Feb. 2, 2025

Isaiah 40:12-17

Isaiah 40:12-17

We continue our work on Isaiah 40

We continue our work on Isaiah 40

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Isaiah chapter forty Isaiah chapter forty. In the last hour

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we covered verses nine through eleven. Finally we finally got

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that done. Let me kind of get everyone just briefly

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cut up, all right, So, as many of you know,

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we've been working on Isaiah forty through fifty five since

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October of twenty twenty four. We're now in February of

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twenty twenty five. We've done over thirty three thirty four

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hours of teaching on Isaiah forty through fifty five. The

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reason we've spent all of this time in Isaiah forty

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through fifty five is because sermon after sermon after sermon

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that I have listened to constantly mishandles Isaiah forty through

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fifty five. As of right now, I have probably listened

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to over one hundred sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty

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five and have yet to hear any that even comes

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close to handling the text correctly. Time after time, the

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pastors go in, move us, move out the original recipients,

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move us in, spiritualize it, and make it all about us,

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us us us us us us, And it's becoming very frustrating.

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So I did mention this in the first hour, and

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I just want you guys to hear some of this.

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I did ask Ai what's going on, Like why is

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this happening? Why are all these sermons doing this? And

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Ai said that these sermons are revealing several important insights.

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The first insight Ai says this is revealing is that

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philological and hermoneutical trends in preaching have changed and are

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changing the way preaching is happening way hermoneutics are happening

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in the church. They go on to say, many sermons

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our Ai goes on to say, many sermons are shaped

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by philological traditions. They impose these theological traditions upon the

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text rather than allowing the text to speak on its

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own terms. And this is what we have happens. Right,

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If you go to a church that's lordship, they're going

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to interpret the sermon on them mount this way. If

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you go to a church that's not lordship, they're going

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to interpret the text this way. That should not be

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possible if both churches were doing what studying the text.

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They're not studying the text. They're coming to church to

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hear someone interpret the text from a specific philological perspective.

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And the minute the pastor violates that theological perspective. He's done,

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or they are going to leave the church because they

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only want to go to a church that will give

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them the thiological perspective they've already imposed upon the text,

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meaning no one is actually doing what studying the text

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that And Ai even knows that that's what's happening. All right,

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Preachers over spiritualize Isaiah and they read the New Testament

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into Isaiah instead of letting Isaiah speak within its historical

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context and how it is speaking about Israel. Number three,

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they will That goes on to offer some other things,

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but those were the two main things. Ai goes on

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to talk about a lot of the problems going on

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within preaching, what we have to do how to fight this.

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But Ai acknowledging there's a problem in preaching, and the

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problem in preaching is nobody really wants the text. They

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want something other. They want a devotional, they want to

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be inspired, they want to be they want to feel comfort.

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They don't want to just go to the text and

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learn the text. They want it to be about them.

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And that's a problem. So we've been trying to fix that.

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We've gone through Isaiah forty just simply put let's remind

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Isaiah forty is a message. It goes from Isaiah forty

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through fifty five. It is referred to as the Book

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of Comfort because it is to provide comfort to whom,

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to those in Babylonian captivity and those and that captivity

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is mentioned in Isaiah thirty nine to five through eight.

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Everything you interpret must be interpreted as being at those

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in Babylonian captivity. And it doesn't even require AI to

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figure this out. Look at Isaiah forty. Verse one, comfort ye,

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comfort ye my people. If there is any confusion at

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who my people is, first, you could go back to

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Isaiah thirty nine five to eight for the context. But

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if that does not help you, what is it doing?

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Verse two speak ye comfortably too. Jerusalem, which is the

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capital of Judah, and Judah is the ones in Babylonian

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captivity according to history. You don't need Ai, you don't

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need Bible college, you don't need seminary. But pastors make

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this about us. And just to ensure that, just maybe

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you forget, go to verse nine, which is the text

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we covered in the last hour. Oh Zion that bring

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us good tidings. Get the up in the high mountains

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Oh Jerusalem. And then it says, say into the cities

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of Judah. It stresses it again. How many times can

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a text tell you who it's about? Yet preacher after

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preacher makes it about us. But this is a message

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of comfort to the people in Babylonian captivity. Now the

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last hour we broke down verses nine through eleven. I'm

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just going to go through it quickly so that you

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can see all right. So, Oh Zion, that bring us

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good tidings. Get thee up into the highest mountain, O Jerusalem,

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that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength,

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lift it up. Be not afraid, say into the cities

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of Judah. So this deals with the proclamation the people

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who in the sense Zion Jerusalem used interchangeably. Here they

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are to go up and be like the messenger, and

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they are to prove because Jerusalem is what the capital

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of Judah. Hey, go raise up your voice and speak

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to all the people. And what are they to proclaim?

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This is the key phrase at the end of verse nine,

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three words behold your God. That is what they are

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to proclaim. The message to the people is, behold your God.

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The reason I cannot I'm gonna stress this. We talked

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about this in the first hour. I're gonna stress this,

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Behold your God. The reason it's significant is because of

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two reasons. The people are in Babylon. They have been

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there at this point. I mean, I know the message

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was delivered before they even go there, but they're gonna

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be in captivity for seventy years. They are in Babylon,

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which is a place filled with idolatry. There's an idol here,

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there's an idol here. They have a God for this.

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They have a God for that. They have a God

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for this, just as they came out of Egyptian captivity

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and ended up making idols a golden cap. The concern

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here is behold God, see God, and don't see all

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of these Babylonian idols, which is what he's gonna spend

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a good portion of the rest of this chapter contrasting

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God with these Babylonian idols. They need to learn to

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see God, don't look to these And why is this

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going to be important? They have to behold a God

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in whom they cannot see while they live and are

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surrounded by gods as they can see, So behold God.

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A second reason he is stressing Behold God is because

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God is going to move in an ordinary way, not

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in a supernatural way. God's deliverance here is it gonna

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happen through the parting of the Red Sea. None of that.

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It's just gonna be done by one nation being defeated

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or being overcome by another nation. Cyrus is gonna come

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to power and he's gonna let them go. It's gonna

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look what. It's gonna look as ordinary as possible. It's

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not gonna look as miraculous. It's gonna look like just

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ordinary human events. They need to see God in the

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ordinary wall. I did a whole bunch of talk on

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the ordinary means. Here ordinary means. They may be looking

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for something what dramatic and it's like No, Behold God.

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And then verses ten through eleven tells them about the

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God that they need to behold. Verse ten is about

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his power, his strength, his intervention. Verse eleven is about

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his tenderness and his care as a shepherd. That's nine

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through eleven. The message is behold God. Two reasons they

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need to behold God because don't be blinded by the

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bibe Babylonian idols. See God. The second reason you need

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to see God is God is going to move here

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in an ordinary way, not in an extraordinary way. It's

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gonna look, They're not gonna see any miraculous event take place.

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It's just gonna see a king saying you can go back.

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That may be shocking and may be miraculous in a sense,

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but it's miraculous in a human way, not in a

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supernatural power way. If that makes sense. Okay, everybody got that,

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And the two things they need to know about their

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God are three things. He is powerful, he is intervening,

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and he cares like a shepherd. Got all of that.

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Now that brings us to verses twelve through seventeen. That

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brings us to verses twelve through seventeen. Now we're gonna

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do something different than we have not done yet in

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going through all of this. We are gonna spend maybe

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the rest of this hour looking at how nine through

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eleven transitions to twelve through seventeen, because you'll notice it's

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kind of a somewhat of a big change. Right nine

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through eleven is this message to be delivered telling us

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about God, and all of a sudden, Verse twelve begins

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with what Well starts with a question, Yeah, but it

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starts in a questioning way, right, it's kind of a

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shift in the way it's done. So here's where we're

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I think we I want you to try to see this,

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all right, and we're gonna overview each section. We're gonna

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break this down, right, Isaiah, forty nine through seventeen, right,

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So nine, if you want to take this whole section

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nine through seventeen, we break it down into two parts,

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because this is why it moves from proclamation nine through

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eleven is the proclamation to almost a demonstration. It goes

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from calling the people to behold their God to showing

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why God is supreme and worthy of trust. The transition

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is structured to shift the focus from God's personal care

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to his incomparable greatness. And we're going to break this

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down so that we can see this. It's it's kind

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of a move from proclamation to demonstration. It's a shift

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here from God's personal care to his incomparable greatness, which

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we're going to see twelve through seventeen. All right, there's

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a shift here. There's a movement here. So let's look

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at nine through eleven. First, right, the nearness and tender

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care of God. God is announced as a mighty ruler.

