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The Gospel in the Old Testament – the Prophecies of Isaiah

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Isaiah has sometimes been called “the gospel in the Old Testament”. It is often quoted in the New Testament and so many of its prophecies are seen to be fulfilled in the birth, ministry death and resurrection of Jesus. These sermons will focus on those passages because of their relevance to Christians. The book contains so many wonderful promises made to Israel which Christians can claim!

All these are interweaved with prophecies relevant to Isaiah’s time, and to the later time of the Exile into Babylon. In particular Isaiah brought messages of God’ judgment on foreign nations (especially in chapters 14-21, 23-24 and 34) and also of God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem (chapters 3:1-4:1, 5:7-30, 6:11-13, 9:8-10:4 and 13:6ff). Israel is particularly criticised for making alliances with Egypt instead of putting their trust in God (chapters 22 and 30-31).

A BRIEF COMMENT ON AUTHORSHIP AND DATE

The traditional view (which I believe) is that the book of Isaiah is a single book all written by the prophet Isaiah c.740-700 BC. Some scholars have suggested a different much later author for Isaiah 40-66 but this is unnecessary if we accept prophets can prophesy i.e. foretell future events. Supporting the unity of Isaiah, 11:6-9 and 65:23 are so similar. The phrase “The Holy One of Israel” occurs 12 times in 1-39 and 13 times in 40-66. Descriptions of Israel as blind, deaf, “forsakers of the Lord”, “ransomed of the Lord” are equally spread between both parts. Chapters 1-39 foretell judgment and need 40-66 to bring hope.

1 I saw the Lord Isaiah 6:1-8

This message on God’s call of Isaiah to be his prophet took the form of a time of reflection. I include the songs we sang as part of that time in case you wished to follow that pattern and read or sing the songs.

Begin with prayer

SING Songs of Fellowship 34 At your feet we fall

A. W. Tozer “The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy.”

Oswald Chambers. “The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. God’s one aim is the production of saints. He is not an eternal blessing machine for men; he did not come to save men out of pity; he came to save men because he had created them to be holy.”

What does holiness mean? The root of the Hebrew word qados is “apartness”: to be separated or cut off. When we say God is holy we mean He is apart from us, different from us, transcendent. Pure and righteous and untainted by sin. And for human beings to be holy it means we are set apart from the world, consecrated – set apart for God, dedicated to God, sold out for God. Being dedicated to God is not some optional extra for Christians. It is simply obedience to the First and Greatest Commandment: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30)

Isaiah’s life was shaped by the encounter he had with the Living God which we read about in Isaiah chapter 6. His personal holiness, dedicating his life to God’s service and his ministry as arguably the most important Old Testament prophet of God, all came from this one event where he met with God in all his glorious majesty, sovereignty and holiness. If we really want to meet with God the invitation is there. It is up to each one of us how holy we are. Every Christian is as holy as he or she wants to be. We may not be as holy as we would like to be, or as we pretend to be to other people or even to ourselves. None of us is as holy as God longs for us to become. But every Christian is as holy as he or she wants to be. My relationship with God and my own holiness are my personal responsibility! If I don’t make time to read the Bible, that’s down to me. It takes time to be holy! If I don’t make time to pray, that’s down to me! Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more.”

So we need to meet with God. If we are serious about becoming more holy, we need to spend time with God. Our personal holiness is the power behind all effective Christian service. And our holiness is our witness to the world. 4th century St John Chrysostom (C. 347–407) wrote, “If only ten among us be righteous, the ten will become twenty, the twenty fifty, the fifty a hu,ndred, the hundred a thousand, and the thousand will become the entire city. As when ten lamps are kindled, a whole house may easily be filled with light; so it is with the progress of spiritual things. If but ten among us lead a holy life, we shall kindle a fire which shall light up the entire city.”

This encounter with God changed Isaiah’s life. Let’s spend some minutes meditating on this passage verse by verse and opening our lives to God, asking Him to change us too.

SING SofF 249 I see the Lord

Seeing God as he really is

God is Sovereign

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah 66:1 This is what the LORD says:“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD.

QUIET REFLECTION

God is Holy

2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Isaiah 57 15 For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place,

Exodus 15 11 “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

QUIET REFLECTION

SING 772 Holy Holy, Holy Holy

Seeing ourselves as we really are – Sinners

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

5 times Isaiah 5 pronounces woe on sinners. That is why Isaiah says, “Woe is me!”Isaiah 5:8 Woe to those who are greedy and woe to those who spend all day drinking, who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks. 18 Woe to those who are doomed, who are unable to break free from their sins. 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent

QUIET REFLECTION

SING 316 Just as I am without one plea

Recognising that we are forgiven v 6-7

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

QUIET REFLECTION

SING 1015 Thank you for saving me

Responding to God’s call v 8

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

QUIET REFLECTION

A TIME OF PRAYER

SING 519 Take my life and let it be

2 Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow Isaiah 1:18

From the earliest days of the church the Book of the prophet Isaiah was known as “the Fifth Gospel” or “the Gospel in the Old Testament.” In the 4th Century Jerome wrote that Isaiah “should be called an evangelist rather than a prophet because he describes all the mysteries of Christ and the church so clearly that you would think he is composing a history of what has already happened rather than prophesying about what is to come.” His name Isaiah means ‘Yahweh (is) salvation’, which fits him very well. The kings he mentions indicate that he prophesied for at least forty years, from about 740 BC, the last year of Uzziah, until some point after the siege of Jerusalem in 701 in the time of King Hezekiah.

We are very familiar with so many wonderful promises of salvation in the second half of the Book of Isaiah. I have preached on these passages and often quoted from them.

Isaiah 40 talking about how great God is! 25 ‘To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

And that wonderful promise in Isaiah 4030 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Then there’s my favourite chapter in the whole of the Old Testament Isaiah 43

1 But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:

‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;

I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you,

And this leads on to that wonderful promise of God doing a new thing.

Isaiah 43 18 ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself

that they may proclaim my praise.

In particular the second half of Isaiah contains so many prophecies about the Messiah God would send to be the Saviour of the world, God’s Suffering Servant.

Isaiah 53 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

And who can forget that wonderful invitation in Isaiah 55 6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake their ways

and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

So many glorious promises! But the first half of Isaiah is also rich in promises and challenges in equal measure. Isaiah was writing in the second half of the eighth century BC. The Assyrians were threatening Israel and instead of trusting in God, Israel was trying to make alliances with them. He was writing at the same time as Hosea, Amos and Micah and they all condemned the greed, corruption and injustice which gripped Israel. But across all the prophets we find perhaps the fiercest criticism of God’s chosen people here in Isaiah chapter 1.

GOD’S JUDGMENT

The nation was rebelling against God2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the LORD has spoken:

‘I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.’

The Israelites weren’t merely ignoring the God who had given birth to their nation. As their children they were actively rebelling against him, by doing all kinds of evil things.4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption!

They were ignoring and rejecting God.

They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

Things have got so bad that God addresses his own nation of Israel as “Sodom and Gomorrah” – architypes of evil nations who faced God’s judgment and were consumed in destruction.10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

The sins of the people are so great that God rejects their sacrifices and holy days. Their worship and their prayers are no longer acceptable to him.11 ‘The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?’ says the LORD.

‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Here are solemn warnings that songs of praise and worship mean nothing to God if they come from lives filled with corruption and injustice. Sin cuts people off from God.

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

God’s people were cut off from him by their sin. They were exploiting the poor, the orphans and widows and refugees and God was angry. We have seen recently in our series on Acting Justly that this call for justice comes again at then end of Isaiah.

Isaiah 586 ‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I.

God was rejecting Israel’s empty worship and he rejects the people themselves. He says

Your hands are full of blood!

God is justifiably so angry with his chosen people and especially with their leaders.21 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute!

She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts.

They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.

So God has resolved that he is going to bring judgment on his special people and purify this nation he had chosen and called and redeemed so that they would become holy and belong to him.24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

‘Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.

I think by now it is pretty obvious how angry God is with Israel. As of course he is angry with all sin. But in the middle of this, you can only call it “a tirade” of judgment and condemnation we find one of the most beautiful and memorable promises in the whole of scripture. It’s a promise we claim for ourselves as a prophecy of the wonderful salvation God gives us through Jesus.

GOD’S WONDERFUL OFFER OF FORGIVENESS

Isaiah 1 18 ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD.

‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

What colour is sin? Some people read this verse and make the mistake of thinking that Isaiah is saying that sin is some shade of red, scarlet or crimson. Some Christians have made the mistake of thinking that immorality in particular is associated with scarlet, “a scarlet woman”, because Revelation talks about the Great Prostitute, dressed in purple and scarlet.

But in Isaiah’s time sin wasn’t associated with any particular colour. The scarlet and the crimson he is referring to here were the most brightly coloured dyes they had in those days to colour their clothes. They were striking shades of red made from the extracts of tiny insects. The significant thing about those dyes was not the actual colours they made but the fact that back then before they had bleaches those dyes were permanent. Scarlet and crimson were indelible. Once a fabric was coloured with scarlet or with crimson that would be its colour. Even if the brightness faded the stain would remain forever. Nothing could remove it! So that is why this promise God makes is so amazing.

Isaiah 1 18 ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD.



Israel’s sins were like a dye, staining and polluting the nation. Nothing anybody could do would remove them. But God can.


Freshly fallen snow would be the purest white anybody in Isaiah’s time would ever see. God would remove the stain of Israel’s sin leaving only the whiteness of snow.


Taking away the crimson which had coloured the material it would be restored to its original natural wool colour again. Good as new. And that is exactly how God deals with our sins through Jesus. In Christ we are justified. God makes it “just as if I’d” never sinned.



HOW CAN WE RECEIVE FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

God calls his chosen people to repent. To turn away from sin and do what is just and right. Just as God calls us all to repentance. Of course the irony is that the Israelites cannot wash themselves clean. Scarlet and crimson won’t wash out and neither will sin. All they can do is gratefully receive God’s gracious offer of cleansing which they could never do for themselves, completely unearned and undeserved.

God’s people face a choice. Will they pursue God or will they continue in sin? Will they accept forgiveness or not? Good or evil? That’s the choice everybody faces.19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

If they choose God then his blessing will fall once again as it did before.26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning.

Afterwards you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.’ 27 Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

There is the choice everybody faces. To carry on sinning and face God’s judgment. Or to repent from sin and receive God’s amazing forgiveness.

PSALM 51 begins like this.1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. …. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

And JAMES 4 brings this challenge

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Let us hear God’s invitation for ourselves.



3 The Mountain of the Lord Isaiah 2:1-5

God likes mountains! In the NIV the Bible mentions mountains 308 times and hills 237 times and that doesn’t include specific mountains such as 22 mentions of Mount Zion or 21 of Mount Sinai. God likes mountains. We really miss out in Essex because we don’t have any hills, never mind mountains. Some parts of the Lake District and Snowdonia and the Cairngorms are pretty impressive. But they pale into insignificance compared to the Alps and the Himalayas. The mountains of Israel and Palestine may not be so high but they are still very impressive. And in Bible times they didn’t have the mechanised transportation we have today, so it’s no surprise that mountains influenced their thinking.

Mountains give us a glimpse of the greatness of God’s might and majesty and glory. Bible writers thought of mountains as the earliest created things, ancient and eternal, symbolising stability and security. Mountains let you see all around and far, far away. So in a conflict they give you “the higher ground” which is easy to defend because it is inaccessible. So mountains are places of safety and refuge.

Sometimes covered in snow, often covered in cloud, mountains are places of mystery and places of revelation – places where people would encounter the Living God. As Christians we can look back on Jesus teaching the Sermon on the Mount, and his Transfiguration on the mountaintop. The Israelites in the Old Testament looked back to Mount Sinai, where God chose to reveal Himself to Moses and to give his chosen people the Law and the covenant which created their nation.

Exodus 19 16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. 20 The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the LORD said to him, ‘Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish.

Mount Sinai was the birthplace of God’s chosen people Israel. But from the time of great King David onwards another mountain became even more prominent and important. That is Mount Zion. Mount Zion was the name given at first to that part of the Mountains of Judah where David built his city. But the focus moved when Solomon built his first Temple to the Lord on the hill next door and then that hill became known as Mount Zion instead.

The Old Testament speaks of Zion 261 times, starting from the day David captured it. Sometimes that name refers to the mountain, sometimes to the City of David, although the city is more usually given the name of Jerusalem. Zion was at the heart of the nation of Israel. It was not only the capital city, the political and economic and military centre. More importantly, it was the site of God’s Temple. More than anywhere else on earth, it was the place where God was present in the midst of His people. It was the place where the sacrifices were offered which maintained God’s relationship with his people. It was the place where pilgrims would go to meet with their God.

We cannot overestimate the importance and significance which Mount Zion has had for the Israelites for thousands of years. Zion is extolled in the Psalms which the Israelites sang as they worshipped God. We all know the chorus with the words of Psalm 481 Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth.

Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

Time and again the Psalms reinforce the idea that God lives in Zion or on Mount Zion. People can go to the Mountain of the Lord to meet with God.

Psalm 76 1In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. 2His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

Psalm 24 3 Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

Psalm 50 2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

Psalm 9 11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. God lives in Zion. His blessings rest there and flow out from there over all the earth.

Psalm 132 13 For the LORD has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling:

14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it— 15 I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.

Psalm 68 15 The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains; rugged are the mountains of Bashan. 16

Why gaze in envy, O rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the LORD himself will dwell forever?

Psalm 87 1 He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; 2 the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are said of you, O city of God:

And so for God’s people, the mountain of the Lord Mount Zion is a place of security and refuge and peace

Psalm 125 1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

Psalm 20 1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.

So the Mountain of the Lord has great significance for the Israelites. Mount Zion is the hill on which their Capital city Jerusalem, God’s holy city is built. And it is where the Temple is built, the place where the Living God dwells among His people.

So it is no surprise in Isaiah’s troubled times that the Mountain of the Lord is the focus of hope for the future of Israel. It is more than coincidence that we find very similar words to Isaiah 2 in chapter 4 of the prophet Micah. We don’t need to concern ourselves about who said them first. They are so important that God said the same thing to Israel twice through different prophets. This is what he said.

Isaiah 2:1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

Although the peace of Jerusalem and indeed the future of the nation was at threat, God still had a purpose for the Mountain of the Lord. One day it would be exalted above all other nations.

God will exalt His Holy city. But more than that. In time to come God’s blessings will not be restricted to the Israelites. People from other nations will also come there to find God for themselves.

Isaiah 2 2 In the last days


it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Last week inn Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 we read the wonderful promise of forgiveness.

Though your sins are like scarlet they will be white as snow. Though they are crimson they will be as wool.

In chapter 1 these promises were just for the Israelites. And elsewhere in Isaiah the promise is that God’s people scattered all over the earth would return to Zion and worship God there again.

Isaiah 27 13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Salvation in Zion for the Israelites, even those in exile. But here in chapter 2 we find promises that God’s blessings will be shared among other nations as well. Many nations will seek God in Zion. And this glorious hope appears in many places in Isaiah.

Isaiah 56 4 For this is what the LORD says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me

and hold fast to my covenant— 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him,

to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him,

all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;

for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

God’s promises will not just be for the Israelites – but for all nations. And there is one more promise about the Mountain of the Lord which is so wonderful that we give it a whole sermon in a few weeks time.

Isaiah 25 6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—

the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces;

he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

The promise of the feast of rich food for all peoples – salvation for all at the Messiah’s banquet. Here is the promise that in the last days, God’s blessing will spread beyond his chosen people Israel to other nations as well. God’s peace will spread over all the earth.

Isaiah 2 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.

We find these wonderful promises of peace in other places in Isaiah as well. We often read the promises about the Messiah from chapter 11 at Christmas.

Isaiah 11 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Here in Isaiah 2 we find God’s promise for the future.

Since God was going to bless all the nations through His Holy Mountain, what should his chosen people be doing now?

Isaiah 2: 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

God’s chosen people should be walking in the light, not in the darkness. They should be living in ways which are pleasing to God. A challenge for all of us who are spiritual descendants of Jacob – Let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Here are God’s promises of a future and a hope. For the Israelite’s in the time of Isaiah they are all focussed on God’s Holy city, His Temple, the Mountain of the Lord. Most of these promises have yet to be fulfilled. And at the end of days they all WILL BE gloriously fulfilled in the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Hebrews 12:22 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

4 The Song of the Vineyard Isaiah 5

Jesus said in John 15, “I am the true vine.” This evening brings us to Isaiah chapter 5 and the background to that saying of Jesus.

ISAIAH 5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:

I say that Isaiah 5 was the background to John 15 but actually Israel had been singing about the vineyard for a couple of hundred years since Psalm 80 had used the same picture.

Psalm 80 8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.

In Psalm 88 it seemed as though God had abandoned his vineyard already, in the earlier years when different Kings had rebelled against God and he withdrew his blessing from His chosen people.12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 13 Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. 14 Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

Whether it was from Psalm 88 or from Isaiah 5, by Jesus’s time the picture was very clearly established and understood.

GOD’s VINEYARD was the NATION OF ISRAEL

Isaiah 5 is explicit.7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in.

Jeremiah used the same picture of Israel not as the vineyard but of the vine itself.

Jeremiah 2 21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

As also did Hosea

Hosea 10:1 Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself.

So Jesus in John 15 talked about the true vine. But he also used the picture of the nation of Israel as a vineyard in his parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard who refused to pay their rent.

Matthew 21 33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

The vineyard and the vine represent the nation of Israel. And God loved his Vineyard and took care of it!

ISAIAH 5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:

my loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

God had done everything he could to help the vine be productive and yield good fruit. But it had all gone wrong.

GOD expects his vine to be FRUITFUL

But it was not!3 ‘Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?

God expects his vine and his vineyard to bear good fruit. God expects his people to be fruitful!

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. … No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. … 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

God expects us to be fruitful! What kind of fruit is that? In John 15 it is the kind of fruit which comes from abiding in Christ – remaining in union with Christ. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ..

That could refer to many things but the specific example Jesus gives is in answered prayers. We are fruitful when we stay close to God and our prayers are answered.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Back in Isaiah 5 God is looking for a different kind of fruit – righteousness and justice, and this is more often the meaning we find of “good fruit” in the Bible.7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

VERSE 7 ends with a play on words. In Hebrew the word for what God is looking for sounds like the word for what he actually finds.

‘Did he find right? Nothing but riot! Did he find decency? Only despair.’

MESSAGE verse 7 … He looked for a crop of justice and saw them murdering each other. He looked for a harvest of righteousness and heard only the moans of victims

God looks to his chosen people for the fruit of righteousness and justice and he blames the bad leaders when that fruit is not to be found.

Isaiah 3 13The LORD takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. 14 The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people:

“It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. 15 What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?”

For Isaiah the blame for the injustice and oppression rests with the leaders of Israel.

In the New Testament we find the idea of good fruit again as a picture for holy lives, lives characterised by continual repentance. This began with the ministry of John the Baptist.

Luke 3 7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Jesus picked up the theme in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

The fruit of holy lives. Lives like Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

For the apostle Paul, a fruitful life is one filled with righteousness.

Philippians 1 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Ephesians 58 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)

Colossians 1 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work

The fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – all goodness, righteousness and truth. Bearing fruit in every good work. This is what God expects from His chosen people. But Israel in Isaiah’s time were producing only bad fruit, injustice and exploitation.

And here is a sobering warning.

THE VINE PRODUCING BAD FRUIT FACES DESTRUCTION

ISAIAH 5 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’

The vine which fails to produce good fruit faces God’s judgment. God will withdraw his blessing and destruction will follow. This is what happened in Israel in Isaiah’s time with the Assyrians and less than two hundred years later with the destruction of Israel and the Exile in Babylon. But less us not grow complacent. Because there are also challenges for us in Jesus’s teaching about the true vine.

15 ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. …

5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The judgment of God fell on Israel in Isaiah’s time. And the words of Jesus will bring us to reflection and if necessary to repentance. Because God expects his vineyard to bear fruit!

5 The Best is Yet to come Isaiah 9:2-7

I heard a story about a man whose birthday falls in the middle of December. For most of his life his brother had gave him just one present to cover both birthday and Christmas, and he always saved that combined present for Christmas. But last year most unusually the brother gave the man a present for his birthday as well. With great excitement he unwrapped the wrapping paper to find a box. He opened the box and inside he found two things. The first was a single slipper for a left foot. The second thing was a simple card. “Happy Birthday. Guess what you’re getting for Christmas!”

That little story is actually the perfect parable for tonight’s message, which I have entitled,

“The best is yet to come.” You may know that phrase particularly from the song.

“Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plumYou came along and everything started to humStill it's a real good bet the best is yet to comeThe best is yet to come and, babe, won't it be fine?You think you've seen the sun but you ain't seen it shine”

We usually associate Frank Sinatra with the song “My way”. In fact the epitaph on Frank Sinatra’s tombstone is those words, “The best is yet to come”. A fitting epitaph, and a most fitting message in this season of advent.

Advent comes from the Latin meaning “coming” or “arrival” which was itself a translation of the Greek parousia which also means coming but is actually much more often used to refer to Christ’s second coming! The season of advent not only prepares us to celebrate as we look back at the events of Christ’s first coming, the Nativity. This season of advent also looks forward to the return of Christ in glory.

Because the Christmas story is actually only half the story, the first instalment, the left slipper by itself in the box. We have yet to see the fulfilment of God’s cosmic master-plan to redeem the whole of Creation. And the best is definitely yet to come!

The people of Israel had been waiting for centuries. Waiting for the day when God’s salvation would come. Looking forward to the day when God would act as King, punish those who were not His chosen People and establish His Kingdom in the world. The prophets had pointed the way forward. The Word of God the Old Testament was brimming over with promises of God’s salvation, promises of all the blessings God has in store for his people. The prophets spoke from God so many times about this promised salvation and so for centuries the people of Israel had been waiting the person who would bring in that God’s wonderful salvation - The Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD- 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

The people of Israel had been waiting so long for their Messiah. And he came in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Isaiah 7:14 The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Born of the Virgin Mary as the prophets foretold. Revealing God. Teaching with authority. Working miracles. But then – surprise. It must have seemed as if everything had gone wrong. The messiah is arrested, put on trial, crucified as a common criminal. Dead and Buried! And even though Jesus gloriously rose from the dead, he then ascended into heaven. With so many wonderful promises only partially unfulfilled. He’d started but he hadn’t finished!

This was the message Jesus brought. The kingdom of God is here. But not actually, “the Kingdom of God has completely arrived.” That would have been a different word. What Jesus preached time and again was “The kingdom of God has come near you.” “The kingdom of God has touched you.” “The kingdom of God has brushed up against you.” The kingly rule of God has begun. But it hasn’t fully arrived yet!

Because in His earthly ministry Jesus began to fulfil so many of the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah and the End Times, the Day of the Lord, or the Year of the Lord. He began to fulfil those promises, but many of them await their ultimate fulfilment when Jesus will return again in glory with the Holy angels, on that day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. While we wait for that day, we have only experienced a foretaste of God’s blessings - the best is yet to come!

So for this evening, let us hear some of God’s wonderful promises, especially from the prophet Isaiah, which have begun to be fulfilled in Christ’s first coming, but which will only be fully expressed at the Second coming. Let us look forward with anticipation!

SALVATION

Isa 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.

Isa 46:13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendour to Israel.

God’s wonderful salvation has begun – but it has yet to be completed. SALVATION

The best is yet to come.

RESCUE

40:10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

35:3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

That rescue which God promised to his people Israel is now for all people everywhere who will humble themselves and accept God’s grace. RESCUE The best is yet to come.

JUSTICE

Isaiah 42:1-7

1 ¶ "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."

11:3 He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Our world is still spoiled by injustice. JUSTICE The best is yet to come.

CLEANSING and FORGIVENESS

55:6 ¶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

4:3 Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy.

35:8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.

We all need that highway – that Way of Holiness! One day we will be completely pure and holy – but none of us have arrived there yet! CLEANSING and FORGIVENESS The best is yet to come!

GOD’S PRESENCE

40:3 ¶ A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

60:1 ¶ "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

60:19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.

What a wonderful day that will be – when we will see God face to face! Many Christians look forward to the Second Coming because it will mean the end of the troubles and problems of this world. But the better reason we look forward to Christ’s return is that we will be with him forever.

John 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

GOD’S PRESENCE The best is yet to come!

PEACE

4:5 Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. 6 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding-place from the storm and rain.

11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

In this life we only experience a foretaste of the wonderful peace which life in God’s presence will bring to each one of us. PEACE The best is definitely yet to come!

HEALING

35:5 ¶ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

42:6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

This life still has its suffering and pain in so many ways. One day those sufferings will end forever in God’s presence. HEALING The best is yet to come.

OVERFLOWING BLESSINGS

55:2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.

25:6 ¶ On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

The promise of the Banquet of the Messiah, the Marriage Feast of the lamb. Overflowing blessings. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall but God’s eternal kingdom will stand forever! OVERFLOWING BLESSINGS The best is yet to come!

EVERLASTING JOY

25:9 ¶ In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

35:10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

The joy which we experience in this life is just a foretaste, a glimpse of the joys which await us when Christ returns. Salvation, rescue, justice, cleansing, forgiveness, God’s presence, peace, safety, healing, overflowing blessings, joy. So here are God’s glorious promises. Until Christ returns again we simply wait with anticipation. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad! The best is definitely yet to come!

6 The Remnant Isaiah 10

In recent years the misleading idea has become popular that everybody will be saved. That is a false hope. Not only are there so many specific passages of the Bible which teach that some will be saved but others will be lost. There is also an important general principle which is illustrated time and again. We see it first in the story of Noah.

