July 20, 2025 • 53 mins
Have you ever wished you could walk back a moment of missed opportunity or failure? That sinking feeling of "I should have" can haunt us long after the moment passes. In this profound exploration of Isaiah 42-43, we discover a message that speaks directly to our deepest regrets and failures.
The passage introduces us to a striking contrast: the perfect Servant (Jesus) and the failed servants (Judah). God's chosen people had every advantage—the covenant, scriptures, prophets, temple worship—yet they deliberately turned away from their calling to be a light to the nations. Their blindness wasn't accidental; it was willful. Their deafness wasn't circumstantial; it was chosen. They walked past every warning sign God had placed in their path.
Yet just when judgment seems unavoidable, the music changes. With breathtaking tenderness, God declares to these same failed people: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I've called you by your name; you are mine." In perhaps the most stunning reversal in scripture, God doesn't abandon His wayward people but instead recommissions them as His witnesses.
This passage reveals the heart of the gospel—God specializes in taking broken things and making them new. He delights in using cracked mirrors to reflect His glorious light. Through the faithful Servant, Jesus, God accomplishes a "new thing" far greater than the Exodus, bringing all who believe through the dark waters of death into resurrection life.
Your failures don't disqualify you from God's purpose. Your story of transformation—from bitterness to forgiveness, from fear to courage, from hopelessness to joy—becomes living proof of God's redemptive power. We aren't just recipients of grace; we're participants in it, joining the faithful Servant's mission to bring this message of hope to the world.
Take a moment to see yourself in this story. Where do you need to hear God say, "You are precious in my sight... and I love you"? How might God be calling you to forget former things and embrace the new work He's doing?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah,
chapter 42.
We were just there last weekand we're going to be moving
into chapter 23, but we're goingto start in chapter 43, but
we're going to start in chapter42.
If you ever had a moment inyour life you wish you could
walk back, where you knew therewas something that you should
(00:25):
have said or done, but in amoment of hesitation you didn't
do it.
I've got several of those, butone of them is I was in my
mid-30s.
I was getting into cycling andbeginning to race a little bit.
I was enjoying club rides butwanted to do more than that, so
(00:45):
I was starting to race a little.
I bought a racing road bike formy son, Matthew, and a Bianchi
with Bianchi green.
It was a beautiful little bikeand I was showing it to him and
his little brother, ben, decidedto hop on it first and I should
have told him wait until you'rebigger, you don't know how to
(01:08):
ride this, it's too much for you.
He got on and he took off andwent right into the mailbox and
chipped his tooth right.
And you're thinking way to go,doug.
That was a good dad momentright there.
I should have done something.
Perhaps you've had those moments, something like that, something
you should have said, maybesomething you could have done,
(01:31):
some kindness you could haveshown or some truth you could
have stood up for.
But you look back on it and youthink, man, I had the
opportunity, I knew what to sayin the moment and I didn't, and
you wish you could just sort ofpull that back.
Well, that's a small example ofa far larger issue that we're
(01:54):
going to be looking at here inIsaiah 42 and 43, because this
is Judah's story, and they'reconfronted in this passage with
a sobering truth, and it's notjust one by way of personal
experience.
It was a national issue and itwasn't just a momentary lapse.
It was habitual and it waspurposed disobedience.
(02:16):
And it wasn't a minor issueeither.
It wasn't like they ran into amailbox and chipped their tooth.
This was covenant-breakingdisobedience.
They were called to be thelight to the nations.
They were chosen by God, theywere commissioned by God.
They were entrusted with themessage.
(02:37):
They had so many things thatGod had surrounded them with
that would have equipped them.
For that they had the covenant,they had the scriptures they
had.
For that they had the covenant,they had the scriptures, they
had the promises, they had theprophets, they had the temple
worship.
They were meant to be alighthouse on the shore, shining
a bright light of how tonavigate life and eternity to
(02:58):
all the nations, and they didn't.
Over the past two weeks, we'vebeen looking at chapter 42, and
we're looking at the end of itand the end of 43.
Now, and two weeks ago, we weretold to behold God's servant,
that a servant was going toarise, one that God would uphold
(03:21):
and one in which he delightedor in whom he delighted.
And this coming servant was tobe the one who would truly
reveal the tender heart of God,who is truly going to be the one
who brings justice, who istruly going to be the one who
was a covenant for the peopleand who was going to make the
(03:42):
things that are broken wholeagain.
Matthew, of course, tells usthat that servant is Jesus.
And then last week, we gatheredtogether around verses 10 to 17
of this chapter and we listenedto the song of rejoicing over
the servant's ministry, a chorusthat would ring all around the
(04:03):
world.
The coastlands and the desertsand the mountaintops would all
give their praise.
Isaiah's voice would join withthe nation's voices and it would
join with God's own voice tooin this prophetic anthem of
victory.
But now we're in chapter 42 andverse 18.
And all of a sudden the musicstops and the spotlight shifts
(04:29):
from the nations back to thepeople of Judah and a different
kind of song is sung, not a songof victory or of praise, but a
lament, a confrontation, a callto remember who they were meant
to be.
And this passage in front of usis going to sort of just move
(04:52):
us a little bit further intothis song of Isaiah 40 to 55.
And I told you, this section ofscripture is like a symphony.
There are things in it that arewhispered in, allusions that
are introduced a little bit,that are built up and are
expanded and then eventuallyreach a crescendo.
(05:15):
We're still in the earlychapters here.
So chapter 42 and 43 whispermore than they reveal, but
they're beginning to build upthe anticipation of something
that's going to be grand andglorious in just a few chapters
as we get into it.
And this passage in front of usis going to give us just a
(05:38):
taste of understanding of why,in the light of Judah's failure,
god has us turn our attentionto a true and faithful servant,
and also how and why God wouldcontinue to look upon this
disobedient people and stillmaintain a promise to them.
(05:58):
You see, this passage ofscripture that we're in in these
early chapters of 40 to 55 inIsaiah, have a lot of tension in
them.
It's there for a purpose, so wewould catch the tune of these
themes and find them culminatingsoon.
What I love about this passage,even though it's full of
(06:20):
tension, it's also full oftenderness.
We're going to see that Judahhas failed spectacularly, and
yet God is not finished withthem.
Instead, as we'll see, hereaffirms his call to them, even
while he confronts them withtheir blindness and their
hardness of heart.
So let's move through thissection of scripture, and there
(06:43):
are four movements I'd like forus to look at.
The first of all is the failureof God's servant.
It begins in verse 18 ofchapter 42, and it runs down to
the end of the chapter.
The spotlight, as I said, isnow shifting from a global song
to a national confrontation.
(07:03):
Verse 18,.
Listen you deaf, look you blind, so that you may see who is
blind but my servant, or deaflike my messenger I am sending.
Who is blind like my dedicatedone, or blind like the servant
of the Lord.
One are blind like the servantof the Lord.
(07:32):
What a way to be talked about.
God turns to Judah with thisstinging lament that he's chosen
this servant for a purpose.
But they're blind and they'redeaf.
And remember, isaiah isspeaking before the captivity of
Babylon, but he's speaking tothe people who are in captivity
in Babylon.
Isaiah's ministry is lockedinto a time frame in which the
(07:56):
people are still diving deeperand deeper and deeper into
idolatry, before they get rippedout of the land and brought to
Babylonian captivity.
But like no other book in theBible, isaiah is speaking to
that generation ahead.
And here he gives the diagnosisabout why they are where they
(08:18):
are or why they will be wherethey are going to be.
Their blindness is willful,it's not passive, their deafness
is chosen, it's notcircumstantial, and their
disobedience is habitual.
And in verse 21, the Lorddrives this home Because of his
(08:40):
righteousness.
The Lord was pleased to magnifyhis instruction and make it
glorious.
But this is a people plunderedand looted, all of them trapped
in holes or imprisoned indungeons.
They become plunder with no oneto rescue them, and loot with
no one to say give it back.
Why?
Because they had completelyneglected God here.
(09:05):
They refused God's revelation,they refused to receive it with
reverence, they neglected theglory of God that was revealed
in it and they failed to be thelight to the nations, knowingly.
Imagine walking through the darkhole halls of a of an office
(09:26):
building and all the lights areshut down and there's no windows
around and it's completelypitch dark in the hallway and
there's a sign that says warningwet floor ahead.
And indeed there is, and youwalk down that and you pass the
sign.
(09:46):
You can't see it.
It's pitch black, dark in there.
Your eyes are not adjusted toit and you come across this wet
floor and you and you fall downand hurt yourself.
Now you'd say, well, that'stragic.
How much worse is it if thelights are on and there's
(10:07):
windows that are shining theoutdoor light in there and
there's a sign staring you inthe face that says warning wet
floor ahead.
And you look at it and you go,yeah, whatever.
And you keep on going andthere's a wet floor there and
you decide, well, I can do apower slide on this baby.
And you try and you just end upsomersaulting over yourself and
(10:28):
landing on the ground.
