We're on the flight and that flight is predestined to go to heaven because of what the Lord has achieved. It is important to notice by the time we get to verse 13 that the Lord God himself associates the fear of man with forgetting him. In other words, being afraid of people causing one to depart from the faith.
Fear enough can steal faith. One of the great lessons of this chapter. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah. Please stay tuned with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio.
Specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 51 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Isaiah chapter 51 this evening. This section begins with the prophet reminding and encouraging the dedicated believers, which is kind of nice. You know, he talks to his people because we're getting so many rebukes as we go through the prophets. And he begins by taking them back to their roots and calls them to that kind of courage that's built by faith. It's a beneficial practice for all of us to go back to our roots to where the foundations of our conversion, our faith.
It was very exciting, usually. In verse 5, God assures his people, his servants, the righteous Jews, that justice will prevail and the Gentiles will come to him. They missed that as the generations went by in the days of Paul, you know, that was one of the big struggles. By verse 6, he fast forwards to the final days of judgment on earth. And then in verse 7, he comes back to the living, those at the time that the prophet put these prophecies in writing, and telling them, don't fear men, I'm with you. Again, he's speaking in these first 13 verses directly to those who are believers because there are so many unbelievers. By verse 8, he sums up the fate of the faithless, the judgments that will befall them. And he brings up the salvation of the saved. Salvation is the reason why there are people saved from judgment.
By verse 9, the prophet calls out to Yahweh to act now on behalf of his people. By verse 12, he instructs and exhorts, God does, he instructs and exhorts the believers to be brave while we are on our way to heaven. Believers are heaven-bound.
We're on the flight and that flight is predestined to go to heaven because of what the Lord has achieved. It is important to notice by the time we get to verse 13 that the Lord God himself associates the fear of man with forgetting him. In other words, being afraid of people causing one to depart from the faith.
Fear enough can steal faith. One of the great lessons of this chapter. The remainder of this chapter, he overviews Israel's afflictions and her final deliverance. Now most commentators going through the latter section of Isaiah after chapter 40, I think they overstate the Babylonian captivity. I think that Isaiah was not as focused on the Babylonian captives. There's some of that.
And it was refreshing, it is refreshing to find other notable commentators that agree with me or I with them. I haven't figured out which one came first. Anyway, ultimately it's always about faith and faithlessness. It always comes down to that no matter what. God can be speaking about end times, past times, present times, it's still a matter of faith. Where do you stand with God? Now we look at verse 1, listen to me, you who follow after righteousness. You who seek Yahweh, look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Sounds a little derogatory at the end, but it's not. Where he says listen to me, it's not Isaiah, it's God. The pronoun me is identified in verse 2 when God begins to make it clear through the prophet that he is speaking directly to his people. And he is sending them back to Abraham. Now he's got to use scripture to do that or else there'd be no knowledge. Well there could have been just word of mouth passed down, but they had the scripture at this time. And so here's a call to the righteous to have courage from faith.
Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh. And then he says look to the rock from which you were hewn. Now rock here is metaphor for Abraham and Sarah, not the coming Christ.
Which if you just stopped at verse 1 as a Christian, you would likely associate the rock with being our rock Christ as he sometimes is metaphorically referred to. But context is very important. If you have context or without context you have pretext. Text without context is pretext. Text without context is misleading. It's wrong. So you have to say well what's going on?
What's the whole picture here? And what verse 2 tells us? Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.
There's their rock as a people, as a race. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. The fact that he brings up Sarah, God is pointing out to his people, he's reminding them that what is impossible with people is not impossible with him. It's very difficult to trust God when you're falling apart.
Life's falling apart around you and God seems to be apathetic or just inactive. Well delayed help from God is not the same thing as no help from God. Sarah waited at least 75 years. She had her child Isaac at 90 and you factor in what she had. Let's say she's 15, 16 at that time when she started thinking about having children. So that's where I get the 75.
It's not entirely random but it's arbitrary. She was 90 when she had Isaac. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. He's talking about Abraham. He promised Abraham to be a great nation and a blessing to the entire world. That the entire world through the ages to come would be blessed through Abraham.
This is going to get some interesting stuff here, stuff that I like. Well with the exception of born again Christians, why does the world not consider Israel a blessing? What's their problem? Well we know. Well the answer also lies in the future.
So I need the Bible to explain the Bible to me. When will they be a blessing? Well they're going to be a global blessing directly. They are indirectly and that Messiah has come from the Jew. But the world doesn't appreciate that. When Israel accepts Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah the entire world will be blessed.
It is the kingdom age. Therefore since they have rejected as a people, not individually. There's many individual Jewish people who are Christians.
But those who have rejected Christ and largely vilified him as a false prophet. They can't really be a blessing. They have become an anti-blessing to the lost side of the world. Not to the Christian.
This is the world view. Why is not Israel a blessing? Because Israel has rejected their Messiah. And thus the church is now the primary light bearer to the world of the word of God.