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In verse ten, does everybody see that? Beholder your God

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will come with a stronghold, his armshall what rule for him? Right?

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He is seen as a mighty ruler, but he's also

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seen as what in verse eleven, he's a tender as

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a shepherd, gentle as a shepherd. The emphasis is on

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God's personal involvement in delivering his people from exile. The

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language is pastoral, it is intimate. It shows God's power

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and his tenderness. Right, you see that in that first section, Hey,

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God is behold your God, see his power, see his intervention,

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see his concern. But then we're going to shift to

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twelve through seventeen. Right, so you could talk. I think

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you could say nine to eleven. You could say the

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nearness of God, or you could say the power and

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tenderness of God and verses nine to eleven. Does that

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sound okay to everyone? I think we can see that.

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Now what do we have in verse twelve through seventeen. Well,

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let's read it. Let's just read twelve to seventeen. I

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know when I get in a hurry sometimes I just

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want to move forward. But let's take our time and

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see this. Who hath measured the waters and the hollow

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of his hand, and meet it out heaven with the span,

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and comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure,

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and weighed the mountains and scales, and the hills and

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a balance. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord,

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or being his counselor hath taught him with whom took

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he counsel, and who and who instructed him, and taught

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him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge,

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and shewed to him the way of understanding. Behold the

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nations or as a drop of a bucket, and are

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counted as a small dust of the balance. Behold he

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taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. Lebanon

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is not so efficient to burn, nor the beast thereof

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sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him or

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as nothing, And they're counted to him less than nothing

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and vanity all right. So nine to eleven is hey,

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behold God, see his power, and see his tenderness. Now

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verses twelve to seventeen is really trying to emphasize what

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how would you summarize it? I think we can say

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twelve through seventeen is trying to demonstrate nothing compares to God, right,

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or to quote the Sinead O'Connor song, nothing compares to you, right,

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nothing compares to God. He's incomparable. Does that make sense? Yeah?

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Do you agree with that? All right? The focus shifts

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from the nearness to his infinite greatness see ten and eleven.

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It's much more per right. God's going to come, He's

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going to use his power, He's going to gather you.

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It's very personable. Twelve through seventeen kind of steps back

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and tries to say, this God that's coming to you,

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this God that's going to care for you, he's incomparable

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to everything else. He is far above. It's trying to

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show almost the transcendence of God. I think that's almost

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a fair way of saying it, all right. The shift

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the focus shifts from God's nearness to his infinite greatness

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and overall creation and the nations. God is shown as immeasurable,

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all wise, sovereign, above all human strength and wisdom. Do

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you think that that's fair? The language is cosmic and overwhelming,

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contrasting God with human insignificance. So I think that's the

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overview of both sections. Right nine to eleven, Hey, God, power, tenderness,

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twelve through seventeen. God is this God's that's going to

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bring his power to you and going to do care

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for you. He is transcendent to all things. He's greater

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than all things. Trying to maintain a proper balance of God.

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Does that make some sense? All right? Now, what are

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some of the key elements of this transition. Well, if

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you look at the transition from nine to eleven to

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twelve through seventeen occurs through there's really three movements that

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we kind of see this transition. Right, look at verse nine,

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and then look at verse twelve. Oh, Zion, that bring

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us good tidings. Get thee up to the highest mountain

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o Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up your

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voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say

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into the cities of Judah. Again, what's the phrase? Behold

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your God? Now? Look at verse twelve. Measured the waters

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in the hollow of his hand, meeted out heaven with

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the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth and

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a measure, and weighed the mountains and scales and the

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hills in a balance. All right, this is going from

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seeing God to understanding his greatness. Behold your God, say God.

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Verse twelve gives us what understand how great this God is?

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So the first movement in this transition goes from seeing

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to understanding. Does that make sense? Yes? No? Verse nine,

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Behold your God? The people are called to look at

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who God is? Verse twelve, who has measured the waters

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in the hollow of his hand? The text now proves

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why God is incomparable through a series of rhetorical questions.

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Are there not rhetorical questions? There? And the rhetorical question

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what is it? It always demands. It's like the answer

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is what obvious? So verse twelve? What are the rhetorical

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questions that offered? In verse twelve? Who's measured the water

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in the hollow of his hand? Is there any other

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rhetorical question? At twelve? Who meeted it out with a spanky?

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All right? So there's a number and all those rhetorical

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questions is why the rhetorical The answer to those rhetorical

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questions is basically, no one but God, No one but God. Hey,

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behold your God. This is your God, who is far

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greater than all these things. Do you see how it transitions?

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Do you see that transition all right. The text proves

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why God is incomparable through a series of rhetorical questions.

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The proclamation of behold your God in verse nine is

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now answered with an unfolding revelation of God's majesty in

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verse twelve. It's as if Isaiah's saying, you've been told

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to look at God. Let me show you how great

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he is. There's the transition nine and twelve. There's a

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transition there. Hey, see God, Now understand God? Now? Why

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do they need to see and understand God again? Because

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of all the Babylonian idols. They see an idol here.

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They're going to have to behold God, who can do

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all of this. But he's going to be working in

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an ordinary way. But that doesn't change God being extraordinary.

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Does that make sense? Right? So we go from seeing

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God to understanding. How about look at verse eleven. Yeah,

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he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. We see

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all of that right now. If we go twelve, thirteen,

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and fourteen, we get a lot again of all of

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these rhetorical questions. Do we not? Yes, so we go.

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So think of it this way. The first movement is

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from seeing God to understanding God. The second movement is

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from shepherding his people to ruling the universe. From shepherding

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his people to ruling the universe. Do you not see

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a little bit of ruling the universe in twelve through fourteen? Okay,

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point out some things that would kind of point to

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the universe or all of creation in twelve through fourteen.

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What's the first thing in twelve? Okay, that's like all

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the waters, that's ruler of everything. Next the heavens in

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the span, right, that's all the heavens right. Next, okay,

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comprehended all the dust thirteen? Oh maybe yeah, wade the

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mountains in a scale. Okay, the hills in a balance thirteen.

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Who has direct the spirit of the Lord of Being

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his counselor hath taught him? No one has taught him,

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No one's instructed him Verse fourteen, with whom took key counsel,

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and who instructed him and taught him in the path

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of judgment and taught him know. In other words, no

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one is taught. He is greater in knowledge, he's greater

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in power, he is in control of all things. So

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he goes from the shepherding and twelve or eleven to well,

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all of these things the Shepherd. Think of it this way.

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The Shepherd is also the lord of all creation. He

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measured measuring oceans, weighing mountains and needing no counsel. So

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the gentleness of God's care for Israel and eleven is

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balanced by his absolute power over all things. This prevents

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Israel from thinking God's tenderness means weakness and his compassion

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doesn't mean that he's all powerful. So it's trying to

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give a balanced view of God. Basically, this is what's happening.

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All right, Hey, Israel, you've been in Babylonian captivity. Why

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are they in Babylonian captivity in many cases because of

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their idolatry and their disobedience to God. So it's almost like,

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while I'm getting ready to bring you out of captivity,

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you need to go back to theology one oh one

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and so behold your God. You need to see two

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things about God in your present circumstance, which is God's

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power is coming to intervene and he's going to gather you. Okay,

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but you need to also now understand who this God is.

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And he's trying to demonstrate supreme sovereign power because in

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their immediate context they're not going to see those attributes

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in a supernatural way. God is going to be working,

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but it's going to be in an ordinary way, and

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they can be drawn to want what an idle, just

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like when Moses disappeared, what did they need? They always

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and what it wants them to see? It is, you

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need to see God, and you need to see this

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truth of God. Even though you're not going to see

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this truth of God work. Sometimes we need that, right,

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It's hard sometimes believe when you look at the world, going, well,

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where is God? That's always that's why we believe by faith,

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because if we could see, it would be by sight.

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All right, does that make sense? Do you see that connection? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

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A good point. That's a very good point, right, very

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good point. All right. So we go from seeing God

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to understanding his greatness. I think we can see that.

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We go from shepherding to him ruling the universe. Now,

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how about the third movement here? The third thing from

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look at verse ten. Behold the Lord God will come

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with strong arm, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold,

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his reward is with him and his work before him.

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This seems to go from God's rule the rule here

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in verse ten is specifically for Israel, right, specifically for them.

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But look at verses fifteen and seventeen. Look at verses

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fifteen and seventeen. It kind of goes beyond Israel, does

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it not? In verses fifteen through seventeen, what language would

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show you it goes beyond Israel in fifteen all nations.

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Bobby caught it quickly, right, So this is the third

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kind of transition. It goes from God's rule over Israel

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to rule over the nations. Hey, his rule is coming

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to Israel, but he ultimately rules over all the nations.