You're not going to pickyourself up and say well,
somebody should have put abigger sign down or somebody
should have told me to wait.
You're going to look atyourself and say I was told, I
was instructed.
The failure is mine.
And this is precisely whereJudah should have been.
(10:55):
They weren't walking inignorance.
They were walking down a paththat was illuminated by God's
revelation.
They could have lived in theradiance of that revelation.
Instead, however, they decidednot to, and by so doing, not
only were they not a light tothe nations, they were dragging
the name of Yahweh through themud in every step of
(11:16):
disobedience and idolatry thatthey committed.
They were that stubborn.
I don't have time for us tolook at this, but if you went to
Psalm 106 and spent some timereading Psalm 106, there it
declares the spiritual deafnessand blindness of the people in
great detail, but it also givesthe root cause for it.
(11:40):
It says they forgot the God whosaved them.
They did not remember hiskindness.
Their neglect of rehearsing thefavorable grace of God to them
had caused them to drift awayand disobey and to plunge
(12:05):
themselves in utter rejection ofGod.
You see, their forgetfulnesswas not just a momentary lapse
of memory.
This was a purposed not callingGod's goodness into their life.
And Isaiah is here trying towake up these same people.
And Isaiah is here trying towake up these same people.
(12:25):
Look at verse 23.
Who among us will hear this?
Let them listen and obey in thefuture, but will they?
He tries to tell them.
Look, this that is coming toyou is not accidental.
(12:47):
It's not incidental.
You're not just a small pawn onthe world stage.
God is doing something here.
Verse 24, who gave Jacob to therobbers and Israel to the
plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
(13:08):
They were not willing to walkin his ways and they would not
listen to his instruction.
God is going to raise up theBabylonians, not in spite of the
people's disobedience, butbecause of it.
And Isaiah here is connectingthe state of the people with the
covenant rejections that Moseswarned about in chapter 29 and
(13:28):
32 of Deuteronomy.
And they won't listen.
Verse 25, it gets even worse.
And so he poured out hisfurious anger and the power of
war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire,but he did not know it.
It burned him, but he did nottake it to heart.
(13:51):
Now Al asked me a question alittle bit ago about.
Why is Jacob mentioned here?
And I wasn't going to mentionthis, but I think, al, we're
going to go ahead and go with it, right, al said, why is Jacob
mentioned here?
I don't see Jacob anywhere.
Well, you might rememberAbraham, isaac and Jacob, right?
Jacob wrestled with the angeland in the wrestling with the
(14:11):
angel, his heart was changed.
He was once called Jacob orSurplanter, but now he's called
Israel or the Prince of God, andJacob, with the new name,
limped the rest of his life.
But he wanted to walk with Godfrom that point forward and his
character was transformed intobeing God's prince rather than
(14:34):
being this guy who's trying toalways do one up over someone
else.
But here the people are calledJacob again, and they're called
Jacob because they're actinglike what Jacob used to act like
, and Isaiah is crying out tothem.
(14:57):
Who among us will not hear this?
Certainly, if you listen, ifyou obey, it will go well.
And Isaiah preaches to thepeople and is speaking to them,
but look at the words.
He also speaks with them.
Verse 24, was it not the Lord?
(15:21):
Have we, we, we not sinnedagainst him?
Isaiah is putting himself intothe shoes of the people that
he's preaching to and he'srecognizing that, as many
fingers as he might have pointedat them, he's got more pointed
(15:42):
at himself and he's recognizing,in solidarity with them, that
the whole nation needs a revivaland repentance.
And this ought to give us pausewhen we speak so directly to
people, to recognize that we arepart and parcel of the problem.
Also, daniel, when he prayedthe great prayer of confession
(16:07):
in Daniel, chapter nine we havesinned, lord, we have done
wickedness, we, we, we.
And so this passage showsIsaiah's humility as well as his
bravery to bring the message tothese people, and we need to
(16:31):
receive this passage as well.
How often do we sin against thelight of the revelation of God
to us?
How often are the hallways litup and the window shades drawn
open and the lights flooding inand there's signs all over that
(16:52):
says warning you keep going downthis hallway, you're going to
slip and fall and break yourknuckles and your head.
And we keep on walking and wekeep on walking.
We attend church, we readscripture, we're around God's
people, we sing hymns, we knowJesus has come, he is our savior
(17:15):
, and we walk right down thehallway.
We shouldn't be tone deaf toGod's word here.
We should enter into the we,just as Isaiah did.
But let's not forget last weekand let's begin to weave this
together, because there'smovement in this section of
scripture here.
(17:35):
It doesn't stop here.
Remember last week, withIsaiah's surprising twist, a
gospel, a good news, a shout ofpraise that goes to all the
islands, to all the deserts, toall the mountaintops, all the
people that were condemned inthe chapters to the nations
chapters 13 to 23, tyre andSidon, and Edom and Kadar, all
(17:59):
of them once judged, but are nowinvited into the song of praise
.
And here the lighthouse, judah,forgets the light and refuses
to shine.
God will relight that light tothe nations through a servant,
(18:23):
one who sees, one who hears andone who will lead the nations to
sing a song of deliverance andsalvation.
So obviously, chapter 42 is notthe end.
And boy, sometimes chapterdivisions do us a lot of harm.
Because look at the next verse,chapter 43.
(18:43):
Now, this is what the Lord saysthe one who created you, jacob,
the one who formed you, israel,do not fear, for I've redeemed
you, I've called you by yourname, you are mine.
(19:04):
Wait a second.
Chapter 42,.
He didn't know it, he didn'ttake it to heart, he didn't
listen, he wasn't willing.
But chapter 23, 43 opens upwith these tender declarations
(19:27):
Fear not, I've redeemed you.
I've called you by, I've calledyou your name.
You're mine, you're mine.
This is Isaiah speaking to apeople who are going to be in
exile in Babylon because oftheir idolatry, after having
(19:48):
faced devastation and thisdislocation, and certainly full
of disillusionment anddisappointment.
And yet Isaiah is speakingcomfort into that future.
He's telling them that he's notgiven up on them, that he's
chosen them, that he's namedthem, that he's claimed them.
Take a look at verse 2.
(20:09):
When you pass through thewaters, I'll be with you.
In the rivers they will notoverwhelm you.
Now Isaiah doesn't have to goRed Sea Exodus Exodus To remind
the people that he's got a trackrecord of bringing people
through water.
(20:29):
And Isaiah is using thisEgyptian Exodus imagery here to
assure us that God still claimsto be the God of these people.
Whatever disasters they broughtupon themselves, they're still
his and he still wants to usethem for his glory still his and
(20:55):
he still wants to use them forhis glory and that there's
redemption and renewal on theother side of the exile.
Now, scripture often uses waterand fire to speak of judgment.
The earth was covered withwater in Noah's day, and
everyone perished except foreight souls.
In Noah's day, and everyoneperished except for eight souls.
(21:15):
Peter says at the end of one ofhis letters that the world, the
heavens and the earth are goingto be burned up with a fervent
heat, with a fire.
But this water and this fireare meant to refine and purify
and prepare the people for amission that God still wants
them to be on.
And so not only do we see thefaithlessness of the people, we
(21:36):
see the faithful,covenant-keeping God, and verses
3 and 4 give us anunderstanding to that.
You are precious in my sightand honored, and I love you.
Wow, I love you.
(21:59):
You're precious and honored inmy sight.
This is covenant language hereon God's part.
He calls himself in thesechapters the Holy One of Israel.
He calls himself a savior, adeliverer.
He calls himself the redeemer.
He calls himself, in the bookof Isaiah, their king.
All of these titles and all ofthese words are to remind the
(22:19):
people that God hasn't abandonedhis role toward them.
His electing love is unearthedand it's certainly undeserved,
but it is absolutely unwavering,unwavering.
His electing love is unervedand it's certainly undeserved,
but it is absolutely unwavering,unwavering.
(22:40):
And then comes a promise to themthat is meant to soar beyond
Babylon Verses 6 and 7.
I will say to the north givethem up.
I'll say to the south do nothold them back.
Bring my sons from far away, mydaughters from the ends of the
earth, everyone who bears myname and is created for my glory
.
I have formed them, indeed Ihave made them.
(23:07):
Yes, there is going to be asecond Exodus and he's going to
bring the people back fromcaptivity in Babylon.
But there's something beyondjust that.
Here the movement is more thanjust about the nations letting
the people go to return back toJerusalem and begin to
repopulate the land, becausethis language is expanded here.
(23:31):
It's beginning to build up atheme that's going to just
explode here soon.
And this isn't just about theJewish people that returned from
the east under the edict ofCyrus and the small band with
Ezra and Nehemiah, some 42,000people, as recorded in Ezra 2 in
(23:53):
verse 64.
No, there's something biggerthan this.
Notice that there's a gatheringfrom all places, from the north
and the south.
There's a regathering from allthe places.
