Isaiah, Introduction III

Good morning, and blessed, yes I'm going to say the word, Christmas. We're going to say that without fear of being reprimanded, sued, or called on the carpet in some fashion. We're going to be looking at this seasonally appropriate passage here Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. This Isaiah 9, 6 and 7 passage is one that is kind of interesting. It focuses initially on Christ's first coming and then most of the passage zeroes in on Christ's second coming. So we'll want to take a look at that as we proceed here this morning. This is a passage frequently among several that are quoted in various Christmas letters and things of that sort that come out. But we have a question for you. A question you may not have thought about before.

What do the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul have in common? Oh, certainly, I'm the first to admit that there are lots of differences. But there are actually some things that might be worth taking a look at. Here's Isaiah, just round numbers, seven centuries before the time of Christ. And so that puts him about seven centuries before the time of Paul. So there's a difference, yes. But for starters here, Paul and Isaiah were both Jews.

They operated at one time at a level right underneath their national leadership. In the case of Paul, he was right under the Sanhedrin. Remember, here's the picture of the road to Damascus. He had letters from the Sanhedrin, from the chief priest that was assigning him to go to Damascus. Here is Isaiah, riding right under the national leadership of Hezekiah.

I might add to that, in both instances, Each of them were doing so, serving right under the level of their national leadership, with a much larger empire breathing down their necks. So there's another point of commonality there. Let's look at some more. Here's Paul.

He wrote Romans, sometimes called the flagship, if you will, of the epistles. And we have an elective that's begun and will be ongoing. Looking at Romans, a glorious book. Isaiah wrote the book that became the first of the flagship, if you will, of the Old Testament prophets. So there's a point in common and parallel between the two of them. Now, Isaiah is the Old Testament book that tells about the creation more than any other, even more than Genesis.

Oh boy, you just feel a bar chart coming on, can't you? Alright, Romans is a New Testament book that tells more about the creation than any other. So there you've got a parallel between the two of them. Oh boy, there's the bar chart. See there? So there's Isaiah, almost twice as much mention of creation as Genesis even, the book of beginnings. And then among the New Testament books, there's Romans, the number one book in the New Testament. So both of them hold a kind of a premier position from that standpoint.

One other point I would make, neither Paul nor Isaiah have their deaths recorded directly in scripture, at least by name. But each of them have a record outside of Scripture of a martyr's death. We have the implication from Paul here in 2 Timothy 4, 6, him speaking about what he sees as an impending martyr's death coming for him, and record outside of Scripture that Paul was beheaded in Rome. Oh, and by the way, this is the Mamertine prison, likely Paul's last home. Then you have the record, and the closest we get in scripture is what's probably by implication in Hebrews chapter 11.

It tells of the prophets, and it gives a number of the prophets and the things that happened to them, and among them is they were sawn in two. Well, the one record we have of the Jews outside of scripture is that Isaiah was sawn in two, and that is how he saw his death. He was, according to the account, hiding in a hollow tree when they decided to, well, let's take him out by cutting the tree down. And he was in it.

Nonetheless, each of them appear to have met a martyr's death. Paul also tells about being taken into heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, first half dozen verses, being taken up into paradise. And, as we'll get into Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah also has an account of being taken up into heaven.

As we saw as we went through the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 4.30, Paul told the believers at Ephesus not to continue to grieve the Holy Spirit. Stop grieving the Holy Spirit. Isaiah wrote to Israel that you had already grieved the Holy Spirit. And interestingly enough, it's the only statement of that kind I can find in the Old and New Testaments. No other Old Testament reference to that idea of grieving the Holy Spirit No other New Testament reference aside from Paul. Now, a question for you. How are we to look upon the book of Isaiah? How are we supposed to look at this book?

From a literary standpoint, we're probably best off to look at the book this way. You should look at it as sort of a prophetic anthology. Have you ever seen a literary anthology as sort of a collection, usually with some kind of a theme or order to it? And that's, I think, how we're to look at Isaiah, rather than being just pure literature, however, it's a prophetic anthology. It is a collection of writings over Isaiah's time. As we said previously, by chapter count, the longest of the prophetic books.

In the resource packet, there is a two-page outline of the book of Isaiah that was included in that packet for your reference. It's the front page, I believe. There is another way, however, to look at it. It's very interesting. We can look in Isaiah, and this is page two on your handout.

