back to index04-20-16 Wed Bible Study
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provision in our lives. We pray, Father God, that every word that you've spoken, 00:00:08.500 |
every word that you, that we've studied and will discuss, 00:00:13.000 |
will serve to strengthen your church and cause us, Lord God, to be mindful 00:00:18.000 |
of all that we have in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:00:22.000 |
I hope that through your study and through your quiet times and, 00:00:27.000 |
you know, answering some of these questions that you've recognized that there's 00:00:31.000 |
been some transition, yes? Without me pointing it out? 00:00:36.000 |
Which I already did, right? Clearly the tone is different. 00:00:40.000 |
The tone, like there is, chapter 1 through chapter 39, the tone is, 00:00:46.000 |
is judgment coming, why the judgment is coming, who the judgment is coming for, 00:00:51.000 |
how long the judgment is, and then in between God would make promises of, 00:00:56.000 |
even though that's happening, God's going to restore you. But in chapter 40 and on, 00:01:00.000 |
you'll see that the tone primarily is about comfort. Now, that doesn't mean that 00:01:04.000 |
God doesn't mention judgment. Judgment is still there, but you'll notice that 00:01:08.000 |
the tone is very different. Have you noticed that another transition 00:01:32.000 |
Okay, alright, that's good observation. So you'll notice that in between chapter 39 00:01:37.000 |
and chapter 40, where chapter up to that point is talking about what's going to 00:01:41.000 |
happen because of their sins, and then starting from chapter 40, he begins to 00:01:45.000 |
explain what happened, right? Why this happened, and so basically what's 00:01:49.000 |
happening starting from chapter 40, there's about, so chapter 39 to 40, 00:01:53.000 |
basically what's happened is the Assyrians came and then they fell. 00:01:58.000 |
God already judged the Assyrians. Up to this point, up to chapter 39, 00:02:02.000 |
it's been judgment against the nation of Israel, right? So judgment has taken 00:02:06.000 |
place, and then again, it doesn't mention Assyria, it doesn't mention Persia, 00:02:11.000 |
it doesn't mention Babylonians by name, but if you look at the historical 00:02:15.000 |
context, that's basically what happens, right? He raises up a nation from the 00:02:19.000 |
east, right, to bring judgment, and so most commentators believe that's talking 00:02:24.000 |
about the Assyrians who were judged, they've already been conquered. The 00:02:28.000 |
Babylonians already came and conquered them, but it goes even beyond that. It 00:02:32.000 |
talks about probably King Cyrus who's come and allowed them to restore back 00:02:37.000 |
into Jerusalem, okay? So about 100, 120 years of history already took place, 00:02:42.000 |
and so starting from chapter 40, he begins to look at it and say, "This is what 00:02:47.000 |
I've done, and this is why I did it." And the whole reason why is now he's coming 00:02:51.000 |
to comfort and to restore, okay? So that's a big shift in chapter 40, right? 00:02:57.000 |
Now, that doesn't mean starting from chapter 40 that it's going to be 00:03:00.000 |
chronological. Just like chapter 1 through 39, it's very thematic, so he may 00:03:05.000 |
jump back and forth, he may be talking about the restorations of Jerusalem, and 00:03:09.000 |
then go back and then talk about judgment against Babylon. So he'll do that 00:03:13.000 |
also in the second section, but again you'll notice that the tone has 00:03:17.000 |
definitely changed, okay? So if you look at the first chapter, or chapter 40, 00:03:21.000 |
verse 1, "Come forth, come forth, my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to 00:03:25.000 |
Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended." Okay, so all the 00:03:29.000 |
judgment that was prophesied in the first 39 chapters, he said all of that 00:03:34.000 |
has ended. Okay, again not completely, just historically. All the stuff 00:03:38.000 |
prophesied about the end times obviously hasn't happened yet. But the 00:03:42.000 |
historical application, he says, "Warfare has ended, that her iniquity is 00:03:46.000 |
pardoned," right? All this time saying, "Because of your sins, these judgments 00:03:50.000 |
are coming." God carries out his judgment, and now they're taken into captivity, 00:03:55.000 |
and then now they're returning back to Jerusalem. Okay, so all of that has 00:03:58.000 |
already taken place between chapter 39 and 40. "That she has received from the 00:04:02.000 |
Lord's hand double for all her sins." Right? So as much as they were judged for 00:04:07.000 |
their sins, when God restores, His restoration is going to be double, 00:04:11.000 |
whatever it is that they lost, right? So that's the context in which we're 00:04:16.000 |
starting. Okay, so the first question, "Why is a valley lifted up a mountain, and 00:04:20.000 |
a hill made low, to prepare for the coming of the Lord?" Okay, again it 00:04:25.000 |