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The nations are nothing before him, mere dust on the

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scales of verses fifteen through seventeen. Right, So the might

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of God in verse ten is now demonstrated, and how

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he reduces nations to insignificance. Israel was afraid of Babylon's power,

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but God declared that Babylon and every other nation is

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what basically a drop in the bucket. Is that fair?

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All right? So this transition from nine through twelve to seventeen.

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We haven't done this in any other section, but I

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want you just to see. Just studying the transition can

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be an entire hour of your time, right, So let's

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go through this again. The first transition connects nine and twelve.

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Everybody see that. And that first transition is what seeing

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God to understanding is greatness. Behold God, but now you

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need to see the greatness of the God whom you

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are beholding. Everybody got that. The second transition is from

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shepherding his people in verse eleven. Everybody got that to

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verses twelve through fourteen. This is from shepherding his people

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to ruling the universe. The one that shepherds you rules

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the universe. And third, from God's rule over Israel to

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the rule over all the nations. Right, everybody got that.

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See that transition, that's pretty powerful. Now you see the

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connection between nine to eleven and the next part, do

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you not? Do you see then how it all fits

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together and what sets up everything in twelve through seventeen.

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Let me make it very clear what is the key

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phrase once we get passed and if you really want

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to think about it, verses one through eight. Really one

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of the key phrases is comfort, right, or the key

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word comfort or comfort ye? Right? When you get to

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verse nine through seventeen, maybe nine through thirty one, but

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especially nine through seventeen. The key phrase is behold your God.

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Now it's trying to give them this theological lesson. Okay, Now,

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since I do a podcast called Theology Central, then I

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want us to see the philological significance within that transition.

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I want you to see the philological significance. And what

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this transition that we just looked at? All right? The

399
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transition reinforces two key theiological points. The transition reinforces two

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key theological points. What are the two key theological points

401
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.799
the transition emphasizes or it reinforces? Are you ready? Number one?

402
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God is both near and transcendent. God is near and

403
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transcendent Verses nine through eleven. Is that not near, tender

404
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and personal? Yes? Why well speak to Judah? And then

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what does it say? Behold the Lord God? Will behold

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the Lord God will Verse ten? Come everybody see that

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with strong hand in his arms shall rule for him.

408
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His reward is with him and his work before him.

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That is what Israel, Judah, God is coming. He's going

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to intervene. He is near. He's going to intervene in

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a meaningful way for them. Right, and then do we

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not see them? Verse eleven? What does it say this is.

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He's tend. He is feet his flock like a shepherd.

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He's going to gather his lambs. This is near, tender,

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and personal. There's that's the near part. Now what happens

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in verses twelve through seventeen. He's far above creation, He's

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far above human affairs. He's nothing can challenge his power,

418
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nothing can teach him. He is transcendent. God is both

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near and transcendent. Both are there? This tension between God's

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nearness and transcendent is essential for Israel's faith. Israel needs

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to see both. They need to understand both. Now why

422
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do they need to understand both? If God is only near,

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he may seem powerless to change the situation. If all

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you see is God is near, God is personal, you

425
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may not see well, okay, well what can he do

426
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about this? Or what can he do about this? And

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what can he do about this? In Israel's mind, they're

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facing whom the Babylonians, the ones that conquers the world. Okay,

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if God is so near to us, well, he may

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be able to help me. Hear, he may make me

431
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feel better, But I need a God who can do more. Right.

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But if God is only transcendent, then what could be

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the issue? See, if God is only near, you may

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not feel like he has the ability, the power, or

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even the understanding of everything going on. But if he's

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only transcendent, what could be the problem? He might not

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even care, may not even be involved. He may be

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so far removed that I can't even expect him to

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get involved. So they and their historical situation need to

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know that he's near, but they need to know that

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he is transcendent. Isaiah forty holds both truths together. He

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is the mighty ruler and he's the gentle shepherd? Does

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everybody see that? So? God? So? The first illogical truth

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is God is both near and transcendent. This transition screams this.

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And the reason I wanted to spend the time on

446
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the transition is first, I just want you to see

447
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that when you're studying the text, you need to learn

448
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to see the transitions. So many times in expository preaching

449
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will just break down. We're going to cover these four

450
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versus and then next week we're gonna cover this five,

451
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and we may bring some little transition there, but sometimes

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you miss the complexity of the transition. Here, the transition

453
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is worth a million dollars. Okay, well, I mean, you

454
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:16.880
know you don't have to pay a million dollars to

455
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get it, but it's it's worth it, all right. So

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the first philological point is God is both near and transcendent.

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Number two, trusting in God over nations and idols. Over

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nations and idols. For Israel, their temptation is going to

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be twofold, right, They're gonna trust. They're gonna possibly be

460
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focused on nation, they may even be focused on national identity.

461
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They're gonna be it's gonna be nation driven, or it's

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gonna be idle driven. That's what they're because what we

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see a nation, you can have pride in a nation,

464
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you can be to a nation you see an idol.

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God is trying to fix them of this national idea

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or this idle idea. The idea is. The shift goes

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from God's care to his supremacy, highlighting why Israel should

468
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trust him and not fear Babylon. Get your eyes off Babylon.

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I am greater and I'm the one who's going to

470
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:30.519
care for you. Get your eyes on me. Right. Human

471
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:36.440
empires rise and fall, but God remains supreme. Israel's deliverance

472
00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:39.720
will not depend on human power, but on the immeasurable

473
00:31:39.799 --> 00:31:43.200
greatness of their God. So they should not look to

474
00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:46.640
a nation. They should not look to an idol. And

475
00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:51.200
this is not Israel's problem. Throughout the Old Testament, over

476
00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:53.920
and over, what do they do if there's a problem,

477
00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:56.920
They tend to look to another nation. They'll go to Egypt,

478
00:31:56.920 --> 00:31:59.319
They'll go here, They'll go here, they'll make an alliance

479
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:04.079
with the Syrians or whomever correct or and almost inevitably

480
00:32:04.119 --> 00:32:07.640
sometimes going all run along with that. They they turn

481
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:11.119
the idols over and over and over and over. This

482
00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:14.799
is trying to help guys. You're finally coming out of

483
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:19.319
Babylonian captivity. You're finally doing this. You need to understand

484
00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:23.440
God is near and transcendent, and you need to understand

485
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:27.000
stop looking the nations, stop looking the idols. Look to me.

486
00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:36.839
How well does these lessons work? They keep failing over

487
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:40.759
and over because that tells us that what what? By nature?

488
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:45.759
We are creatures of what, what we can see, what

489
00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:49.039
we can feel, what we can be a part of,

490
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:53.680
what solutions we can come up with. We get caught

491
00:32:53.799 --> 00:33:00.000
up in a materialistic, nationalistic, idle kind of mindset because

492
00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:10.200
of our sinful nature. Okay, Now, I could do more

493
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.599
here about this transition. I could do more here. I

494
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:16.720
could ask you some questions. I've got theological but I'm

495
00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.640
gonna skip all of this because I got pages of

496
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:23.519
stuff here, right, all right? But does everyone see how

497
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:26.039
that works? Right? So let's at least do Oh man,

498
00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:27.680
there's so much here I want to get into, but

499
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.279
I'm gonna just back up a little bit and try

500
00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:34.039
to get this transition right. So, how does Isaiah forty

501
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:39.119
nine to eleven transition from twelve to seventeen? This transition happens,

502
00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:44.119
and basically, how could we put this? It occurs in

503
00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:48.440
three movements? All right? The first movement is it goes

504
00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:52.880
from seeing God to understanding his greatness. Everybody got that.

505
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:56.920
The second movement was from shepherding as people to ruling

506
00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:02.559
the universe. And the third one was from God's rule

507
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:05.039
over Israel to his rule over the nations. Everybody got

508
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:10.000
those three transitions, right? What are the two philological significant

509
00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:13.519
points from this transition? God is both near and transcendent

510
00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:17.440
and we must trust in God over nation and idols?

511
00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:22.639
Sounds good? All right? All right? I almost want to

512
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:25.679
stop right there, but that's okay. I want us to

513
00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:29.679
at least start trying to take a part verses twelve

514
00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:35.440
through seventeen, or at least introduce it right now. We

515
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:37.920
kind of and it says, by doing that transition, you

516
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:40.280
pretty much have twelve through seventeen down now, don't you

517
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:43.639
right by? If you really think about it, the transition.