This is the people beingrescued from judgment that are
going to be purified by grace,that are going to be formed
together for praise.
(24:14):
Now let me just jump us ahead alittle bit, because this theme
needs us to recognize andrealize.
In John, chapter 1, john opensup a prologue about the coming
Messiah in the first severalverses of his gospel, and there
(24:35):
he talks about Jesus coming untohis own.
But his own did not receive him, but to as many as did receive
him, he gave them the right tobe the children of God.
He gave them the right to bethe children of God to those who
believe on his name, who wereborn not of natural descent or
the will of the flesh or thewill of man, but of God.
(24:58):
There was going to be childrenthat weren't just children of
the people of Abraham, isaac andJacob, and there was going to
be a second exodus in whichthose people are going to find
deliverance.
And so in John 1 and verse 12,he speaks of people being called
(25:19):
the children of God.
And a little bit deeper inJohn's gospel, in chapter 11,
again he speaks that same phrasethat Jesus would die not just
for the Jewish nation but tounite the scattered children of
(25:42):
God.
You see, isaiah is lookingforward to a day when the Spirit
would be poured out and thegospel would be proclaimed and a
new creation would be formedout of the second exodus.
Just hold on to that, becausewe're still whispering that at
(26:06):
the moment.
And so he tells them don't fear, in verse 1 and verse 5.
You see, the Redeemer is stillgoing to work through them.
He still called them by theirname, he still created them for
(26:26):
his glory, and so the failure ofthe people gives rise to the
faithfulness of God, theRedeemer, which leads us into
verses 8 to 13, which show ussomething of the future hope of
God's work, the future hope ofGod's work.
(26:48):
Isaiah pivots now from comfortto calling, and these people who
were once blind and deaf arenow being summoned to testify.
And God is going to entrustthese very people that he's
brought through the water andthrough the fire to be his
living witnesses in this world.
Now, let's just let that sinkin for just a second.
(27:09):
In this world.
Now, let's just let that sinkin for just a second.
These people who failed inchapter 42 are being comforted
at the beginning of chapter 43and are now, as we're getting
deeper into this chapter, beingcommissioned not to silence but
to speak.
You see, redemption is not theend, it's the beginning.
(27:31):
It's the beginning of a life ofproclamation and we'll get
there.
But Isaiah builds this courtscene and he summons the nations
to bring their idols and tohave the idols testify against
God, to see if they couldcompare.
And he says to them which oneof you can tell the future?
(27:55):
Take a look at verse 9.
All the nations gather together, the people are assembled.
Who among them can declare thisand tell us the former things?
Let them present theirwitnesses to vindicate
themselves, so that people maysay it's true, to vindicate
(28:18):
themselves, so that people maysay it's true, you are my
witnesses, the Lord declares.
And so the idols are called uponto talk about a people for
God's praise, something Godwould do in the future.
Could the idols do this?
Could they know the future?
Could they actually empower aredemption of a disobedient
people?
Let them bring their witnessesand let them speak out and see
(28:38):
if that could be true.
And the challenge is settled inthis one thing that God is
doing what the idols could neverdo.
He says here in verse 12 Ialone declared, saved and
(28:58):
proclaimed.
Verse 11 I am the Lord, besideme, there's no Savior.
And so he is speaking to theidols saying can you do
something for these people?
Can you do something like whatI'm about to do?
(29:19):
Can you take a disobedient,rejected people and still
envelop them and restore themand set them up on their feet
and send them out with a message?
Can you do that?
This is how God shows the worldwho he is, where Israel has
(29:42):
failed to be the faithfulwitness there is going to be,
through the people of Israel,one who is and there is still
going to be through the peopleof Israel, one who is and there
is still going to be among thepeople of Israel, those who will
be set on their feet and filledwith a message to tell.
(30:03):
In a few chapters we'll look atIsaiah, chapter 49 and verse 6.
And there God speaks to theservant and he says it's not
enough for you to be my servantraising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected onesof Israel.
It's not enough for you to dothat.
I will make you to be a lightfor the nations, to take my
(30:26):
salvation, or to be my salvation, to the ends of the earth.
There's this building themethat someone has been sent who
is going to be the faithfulservant, who is going to make
God's name known in Israel andthe world.
(30:50):
Revelation, chapter 1 and verse5,.
Jesus is called the faithfulwitness and there's a reason why
in the early chapters of thebook of Acts, jesus is called
the servant, my servant Jesus,because he lived the truth, he
spoke the truth, he died for thetruth and he resurrected with
(31:15):
the truth.
He's going to do something.
When you read this passage ofScripture, I hope you're hearing
some echoes in the NewTestament that are beginning to
reverberate, the symphony that'sstarting to be played here.
(31:36):
In Acts, chapter 1 and verse 8,and you will be my witnesses,
witness word again In Jerusalemand Judea and Samaria, to the
uttermost parts of the earth,isaiah 43 is coming to fruition,
(31:59):
when those Jewish peoplegathered together, believed on
the Messiah, jesus Christ, andwere filled with the Spirit and
were told with the Spirit andwere told to take a message to
the nations.
Now there's this obscurepassage at the end of the book
of Romans which you may havejust passed over or just looked
(32:20):
at and went.
I'm not really quiteunderstanding it, but when you
read Isaiah 42 and 43, alongwith Acts, chapter 1, and what
John has to say in chapter 1 andchapter 11 about the children
of God.
Listen to this passage again.
Paul gives a doxologicalstatement Now to him, who was
(32:41):
able to strengthen you accordingto my gospel and the
proclamation about Jesus Christ,according to the revelation of
the mystery kept silent for longages but now revealed and made
known through the propheticscriptures, according to the
command of the eternal God, whatTo advance the obedience of
(33:03):
faith among all the Gentiles Tothe only wise God through Jesus
Christ.
To him be glory forever, amen.
And this is why in Acts,chapter 13, the apostle Paul
(33:23):
took his Bible and opened it upto Isaiah, chapter 49, and he's
preaching the gospel.
And he looks down at chapter 49, and he reads this passage of
scripture that says says it'snot enough for you to be my
servant raising up the tribes ofJacob and restoring the
protected ones of Israel.
I will make you to be a lightfor the nations, to be my
salvation to the ends of theearth.
And Paul said the apostolicpreaching of the gospel is the
(33:49):
fulfillment and the furtheranceof the faithful servant's
presence on earth to fulfill thework of God.
Now, church, that is us, all ofus.
That is who we are, because wehave been gathered with the same
(34:11):
mission, with the same messageand the same purpose that the
nations might know that Godalone is the Savior, that all of
the idols on earth are nothingin comparison to Him.
Verse 13, when I act, he sayswho can reverse it?
(34:47):
You see, this isn't just ateaching.
This is the dynamic of God'sactivity.
This is dynamite, as God isputting himself on display here.
He's putting his glory ondisplay by taking broken people,
putting his covenant love uponthem, restoring them in his
tender mercies and then puttingthem back on their feet and
(35:09):
sending them out with a message.
And so it is also with us.
Chapter 42 could be our songbookin the way we lived our lives,
but you need to put chapter 43into your hymnal too, into the
(35:30):
hymnal of your life.
Like all of us, we are crackedmirrors, we're blemished, we're
imperfect, we're flawed, we'rebroken.
But God delights in usingcracked mirrors to reflect his
glorious light.
Paul put it a different way wehave this treasure in earthen
(35:53):
vessels, clay pots, so that theexcellency might be of God and
not of ourselves.
You see, we're not justspectators of God's grace here,
looking at chapter 42 and 43.
King of chapter 42 and 43, we'reparticipants in it.
(36:15):
You see, we're living proofthat God is God alone.
Because our stories speaklouder than the world's theories
, and our worship, in our actsof glad and grateful obedience
and our songs of praise speaklouder than the world's systems
(36:36):
and the machinations of men.
Because you who were once fullof bitterness are now a
forgiving person.
You who were once seized byfear are now persevering through
difficulties you can't imagine,with glad endurance.
You who were once hopeless arenow filled with rejoicing in
(36:58):
that coming day in which youwill participate in the
resurrected glory of God.
You see, god is demonstratinghimself through us and by us,
because, as his own, we join into the faithful servant's person
and the faithful servant'scommission and the faithful
(37:19):
servant's message around thisworld.
See, god is not just restoringold things.
He's making somethingcompletely new and he's
revealing it here.
And that leads us to our lastpoint.
We've talked about the failureof the people, the faithful
redeemer that God is and thefuture work.
But the song picks back upagain in the fresh work of God's
(37:45):
future salvation in the newExodus, in verses 14 to 21.
Isaiah lifts our eyes beyondBabylon.
Isaiah lifts us to a salvationthat's greater than Sinai.
He lifts us to an ocean ofGod's mercies that are deeper
(38:05):
than the Red Sea.
You see, he's got something todo in this world that is far,
far grander than just bringing anation out of Egypt.
Take a look at verse 19.
He makes this proclamation inchapter 43.