doesn't say within that context, remember we talked about that, how all the roads, 00:04:29.000 |
right, that leads to the, what cities? Cities of refuge. How many cities of 00:04:36.000 |
refuge were there? There were six of them, and where were they? 00:04:42.000 |
Huh? They're all spread out in Jerusalem, on top of the hills, right? And they're 00:04:51.000 |
all Levitical towns, where the Levites basically were the residents in 00:04:58.000 |
those towns, right? So it doesn't mention that in specifically, but any Jew would 00:05:03.000 |
know, and like when talking about the best roads, is talking about cities that, 00:05:07.000 |
the roads that lead to the, to the cities of refuge. But again, when it's talking 00:05:11.000 |
about the mountains being, being taken down, and valleys being lifted up, what is 00:05:16.000 |
the imagery there? Just making the, making the road easy access, right? So that the 00:05:23.000 |
mountains, they don't have to climb mountains, they don't have to go down the 00:05:26.000 |
valley. What's another metaphor for that? High being brought low, low being brought 00:05:32.000 |
high, proud humbled, right? The lowly being, being brought up, right? When I think 00:05:41.000 |
about that, the picture that I always get is in John chapter 3 and 4, where Nicodemus, 00:05:48.000 |
you know, he's a spiritually or by, by law, he's kind of on the top of the hill. 00:05:53.000 |
And then you have the Samaritan woman, the next chapter, who's kind of like the 00:05:57.000 |
sin, sinner among sinners, and even other sinners wouldn't associate with her, how 00:06:01.000 |
God interacts with both of them. And he brings the high low and the low high, 00:06:05.000 |
right? So that's the kind of picture we get. It's to make the path to the Lord 00:06:11.000 |
You know, that's another imagery. When we talk about the gospel, you know, the 00:06:19.000 |
barrier that existed between us and God has been taken away. So again, that's 00:06:23.000 |
another picture of the, of the gospel message, where the roads that were, were 00:06:27.000 |
impossible to take, the mountains have been brought low, the valleys have been 00:06:31.000 |
filled, so that our path to our God has been, has been laid, right? Again, as I 00:06:37.000 |
mentioned, the other imagery is for the, the proud to be humbled and the lowly to 00:06:43.000 |
be raised up. And that's exactly what the gospel does, doesn't it? Right? The proud 00:06:51.000 |
and the mighty and the honored and the educated, they don't have special access 00:06:56.000 |
to the kingdom, right? And the lowly and the poor, the uneducated, the ungifted, 00:07:02.000 |
they have equal access to God, right? The gospel brings us all through the same 00:07:08.000 |
door, right? And so after so much warning God's wrath against the enemies of 00:07:16.000 |
Israel and His discipline against Israel, God now turns to restore what He has 00:07:20.000 |
always intended, to restore and comfort Israel. They will receive double the 00:07:25.000 |
blessing than punishment for sins, just as I, we read in verse 2, right? That she 00:07:31.000 |
has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins, right? So just as they 00:07:36.000 |
have been judged, God will pardon them, not much more. 00:07:40.000 |
So again, the period of discipline is, is over, now God will restore. 00:07:51.000 |
So what, when He comes to do this, what will be revealed? Right? It says the glory of 00:07:57.000 |
the Lord. Can somebody go to Colossians 3, 4? 00:08:08.000 |
And then Shane, can you go to 1st Corinthians 13, 11? And just read it out 00:08:29.000 |
Okay, so whenever we, the Bible prophesies about Him coming, it says that we will see 00:08:40.000 |
Him in His full glory. And in His glory, His being, being able to have access to 00:08:46.000 |
His glory is what's going to change us, right? 1st Corinthians? 00:08:50.000 |
Okay, so 1st Corinthians 13 talks about how everything that we've experienced about 00:09:04.000 |
God is only partial, right? Like the theologians say, we're here and not yet. 00:09:09.000 |
We've gotten a taste of His kingdom, taste of His goodness, taste of His glory, 00:09:13.000 |
but His full revelation of Himself is going to come when He comes in His full 00:09:18.000 |
So again, if verse 9 through 11 describes Him coming in might, right? But along with 00:09:27.000 |
Him coming in His might, in His full glory, God is described as a caring, gentle 00:09:33.000 |
shepherd that takes care of His flock in tenderness, right? 00:09:38.000 |
So again, the image is very different, right? When He was talking about judgment, 00:09:43.000 |
He's talking about His might, He's talking about His power, and He still does that 00:09:47.000 |
in this section, but He comes to restore. And in gentleness, He cares for this 00:09:54.000 |
flock that has gone astray. And again, the imagery that we have is, you know, 00:09:59.000 |
when He says that He leaves a 99 to go chase after the 1, and that's the imagery 00:10:03.000 |
that we see here. When the Lord comes in His full glory, He's come to restore. 00:10:08.000 |