518
00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:45.360
We don't really need to do a lot of work

519
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:48.000
on twelve through seventeen, do we. I think we can

520
00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:52.239
probably go through it relatively quickly. What should we call

521
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:54.360
twelve to seventeen? If we wanted to give this section

522
00:34:54.400 --> 00:35:00.960
a title? What do you think now? We did an

523
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:05.840
observational outline where we gave it a title, but we

524
00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:07.639
we'll call this We'll just go with the idea of

525
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:10.119
the incomparable greatness of God. We'll just kind of go

526
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:12.920
with that, not necessarily pulling from that, but I think

527
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:15.280
that fits with some of the things we've discussed right

528
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:19.239
Isaiah forty twelve through seventeen is part of a larger

529
00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:23.320
passage where God reassures his people of his greatness, sovereignty,

530
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:28.960
and power over all creation. The section emphasizes God's transcendence,

531
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:35.719
his wisdom, his supremacy over the nations, challenging any notion

532
00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:41.719
that he can be measured, instructed, arrivaled. I think that's

533
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:46.119
fair to say. Yes, we've looked at the text, all right,

534
00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:49.760
let's look at the Let's look at the context and structure. Right,

535
00:35:50.039 --> 00:35:53.639
Let's look at the immediate context. The passage follows the

536
00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:56.800
opening section of Isaiah forty one through eleven, where God

537
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:01.079
declares comfort and restoration for Israel. Any problem there? I

538
00:36:01.079 --> 00:36:04.039
think we can all agree there. It is a part

539
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:08.039
of a broader argument twelve through thirty one, demonstrating God's

540
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:12.079
incomparable power to contrast it to the weakness of idols

541
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:16.119
and human rulers. I think we can agree with that.

542
00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:22.119
That's the immediate context. Any any issues there? How about Now,

543
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:25.320
let's look at a structural breakdown. What do we see

544
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:32.480
in verse twelve? Would you I'm gonna I'm gonna kind

545
00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:35.719
of move quickly through this. Do you agree that we

546
00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:40.360
see God's sovereignty over creation in verse twelve? Does everybody

547
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:46.760
agree with that God's sovereignty over creation or does someone

548
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:51.679
have a different idea? We in agreement? I think I

549
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:54.480
think we can see God's sovereignty over creation there. It

550
00:36:54.559 --> 00:36:58.480
uses what device to try to emphasize this? This his

551
00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:04.239
control over the physical universe uses rhetorical questions. Everybody understand

552
00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:08.519
that literary device, right, rhetorical questions? And I think we

553
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:11.920
see that we've broken them down. Well, we may look

554
00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:14.599
at them more specifically, but you get the idea. The

555
00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:16.679
question is God is the only one who can do

556
00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:18.960
these things. God is the one who can do this right?

557
00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:24.119
Nobody else can? All right? Verses thirteen through fourteen. What

558
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:28.119
does it focus on in thirteen through fourteen? Twelve kind

559
00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:31.360
of shows his sovereignty over creation. Thirteen through fourteen seems

560
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:37.000
to emphasize what maybe God's infinite wisdom. Will y'all be

561
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:39.920
okay with that? How does we see that who hath

562
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.960
directed the spirit of the Lord who is being his

563
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:47.719
counselor who has taught him with whom took counsel? Meaning

564
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:52.320
God's wisdom is infinite? Agreed? It challenges the idea that

565
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.800
God needs instruction from anyone. He doesn't need it from you,

566
00:37:56.119 --> 00:38:00.000
doesn't need it. We can instruct God. I want to sometimes,

567
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:09.639
don't you? But we can't? All right? How about verse fifteen? Okay,

568
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:12.639
behold the nations or as a drop of a bucket,

569
00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:15.679
and are counted as small dust of the balance. Behold,

570
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:18.320
he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing.

571
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:20.920
I think what we have is we have God's sovereigntary

572
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:24.920
over creation in twelve, God's infinite wisdom thirteen over fourteen fifteen.

573
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:29.960
The insignificance of nations compared to God. I don't know.

574
00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:32.159
Maybe you may have a better way of putting it,

575
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:35.239
but the nations are in significant compared to God, or

576
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.880
God's greatness over the nations. You could do it that way.

577
00:38:39.119 --> 00:38:41.920
I think we can agree with that. Yes, the nations

578
00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:44.960
are a drop from a bucket. They're dust on the scales,

579
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:47.960
even though it doesn't appear that way. I want to

580
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:51.119
make sure you understand that it doesn't appear that way

581
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:55.639
from a human perspective. From a human perspective, the nation

582
00:38:55.960 --> 00:39:04.320
is powerful, mighty, sovereign. Everything else seems insignificant. But we

583
00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:07.119
have to behold God. But the only problem is they

584
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:11.519
can't see their God. They can see the nation. This

585
00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:15.639
is trying to see things from a thiological framework, seeing

586
00:39:15.719 --> 00:39:18.119
God where you don't see God, and that would be

587
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:21.320
very difficult for them to do. That. Does that make sense?

588
00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:31.719
All right? How about verse sixteen and Lebanon is not

589
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:35.400
sufficient to burn nor the beast thereof sufficient for a

590
00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:40.119
burnt offering. Now that's a well, this is it's a

591
00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:41.800
kind of written weird, and we're gonna have to really

592
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:44.920
break it down. Let's put this idea. It seems to

593
00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:50.239
show the inadequacy of human worship. Human worship is really

594
00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:55.480
inadequate to match God's greatness. Our worship is not adequate

595
00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:59.320
to match God's greatness because it's talking about burnt offering here,

596
00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:02.840
it's talking about the nation about Lebanon is not sufficient

597
00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:06.599
to burn. In other words, whatever you offer up to God,

598
00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:10.840
even if it's all of Lebanon, it's inadequate. Does that

599
00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:15.400
make sense? So it's the inadequate inadequacy of human worship.

600
00:40:15.719 --> 00:40:20.119
Even the forest of Lebanon and all its animals are

601
00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:22.199
not a worthy offering. If you take all of the

602
00:40:22.239 --> 00:40:26.719
forests of Lebanon and every single animal, it's still not worthy.

603
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:31.719
Our worship will never truly be worthy, It'll be inadequate.

604
00:40:32.199 --> 00:40:37.280
How about verses seventeen or verse seventeen, not versus verse

605
00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:44.840
All nations before Him are are nothing, there nothing. This

606
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:51.039
is the nothingness of nations before God. So if we

607
00:40:51.079 --> 00:40:54.679
want a structural breakdown, Verse twelve is God's sovereignty over creation.

608
00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:59.199
Verses thirteen through fourteen is God's infinite wisdom. Verse fifteen

609
00:40:59.239 --> 00:41:01.360
is the insignifict against the nations compared to God or

610
00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:05.280
God's great and there God, the God is greater than

611
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:08.599
the nations. However you'd like to word that. Sixteen the

612
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:12.760
inadequacy of human worship. Seventeen the nothingness of the nations

613
00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:21.639
before God. All right, everybody got that? All right, there's

614
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:24.440
the structural breakdown. So we've looked at the context. We

615
00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:28.199
looked at the structural breakdown. Now let's kind of just analyze.

616
00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:30.039
We'll just go through with the verses and try to

617
00:41:30.039 --> 00:41:32.400
do a little bit of analysis here as quickly as

618
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:36.440
we can, all right, because I mean, there's what you do.

619
00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:40.800
See all that work we did, if you what I

620
00:41:40.920 --> 00:41:43.679
want you to start recognizing, we did all of that

621
00:41:43.719 --> 00:41:47.360
work on an observational exercise, right, We did all of

622
00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:51.119
this work with the historical context. Once we have all

623
00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:52.719
of that, you see the rest of the verses kind

624
00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:56.559
of just fall into place. What pretty simple and straightforward.

625
00:41:56.880 --> 00:42:00.079
Unless you want to preach a sermon, then you just

626
00:42:00.199 --> 00:42:03.239
use this to talk about well, your life and your

627
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:06.199
problems and your issues and your and then well then

628
00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:08.079
you just got to create a sermon like that. But

629
00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:11.800
if you want to just stay to the text this,

630
00:42:11.800 --> 00:42:14.639
this is pretty simple and pretty straightforward. Right, So let's

631
00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:17.119
go through this and see. We'll just let's start with

632
00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:20.400
verse twelve. Right, we'll just start with verse twelve. Right. Well,

633
00:42:20.519 --> 00:42:24.679
we call this God's sovereignty, right, God's sovereignty over creation.

634
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:28.320
All right, let's look at the what's the first imagery

635
00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:31.320
that's being used here? It's the idea of measurement. Can

636
00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:34.480
we agree? The hollow of his hand refers to God's

637
00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:37.719
ability to hold all the oceans as if they were

638
00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:42.840
just a drop, the hollow of his hand the God.

