... devotions. Okay? Alright, I'll make less. No, the homework, homework or, um, the devotions, I'll make more copy. But the ones that you're filling out while we're going at it, like, a lot of you guys aren't using that. You're putting it into your cell phone or whatever you're using.

Anyway, alright. Let me pray first and we'll start. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. We thank you, Lord God, for constant reminders and little blessings, Lord, that cause us to know that it is because you are watching over us, that you care for your people. And as you express your love toward the nation of Israel, despite their weakness, despite their shortcomings, Lord, it's a constant reminder to us how faithful you are to your own promise, to your own glory, and as a result, how we benefit from it.

We pray, Father God, that as we see and observe and study how you've dealt with the nation of Israel, and how you will ultimately deal with all your people, help us to find confidence in you, that we would give you true worship, that you would be our refuge, that you would be the one that we find our joy and our peace in.

And so we ask for your grace this evening as we study your word, that all of these things would have its effect in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so as we're looking on chapter 42 and 43, I'm sure you've noticed that God is going back and forth.

His argument of him sending the promised Messiah, obviously Christ, coming to save the nation of Israel. But then in between his promises, you'll notice that he's constantly reminding them that despite all the things that he's done, that they have a tendency to continue to strive or continue to drift away from God.

And so, primary theme in chapter 42 and 43 is God's faithfulness and his redeeming grace. But again, it's always kind of in the context of reminding them what this grace is for, why they needed grace, and why God needed to redeem them. And again, I think it's important for us, whenever we talk about grace, whenever we forget that God's primary gift isn't a great job or health or safety or comfort, but God's greatest gift is redemption from our sins, our joy in our life just goes up and down based upon whatever our circumstances may be.

Our joy is solidly grounded upon the fact that he saved us from our own sins. And so I think that's why over and over again his primary theme is Christ our Redeemer, but what did he redeem us from? Their false worship. They redeemed us from confidence in Egypt, in other things.

You know, coming to him or being blind. Over and over again. So he kind of reminds us of that. So we'll go through this section again just as God is prophesying about his Messiah coming. I apologize for the small letter. I used a different format and on my computer it looked huge.

Okay, but it's not coming. Can you see? No? Okay. Alright. It looked big on my computer. Alright. So, who is my servant? I think it's pretty obvious. The servant that he's referring to is Jesus, the Messiah. This whole section in chapter 42 is about the coming of the Messiah.

If you remember we talked about that in chapter 1 through 39 that there was a lot of prophecies about Christ, but again the primary theme is that Israel will understand why judgment was coming upon them. Chapter 39 to chapter 40 there is a huge gap, maybe about 150 years.

And during those 150 years the Assyrians fall, the Babylonians come in, the Babylonians fall, and then the Persians have come in. And King Cyrus gave them the permission to go back into Jerusalem and to reestablish Israel. So all of that has happened between chapter 39 and chapter 40. And so chapter 40 to chapter 66 the primary theme is Jesus our Redeemer.

Now, it doesn't mean that--he doesn't talk about judgment. He still talks about judgment. He will every once in a while revert back and remind the nation of Israel why the Babylonians came and why the judgment came. But again you'll see a greater prophecy in chapter 40 through 66 about Jesus.

So again, right off the bat we see in chapter 42 that His prophecy about His servant, Jesus is coming. So if you look at chapter 42 verse 1 it says, "My chosen in whom my soul delights, I have put my Spirit upon him." And the Spirit is--most of your Bibles is capitalized "S" right?

Right? Look at verse 1 of chapter 42. It's capitalized meaning that the interpreters believe that it is talking about the Holy Spirit. Why does Jesus need to have the Holy Spirit be placed upon Him when He is the second person of the Trinity? If my servant is in reference to Jesus and He is Christ, the second person of the Trinity, everything was created by Him and for Him, why does God say that I will place my Spirit upon Him?