Look, I'm about to do somethingnew.
Even now it's coming, do yousee it?
Indeed, I will make a way inthe wilderness rivers, in the
(38:27):
desert, and on.
It goes.
Now back up a little bit.
Let's build right back up tothat a second.
In verses 16 and 17, the Lordbrings back images that the
people of Israel will be veryfamiliar with.
This is what the Lord says.
Who made a way in the sea, apath through raging water?
(38:48):
Who brings out the chariot andthe horse, the army and the
mighty one together.
They lie down, they do not riseagain.
They're extinguished, put outlike a wick.
This is Exodus imagery again,god triumphing over Pharaoh and
his army as he closed the RedSea over the top of them.
(39:15):
In verse 18, there comes thiscontradictory command Do not
remember the past events, pay noattention to things of old.
Wait a second.
The people are told to forgetthe Exodus.
(39:35):
The people are told to forgetthe Passover.
I mean, that's why theycelebrate it every year, because
they're told not to forget it.
But now they're told don't lookback.
Why?
Because pulling the people outof Egypt, allowing the
(39:57):
firstborns of the people ofIsrael to pass, to be left alive
when the death angel came,because there was blood shed on
top of a door and a side post,because the Pharaoh finally
relented after 10 mercilessplagues and they got to the edge
of the Red Sea and it parted infront of them and they entered
(40:20):
it on dry land and they crossedover it to see their enemy swept
up in the rush of water behindthem.
Forget all that.
Why God tells us in verse 19,I'm about to do something new.
(40:41):
It's going to be so grand andglorious that even that freedom
out of Egypt could not compare.
It could not compare at all.
This is not parted waters, butflowing rivers, and they're not
(41:04):
just going to cross a little bitof dry land, they're going to
traverse the deserts.
What is this talking about?
This is figurative languagethat lifts us into a second
exodus, and the prophets are notafraid to talk like that.
In Isaiah 11 and verse 15 and16, the Lord will divide the
(41:25):
Gulf of Suez, and he will wavehis hand over the Euphrates with
a mighty wind and split it intoseven streams, letting people
walk through it on foot, andthere will be a highway for the
remnant of his people whosurvive, as there was for Israel
when they came up from the landof Egypt.
That's Isaiah 11.
Jeremiah 16.
Look, the days are coming whenit will no longer be said, as
(41:49):
the Lord lives, who brought theIsraelites from the land of
Egypt?
It'll no longer be said that,but, as the Lord lives, who
brought the Israelites from theland of the north and from all
the other lands in which he hadbanished them?
For I will return them.
And then, ezekiel 36, I willtake you from the nations and
gather you from the countriesand I will bring you into your
(42:12):
own land and I also willsprinkle clean water, the
countries, and I will bring youinto your own land and I also
will sprinkle clean water on youand you will be clean.
I will remove your heart ofstone and give you a heart of
flesh.
I'll place my spirit within youand cause you to follow my
statutes and carefully observemy ordinances.
That's new covenant.
That's new covenant language.
Right there, what is theprophet Isaiah whispering here.
(42:36):
He's whispering of a faithfulservant.
He's going to take theunfaithful servants and preserve
them, because he's going tobring out of them the son in
(42:56):
whom the Lord is well pleased.
Who is going to be the servant?
Jesus?
Who is going to be the faithfulwitness of Revelation chapter
one.
Who is actually going to dothis second exodus, because he
is the second exodus?
(43:20):
On the Mount of Transfiguration,two men stood with Jesus Moses
and Elijah, and they weretalking to him about what was
about to be accomplished inJerusalem.
What was about to beaccomplished in Jerusalem?
What was about to beaccomplished?
The death, the burial and theresurrection of Jesus Christ.
Moses was there on thatmountain because he was awaiting
(43:45):
the day when God would pullpeople through the dark waters
of death, through theresurrection of Jesus Christ,
when the Messiah would gathernot only the peoples of Israel
and Judah and bring them throughthe dark waters of death into
the glorious light of the dryland of God's presence for
eternity.
That this Jesus was going todie, not just for those, but for
(44:08):
all those, all those whobelieve.
And so Moses stood in thepresence of the greater Moses,
the Moses who held up his armsand saw the land form in the
middle of the sea, looks atJesus who's about to go to the
(44:30):
cross and into a tomb and isgoing to come out of there and
he's going to break the power ofdeath over everyone who
believes on him.
This is the new thing.
This is the new thing.
This is the message.
That is great grandeur.
Sorry, sorry, cecil B DeMilleMoses movie was kind of cool,
(44:51):
but this is so much grander.
This is a restoration of allthings.
In Romans, chapter eight, paulsays even the world, the
universe itself, the things thatare created are yearning for
the day.
What are the revelation of thesons of God when the fullness of
(45:12):
this redemption is finallyrevealed and even the earth can
say my bonds are unshackled,we're free and we can live life
eternally in the presence of God, without blame or judgment.
That we can live our life tothe fullness of what we were
designed and never say I shouldhave and I shouldn't have, and I
(45:35):
, why didn't I?
And we can interact with eachother without having our little
backroom gossip sessions, right.
We can live with each other inholiness and purity and
generosity and we can interactwith this world and find it
flourishing every time we put aseed in instead of watching
things that ought to have liveddie, and we can say to our loved
(46:02):
ones no more goodbyes.
Why God?
Because Isaiah is quoting thewords of God just as the
symphony's beginning to playsome common themes.
(46:22):
That's going to rise and buildand crescendo, and right at the
moment he's still justwhispering.
Something new is coming.
Something new is coming.
Something new is coming,something grand is coming,
something so glorious you won'teven want to remember the old
things.
And it all stems from thisglorious fundamental truth in
(46:51):
the juxtaposition of these twochapters.
Glorious fundamental truth inthe juxtaposition of these two
chapters.
God is not finished with afailed people.
He's not done with them.
And he is not done with you orme.
He's not done with a failedpeople.
(47:11):
We began just a little bit agoin the dark, with this servant
who was blind and deaf anddisobedient and deservedly going
to be exiled, a people who hadmissed their moment, who failed
in their mission, who forgottheir God and turned away from
their maker.
But now here we are again.
(47:35):
Remember, just whispers, slowmovement to a coming crescendo
of a redeemer who's going towalk with them through that fire
, a fire that won't destroy thembut refine them.
Who's going to call them bytheir name, who's going to
reignite their purpose andrestore them to it, one who's
(47:58):
going to lead them to a newexodus in which they're going to
see an eternal weight of gloryfar beyond any earthly
deliverance.
And, as I said, this is notJudah's story, this is all of
ours, because the culmination ofthat glorious movement among
the people of Israel was thecoming of Jesus, who would be
the Savior of the world.
(48:19):
And so we are entering in yes,once blind, yes, very wayward,
yes, cracked mirrors, but nowcalled, now redeemed, now
restored, now chosen, nowwitnesses created to praise God,
(48:43):
to be one of his people, to beenveloped within the faithful
servant, so that we might forgetthe former things, that we
might forget the shame and wemight look to the greatest
deliverance.
We've received the new thingthat God is doing through this
faithful servant.
(49:05):
So, if you're here this morningand you've come and sat in this
place and you've asked yourselfsome questions, I don't think
God could ever forgive me thethings that I've done.
If I told you, you would noteven want to look at me.
I want to say something to youthe people of Israel were all
(49:25):
that and more, because theyweren't just walking down a
darkened alleyway and slipped onthe wet floor.
They brushed past every lightGod gave them, including his
very presence in the pillar offire and cloud, and they fell on
(49:46):
that floor hard because theywanted to fall.
And God says I love you and Iwill restore you.
If you're here this morningthinking God could never forgive
you, oh yes, he can, absolutelyhe can.
He sent the Savior to die forpeople worse than you are, to
(50:13):
die for people worse than youare.
And Paul himself said thatGod's patience could be seen in
him because he was once ablasphemer and a persecutor of
the church.
He was one who stood againstthe very design and purpose of
the servant to try to squash itout.
And yet God knocked him downwith grace and not judgment.
(50:34):
And if God could envelop Paulwith that mercy, he can envelop
you with that mercy.
If you're here today and you'relooking back and your life is
filled with those why did I not?
I should have the words andyou're filled with the
(51:01):
entrapments of guilt for thingsin your past that are now
consequences of your present.
Forget the former things in thelight of God's glorious mercies
, because he can restore you andhe can remake you and reshape
you in ways right now, as you'resitting there you could never
dream he can and he does.
(51:24):
This is a beautiful, beautifulpassage of scripture.
We're not forsaken, we're notforgotten.
We should be able to step outof here, like verse 21.
And we'll finish with this thepeople I formed for myself will
(51:46):
declare my praise.
Let's pray, father, thank youfor the glorious reversal of
redemption that you proclaim inthis passage of Scripture, in
which you are going to be,despite the utter apostasy of
the people, faithful to yourpromises to work through them so
(52:11):
that there would be among thesepeople one in whom all the
nations would be blessed.