639
00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:48.840
How sovereign is God? All the waters of earth dropping

640
00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:56.000
his hand, demonstrating God's what sovereignty, power, greatness, transcendence. However,

641
00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:58.239
all the different things we want to put here about,

642
00:42:58.280 --> 00:43:00.719
what's what's the imagery of the span of his hand?

643
00:43:02.239 --> 00:43:07.039
What is that referring to? Well, the imagery is take

644
00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:10.199
it tipped. According to some the span of the hand

645
00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:13.639
is the distance between the thumb and the pinky. That's

646
00:43:13.639 --> 00:43:16.920
the span, all right? How big the hand is? Right?

647
00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:23.280
It symbolizes his ability to measure the universe basically with

648
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:27.320
the span the entire universe fits into the span of

649
00:43:27.320 --> 00:43:29.800
his hand. Now it's not a literal thing, all right,

650
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:34.440
because God is spirit. But it's just demonstrating, right, got it. Yeah,

651
00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:37.840
it's taking it's describing it in a way which we

652
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:42.280
can understand. Right. So it's demonstrating that all the waters,

653
00:43:42.559 --> 00:43:45.400
even all the universe, but whether it's the waters or

654
00:43:45.400 --> 00:43:48.400
the universe, they ultimately fit where and his hand. That's

655
00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:50.559
the main thing to take from it, right, that's the

656
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:53.679
main thing to take from it. Okay, what's the next

657
00:43:53.719 --> 00:44:00.559
measurement or the next thing. He comprehended the dust of

658
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:03.920
the earth in a measure. Everybody see that God has

659
00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:07.920
weighed the mountains as if with a scale. Uh he

660
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:11.119
It emphasizes his control over the physical world. I think

661
00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:13.039
that's the main idea when it comes to the dust

662
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:16.039
of the earth, when it comes to the mountains and

663
00:44:16.119 --> 00:44:18.480
it comes to the hills, that is referring to what

664
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:22.920
the physical earth that are what God is in control

665
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:27.360
of the physical world. God is in control of the

666
00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:32.639
physical world. Now that could that adds a million philosophical questions,

667
00:44:32.679 --> 00:44:34.880
all right, I don't have answers for that, but at

668
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:38.840
least for them in captivity. They're like, we're in captivity.

669
00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:41.159
We want to get out of this physical place to

670
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:45.199
go to another physical place. And we have nations who

671
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:48.480
control this physical place, and what it wants to be

672
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:53.039
shown them is what God controls this physical place, not Babylon.

673
00:44:54.599 --> 00:44:58.679
Right that I think that's the point that ultimately trying

674
00:44:58.679 --> 00:45:01.760
to be made. Right. So, what is the philological implication

675
00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:07.039
that creation is finite? It is measurable, but God is

676
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:13.239
infinite and immeasurable. Creation is finite. We try to do

677
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:15.480
we not try to measure it, and we try to

678
00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:19.880
chay distances and age. We're always trying to understand the

679
00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.880
physical creation, do we not? It may be finite, it

680
00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:25.920
may be measurable. Well, what's the one thing that we

681
00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:30.480
cannot figure out? God? Because he is infinite and he

682
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:45.840
is immeasurable. Now, all of this language here, especially in

683
00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:50.360
verse twelve, there's a very I'm always giving you the

684
00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:54.320
philological implication. The first implication is creation is finite and measurable,

685
00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:58.280
but God is infinite and immeasurable. Right, But remember, over

686
00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:00.960
and over and over all of the phil logical implications

687
00:46:00.960 --> 00:46:04.719
here focus on which concept that this is all being

688
00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:09.079
contrasted with the Babylonian idols. Right now, this is very

689
00:46:09.199 --> 00:46:11.760
very important. Okay. I think what we'll do next week

690
00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:14.079
is I just need to spend an hour going through

691
00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:18.639
all the Babylonian deities, right and fact. If you have

692
00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:22.280
a Bible dictionary, just grab one really quick. If you

693
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:27.679
have one, here there's one if you need one, Okay,

694
00:46:28.119 --> 00:46:33.360
look up Babylon. I don't know if there's an entry.

695
00:46:33.400 --> 00:46:34.760
I'm just going to see if we have it right

696
00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:48.079
there in front of us. Yeah, she always knows the page. Now,

697
00:46:48.199 --> 00:46:50.719
kind of skim that entry for Babylon. It doesn't have

698
00:46:50.760 --> 00:47:00.599
anything about deities, religion, spirituality, idols, anything about Babylon's religious makeup,

699
00:47:00.679 --> 00:47:04.360
it's religious structure. It may not be there. We may

700
00:47:04.599 --> 00:47:06.280
we may have to look it up different ways, but

701
00:47:10.639 --> 00:47:12.760
something there would be at least a small paragraph that

702
00:47:12.840 --> 00:47:23.039
described it. I know it's probably a long entry. Marduk. Yeah, okay,

703
00:47:23.079 --> 00:47:24.960
it does say that. I think you may be using

704
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:40.079
a different dictionary. What uh huh A bunch Mardu. Yeah,

705
00:47:40.119 --> 00:47:45.719
there's the one okay, mentions a number of their gods. Okay,

706
00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:51.400
So the key is the more you understand Babylonians polytheistic idolatry. Right,

707
00:47:51.599 --> 00:47:54.920
the more you understand that, then all of this stuff

708
00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:58.800
that's happening here fits in perfectly. Does everyone understand that?

709
00:47:59.599 --> 00:48:03.239
All right? So the philological implications is that creation is

710
00:48:03.239 --> 00:48:06.239
finite and measurable, but God is infinite and immeasurable. And

711
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:08.559
this is the second thing I want you to understand

712
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:13.079
from the thiological implication of verse twelve. It is emphasizing

713
00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:18.280
God's complete sovereignty over nature, which is a contrast to

714
00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:22.760
pagan gods who were often linked to specific aspects of

715
00:48:22.920 --> 00:48:27.480
nature but never ruled over all of it. And many

716
00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:30.360
cases on idolatry and false religions, there's a god of

717
00:48:30.400 --> 00:48:33.760
this river, or there's a god of rain, and then

718
00:48:33.800 --> 00:48:37.920
there's a different god for sun. But for this God,

719
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:44.519
his god of everything. That's the contrast. So why do

720
00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:48.039
you focus on this idol that only controls this when

721
00:48:48.079 --> 00:48:51.079
God controls everything. You may have a god of the

722
00:48:51.079 --> 00:48:54.760
Babylonians who supposedly does something for Babylon. We worship the

723
00:48:54.800 --> 00:48:57.960
God that is over not only Babylon but every other nation.

724
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.440
What the theological implication here? Right? Does that make sense?

725
00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:10.199
All right? Okay? Good? Now let's look at thirteen through fourteen.

726
00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:14.119
We refer to the first part as God's ommortary over creation.

727
00:49:14.440 --> 00:49:18.360
Thirteen through fourteen is God's infinite wisdom? Right, who has

728
00:49:18.480 --> 00:49:21.800
measured the spirit man? Okay, remember we read about a lot.

729
00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:25.800
Who did the Who did he consult? Who made him understand?

730
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:30.960
Who taught him all of that? Now these are rhetorical questions.

731
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:35.880
These questions emphasize God's self sufficiency in wisdom. I think

732
00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:37.519
we can see that, right. You don't need my help

733
00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:41.880
to even figure that out? Right, thirteen through fourteen. It's

734
00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:45.920
all these questions are emphasizing God's self sufficiency and wisdom.

735
00:49:46.360 --> 00:49:49.880
The implied answer is no one. God needs no teacher,

736
00:49:50.280 --> 00:49:55.519
he needs no counselor he needs no guide. God does

737
00:49:55.559 --> 00:49:58.079
not need a teacher, He does not need a counselor

738
00:49:58.360 --> 00:50:03.199
he does not need a guide. We got that. Now,

739
00:50:03.320 --> 00:50:08.360
what are the key theological concepts here? All? Right? Well?

740
00:50:08.519 --> 00:50:13.480
What attribute of God is kind of being highlighted here?

741
00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:17.920
In verses thirteen and fourteen. If we talk about God's

742
00:50:17.960 --> 00:50:21.079
sovereignty or power, we talk about his omnipotence, right, his power,

743
00:50:21.480 --> 00:50:26.800
what's omniscience? There we go, God's omniscience. God possesses all

744
00:50:26.840 --> 00:50:31.320
knowledge and does not learn or acquire wisdom from any source.

