back to index2016-05-04 Wed Bible Study
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Alright, let's look at Isaiah chapter 44 verses... 00:00:13.960 |
So if you notice that the previous passage, it ended with sort of a reminder of Israel's 00:00:20.400 |
sin and then if you look at verse 25 and 28 through 28 in chapter 43, it was a call to 00:00:27.880 |
So the theme that we begin in chapter 44 is connected to that, where God is still calling 00:00:33.080 |
out and if you remember at the very end, again there's a prophecy of God's faithfulness and 00:00:38.080 |
so chapter 44 begins by reminding us of what Israel, how Israel means, like what Israel 00:00:46.200 |
So the first question was that why is Israel told not to fear? 00:01:04.200 |
Okay, you can just jot it down and then I'll talk after you guys jot it down. 00:02:14.200 |
Alright, so the first question was the theme again in the first three verses where God 00:02:24.840 |
is reminding the nation of Israel and kind of encouraging them not to fear and the reason 00:02:30.320 |
why the again the reason why he says not to fear is main theme in the first three verses 00:02:38.800 |
Remember we talked about that last week where there's a there's a pronouncement of judgment 00:02:42.600 |
and then he says but I have not forgotten you and so it's going back and forth. 00:02:45.960 |
So last week we talked about how God reminds them in verse 21 how he brought judgment upon 00:02:51.560 |
them but they didn't see this from the Lord and they didn't turn to him and give sacrifices. 00:02:56.840 |
You know and yet despite that it ends with God pleading with them to come return to them. 00:03:03.960 |
So despite their sins despite their failures despite the lack of genuine sacrifice that 00:03:09.400 |
they're bringing to God God says I have not abandoned you and the reason why he gives 00:03:13.560 |
several reasons here like God has God has formed you from your mother's womb God has 00:03:17.440 |
chosen you God will bless you and your descendants you are the Lord's that so let's look at one 00:03:22.160 |
by one when he says God has formed you from the womb you hear this quite often whenever 00:03:26.620 |
God is trying to encourage or to remind the nation that he is with them that that phrase 00:03:31.480 |
is like I've known you or God formed me from my mother's womb what what is the imagery 00:03:36.200 |
and what is the encouragement that he's giving when he says that because you see you see 00:03:40.440 |
that over and over when whenever either David is saying that of himself how God knew me 00:03:45.960 |
he knew my inner parts even from my mother's womb or God is telling Israel or or a particular 00:03:51.800 |
person right so those of you who live in more sensitive than other people right so what 00:03:58.280 |
kind of encouragement do you find like in what context would that be an encouragement 00:04:01.840 |
like I knew you from your mother's womb there's a kind of an intimacy that this is not just 00:04:12.660 |
somebody that you met randomly right this is in a sense it's kind of like family right 00:04:18.720 |
like I've known you since you're like I say that like if if I've known somebody for a 00:04:22.400 |
long time and there's a deep affection I would say yeah I've known you since you were a little 00:04:25.560 |
kid you know what I mean but it goes even deeper than that right even before you knew 00:04:29.920 |
yourself you mean before you your parents may have known you I knew you right so why 00:04:34.880 |
why is that an encouragement not to fear that's how much you mean to me right that's what 00:04:44.040 |
God is saying to Israel you don't have to fear because you're not just like anybody 00:04:48.300 |
else right that's how much you mean to me it's like I have chosen you right you didn't 00:04:54.400 |
choose me I chose you so whatever whatever danger is around you like I chose you so in 00:04:59.880 |
other words I'm gonna protect you like I will bless you and your descent is not only not 00:05:04.720 |
only is it just a temporary blessing but this blessing is gonna be upon you and for descendants 00:05:09.960 |
to come right it's not just a I'm not just gonna deliver you from a temporary danger 00:05:15.200 |
but but I my blessing is upon you and your descendants right and then verse 5 where he 00:05:22.480 |
says the one will say I am the Lord's another will call on the name of Jacob another will 00:05:26.840 |
write on his hand the Lord's in other words you belong to me and that's kind of like the 00:05:30.600 |
summary of everything that he's saying here right so you don't need to fear because my 00:05:35.240 |