Father, we thank you for thatglorious unfolding of your
character and your purposes anddesign.
And, father, as we sit heresome thousands of years later,
(52:33):
beyond the writing of thisprophecy, to recognize, you have
been and still are faithful toyour covenant, keeping promises,
because all of them are yes andamen and jesus christ, father,
we pray that we might not be sobound up in our disobedience
that we think we have lost theconnection of life and hope
(52:55):
that's found in Christ and thegospel.
And we pray, father, forwhatever there might still
reside in any of us here hangingon to sin and iniquity.
Lord, bring them through therefining waters and fires, but
hold their hand through it andconfirm your love.
And Lord, set them on theirfeet, restore them.
(53:18):
We pray Father, move so thatall the people that are called
by your name might sing yourpraise.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah,
chapter 42.
We were just there last weekand we're going to be moving
into chapter 23, but we're goingto start in chapter 43, but
we're going to start in chapter42.
If you ever had a moment inyour life you wish you could
walk back, where you knew therewas something that you should
(00:25):
have said or done, but in amoment of hesitation you didn't
do it.
I've got several of those, butone of them is I was in my
mid-30s.
I was getting into cycling andbeginning to race a little bit.
I was enjoying club rides butwanted to do more than that, so
(00:45):
I was starting to race a little.
I bought a racing road bike formy son, Matthew, and a Bianchi
with Bianchi green.
It was a beautiful little bikeand I was showing it to him and
his little brother, ben, decidedto hop on it first and I should
have told him wait until you'rebigger, you don't know how to
(01:08):
ride this, it's too much for you.
He got on and he took off andwent right into the mailbox and
chipped his tooth right.
And you're thinking way to go,doug.
That was a good dad momentright there.
I should have done something.
Perhaps you've had those moments, something like that, something
you should have said, maybesomething you could have done,
(01:31):
some kindness you could haveshown or some truth you could
have stood up for.
But you look back on it and youthink, man, I had the
opportunity, I knew what to sayin the moment and I didn't, and
you wish you could just sort ofpull that back.
Well, that's a small example ofa far larger issue that we're
(01:54):
going to be looking at here inIsaiah 42 and 43, because this
is Judah's story, and they'reconfronted in this passage with
a sobering truth, and it's notjust one by way of personal
experience.
It was a national issue and itwasn't just a momentary lapse.
It was habitual and it waspurposed disobedience.
(02:16):
And it wasn't a minor issueeither.
It wasn't like they ran into amailbox and chipped their tooth.
This was covenant-breakingdisobedience.
They were called to be thelight to the nations.
They were chosen by God, theywere commissioned by God.
They were entrusted with themessage.
(02:37):
They had so many things thatGod had surrounded them with
that would have equipped them.
For that they had the covenant,they had the scriptures they
had.
For that they had the covenant,they had the scriptures, they
had the promises, they had theprophets, they had the temple
worship.
They were meant to be alighthouse on the shore, shining
a bright light of how tonavigate life and eternity to
(02:58):
all the nations, and they didn't.
Over the past two weeks, we'vebeen looking at chapter 42, and
we're looking at the end of itand the end of 43.
Now, and two weeks ago, we weretold to behold God's servant,
that a servant was going toarise, one that God would uphold
(03:21):
and one in which he delightedor in whom he delighted.
And this coming servant was tobe the one who would truly
reveal the tender heart of God,who is truly going to be the one
who brings justice, who istruly going to be the one who
was a covenant for the peopleand who was going to make the
(03:42):
things that are broken wholeagain.
Matthew, of course, tells usthat that servant is Jesus.
And then last week, we gatheredtogether around verses 10 to 17
of this chapter and we listenedto the song of rejoicing over
the servant's ministry, a chorusthat would ring all around the
(04:03):
world.
The coastlands and the desertsand the mountaintops would all
give their praise.
Isaiah's voice would join withthe nation's voices and it would
join with God's own voice tooin this prophetic anthem of
victory.
But now we're in chapter 42 andverse 18.
And all of a sudden the musicstops and the spotlight shifts
(04:29):
from the nations back to thepeople of Judah and a different
kind of song is sung, not a songof victory or of praise, but a
lament, a confrontation, a callto remember who they were meant
to be.
And this passage in front of usis going to sort of just move
(04:52):
us a little bit further intothis song of Isaiah 40 to 55.
And I told you, this section ofscripture is like a symphony.
There are things in it that arewhispered in, allusions that
are introduced a little bit,that are built up and are
expanded and then eventuallyreach a crescendo.
(05:15):
We're still in the earlychapters here.
So chapter 42 and 43 whispermore than they reveal, but
they're beginning to build upthe anticipation of something
that's going to be grand andglorious in just a few chapters
as we get into it.
And this passage in front of usis going to give us just a
(05:38):
taste of understanding of why,in the light of Judah's failure,
god has us turn our attentionto a true and faithful servant,
and also how and why God wouldcontinue to look upon this
disobedient people and stillmaintain a promise to them.
(05:58):
You see, this passage ofscripture that we're in in these
early chapters of 40 to 55 inIsaiah, have a lot of tension in
them.
It's there for a purpose, so wewould catch the tune of these
themes and find them culminatingsoon.
What I love about this passage,even though it's full of
(06:20):
tension, it's also full oftenderness.
We're going to see that Judahhas failed spectacularly, and
yet God is not finished withthem.
Instead, as we'll see, hereaffirms his call to them, even
while he confronts them withtheir blindness and their
hardness of heart.
So let's move through thissection of scripture, and there
(06:43):
are four movements I'd like forus to look at.
The first of all is the failureof God's servant.
It begins in verse 18 ofchapter 42, and it runs down to
the end of the chapter.
The spotlight, as I said, isnow shifting from a global song
to a national confrontation.
(07:03):
Verse 18,.
Listen you deaf, look you blind, so that you may see who is
blind but my servant, or deaflike my messenger I am sending.
Who is blind like my dedicatedone, or blind like the servant
of the Lord.
One are blind like the servantof the Lord.
(07:32):
What a way to be talked about.
God turns to Judah with thisstinging lament that he's chosen
this servant for a purpose.
But they're blind and they'redeaf.
And remember, isaiah isspeaking before the captivity of
Babylon, but he's speaking tothe people who are in captivity
in Babylon.
Isaiah's ministry is lockedinto a time frame in which the
(07:56):
people are still diving deeperand deeper and deeper into
idolatry, before they get rippedout of the land and brought to
Babylonian captivity.
But like no other book in theBible, isaiah is speaking to
that generation ahead.
And here he gives the diagnosisabout why they are where they
(08:18):
are or why they will be wherethey are going to be.
Their blindness is willful,it's not passive, their deafness
is chosen, it's notcircumstantial, and their
disobedience is habitual.
And in verse 21, the Lorddrives this home Because of his
(08:40):
righteousness.
The Lord was pleased to magnifyhis instruction and make it
glorious.
But this is a people plunderedand looted, all of them trapped
in holes or imprisoned indungeons.
They become plunder with no oneto rescue them, and loot with
no one to say give it back.
Why?
Because they had completelyneglected God here.
(09:05):
They refused God's revelation,they refused to receive it with
reverence, they neglected theglory of God that was revealed
in it and they failed to be thelight to the nations, knowingly.
Imagine walking through the darkhole halls of a of an office
(09:26):
building and all the lights areshut down and there's no windows
around and it's completelypitch dark in the hallway and
there's a sign that says warningwet floor ahead.
And indeed there is, and youwalk down that and you pass the
sign.
(09:46):
You can't see it.
It's pitch black, dark in there.
Your eyes are not adjusted toit and you come across this wet
floor and you and you fall downand hurt yourself.
Now you'd say, well, that'stragic.
How much worse is it if thelights are on and there's
(10:07):
windows that are shining theoutdoor light in there and
there's a sign staring you inthe face that says warning wet
floor ahead.
And you look at it and you go,yeah, whatever.
And you keep on going andthere's a wet floor there and
you decide, well, I can do apower slide on this baby.
And you try and you just end upsomersaulting over yourself and
(10:28):
landing on the ground.
You're not going to pickyourself up and say well,
somebody should have put abigger sign down or somebody
should have told me to wait.
You're going to look atyourself and say I was told, I
was instructed.
The failure is mine.
And this is precisely whereJudah should have been.
(10:55):
They weren't walking inignorance.
They were walking down a paththat was illuminated by God's
revelation.
They could have lived in theradiance of that revelation.
Instead, however, they decidednot to, and by so doing, not
only were they not a light tothe nations, they were dragging
the name of Yahweh through themud in every step of
(11:16):
disobedience and idolatry thatthey committed.
They were that stubborn.
I don't have time for us tolook at this, but if you went to
Psalm 106 and spent some timereading Psalm 106, there it
declares the spiritual deafnessand blindness of the people in
great detail, but it also givesthe root cause for it.