Genesis 7 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Judgment came – and only Noah and his family survived. We see the same pattern in the story of Joseph.

Genesis 45 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Not all were saved. Only the few. At the end of the parable of the Wedding Banquet Jesus makes the same point. Matthew 22 14 ‘For many are invited, but few are chosen.’

Not all are saved – only a few. Only the remnant.

ISAIAH 10 20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. 22 Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous. 23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

Only the remnant of Israel will be saved. Isaiah 11 continues with prophecies concerning the Messiah which we often think about at Christmas and will certainly do again this year.

Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

The Messiah, referred to as the branch from the stump of Jesse, the father of Great King David, will bring God’s salvation to God’s people. But not to all of Israel. Only to the remnant.

Isaiah 11 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. 12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.

Isaiah continues with more promises for the remnant of Israel.

Isaiah 11 16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt.

As Isaiah continues in chapter 12, although he doesn’t mention the remnant explicitly, it is clear that God’s future blessings will not be for all Israelites but only the chosen few. Those blessings of salvation will indeed be wonderful!

12:1 In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.

The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Such a wonderful salvation – but only for the remnant. And Isaiah says this about the remnant in chapter 28.

Isaiah 28 5 In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. 6 He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

The Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant”. These prophecies all look forward to events beyond Isaiah’s time. “In that day.” “In that day.” The promises were fulfilled first when the Exiles returned to Jerusalem from Babylon.

Isaiah 37 30 “This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. 32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The remnant will return, but not in Isaiah’s lifetime. Until then the remnant can only cling on to God’s promises

Isaiah 46 3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. 4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

This would the first fulfilment of the hope which Isaiah offered to Israel. “That day” would be the day when the remnant of Israel would return to Jerusalem. But then there was a second fulfilment of all these promises when the Messiah came and Jesus was born and lived and died and rose again. And of course the greatest and ultimate fulfilment of all these things will only come when Jesus returns in glory and triumph – that will be the day!

So who will be this remnant who survive to enjoy salvation while the rest of Israel are destroyed in the judgment of God?

ISAIAH 10 20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

The first thing we can say is that the remnant are those who don’t put their trust in the Assyrians or in the Babylonians. The remnant are those who put their trust in God, the faithful few who truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. 22 Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous. 23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

“Returning to the Mighty God” has two senses. “A remnant will return” is a prophecy about the Exiles returning to Jerusalem. All together the Israelites could be numbered like grains of sand on the seashore. But only a fraction, only a few will return and the rest will experience the destruction which is the judgment of the Holy and Righteous God on the nation of Israel.

But the remnant will return not only in the geographical sense to Jerusalem. “A remnant of Jacob will return to the mighty God” has a deeper meaning. That return implies repentance – only a remnant of all those who have been separated from God by their sin will return to God in confession and repentance. Only those who sincerely repent and return to God will escape his judgment. Faith and repentance. And there’s more.

37 31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

The remnant will be God’s fruitful people. We thought back in Isaiah 5 about the kind of fruit God was looking for in his chosen people: righteousness and justiceIsaiah 5:7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

The remnant will be those few of God’s chosen people who were producing the good fruit of justice and righteousness.

Isaiah 48:19 17 This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19 Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains;

their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”

The Israelites who will be saved will be those who allow God to teach and direct them and obey his commands. Putting all these things together, for Isaiah the remnant are those who are trusting in God and repenting of sin and bearing good fruit and obeying God’s commands.

Later on other prophets picked up on this theme of the remnant and the idea of fruitfulness.

Jeremiah 23 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31 7 This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ 8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind

and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. 9 They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back.

The remnant will be a prayerful people. The prophet Zephaniah has an even more optimistic, idealistic view of the remnant

Zephaniah 3 11 On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from you your arrogant boasters. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. 12 But I will leave within you the meek and humble. The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the LORD. 13 They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.

So the remnant will be made up of the meek and the humble, those who trust in the name of the Lord, who do no wrong and tell no lies.

The prophet Micah particularly sees God’s promises fulfilled in the remnant of Israel.

Micah 2 12 ‘I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a sheepfold, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.

Micah 7 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

So the remnant will experience the fulness of God’s mercy and forgiveness. And only the remnant. And this helps explain the relationship between the present nation-state of Israel and the church. Not all of Israel are truly Israel – only the remnant who are saved by grace. Paul explains to the Romans,

Romans 9 6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

God’s salvation is not inherited by birth. Instead it is channelled through Christ to the faithful remnant who believe God’s promises. It is by faith that we are saved! Paul goes on to quote these verses from Isaiah10.

Romans 9 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” (Isaiah 10:22-23)

It is only the remnant who are saved. And since Christ came and died and rose again it is Christians who are that remnant.

Romans 11 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

The church are God’s remnant chosen by grace. That is our destiny and that is our calling.

Through many a day of darkness, Through many a scene of strife,The faithful few fought bravely To guard the nation’s life.Their gospel of redemption, Sin pardoned, man restored,Was all in this enfolded: One Church, one Faith, one Lord.

The faithful few! Starting with Isaiah, the Old Testament prophets tell us that the remnant chosen by grace are those who are trusting in God and repenting of sin and bearing good fruit and obeying God’s commands. The remnant are a praying people. They are the meek and the humble, those who trust in the name of the Lord, who do no wrong and tell no lies. Only this remnant will experience the fulness of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Christians are God’s remnant. We should live out that calling. That is our destiny.

7 The Promise of Peace Isaiah 11:1-9

This sermon on peace was for Remembrance Day on the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day, Sunday November 11th 2018.

Ten years ago I experienced a revelation. I was watching The Doctor’s Daughter, the 6th episode in the 4th series of Doctor Who with David Tennant playing the Tenth regeneration of the Doctor and Georgia Moffet playing his cloned offspring, Jenny, The Doctor’s Daughter. A brief conversation in the middle of an ongoing war leapt out at me.

The Doctor asked Jenny: “What are you staring at exactly?”

The Doctor’s Daughter replied: “You keep insisting you're not a soldier but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general.”

“No,” said the Doctor, “I'm trying to STOP the fighting.”To which Jenny said, “Isn't every soldier?”

I’m trying to stop the fighting. Isn’t every soldier?

That brought home to me an obvious fact which I think I had always known, but never really appreciated. That the purpose of war is to bring peace. That the reason soldiers fight is to end the fighting.

In history, some wars have been fought, wrongly, for economic gain. To gain territory or riches or power. Such wars were unjustifiable. But The Doctor’s Daughter helped me appreciate that there can be circumstances where war is justifiable, and even necessary. Where war is the only way to bring peace. Where the only way to stop the fighting is to fight.

And that is what we remember today on this 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice and the end of the First World War. And at the same time we remember the Second World War. All the people in living memory who died to bring peace to our world and to preserve the freedom we all enjoy today. Of course peace means much more than the end of war of the absence of conflict. Peace is not just something negative, an absence of something. Peace is a very positive concept. Peace is calm, tranquillity, serenity, harmony, reconciliation. In the Bible, the Hebrew word for peace is shalom – and that means wholeness, completeness, soundness, well-being. Peace is a positive experience.

Today we remember and honour all those men and women who made great sacrifices to bring us that peace. Those who gave their lives and others who suffered all kinds of terrible injuries to win the peace. Jesus said in John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

After the Armistice so many people had such high hopes for peace. When people saw the horrors of the First World War they called it “the war to end all wars.” The poet Wilfred Owen wrote of soldiers “who die as cattle.” In fact the phrase “the war that will end war” was coined in 1914 by the author H.G.Wells. Sadly that turned out not to be true. However much devastation and suffering a war may produce, history always repeats itself. People never learn the lessons. Still over the last 100 years nations have tried all kinds of ways to preserve the peace.

There have been political and diplomatic approaches – The League of Nations and then United Nations. Some have tried military approaches – spending more and more on defence to gain more soldiers and better guns and bigger bombs. The ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb brought the cold war – with the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction by nuclear weapons. You won’t attack me because if you do we have the power to ensure that we will all be destroyed. M.A.D indeed. Praise God the world has escaped the horrors of nuclear war.

In the nineteen sixties during the Vietnam war “Peace” became a catchword and a slogan for many people and “pacifism” seemed to claim the idea of peace as its own exclusive possession. But the Peace Camps and the Peace Marches of the Hippy generation did not bring true and lasting peace either. It is not enough to be AGAINST war – we need to be FOR peace. But the slogan “Peace at any price” is misguided. Those who would compromise anything for a quiet life dare not do so. It was Oliver Cromwell who said, “If we would have peace without a worm in it we must lay foundations of justice and righteousness.” Wise peacemakers do not look for peace at any price. Sometimes passive resistance to evil will not suffice. In some countries at some times, peace, righteousness and justice demand that we take action against injustice, corruption, immorality and indifference. Love of neighbour calls us to overcome evil with good, by prophetic witness, by social and political action, and as a last resort by physical force. And the world today needs peacemakers as much as ever.

Christians should always be working for peace. In the seventh Beatitude, Jesus teaches us, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the Sons of God.” We will always pray for cease-fires and peace processes. But the tragic truth is that there will always be wars and rumours of wars. The world cannot save itself. Diplomacy and politics won’t stop wars. Military might won’t stop wars. The nuclear deterrent won’t stop wars. We don’t need an end to war. Rather, as Roosevelt said, we need an end to all the beginnings of wars. But as long as human beings are greedy and proud and arrogant there will always be people who will try to oppress and invade others and take what isn’t theirs by force. And then there will need to be people who take up arms to protect the innocent and preserve the peace and maintain justice and defend freedom. Soldiers who have to fight to stop the fighting.

But war won’t stop war. Just since the Second World War there have been wars in Korea and Vietnam and the Falklands and Afghanistan and Kuwait and Bosnia and Iraq and others. And the world today is not much more stable or safe than ever it was. There will never be a war which will end all wars. But there is still hope for peace. Human sin is great, but God’s love is greater. So the Bible gives us wonderful promises of peace.

Micah 4 3 (God) will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. 4 Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig-tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.

Here is the inspiring hope that the tools of war will become tools in peacetime. There are other wonderful promises of peace on earth.

Isaiah 11 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

This is the promise of peace on earth but it will only be fulfilled in heaven, when God’s dwelling place will be among his people and “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

This wonderful hope of peace will come through Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

There will always be wars. If we pin our hopes on diplomacy or on military might to prevent wars we will always be painfully disappointed. No war will end all wars. The Bible shows us that the gospel of peace which Jesus has brought is the ONLY hope to bring peace to this sin-spoiled world.

On Armistice Day and Remembrance Day we look back at the wars which caused so much hurt and pain and destruction. A friend has described today of all days as, “A day to mark the highest examples of human bravery and sacrifice, and the worst outworkings of human failure and sin.” We think of so many soldiers and we often repeat these words.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.”

So today we remember all those who fought and suffered and gave their lives to stop the fighting. We honour them by making sure we remember the lessons their deaths can teach us about all the human costs and the tragedies of war. Very sadly, no war will end all wars. Our hopes for a peaceful future rest on our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Numbers 6:24 “ ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;26 the LORD turn his face towards you and give you peace.’ ”

8 The Messiah’s Banquet Isaiah 25 6-12

The informal title I have given to this series of sermons on Isaiah would be The Gospel in the Old Testament. Because the Prophecies of Isaiah are so significant in foretelling the coming of God’s Messiah and the Salvation he will bring. We haven’t begun to touch yet on the Suffering Servant and the passages which foretell the crucifixion. Before Christmas we will be reminded of the prophecies about the incarnation in chapter 7, “the virgin will conceive and bear a son.” And then the wonderful promises in Isaiah 9/

Isaiah 9 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

We draw hope from the wonderful promises of peace in Isaiah 2:4

They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.

We saw that glorious hope of Peace on Earth in Isaiah 11. The day when

6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. ….9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

And we have seen how that hope of peace rests on the shoulders of the stump of Jesse,

Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

We have seen from Isaiah 2 how the fulfilment of so many of these promises is tied in with the Mountain of the Lord, Mount Zion and God’s Holy City of Jerusalem. And from chapter 5 how the nation of Israel is the God’s Vineyard and we looked at how Jesus is the True Vine and the fulfilment of those prophecies. And all this from just the first dozen chapters of Isaiah. It is truly the Gospel in the Old Testament.

For tonight I want to point us to one more thread of prophecy in Isaiah. You could easily miss it but it is a promise which became very important to the Israelites and lies behind a number of events and parables and promises in the New Testament. And we find it in just six verses of Isaiah 25. The promise of the Messiah’s banquet. 6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.

Here is a promise of a glorious celebration. Rich foods and aged wines. The very best of everything! Notice that the blessings will come from God’s holy mountain Zion. But it is more than a one-off party7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8he will swallow up death for ever.

