The imitability of God, another doctrine, is it critical? Because without that you have a whimsical God. You don't know what he's going to do next. He's always changed his moody. That's the gods of the Romans and the Greeks. That's not the God of the Bible. He changes not.
His methods adjust, but he, his character, does not change. So if God is love, then God is God. He's not one day going to stop being a God of love and become the God of irritation.
You don't know what he's going to do next. Only Jesus is sinless, and I would categorize saying that Mary is sinless as a sin. That is unbiblical.
That is a lie. And I'll hit that with a lot of verses soon, but I want to cover some space first. We'll come back to the beauty of the sinless one. The word discouraged is the same word used up top for bruised reed. He's not going to be bruised.
It's a proper rendering. He won't be moved off course, no matter what he has to go through. He will not quench those that are failing, and he will not be quenched at disappointment. He would not discourage or discourage others, nor will he be discouraged. Until he has established justice, it says here. So his strengths are not temporary.
They are permanent. Verse 5, thus says God, Yahweh, that's the covenant name, is very significant to the Jewish people, and it should be to Christians also. It could be rendered Jehovah or Yahovah, but Yah'shua is probably closer to the pronunciation. You know, the Jews, they wouldn't write the whole word out.
It was too sacred, so we've lost the consonants and just have left with fragments of it. So the exact pronunciation is unclear. Well, but the fact is not unclear.
That's the important part. If somebody comes to you and says, you know, love, the word love is not written in the book of Acts. Yeah, but the fact is all over the book. These men being persecuted to their death because they love Jesus and they love the people that they're trying to reach.
The fact is what is important, not the package. And so, yeah, the fact of Messiah or Yahweh is unmistakable. And thus says God, Elohim, in Hebrew, Yahweh, so Yahweh is God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. Were there naysayers in the day of Isaiah?
Absolutely. The whole first 39 chapters are about all the people who don't believe in his own beloved homeland. The northern kingdom is gone because they didn't believe their own scripture. So Isaiah comes along and says, yeah, you believe what you want to believe. And I'm telling you, Yahweh is the creator. We're doing the same thing with, you know, evolution is laughable. The sad part is they won't abandon it because if they do, they have the only alternative that's viable is creation. Sagan the pagan calls Sagan, you know, he said, we're abandoning evolution. We're now looking to the stars. So aliens are going to be our gods. Well, where'd they come from?
So he's back to the same problem. You know, seeking to be wise, they became fools. They don't listen to the law and the prophets.
What wisdom do they have, says the scripture. Anyway, the God of Israel is the creator of everything except trouble unless you go against him. And that is his prerogative as God. Colossians tells us, and not only Colossians, John in Hebrews, tells us that Christ is that creator. Christ is Yahweh. He's equal with the father, indivisible. Colossians 1, verse 16, speaking of Jesus. For by him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. Satan is not the opposite of God, not a yin yang thing going on. Yin yang is a lie. There's no alternate power in the universe that's evil and equal to the power of good. Satan is a created being and so he says that whether on earth, invisible or visible, whether physical or spiritual, whether there are thrones, dominions or principalities or powers, they are under the authority of God. Now what is left out of that verse is that something went wrong twice. Satan's rebellion, I will exalt my stars, I will be like the most high, and then of course Adam and Eve. Here Adam, eat this.
Okay. And that behavior of lack of discernment and full out disobedience is still in motion, has been ever since. It has never been a break except in Christ. Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it? Well in contrast to those who create the idols that were rampant in Isaiah's day who had these figurines with no breath, they couldn't see, they couldn't do anything. We covered that already in Isaiah. Verse 6, I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles. Now he's speaking about the coming Christ.
This is not being applied directly to us. These are characteristics that we benefit from in God, but right now he's speaking about his elect servant, his beloved servant. And Messiah is God Almighty, El Shaddai.
As I mentioned, it will not be random. Matthew 5, 14, Jesus said this to the church, or it wasn't a church yet. He said this to the righteous Jews and whatever Gentiles were righteous. You are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. And then he says in another place, Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. That is called Christ-likeness.
It is a doctrinal position that if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. Part of that new creation is now he's giving off light. And this is, you know, when you come to Christ, you can't wait to tell people about Christ. That's shining the light.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You know, when you first come to Christ, you annoy people. Like, oh boy, he's going to preach to me. I know it. You got that right, buddy. They can see the pin coming out of the grenade. Maybe I should use more friendly examples. I don't have any.
I mean, they can see me pulling the rake out of the pickup. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles. The people there here in verse 6 are the Jews and the distinction between they and the non-Jews is the word Gentiles. And they both are under a new covenant now. Jeremiah said God's going to give us a new covenant and the new covenant is the New Testament. Same covenant, testament, same thing. Luke 22 verse 20. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.
Not us. Christ was sinless. No one had to die for him.
No one else was good enough to die for me. I love the gospel. I love the word of God.