So there's a tenderness in Him, there's a gentleness in Him that's drawing His 00:10:13.000 |
Third question was, what do verses 6 through 8 teach us about God's word 00:10:28.000 |
Only God's word does not change. So everything He has said has happened, 00:10:33.000 |
right? Where first 39 chapters were like, "This is going to happen, this is going 00:10:39.000 |
to happen," and He's warning them to turn from their sins, right? And then it 00:10:45.000 |
happens. Now He's returning back and He says, "See, everything I said has 00:10:48.000 |
happened." Like, everything like grass will fade away and disappear, but the word 00:10:54.000 |
of God will be fulfilled. This is why I think that, you know, faith ultimately is 00:11:05.000 |
something that God gives, but how do we, what avenue did God give us so that our 00:11:11.000 |
faith can grow? Faith comes from hearing, right? Hearing the word of Christ, right? 00:11:24.000 |
Faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of Christ. So here He says, He tells 00:11:30.000 |
them, "This is what's going to happen." Now He's looking back and He says, "Just 00:11:33.000 |
like everything else, like everything has passed away, everything that you've 00:11:36.000 |
relied on, right? You've been running to Egypt. Where are they now? You were 00:11:40.000 |
afraid of Assyria. Where are they now? You were aligning yourself with the 00:11:43.000 |
Babylonians. They've been judged. They've disappeared, right? So where are they 00:11:47.000 |
now?" He's saying, "Everything that you've relied on, all the confidence that you 00:11:51.000 |
have, they've all disappeared, and now you're on this end. What remains for you? 00:11:55.000 |
His word, right? The only thing that was constant was His word, His promise." So 00:12:00.000 |
when He says His word, obviously He's not talking about the pages of His word. 00:12:04.000 |
He's talking about God Himself. "Everything I tell you is going to happen." 00:12:08.000 |
That's basically what He's saying, right? So instead of relying upon the 00:12:12.000 |
Egyptians when you were running to them, you should have relied upon Me and My 00:12:16.000 |
words. That's basically what He's saying. He's not simply saying, like, you know, 00:12:19.000 |
this is just cling on to this, right? He said, "If you're going to put your 00:12:24.000 |
confidence in anything, put your confidence in what I tell you, in the 00:12:27.000 |
promises that I make, right? If you fear anything, fear Me, right?" 00:12:38.000 |
Okay, I had one question on Friday. "It takes some time to list all the 00:12:41.000 |
different attributes of God listed in this section. Be as detailed as 00:12:45.000 |
possible." Okay, so instead of just going over it, let me give you just a few 00:12:50.000 |
minutes in your table to discuss in that section what are some things that you 00:12:55.000 |
found, okay? Because every promise that God, when He says, you know, all the 00:13:00.000 |
stuff, all the other things are like grass, they pass away, only His word 00:13:04.000 |
lasts forever. We're just talking about what He said, right? So recognizing and 00:13:09.000 |
understanding who He is and believing who He is, is at the foundation upon 00:13:15.000 |
what they will build on top, right? So what does He say? How is God presented 00:13:21.000 |
to us, at least in this section? So take a few minutes to talk about what you 00:13:25.000 |
found, what are some things that kind of stood out to you, right? Not just like, 00:13:30.000 |
"Oh, he says this, he says this," but what kind of stood out to you that gives 00:13:36.000 |
you confidence? When you think about God, "This is something that really like 00:13:39.000 |
causes me to have confidence and strength. This is what causes me to run 00:13:43.000 |
to Him," right? That you can put your trust in Him because of this. Not just 00:13:50.000 |
objectively, but subjectively. Don't do your study now, okay? Discuss what you 00:14:20.000 |
If you guys can just...if I can get your attention back up here for a minute. 00:14:27.000 |
So again, you know, we're not talking about objectively, you know, we all know 00:14:32.000 |
how to read. I'm asking you guys like, "What kind of stood out to you? What are 00:14:36.000 |
some things that kind of stands out and say, 'This is what I think about and that 00:14:40.000 |
gives me confidence and strength.'" Right? Share your blessing with all of us. 00:15:13.000 |
So how does that comfort you? How does that give you strength? 00:15:16.000 |
[Audience member] It tells me that, like, you know, this stuff about ISIS going on, 00:15:20.000 |
communities of hopeless, but God, He has all of this in mind already, no matter 00:15:25.000 |
[Ross] So it gives you...so it gives you peace that you...okay. 00:15:32.000 |
[Audience member] As I looked at verse 30 and 31, it made me think about how God is 00:15:39.000 |
our source of life, and He's not only the source, but He's the sustainer. So how it 00:15:46.000 |