name is on you right again same thing with us as Christians the reason why we don't fear 00:05:41.560 |
why we don't you know we don't teeter-totter back and forth just like he says if he is 00:05:45.880 |
for us who can be against us and that's basically what he's saying to the nation of Israel no 00:05:50.160 |
matter what happens right no matter again he's gonna be talking about how site he's 00:05:54.800 |
gonna establish King Cyrus to to deliver them and then he's gonna revert back in history 00:05:59.520 |
remember I talked about last week like Isaiah is prophesying even before the captivity it 00:06:05.540 |
may have happened during his lifetime but how long of a time passes from the moment 00:06:11.120 |
that Isaiah is prophesying this and Cyrus actually comes into power the Persians come 00:06:15.960 |
into power I mentioned it in passing last week more 150 to possibly 200 years right 00:06:25.640 |
150 to possibly 200 years where he's prophesying so he's looking way in the future you can 00:06:31.840 |
see why some people like if you don't believe in miracles and prophecies like oh Isaiah 00:06:37.160 |
could not have written this right Isaiah may have written written portions of it but that 00:06:42.680 |
portion where his his specific name right and what he was going to do he prophesied 00:06:47.800 |
200 years before it happens so either this is a miracle of God right God is actually 00:06:53.640 |
speaking through him and prophesying or sorry or I could not have written this right because 00:07:00.480 |
how can you promise how can you actually mention somebody's name in 200 years it comes true 00:07:05.600 |
so basically he prophesied that King Cyrus is gonna come he's gonna be his agent to deliver 00:07:10.480 |
them and then he goes into description of the Babylonians and what they're gonna come 00:07:14.480 |
and do right so he's kind of telling them telling them again in the future these things 00:07:19.200 |
may not have even happened yet but when they come do not fear right what evidences are 00:07:26.200 |
given in the next verses six seven and eight right that he is the king once so the first 00:07:34.240 |
section he begins by saying you don't need to fear because I knew you in the mother's 00:07:38.000 |
womb I chose you I will bless your nations my name is a for your mind right and then 00:07:43.360 |
the second part of it he says well who are you well I'm your king right I'm the one I'm 00:07:49.760 |
the king because I redeemed you right you belong to me again same thing with us you 00:07:59.880 |
know the Bible describes our salvation as moving kingdoms right we've been transferred 00:08:04.940 |
from the kingdom of darkness to kingdom of his son right so he says I'm your king because 00:08:10.480 |
I redeemed you I'm your king in verse 7 because what I have said has come true who is like 00:08:18.280 |
me let him proclaim it let him declare and said it before me since I appointed an ancient 00:08:22.600 |
people let them declare what is to come and what will happen so again what is the encouragement 00:08:27.400 |
here when he says what I declare it comes true how would you be encouraged if you heard 00:08:36.700 |
that right every promise he makes will come true that's basically what he's saying like 00:08:51.520 |
he's not giving empty promises what other king what other idol can tell you these things 00:08:56.600 |
and then see it comes true right test to see so he's the first and the last again that 00:09:05.520 |
title is given to Christ is given to God and it's in again many different passages throughout 00:09:11.240 |
the scripture so what does it mean to be first and last what's another way that Paul says 00:09:20.480 |
it first and last everything is created by him and for him right that he is sovereign 00:09:28.760 |
over the past present and future right all right so this is a third question again I'm 00:09:37.000 |
just gonna leave these for your discussion later but what's the difference between someone 00:09:41.080 |
who was walking in the spirit because the reason why I ask this is because one of the 00:09:45.000 |
promises he makes is that upon the descendants I was blessed you by pouring my spirit upon 00:09:50.240 |
you right so what is the difference between walking in the spirit versus someone who's 00:09:54.400 |
walking in the flesh what tangible things do you see that are different in your life 00:09:58.080 |
okay so again I'll leave that for your discussion later all right so what's the main point of 00:10:05.000 |
verses 9 through 20 he gives a long illustration about these idols so I want you to take a 00:10:10.960 |