The party is a celebration of the fact that God will destroy the last enemy, death. So it will be an ETERNAL celebration. For ever! It will never end!

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

No more crying – no more pain, no more suffering! We read those promises last week from the Book of Revelation chapter 21. But they were spoken here hundreds of years earlier in the Book of Isaiah in the prophecies concerning The Messiah’s Banquet,9 In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’

Finally those who put their trust in God will be vindicated. Their enemies will be destroyed forever.10 The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure. 11 They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.

God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands. 12 He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low;

he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.

So here in Isaiah 25 we find the promise of the banquet God will hold to celebrate his victory over all the enemies of Israel and even over the last enemy of all – death itself. And did you notice how inclusive this would be. FIVE times we heard the word ALL.

a feast of rich food for all peoples, …. he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

These blessings will be for EVERYBODY. Even death will be swallowed up – for everybody! The promise of the Messiah’s Banquet. This became a centre for the hopes of the Israelites in Exile. That one day they would return to the holy mountain and to the city of God Jerusalem to share in this wonderful feast. These hopes were all waiting for the coming of God’s chosen one, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah.

And these promises form the background to a number of statements we read in the New Testament. After Jesus healed the Roman Centurion’s Servant in response to the amazing faith of the Centurion, we read this.

Matthew 8 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12

But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Here we find the promise of the Feast in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the Messiah’s Banquet. But Jesus gives a solemn warning that many of the people who were sure of their place at the table were going to end up sorely disappointed.

And the Messiah’s Banquet is also the background for Jesus’s parable of the Wedding Feast. Luke’s Gospel takes a special interest in the poor and the outcasts and it is significant that in Luke 14 the link between that parable and the Messiah’s Banquet is explicit. Jesus was eating at the house of a prominent Pharisee, teaching people to care for the poor and the lame and the blind, and we read this.

Luke 14 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

Matthew 22 records the parable like this. 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

You remember how many of those who had been invited sent feeble excuses and refused to come. So they missed out on the wonderful feast and other people were invited instead.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9

Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

There’s a song which we used to sing from Sounds of Living Waters which draws together these threads.

O, welcome all ye noble saints of old, As now before your very eyes unfoldThe wonders all so long ago foretold, God and man at table are sat down, God and man at table are sat down

Elders, martyrs, all are falling down, Prophets, patriarchs are gathering ‘roundWhat angels longed to see now man has found,God and man at table are sat down, God and man at table are sat down

Who is this who spreads the victory feast? Who is this who makes our warring cease?Jesus, risen savior, prince of peace, God and man at table are sat down, God and man at table are sat down

Beggars, lame, and harlots also here, Repentant publicans are drawing near,Wayward sons come home without a fear,God and man at table are sat down,God and man at table are sat down

The feast at the Kingdom of God. The Messiah’s Banquet. God and man at table are set down. And this is also the background to verses we know well in Revelation

Revelation 19 6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

The Apostle John did not invent the idea of the wedding feast of the Lamb for the book of Revelation. It was there all along. The Messiah’s banquet. What an amazing promise. That believers will get to feast with the Messiah! The church of God the bride will feast with her husband her Saviour. We would have no right to that privilege. But it is God’s gift to us.

Such wonderful promises. And we are all invited.

We will look later at God’s wonderful invitation in Isaiah 55. Now we’ve looked at Isaiah 25 you will see that the background to God’s invitation in Isaiah 55 is indeed the Messiah’s banquet.

We all enjoy receiving invitations from our friends. Weddings, trips, special events, birthday parties, dinner parties, any parties really! There are some wonderful invitations in the Bible and Isaiah 55 is one of the best! I say ONE of the best. Here in this one chapter there are at least seven invitations.A. An Invitation to Drink – v. 1B. An Invitation to Hear and Listen – v. 2C. An Invitation to Come To God – v. 3D. An Invitation to Seek the Lord – v. 6E. An Invitation to Call Upon Him – v. 6F. An Invitation to Repent – v. 7G. An Invitation to Return to the Lord – v. 8And that’s just in the first eight verses! Perhaps we ought to entitle that chapter, “an offer you can’t refuse!”

GOD’S WONDERFUL INVITATION (vv 1-2)

GOD GIVES US THE BEST FOOD OF ALL! Come and be satisfied – satisfaction guaranteed! A wonderful invitation made possible through

GOD’S MERCY AND PARDON (vv 6-7)

So here is God’s wonderful invitation to enjoy the best food of all, an everlasting covenant, mercy and pardon, God’s unsearchable wisdom, the power of God’s word, joy and peace. This is an invitation to the Messianic Banquet.

Jesus was a guest at many feasts. But he was only host at one. The Last Supper. That was the time when the Messiah spread a feast for his disciples. When Jesus took bread and broke it and took the cup of the New Covenant and said to his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me.” A feast which we use to look back to the death and resurrection of Jesus, but actually has its roots in the promise of the Messiah’s Banquet. That one day we will share bread and cup in glory.

Isaiah 25 6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8he will swallow up death for ever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s

disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’

But we don’t need to wait until heaven for these blessings. We have the invitation of Jesus here and now!

Revelation 3: 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

9 Perfect Peace Isaiah 26 3 Reading Isaiah 23:1-12

One of my favourite jokes of all time comes Disney’s Musical, “The Lion King.” It stars Simba the young lion born to be the Lion King and his friends Pumba the Warthog and Timon the Meercat.One day Simba was unhappy and grouchy and depressed.“What’s eating him?” Pumba asked.“Nothing,” Timon replied. “He’s on top of the food chain!”

There is this assumption that people who are “on top” will have a comfortable safe easy life. In reality the opposite is often the case. So many people are struggling to “get on top” and their lives seem more pressured and stressful because of that. All kinds of things can put pressure on people. Job, family, health, grief, anxiety, fear. What very many people, even Christians, are desperately longing for in their lives is peace. Contentment. As the song says, Hacuna Matata. No worries. No troubles.

And this is where these marvellous verses from Isaiah 26 are such a comfort and a blessing

NIV 3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. 4 Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

GNB 3 You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. 4 Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. (GNB)

Of all the translations I find the old RSV the most inspiring.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (RSV)

In the Bible peace doesn’t just mean the absence of war or conflict. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom is a very positive concept of calm, tranquillity, serenity, harmony, reconciliation, wholeness, completeness, well-being. And our verse shows us how we can experience God’s kind of peace any time, any place, anywhere.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you.

The rest of the passage explains to us what it means to fix our minds on God and trust in him.

Our peace comes FROM God and THROUGH God, and not apart from God

It is an integral part of the salvation God gives to His people

We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.

Isaiah 12 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.

The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.’ 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

So peace comes to us as part of God’s salvation.

Peace comes as we put our trust in God2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. 4 Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

It is all about who we are putting our trust in. Who we are relying on. Peace is all about exercising faith in God. We only experience God’s peace in the midst of the storms in life when we actively and consciously put our trust in God! Faith is not just a continuous state of believing in God. Faith is a conscious action when we commit our situation to God and trust in his help and protection.

PSALM 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

God our Rock only gives us peace when we consciously go to him as our refuge. He is only our safe hiding place when we seek our protection from him. God doesn’t promise to take all the storms of life away, in the way that Jesus did when he calmed the storm on the sea of Galilee. But God does promise to take the storm away in our hearts, and bring us peace in our hearts, as we put our trust in Him even while the storm is raging.

Peace comes from FIXING our minds on God

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (RSV)3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (New Living Translation)

No-one should not imagine that God’s peace will fill their hearts if they are going through life ignoring him. His peace comes to those who fix their minds on him. NOT just in the times of trouble, but all through life. God wants to be our constant companion through all the scenes of life, not just our safety net and lifebelt when the going gets tough. His peace is for all whose thoughts are fixed on you. All the time!

Peace comes as we obey God and follow His laws7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. 8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;

Isaiah makes the opposite point more than once. There is no peace for the wicked!

Isaiah 48:22 AND Isaiah 57:21 both say, `There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Nobody can expect to be experiencing God’s peace when they are ignoring him or breaking his laws all the time. Peace comes to those who are living in righteousness and justice.

ISAIAH 32 16 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. 17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Peace comes to those who seek God’s glory

8b your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

God blesses us with his peace so that we can glorify him, not just to give us a cushy easy life.

God’s peace comes to those who set their hearts on God9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.

Again, it is those whose minds are fixed on God, who fix all their thoughts on Him, who receive his peace.

Peace comes from God, not our own efforts12 LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

ISAIAH 30 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it. 16 You said, “No, we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee!

You said, “We will ride off on swift horses.” Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away,

till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.’

We don’t experience God’s peace by solving our problems in our own strength. Nor does that peace come when we rely on other people to help us. God’s peace only comes as we see God at work. As we open our lives to God in repentance and rest, in quietness and strength. Like the Israelites when they came to cross the Red Sea.

EXODUS 14 13 Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never vsee again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.’

Not just at the Red Sea. There were many occasions in Joshua’s time as the Israelites took possession of the promised land, when we read that God fought the battles for Israel.

Joshua 10 12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:

“O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

Similarly times in David’s lifetime, where we read, “the Lord will fight for you”. We saw David’s Testimony in Psalm 37

PSALM 37 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Our peace comes as we allow space for God to fight our battles for us, and as we put our trust in him to save us.

We receive God’s peace through prayer3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (New Living Translation)

Philippians 4 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul is not saying, “Whatever your problems, one quick prayer and everything will be alright.” It is an invitation to continuous prayer, to pray without ceasing! Paul is saying “keep on presenting your requests to God”. And as you keep on bringing your situation to God in prayer, God will keep on meeting your needs and so you will continue to experience that peace which passes all understanding, which only God can give.

We all need to make time and space in our frenetic overcrowded lives to be in God’s presence and receive his peace, to set aside our busyness and noise to meet God in the silence. That is what this week’s chapter in Richard Foster’s book, The Prayer of Rest, is all about.

ISAIAH 55 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

BUT how can we come to know this peace?

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.

We come to know God’s peace through prayer.

There is a prayer which Saint Francis of Assisi (C. 1181–1226) definitely did write which says this.“O God, Creator of mankind, I do not aspire to comprehend you or your creation, nor to understand pain or suffering. I aspire only to relieve the pain and suffering of others, and I trust in doing so I may understand more clearly your nature, that you are the Father of all mankind, and that the hairs of my head are numbered.”

3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. 4 Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (RSV)

10 Christ the cornerstone Isaiah 2816 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;

the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament says this about the architectural function of the cornerstone. “Israelite Iron Age designs made increasing use of cut-stone masonry, replacing the rough boulders and rubble construction of earlier periods. A finely shaped block of stone was inserted that became the cornerstone in order to provide stability and to bind two adjoining walls together. It would have been a larger stone than those normally used. Its insertion often required special effort or rituals. Its large, smooth surface was a natural place for inscribing religious slogans, the name of the architect or king responsible and the date of construction. So the cornerstone could also serve as the foundation stone.

Isaiah is prophesying about a stone which would be the very foundation of all that God is going to build. But earlier on Isaiah had foretold another rock.

The cornerstone is also a stumbling block

ISAIAH 8 13 The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. 14 He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.’

This passage in Isaiah is an echo of Psalm 11822 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

So here we have a rock, a cornerstone, a rock which would be a stumbling block even though the builders would reject it. Psalm 118, Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 28 would become very important in the way the Earlly Church understood Jesus.

CHRIST is the cornerstone

Jesus himself applied that Old Testament picture to himself in the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. He himself is the stone that the builders rejected

Luke 20 9 He went on to tell the people this parable: ‘A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 ‘Then the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.” 14 ‘But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. “This is the heir,” they said. “Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

‘What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.’

When the people heard this, they said, ‘God forbid!’ 17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, ‘Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

‘ “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.’

The parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard is an allegory of the ministry of Jesus. The Vineyard is the Old Testament picture of God’s chosen people the nation of Israel from Isaiah 5. The story of how the tenants refuse to pay the rent even when the owner sends his own son is a picture of how the leaders of the Jews rejected God’s Son Jesus, threw him out of the vineyard and even killed him.

And Jesus ends the story with a quotation from Psalm 118 showing how the Old Testament had foretold that rejection. ‘ “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”?

Jesus knew He would not be spared any of the suffering and rejection human beings experience even though He was the Son of God. Jesus went up to Jerusalem in the full knowledge that He would be rejected and killed. But still He went! Jesus was the stone which the builders rejected!

This saying went on to become very important as the Early Church tried to understand the significance of the last week of Jesus’s life.

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone/’ Some modern versions use the alternative translation. ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’ It is interesting how the 2011 New International Version generally prefers cornerstone when the 1984 translation had capstone. In ancient architecture the capstone was different in shape from all the other stones in the building. But it was perfectly shaped to fit in place and complete the building. Roman arches were built from two columns of stones and where they meet in the centre a triangular stone sits like a wedge in the middle to balance the two sides of the arch and hold them up. That is the capstone. If you remove the capstone, the whole arch falls apart. So the capstone is the most important stone. It would often carry an inscription with a date or the name of an important person. But it was not just a decorative stone. The capstone really was the essential element in the design which holds the whole structure in place.