Because He's man. Right? 100% man. When does that happen in Jesus' life? At the baptism. He gets baptized, the Holy Spirit comes and descends upon Him. And again I think Dr. Proud, remember when he came here and he was talking about the life of Christ and he was preaching about the Gospel?

How sometimes we kind of separate the life of Jesus because He's God? We can't possibly do that. But Jesus said, remember when I leave you will do even greater things? How can His disciples do even greater things? He says because the Holy Spirit is coming. And instead of just being upon them, the Holy Spirit is going to be indwelling them.

Right? And so everything that Jesus did, He did as a man who had the Spirit of God upon Him. Right? So everything He did was an example for all mankind. Not just like, oh look at Jesus. That's why He suffers. That's why He cries. That's why He's tired. That's why He grieves.

Because He put on humanity completely. He didn't just taste it. He didn't just kind of put on a mask. When He came and became a man, He became 100% man. So even in His weakness, He took on man's weakness. So that's why He says the Holy Spirit, He's going to send My servant because He came at, even though He was the second person of the Trinity, He came and put on the servant's body.

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Right? And so it was a, He didn't just taste it. He completely became man. Right? Though Jesus was fully God, He came fully, became a full man, experienced all that man is able to experience.

Okay? Just like we just talked about. He will bring not just grace but also justice through His sacrifice. You notice how in the first section when He talks about Jesus coming, He mentions three or four separate times in verse one, He will bring forth justice to the nations. Verse three, He will faithfully bring forth justice.

Verse four, He will not grow faint or discouraged till He has established justice on earth. Okay? So if this is in reference to Jesus coming, we typically think of Jesus coming to bring salvation, redemption, grace, mercy, but here it's described as justice. Right? Why do you think it's described as justice?

When's the last time you thought about the work of Christ as bringing justice? Because when we think of justice, we think of punishment. Right? Judgment. Mm-hmm? So for us to be...if He's going to come and put us in His grace, then punishment and justice come from Him. >>Right. I think we all know it, but we don't really think about it in that light until it's like we deliberately meditate on that.

That the cross is justice and mercy all at the same time. And if you take one away, the other doesn't make any sense. But we tend to talk about it so much one-sidedly about the grace, about love, about forgiveness, that we forget that the whole purpose of the cross was to justify His wrath.

Right? To propitiate His wrath. So, the reason why Jesus had to come was to compensate for what was broken. Right? The wrath that mankind rightfully deserved, Jesus absorbed it upon Himself. So, He came. So, the fullest display of His justice was at the cross. Right? Because every judgment that God had placed upon mankind and nation was for their sins.

So, whatever, like even the flood that came and wiped out the earth, that was an expression of His wrath toward those people. They weren't paying for our sins. Only on the cross do you see complete justice. Right? For all our sins, past, present, and future. And so, the wrath of God that is revealed on the cross is much greater than any wrath that we've seen up to that point.

Right? So, when He says He's come to bring justice, I think that's why it's tied in. If you remember, if you're studying through chapter 42 and 43, and again, like in between His expression of His love and redemption, He reminds them, right, "Despite I did all of this, you didn't come to me.

You gave me false worship. You kept on turning to idols, because that's what you are deserving of this justice. But God had mercy on you. Right? Because I love you." And so, it's mixed in back and forth, back and forth. Right? So, I think it's important for us that when we think about the cross, that we think we always remember both sides.

That He absorbed that wrath. And that is just as important as us understanding that that's also expression of His grace. But it's both. Right? Because what happens when we forget that that's an expression of His wrath? Yeah, I mean, it could easily become cheap grace. Right? It could easily become kind of like a grandfather passing out candy.

Like, "Oh, you know, we love you. Here's some candy to eat." Not realizing exactly what it is that He did. Remember, again, Dr. Harris, when he talked about when the earth went dark and God actually shows up, because He had to place His wrath upon His Son. That scene that we needed, we should have been in that darkness.

But it was an intimate scene between the Father and the Son. Because no one else could be in that when the covenant was being ratified, because the wrath was being absorbed by the Son. Right? So, without that aspect of it, grace isn't amazing. It's just like, "Ah, somebody remembered my birthday, and somebody loves me." And it just becomes cheap.