We can look at Isaiah, and it almost has a sort of an echo or mirror type pattern to it, and that is there is in the first half and the last half a beginning of judgment and restoration, and it continues along a very similar outline with both halves. So that would be one way to kind of track our progress as we go through it and keep some sense of where are we and what's the order, what's Isaiah saying. There is, however, another way to look at it and we'll probably look at both of these as we proceed through Isaiah to kind of see where are we in this. Now, we will be approaching Isaiah as we go through it from the standpoint that Isaiah was a real historical prophet when he speaks and writes about something, we are going to take him at his word. We are going to assume that he is saying the truth, because these are, after all, God's inspired words for us.

Any reference to Isaiah in Scripture, even in the New Testament, and we see repeated reference in the New Testament to Isaiah, takes Isaiah at face value, does not assume anything other than what is declared. Even the birth of Christ is declared directly in Isaiah, as we see more than once, and that is to be taken literally. Isaiah wrote about things, oftentimes, however, centuries before they occurred. As we saw with Isaiah 53, two weeks ago, it told about the death of Christ and His burial and His resurrection, centuries in advance, in great detail. We'll also see other things as we proceed through Isaiah, in which Isaiah told things centuries in advance of their fulfillment.

We will see again and again, and today is only one of those instances, where Isaiah talks about Christ's first coming and then about Christ's second coming. And he tells it again, centuries in advance. The first coming was seven centuries after the time of Isaiah. The second coming is yet to be. And so here we have 2,700 years since this book was written and things still to be fulfilled.

Now, there's something you need to know and that there are those who are quite unhappy with what we'll be doing here on Sunday mornings. You just need to know that there are people who will be quite unhappy with the approach that we'll be taking. So let's take a look at those folks. These will be in three camps primarily, and so we'll want to know what those camps are. If there are people unhappy with us, we want to know who they are, right? Okay, so let's take a look at those.

One of them, there will be those who will be quite offended at the idea that Isaiah could actually predict something centuries in advance. There are people, they'll be really upset with that. And do you know why they don't like it? Do you know why? Because they don't like it! That's why.

Okay. But let's take a look here. Here's the Isaiah timeline that we had previously here. And here's one of them that comes up. Here's Isaiah 44, 28. And look at this. This is a prediction over a century in advance by name. Look at it. It is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and he will perform all my desire. And he declares of Jerusalem, she will be built. And of the temple, your foundation will be laid. There's more, by the way, than just this verse, but that's enough to get the point across. Here is Isaiah writing roughly the year 700. Here is Cyrus over a century later, about a century and a half later, who actually, in history, gives a decree that Jerusalem, the temple, and the walls will be rebuilt. So here's Isaiah speaking, and he doesn't just say it's going to be rebuilt.

He gives the guy's name before the guy's even born. A century before the guy's even born, he gives his name. And as a matter of fact, the temple and the walls of Jerusalem hadn't even been torn down yet, and he's describing the guy who's going to rebuild them.

Now that really bothers some people. So, not that Cyrus, this one, okay? All right. Anyway, Cyrus, there is a Cyrus Cylinder, and that's, I've got a small picture of it, we'll get a little bigger one when we get to it. But this Cyrus Cylinder, here's Cyrus, that's the real guy, and it gives descriptions that these people and these people and these people are to go back and rebuild their country, rebuild their cities, rebuild the places where they live. And so here's this guy, Cyrus, and it's well over a century before the guy declares this. A century easily before Cyrus is born is when Isaiah says, by name, here's the guy who's going to do it.

And they don't even need to rebuild anything yet because the temple and the walls are still there. That really bothers some people. So, we're going to be looking at that. Those who deny that Isaiah could predict see it this way. They see the first 39 chapters. They call that First Isaiah. They say that Isaiah, that part was written about 700 BC. Then the next group that has the prophecy we just looked at here, about 540.

Why? Because that was after Cyrus was around, and they're already given the order to go rebuild. So they say, well, that means that he's no longer predicting anything, he's just writing history. And then they'll say the last little bit there was written about 400 BC, because we got some other prophecies in there, and we can't follow this idea of predictive prophecy. So they break it up. So that's one group. Group number two.

Those who are of Jewish background, especially the Orthodox Jews, will say that these passages we view as speaking about Jesus Christ are not about Him at all. This is Isaiah 9-7, part of our passage. They say, no, that's not about Jesus Christ. We studied two weeks ago, Isaiah 52 at the end and then Isaiah 53. And the message from the Jews there is they would say, nope, that's not about Jesus of Nazareth.

That's about the people of Israel. Now what's very interesting is for the first thousand years of the church, they taught that this passage was about the Messiah. And then it bothered them so much that they decided, no, we're going to change. It's about Israel. They used to teach it was about the Messiah, but it was just too close. So they changed.