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’ – the most important stone in the arch. ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ – the most important stone in the whole building. Either way, the most important stone. And the Early Church saw the capstone or cornerstone as representing Jesus

ACTS 4 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

‘ “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.”12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’

Jesus is the cornerstone – the capstone – the foundation stone!

Jesus is the cornerstone of the church

1 Peter puts the quotations from Psalm 118 and Isaiah 8 together and applies them to Jesus.

1 Peter 2 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” (Psalm 118)8 and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” (Isaiah 8:14)

Jesus is the cornerstone – the foundation of the church.

Ephesians 2 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The church is God’s new community and his forever family. When any person is saved they become part of God’s new community, the church. They are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, (2:19)

This is God’s cosmic masterplan – we are all united in Christ.

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (2:20)

Each of us are the bricks God is using to build a new kind of temple.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. (2:21) And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (2:22)

The old Temples were built of stone. The New Temple is made of living stones and God lives in us by the Holy Spirit! Phillips Brooks wrote, “Slowly, through all the universe the temple of God is being built. And whenever, in any place, a soul by freewilled obedience, catches the fire of God’s likeness, it is set into the growing walls, a living stone.”

The church is God’s new Temple – and Christ is the cornerstone – the foundation stone.

The cornerstone of our faith – a sure foundation

Romans 9 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall,

and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 10 The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

So we can build our lives on the rock of Christ, who is the cornerstone of our faith – and when we do we will never ever be put to shame. God will never let us down.

The cornerstone of our lives

1 Corinthians 3 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.

So we should be aiming to build our lives on Christ the cornerstone, the capstone, the foundation stone. Jesus - the stone who the builders rejected. Nevertheless in God’s cosmic masterplan. The foundation stone of the church. The cornerstone of our faith! The cornerstone of our lives. There is a story from back when the Old Wild West was being settled and pioneers flocked across the country to California and Oregon. On the Eastern slopes of the Rockies there was a large, dirt covered rock sticking up in the middle of the trail. Wagon wheels were broken on it and people tripped over it. Finally somebody dug up the peculiar stone and rolled it off the trail into a nearby stream. The creek was too wide to jump over, so for years people used the stone as a stepping stone to cross the stream. Finally one settler built his cabin near the stream and he moved the odd stone out of the stream and placed it by his cabin as a doorstep.

Years passed, railroads were built and towns sprang up. The old settler’s grandson went East to study geology. One day he visited his grandfather’s cabin and happened to examine the old lump of stone. The grandson realised the rock was unusually heavy and discovered that inside within that lump of dirt and rock was the largest nugget of pure gold ever discovered on the Eastern slope of the Rockies. It had been there for three generations, and people never recognized its value. To some it was a stumbling stone to be removed. To others it was a stepping-stone, and to others it was just a heavy rock. Only the grandson saw it for what it really was--a lump of pure gold.

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” the precious foundation stone, and the one who relies on it will never be put to shame!

11 God is still on the throne Isaiah 40:12-31

“When we woke up on Wednesday morning, the world was suddenly a more scary and less predictable place.” So wrote one political commentator (Robert Peston) about the news that Donald Trump has been elected to be the next President of the United States. Other people expressed stronger reactions of deep unease, panic and even despair, describing it as a “dark” and a “devastating” day. The website for applications for Canadian citizenship crashed on the news and there have even been reports that State of California is contemplating breaking away from the United States altogether. Many American cities have seen protests and even riots with slogans such as, “Not my President”. For me that rejection of the democratic process is much more disturbing than the actual outcome of the election.

The analysists and the media did not see any realistic likelihood of the “uniquely unqualified” Donald Trump beating the supremely qualified Hillary Clinton to win the Presidency. Even those who did were surprised by the margin of his victory! It appears that a major reason why Trump won was because he

tapped into the feelings of a number of marginalised groups, particularly white working class men and rural voters, who felt that the current political establishment and economic systems were just not working for them. People who saw the big cities and the coastal elites prospering while their farms and their factories were closed and their communities left to decay. People who felt overlooked and left behind, described since as “a coalition of the forgotten”, viewed Donald Trump as “their candidate” precisely because he was the underdog and the outsider, both to Washington politics and to his own Republican Party. Perhaps more than anything else, many people were just voting for a change from the status quo. Many Americans, and among then many Christians, were prepared to overlook Donald Trump’s personal flaws and were swayed instead by allegations of deception by Hillary Clinton. Some probably saw Trump as the lesser of two evils. Even more than the unexpected result of the Brexit Referendum, the outcome of this Presidential election has many lessons for us all, and not least for Christians in America who are now colossally divided according to how they voted. This election may just prove to be the most significant political event in my lifetime. Because the result has left many people very worried.

People are troubled because Trump’s campaign has been extremely divisive and discriminatory, sexist and racist and playing on people’s fears. People are nervous of his foreign policies in relationships with Russia, China, North Korea and NATO. Many businesses are optimistic but financial markets are troubled by his wish to abandon Free Trade deals with Canada and Mexico. Today on this Remembrance Sunday we are reminded of the horrors of war and so many examples of man’s inhumanity to man, Such atrocities continue even today at the hands of Daesh – the so called Islamic State. At least three million people have been killed in the recent wars in Syria and Iraq as well as Afghanistan and Nigeria and other places. With all this on top of Tuesday’s election, no wonder many people think that the world is in a bigger mess than ever!

As Christians, what should we think about all these things? How can we avoid being dragged down into the depression and despair so many people seem to be trapped in? The message for today is very simple. God is still on the throne! Whoever is on the thrones of human empires, this Almighty and Eternal God is still on the throne of heaven and earth! Donald Trump may be going to be President of the United States, but Jesus Christ is still King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There will always be wars and rumours of wars. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” But we must never forget – God is still on the throne!

Today is a day to proclaim the surpassing greatness of God – the greatness no-one can fathom.

Psalm 150:2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

J.B.Phillips wrote a book, Your God is too small, and he was right!! WHATEVER ideas you have about God, your God just isn’t big enough! Your ideas about God aren’t great enough! God’s surpassing greatness is so great – no-one can fathom it! Although we can catch glimpses that greatness. The Bible reminds us in so many places about the awesome power of the natural world. In Creation we see a greatness which is so much bigger than we are, and that shows us just a fraction of the greatness of God. The heights of the mountains and the vastness of the oceans and the unstoppable power of a hurricane or a glacier give us just a glimpse of the even greater greatness of God.

Job 38: 4 ¶ "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Back in the 18th century Thomas Paine wrote “Do we want to contemplate God’s power? We see it in the immensity of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth.”

Of course the whole of Creation is much, much, much bigger than our little planet Earth! Our minds stretch to consider the vastness of space – God is bigger than space.

Isaiah 40:25 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Job 38:31 "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?

32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up [God's] dominion over the earth?

We lift our eyes to the grandeur of creation and the vastness of space. God is bigger than space. Then consider the sheer power displayed in the natural world. God is so much greater than hurricanes and earthquakes and volcanos and tsunamis. I have never experienced a hurricane or a tornado but I have sat huddled on Kinder Scout in the Peak District battered by the driving rain and wind as a bolt of lightning struck to earth the hillside less than 50 yards away. When you are up in the hills, thunderstorms are terrifying even in England! When God spoke out of the power of a storm, Job realised that God is much bigger, much greater, much more powerful than he can possibly imagine.

Job 37:14 ¶ "Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God's wonders.

15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?

16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?

A. W. Tozer wrote, “ Our concepts of measurement embrace mountains and men, atoms and stars, gravity, energy, numbers, speed, but never God. We cannot speak of measure or amount or size or weight and at the same time be speaking of God, for these tell of degrees and there are no degrees in God. All that he is he is without growth or addition or development. … To say that God is infinite is to say that he is measureless. …. (God) is above all this, outside of it, beyond it. Indeed God is above and outside and beyond the whole of creation. Before anything in the universe existed, there was God Almighty!”

The laws of nature, the rules of space and time, only exist because God created them! They only continue because God keeps them going. God is powerful enough to bend or break or change those rules whenever and wherever He chooses. God is THAT great and Almighty!

Jim Packer wrote: “Your thoughts of God are too human. This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power. Put this mistake right: learn to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God and Saviour.”

God is beyond our ken—infinite, immense, and his real greatness is known to himself alone. Our mind is too limited to understand him.

Psalms 145:3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no-one can fathom.

Think for a while about the unsurpassable unfathomable greatness of God.

God is OMNIPOTENT. God is Almighty God can do absolutely ANYTHING He chooses. “Nothing is impossible for God” (Luke 1:37)

God is OMNISCIENT. God has TOTAL knowledge, understanding and wisdom

God knows everything there is to know about the past, the present and the future

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counsellor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? (Isaiah 40:13-14)

So God completely understands our situations.

God is OMNIPRESENT. God is everywhere and with us all the time

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)

God is with us whatever problems we face.

God is ETERNAL. God is outside time and beyond time. God is before created time and after created time.

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. Isaiah 46:10

God sees this world and God sees every detail of each of our lives from the perspective of eternity.

Here is the unsurpassable unfathomable greatness of God. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal. Bow down and worship – for THIS is your God!

ISAIAH 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

To Almighty God, the nations of the earth are like a drop in the bucket and dust on the scales. God reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. Donald Trump may be President Elect of the United States, arguably the most powerful individual in the Western world. But God is on the throne of heaven. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The word that theologians use to describe this state of affairs is the Sovereignty of God. God is Sovereign

In his landmark book, “The Sovereignty of God”, A.W.Pink explained things this way. By the sovereignty of God, “We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou?

Daniel 4 34 … I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

Pink goes on, “To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will.

Psalm 115 3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is "The Governor among the nations", setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as best pleases Him.

Psalm 22:28 Dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.

To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15) This is the God of the Bible."

The Bible declares God’s Sovereignty in so many places!

Isaiah 14:26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27

For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

God is ruler of all things – God is Sovereign. I am sad to say that too often Christians today have lost sight of the Sovereignty of God. We have lost confidence in the fact that God is on the throne, God is ruler of all things, God is in control, God is the boss!

Ultimately nothing happens on earth unless He has allowed it!

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? (Lamentations 3:37-38)

God is Sovereign whether the peoples of the world choose to recognise that sovereignty or not! God is sovereign. Jesus is not Lord because people invite him or allow Him to be Lord. Jesus is not only Lord of the people who recognise and submit to His Lordship. Jesus is Lord of all! Exclamation Mark! God is Sovereign over everything! Exclamation Mark! God is Ruler of all things. God is in control. God is the boss!

God is in control of the big things and God is in control of the little things as well. God rules over men and nations, and God rules over the smallest details of all of our lives.

Today we pause to remember those who gave their lives to win our freedom. We mourn for the horrors of the World Wars of the last century. The Somme, Ypres and the trenches. Dunkirk and Ypres. Dunkirk and Dresden and Hiroshima. Auschwitz and Belsen and the Holocaust. And we affirm that even in those darkest days, God was still on the throne! We are saddened by the conflicts which continue in Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan and Nigeria. We are troubled by the plight of refugees in Europe and benefits claimants in our own country. Many here today are weighed down by our own illnesses and griefs and anxieties and fears. And on top of all this, while we contemplate a future with Donald Trump as President of the United States, closer to home we face all the uncertainties which Britain leaving the European Union will bring. But we should not give in to gloom or fear. Now is the time to proclaim with confident faith that God is still on the throne. Jesus Christ is still King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Our Almighty, All-knowing, Ever-present, Eternal, Creator Sovereign God encourages us to put our trust in Him. And He says to us,

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

12 A New Thing Isaiah 43:1-21

I preached on Isaiah 43 at our New Year Communion Service five years ago. But this is such a wonderful passage that I have no reservations about visiting it again tonight! At the start of this new year I want us to think about this one word. “New”

“New” is an important word for us as Christians. We have new life through a new covenant. God gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit inside us. We have a new relationship with God our new Father. So we are called to live in newness of life and obey a new commandment, all in anticipation of the new creation God will make on Christ’s return of which we already have a foretaste.

When God makes something new, that isn’t just new in the sense of less old, a new car. It isn’t even just “new improved”, bigger and better. When God makes something new he transforms it. He doesn’t throw away the old but he does change it! So when He rescued His chosen people from slavery in Egypt He made that jumble of people into a NEW nation, with a covenant, new laws and a new land to call their own. And through Jesus, God replaced that Old Covenant with Israel with a New Covenant with all who put their faith in Jesus, a new heart and a new relationship. The Apostle Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV) The Living Bible translates this verse this way. When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun! (Living Bible)

God gives us a new life and transforms us into new people. We may come to God through a new and living way!

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

We have already received a new life. But as Christians we also look forward to the great transformation of the universe which will take place when Christ returns.