Right? And I think when we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, that's a reasonable response. Like it says in Romans 12, 1. Right? Reasonable response in view of the mercy that we have in Christ. Right? He said, "When He carries this justice out," again, these are all linked together, "He will not cry out loud or lift up His voice," as also prophesied in Isaiah 53.

So, what does that tell you? When He carries out His justice, He's not crying out. Right. It was voluntary. So, of course, He humanly cried out in agony. Right? "Why have you forsaken Me?" But when He says He didn't cry out, meaning that it was done voluntarily. He didn't try to fight and run away from it.

He came and voluntarily laid down His life. Right? It's like Isaiah 53.7, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, and yet He opened not His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent. So He opened not His mouth." Right?

And that's exactly what was prophesied. He's going to bring about justice voluntarily, and He will do it willingly. So, what does a bruised reed represent, and why does God promise not to break it? Who's the bruised reed and the flickering wick? Who's that? Israelites, right? Israel, God's people, in general.

Right? What is a bruised reed? I mean, there's a bruised reed right there. Can you see it? Can you see it? It's just basically grass that's dried up and broken. Absolutely useless. Right? You're good for nothing. And who would think twice about tearing that out and using it as fire?

Right? A burning wick. Here's that little piece of wick, and there's oil in here, and the thing that burns out. This thing burns out. What is this good for? You can't tie shoelaces. You can't use it as a--what is this thing good for? Right? So He uses two objects that are completely trash.

Absolutely worth nothing. There's nothing you can salvage from this, but trash. Throw it in to be burned and getting rid of. And He says--so He uses this imagery. A bruised reed and a burning wick. He will not--what did He say? He will not forsake. He's talking about His people.

This is the state of mankind in their sin. This is the state of Israel in their sin. Absolutely useless. Good for nothing. It's like salt without its flavor. Good for nothing other than to be trampled on the ground. And He says Jesus is going to come. He's going to bring about justice.

And He's going to do it voluntarily, even for the least and the worthless, which is all of us in our sins. Oh did I go too fast? Done? Use your camera, take a picture. You guys done? Okay. So who will be a light for the nations and open eyes to the blind?

Verse 6 and 7. Right? So I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you, I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon.

Right? It says the Lord is described as a creator in verse 5, but in 6 and 7, He's the caretaker. So this, this servant, so imagine like, now we know who Jesus is, like we're on this side of the covenant, we know who He is, we know how He talked, we know what He ate, we know His humanity, but imagine for a Jew, right, who doesn't have a clear picture of who Jesus is, and the only picture that they have of the Savior that's going to come is coming from passages like this.

Right? So imagine in their head, they're thinking, He's going to send somebody, He's going to bring about justice, and this justice is going to free mankind from their sins, He's going to be the Redeemer, right? And He's going to be gentle and caring, because a bruised reed and burning wick He's not going to forsake, right?

And He's going to come and He's going to care for them, you know, genuinely. So think about everything that is promised that's going to happen when this Messiah comes. So imagine the frenzy, so connect all of this, imagine the frenzy that the Jews must have had when Jesus was riding in on a donkey, right?

So all of this stuff, that they, like could He be it, could He be it, and then finally they think He is it, and then think about the disappointment when He was crucified on the cross, okay? Not knowing that everything that He was saying was going to happen on the cross, that He was actually talking about the cross.

But they were thinking, all this is going to happen, He's going to, imagine, so if you didn't understand the cross, how would you have interpreted all of this? More money, maybe? Conquer the Romans? Better health, right? I mean, if you didn't understand the cross, and you're thinking the Messiah is going to come and fulfill all of this, you probably would have thought that.

If you're a fisherman, you're going to catch fish, you know, a boatload of fish every single time you go out, right? If you're a soldier, you're going to become the general, I mean, everybody probably projected what they thought that this meant, right? And even the disciples didn't understand it, because they thought, oh, when the Kingdom comes, when the Kingdom comes, since we're the closest to the Messiah, like, how are we going to benefit, to the left or to the right?