applies to me is, I guess, over the years of us being involved in church, I hear, you 00:15:54.000 |
know, I've heard from different people this phrase of "burnout." I burned out, you 00:16:02.000 |
know, because, you know, when I first started something, I just did it, like, to the max. 00:16:09.000 |
And then I got burned out. So then I stopped. But I realized that, you know, as I've been 00:16:17.000 |
evaluating, kind of, even the last five, ten years, I think it's been a good, I think, 00:16:24.000 |
kind of, it's been evident to me that God has, I think, helped me do it in my spirit. 00:16:31.000 |
So if I'm going through a busy weekend or a busy month, I'm like, how could I get up 00:16:37.000 |
for a walk, and I'll jump in. But, certainly, I trust that it's not because I'm in 00:16:46.000 |
juvenile, and automatically, in general, I'm not, you know, in my spirit. 00:16:52.000 |
>> Right. Right. Yeah, I think that's crucial. I mean, that's kind of like the main point 00:16:57.000 |
he's making, right? He's talking to the nation of Israel, who's constantly jumping 00:17:01.000 |
to, you know, like, other nations, or wealth, or political power, and then when it got bad 00:17:06.000 |
enough, they jumped to idols, right? And in the end, and now he's looking back at 00:17:10.000 |
this, see what happened, what did that buy you? What happened? At that moment, you felt 00:17:14.000 |
secure, but when you look at the totality of what happened, it's like they're all 00:17:18.000 |
gone. The only thing that remained was God, right? And I think that, again, throughout 00:17:23.000 |
our spiritual maturity, as we're growing, I mean, we're human, so we're motivated by 00:17:29.000 |
all kinds of stuff, right? Came here motivated by the snacks, right? We saw the 00:17:34.000 |
pictures, and we're motivated, right? We're motivated by our friends, we're 00:17:39.000 |
motivated by community. None of these things are bad, right? But in time, 00:17:45.000 |
everything is going to change. Everything is going to disappoint to a certain 00:17:49.000 |
degree, right? The only thing that remains that consistent forever, and he says, "He 00:17:54.000 |
who waits upon the Lord, he'll renew his strength," right? People wait upon people, 00:17:59.000 |
people wait upon organization, people wait upon anything. At some point, yeah, 00:18:04.000 |
burnout's going to happen because disappointment's going to come, right? I 00:18:07.000 |
don't think it's wrong. I don't think those things are necessarily wrong, but 00:18:11.000 |
God has a tendency to kind of bring you through all of that to make you see that 00:18:15.000 |
the only thing constant is God, right? And he who waits upon the Lord, they're the 00:18:20.000 |
ones who are going to renew the strength. So that's really the point that he's 00:18:23.000 |
trying to make through all of this, right? Okay, what else? Have we exhausted it 00:18:30.000 |
already? What else? What did you guys talk about in your group? Let's have a couple 00:19:22.000 |
Right. Like it says in verse 27, "Why do you say with Jacob, 'And speak, O Israel, 00:19:27.000 |
my ways is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God,'" because 00:19:31.000 |
he wasn't answering right away. It seemed like God doesn't care, right? And 00:19:36.000 |
sometimes God allows us to go through all of that so that we figure out that God 00:19:41.000 |
is exactly what we want, right? Okay, let's have one or two more people share. 00:20:37.000 |
I think I shared this many times before, but the thing that always stands out to 00:20:40.000 |
me is his immutability, right? Like he doesn't change. He does not faint or grow 00:20:46.000 |
weary. I think the older I get, the more that, like how important that is, because 00:20:52.000 |
everything changes. Everything changes. Like everything changes. Anyway, I don't 00:20:59.000 |
want to milk it. It just seems like the older I get, the more like to see 00:21:07.000 |
something constant because nothing is constant, and to know that all the 00:21:12.000 |
attributes of God is constant. The God that I met over 30 years ago is the same 00:21:18.000 |
God, has the same passion, same love, the same forgiveness. Like it's the same. 00:21:26.000 |
And the fact that he did not grow weary, he did not grow tired, even when I'm 00:21:31.000 |
tired, even when I grow weary, like that's a comfort. You know what I mean? 00:21:36.000 |
Kind of like, you know those of you who've been out of your, you know, you're 00:21:39.000 |
old enough, you've moved out of your house, you haven't lived in your home for a 00:21:42.000 |
long time, and every once in a while you go back to your parents' home and you 00:21:45.000 |
just feel safe. Does that happen? Yeah, sometimes, right? You know what I'm 00:21:50.000 |
talking about, right? It's kind of like that. Like it's like going to your God 00:21:54.000 |
is always like he's the same God. That same God that heard you crying when you 00:22:00.000 |
were lonely and beaten up, and you know, when you felt like he wouldn't forgive 00:22:05.000 |