(11:40):
It says they forgot the God whosaved them.
They did not remember hiskindness.
Their neglect of rehearsing thefavorable grace of God to them
had caused them to drift awayand disobey and to plunge
(12:05):
themselves in utter rejection ofGod.
You see, their forgetfulnesswas not just a momentary lapse
of memory.
This was a purposed not callingGod's goodness into their life.
And Isaiah is here trying towake up these same people.
And Isaiah is here trying towake up these same people.
(12:25):
Look at verse 23.
Who among us will hear this?
Let them listen and obey in thefuture, but will they?
He tries to tell them.
Look, this that is coming toyou is not accidental.
(12:47):
It's not incidental.
You're not just a small pawn onthe world stage.
God is doing something here.
Verse 24, who gave Jacob to therobbers and Israel to the
plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
(13:08):
They were not willing to walkin his ways and they would not
listen to his instruction.
God is going to raise up theBabylonians, not in spite of the
people's disobedience, butbecause of it.
And Isaiah here is connectingthe state of the people with the
covenant rejections that Moseswarned about in chapter 29 and
(13:28):
32 of Deuteronomy.
And they won't listen.
Verse 25, it gets even worse.
And so he poured out hisfurious anger and the power of
war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire,but he did not know it.
It burned him, but he did nottake it to heart.
(13:51):
Now Al asked me a question alittle bit ago about.
Why is Jacob mentioned here?
And I wasn't going to mentionthis, but I think, al, we're
going to go ahead and go with it, right, al said, why is Jacob
mentioned here?
I don't see Jacob anywhere.
Well, you might rememberAbraham, isaac and Jacob, right?
Jacob wrestled with the angeland in the wrestling with the
(14:11):
angel, his heart was changed.
He was once called Jacob orSurplanter, but now he's called
Israel or the Prince of God, andJacob, with the new name,
limped the rest of his life.
But he wanted to walk with Godfrom that point forward and his
character was transformed intobeing God's prince rather than
(14:34):
being this guy who's trying toalways do one up over someone
else.
But here the people are calledJacob again, and they're called
Jacob because they're actinglike what Jacob used to act like
, and Isaiah is crying out tothem.
(14:57):
Who among us will not hear this?
Certainly, if you listen, ifyou obey, it will go well.
And Isaiah preaches to thepeople and is speaking to them,
but look at the words.
He also speaks with them.
Verse 24, was it not the Lord?
(15:21):
Have we, we, we not sinnedagainst him?
Isaiah is putting himself intothe shoes of the people that
he's preaching to and he'srecognizing that, as many
fingers as he might have pointedat them, he's got more pointed
(15:42):
at himself and he's recognizing,in solidarity with them, that
the whole nation needs a revivaland repentance.
And this ought to give us pausewhen we speak so directly to
people, to recognize that we arepart and parcel of the problem.
Also, daniel, when he prayedthe great prayer of confession
(16:07):
in Daniel, chapter nine we havesinned, lord, we have done
wickedness, we, we, we.
And so this passage showsIsaiah's humility as well as his
bravery to bring the message tothese people, and we need to
(16:31):
receive this passage as well.
How often do we sin against thelight of the revelation of God
to us?
How often are the hallways litup and the window shades drawn
open and the lights flooding inand there's signs all over that
(16:52):
says warning you keep going downthis hallway, you're going to
slip and fall and break yourknuckles and your head.
And we keep on walking and wekeep on walking.
We attend church, we readscripture, we're around God's
people, we sing hymns, we knowJesus has come, he is our savior
(17:15):
, and we walk right down thehallway.
We shouldn't be tone deaf toGod's word here.
We should enter into the we,just as Isaiah did.
But let's not forget last weekand let's begin to weave this
together, because there'smovement in this section of
scripture here.
(17:35):
It doesn't stop here.
Remember last week, withIsaiah's surprising twist, a
gospel, a good news, a shout ofpraise that goes to all the
islands, to all the deserts, toall the mountaintops, all the
people that were condemned inthe chapters to the nations
chapters 13 to 23, tyre andSidon, and Edom and Kadar, all
(17:59):
of them once judged, but are nowinvited into the song of praise
.
And here the lighthouse, judah,forgets the light and refuses
to shine.
God will relight that light tothe nations through a servant,
(18:23):
one who sees, one who hears andone who will lead the nations to
sing a song of deliverance andsalvation.
So obviously, chapter 42 is notthe end.
And boy, sometimes chapterdivisions do us a lot of harm.
Because look at the next verse,chapter 43.
(18:43):
Now, this is what the Lord saysthe one who created you, jacob,
the one who formed you, israel,do not fear, for I've redeemed
you, I've called you by yourname, you are mine.
(19:04):
Wait a second.
Chapter 42,.
He didn't know it, he didn'ttake it to heart, he didn't
listen, he wasn't willing.
But chapter 23, 43 opens upwith these tender declarations
(19:27):
Fear not, I've redeemed you.
I've called you by, I've calledyou your name.
You're mine, you're mine.
This is Isaiah speaking to apeople who are going to be in
exile in Babylon because oftheir idolatry, after having
(19:48):
faced devastation and thisdislocation, and certainly full
of disillusionment anddisappointment.
And yet Isaiah is speakingcomfort into that future.
He's telling them that he's notgiven up on them, that he's
chosen them, that he's namedthem, that he's claimed them.
Take a look at verse 2.
(20:09):
When you pass through thewaters, I'll be with you.
In the rivers they will notoverwhelm you.
Now Isaiah doesn't have to goRed Sea Exodus Exodus To remind
the people that he's got a trackrecord of bringing people
through water.
(20:29):
And Isaiah is using thisEgyptian Exodus imagery here to
assure us that God still claimsto be the God of these people.
Whatever disasters they broughtupon themselves, they're still
his and he still wants to usethem for his glory still his and
(20:55):
he still wants to use them forhis glory and that there's
redemption and renewal on theother side of the exile.
Now, scripture often uses waterand fire to speak of judgment.
The earth was covered withwater in Noah's day, and
everyone perished except foreight souls.
In Noah's day, and everyoneperished except for eight souls.
(21:15):
Peter says at the end of one ofhis letters that the world, the
heavens and the earth are goingto be burned up with a fervent
heat, with a fire.
But this water and this fireare meant to refine and purify
and prepare the people for amission that God still wants
them to be on.
And so not only do we see thefaithlessness of the people, we
(21:36):
see the faithful,covenant-keeping God, and verses
3 and 4 give us anunderstanding to that.
You are precious in my sightand honored, and I love you.
Wow, I love you.
(21:59):
You're precious and honored inmy sight.
This is covenant language hereon God's part.
He calls himself in thesechapters the Holy One of Israel.
He calls himself a savior, adeliverer.
He calls himself the redeemer.
He calls himself, in the bookof Isaiah, their king.
All of these titles and all ofthese words are to remind the
(22:19):
people that God hasn't abandonedhis role toward them.
His electing love is unearthedand it's certainly undeserved,
but it is absolutely unwavering,unwavering.
His electing love is unervedand it's certainly undeserved,
but it is absolutely unwavering,unwavering.
(22:40):
And then comes a promise to themthat is meant to soar beyond
Babylon Verses 6 and 7.
I will say to the north givethem up.
I'll say to the south do nothold them back.
Bring my sons from far away, mydaughters from the ends of the
earth, everyone who bears myname and is created for my glory
.
I have formed them, indeed Ihave made them.
(23:07):
Yes, there is going to be asecond Exodus and he's going to
bring the people back fromcaptivity in Babylon.
But there's something beyondjust that.
Here the movement is more thanjust about the nations letting
the people go to return back toJerusalem and begin to
repopulate the land, becausethis language is expanded here.
(23:31):
It's beginning to build up atheme that's going to just
explode here soon.
And this isn't just about theJewish people that returned from
the east under the edict ofCyrus and the small band with
Ezra and Nehemiah, some 42,000people, as recorded in Ezra 2 in
(23:53):
verse 64.
No, there's something biggerthan this.
Notice that there's a gatheringfrom all places, from the north
and the south.
There's a regathering from allthe places.
This is the people beingrescued from judgment that are
going to be purified by grace,that are going to be formed
together for praise.
(24:14):
Now let me just jump us ahead alittle bit, because this theme
needs us to recognize andrealize.
In John, chapter 1, john opensup a prologue about the coming
Messiah in the first severalverses of his gospel, and there
(24:35):
he talks about Jesus coming untohis own.
But his own did not receive him, but to as many as did receive
him, he gave them the right tobe the children of God.
He gave them the right to bethe children of God to those who
believe on his name, who wereborn not of natural descent or
the will of the flesh or thewill of man, but of God.
(24:58):
There was going to be childrenthat weren't just children of
the people of Abraham, isaac andJacob, and there was going to
be a second exodus in whichthose people are going to find
deliverance.
And so in John 1 and verse 12,he speaks of people being called
(25:19):
the children of God.