It's hard to, you know, it's a hard life because of the curse. But it's worth pursuing righteousness in Christ. So we, well, I should stop and say God wanted Israel to be the head of nations, leading them to Yahweh, to their creator.
But because of idolatry, mainly idolatry, she failed. And this will be patched up in the millennial reign when the Jews will again be righteous and not as a people backslide ever again. Verse seven, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Well, this describes a state of lost and broken souls in every language, every religion on earth. Found in Acts chapter 26, demonstrating that the servant Messiah will overthrow the powers of darkness and the consequences of the curse from Eden. And he is over these things. He's above them.
This is a purlative language again. The signs of and proof of Messiah were that he would go through a village and heal everybody that was sick in accordance to the prophets. And this is why the Jews that rejected him had no excuse. And this is why the Jews that received him were able to link it to what had already been written. And when Jesus answered John's question, John says, are you the Messiah?
Do we look for another? Because John couldn't figure out why the Romans weren't overthrown because the Jews had this understanding that when the Messiah come, he's going to take over and he will. But not on the first coming, the second coming, he will. And Jesus essentially tells John, go tell John the things you've seen and things you've heard in Luke chapter 4 verse 18. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, you know, the poor have the gospel preached him. So what Jesus said is go tell John what the scripture says and John will connect the dot between what the Bible says and what I am doing.
And that will be his answer. And that is precisely what happens. However, Jesus omits the reference to the prisoners. As we just read here, to open blind eyes, bring out prisoners. He doesn't tell John that part because John's in prison.
It's kind of a nice, you know, it's a sensitive move. It's like, tell him I'm healing people and I'm preaching the gospel. Go tell him that part. Don't tell him a part about I'm letting the prisoners go free.
Because he was spiritually, but not physically, not yet. So Jesus answered and said to him, go tell John the things you have seen and heard, Luke 7 22. Anyway, Jesus said, go tell John the things you have seen and heard.
That the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the gospel preached to them, just like the prophet Isaiah said Messiah would do. Verse 8, I am Yahweh. That is my name.
My glory I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images. Well, Yahweh essentially means in the Hebrew, the self-existent savior. I mean, it's baked into that name, the I am. That is, that is, its title is declared here. That is my name.
That's what it says. I am Yahweh. That is my name. Self-existent. Exodus 3 14, if you want some Old Testament references. Assuring everlasting, an everlasting, unchangeable character.
That's Exodus 3 15. The imitability of God, another doctrine is critical. Because without that you have a whimsical God. You don't know what he's going to do next. He's always changed.
He's moody. That's the gods of the Romans and the Greeks. That's not the God of the Bible. He changes not. His methods adjust, but he, his character, does not change. So if God is love, he's not one day going to stop being a God of love and become the God of irritation. So the critical doctrines, they all have to match, and they all do.
It just takes a lot of work sometimes to articulate them. He has power to save, Exodus 6 2, as he pulled the Jews out of Egypt. His name is the guarantee of the fulfillment of his words. My glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images.
God, I'm not giving up any of this glory to that junk. I'm not yielding, I'm not giving anything to a lie. Sincerity does not overrule God's commandments or truth.
But I really felt it in my heart. Yeah, well it goes against what the scripture says, so it's void. To excuse oneself is to, from this truth, this principle, is to disapprove of God's character and will. To say, yeah, I know God says this and that, but I'm going to do this and he's going to wink at it.
You're lying to yourself. Nobody says that, but people do it. And we can be ingenious as fallen beings at creating ways around sin. So this whole idea of man passionately creating God in their image is absolute sin, and God will have none of it. All idolatry, however well-meaning, is high treason against the true God. And he is not going to share his glory, which just shoots down Jehovah Witness doctrine, which is just wacky and unbiblical and anti-Christ. It is anti-Christ because it denies who Christ says he is.
It says, no you're not. Okay, well you're going to answer for that. Only Jesus has this glory equal with the Father, not counting it robbery.
No crime is that. Romans chapter 3, for all of sin falls short of the glory of God. And of course we know later on it says Christ is sinless.
He's the exception. Again, Mary is not sinless, and there is not even a hint. Mary blessed among women, not above women. And if she were sinless, she'd be above women. But that's not what the Bible says. So the Roman Catholic Church is an inveterate liar when it comes to theology. And you say, well that sounds mean. I don't care about me. It's a fact.
It's not trying to be mean. I want Catholic people to come away from the doctrines of the popes and the cardinals and the bishops and come to the Bible and have that be their authority. That's why the reformers called it sola scriptura. The Bible alone is our authority for life. Those guys, man, they were so against those popes and cardinals.
But remember this. The reformers did a good thing. It was a courageous thing. But they still held on to some wacky doctrines. They don't set out theology. The apostles and the prophets set out theology. I'm not interested in John Calvin telling me what doctrine is. I want to know what the Bible says. And if that irritates people, they'll be irritated and I'll be kind of satisfied that I irritated somebody.