your sin, he came back and he received you, and all of that, all of that. He's 00:22:09.000 |
that same God. You go to him today, he's that same God. Nothing has changed, right? 00:22:14.000 |
So to me that's a huge source of comfort, to know that that's the same God I knew 00:22:19.000 |
30 years ago is the same God I know today. Okay, you don't have to write this 00:22:25.000 |
down. These are just, these are the objective things that are talked about, 00:22:28.000 |
right? He's sovereign, he's all-knowing, he's immutable, he gives power to those 00:22:39.000 |
The challenge is not to simply know this, but to experience this, right? That's the 00:22:49.000 |
challenge. It's easy to know this, and we have the Bible, but how is this fleshed 00:22:55.000 |
out in your life? How is his sovereignty, like, how does that affect your 00:22:59.000 |
decision-making? How does this cause you not to fear what's going on? Just like, 00:23:03.000 |
you know, why I wanted you guys to share in your group is not simply say, "Oh, 00:23:08.000 |
this is what the Bible says about God." But how does his immutability affect you, 00:23:12.000 |
affect your affection for him? How does the fact that God is unsearchable, 00:23:16.000 |
all-knowing, right? How does that affect your life? The fact that he provides 00:23:22.000 |
water for the thirsty, right? Where there's no water to be found, but then 00:23:27.000 |
it's in Christ. Like, how does that affect you? That's the challenge for us. 00:23:33.000 |
Like, how is that real in our lives? Like, how is that being fleshed out? 00:23:38.000 |
Alright, so let's transition to chapter 41. So chapter 41, he begins in verse 1, 00:23:47.000 |
and says, "Listen to me in silence, O coastlands, let the peoples renew their 00:23:50.000 |
strength. Let them approach, then let them speak. Let us together draw near for 00:23:55.000 |
judgment." So that part where he says, "Let them approach, then let them speak," 00:23:59.000 |
right? So he's basically gathering all the peoples, and before you go around and 00:24:03.000 |
tell people about who I am, what I have done, come and listen first, right? He's 00:24:07.000 |
going to lay out who he is, and he's going to show them. So in what way? The 00:24:14.000 |
first question was in verse 4. In what way is he the first and the last? So 00:24:17.000 |
let's look at it in the context. "Who stirred up one of the east from the 00:24:20.000 |
victory, meets at every step." And so, most commentators believe that that's in 00:24:24.000 |
reference to Persia. Persia coming in from the east, conquering the Babylonians, 00:24:29.000 |
and he gives up nations before him so that he tramples kings underfoot. He 00:24:34.000 |
makes them like dust with his sword, like drawn, driven stubble with his bow. He 00:24:39.000 |
pursues them and passes on safely by path his feet have not trod. "Who has 00:24:44.000 |
performed and done this, calling the generation from the beginning, I the 00:24:47.000 |
Lord the first and with the last, I am he." So all these nations, these are all 00:24:51.000 |
superpowers, right? And at the time they were in power, it seemed like, how can 00:24:56.000 |
you possibly destroy the Assyrians? But they went. And when the Babylonians, that 00:25:00.000 |
was the most powerful empire, probably before any other empire, before the 00:25:05.000 |
Roman Empire came, the Babylonians were the greatest empire ever, right? But even 00:25:10.000 |
they disappeared. At one point, Egyptians seemed like, you know, like how can 00:25:14.000 |
Egyptians, who's going to conquer the Egyptians? But they came and went. And now 00:25:18.000 |
the Persia here is in power, and he said, "These are my servants." Right? As 00:25:22.000 |
powerful as they are, I am the first and the last, not them, right? So he has 00:25:29.000 |
absolute sovereign control. That's why he's laying out all these nations have 00:25:35.000 |
come and gone, right? But in the end, they only do what I have purposed, because I 00:25:40.000 |
am the first and I am the last. I remember years ago, a missionary was 00:25:49.000 |
sharing about, you know, a book of Revelation, and I said, "Okay, this guy's 00:25:53.000 |
going to go talk about, you know, what the white horse is and all that." But I was 00:25:56.000 |
really encouraged because he was sharing from Revelation, like the end history, 00:26:01.000 |
right? And he said, after he shared that, he was basically sharing with us how 00:26:06.000 |
book of Revelation comforts him, because the end history is already determined. 00:26:12.000 |
He's not predicting. He's saying like, "Oh, if you make the right choices, and if 00:26:17.000 |
you make the right, you know, place the right thing, and if the church works 00:26:21.000 |
hard enough, and if we spread the gospel, if we were strategic enough, if we 00:26:25.000 |
gathered enough, like we're going to be able to do this." He said, "No, that's not 00:26:28.000 |
what Revelation is saying." Right? Revelation is saying, "This is what's 00:26:32.000 |