And so when He went to the cross, even though Jesus clearly said, I'm going to the cross, they didn't understand it, right? They clearly didn't understand it. It wasn't until after He was resurrected, it's like, oh my gosh, even in death, right? Even in death. So again, I think this is so important, because even us on this side of the cross, we still think that.

You know, the cross is something we hang on a church, and we think about, we meditate, we repeat verses to each other, but when do you really think about the cross as the hope, the fulfillment of all of this, right? When we feel like we're bruised, what was it?

Read, right? Or burning wick, you know, sometimes you feel like that in life. Like when do we really turn to God and think the cross is the answer to that? Or do we turn to our friends or family or something, right? We do the same thing. We make the same mistake when we forget that all of this was to be fulfilled in Christ, right?

That's why the Old Testament believers didn't clearly understand, but we have the benefit of looking back and saying, we know that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of this. So it's a constant reminder to us that our hope and all the answers, all the promises are fulfilled because of what Christ has done on the cross, right?

And the moment we forget that is when we get frustrated. The servant will be the one giving the world a new covenant for the people, light to the nations. And then it says, God is jealous for His glory and will not share it with any idol or anything else, right?

So remember, Jesus came and He says, when He's about to go to the cross, what does He say? It's time to glorify your son and for the son to glorify the father, right? And He said, I will share my glory with nobody else. So if the cross is where God is glorified the most, He said, I will not share, right, what He fulfilled on the cross with anything else.

If we turn to anything else but the cross, right, we taint His glory. And He clearly says, He is jealously guarding His glory, right? So in other words, we can interpret that as He's jealously guarding the cross. Okay, this is one of the application questions I have. You guys can discuss this later.

What is the cause of joy? So we move to verse 7, or 10 to 17, where the people break out into song. But what is the cause of this joy in singing in verse 10 through 12? Up to this point, it says the Lord restrained Himself, right, in responding to injustices.

He's been observing and watching, but now finally, He's going to act. He's going to stir up His zeal. The Lord, in verse 13, the Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war. He stirs up His zeal. He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.

So people will know that God is acting, right? The devil, you know, when he works, he's always scheming. It's almost kind of like, you don't know he's there. When he's working, people are not paying attention. His name is not on the lips of the people. But when God works, He says He does nothing without proclaiming to His servants first, right?

He said when He works, people know that God is coming, right? So He's in the light. He's not in darkness. He's not scheming. You know, He's not behind the scene, but He makes it very clear. So look at all the miracles that He performs. When He performs miracles, the end result is in, did God do that?

Right? So even people who don't want to believe Him can't deny His miracles, right? So when God shows up, there is no ambiguity. That's basically what He says, right? He's going to declare it, because His whole purpose is to declare His glory. So He's not going to hide and give that glory to somebody else.

When it happens, people will know that was Him, right? And I, again, let me go off track a little bit. That's why the church, when we rely upon our method, our scheming, and our intelligence, we kind of take away from His glory, right? We take away from His glory, because at the end, if we become successful, we're going to say we did it.

In the name of Jesus, but we're going to say we did it, right? There's a reason why God chose the dumb, right? The foolish. Because and the worst of sinners. Because when God moves, no one can touch the glory, right? And so I think in the end, the call of the church is to become as dumb as possible.

I mean, in some sense, you know what I'm saying, right? I'm not saying like, you know, not to know how to do anything, but dumb as possible in the sense that, yeah, like what's your strategy? We're going to pray, we're going to read the Bible, and we're going to obey.

And then let God do what He said He's going to do, right? Don't complicate God's Word. To even the smartest of people, it's the lowest common denominator, we're going to pray, we're going to humble ourselves, and we're going to obey. And then let God do the work, so that when something happens, that He gets the credit.