745
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:35.800
I think we got that all right. Now, look carefully

746
00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:39.960
at thirteen and for a look at verse fourteen, with

747
00:50:40.079 --> 00:50:43.639
whom took key counsel and who instructed him and taught

748
00:50:43.719 --> 00:50:48.760
him in the path of judgment. Some translations say who

749
00:50:48.840 --> 00:50:53.000
taught him, who made him? Who taught him? The path

750
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:57.280
of justice? Is how some translations translate that right now.

751
00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:02.000
So the key theological concepts is omniscience and this idea

752
00:51:02.119 --> 00:51:06.840
of justice. God alone defines what is just and righteous

753
00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:13.400
humans do not instruct him. Now, that's a hard concept

754
00:51:13.400 --> 00:51:17.159
to wrap our minds around. Sometimes it works in our advantage.

755
00:51:17.199 --> 00:51:21.519
Sometimes we don't. Christians love this. On one hand, we'll say, well,

756
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:24.519
don't tell me what justice is. God says what justice is.

757
00:51:24.559 --> 00:51:27.480
And sometimes the thing we actually defend actually goes against

758
00:51:27.519 --> 00:51:31.440
even God's definition of justice. The key is God defines it,

759
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:34.360
we don't. And when God tells us we should care

760
00:51:34.400 --> 00:51:37.199
about justice, we should care about justice, all right. And

761
00:51:37.239 --> 00:51:42.280
then it's a contrast with human leaders. Kings, rulers require

762
00:51:42.360 --> 00:51:46.119
advisors the king, but God has none because he is

763
00:51:46.159 --> 00:51:51.079
all wise. So God is omniscient. God is the definition

764
00:51:51.159 --> 00:51:54.559
of justice. He defines it, and he doesn't need what

765
00:51:54.679 --> 00:51:57.800
a human kings need. They need counselors, they need advisors.

766
00:51:57.840 --> 00:52:02.119
He does not. Right, we got that. We broke that

767
00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:05.960
down pretty good? Do you agree? Do we have verse

768
00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:08.920
twelve broken down pretty good? All that the imagery of

769
00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:12.159
the measurements. We explained what all of that meant. Thirteen

770
00:52:12.199 --> 00:52:15.679
through fourteen God's infinite wisdom. We talked about the theological

771
00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:19.320
implications that brings us to verse fifteen. What do we

772
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:26.599
want to refer to verse fifteen as the insignificance of nations? Right?

773
00:52:26.679 --> 00:52:30.159
Does that make sense? This one's pretty simple. Behold, the

774
00:52:30.239 --> 00:52:33.000
nations are like a drop from a bucket. They're accounted

775
00:52:33.039 --> 00:52:35.760
as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up

776
00:52:35.800 --> 00:52:39.760
the coast lands like fine dust drop from a bucket,

777
00:52:39.840 --> 00:52:42.960
nations which seem powerful and significant or insignificant when compared

778
00:52:42.960 --> 00:52:48.159
to God dust on the scales. It does not change.

779
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:51.840
Dust is weight, is weightless in a sense, it does

780
00:52:51.880 --> 00:52:54.320
not change the measurement of a scale. This conveys the

781
00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:58.800
utter nothingness of earthly powers compared to God's sovereignty. He says,

782
00:52:58.800 --> 00:53:00.760
behold the nations, or as a drum of a bucket,

783
00:53:00.880 --> 00:53:04.559
and are counted as small dust of the balance. Behold,

784
00:53:04.599 --> 00:53:07.039
he take it up the aisles, a very little thing.

785
00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:09.280
In other words, if you had a scale, if you

786
00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:11.760
had a balance, there was a little dust on it.

787
00:53:12.360 --> 00:53:15.920
The idea is the dust is what so insignificant, it's

788
00:53:15.960 --> 00:53:20.679
not gonna move it. We think the nations determine everything, right,

789
00:53:22.199 --> 00:53:26.480
We think we get so preoccupied about nations and political

790
00:53:26.599 --> 00:53:31.880
powers and political parties and political politicians and themselves, and

791
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:34.440
we think that they're gonna fix they're gonna change everything.

792
00:53:35.159 --> 00:53:41.400
And this is like, they're all insignificant. You're supposed to

793
00:53:41.400 --> 00:53:46.320
be beholding whom God. It wasn't some nation who put

794
00:53:46.360 --> 00:53:50.480
Israel in captivity. God put them in captivity. Isn't some

795
00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:52.840
nation who's going to ultimately get them out of captivity.

796
00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:57.599
It is God. God. The people are nothing. God is

797
00:53:57.639 --> 00:53:59.800
the one at work. That's hard for us to see

798
00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:03.679
that because we become preoccupied with the here, the now.

799
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:07.119
That's what we become preoccupied with. Right, does that make

800
00:54:07.159 --> 00:54:11.599
sense for verse fifteen, the insignificance of nations? Verse sixteen?

801
00:54:11.639 --> 00:54:16.760
What did we refer to this as the inadequacy of worship?

802
00:54:17.239 --> 00:54:21.639
The inadequacy of worship? All right? Now it says Lebanon

803
00:54:21.679 --> 00:54:24.719
would not suffice for fuel in some translations. How does

804
00:54:24.760 --> 00:54:32.400
the King James put verse sixteen, it's not sufficient to

805
00:54:32.440 --> 00:54:39.000
burn all? Right? Okay, So Lebanon was famous for its

806
00:54:39.039 --> 00:54:43.639
massive cedar forests and abundant wildlife. That's what Lebanon was

807
00:54:43.719 --> 00:54:48.880
known for. It's trees and it's animals. Yet even if

808
00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:53.920
all of its trees were burned and every single animal

809
00:54:54.159 --> 00:55:00.559
was sacrificed, it would be inadequate to offer proper worship

810
00:55:00.639 --> 00:55:05.400
to God. We can ever think that our worship is adequate,

811
00:55:05.719 --> 00:55:09.079
that our worship is worthy, because we're worshiping someone who's

812
00:55:09.119 --> 00:55:13.199
far above. All we're doing in worship is declaring God

813
00:55:13.280 --> 00:55:17.719
is worthy of far more than I have to offer.

814
00:55:17.880 --> 00:55:22.559
It's not like I'm offering you something that's adequate. It's inadequate.

815
00:55:24.559 --> 00:55:28.360
Does that make sense? So what does this imply that

816
00:55:28.519 --> 00:55:33.559
no human effort, no matter how grand, can match God's worthiness.

817
00:55:34.039 --> 00:55:43.920
Worship must be rooted and understanding God's greatness and our

818
00:55:46.039 --> 00:55:51.599
what lack of greatness? Worship is all about acknowledging God

819
00:55:51.679 --> 00:55:54.079
is great and we are not God is worthy. We

820
00:55:54.159 --> 00:55:57.559
are not God is able, we are not God is holy.

821
00:55:57.760 --> 00:56:01.119
We are not. It's all about work. When we worship God,

822
00:56:01.320 --> 00:56:05.920
we are declaring all that God is. We aren't, and

823
00:56:05.960 --> 00:56:11.480
we can't be. If you do not bring a correct

824
00:56:11.599 --> 00:56:15.920
understanding of yourself to worship, then you almost believe you're

825
00:56:15.920 --> 00:56:19.119
bringing something of great value to God. You're coming to

826
00:56:19.159 --> 00:56:22.800
God with literally nothing to offer, because whatever you offer,

827
00:56:22.960 --> 00:56:29.800
even if it's all of Lebanon, okay, there's less than nothing. Okay,

828
00:56:29.840 --> 00:56:34.480
it's vanity, all right. Now, why do you think? Why

829
00:56:34.559 --> 00:56:36.320
do you think now this is this is a good question.

830
00:56:36.360 --> 00:56:38.159
I didn't. I didn't. I didn't even think about asking

831
00:56:38.199 --> 00:56:40.639
this question or struggling with this. Why do you think

832
00:56:41.239 --> 00:56:43.920
in verse sixteen? What do you think the point of

833
00:56:44.239 --> 00:56:46.920
verse sixteen is in its historical context? It seems a

834
00:56:46.920 --> 00:56:49.599
little odd to me. Sixteen seems a little off to

835
00:56:49.639 --> 00:56:52.039
me now that I'm thinking about. I didn't catch this

836
00:56:52.119 --> 00:56:55.239
first because he's doing everything he can to try to

837
00:56:55.280 --> 00:56:58.039
demonstrate to Israel I'm greater than all of this. You

838
00:56:58.039 --> 00:56:59.960
can see why it would fit. Don't focus on the name,

839
00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:02.679
don't focus on the idols. But all of a sudden,

840
00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:11.800
it's like, hey, right, okay, yeah, that seems odd. But

841
00:57:11.920 --> 00:57:15.800
I think because Lebanon is famous for all of these things.