going to happen." He conquered, period. Right? He's not saying, "It wasn't a 00:26:38.000 |
challenge to get your act straight, or this is not going to happen." He said, 00:26:41.000 |
"No, this is determined." Right? And so, he was sharing how every time he 00:26:46.000 |
reads the book of Revelation, it kind of reminds him that we're playing a small 00:26:52.000 |
part in the way he's carrying his plan out, but in the end, it's already been 00:26:58.000 |
determined. Right? And a source of confidence in that, and in the end, like, 00:27:04.000 |
you know, we get so caught up in what we need to do, don't need to do, and we 00:27:07.000 |
forget the big picture. Right? This is a sovereign God we're talking about. God 00:27:11.000 |
has never lost control of anything. Right? So, he is the Alpha and Omega, not the 00:27:17.000 |
United States, not ISIS, not our economy, you know, not our intellect, not our 00:27:22.000 |
decision-making, but him. Right? Ultimately, what was the cause of fear? 00:27:29.000 |
Right? And he said, "Why are they commanded not to be fearful?" So, look at 00:27:34.000 |
verse 6. It says 6, it's 670, but I forgot to erase the zero. Okay? What is he 00:27:41.000 |
saying here? "Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, 'Be strong.' 00:27:46.000 |
The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer, him 00:27:51.000 |
who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, 'It is good,' and they 00:27:55.000 |
strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved." What is he saying there? 00:28:06.000 |
>>Sounds like the pagan idol worshippers are wavering in their own faith toward 00:28:15.000 |
their idols, and so they're encouraging the craftsman to do a better job making 00:28:20.000 |
idols so that the idols don't fall over. Such is the weakness of their own trust 00:28:26.000 |
in their false gods, because God, the true God, is judging them and causing them to 00:28:34.000 |
be shaken up and poured out. >>Right. Did you guys catch that? You see how verse 5 00:28:38.000 |
says, "The coastlines have seen and are afraid. The ends of the earth tremble. 00:28:42.000 |
They have drawn near and come." So all this disaster is happening, and so when 00:28:46.000 |
that happens, they're going to each other and comforting each other, right? Which 00:28:51.000 |
is exactly what we do, you know? When disaster comes, we send email, we say, 00:28:55.000 |
"Hey, we're with you," and we try to bring comfort. And then it said, "The 00:29:00.000 |
craftsman strengthened goldsmith." In other words, whether it is idols that 00:29:04.000 |
they're building, or they're just kind of fortifying their walls. So it's like if 00:29:08.000 |
disaster is coming, make sure we get proper insurance, you know? Like we put up 00:29:12.000 |
boards against the windows, and we're doing everything in your power to protect 00:29:16.000 |
yourself. But in the end, what happens? Nothing. The winds are too strong, right? 00:29:22.000 |
The disaster is not something that you can hold back, right? So he's saying when 00:29:27.000 |
disaster comes, the men are running to each other for comfort. They're running, 00:29:31.000 |
like they're going to work harder, right? "Hey, we don't have, the economy is bad, 00:29:35.000 |
so let's be smart, let's work harder." And he said, "In the end, what has it done?" 00:29:39.000 |
Right? Only the Word of God lasts forever. So they're trying to deal with their 00:29:48.000 |
fear by running to things that really aren't going to help them. Whether it's 00:29:56.000 |
hard work, or idolatry. But he says to the nation of Israel, he said, "But your 00:30:00.000 |
comfort," right? In verses 8 through 10. This is what they do, verses 6 through 7. 00:30:06.000 |
"But you, Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, 00:30:11.000 |
my friend, you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from his farthest 00:30:15.000 |
corner, saying to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you,' and not cast you off. 00:30:20.000 |
Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will 00:30:24.000 |
strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 00:30:28.000 |
Right? So the world will run to each other. They'll run to hard work, they'll 00:30:33.000 |
run to idolatry, whatever it is that brings comfort. But he said, "You, your 00:30:37.000 |
source of strength should not be like the others." Right? He said, "You shouldn't 00:30:44.000 |
fear because I am with you." Right? Not because you have friends, not because 00:30:49.000 |
you have a bank account, right? Not because you're part of a good community 00:30:53.000 |
that loves you, but your fear should be dealt with because I am with you. I have 00:31:00.000 |
What will happen to those who contend with God? Right? Those who war against 00:31:14.000 |
Israel will perish, basically, in verses 11 and 12. In other words, after all these 00:31:21.000 |
years, right? After all these years of their rebellion, after all these years of 00:31:26.000 |
God's judgment upon them, God has still not forgotten about His people. 00:31:30.000 |
