fraudulent comfort when there's no comfort being offered for us. And we asked this in Jesus name, and guys, people said