Revelation 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

We serve a God who makes all things new. Continuity yet also transformation. This was the encouraging message to the Israelites in exile in Babylon in the time of Isaiah. The God who makes all things new and who keeps on doing new things.

Isaiah 43 16 This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

20The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Through Isaiah God reminds Israel of the dramatic new thing He had done more than a thousand years before to create his chosen nation: parting the Red Sea so His people could escape. When God does a new thing it is always exciting but also challenging and even scary! Bringing Abraham’s descendants out of slavery but into the desert. And through Isaiah God promises to do a new thing in the lives of the Exiles – to take them back from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem. That will be scary!

When God does a new thing, he transforms the old to create the new. And those changes can be painful and even frightening. The message of John the Baptist was too radical for the Pharisees and the Saducees. Jesus’s life and ministry was too much of a threat to the Jewish and the Roman establishments – so they crucified Him. When God does a new thing people may have to lose many of the things they treasure, things which give them security and make them feel safe. When God does “a new thing” sometimes the old things have to go – and that can be terrifying.

When God is doing “a new thing” our only security lies in God Himself and in His unchangeable character. But here in Isaiah 43 God gives the Exiles who were facing hard times all the encouragement they need to put their trust in Him. The chapter reminds us of so many aspects of God’s character.

God’s power as Creator

1 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:

6 Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

In the beginning God created everything! He can be trusted here and now in the process of re-creation.

God’s power as Saviour and Redeemer

1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.

Whatever happens to us – God is with us in Saving Power. God has saved his people before – He can save them again now! Because God’s saving power is unstoppable!11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. 12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. 13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

Indeed the God who parted the Red Sea and obliterated all the armies of the Egyptians can save His people even today. God can accomplish whatever he chooses!

God’s unfailing love4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,

God has set his love on His chosen people and his love will never let them go!

43 But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, …. 10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

…. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

God loves us with a love which will never let us go. God’s unfailing love for His chosen people will reassure them when He does his next new thing, and so also will

God’s unfailing presence

1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

…. 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

Here is God’s message to his chosen people in every place in every age – do not be afraid, because I am with you! We thought about this in Jesus’s words, “I am with you always.” The creative power of God and the saving power of God, the unfailing love of God and the unfailing presence of God! When God is doing something new, we do not need to be afraid.

Isaiah 43 definitely qualifies as my favourite Bible passage. Back in 1976 I was studying science and I was leading the College Christian Union, which was a small part of the University Christian Union. The first half of the chapter spoke to me very personally when I was discouraged and even overwhelmed by the challenges ahead.

1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,

Then as now I was encouraged by the promise of a New Thing.18“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

God is already doing new things here at North Springfield Baptist Church. Think of how many new folk have joined the church in the last five years. But I believe God wants to do new things which will not just be bigger and better, but things which are qualitatively new and different. I still don’t know what shape those new things will take – but it will be exciting to find out! Perhaps it will be in our worship. Perhaps it will be in the depth of our fellowship. Perhaps it will be with some folk exercising new gifts or engaging in new ministries or taking up new responsibilities. Perhaps it will be in the impact of our witness. How wonderful it would be if some of those who already worship regularly with us on Sunday mornings chose to be baptised or to join with us in church membership in the year ahead.10“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 11

I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. 12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. 13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

God has called us to be His witnesses. If we are faithful in our witness, God will take care of the outcome! I am sure you noticed the wonderful number of guests who came to our Christingle service and to Carols and Cake. And the new families who have begun to worship regularly with us over the last couple of months.

We haven’t chased after them. God has just brought them to us! Perhaps they are the beginning of the new thing God is going to do among us. But are we prepared for God to do whatever He wants among us? To do His new thing? Are we prepared for the hard work and the prayer and the change and the disruption? Are we prepared to pay the price in time and money and commitment? Do we really WANT God to do a new thing in North Springfield Baptist Church?18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Here’s an old hymn which is a lovely prayer as we start this new year.

Another year is dawning, Dear Father let it be,In working or in waiting, Another year with thee.

Another year of progress, Another year of praise,Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies, Of faithfulness and grace,Another year of gladness, The glory of thy face.

Another year of leaning Upon thy loving breast,Another year of trusting, Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, Of witness for thy love,Another year of training For holier work above.

Another year is dawning, Dear Father, let it be,On earth, or else in heaven, Another year for thee. (Frances R. Havergal)

13 Isaiah’s Songs of the Servant Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1–6; 50:4–9 and 52:13–53:12.

We have said before that Isaiah is sometimes known as the Fifth Gospel or the Gospel in the Old Testament. No other Old Testament book is as full of God’s wonderful promises of salvation. No other book contains as many prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And so many of those promises are wrapped up in just four passages in the second half of Isaiah which have been known for more than a century as the Songs of the Servant. Isaiah chapters 40 to 54 contain so many passages about the sins of Israel, which are being punished by a time of Exile, and God’s judgment on all the nations. (B.Duhm commentary 1892) But in the middle of that there are wonderful promises of hope, focussed on some individual far into the future who would bring justice and freedom and light in the darkness. The Servant of God.

Isaiah 42:1 ‘Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.’

Here is my servant. Some people think this servant refer to the nation of Israel as a whole. Others think it is more likely to refer to the faithful remnant within Israel, because part of the servant’s mission is to bring Israel back to God. Other people have suggested that the Israel refers to a particular individual in Israel’s history, such as Moses, or the prophet Jeremiah, or Cyrus, or Zerubbabel, or even to Isaiah the prophet himself. But by the time of Jesus the Jews had recognised that the Servant of God would be God’s agent who would redeem his chosen people, the person still to come who would be God’s Messiah.

This first song reveals that God’s servant will be anointed and chosen by God. He will be God’s delight. And he will be inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. As Christians with hindsight we can immediately see how Jesus fulfilled these prophecies perfectly on the occasion when he was baptised in the river Jordan by John the Baptist.

Luke 3:21 When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

The words from heaven are an echo of Psalm 2:7 “You are my son, this day have I begotten you”. At the same time they are obviously a fulfilment of Isaiah 42:1. ‘Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him. It is clear in so many places that Jesus thought of himself as God’s servant. Mark 9:35 “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And right from Jesus’s baptism it is clear that the principal background for that picture of God’s Messiah is the Servant Songs in Isaiah. Mark 9:35 “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

In Isaiah 42 the mission of God’s servant empowered by the Holy Spirit is to bring justice to the earth.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.’

And this justice is not only for Israel, but for all the nations, for the whole of the earth. This mission of the servant to extend salvation beyond Israel is developed in the second of the servant songs in Isaiah 49

ISAIAH 49:1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’ 4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all.

Yet what is due to me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.’ 5 And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honoured in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— 6 he says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’

The servant’s first task is to bring the nation of Israel back to God, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honoured in the eyes of the LORD

But then the servant is also called to bring the Gentiles to God

for I am honoured in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— 6 he says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’

Remember the Song of Simeon, the prophetic words when Jesus was presented in the Temple as a baby which are so significant that they are often referred to by the name which comes from the first two words in Latin, the “Nunc Demittis.” The Holy Spirit had previously revealed to Simeon that he would live to see the Christ, the Messiah. And when he held the baby Jesus, Simeon prophesied in these words.

Luke 2 29 ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.’

Simeon recognised that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour. Simeon realised that God’s servant would bring salvation to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. And specifically Simeon recognised that Jesus would be the fulfilment of the prophecies in the Servant Song of Isaiah 49. This isn’t really surprising. We know that Jews in the time of Jesus commonly understood the Servant Songs to be prophecies about the Messiah. In fact the second half of Isaiah is jam packed with promises about this wonderful salvation even when the focus is not on the servant himself. Straight after the first servant song we read this.

Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says— he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah foretold that God would make his servant a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. And the salvation he would bring is described in words we will return to another day when we find them again in Isaiah 61,

to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Similar ideas appear just after the second Servant Song.

Isaiah 49 8 This is what the LORD says:

“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’

Freeing the captives and bringing those trapped in darkness into the light. Bringing justice to all the nations? But how will God’s Servant bring this wonderful salvation? Back to the start of the second song.

ISAIAH 49:1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:

before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’

The servant is God’s messenger. God’s faithful servant is chosen and called and empowered first and foremost to be a prophet, with a mouth like a sharpened sword. His words will display God’s splendour and bring the light of God’s salvation. At the same time his words will reveal God’s judgment and bring God’s justice to the world. Throughout the Old Testament the prophets of God were often called God’s servants. And that is the idea which begins the third of the Servant Songs in Isaiah 50 4 The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.

The servant of God will be a great prophet. But how was that fulfilled in Jesus. We naturally focus on Jesus as the Son of God but we tend to forget that the Jews who first heard him would instead have understood Jesus to begin with as a prophet.

Jesus himself said, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house’.

The response of the crowds to the healing of the widow’s son at Nain is that ‘a great prophet has arisen among us’.

When he was warned about Herod’s threats, Jesus replies to ‘that fox’ that it is impossible for a prophet to perish away from Jerusalem. Here Jesus accepts not only the role, but also the fate, of the prophet.

The Samaritan woman at the well recognized ‘that Jesus is a prophet’; the rulers mocked at Jesus, saying that ‘no prophet comes from Galilee’; the man healed from blindness says about Jesus, ‘he is a prophet’.

In reply to Jesus’ question, ‘Who do people say that I am?’, the disciples replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others one of the prophets.’ Jesus did not contradict or correct those beliefs. They were just the first level of understanding. He was a prophet.

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem crowds asked ‘Who is this?’ and the pilgrim crowds arriving with Jesus replied, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.’

In the parable of the wicked tenants in the vineyard, Jesus represents himself as the last in the line of the prophets, and Matthew tells us says that those who wished to arrest Jesus feared the crowds, ‘because they held him to be a prophet’.

Even after the resurrection, when the disciples on the road to Emmaus are asked why they are sad, they begin to speak about Jesus, ‘a prophet mighty in word and deed’.

So of course as Christians we believe and confess that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. But to begin with the disciples and the crowds only recognised Jesus to be a prophet. Specifically, the prophet fulfilling the promises in Isaiah’s Servant Songs.

The third Song goes on like this.

ISAIAH 50 4 The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. 5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;

I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced.

Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. 8 He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!

9 It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who will condemn me?

Here in the third Servant Song we begin to get a glimpse of what being God’s servant will demand. The servant will be obedient, not rebelling or turning away from God’s plan. But that will lead to beatings and needing to turn the other cheek. The servant will face mocking and spitting. There will be accusations and there will be charges. And there will be times when all the servant can do is set his face like flint and put his trust in the God his helper who will not let him be put to shame, relying on God for his vindication. That is what it would cost for the Servant of God to bring Israel back to God and to be the light to the gentiles and to bring God’s salvation to the world. Because then the fourth Song in Isaiah spells out very graphically that the Servant of God will be the Suffering Servant.

ISAIAH 52 3 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness

53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Isaiah’s Songs point us to the Suffering Servant who would be despised and rejected. The faithful and obedient servant, enduring terrible suffering which is completely undeserved. Yet this servant is at the same time “the arm of the Lord”, God at work in the world. Because that was the only way to bring God’s salvation. Time and again Jesus taught that the Son of Man must suffer many things. The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the Servant King, washing the feet of his disciples. Jesus very clearly viewed his ministry, his life and his death, to be a fulfilment of the Servant Songs and especially the Song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. As we count down to Easter we will come back to that fourth Song next week. Until then, bow down and worship. For this is your God.

14 The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53

Last week we started to look at the four passages in the second half of the book of the prophet Isaiah collectively called “The Songs of the Servant.”

We saw how Isaiah pointed forward to the Messiah, the servant anointed by God not only to bring salvation to Israel but also to be a light to the Gentiles. The servant would be a mighty prophet, empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring justice to the world. And more than that:

Isaiah 42 6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

We saw that in his person and throughout his ministry Jesus fulfilled the promises in the Servant Songs of Isaiah. Then in the third song in Isaiah 50 we began to get a glimpse of what being God’s servant would demand. The servant would be obedient, not rebelling or turning away from God’s plan. But that would lead to beatings and needing to turn the other cheek. The servant would face mocking and spitting and

accusations and charges. There would be times when all the servant could do is set his face like flint and put his trust in the God his helper who will not let him be put to shame, simply relying on God for his vindication. That is what it would cost for the Servant of God to bring Israel back to God and to be the light to the gentiles and to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. And that brings us to the end of Isaiah chapter 52 and the whole of chapter 53, the Song of the Suffering Servant.

It is very clear that the Early Church understood the ministry and especially the death of Jesus as a fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah 53. Tonight I am going to simply take us through the Song of the Suffering Servant and point to echoes of that passage in the New Testament. This will help us to appreciate what the death of Jesus means to Christians and to each one of us. The fourth Servant Song begins at Isaiah 52:13

ISAIAH 52 13 See, my servant will act wisely;

he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—

his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being

and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations,

and kings will shut their mouths because of him.