minute okay take a few minutes I'm sure you'll have more time later on in your small group 00:10:16.160 |
to discuss it but in your small group just take a few minutes and I think there's there 00:10:21.680 |
are probably more than one lesson here it's not it's kind of like a parable so parables 00:10:27.800 |
don't have a like a sharp point like when Jesus tells a parable he kind of sums it up 00:10:33.440 |
and then you know what his point is right but in this parable nobody's summing it up 00:10:37.600 |
it just kind of presented to you and so you may gain different insights right you can't 00:10:43.560 |
make up stuff but within the story that he tells what's the point that that he's trying 00:10:48.240 |
to make about the idols and about Israel okay so take a few minutes okay don't do your homework 00:10:53.800 |
now okay take a few minutes to discuss with your group what what is he saying versus 9 00:17:40.040 |
Right. It seems kind of, if you put some thought into it, you broke it, 00:17:45.040 |
you're using it for fire, you're cooking off of it, and then with the little piece left over, 00:17:49.040 |
you're worshipping it. Right? Again, to illustrate in more detail, like the foolishness. 00:17:53.040 |
I mean, it's just, obviously the illustration is like many other illustrations, 00:17:58.040 |
but the fact that he went through so much, you know, took so much time to illustrate 00:18:03.040 |
the details of it, and you kind of, like, God is revealing to them just how foolish this is. 00:18:08.040 |
If you were to just take a step back and look at it, right? 00:18:11.040 |
Just for the sake of time, in other words, idols are made by man and not man by idols. Right? 00:18:17.040 |
You made this. Right? God gave you a tree for you to use to cook and whatever, 00:18:25.040 |
and then you turn it around and you make what God has made, and then make idols out of it. Right? 00:18:30.040 |
These are, again, these are just some observations that I've made. 00:18:34.040 |
A lot of time and effort into making something that does nothing. 00:18:39.040 |
And God gave wood to be used for man and not to worship it. Right? 00:18:44.040 |
Again, these are all same points, just said a different way. 00:18:55.040 |
I don't know about you, but, you know, if you study through Isaiah, and you see God pleading with Israel 00:19:00.040 |
over and over and over and over again, and we're talking about, even though Isaiah is talking about 00:19:06.040 |
a short period of history, we're talking about 200 years of history. 00:19:09.040 |
The over 1,000 years of Israel's history was the same thing. Right? 00:19:14.040 |
In fact, if you take it even further out, mankind's history, thousands and thousands of years of history 00:19:19.040 |
is the same thing, where God disciplines, and then He comes and He pleads with them for forgiveness, 00:19:24.040 |
and then God relents, and then as soon as they're doing okay, they forget, 00:19:29.040 |
and they become proud, and they forget God over and over, and God is pleading. 00:19:33.040 |
And then I look at, like, how many times do you need to give this instruction to these people 00:19:38.040 |
before they get it? And how many times do you do this, and then they forget it, 00:19:42.040 |
before you say, "That's enough." You know what I mean? 00:19:46.040 |
At some point, you would think God would just, His patience would be exhausted, 00:19:52.040 |
and it's like, "I can't take this anymore." You know? 00:19:56.040 |
And the fact that He's taking this kind of time to go to this kind of detail, 00:20:01.040 |
to show them, plead with them, another generation, the same thing over and over, 00:20:05.040 |
it's just kind of, to me, don't you get frustrated when you read this stuff? 00:20:10.040 |
Even though we say, "Wow, God is so merciful and faithful, because we're these people." 00:20:16.040 |
But if you were to put yourself in God's position, even just for a minute while you're reading this, 00:20:22.040 |
I mean, it's frustrating. Look at Israel's history over and over again, 00:20:26.040 |
and yet, again, God is patient because He, through all of this, what is He trying to teach? 00:20:33.040 |
You have no hope in yourself. Right? That's really the conclusion that we should come to. 00:20:39.040 |
You have no hope. Right? And that's why when Christ comes as a Redeemer, 00:20:44.040 |
He is our only hope. And again, as we've been talking about in Romans, 00:20:48.040 |
why it can only be by His promise and by His calling. Right? 00:20:53.040 |
If you look at Israel's history, this is not just about Israel, this is us. Right? 00:21:00.040 |