Do you remember when Hosea was written? Was it pre-exile or post-exile? 00:31:40.000 |
Anybody remember? Pre. Right? Hosea is written pre-exile. 00:31:50.000 |
Do you remember the theme of Hosea? He names his children, "You are not my 00:31:58.000 |
people. I will not have compassion." Basically, he's saying that, "I loved you 00:32:02.000 |
like Hosea loves Gomer." He chased after Harlot who kept on adulterating 00:32:06.000 |
themselves. And God warns the nation of Israel that because of that, judgment 00:32:11.000 |
is coming upon you. Right? And so, he says in his judgment, "I'm going to treat 00:32:17.000 |
you like you're not my people. I'm going to let you go. If you're going to keep 00:32:20.000 |
adulterating yourself, you're going to do that." And now we're here. So, this is 00:32:23.000 |
written, obviously, post-exile. Right? And even after all of that, even after all 00:32:28.000 |
his frustration, God has still not forgotten about Israel. Right? He's saying, 00:32:33.000 |
"You are my people." He's still saying that to this nation. Right? So, when you 00:32:38.000 |
look at the history of Israel and just how often and how many times and how 00:32:43.000 |
easily they forget who they serve. You know, and God disciplines them. God doesn't 00:32:48.000 |
just sweep sin under the rug. He disciplines them. But he still, still he's 00:32:53.000 |
saying, "You're my people." Right? Because he made a covenant. He said, "Everything 00:33:00.000 |
else will pass away. You may frustrate your parents. You may frustrate your 00:33:03.000 |
friends. You may, you know, you may have even your best friends may not be there 00:33:07.000 |
next year. But the Word of God will remain forever." Right? Because he said, he 00:33:13.000 |
said, he made a covenant with Abraham. Right? And he is faithful to his own 00:33:17.000 |
covenant. And so, even now, right, when you understand the context in which he's 00:33:22.000 |
saying this, even now he says, "You're my people. And anybody who messes with you 00:33:26.000 |
messes with me." Right? "In what way will he protect them?" He said, "I will hold you 00:33:38.000 |
with my right hand." Right? "I will, I will be the one who helps you." 00:33:51.000 |
"The Lord will send the kinsman-redeemer." I mean, it's, in your translation, it 00:33:55.000 |
doesn't, it doesn't say "kinsman-redeemer," but basically that's the same word. 00:34:00.000 |
Right? "Boaz, who comes and redeems." Right? It's written into the law of God 00:34:06.000 |
that a kinsman-redeemer will come, the nearest kin will come and redeem, redeem 00:34:12.000 |
that line. He said, "I will send him." Who is this in reference to? 00:34:16.000 |
Christ. Right? So again, a reference that his ultimate restoration is going to come 00:34:24.000 |
in Christ. You notice how in verse 14, that even in the context of his judgment 00:34:33.000 |
and restoration, he says, "Fear not, you worm Jacob." Right? Just in case you become 00:34:38.000 |
arrogant, thinking that somehow you've earned my favor. Right? Don't forget, 00:34:43.000 |
right, it's not because you're righteous, it's not because you've paid off your 00:34:48.000 |
sin and now you're righteous before God. He said, "Don't forget, you worm Jacob, 00:34:52.000 |
you men of Israel. I am the one who helps you," declares the Lord. Right? In other 00:34:56.000 |
words, God's having compassion on you. "Your redeemer, kinsman-redeemer, is the 00:35:00.000 |
Holy One of Israel. Behold, I make you a threshing sledge." So, you see how he 00:35:04.000 |
says, "You are a worm, but I will turn you into a threshing sledge, because I will 00:35:09.000 |
have compassion on you." Right? So, for whatever the reason, because God has 00:35:15.000 |
mercy on you, you start becoming arrogant. Don't forget who you are. I'm the one 00:35:19.000 |
who's being gracious to you. He says, "The Lord will answer the needy and those who 00:35:25.000 |
seek water, and not abandon them." That even in the, even as you're in the 00:35:33.000 |
desert and there's no hope for life. Right? He said, "I will provide." 00:35:51.000 |
So, who's the Lord speaking to in this section? Starting in verse 21, when He 00:35:54.000 |
says, "Set forth your case," says the Lord, "bring your proof," says the King of 00:35:59.000 |
Jacob, "let them bring them and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former 00:36:03.000 |
things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their 00:36:07.000 |
outcome, or declare to us the kings to come." Who is He referring to? 00:36:19.000 |
Huh? I didn't do "eat"? Oh, okay, I didn't. So, He says, "When He does all of this," 00:36:30.000 |
in verse 20, "that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that 00:36:35.000 |
the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created." So, again, 00:36:39.000 |
He starts in verse 16, "Fear not, you worm Jacob." In other words, don't become 00:36:44.000 |
arrogant because God is being gracious to you. Because, remember what the 00:36:47.000 |