He will lead, and He will guide the blind. Again, the term blindness is always, oftentimes in the Bible, in reference to spiritual blindness, the people who have not recognized Him in the past, who were not able to see Him, God's going to show up, and they're going to see Him, right?

And when He brings restoration to His people, there's always the other side, judgment and shame for those who trust in idols, right? So we talked about that before. The second coming, there's a two-edged sword. There's one who comes to redeem His church, His bride, and the other one comes to judge.

Again, an application question, I'll leave that to you guys. How do you hear? Verse 18 of chapter 42, it says, "Hear you deaf, and look you blind, that you may see." I mean, it'd be a cruel joke to go to somebody who's deaf and say, "Hey, listen to me!" Right?

Somebody who's blind and say, "Hey, see!" Right? That's exactly what God is doing. What does that tell us about their blindness and their deafness? Oops. Is there no answer to this? All right, I didn't put the answer. What does that teach us? The fact that God is telling them to see and to hear, what does that tell us about their deafness and their blindness?

Huh? Self-inflicted. Self-inflicted. Right? They chose it. They chose it. Just like Romans chapter 1, they rather be in darkness than in the light, so they chose the darkness. Right? So that's what God is saying. So it wasn't like, "Hey, God made me this way." Right? It said, "No, you love darkness better than light, and that's why you choose to not listen." Right?

You ever try to counsel somebody who is committed to do something that is clearly wrong, and you try so hard to reason with them, but there is no reasoning? Ever happen to you? That happens to me every once in a while. You know what I mean? You talk to somebody, and it's just, and they would have agreed with me before, and they would have agreed with me after.

But when they're in that context where they're just like, they want this so bad, there's no reasoning with them. And it's frustrating because anybody can see it. Right? And they're putting all kinds of logic, all kinds of reasoning. It doesn't make any sense, you know? And a brand new believer would know, would be able to discern, you know?

And it's like, you come back and say, "There's no way that you're blind. You're blind because you want to be blind." Right? You're looking for reasons to justify what you want to do. And it causes you to be blind. Right? What does it mean to see many things but do not observe, and to have his ears open but not hear?

Okay? It's related to what we just talked about, right? The rebuke is against the Israel who convey the message of the Lord without following it themselves. Right? What does this tell us about the calling of Israel? Right? Israel was called to be a light to the other nations, but because they themselves were not living in the light, right?

They just had the title of God's people. But they weren't functioning as God's people. Right? Just like the church can have the title of the church, the body of Christ. Right? So God gave them ears, God gave them eyes, but they couldn't see. Right? Because they chose to. And then they become like plunder for the leaders to take advantage of.

In other words, they're sitting ducks. Right? Because they strayed away from their shepherd, they're open to any wolf coming in and taking advantage of them. So that's why when the false prophets came, they clung to them. They were so easy to deceive. Right? So during the time of Isaiah, false prophets were rampant.

They're contradicting what Isaiah's saying, contradicting what Hosea's saying, contradicting what Amos is saying, because all of them had the message that they didn't want. Right? So false teaching, false prophecy was rampant, and there was confusion as to what the truth was because they strayed away from their shepherd, so they were vulnerable to any kind of wolf coming in.

Right? That's why I think whenever you take the Word of God away from the church, like anything, what is that saying? If you don't stand for anything, you'll fall for anything. If you don't stand for something, you're, yeah. But that something isn't just anything, obviously. Right? As Christians. If we're not grounded upon Christ and we're drifting, right, you can drift to anything.

You're vulnerable to anything. Any new thought, any new theology, any new type of whatever trend comes in, the next generation, you become successful to that. So the church that is drifting will look different today, ten years later it'll look different ten years later, ten years after that it'll look something different, because it's always shifting from whatever happens to be coming in.

Whatever happens to be trendy. Right? But a church that is grounded upon the Word of God shouldn't look different from generation to generation. Right? It shouldn't look different from the early church to the Middle Ages to now. The true church. Right? He said, "The Lord burned with anger against the leaders, but they did not understand." In other words, verse 25, he says, "So He poured on him the heat of His anger and the might of battle.