For what they were not told, they will see,

and what they have not heard, they will understand.

The song begins by acknowledging that many people will not recognize God’s servant. They will be shocked and appalled at him and he will be rejected.

53:1 Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

So the Servant will be “the arm of the Lord”, God himself at work bringing salvation. But people would not recognize him. Worse than that, people would reject him.3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

See how this prophecy is echoing 52:14 his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being

and his form marred beyond human likeness—

Despised and rejected. Suffering and pain. A vivid description of the last hours of Jesus’s life. We see all the prophecies of rejection and suffering of the Servant fulfilled in the ways Jesus was flogged and scourged and mocked with a crown of thorns by the soldiers and the crowds on the road to the cross.

John 1 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Isaiah 53 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

People misunderstood the cross. To the Jews death by crucifixion was an unclean death – a sign of God’s curse on a person. A sign of rejection not only by the community but by God himself. But the first Christians explicitly saw this verse being fulfilled throughout the ministry of Jesus.

Matthew 8 16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’ (Isaiah 53:4)

The whole of Jesus’s ministry was taking up the pain and bearing the suffering of a sin-spoiled world.

Isaiah 53 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Various places in the New Testament look back to Isaiah 53:5

Romans 4 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Hebrews 9:28 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many;

Now let’s take verses 5 and 6 together5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

2 Corinthians 5 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Hear the fulfilment of Isaiah.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

There are so many other places in the New Testament where Isaiah 53 verses 5 and 6 are quoted or echoed in the New Testament. The most obvious comes in 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’ 25 For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus carried our sins in his body on the cross. We are those sheep who are going astray. The punishment which brought us peace, which reconciled us to God, was laid on God’s Suffering Servant. That image of the sheep going astray was surely the background to a number of important things Jesus said and did.

(Matthew 9 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.)

Matthew 10 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

And Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

(John 10 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. …. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ,,, 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”

Isaiah 53:6 says, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The song of the Suffering Servant goes on:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

The picture changes from the sheep who are lost, saved by the shepherd, to the sheep which is the sacrifice, the lamb led to the slaughter. Which is of course the picture used by John the Baptist to describe Jesus.

John 1 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! …. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, (John the Baptist) said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’

We saw last week how the baptism of Jesus fulfilled the first Servant Song in Isaiah 42. So it seems to me very likely that when John described Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, he then had Isaiah 53 in mind. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Isaiah prophesies there towards the day of his trials, when Jesus would be silent in the face of his accusers, of Caiaphas and of Pilate and of Herod. We just saw how 1 Peter 2 picked up that prophecy.22 ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

It is also clear that the Early Church made this link between Isaiah 53 and Jesus’s death. You remember how in Acts 8 the evangelist Philip was led to the chariot of the Ethiopian Official and the passage he was reading was Isaiah 53.

Acts 8 34 The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

Led like a sheep to the slaughter.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Again this is the verse quoted in 1 Peter 2 22 ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’

The Servant is punished by death not for his own sins but for the transgressions of the people. Assigned a grave with the wicked, crucified between two thieves (Luke 23:32), and yet a grave with the rich – foretelling that Jesus would be buried in the tomb belonging to the rich man Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57)

Isaiah 53 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

At last a verse bringing a glimmer of hope – the promise of resurrection And a recognition that God is actually in control and everything is unfolding according to God’s will. But before then the suffering servant will have to give up his life as a sin offering, or a guilt offering. Paying the price for the nation guilty of breaking their covenant with God (Leviticus 5:14-16).

Isaiah 53 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Peter clearly understands the death of Jesus in those terms in 1 Peter 3 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

So the Suffering servant bears the sins of the people, and brings justification to many. But with the hope of a glorious resurrection to follow.12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The Suffering Servant who dies to take away the sins of the nation. Some people mistakenly think that Jesus being a sacrifice for sin originated with the apostle Paul, or with the Early Church. But it is very clear that Jesus understood his death in terms of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:12 because he actually quoted that verse. At the end of the Last Supper, when Jesus had been foretelling his death, he said this.

Luke 22 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

Jesus quotes Isaiah 53:12. “He was numbered with the transgressors.” And he says, what is written about me is reaching its fulfilment. In other words, in Jesus’s own mind Isaiah 53 is indeed prophesying the death of Jesus the Suffering Servant.

Moments earlier Jesus had broken bread and passed around the cup and used the words which we will quote in a few moments at the Lord’s Table.

Mark 14:24 24 ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’

Dying “for many.” Again in fulfilment of Isaiah 53:11 and 12. Pouring out his life – for many.

Isaiah 53:11 by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

v.12 because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The Suffering Servant would be dying for the many and he would bear their iniquities and bear the sin of many. And this is just how Jesus had foretold his death in Mark 10:45 = Matthew 20:28.

Mark 10 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

A ransom (lutron) is the price paid to set a slave or a prisoner free. And Jesus says that his life will be a ransom for many. Probably a better translation is “a ransom in place of many”. Although the exact words are not the same, when he said he was going to “give his life as a ransom for many,” Jesus could hardly have offered a better summary of the sacrifice of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Let’s finish by hearing again how the death of Jesus was prophesied by Isaiah more than seven centuries earlier. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

Bow down and worship – for this is your God!

An Academic Interlude - The centrality of the Suffering Servant in Jesus’s own understanding of his ministry and of the cross.

Some people deny that Jesus understood his own death to be a sacrifice for sin. This is addressed by Dick France in various places, including

R.T.France Jesus and the Old Testament pages 110-134 (IVP 1971)

The Servant of the Lord in the Teaching of Jesus, Tyndale Bulletin 19, 1968 pp 26-52

These notes summarise his arguments.

The Servant songs point ahead to an individual who would bring salvation to Israel and be a light to the Gentiles – the Messiah. (W Zimmerli and J Jeremias The Servant of God, London 1965). Some people think that the Servant in Isaiah did not have a significant influence on Jesus’s understanding of his ministry (Morna Hooker Jesus and the Servant London 1959, also CFD Moule and CK Barrett)

Jesus’s self-understanding in terms of Isaiah 53

A DIRECT QUOTE

Luke 22 37 It is written: “And he was numbered with the transgressors”; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfilment.

Jesus speaks of his life and death being in fulfilment of Isaiah 53 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Luke 22:37 “and he was reckoned with transgressors” quotes Isaiah 53:12 on the eve of his death. Quote is followed in Isa 53:12 by “he bore the sin of many”. And Jesus goes in Luke to say that “what is written about me is reaching its fulfilment.” So Jesus clearly saw his death fulfilling Isaiah 53.

TWO CLEAR ALLUSIONS

First, foretelling his death Jesus says,

Mark 10 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

Mark 10:45 = Matthew 20:28. In context Mark 10:32-34 and 38 Jesus is talking about his death.

To give his life echoes Isaiah 53:10

Ransom = implies substitution

For many – the beneficiaries of the servant’s sacrifice - echoes Isaiah 53:11-12

11 by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 … For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Second, at the Last Supper, Jesus said,

Mark 14:24 24 ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’

“Many” – as with Mark 10:45

“Poured out” echoes Isaiah 53:12 because he poured out his life unto death,

A POSSIBLE ALLUSION

Mark 9:12 12 Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?

“Be rejected” = treated with contempt – echoes Isa 53:33 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Jesus predicted his suffering

Explicit predictions Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34

Implicit – the Messiah “must suffer”, “as it is written” Luke 22:22 For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!”

Mark 10:38 Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?

Parable of the wicked tenants who kill the son – Mark 12:1ff

Mark 14:8 Anointing at Bethany She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.

Luke 9:31 Transfiguration 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem

Not only similarity in wording but more important much more similarity in theme and ideas to Isaiah 53 – that is the only place in OT which points forward to a suffering Messiah (not as clear in Zechariah 9-14 and not at all in Daniel 7 (despite CK Barrett) – Jesus only used Daniel 7 to refer to the triumphant Son of Man, and that after his resurrection and certainly not on the cross).

Jesus could not have seen himself as the Servant of God in Isaiah and NOT included the fourth song of the Suffering Servant in that understanding.

The Sufferings of the Servant in Isaiah 53 are redemptive and vicarious / substitutionary, dying in the place of the sinners. This is how Jesus understood the cross.

There are also echoes of Isaiah 53 elsewhere in the New Testament showing that the Early Church also understood Jesus’s death as a sacrifice for sins.

Paul Rom 4 25 Rom 5:19 19Rom 8 3 2 Cor 5 21. Also John 1 29 (echoes Isaiah 53:6-7). Hebrews 9:28

Echoing the other Servant songs Matthew 12 15 (explicitly fulfilling Isaiah 42:1ff). John 12 37i explicitly fulfilling Isaiah 53:1. In Acts 8:32-35 Philip specifically explains how Isaiah 53 applies to Jesus.

15 God’s Wonderful Invitation Isaiah 55

We all enjoy receiving invitations from our friends. Weddings, trips, special events, birthday parties, dinner parties, any parties really! There are some wonderful invitations in the Bible and Isaiah 55 is one of the best! I say ONE of the best. Here in this one chapter there are at least seven invitations.

A. An Invitation to Drink – v. 1 B. An Invitation to Hear and Listen – v. 2 C. An Invitation to Come To God – v. 3 D. An Invitation to Seek the Lord – v. 6 E. An Invitation to Call Upon Him – v. 6 F. An Invitation to Repent – v. 7G. An Invitation to Return to the Lord – v. 8

And that’s just in the first eight verses! Perhaps we ought to entitle the chapter, “an offer you can’t refuse!”

GOD’S WONDERFUL INVITATION (vv 1-2)

Isaiah 55:1 ¶ "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

The world is full of so many people racing around, looking for something to give their lives meaning and purpose, looking for something that will satisfy, and failing to find it. People living on the junk food of entertainment and consumerism, and buying into the New Age in all its many deceptions.

“People today like to worship their work, work at their play and play at their worship.”

So many people are left dissatisfied, still hungry for the bread of life and thirsty for the living waters. In a world which is only looking for spiritual fast food, here is God’s gracious invitation:-

2 Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

GNB - Isa 55:2 Listen to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all!

HERE IS THE BEST FOOD OF ALL! Come and be satisfied – satisfaction guaranteed!

And it’s all without money, without cost – Christ has already paid the bill! Its like one of those restaurants – fixed price, eat all you like – except the fixed price is free!

God’s wonderful invitation. And what is this “best food of all”? It has several parts and the first is

AN EVERLASTING COVENANT (v.3)

3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

All the blessings of covenant relationship with God. Your soul will live! I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly – life in all its fullness. Snatched from death to life, from darkness into light. And what God offers us is everlasting – eternal life. A life that death cannot take away! The happy certainty of heaven!

This earth makes many false promises about what will satisfy, through everything from success and popularity to sex, drugs and rock and roll. But God , and only God, offers the best food of all, which begins in this life but will continue into glory.

Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, All his boasted pomp and show,Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion’s children know.

An everlasting covenant. Made possible by

MERCY AND PARDON (vv 6-7)

6 ¶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Here is the message we so urgently need to hear. Those of us weighed down by sin. Trapped in selfishness and pride and greed. Cut off from God

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Here is the best food of all – God will freely pardon, God will abundantly pardon us all.

Are you feeling guilty about anything tonight? Is your sin separating you from God?

Mercy and pardon – and with it:-

GOD’S UNSEARCHABLE WISDOM (vv 8-9)

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There are so many things in the world we cannot understand. Things our minds cannot grasp. And things which tear our hearts apart: the mysteries of sickness and bereavement, of accident and family crises, of the suffering of innocents. We do not understand these things – but God does. The immortal invisible God only wise who knows everything and has all things in the palm of His hand. WE won’t always understand what

God is doing in our lives!! But we can trust Him that He DOES understand. We can trust that the plan of salvation is unfolding according to His perfect wisdom.

Romans 11:33 ¶ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?" 35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

1 Corinthians 2:6 ¶ We ... speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-

God’s unsearchable wisdom – and also

THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

So many of the blessings of the richest of fare God has for us come to us through His word, the Bible.

During World War II when the Nazis occupied a new territory, they immediately placed all Christians in concentration camps if they made public commitments to the Word of God. They had found that those who clung to the Bible would not compromise their faith or yield to the evil edicts of a godless dictator. When a Soviet official was asked why a study of the Bible was frowned upon in his country, and why those who dared to print and distribute it were severely punished, he replied, "We find that the reading of the Book changes people in a way that is dangerous to our state!"

So we should take every opportunity to receive God’s word, to study it, to meditate on it, to believe and to obey God’s word. That will release the power of God’s word in our lives.

And through all of this God promises us

JOY AND PEACE

12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."

Here is God’s wonderful invitation to enjoy the best food of all, an everlasting covenant, mercy and pardon, God’s unsearchable wisdom, the power of God’s word, joy and peace.