Again, this is another application of Christ, I think. No, no, no. 00:21:05.040 |
Here's another question. Where He says, in verse 18, 00:21:11.040 |
"They know not, nor do they discern, for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, 00:21:16.040 |
and their hearts so that they cannot understand." So the question was, 00:21:19.040 |
if God shut their eyes and hardened their hearts, how can He keep saying it's their fault? 00:21:27.040 |
Right? That was the question. How did you guys answer that? 00:21:30.040 |
How do you reconcile that when somebody asks you that question? 00:21:39.040 |
Let me start calling names. Would that be easier? Yes? Isaac? 00:21:54.040 |
Alright, okay. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I thought you had something to say, 00:21:57.040 |
and that's why he was trying to push you over the edge. So I dragged you. 00:22:03.040 |
No, no, no. Don't feel pressure. Unless you want to. 00:22:38.040 |
It's interesting, especially when you look at the way God deals with Pharaoh. 00:22:42.040 |
God deals with Pharaoh, and He says in three separate times about Pharaoh hardening his heart. 00:22:49.040 |
He says it in the active, He says it in the middle, and He says it in the passive. 00:23:00.040 |
Not all from Exodus, but basically in Exodus 4.21, it says the same thing that He says here, 00:23:05.040 |
that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And then in Exodus 8.15, He says God allowed Pharaoh's heart to be hardened. 00:23:11.040 |
And I forgot to put the other one, where the other one says, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. 00:23:17.040 |
Right? So you look at the way God deals with them, it's like all three is mentioned. 00:23:22.040 |
But in the end, I think the summary in Romans 1.18, is a summary of mankind. 00:23:28.040 |
Because they rather have darkness than light, so God gave them over. 00:23:37.040 |
Does God ever take a man who is repentant and righteous, and He hardens his heart just to condemn him? 00:23:47.040 |
Never. Right? When He says He hardens their heart, He's usually talking about a sinner who refuses to repent. 00:23:54.040 |
And He's kind of releasing them to where they're already headed. Right? 00:23:58.040 |
And the Bible makes it very clear. Now, it's hard for us to, again, understand how does God's sovereign work, 00:24:04.040 |
with man's ability to choose for himself. Like, we don't know exactly how that works. 00:24:09.040 |
But clearly the scripture says that God is not the originator of evil. Right? 00:24:13.040 |
God does not take something good and He makes it bad. Right? 00:24:17.040 |
So, when we understand this in the context of rest of scripture, 00:24:21.040 |
and then we see it in the context of the way He deals with Pharaoh, right? 00:24:25.040 |
There is an active part that what God plays, because He's sovereign. 00:24:29.040 |
There is a part where He's just kind of releasing and letting it happen. 00:24:33.040 |
And then there's a part where the recipient is actively hardening these hearts. 00:24:38.040 |
And all three are mentioned about the same Pharaoh. 00:24:53.040 |
Okay, so, again, in the context of God reaffirming to the nation of Israel, right? 00:25:01.040 |
Describing in detail all the work of God that we are to sing and worship Him. 00:25:06.040 |
So, verse 21 to 28, the people of God break out into songs. 00:25:10.040 |
How does each one of these works of God give you confidence to trust and worship Him? 00:25:14.040 |
So, all of these things in response to His promises and the things that He's doing. 00:25:19.040 |
So, God calls Israel to remember who He is to them in contrast to what idols are that was stated in the previous passage. 00:25:27.040 |
So, again, the long illustration that we saw in verse 19 to 20. 00:25:31.040 |
So, now in 21 through 28, in contrast to these worthless idols, who is God, right? 00:25:38.040 |
Now, you have a tendency to go to these worthless things that is made to cook fire and to keep warm. 00:25:54.040 |
He's blotted out their transgressions, verse 22. 00:25:59.040 |
And ultimately, because of that, He redeemed them. 00:26:03.040 |
So, again, if you read verse 9 through 20, and then 21 to 28, like all in one sitting, 00:26:10.040 |
you can clearly see the contrast that He's making. 00:26:13.040 |
These aren't two separate statements. This is one statement that He's making, and it was meant to kind of be seen side by side. 00:26:21.040 |
This is what you are tempted with, and this is who I am. 00:26:26.040 |
So, it's foolish. Worshipping idols is foolish as it is, right? 00:26:32.040 |