Scripture says? Right? The constant sin of the nation of Israel and the people of 00:36:52.000 |
God is when they cry out, God has compassion, He feeds them. When they are 00:36:56.000 |
fed, they become proud. When they become proud, they forget Him. And when they 00:37:00.000 |
forget Him, they turn to idols. Right? And that's the constant cycle. So, He says, 00:37:05.000 |
"I'm going to restore you, but don't forget it is I who will restore you, not 00:37:09.000 |
you." Right? That's why, again, I think, you know, as we talked about on Sunday, 00:37:16.000 |
justification by faith, right? Meaning that in the end, we didn't earn it. So, 00:37:22.000 |
anytime we see any kind of pride in our righteousness, that's the beginning of 00:37:26.000 |
the fall. Right? So, who's the Lord speaking to, verse 21 and on? 00:38:10.000 |
It just seems, well, I put Judah question mark. And it was just, because it seemed 00:38:21.000 |
like there was this aspect of, like, because Judah was like the better of the 00:38:31.000 |
two kingdoms as far as like following Him. So, there's this aspect, like, for me, 00:38:35.000 |
it seemed like there was this strength of, like, or a strength of, like, that 00:38:40.000 |
parent talked to their child, like, "I don't want to punish you. Like, tell me 00:38:44.000 |
why. I'm like, just please give me a good reason why." So, that's, it just, that 00:38:59.000 |
Could it be idols? Like, God's calling their idols into account. What's you 00:39:03.000 |
telling what's going to happen in the future if you're so powerful and Judah's 00:39:07.000 |
insisting on worshipping you? Well, prove it. You know, here's my proof, here's 00:39:12.000 |
my qualifications in Most chapter 40. What do you got? So, God's, it sounds like 00:39:19.000 |
Right. Right. I think it pretty much includes everything. Like, everybody and 00:39:25.000 |
everyone who didn't put their confidence in God, right, He's looking back and 00:39:30.000 |
saying, "Why don't you predict? Why don't you thwart the nation? You know, let's 00:39:33.000 |
see you predict what's going to happen. You tell me what's going to happen 00:39:36.000 |
tomorrow." But it's kind of a bit of sarcasm. You know what I mean? And so, He's 00:39:41.000 |
basically taking it to them. It's like, "See all the things that you've trusted, 00:39:44.000 |
all the false prophets you went to, all the priests that you've relied on, all 00:39:48.000 |
the other nations, all the other idols, right, where are they now? You know, tell 00:39:53.000 |
them to save you. Where are they now?" Right? Right. So, basically, He's 00:39:59.000 |
challenging them. Like, now He's on this side and we have 120 years of God, God 00:40:05.000 |
judging, preserving, restoring, right, doing exactly what He said He was going 00:40:09.000 |
to do. And He's looking back at it and saying, "Now look at all the things that 00:40:13.000 |
you've been, you've had confidence in. Where are they now?" Right? Were they able 00:40:17.000 |
to accomplish anything that they said? Did anything they say come true? Right? 00:40:25.000 |
Remember the last week we talked about in chapter 36 through 39? Remember how the 00:40:30.000 |
general of the Assyrian army comes and he begins to mock Israel and say, "Where's 00:40:34.000 |
your God? If there is a God, He's for us and not for you." Right? He's like, "Hezekiah 00:40:39.000 |
is not going to be able to save you. You watch." Right? So, kind of like, now we go 00:40:44.000 |
to chapter 41 and say, "Where are they now?" You think about everything He said. 00:40:48.000 |
Did that come true? Right? All right. So, the last part of it is, consider how 00:40:58.000 |
Israel saw, and this is one of your, the last question. "Idols time and again in 00:41:03.000 |
their history, when it is end, it is nothing but man-made objects. Why would a 00:41:07.000 |
nation favored by the living God be so tempted by something so trivial? Why does 00:41:11.000 |
the sin of idol worship in Israel's history reveal about, what does it reveal 00:41:15.000 |
about the sin that resides in all of us?" This temptation to, you know, I know, I 00:41:21.000 |
know at church on Sunday, and I know in Bible study, and I know in small groups, 00:41:25.000 |
God is huge. Right? But in our day-to-day lives, that's our struggle. That this 00:41:32.000 |
same God that we talk about in this room, is He, is He big in our daily lives? 00:41:37.000 |
Right? And I think that temptation, you know, like everything that we see in the 00:41:41.000 |
nation of Israel, we struggle with the same temptation on a day-to-day basis. 00:41:46.000 |
You know, we look at it in history and say, "Why would a nation who's been 00:41:50.000 |
favored by God, protected by God, loved by God, you know, seen the miracles of 00:41:55.000 |
God, so easily turn away and turn to idols?" Because that's all in us too. 00:42:02.000 |
Right? We wrestle with that. So, that question, I'm just going to leave it up 00:42:06.000 |
to you. Take some time to discuss in your group, and I'll just kind of end it