It set him on fire all around, but he did not understand. It burned him up, but he did not take it to heart." What does that mean? All of the judgment that he brought upon the nation of Israel, the leaders of Israel, the captivity to Babylon, Assyrians coming and attacking them, all of that was for what purpose?

To discipline them, to bring them to repentance. But they didn't see it. Right? So they clung to God when they were in need, but as soon as they were in safety, they went right back to where they were. So Israel may have been asking questions of why. Like why did all this happen?

Why did we go into captivity? Why were we conquered over and over again? But the answer that he gives in verse 24 is not why, but who. Verse 24. "Who gave up Jacob to the looters and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord against whom he has sinned?

In whose ways they would not walk and whose law they would not obey?" So the question was why, but he says who. The answer was who. Once you realize who did it, then you know why he did it. Right? It wasn't Cyrus. It wasn't Assyria. It wasn't the Babylonians.

It wasn't the Egyptians. It was God. Right? God didn't temporarily lose control, and that's why the Assyrians came into power. Like God didn't all of a sudden was fighting the Babylonians, and then they overpowered Him, so the Babylonians took control for a period. Right? It wasn't because He was weak and He couldn't keep them at bay.

It wasn't because He lost battle with the Romans that they were in power. So what he's saying is all the things that have happened to the nation is because He did it. It wasn't the Romans. Right? It wasn't the Egyptians. In the end, it wasn't even the devil. Right?

If you really think about it, and you believe in a sovereign God, look at Lot. Devil's the one who initiated, and God said, "Have you considered My servant?" And then he doesn't even appear anymore. At the end of Lot's life, he doesn't say, "Why did the devil do this?" Well, who did I say?

Yeah, you know what I meant. Right? Job. Right? Thank you for correcting me. There's got to be one person in here that could leave this video and say, "Yeah, Lot went through a lot." Yeah, we're talking about Job. Okay? So in other words, he's saying that the sovereign God was in control.

In other words, He was in control of all of it. He was in control when redemption was coming. He was in control when the Babylonians were there. He was in control when the famine was there. He was in control of all of it. Right? Why did He do it?

He went to repentance. Right? And again, this is an application question. I'll just leave that for you for the end. Okay? Despite the many sins of Israel, what does God promise Israel in verse 1 and 2, and why in verse 4? He says, "One, that He will redeem them." How many times has He done this?

Right? How many times has He forgiven you, forgiven me? Right? I mean, think about it. If salvation was by works, just practically speaking, we wouldn't be here. Right? I don't know how long it would have taken, but we wouldn't be here. Only reason why you're still here, are able to listen, able to study the Word of God, is because, like we said on Sunday, because God promised it.

He made a covenant with Himself. Right? So despite Israel's sin, He's still, He's still patient with them. Right? So He's kind of come to redeem them. He's not only going to redeem them, forgive them of their sins, He says He's going to protect them in verse 2. Right? And ultimately, in verse 4, "Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you." I give men in return for you, people in exchange for your life.

He says, "I love you." Right? I remember as a young Christian, I was reading this for the first time, and this is the first time I remember where God Himself just directly says, "I love you." And I memorized this verse. Right? "I love you." I mean, I think people are changed, like when you feel loved.

Right? By anybody. But to be loved by God, to be an object of the love of God, and if you really believe that, that God who created the universe loves you, you know, what does that mean? You're safe. Right? Psalm 23, "For I walk through the valley of the shadow of evil." Right?

"Valley of the shadow of death, I shall feel no evil." Because why would you not fear evil? Right? Because God loves you. Right? I don't think we're being too touchy-feely when we talk about this, because I think it's extremely important that we realize that God doesn't just care about you, He doesn't just count your hair, He doesn't just like, you know, feel obligated because of His covenant.

He says, "You're precious in my eyes." He says, "I love you." Right? I mean, that's important. That's really, really important. Who do you say I am? Right? Because I know who you are to me. And I think if you're not convinced of this, if you're not convinced that you're precious in God's eyes and that He loves you, you know, this is the reason why we run from Him.