Even if you're not a worshipper of Yahweh, even if you never knew God, 00:26:36.040 |
the fact that you would even depend on the idol, it's foolish. 00:26:40.040 |
You make these little items that you can cook, all it is is wood. 00:26:44.040 |
But when you contrast that to Yahweh, you contrast that to who God is and what He has done for them, 00:26:50.040 |
then it takes the foolishness to a whole new level. 00:26:55.040 |
So, it's just like, again, as Christians, it's one thing to live in sin when you didn't know God, 00:27:04.040 |
but another thing to live in sin in contrast to seeing the glory of God. 00:27:11.040 |
And that's why the Bible says the second state is worse than the first. 00:27:15.040 |
Because now the sin has even become worse, because before you may have done it in ignorance, 00:27:20.040 |
and it's still foolish to seek after things that are temporary, it means nothing. 00:27:24.040 |
But in light of what you have in Christ, and yet you still choose the world, 00:27:32.040 |
So, again, when you read verse 9 through 28 put together, which was, I think, meant to be read together, 00:27:38.040 |
again, the foolishness of worshipping idols is even that much more hard to understand. 00:27:47.040 |
Again, He introduces to us, again, the King Cyrus, right? 00:27:51.040 |
He was a pagan king over Persia, and we talked about that already. 00:27:54.040 |
This happened almost about 200 years after Isaiah prophesied. 00:27:58.040 |
So, again, just as a review, his prophecy begins during the period of Assyrians, 00:28:06.040 |
and he prophesies that the Babylonians are going to come, right? 00:28:10.040 |
And then after the Babylonians, the Persians come, and they're going to take over. 00:28:14.040 |
So, he's talking about three kingdoms that's going to come, and they're going to conquer, 00:28:19.040 |
and God's using each one of them for what purpose? 00:28:25.040 |
What is the central purpose of, according to Isaiah, of the Assyrian kingdom, 00:28:29.040 |
of the Babylonian kingdom, and of the Persian kingdom? 00:28:39.040 |
His focal point is Israel, right? According to Isaiah. 00:28:46.040 |
What is, you know, what's a tiny little country that no one will be offended if I mentioned it today? 00:28:57.040 |
I mean, just imagine. Imagine a country that you would never think of. 00:29:02.040 |
They're not wealthy. They don't have any political power. 00:29:05.040 |
It's not a country that would have any kind of say in the UN. 00:29:08.040 |
You know what I mean? Like, just some obscure little place. 00:29:12.040 |
And to say that US, Russia, China are all being played out for that little country. 00:29:19.040 |
Right? I mean, think how ridiculous that may have sounded at that time. 00:29:24.040 |
That's exactly what Isaiah is saying. Isaiah is a prophet from a tiny little nation 00:29:28.040 |
that's being conquered and is clinging to Egypt, clinging to… 00:29:32.040 |
And little Philistines are coming and kicking their butt. 00:29:35.040 |
And then Isaiah is saying, "Our sovereign God is wielding the Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus and the Assyrians, 00:29:42.040 |
and these guys are nothing. God is wielding them for His glory, 00:29:47.040 |
and ultimately He's going to bring a descendant." 00:29:51.040 |
So, imagine hearing that at that time. It's like, "Are you kidding me?" 00:29:55.040 |
Right? You would think that something great is happening in Assyria. 00:29:59.040 |
Something great is happening in Babylon or Persia. 00:30:03.040 |
Only in retrospect, we look back at it now, and we see Christ, and because of what Christ has done, 00:30:09.040 |
we look at who made a bigger impact in human history. 00:30:20.040 |
Nobody compares to what happened when Christ came. Right? 00:30:24.040 |
In retrospect, 2,000 years later, we look at it now, all those kingdoms, 00:30:28.040 |
like what Isaiah is saying, actually makes sense now. Right? 00:30:32.040 |
Can you imagine at that time if you heard that? 00:30:35.040 |
A tiny little nation that was a speck, it meant nothing to say, 00:30:38.040 |
"All of this has happened because of this country." Right? 00:30:43.040 |
But we have the benefit of looking back at that and say, "Wow!" 00:30:47.040 |
Like, what Isaiah said actually happened. Right? 00:30:54.040 |
You would be saying that the earth is going to turn the other direction for a while. 00:31:01.040 |
What an arrogant thing to say. Unless it was real. 00:31:05.040 |
Which obviously now we have a retrospect, we can look at that and say, "It's real." Right? 00:31:09.040 |