And a little bit deeper inJohn's gospel, in chapter 11,
again he speaks that same phrasethat Jesus would die not just
for the Jewish nation but tounite the scattered children of
(25:42):
God.
You see, isaiah is lookingforward to a day when the Spirit
would be poured out and thegospel would be proclaimed and a
new creation would be formedout of the second exodus.
Just hold on to that, becausewe're still whispering that at
(26:06):
the moment.
And so he tells them don't fear, in verse 1 and verse 5.
You see, the Redeemer is stillgoing to work through them.
He still called them by theirname, he still created them for
(26:26):
his glory, and so the failure ofthe people gives rise to the
faithfulness of God, theRedeemer, which leads us into
verses 8 to 13, which show ussomething of the future hope of
God's work, the future hope ofGod's work.
(26:48):
Isaiah pivots now from comfortto calling, and these people who
were once blind and deaf arenow being summoned to testify.
And God is going to entrustthese very people that he's
brought through the water andthrough the fire to be his
living witnesses in this world.
Now, let's just let that sinkin for just a second.
(27:09):
In this world.
Now, let's just let that sinkin for just a second.
These people who failed inchapter 42 are being comforted
at the beginning of chapter 43and are now, as we're getting
deeper into this chapter, beingcommissioned not to silence but
to speak.
You see, redemption is not theend, it's the beginning.
(27:31):
It's the beginning of a life ofproclamation and we'll get
there.
But Isaiah builds this courtscene and he summons the nations
to bring their idols and tohave the idols testify against
God, to see if they couldcompare.
And he says to them which oneof you can tell the future?
(27:55):
Take a look at verse 9.
All the nations gather together, the people are assembled.
Who among them can declare thisand tell us the former things?
Let them present theirwitnesses to vindicate
themselves, so that people maysay it's true, to vindicate
(28:18):
themselves, so that people maysay it's true, you are my
witnesses, the Lord declares.
And so the idols are called uponto talk about a people for
God's praise, something Godwould do in the future.
Could the idols do this?
Could they know the future?
Could they actually empower aredemption of a disobedient
people?
Let them bring their witnessesand let them speak out and see
(28:38):
if that could be true.
And the challenge is settled inthis one thing that God is
doing what the idols could neverdo.
He says here in verse 12 Ialone declared, saved and
(28:58):
proclaimed.
Verse 11 I am the Lord, besideme, there's no Savior.
And so he is speaking to theidols saying can you do
something for these people?
Can you do something like whatI'm about to do?
(29:19):
Can you take a disobedient,rejected people and still
envelop them and restore themand set them up on their feet
and send them out with a message?
Can you do that?
This is how God shows the worldwho he is, where Israel has
(29:42):
failed to be the faithfulwitness there is going to be,
through the people of Israel,one who is and there is still
going to be through the peopleof Israel, one who is and there
is still going to be among thepeople of Israel, those who will
be set on their feet and filledwith a message to tell.
(30:03):
In a few chapters we'll look atIsaiah, chapter 49 and verse 6.
And there God speaks to theservant and he says it's not
enough for you to be my servantraising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected onesof Israel.
It's not enough for you to dothat.
I will make you to be a lightfor the nations, to take my
(30:26):
salvation, or to be my salvation, to the ends of the earth.
There's this building themethat someone has been sent who
is going to be the faithfulservant, who is going to make
God's name known in Israel andthe world.
(30:50):
Revelation, chapter 1 and verse5,.
Jesus is called the faithfulwitness and there's a reason why
in the early chapters of thebook of Acts, jesus is called
the servant, my servant Jesus,because he lived the truth, he
spoke the truth, he died for thetruth and he resurrected with
(31:15):
the truth.
He's going to do something.
When you read this passage ofScripture, I hope you're hearing
some echoes in the NewTestament that are beginning to
reverberate, the symphony that'sstarting to be played here.
(31:36):
In Acts, chapter 1 and verse 8,and you will be my witnesses,
witness word again In Jerusalemand Judea and Samaria, to the
uttermost parts of the earth,isaiah 43 is coming to fruition,
(31:59):
when those Jewish peoplegathered together, believed on
the Messiah, jesus Christ, andwere filled with the Spirit and
were told with the Spirit andwere told to take a message to
the nations.
Now there's this obscurepassage at the end of the book
of Romans which you may havejust passed over or just looked
(32:20):
at and went.
I'm not really quiteunderstanding it, but when you
read Isaiah 42 and 43, alongwith Acts, chapter 1, and what
John has to say in chapter 1 andchapter 11 about the children
of God.
Listen to this passage again.
Paul gives a doxologicalstatement Now to him, who was
(32:41):
able to strengthen you accordingto my gospel and the
proclamation about Jesus Christ,according to the revelation of
the mystery kept silent for longages but now revealed and made
known through the propheticscriptures, according to the
command of the eternal God, whatTo advance the obedience of
(33:03):
faith among all the Gentiles Tothe only wise God through Jesus
Christ.
To him be glory forever, amen.
And this is why in Acts,chapter 13, the apostle Paul
(33:23):
took his Bible and opened it upto Isaiah, chapter 49, and he's
preaching the gospel.
And he looks down at chapter 49, and he reads this passage of
scripture that says says it'snot enough for you to be my
servant raising up the tribes ofJacob and restoring the
protected ones of Israel.
I will make you to be a lightfor the nations, to be my
salvation to the ends of theearth.
And Paul said the apostolicpreaching of the gospel is the
(33:49):
fulfillment and the furtheranceof the faithful servant's
presence on earth to fulfill thework of God.
Now, church, that is us, all ofus.
That is who we are, because wehave been gathered with the same
(34:11):
mission, with the same messageand the same purpose that the
nations might know that Godalone is the Savior, that all of
the idols on earth are nothingin comparison to Him.
Verse 13, when I act, he sayswho can reverse it?
(34:47):
You see, this isn't just ateaching.
This is the dynamic of God'sactivity.
This is dynamite, as God isputting himself on display here.
He's putting his glory ondisplay by taking broken people,
putting his covenant love uponthem, restoring them in his
tender mercies and then puttingthem back on their feet and
(35:09):
sending them out with a message.
And so it is also with us.
Chapter 42 could be our songbookin the way we lived our lives,
but you need to put chapter 43into your hymnal too, into the
(35:30):
hymnal of your life.
Like all of us, we are crackedmirrors, we're blemished, we're
imperfect, we're flawed, we'rebroken.
But God delights in usingcracked mirrors to reflect his
glorious light.
Paul put it a different way wehave this treasure in earthen
(35:53):
vessels, clay pots, so that theexcellency might be of God and
not of ourselves.
You see, we're not justspectators of God's grace here,
looking at chapter 42 and 43.
King of chapter 42 and 43, we'reparticipants in it.
(36:15):
You see, we're living proofthat God is God alone.
Because our stories speaklouder than the world's theories
, and our worship, in our actsof glad and grateful obedience
and our songs of praise speaklouder than the world's systems
(36:36):
and the machinations of men.
Because you who were once fullof bitterness are now a
forgiving person.
You who were once seized byfear are now persevering through
difficulties you can't imagine,with glad endurance.
You who were once hopeless arenow filled with rejoicing in
(36:58):
that coming day in which youwill participate in the
resurrected glory of God.
You see, god is demonstratinghimself through us and by us,
because, as his own, we join into the faithful servant's person
and the faithful servant'scommission and the faithful
(37:19):
servant's message around thisworld.
See, god is not just restoringold things.
He's making somethingcompletely new and he's
revealing it here.
And that leads us to our lastpoint.
We've talked about the failureof the people, the faithful
redeemer that God is and thefuture work.
But the song picks back upagain in the fresh work of God's
(37:45):
future salvation in the newExodus, in verses 14 to 21.
Isaiah lifts our eyes beyondBabylon.
Isaiah lifts us to a salvationthat's greater than Sinai.
He lifts us to an ocean ofGod's mercies that are deeper
(38:05):
than the Red Sea.
You see, he's got something todo in this world that is far,
far grander than just bringing anation out of Egypt.
Take a look at verse 19.
He makes this proclamation inchapter 43.
Look, I'm about to do somethingnew.
Even now it's coming, do yousee it?
Indeed, I will make a way inthe wilderness rivers, in the
(38:27):
desert, and on.
It goes.
Now back up a little bit.
Let's build right back up tothat a second.
In verses 16 and 17, the Lordbrings back images that the
people of Israel will be veryfamiliar with.
This is what the Lord says.
Who made a way in the sea, apath through raging water?
(38:48):
Who brings out the chariot andthe horse, the army and the
mighty one together.
They lie down, they do not riseagain.
They're extinguished, put outlike a wick.
This is Exodus imagery again,god triumphing over Pharaoh and
his army as he closed the RedSea over the top of them.
(39:15):
In verse 18, there comes thiscontradictory command Do not
remember the past events, pay noattention to things of old.
Wait a second.