So how can we enjoy these blessings? In one simple word, COME. "Come". Somebody has counted 642 personal invitations in the Bible to "Come". 642 occasions where God invites us to “come”! Three of these occasions are found just in our first verse:-

Isaiah 55:1 ¶ "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

And again in verse 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.

As the Americans would put it, “Ya’all come now!!”

But how should we come to God?

Simply respond to the simple invitation to everybody in any kind of need or distress.

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Whatever difficulties or problems you face tonight – God IS near – call on Him for help.

Jeremiah 29:11 …. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Seek the Lord! And if we want to receive God’s blessings, we must come in repentance.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.

We must call upon God acknowledging and bewailing our manifold sins and wickedness. And then we can claim this wonderful promise. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

As we turn to Him, God in his grace promises to give us the things we need more than anything else: mercy and forgiveness and pardon and a new relationship with God,

And we should do this while we have opportunity. This invitation is urgent.

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

If you knew for certain that Jesus Christ was going to return in glory tomorrow (as indeed He might!) what would you do tonight?

Remember the message of the risen Christ to the church in Laodicea, lukewarm, complacent and apathetic, spiritually poor and prayerless. Here is God’s gracious invitation:

Rev 3: 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

“Well I’m giving away gifts, you don’t need no money to pay.Take what you want, if its no good then throw it away.Don’t pass up the chance of something entirely free.Open your door and come out and come over to me.” (Song “Gift” by Parchment)

16 Nations will come to your light Isaiah 60:1-6

Today is January 6th, the Feast of Epiphany. In the Eastern Orthodox Church today is the day they celebrate Christmas with special meals and exchanging gifts. An Epiphany means a revelation, a moment of insight and realisation. The feast of Epiphany in the church calendar celebrates that moment when the baby Jesus was revealed to all the nations, to Gentiles as well as to Jews, represented by the Wise Men who visited the infant Jesus.

Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose

It all seems very implausible. Foreigners making long and hazardous journeys to worship the new-born king when even his own people did not recognise him. Guided by a star, or by the stars, to the very house where

the baby and his mother were staying. All very unlikely. Until we remember that the birth of Jesus had been foretold centuries before and in so many places. And some of those prophesies indeed looked forward to the events the church celebrates on Epiphany, Three Kings Day.

At the Epiphany FOREIGN NATIONS CAME TO JESUS. Which had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 2 2 In the last days


it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

In the time of Isaiah, the peace of Jerusalem and indeed the future of the nation was at threat. But God still had a purpose for the Mountain of the Lord, Mount Zion and his holy city Jerusalem, the city of peace. One day it would be exalted above all other nations.

God will exalt His Holy city. But more than that. In time to come God’s blessings will not be restricted to the Israelites. People from other nations will also come there to find God for themselves.

Isaiah 56: 3 ¶ Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people."

The promises were there that salvation would come to foreigners as well as to Jews.

Foreign nations travelled to see Jesus. AND

At the Epiphany FOREIGN NATIONS WORSHIPPED JESUS

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

…. 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.

All this was foretold in the Gospel in the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah 49:7 …. Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

And also in Psalm 86 8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. 9All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. 10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

Foreign nations came to worship Jesus. AND

At the Ephipany FOREIGN NATIONS BROUGHT GIFTS TO JESUS

11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Isaiah 60:1 60 ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

They weren’t kings. They were wise men, magi, astrologers, eastern mystics. They weren’t Jewish – they followed the eastern mystery religions. But that prophecy in Isaiah 60:3 is the main reason why the church has thought of them as Kings. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

And that was just one fulfilment of the nations coming to worship and bring their gifts. Isaiah 60 goes on4 ‘Lift up your eyes and look about you: all assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.

Gold and incense to celebrate the coming of the King. Isaiah is echoing the psalmist who talked about the nations bringing gifts to God’s anointed King. In passing, this is where the legend of the Magi travelling on camels comes from. I talked this morning about Gold as a fitting gift for a king, incense for a priest and myrrh for a Saviour. It actually wasn’t until the second century that the church made those connections between the gifts the Magi brought and the ministry of Jesus as king, priest and Saviour. In truth gold, frankincense and myrrh were just three extremely valuable yet portable commodities, alongside precious jewels of course. The Magi would not have seen any significance in the gifts they brought. Nor did the Magi realise they would be fulfilling prophecies first found in Psalm 72.

Psalm 72 10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him.

May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him with gifts. 11 May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. 12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given to him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long.

Foreign nations came to Jesus. They worshipped Him and they gave Him gifts. And all this reveals a glorious truth about the good news of Jesus Christ.

God’s Blessings are for Everybody!

The thing about Jesus that really annoyed respectable Jews was that they wanted to keep the blessings of God's Kingdom for themselves, but Jesus offered those blessings to everybody. Tax collectors, prostitutes, even Gentiles (those who were not Jews at all), received God's love and forgiveness rather than the religious but self-righteous Pharisees. But Isaiah had clearly foretold that the blessings of God's Kingdom would

come to all peoples. The blessings God promises and the blessings Jesus brings are given to all peoples, not just to the Jews to everyone irrespective of race and culture. The Jews weren’t expecting that. But they should have been if they had read Isaiah properly!

Isaiah 49:6 And now the LORD says … "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." 7 This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers:

‘Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’

Again, Kings and princes paying respect and even bowing down to the Messiah who will bring salvation to Israel and indeed to the whole world.

Isaiah 49 goes on 8 This is what the LORD says:

‘In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, “Come out,” and to those in darkness, “Be free!”

We find the same ideas in chapter 42.

Isaiah 42 6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Prophecies of the Saviour who would indeed bring sight to the blind and bring release to those trapped in the grasp of the devil and all his demons.

And one more promise which Jesus fulfilled at the end of his life rather than its beginning.

Isaiah 56 4 For this is what the LORD says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— 5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

A house of prayer for all the nations. Because God’s blessings are not only for the people of Israel but for foreigners as well. For people from every nation. Even to foreigners who choose what pleases God and hold fast to his covenant.

And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him,

God’s salvation is for everybody. And that is revealed in the events of Epiphany – Three Kings Day.

17 Power From on High Luke 24

At the end of Luke’s gospel we read the words Jesus spoke to His disciples just before his Ascension to glory. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47

and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

“Power from on high”. A strange phrase. What would the disciples have been expecting when Jesus promised they would be “clothed with power from on high”? How was that promise fulfilled in the life of the early church.

The word translated “power” in the New Testament has a rather different meaning to the Hebrew word translated power in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we find the word “power” more than a hundred times, and there it refers to the strength of individual men and women. In that sense our human power can come from training or experience or human wisdom or hard work. I wrote in my magazine article for this month that God calls us not to rely on our own human power – but instead to rely on the power of His Holy Spirit.

"This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6)

The New Testament again speaks around 100 times of power – but the word we translate as power there refers not to the strength of men and women, but to the almighty power of the almighty God. And when Jesus promised to his disciples “power from on high” THAT is the kind of power He was talking about. The Greek word in question is dunamis and from that root we get two significant English words. The first is dynamo – which generates electrical power. The second is dynamite – the explosive. Jesus promises to give his disciples the power of the Holy Spirit, dunamis, the dynamo and the dynamite of the Christian life!

And we see that power from on high expressed in at least three different ways in the life of the early church.

1 Power in miracles of healing and deliverance

In Luke’s gospel especially we see this aspect of the power of God at work in the ministry of Jesus

Luke 4:14 [Luke 4:14]

Luke 14:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread

Luke 4:36 [Luke 4:36]

What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him

Luke 5:17 [Luke 5:17] . And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal

people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all

Luke 8:46 [Luke 8:46]

Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Even during His earthly ministry Jesus then passed that power on to his disciples, first to the 12 and then to the 72.

Luke 9:1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

In our Home Group studies we are following through into the book of Acts how these miracles of healing and deliverance continued in the Early Church.

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles…. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Then in Acts 3 Peter and John were enabled to heal the lame man sitting at the beautiful gate of the temple.

Acts 3:12 [Acts 3:12]

Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

Acts 4:7 [Acts 4:7]

them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8 Then

Miracles were a characteristic of the early church, and a mark of many of those first Christians.Acts 68 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

Acts 14: 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.Acts 19:11-12 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Power from on high – power for miracles and healing and deliverance.

But then secondly in the early church we find

2 Power in proclaiming the gospelActs 4:33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes1 Corinthians 2: 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.1 Thess 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.

This is the power Jesus promised to his disciples just before He ascended. Power to be witnesses for Jesus.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

You may have followed the Bible Society evangelism training programme, Person to Person. In it Michael Green, at that time Rector of St Aldates Church in Oxford, memorably reminds us,

“Who is it who convicts people of sin? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who enables people to say Jesus is Lord? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who baptises people into Christ? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who brings new birth? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who assures us that we belong to Jesus? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who produces the fruit of changed characters? it is the Holy Spirit!

Who gives us gifts so that we can serve God more effectively? It is the Holy Spirit!”

All these things are the working of God the Holy Spirit bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ. Our part as believers is simply to make sure we are available to God and ready to obey Him when He wants to use us, and that we don’t get in God’s way by trying to do His work for Him! The Holy Spirit is already at work in the lives of “not yet Christians.” And the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives too. It’s the Holy Spirit who gives us the words to say when we share the gospel.

We may feel we could never tell other people about Jesus. But it’s not about skillful speaking and persuasive words. It’s about the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, and working in the people we are talking to! And that power isn’t just for ministers and evangelists, but for EVERY Christian. That is what Jesus promised in Luke 24:49 – we will be clothed in power from on high!

Power in proclaiming the gospel, and THIRDLY

3 Power to live the victorious Christian life

This aspect of the power of God comes more obviously from the only Old Testament appearance of the phrase “Power from on high” in ISAIAH 32:14-1814 The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland for ever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field,

and the fertile field seems like a forest.16 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field.17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever.18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling-places,in secure homes,in undisturbed places of rest.

The work of the "Spirit from on high" / "power from on high" in ISAIAH is the renewal of Israel, rebuilding and restoring God's chosen people. This renewal, rebuilding and restoration would have TWO aspects :

- Bringing to Israel all of God’s wonderful blessings

- Bringing Israel to repentance - refining and purifying God's chosen people

The work of the Spirit from on high brings us all the blessings of salvation which Isaiah has been promising chapter after chapter. Forgiveness and cleansing, rescue into God’s presence, freedom, and overflowing blessings of everlasting joy, peace and healing. But the Holy Spirit also comes to purify God’s people, to give us the power to live the Christian life and to live changed lives!2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.Eph 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the

working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Col 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

THIS WON’T ALWAYS BE EASY2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.2 Cor 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

GOD’S POWER CAN DO SO MUCH MORE THAN OUR HUMAN EFFORTS CANEph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This is the power given to every Christian – the power which raised Christ from the dead!

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So here is the power from on high which Jesus promises to His people –

Power in miracles of healing and deliverance

Power in proclaiming the gospel

Power to live the victorious Christian life

TWO OBVIOUS THINGS TO SAY

- If that is what being clothed with power from on high is about – we aren’t! AND

- If that is what being clothed with power from on high is about – we need to be!

A Christian girl was visiting from Eastern Europe and her hosts asked her what impressions she had formed about the Churches she had visited in Britain. She said, “The church in England is like a great big factory – but the power is switched off!” The power is switched off – how different to the life of the Early Church.

Samuel Chadwick (1832–1917) said this. "To the church, Pentecost brought light, power, joy. There came to each illumination of mind, assurance of heart, intensity of love, fullness of power, exuberance of joy. No one needed to ask if they had received the Holy Ghost. Fire is self-evident. So is power!"

I want to know more of this power from on high. More of the dynamo and the dynamite of the Spirit in my life. But do I really?

A.W.TOZER wrote, “Do you want to be filled with a Spirit who, though he is like Jesus in his gentleness and love, will nevertheless demand to be Lord of your life? Are you willing to let your personality be taken over by another, even if that other be the Spirit of God himself? If the Spirit takes charge of your life he will expect unquestioning obedience in everything. He will not tolerate in you the self-sins even though they are permitted and excused by most Christians.… You will find the Spirit to be in sharp opposition to the easy

ways of the world and of the mixed multitude within the precincts of religion. He will be jealous over you for good. He will not allow you to boast or swagger or show off. He will take the direction of your life away from you. He will reserve the right to test you, to discipline you, to chasten you for your soul's sake. He may strip you of many of those borderline pleasures which other Christians enjoy but which are to you a source of refined evil. Through it all he will enfold you in a love so vast, so mighty, so all-embracing, so wondrous that your very losses will seem like gains and your small pains like pleasure.” A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)

Clothed with power from on high:-

Power in miracles of healing and deliverance

Power in proclaiming the gospel

Power to live the victorious Christian life

Do you want to be clothed with power from on high?

“Before we can be filled with the Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else. The degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. We have as much of God as we actually want.” A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)

© Peter Thomas 2020 www.northspringfieldbaptistchurch

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