This is why the secular people have such a hard time with Isaiah, 00:31:13.040 |
because how could Isaiah possibly have known this? Right? 00:31:17.040 |
How could Isaiah even know? They have a hard time even saying, 00:31:21.040 |
"How could he have known this guy, the king of Persia, was going to be Cyrus, 00:31:25.040 |
and that he was going to send Israel back to rebuild the temple and all that stuff?" 00:31:29.040 |
How could he have possibly known that? Right? 00:31:32.040 |
But it's just crazy when you really think about it, like when this was written, 00:31:36.040 |
and then now we're looking back, and this actually happened. Right? 00:31:42.040 |
Cyrus was the pagan king over Persia, and yet God calls him the "anointed one." Right? 00:31:52.040 |
He was not. He was a pagan king. And yet God said he anointed. 00:31:55.040 |
Even this pagan king is under his rule. Right? 00:31:58.040 |
God uses Cyrus as his shepherd, because the shepherds of Israel were not leading or feeding. Right? 00:32:06.040 |
Leading his people, but only taking advantage of them. 00:32:13.040 |
God is sovereign over history, therefore God is sovereign over those who have any authority. 00:32:17.040 |
Again, Romans 13.1. Right? Perfect example of that. 00:32:21.040 |
Again, if you were a Jew, or early Christian, and then when he heard from Paul, 00:32:29.040 |
and he says, "Submit yourself to the authority, all authority," 00:32:32.040 |
because all authority is established by who? By God. 00:32:37.040 |
So if you were a Christian or a Jew at that particular time, to think like, 00:32:47.040 |
Hard to even fathom. Really? Like God is really sovereignly in control? 00:32:51.040 |
But when you look at what happens in the prophecies of Isaiah, that's exactly what happens. Right? 00:33:00.040 |
This is why, you know, when he says, "God makes promises, and he does not change." Right? 00:33:09.040 |
And there's illustration after illustration throughout Scripture, throughout church history, 00:33:14.040 |
throughout human history, where God, we can clearly see. Right? 00:33:19.040 |
We're the ones short-sighted, because if I can't, if it doesn't make sense in my head, right? 00:33:27.040 |
Even the way we pray, if you think about it, we tend to pray for things that we think are possible. Right? 00:33:35.040 |
We kind of pray for miracles just kind of on the side. Right? 00:33:41.040 |
No? Yeah. I remember somebody pointed that out to me years ago, when I went to China for the first time. 00:33:47.040 |
This lady was like a prayer warrior, and she went into, she was planning to go into China. 00:33:53.040 |
And this is when China was completely closed. 00:33:55.040 |
And she would pray, she probably fasted like maybe once every three or four days. 00:34:04.040 |
So, one of the most diligent prayer warriors that I've ever met, 00:34:08.040 |
and one of the things that she said to me that really stuck with me ever since, 00:34:11.040 |
was as I was praying with her, and then after I prayed, she said, 00:34:15.040 |
"Peter, you know, you're always praying defensively. Right? 00:34:19.040 |
You're always praying for protection, you're praying for health, you're praying for all this stuff, 00:34:23.040 |
but, you know, pray in faith. Right? Pray knowing who you're praying to. Right? 00:34:31.040 |
This is a, the God that you're praying to is God. 00:34:35.040 |
And so, you're, even in the way that you pray, and what you pray kind of shows what you believe about God." 00:34:41.040 |
And I remember her saying that, like, "Yeah, it's like so true. 00:34:45.040 |
This lady is like a prayer warrior. She knows what she's talking about." 00:34:48.040 |
That's probably one of the most significant things that I learned about prayer through somebody. 00:34:54.040 |
But again, like, we have a tendency to be short-sighted. 00:34:57.040 |
So, when you see, you know, often times when you study the Bible, and you see things like this, 00:35:03.040 |
And He's trying to, that's why He keeps mentioning over and over, 00:35:06.040 |
"I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because the God that they worship, 00:35:12.040 |
the miracles that I perform with them, I'm that God. Right? 00:35:16.040 |
I'm the one who delivered Israel. I'm the one who conquered the Syrians and the Babylonians." 00:35:22.040 |
So, all of this to kind of show them who He is, so that we can have confidence in who He is. 00:35:33.040 |
All right. Verse 4 says, "God names him Cyrus again, 00:35:37.040 |
that he would actually even equip you through, though you do not know me." Right? 00:35:43.040 |
Remember, Jesus says that, you know, when the Pharisees, 00:35:50.040 |