Then here's another one, the one we looked at last week. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. And that's even quoted as we saw in the New Testament.

And the Jews would say, nope, that's not about Jesus either. Nope, nope, can't be. And then the passage we're looking at here this morning. They would look at that and say, nope, Sorry, we're not going to go with that. That's about the Messiah yet to come, and he hasn't been born yet. So they would disagree. So anyway, that's why tomorrow morning I'm getting together with an Orthodox rabbi to talk to him about this.

So anyways, let you know how that goes. Third group is in the Muslim religion, the Jews and Christians are known as the people of the book. Ever been called that? That's what they would call you. Christ is even written of in the book. Issa is the name as it comes across there.

The Quran, however, says a few things that might surprise you. That God could not have a son, that it was not Christ who died on the cross, somebody else, and that Christ will come again, oh yeah, but he will serve Muhammad and Christ will seek to abolish belief in his crucifixion. So those, as we study these accounts, like Isaiah 53 that we looked at just two weeks ago, the Islamic folks would be very upset to see that in reference to Christ. They say, no, that wasn't Christ who died on the cross.

It was another man. It was a fake. So anyway, those three groups are going to be rather unhappy in varying ways and for different reasons with what we're going to talk about here for the next months ahead. But we're going to do it anyway. We're not out to please them. But we can continue to pray for those who don't understand. Nonetheless, we have these groups here.

We can speak the truth as the Lord provides opportunity. We certainly don't have something to cram down their throat, but as the Lord opens the opportunity, we certainly wouldn't want to miss that. Just keep in mind that it is because that the gospel is veiled that they don't see it. And so pray that the eyes of their hearts might be opened, as Paul prayed. Oh, and by the way, that the eyes of hearts being opened, as Paul prayed, Isaiah also writes about that. We'll see that too. Okay, one of the things that we'll see as we look at this passage, we've got the first part, a child is born to us, a son will be given to us, and that I think is about Christ's first coming.

And notice, as we look at John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. A son given.

And by the way, in the Greek Old Testament, a son and given to us, Same words as in the Greek version of John 3.16. A son given to us.

This is about Christ's first coming. Here is Christ's second coming. Now, it might be that you look at that and say, hey Vern, wait a minute, is that right? Can it be that we have the first coming and we've got the second coming? We've now already got at least 2,000 years between those events, or close to that. Is that right? That you have that right in the middle of the sentence? Right in the middle of the statement? Can you have a gap right in the middle of the prophecy? Is that correct?

Well, as you look at this here, let's take an example. Here you have the event that we look at and think about this time of year. Here is the angel Gabriel talking to Mary. He comes to her and notice something here. Look at verse 31. It says, Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. This is about the first coming. This is about the second coming.

How much break is there between those two? Is there any kind of a noticeable gap in what is said? No. And then it says, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him a throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Just like the prophecy given to David a thousand years earlier. A house, a throne, and a kingdom. Exact same words. And here is about the second coming, yet to be fulfilled. Now, here is Luke 4, another instance. Luke 4, 16 and 17. And here's Jesus.

He comes to the town of Nazareth, his own hometown, right? Maybe he's been away for a little bit, but where he'd been brought up, and it was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he opened the book and found the place where it was written. Now this is what is believed to be the synagogue there in Nazareth. So Jesus would have stood in front there. I probably didn't have the carpet in front at that point in time, but anyway.

And it says he read out of Isaiah, and the place that is quoted here is out of Isaiah 61. Now, it's interesting that what he read in Isaiah 61 ended in the middle of verse 2. How about that? He stopped in the middle of the verse, in the middle of the passage, even in the middle of the sentence. and took the scroll and handed it back to the synagogue attendant and ended his reading in Nazareth that day, in the middle of the sentence, in the middle of the verse.

Boy, okay. This part is about Christ's second coming and it's the only part that he didn't read. Why? It is yet to be fulfilled. So he stopped because And he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Has the second part been fulfilled? No. And so he handed back to them the scroll after reading in the middle of the sentence, in the middle of the verse, and stopping there.

Now some would ask, would it be customary to do this? They would point out, for example, that in the synagogue you had a reading schedule, and therefore Jesus wouldn't be given an opportunity to do that. But we bring this up as an instance. It was also the custom, if you had a visiting rabbi, to kind of seek him out and have him say something. This would be an example where they did that with Paul. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, Brethren, if you have any word of expectation for the people, say it. Paul stood up and mentioned it with his hand, and then he began to speak. Paul, as a visiting rabbi, would have an opportunity, as Jesus did, to read and to say things beyond what was the normal reading schedule.