842
00:57:16.199 --> 00:57:19.599
Maybe that's why, but it just seems odd, Like I

843
00:57:19.599 --> 00:57:23.440
think the main reason here is it's not even really

844
00:57:23.480 --> 00:57:25.400
so much a lesson about worship. I think what he's

845
00:57:25.400 --> 00:57:29.400
trying to demonstrate to them is the superiority and greatness

846
00:57:29.440 --> 00:57:32.840
of God, that God is far greater Israel even as

847
00:57:32.880 --> 00:57:35.679
a nation. Even if you were to worship perfectly, it's

848
00:57:35.679 --> 00:57:40.480
still insufficient. It just wants to understand these other idols

849
00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:44.400
that you may think are worthy of worship, Well, guess

850
00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:47.440
what when it comes to me, your worship is not

851
00:57:47.639 --> 00:57:50.159
worthy of me, because I'm far greater than any it's

852
00:57:50.199 --> 00:57:53.239
trying to show, God is so far greater than anything

853
00:57:53.239 --> 00:57:57.360
else they could worship. I think that's the point. I

854
00:57:57.400 --> 00:58:01.440
think that's the point. Interesting that it shows up, and

855
00:58:01.960 --> 00:58:04.719
as uh, it does seem interesting. I mean, obviously Lebanon

856
00:58:04.760 --> 00:58:06.920
had to be very very very very very very very

857
00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:10.559
very famous for these things, because you're right, in its context,

858
00:58:10.639 --> 00:58:13.440
you would be like, why is you saying Lebanon. Why

859
00:58:13.480 --> 00:58:17.079
wouldn't they mention something in Babylon? But obviously Lebanon must

860
00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:22.039
have been, like must have been super famous for this.

861
00:58:22.320 --> 00:58:25.119
Like look, it's almost like when they said that everybody

862
00:58:25.159 --> 00:58:29.679
be like, Oh, Lebanon is not even sufficient. Lebanon with

863
00:58:29.719 --> 00:58:32.599
all of those trees, Lebanon with all of those animals,

864
00:58:32.639 --> 00:58:35.519
like it must have been like they knew it. That's

865
00:58:35.559 --> 00:58:37.679
the only reason I can understand why it would have

866
00:58:37.719 --> 00:58:40.599
been mentioned here. It makes no sense, all right. But

867
00:58:40.920 --> 00:58:44.880
worship is rooted in recognizing God's greatness and our lack

868
00:58:44.960 --> 00:58:48.039
of greatness. I think that's important. When you say we're

869
00:58:48.079 --> 00:58:52.480
gonna worship God, when you're declaring his worthiness and our unworthiness,

870
00:58:52.599 --> 00:58:56.480
maybe we should state that worship is the declaration of

871
00:58:56.559 --> 00:59:01.000
God's worth and the acknowledgment of our unworthiness. I think

872
00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:03.239
that's a good way of stating it. I think it's

873
00:59:03.280 --> 00:59:07.719
a very good way of stating it. All right, Oh,

874
00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:15.119
we've we got one verse to go, right, everybody ready,

875
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:18.119
Verse seventeen. We do we need to do a lot

876
00:59:18.159 --> 00:59:20.840
of work on this. All the nations are as nothing

877
00:59:20.920 --> 00:59:24.039
before him. They're accounted by him as less than nothing

878
00:59:24.119 --> 00:59:29.440
in emptiness. All right. What I want you to see

879
00:59:29.480 --> 00:59:33.840
is the escalation of the language. It's escalated, has it not?

880
00:59:34.559 --> 00:59:37.559
Because now what does it say? All nations before him

881
00:59:37.639 --> 00:59:41.239
or as nothing? They're accounted to him less than nothing?

882
00:59:41.760 --> 00:59:46.559
It's escalating, right, it's demonstrating that less and nothing in

883
00:59:46.639 --> 00:59:50.239
emptiness amplify the insignificance of human power. Just wants them

884
00:59:50.280 --> 00:59:55.239
to see human power is it's nothing. God is what

885
00:59:55.280 --> 00:59:57.639
they need to be beholding. That goes back again. The

886
00:59:57.679 --> 01:00:01.679
key phrase here is verse nine, Behold you God? Now,

887
01:00:01.719 --> 01:00:05.039
what are the key theological ideas? The nations may seem powerful,

888
01:00:05.159 --> 01:00:09.280
they're utterly powerless before God. This was especially relevant to Israel,

889
01:00:09.280 --> 01:00:11.760
who feared Babylon but needed to be reminded that God

890
01:00:11.800 --> 01:00:18.559
is greater than any empire. Right, So what are the

891
01:00:18.760 --> 01:00:21.079
key theological themes? You don't even need me to help

892
01:00:21.079 --> 01:00:23.039
you here with the key theological themes, I almost want

893
01:00:23.079 --> 01:00:24.960
to make you give them to me. But number one,

894
01:00:25.039 --> 01:00:30.039
God's sovereignty over creation. Right, he is above all things

895
01:00:30.039 --> 01:00:34.039
and controls all things everybody sees. Do you not agree

896
01:00:34.039 --> 01:00:36.199
that that's what we've seen in verse twelve through seventeen.

897
01:00:37.480 --> 01:00:42.039
God's sovereignty over all creation, his infinite wisdom. No one

898
01:00:42.079 --> 01:00:46.360
instructs God. He is self sufficient. Do you agree that

899
01:00:46.360 --> 01:00:49.400
that's there? God's sovereignty, God's infinite wisdom. What would be

900
01:00:49.400 --> 01:00:56.159
the third? The insignificance of nations? Political and military power

901
01:00:56.199 --> 01:01:01.400
are meaningless compared to God. Political ander is meaningless compared

902
01:01:01.400 --> 01:01:04.400
to God. We got to stop looking to all of

903
01:01:04.440 --> 01:01:08.159
those things. We're supposed to be looking to God. That's

904
01:01:08.239 --> 01:01:11.480
the one thing the Church should always be different than

905
01:01:11.480 --> 01:01:17.039
everything else. The Church Behold God. The world is like no, no, no, no, no,

906
01:01:17.039 --> 01:01:19.199
no no, behold this. We need this. We got to

907
01:01:19.239 --> 01:01:21.519
do this. We need to do this. We needed We're

908
01:01:21.519 --> 01:01:24.679
supposed to be just saying behold God, focus on God.

909
01:01:24.800 --> 01:01:28.480
But we leave God for the politics, for the world,

910
01:01:28.599 --> 01:01:31.920
for this thing. This, It's so easy to get caught

911
01:01:32.000 --> 01:01:34.880
up in it. And well, that's the Church has abandoned

912
01:01:35.039 --> 01:01:37.400
well God in many cases, just like Israel did over

913
01:01:37.440 --> 01:01:40.280
and over and over. All, Right, and then what's the

914
01:01:40.360 --> 01:01:43.800
last I mean, you know the keythological themes here, the

915
01:01:43.840 --> 01:01:47.119
sovereignty of God, God's infinite wisdom, insignificant of nations. You

916
01:01:47.199 --> 01:01:53.079
know the last one, the inadequacy of human worship. No

917
01:01:53.199 --> 01:01:56.840
amount of human effort can match God's greatness. What is worship?

918
01:01:57.320 --> 01:02:02.199
Worship is where we declare God is worthy while acknowledging

919
01:02:03.199 --> 01:02:07.039
we are not. That's a key element missing out in worship.

920
01:02:08.000 --> 01:02:10.599
We come to God saying you're worthy, but I am

921
01:02:10.760 --> 01:02:16.800
nothing less than nothing, vanity. All of my worship. I

922
01:02:16.840 --> 01:02:19.480
can lift my hands, I can praise, I can sing,

923
01:02:19.679 --> 01:02:23.599
I can give ten percent. It's all meaningless and worthless

924
01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:30.639
before compared to God, or I should say, compared to God. Right,

925
01:02:32.840 --> 01:02:35.719
I've got discussion questions here, but we don't have to

926
01:02:35.760 --> 01:02:41.159
get there all right, any questions? Man, we went from now,

927
01:02:41.159 --> 01:02:43.239
we did it in a different way today, but we

928
01:02:43.280 --> 01:02:48.239
went from nine to seventeen in two hours. We went

929
01:02:48.239 --> 01:02:50.880
from nine to seventeen. Now. The only reason we're able

930
01:02:50.880 --> 01:02:53.239
to go through nine to seventeen is because we spent

931
01:02:53.320 --> 01:02:57.679
all of that time establishing what the historical context. We

932
01:02:57.800 --> 01:03:01.119
kept it perfectly in its historical context. We see some

933
01:03:01.280 --> 01:03:05.119
applications to us, but it's primarily for them. And what

934
01:03:05.199 --> 01:03:07.199
you need to see is behold your God is the

935
01:03:07.280 --> 01:03:10.719
key phrase. And Israel needs to behold God. What are

936
01:03:10.840 --> 01:03:15.880
the two main reasons they need to behold God. They're

937
01:03:15.920 --> 01:03:20.079
in captivity when idols are all around them, and they

938
01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:22.800
could be drawn to those idols, and they need to

939
01:03:22.840 --> 01:03:25.039
behold God. They need to see the God and who

940
01:03:25.119 --> 01:03:27.320
they need to behold to God in whom they cannot see,

941
01:03:27.599 --> 01:03:30.760
versus being tempted by the idols which they can see,

942
01:03:30.800 --> 01:03:33.920
and what was the second reason they need to behold God?