You know, when we make mistakes, or, you know, not realizing how much we mean to Him. Right? If it was up to me, I'd just linger here for a while. Yeah. According to verse 7, why were we created? How does that affect the way we think of our jobs, or leisure, or money?

Like what was the purpose? He says, "He created us for His glory." Right? It's interesting how in verse 8, He says, "Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears." Right? People who are physically, they're blind, but they can see. Right? Deaf, but they can hear.

The exact opposite of verse 18 and 20. It's saying they have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. But when God brings redemption, it's exactly the opposite. Even the people who don't see, will see. Even the people who don't hear, will hear.

Right? Probably my favorite, favorite song ever is a Korean song written by a paraplegic in Korean. And basically, just a summary of the song is how God is so fair. And how she writes, I'm not going to say it in Korean. I'm going to try to translate it. It says, "God is so fair because God has given me what other people don't have." Because of her disabilities, that she's able to see Christ and see, hear more deeply, and see more clearly because of her.

And she's like, "How God is so fair. God is so fair." Right? One of these days, I'll translate it for you. The whole song. Right? God's favorite, favorite song. And that's what he says. When he appears, and even the people who cannot see, will see. He does exactly the opposite.

So what does he say? Now, he calls the nation of Israel to be his light. And he says, "What do they first must do?" He says, "They must first come and see and witness before they can declare his glory." Verse 9 and 10. "All the nations gather together in a people's assemble who among them can declare this and show us the former things.

Let them bring their witness to prove them right and let them hear and say, 'It is true. You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me." In other words, you know, it says, "Be still and know that I am Lord." Right?

So, it's like, before he sends his disciples out, what does he tell them to do? "Come follow me." Right? So, in the three years, yes, he did train them. He sent them out. He showed them how to pray for people and to heal the sick and all that. But above everything that he's done, the greatest thing that he did in those three years was he revealed himself to them.

That's what he did. More than anything else, he revealed himself. Because the greatest thing that they were going to do is to be their witness. Be his witness. Not simply to do what he did. Right? Which he did. He said, "I'm going to show you how to make fishers of men." But the greatest thing that they received in the years that they were with Jesus was they saw Jesus up close.

Right? And so what was their primary job? It's to declare his glory. So if you're going to declare his glory, you have to see his glory. Right? So whether you go into ministry, whether you make disciples, whether you serve the church, the greatest preparation for God's ministry is to behold his glory.

Right? Because the primary work that he calls us to do is to declare his glory. So how can somebody who doesn't behold his glory declare his glory? Right? So the greatest thing that God calls every Christian to do is to come and behold his glory. Right? So if we're not affected by his glory, by his mercy, how can we be a witness?

We can regurgitate information. We can take the things that we've studied and just present it to them. So if you are a good communicator, if you like to read, you know. But that's not what God called us to do. God called us to be a witness, to be a light.

Right? A smaller light of the greater light. So that's why first and foremost he tells us to come. Right? Isn't that the story about Mary and Martha? Right? It's not, I mean, Martha would be the one praised in the church because she's the one doing all the work. Right?

So he's not, does God call us to work? Of course he calls us to work. You know, would Jesus be okay if all Mary did was sat there and she never helped with the dishes? Never did anything? Of course that's not what he's saying. He said she chose what's best.

The best was sitting at Jesus' feet, soaking up everything that Jesus was saying. Right? Because the one who beholds his glory is going to be the greatest witness for Jesus. Right? So consider each description of Jesus. Again, he's the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He's the one who created Israel.

Because he's the one who created Israel, verse 15, he's the King of Israel. And this King isn't just the King of Israel, he's sovereign over all creation. And all of these things are very personal. He's not giving some generic title. He's saying all of this personally because he's redeeming them.

He's their Redeemer. He's their Creator. He's their King. And that King is the King of all creation. Right? In other words, to have confidence in him. Right? Because he cares. Like, cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. Right? Isn't that the first thing that happens when we feel like, you know, things are going out of control and it's in our hands?