Now, there are a number of other passages we could look at that point out time gaps that are not immediately apparent, and yet there are centuries of gaps of time about the other half, it's kind of like the rest of the story, yet to be fulfilled. It's not apparent from reading the passage that the time gap is there, and yet we know from observing these in multiple places that it's true. Now, the term for this is called prophetic postponement. In other words, there's one fulfillment, and then a time will pass, and then a later fulfillment.

And if you want to dig up some more info, you can check on the link we've got there, and a couple clicks and you'll be there. Okay, looking further in our passage here, a child will be born to us, a son will be given, the government will rest on his shoulders, his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. Notice as we proceed through this, this to us. Certainly, to us has a very wide application, but if we look at the context, it's real interesting who this was originally written to. Earlier in that very same passage, the first few verses, there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish.

In earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt. What's he referring to? As we'll see as we get into this in more detail, the Assyrians had come in and attacked this place. But, as we see pointed out here, here is the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, and let's get a little more specific. See, Naphtali, there, Zebulun. Now, why would he bring out those places? Because this is the map of the tribes of Israel and the land that they were assigned. So notice he points out Zebulun and Naphtali as particular places that would receive something special. And so he's singling them out. Well, how come? Here in the middle of the tribe of Zebulun is Nazareth. Funny, who's going to be in Nazareth? Seven centuries later, Jesus.

We have, just north of there, Cana. Jesus performed his first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Here is, a little farther around, also in the land of Naphtali, Capernaum. Capernaum was a place where Jesus visited on more than one occasion. It is a place where we see described in scripture that Peter's home was, and Peter's mother-in-law was healed there. As a matter of fact, archaeologists have excavated Peter's home, and looking at the confluence of evidence, it is virtually certain that it was indeed Peter's home, and they've mapped it out, the inside walls and everything.

So this would be a place where Jesus would minister also. So this land of Zebulun and Naphtali are places where the Lord repeatedly ministered. And that's why we would see later on in the passage here that the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Did they see a great light? Yes, they most certainly did. And I would suggest to you that it's not through being fulfilled.

There is additional revelation to take place from this as well. Then if we look at Isaiah 9-6 here, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders. This first part, a child will be born to us, this is in reference to Christ's humanity, His birth as a human being, fully God and fully man. The second portion there of verse 6 refers to Christ's royal reign. A son will be given to us. We might look at that as somewhat generic. But in biblical times, to have an heir to the throne, to have an heir to take the throne was something about which there was great celebration.

And here is a son who is given to us, a gift from God, as we saw in John 3.16. Here is a son who would take to the throne and be an heir, and yet he was given to us to give of his very life, to give of himself. Then something else to notice, multiple times in this passage we see reference to forever. And this reference to forever here, first we see eternal, and there might be a little bit of head scratching about eternal father. We're going to look at this passage again. And when we do so, we'll take a closer look at that. But I do want to take a look at the next three here today.

There will be no end, be the next part there. And then, from then on and forevermore. As you read through this passage, do you get any sense that this is anything less than forever? It's like underscoring the point. No end to this. On and on and on and on.

And if you don't get it, you know, I need to tell you again, this is forever. This means eternally. As we proceed, it says first of all, and we'll get to the eternal part next, there will be no end. Both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek Old Testament are really clear on this point. Checking them both out and comparing them just simply means no end. No terminus. No stopping. No place of quitting. Time's up. That's enough. There will be no end. Really clear. Real interestingly.

In Luke 1, 32 and 33, the exact same phrase as the Greek Old Testament here is in Luke, and guess what it is? In the birth of Christ. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Exact same Greek words.

And then it says from then on. This word, interestingly, does not directly communicate infinity, In eternality, it has the idea of this is the starting point and on to the vanishing point. So here it starts and it just continues from here. That's the idea that comes out there. And then the next word that comes out is forevermore. The Hebrew word here is olam.

And if we look at Psalm 90 verse 2, this word is used twice. In Psalm 90 verse 2 it says of the Lord this, Before the mountains were born and you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. From everlasting eternity back before everything was created. Can you imagine everlasting eternity past?

That's a little tough for us to think of time backwards. Most of us don't have watches that run backwards. But time backwards to before there was time. back into eternity past, on into eternity future, it doesn't say you were God, and you will be God, you are God. God's sense of time is the eternal present. This is why Christ repeatedly lays claim to, and as we'll see here shortly, the Old Testament, the Lord repeatedly lays claim to the eternal presence of God.