Anyway, no I won't. John chapter 2, verse 11. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. Now the Christian knows, the student knows, he's talking about the wedding feast at Cana. He's going to turn the water into wine. I would have preferred milkshakes.
I'm not an alcohol guy. But anyway, this heavy cleanup of the servants, right? Coming back to this, this is the miracle at Cana. And John says this is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. It would be blasphemy to say this about anybody else.
And Rick manifested his glory. But you can say it about the Christ because it is true. John 12 41. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. The Bible is very clear. Shared glory with Christ because he is equal with the Father. He is begotten of the Father, not created again. Only Jesus is seen in the New Testament sharing the glory of the Father. John chapter 14. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. You saw the prophets say it. You saw me do it.
What else do you need? Philippians 1 verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'd say that was shared glory. He's not saying grace and peace to you from God our Father and Peter the fisherman. It's Jesus Christ. And Paul does that with almost every letter he writes.
He prefaces it with that. 1 John chapter 2. Speaking of antichrist and anybody who is. There is the antichrist, the coming beast, the man of perdition, the man of sin. And then there are antichrists. There are individuals who are against Christ.
Well the Bible calls it out. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is Messiah. That he is Christ. Then he says to answer that question. He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
Can't say that about anybody. Ecclesiastes 7.20. For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. And at the time he wrote that, that was the way it is till Christ comes along. Proverbs 20 verse 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean. I am pure from sin.
Nobody can do that. Isaiah 53. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. And Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Well you have to have some pretty broad shoulders to have everybody's sin put on you.
And you have to be sinless. 2 Corinthians 5.21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin.
As to laying it on his shoulders. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. So when God looks at the believer, he does not see the sinner. He sees the sinner cleansed by his grace. When he looks at the impenitent sinner, he sees the sin. It's there.
Nothing has taken it away. If that guy gets into heaven because he did not repent on earth, he's going to be a troublemaker when he gets to heaven. So God has made a place for them. And we call it hell. And it's not going to be, you know, okay. It's not going to be tolerable. Or else it wouldn't be hell. The best that Jesus could point out about it is it's going to be like that, see that fire burning that trash over there? That's the best I can do for you.
Other than let's take you on a tour, which I'm not going to that. Anyway, verse 9. Behold, the former things have come to pass. The new things I declare before they spring forth, I tell you of them. No other religious writings has the prophecies like we have.
Not even close. Some don't even have none. The Qur'an has none. The Bible is over 400 concerning Christ alone. Already fulfilled.
And then some bonus ones of which ones to come. Sinless. Telling the future. Receiving worship. Embracing the glory of the Godhead. This is Christ.
These are exclusive rights to deity. John 13 19. Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am.
You are who? I am the one that spoke to Moses from the bush that burned but was not consumed. I am the one that Isaiah talked about, that Jeremiah talked about, all of them. There's a verse in here in Luke's Gospel, chapter 24, verse 27.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures of things concerning himself. Can't say that about an angel. Can't say these things about a created being.
These superlatives are reserved for the uncreated creator. All things exist through him and for him. John 14 29. And now I have told you before it comes to pass that when it does come to pass, you may believe. That's what God is after. Belief.
I'm trying to get you to believe me. The very thing that the curse of sin works from the inside out to stop us. Well, we're going to stop there. Well, we can do this little section to verse 13. So God will stop at verse 13. On the heels of this chosen servant, behold my servant, comes this outburst of song. Verse 10, sing to Yahweh a new song.
And we sing to him songs all the time. His praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it. You coastlands and you inhabitants of them.
Verse 11. Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice to villages that Kadar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Selah sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to Yahweh and declare his praise in the coastlands.
These are these Arab peoples here. Kadar was Ishmael's second son. Ishmael was not a good neighbor. His hand will be against every man and every man will be against him.
Just a knucklehead is the only conclusion you can come from that. And he was Abraham's firstborn, but not according to the spirit. Anyway, here is Isaiah looking at the Selah, Edomite fortress that the Edomites, Esau, the brother of Jacob, they established that wilderness fortress. The Moabites then took it over.
Then after them the Arabs got it. These Arab people are inveterate enemies of the Jews and yet Isaiah the prophet, the Jewish prophet is saying, we want the Lord to bless them too. He starts out, delight to the Gentiles. In verse 13, the Lord shall go forth like a mighty man. He shall stir up his zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout. He shall prevail against his enemies. And so the Lord will overthrow all that are against him.
You can't beat God. Let's pray. Our Father, just wonderful language that when the spirit fills the heart, it's so easy to see, it's so easy to love.
Once it is laid out before you, there's nothing to object to. We thank you for these things. Pray, get us all home safely. We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick right here on Cross Reference Radio.