We become anxious when things don't go according to plan. Right? That's the first thing that happens. We become anxious. So, think about that in a larger scale as a nation. When the enemies start coming in, right? And things are out of control. What if they come? What if they take us?

And so, we can understand, humanly speaking, why they would align themselves with the Egyptians. And with the Syrians, and the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. We can understand that because we struggle with the same thing. Right? When trials come and things get out of hand, like, what do we run to?

So, the whole reason why he's saying all of this is because he's the, he's, like, I'm your Redeemer. I'm your Creator. I'm your King. Right? And ultimately, because I care about you. Right? And ultimately, how did he respond? Like, despite all of that, they didn't come to him. They didn't sacrifice to him.

And their sins burdened him. Right? Again, remember, he was saying, he was going back and forth, back and forth. How he cares, he's going to redeem them. Right? But, despite that, you keep running. Right? You don't come and worship me. Your sins are starting to pile up, becoming a huge burden, because you refuse to come and sacrifice.

But what was his answer to this? Our human logic would say, "Enough!" Right? How many times? How many times does Israel have to go through this cycle before God says, "Enough!" Right? You know what the answer is? Seven times seventy. Seven times seventy. So, at the end, what's the ultimate reason?

What does he do? Because he promises them, "I will blot out your sins." This burden that he felt for their sins. Right? What did he do with that burden? He placed it upon Christ. Right? This burden that was piling up, despite his grace and mercy. What did he do with that burden?

He placed it upon Christ. He who knew no sin became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Does that motivate you to worship Him? Right? Does that make you want to follow Jesus? Right? To proclaim Him? To honor Him? Not to disappoint Him? Right? I think it does, if we really believe.

Right? It's just that sometimes, all that we know, sometimes we become so hardened that it just becomes theology, but not truth. But when this has flesh, when this is truth, it changes us. Right? Because it's very personal. We're not just talking about some doctrinal statement. We're talking about this God who loves us.

Right? We burdened Him with our sin, and what did He do with that burden? He took it upon Himself. So again, true worship is always a response to this. It's a response to this. Right? When we recognize what we have in Christ. So again, we're not done, but Isaiah is going to just pound it upon us, so that hopefully, if your hearts have become hardened for whatever the reason, in the last few months, or last few years, I pray, my hope and prayer is that as we go through these sections of promises of the Messiah, the details of the Gospel, you know, hopefully by the time we get to Isaiah 53, right, revival will break out.

Right? In our hearts. That the ultimate reason why we're doing what we're doing is so that when we say, "We love You, Jesus," that we mean it from our hearts. Right? A genuine response. We love because He first loved us. Right? So let me pray for us, and then I'll let you guys get into your groups, and take some time for a small group.

Who's doing snacks today? Okay. Who's doing snacks next week? And Philip's group. Okay, that group. Okay. Alright, let me pray for us, and then I'll let you guys get to your groups. Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for being so patient with us. You know how prone we are to wander and to be entangled.

We look at the rest of the world, and sometimes we envy what they have, because we forget the hope that we have in Jesus, and what it is that we already have. The privilege that we have to call You our Abba Father, because You loved us, and You pursued us.

You were patient with us, and You forgave us, no matter how many times we've drifted. No matter how many times we've disappointed, because of Your unending grace, we're able to be here. I pray, Father God, that You would cause all of us, each one of us, to respond in such a way that our confession of love to You may be genuine.

That our worship would never be a burden, but it would be an expression of that gratitude, Lord, that You place in our own hearts. I pray that our fellowship, our small groups, would lead to greater challenge, greater sharpening, as iron sharpening iron. That wherever we are, whatever it is that we have experienced this week, that our burdens would be unburdened, Lord God, and to place it upon Christ.

And that as You have called Israel to Yourself, that we would go to You, Father God, with confidence in the blood, in the name of Jesus. We thank You in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.