And He said, "If they don't praise me, then these rocks will cry out." Right? 00:35:55.040 |
The God could use even, don't you, you can't see it? 00:36:28.040 |
So, how does God reveal Himself to Cyrus in verse 5 to 7? 00:36:34.040 |
God will show Himself to be sovereign over human history. 00:36:37.040 |
In other words, He's going to reveal Himself through Cyrus, that He is Cyrus. 00:37:01.040 |
So, He says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other besides Me. 00:37:04.040 |
There is no God. I equip you, though you do not know Me, 00:37:07.040 |
that My people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west 00:37:10.040 |
that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, there is no other. 00:37:13.040 |
I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. 00:37:21.040 |
So, again, part of this is in direct refute of the God of the Persians. 00:37:27.040 |
They had two categories of gods. The gods of darkness and the god of light. 00:37:32.040 |
And so, when He says that He's the God of calamity, good or bad, He's sovereign. 00:37:37.040 |
Right? So, again, in essence, He's revealing Himself to Israel 00:37:48.040 |
So, in other words, God is not only in control when you see the blessing 00:37:52.040 |
and good things, and God seems to be answering prayer. 00:37:55.040 |
Right? Just like Job. Even in his darkest moment, God had never lost control. 00:38:00.040 |
All of that was happening because God allowed it. Right? 00:38:04.040 |
So, is there anything that happens in your life and my life that God has no control over? 00:38:11.040 |
Right? No. God is absolutely sovereign. Right? 00:38:17.040 |
Sometimes God may be allowing it to happen, but God is absolutely sovereign. 00:38:21.040 |
So, that's the part why we get anxious. Right? 00:38:25.040 |
We get anxious over things because things are out of our control. 00:38:30.040 |
We are hoping and planning certain things, and we want certain things to happen, 00:38:34.040 |
the results aren't happening the way we want, whatever it may be, and we get anxious. 00:38:37.040 |
So, anxiousness comes when we feel like things that I have control over are slipping out of my hands. 00:38:43.040 |
But this is a reminder that God is in absolute control. 00:38:46.040 |
That's why He says, "Be anxious for nothing," right? 00:38:53.040 |
"At your request, be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses human understanding, 00:38:58.040 |
will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus." Right? 00:39:01.040 |
So, that's basically what it's saying. He is sovereign over all. Good and a bad. Right? 00:39:08.040 |
A person or a nation resisting God is like a pot contending with the potter. Right? 00:39:14.040 |
In other words, God is in the context of accomplishing His work. Right? 00:39:23.040 |
He may be in the context of burning it down. Right? 00:39:28.040 |
Maybe the pot's not formed correctly. Maybe the handle is in the wrong place. 00:39:32.040 |
Maybe the reason why all this stuff is happening, a lot of times, is just to break us down. 00:39:38.040 |
Because until we're broken, we can't be molded. Right? 00:39:42.040 |
But whatever it is, to come before God to complain for anything, 00:39:46.040 |
is like complaining to the potter and saying, "Hey, hey, hey. You don't know what you're doing." Right? 00:39:57.040 |
Unbelief, basically, is contending with God and saying, "No, you're not making the pot correctly." 00:40:08.040 |
I think the greatest time of sanctification always is when you're hurt. Right? 00:40:15.040 |
When you're broken. And God really humbles you. 00:40:20.040 |
Humbles your pride, any kind of confidence that you had in the past, 00:40:25.040 |
whatever it is, security that you're holding on to, God kind of yanks that out of your hand. 00:40:29.040 |
And then you're kind of like broken, you're hurt, maybe you're angry, you're in despair, 00:40:34.040 |
maybe even unbelief, you know. And God brings you to that point because He's trying to mold you into something. 00:40:45.040 |
And it tends to be like when God is really working to sanctify you, reaching into a place maybe that you've hidden for so long, 00:40:53.040 |
that usually when God wants to go in there and do something, it hurts. Right? 00:41:00.040 |
The deeper it is, the more it's going to hurt. 00:41:03.040 |
But He said God does that to build, ultimately, His people, His children. 00:41:09.040 |
And He says, "Ask of Me the things to come concerning My children and the works of My hands." 00:41:14.040 |
So we are not able to see the big picture because we only know what is. Right? 00:41:19.040 |