The Greek words that are used are, and we've brought them up before, ego eimi. I am the one who lives in the eternal present, the self-existing one, who does not depend upon time. That's our next slide over. On and on forevermore. When Jesus was speaking to John, the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, he says to John, do not be afraid. I am, ego eimi. I, the one who lives in the eternal present. I, the one who am self-existing. And the first and the last, we're going to see that three times as we go through Isaiah. Because God himself claims it. I am the first and the last, he says three times. And the first and the last time of those, he uses ego eimi.

I, the self-existing one who lives in the eternal present. And the first and the last. and the living one, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." This is Jesus Christ, isn't it? I was dead, and I am alive forevermore. In the Isaiah, Greek Old Testament, it says, into the age, or into the eon. Here in Revelation, Jesus says the same thing, but he says it in plural. I am alive, literally, into the ages. Into the ages. On and on and on.

Then in Isaiah 9.6, His name will be called, and notice that His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

What you get if you look at that literally is Jesus has a really long name, right? But it's important, as we go through Isaiah, and you see this other places in scripture, the Hebrew pattern was to say, his name will be called, and not point necessarily to the explicit name, what handle are we going to put on them, but what is the character of.

He's going to be explicit about what is the character of. And that's what he's going to do here. We're going to be looking at that again at the end of February in more detail. Now, a contemporary of Isaiah. We pointed out before that there were two prophets in Judah. That's the southern kingdom. The Saradan kingdom had two prophets, they lived at the same time, and one was Isaiah and the other was Micah.

Micah 5.2, here he is living at the same time. Isaiah is telling about the birth of the Messiah seven centuries in advance.

Micah 5.2 is doing the same thing, but he gives other information. But as for you, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth from me to be ruler of Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. How about Psalm 90 verse 2? From eternity past. From eternity past.

Now some folks might ask, well what's this name after Bethlehem? Bethlehem? Ephrathah? What is that? There was a need to be specific here because there was another Bethlehem just a few miles to the west of Nazareth. But it had a different name. Bethlehem Hagalilit was this village just a few miles to the west. But in order to be specific, no confusion at all, to be very specific, that's why it spells out Bethlehem Ephratah.

It's similar to, in the United States you may not be aware of it, but there's over a half dozen Denver's. So we would say Denver, Colorado, and that would specify it's this one, not the others. And so that's what he does here. He gives the name that makes it very clear. This is the specific one that we're talking about.

A real interesting thing about this name Bethlehem, that was the Hebrew name. Bethlehem means house of bread. So the Prince of Peace, who said, I am the bread of life, was born in the town called the House of Bread. The Jews fought the Canaanites, about 1400 years before this, and the Canaanites also had a name for Bethlehem. Sounds similar, Bethlehem. And Laham was the Canaanite god of war. So now the Prince of Peace was born in what was the Canaanite god of war's house.

How about that? As we look at these passages, what is amazing is here we see Christ prophesied in both Isaiah passages 714, 9-6, Micah 5-2, Contemporary of Isaiah, all of these passages are pointing forward to the coming of this child. But to think about it, we at this time of year think about and put focus upon the birth of Christ, on His coming.

The truth is, there are some events to happen after that that give the birth its significance. Without Christ's death for us, without His death on our behalf, that birth doesn't mean anywhere near as much, does it? It was because He not only was born there in Bethlehem under humble circumstances, but it was because He died. and was buried and was resurrected and ascended and seated. And in each of those things we were identified with him. That's why that birth is of great value. That's why Christmas is a wonder. Not just because of the stuff that's under the tree. Not just because of stories about reindeer and Santa Claus and things like that. But this wonder that God himself would be born this little baby under humble circumstances. And yet that baby would come to a place of dying for us, taking, as Isaiah spelled out in Isaiah 53, taking upon Himself our sins. All the wrath do us, He said, I'll take it. For the joy set before Him, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, He endured the cross.

That's why this time of year what we remember and what we consider and think about is so wonderful and so wondrous that we would be seated forever with the one who was born under humble circumstances, preserved for a much higher purpose than just being a nice little birth in a quaint village.

Let's thank the Lord for that. Lord, we do praise you. We do thank you for what you've done for us here. We will spend forever learning the magnitude of it, learning the depth and the breadth and the height of your marvelous grace, infinite. We thank you for as this time that we remember, this time that we look upon, is but the beginning of the fulfillment of wonderful promises that it will take us forever to understand. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.