The people are told to forgetthe Exodus.
(39:35):
The people are told to forgetthe Passover.
I mean, that's why theycelebrate it every year, because
they're told not to forget it.
But now they're told don't lookback.
Why?
Because pulling the people outof Egypt, allowing the
(39:57):
firstborns of the people ofIsrael to pass, to be left alive
when the death angel came,because there was blood shed on
top of a door and a side post,because the Pharaoh finally
relented after 10 mercilessplagues and they got to the edge
of the Red Sea and it parted infront of them and they entered
(40:20):
it on dry land and they crossedover it to see their enemy swept
up in the rush of water behindthem.
Forget all that.
Why God tells us in verse 19,I'm about to do something new.
(40:41):
It's going to be so grand andglorious that even that freedom
out of Egypt could not compare.
It could not compare at all.
This is not parted waters, butflowing rivers, and they're not
(41:04):
just going to cross a little bitof dry land, they're going to
traverse the deserts.
What is this talking about?
This is figurative languagethat lifts us into a second
exodus, and the prophets are notafraid to talk like that.
In Isaiah 11 and verse 15 and16, the Lord will divide the
(41:25):
Gulf of Suez, and he will wavehis hand over the Euphrates with
a mighty wind and split it intoseven streams, letting people
walk through it on foot, andthere will be a highway for the
remnant of his people whosurvive, as there was for Israel
when they came up from the landof Egypt.
That's Isaiah 11.
Jeremiah 16.
Look, the days are coming whenit will no longer be said, as
(41:49):
the Lord lives, who brought theIsraelites from the land of
Egypt?
It'll no longer be said that,but, as the Lord lives, who
brought the Israelites from theland of the north and from all
the other lands in which he hadbanished them?
For I will return them.
And then, ezekiel 36, I willtake you from the nations and
gather you from the countriesand I will bring you into your
(42:12):
own land and I also willsprinkle clean water, the
countries, and I will bring youinto your own land and I also
will sprinkle clean water on youand you will be clean.
I will remove your heart ofstone and give you a heart of
flesh.
I'll place my spirit within youand cause you to follow my
statutes and carefully observemy ordinances.
That's new covenant.
That's new covenant language.
Right there, what is theprophet Isaiah whispering here.
(42:36):
He's whispering of a faithfulservant.
He's going to take theunfaithful servants and preserve
them, because he's going tobring out of them the son in
(42:56):
whom the Lord is well pleased.
Who is going to be the servant?
Jesus?
Who is going to be the faithfulwitness of Revelation chapter
one.
Who is actually going to dothis second exodus, because he
is the second exodus?
(43:20):
On the Mount of Transfiguration,two men stood with Jesus Moses
and Elijah, and they weretalking to him about what was
about to be accomplished inJerusalem.
What was about to beaccomplished in Jerusalem?
What was about to beaccomplished?
The death, the burial and theresurrection of Jesus Christ.
Moses was there on thatmountain because he was awaiting
(43:45):
the day when God would pullpeople through the dark waters
of death, through theresurrection of Jesus Christ,
when the Messiah would gathernot only the peoples of Israel
and Judah and bring them throughthe dark waters of death into
the glorious light of the dryland of God's presence for
eternity.
That this Jesus was going todie, not just for those, but for
(44:08):
all those, all those whobelieve.
And so Moses stood in thepresence of the greater Moses,
the Moses who held up his armsand saw the land form in the
middle of the sea, looks atJesus who's about to go to the
(44:30):
cross and into a tomb and isgoing to come out of there and
he's going to break the power ofdeath over everyone who
believes on him.
This is the new thing.
This is the new thing.
This is the message.
That is great grandeur.
Sorry, sorry, cecil B DeMilleMoses movie was kind of cool,
(44:51):
but this is so much grander.
This is a restoration of allthings.
In Romans, chapter eight, paulsays even the world, the
universe itself, the things thatare created are yearning for
the day.
What are the revelation of thesons of God when the fullness of
(45:12):
this redemption is finallyrevealed and even the earth can
say my bonds are unshackled,we're free and we can live life
eternally in the presence of God, without blame or judgment.
That we can live our life tothe fullness of what we were
designed and never say I shouldhave and I shouldn't have, and I
(45:35):
, why didn't I?
And we can interact with eachother without having our little
backroom gossip sessions, right.
We can live with each other inholiness and purity and
generosity and we can interactwith this world and find it
flourishing every time we put aseed in instead of watching
things that ought to have liveddie, and we can say to our loved
(46:02):
ones no more goodbyes.
Why God?
Because Isaiah is quoting thewords of God just as the
symphony's beginning to playsome common themes.
(46:22):
That's going to rise and buildand crescendo, and right at the
moment he's still justwhispering.
Something new is coming.
Something new is coming.
Something new is coming,something grand is coming,
something so glorious you won'teven want to remember the old
things.
And it all stems from thisglorious fundamental truth in
(46:51):
the juxtaposition of these twochapters.
Glorious fundamental truth inthe juxtaposition of these two
chapters.
God is not finished with afailed people.
He's not done with them.
And he is not done with you orme.
He's not done with a failedpeople.
(47:11):
We began just a little bit agoin the dark, with this servant
who was blind and deaf anddisobedient and deservedly going
to be exiled, a people who hadmissed their moment, who failed
in their mission, who forgottheir God and turned away from
their maker.
But now here we are again.
(47:35):
Remember, just whispers, slowmovement to a coming crescendo
of a redeemer who's going towalk with them through that fire
, a fire that won't destroy thembut refine them.
Who's going to call them bytheir name, who's going to
reignite their purpose andrestore them to it, one who's
(47:58):
going to lead them to a newexodus in which they're going to
see an eternal weight of gloryfar beyond any earthly
deliverance.
And, as I said, this is notJudah's story, this is all of
ours, because the culmination ofthat glorious movement among
the people of Israel was thecoming of Jesus, who would be
the Savior of the world.
(48:19):
And so we are entering in yes,once blind, yes, very wayward,
yes, cracked mirrors, but nowcalled, now redeemed, now
restored, now chosen, nowwitnesses created to praise God,
(48:43):
to be one of his people, to beenveloped within the faithful
servant, so that we might forgetthe former things, that we
might forget the shame and wemight look to the greatest
deliverance.
We've received the new thingthat God is doing through this
faithful servant.
(49:05):
So, if you're here this morningand you've come and sat in this
place and you've asked yourselfsome questions, I don't think
God could ever forgive me thethings that I've done.
If I told you, you would noteven want to look at me.
I want to say something to youthe people of Israel were all
(49:25):
that and more, because theyweren't just walking down a
darkened alleyway and slipped onthe wet floor.
They brushed past every lightGod gave them, including his
very presence in the pillar offire and cloud, and they fell on
(49:46):
that floor hard because theywanted to fall.
And God says I love you and Iwill restore you.
If you're here this morningthinking God could never forgive
you, oh yes, he can, absolutelyhe can.
He sent the Savior to die forpeople worse than you are, to
(50:13):
die for people worse than youare.
And Paul himself said thatGod's patience could be seen in
him because he was once ablasphemer and a persecutor of
the church.
He was one who stood againstthe very design and purpose of
the servant to try to squash itout.
And yet God knocked him downwith grace and not judgment.
(50:34):
And if God could envelop Paulwith that mercy, he can envelop
you with that mercy.
If you're here today and you'relooking back and your life is
filled with those why did I not?
I should have the words andyou're filled with the
(51:01):
entrapments of guilt for thingsin your past that are now
consequences of your present.
Forget the former things in thelight of God's glorious mercies
, because he can restore you andhe can remake you and reshape
you in ways right now, as you'resitting there you could never
dream he can and he does.
(51:24):
This is a beautiful, beautifulpassage of scripture.
We're not forsaken, we're notforgotten.
We should be able to step outof here, like verse 21.
And we'll finish with this thepeople I formed for myself will
(51:46):
declare my praise.
Let's pray, father, thank youfor the glorious reversal of
redemption that you proclaim inthis passage of Scripture, in
which you are going to be,despite the utter apostasy of
the people, faithful to yourpromises to work through them so
(52:11):
that there would be among thesepeople one in whom all the
nations would be blessed.
Father, we thank you for thatglorious unfolding of your
character and your purposes anddesign.
And, father, as we sit heresome thousands of years later,
(52:33):
beyond the writing of thisprophecy, to recognize, you have
been and still are faithful toyour covenant, keeping promises,
because all of them are yes andamen and jesus christ, father,
we pray that we might not be sobound up in our disobedience
that we think we have lost theconnection of life and hope
(52:55):
that's found in Christ and thegospel.
And we pray, father, forwhatever there might still
reside in any of us here hangingon to sin and iniquity.
Lord, bring them through therefining waters and fires, but
hold their hand through it andconfirm your love.
And Lord, set them on theirfeet, restore them.
(53:18):
We pray Father, move so thatall the people that are called
by your name might sing yourpraise.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.