We only see what is. That is why He says to come and ask of Me, to search Me. 00:41:30.040 |
That's why I think it's always good to be connected with saints that have gone before us. Right? 00:41:38.040 |
A lot of times hearing the struggles and the trials of people who've gone the previous generation. 00:41:44.040 |
You know, again, I think especially in the Western generation, like because we value youth, 00:41:49.040 |
and we have a tendency that all movement happens with the youth. 00:41:52.040 |
When's the last time you saw a 60-year-old, you know, in the head of some kind of movement? 00:41:58.040 |
You know? Not in the Western culture, because the Western culture usually wants new innovations. 00:42:08.040 |
But I think that what we miss from that is the wisdom that comes from people who've lived a long period of time. 00:42:14.040 |
You know? There's a lot of things to gain from the previous generation. Right? 00:42:20.040 |
Because we're so short-sighted. And being young, we're even more short-sighted because we don't see the bigger picture. Right? 00:42:27.040 |
So, the danger that I caution all of us, all of you, is that because you're surrounded by even younger people. 00:42:35.040 |
I mean, you're young, but you're surrounded by even younger people. 00:42:38.040 |
And so you start having a mentality, "I'm an old man at the age of 30." Right? Or age of 35. Right? 00:42:47.040 |
And so when you start having that kind of mentality, where you become the teacher too early, you stop learning. Right? 00:42:58.040 |
And I think that's why becoming a pastor, becoming a leader, it actually is hurtful. 00:43:04.040 |
Because it's hard to learn. Because you're always putting on that hat to teach people. Right? 00:43:09.040 |
Again, this is kind of sidetracked, but I think there's a danger. 00:43:13.040 |
Like, because he keeps saying, "Ask of me." Right? 00:43:16.040 |
So, I think the wisdom would cause ourselves to see how short-sighted we are, and constantly seeing the bigger picture. 00:43:24.040 |
And obviously, we go to God, but there's people who have gone before us. Right? 00:43:29.040 |
So, I love talking to older pastors who've been in ministry longer, you know, and the things that they say, the observations that they had. 00:43:37.040 |
And because it helps me to see my current situation a lot better. Right? 00:43:41.040 |
So, again, in the larger scale of things, you see what God is doing. 00:43:45.040 |
Like, why is God doing this in your life? Because there's nothing new under the sun. 00:43:49.040 |
Everything that you've been feeling, every conflict and every struggle that you have, somebody has struggled with it before. 00:43:55.040 |
Some generation was wrestling with that same thing before. Right? 00:44:06.040 |
And what effect will Israel's deliverance have among the Gentiles? 00:44:09.040 |
So, here, you know, it talks about how Israel is delivered. Right? 00:44:14.040 |
The nations that Israel had to submit to will come and bow down to Israel. 00:44:18.040 |
So, in other words, Israel's deliverance means deliverance for who? 00:44:26.040 |
Oops. Israel's deliverance means deliverance for who? 00:44:34.040 |
So, you can read all of this and say, "Oh, God only cares about Israel." Right? 00:44:42.040 |
He said, "His plan is that through Israel, He's going to bless the nations." Right? 00:44:55.040 |
Again, because we're short-sighted, so we only see, like, "Oh, God loves Israel. God only chose Israel." 00:45:01.040 |
But when you look at the larger picture, like what God is doing in history, that He's the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega. 00:45:09.040 |
It's always been about mankind. He just happens to be, like, the plan that He's going to carry this out is through the nation of Israel. Right? 00:45:19.040 |
God not only created the world, He said everyone in it, He created. 00:45:36.040 |
Okay. Alright. So, you know, again, as we wrap up, one of the things that I think clear theme that keeps coming up over and over again is God's big picture. 00:45:47.040 |
Why is He pursuing Israel to this extent? Right? 00:45:52.040 |
It's not just about Israel. He's pursuing mankind. 00:46:00.040 |
His patience with Israel is because He's being patient with us. 00:46:05.040 |
Because the Messiah is coming through that line. Salvation is going to come through that line. Right? 00:46:10.040 |
So all of this is, again, is God patient towards sinners to save us. 00:46:18.040 |
Alright. So if you guys can take some time with your small group. 00:46:42.040 |
So it's three verses. It's a bit longer than normal.