943
01:03:34.239 --> 01:03:38.079
I really have emphasized this like countless times, because God

944
01:03:38.199 --> 01:03:46.239
is moving in this entire situation. And ordinary means ordinary

945
01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:51.079
means Babylon is a nation. They're going to be basically,

946
01:03:53.400 --> 01:03:55.159
you want to say, defeated. The way it happened is

947
01:03:55.199 --> 01:03:58.559
so bizarre historically, like it's just crazy, But basically they

948
01:03:58.559 --> 01:04:02.400
are defeated in kind of a they're kind of in

949
01:04:02.400 --> 01:04:05.480
the most ordinary way. Hey, Cyrus, just come on in.

950
01:04:05.840 --> 01:04:08.000
Our king went a wall. Just come on in, right.

951
01:04:08.079 --> 01:04:09.719
I mean, it's crazy to even think about the way,

952
01:04:09.800 --> 01:04:13.239
but it's the most ordinary of ordinary. It's not like, oh,

953
01:04:13.599 --> 01:04:17.280
they all fell asleep or it's just the most ordinary way.

954
01:04:17.440 --> 01:04:20.920
Cyrus takes over, and then Cyrus is like, I'm gonna

955
01:04:20.920 --> 01:04:26.000
make a decree. God wants me to build you basically

956
01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:29.119
a temple, So gather up all of this. It's all

957
01:04:29.159 --> 01:04:32.599
done in the most ordinary way. If they're not careful,

958
01:04:32.840 --> 01:04:37.760
they can become followers of whom all very good. Yes,

959
01:04:39.519 --> 01:04:44.239
if it's not the Babylonian idols, it's the Persian king

960
01:04:45.840 --> 01:04:52.440
demonstrating what are the two temptations political worship or political allegiance.

961
01:04:53.400 --> 01:04:59.519
National We could say three A politician, a nation, or

962
01:04:59.559 --> 01:05:04.480
an idola. Those are the three temptations facing them. A politician,

963
01:05:05.119 --> 01:05:07.440
we'll just call them a key, which is a politician. Right,

964
01:05:07.480 --> 01:05:14.719
we'll call it a politician, a nation. We're Persians, yay, Persia,

965
01:05:15.280 --> 01:05:18.159
give me the person. Yay. I'm identa fight as a Persian,

966
01:05:18.159 --> 01:05:21.039
because the Persians are the ones setting us free. Yay.

967
01:05:22.599 --> 01:05:27.840
Or an idol. It was, Hey, we can't see God.

968
01:05:28.039 --> 01:05:30.639
That idol that I have next to my house, that's

969
01:05:30.679 --> 01:05:34.760
the one doing it. And we are drawn to national identity.

970
01:05:35.559 --> 01:05:38.199
I'm an American, I'm an American. I'm an American to

971
01:05:38.239 --> 01:05:42.559
a politician, yay, yay, yay, whichever politician, or many cases,

972
01:05:42.679 --> 01:05:45.519
to some idol. Now we may not have the idol.

973
01:05:45.639 --> 01:05:49.559
We have our different kinds of idols. Those are three temptations.

974
01:05:50.639 --> 01:05:54.360
And this entire section is about Israel doing what See God,

975
01:05:56.239 --> 01:06:03.320
see power, see his tenderness, see his transcend see his greatness. God,

976
01:06:03.760 --> 01:06:08.320
see God is over all of this. We need the

977
01:06:08.360 --> 01:06:11.679
same philological lesson. Now you see how we can apply

978
01:06:11.719 --> 01:06:14.320
the philological lesson to us still be true to the

979
01:06:14.360 --> 01:06:20.599
original context. And we didn't insert ourselves into it. That's

980
01:06:20.599 --> 01:06:23.239
all I'm asking preachers to do. For some weird reason,

981
01:06:23.280 --> 01:06:25.920
I guess that's a crazy concept in twenty twenty five.

982
01:06:25.960 --> 01:06:28.880
I don't know why, because after a hundred sermons, I

983
01:06:28.880 --> 01:06:31.119
can't find anyone who can do it this way. And

984
01:06:31.280 --> 01:06:34.639
it's not because I'm smarter, because I'm not. It's just

985
01:06:34.679 --> 01:06:39.199
because I may maybe sometimes I think the key to

986
01:06:39.239 --> 01:06:41.360
being a good Bible said, you just got to love

987
01:06:41.440 --> 01:06:46.639
to read, because this is just reading comprehension one oh one.

988
01:06:48.840 --> 01:06:54.840
Nothing I'm doing there required anything. I mean nothing. I

989
01:06:54.880 --> 01:06:58.960
didn't do anything fancy, did I even the transition? Was

990
01:06:58.960 --> 01:07:01.360
that fancy? That really wasn't fancy. I was just like,

991
01:07:01.400 --> 01:07:05.119
here's verse nine compared to verse twelve. This is verse

992
01:07:05.159 --> 01:07:08.440
ten connected to here here's verse eleven. That wasn't fancy?

993
01:07:08.599 --> 01:07:14.079
Was it? No? But it puts it all together. So

994
01:07:14.280 --> 01:07:18.559
where do we begin now next week? Verse eighteen? And

995
01:07:18.599 --> 01:07:24.519
what does immediately? It turned to to whom then will

996
01:07:24.559 --> 01:07:27.480
you like in God? Or what likeness will you compare

997
01:07:27.599 --> 01:07:33.119
unto him? The workman melteth A turns to idolatry, which

998
01:07:33.159 --> 01:07:36.199
is and you can't address and guess what it does

999
01:07:37.920 --> 01:07:44.079
you establish theological truth before you address a specific issue,

1000
01:07:44.320 --> 01:07:47.280
because this specific issue must be addressed in light of

1001
01:07:48.039 --> 01:07:53.559
theological truth. That's that's like basic theology right there, right

1002
01:07:53.960 --> 01:07:57.639
all right, there we go. I wish I found I

1003
01:07:57.679 --> 01:08:00.159
wish I could have found something profound that you were like, oh, oh,

1004
01:08:00.400 --> 01:08:04.800
there's nothing, ooh there is just pretty straightforward. Like sometimes

1005
01:08:04.840 --> 01:08:07.159
you're like I wish I could say you'd be like, wow,

1006
01:08:07.320 --> 01:08:13.199
there's nothing. Wow there, it's just straightforward. But it's important

1007
01:08:12.960 --> 01:08:15.559
that what I want you to see. Don't I'll do

1008
01:08:15.679 --> 01:08:20.760
this as ordinary as that information is. Don't allow the

1009
01:08:21.279 --> 01:08:27.039
miss the profound importance of what we just discuss because

1010
01:08:27.039 --> 01:08:31.640
it appears ordinary. They were in danger of missing God

1011
01:08:31.680 --> 01:08:33.720
because God was going to work in an ordinary way.

1012
01:08:33.960 --> 01:08:38.359
Sometimes we miss profound philological truth unless it's described in

1013
01:08:38.399 --> 01:08:44.119
a sunsensational way. Sometimes it's just very that's pretty ordinary,

1014
01:08:44.239 --> 01:08:46.760
but it's still profound. All right, let's pray, Lord God,

1015
01:08:46.760 --> 01:08:50.119
we come before you this afternoon. Lord, these same temptations

1016
01:08:50.159 --> 01:08:53.159
they face we face. Forgive us for all the times

1017
01:08:53.199 --> 01:08:56.039
we failed them, and we are grateful that you're a

1018
01:08:56.079 --> 01:09:00.000
merciful God who has sent salvation in your son Jesus Christ,

1019
01:09:00.039 --> 01:09:02.439
will we find that mercy and that grace and said

1020
01:09:02.720 --> 01:09:08.119
his name we pray, and God's people said Amen, mhm