Now the nation Israel not being pro-Jesus and the Jews at large not. The whole world gangs up on them. This is a satanic thing. It's more than human. There are humans responsible and guilty but there is also satanic activity. Satan wants to purge the planet of the Jews. Islam is currently the dominant instigator on the human level but Satan is behind it all. Now Satan is going to fail at this. Being the father of insanity he himself is insane. He does not see it that way.
He thinks he's going to succeed. In 1994 Rwanda had a civil war going on and the Hutu tribes were trying to wipe out the Watusi tribes. They did not succeed but they slaughtered almost a million of them with machetes going into villages, going into churches and just wholesale slaughter. Had they succeeded, had the Hutu succeeded in exterminating the Watusi not a single portion of scripture would have been affected. It would have been horrible, savage and all those things but it would not have affected faith, scripture. Had anyone succeeded in wiping out the Jews it would have collapsed scripture.
Satan knows this and he's trying to do it with all that he has. So watching, you know I don't watch mainstream news, I try not to but I do watch some of the things that are posted by other sources and I'm watching how the Israeli IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces they're called Israeli Defense Forces because they don't attack anyone unless they are attacked. They defend themselves and they want to take the war to their attacker's land.
They're going to drop bombs, they want to drop them on the attacker's territory. Well, I'm watching all of the pundits and you know all the Russians and this and the Iranians and then you know the Yosemite Sam coming from the north and I'm saying you ain't going to touch those Jews. You ain't going to kill a few of them, they're going to win.
You're not going to stop them, they're unstoppable. And I want to back that up with scripture. Why is it that Antichrist wants to make a covenant with them? Because he can't beat them in combat, that's why.
He's got to come up with a slick way around to get in there to destroy them. I was going to preach on Balaam and Balak and I can weasel it in and not get any flack from the Lord on it because it's part of it. Because that's what Balak wanted to do, he wanted to destroy the Jewish people. He called Balaam, he hired him, cursed these people and he couldn't do it because the same voice, I'm giving away my sermon so I'm going to have to come up with another one. But anyway, the same voice that controlled the donkey was the same one, well the same person controlling the voice of the donkey was the same one controlling the voice of Balaam. But what did Balaam end up doing? He said, listen, if you want to beat these Jews, you've got to get me off this mountain and you've got to get your people into that valley with those Jews and beat them there. You need to seduce them from their faith. And it almost worked were it not for righteous Phineas. So the Jews, yeah, they're not going anywhere, they've got to live through this horrible anti-Jewish world that we live in.
I'm just killing my time with these anecdotal stories, not mine, this one. This Muslim woman in Indiana backed her car through the glass windows of this storefront trying to wipe out the Jews that were there to find out it was an anti-Semitism group. She's got the wrong window.
Anyway, she'd be going to jail, I hope, maybe. Anyway, Luke chapter 1, here is the father of John the Baptist, his name is Zacharias, he's a priest and he makes this prayer that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Why? You're supposed to be a blessing from Abraham. And at that time it wasn't because they rejected Messiah, but they were largely disobedient through their history, through idolatry. So all of this, where I'm bringing this up is because God is saying to his people, remember Abraham and his faith and I want you to get some of that faith.
Abraham was supposed to be a blessing, I want you to be a blessing. But sin has gotten in the way of all of it. And it's a warning to we Christians, don't you take your faith lightly. We are at war constantly, spiritual war. And don't for one minute let your guard down.
Don't live in fear, but don't live recklessly either. Verse 3, for Yahweh will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
Well that's what's coming, it's not yet happened. Now it's interesting that Zion here, he mentioned Zion, the name of Yahweh's earthly dwelling, the tabernacle, and then that's extended to Jerusalem, then extended to Judah, then the promised land and the people. So when you say Zion, the definition is extended. It speaks of Jerusalem here, figuratively it speaks of Jerusalem. But he's going to later refer to Zion as the people.
We'll get to that later on in this chapter. Well, he says Yahweh will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places. This is what God wants to do. The consolation of Israel, as quoted by Simeon, when they brought the baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord, he applied it, Simeon did. Taking up the child, we read this in Luke chapter 2, and behold, as Simeon is speaking, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. You know, when you're born again, you just love when God says the Holy Spirit's on you. You love the person whom the Holy Spirit's on. You just have this bond, and it goes anywhere in the world that you come across a Christian with the fill of the Spirit.
It's an instant thing. It's just a love connection, and you can look backwards in history and see them in Scripture. I mean, who doesn't love David running at Goliath and taking him out? Well, it continues here, he will make, well, I know who doesn't, sorry, I know the answer, but what Christian? He will make her wilderness like Eden. So there are some geographical changes coming to Israel. When Christ returns to the earth, his feet will touch down first upon the Mount of Olives, and that is the exact point from where he ascended into heaven.
So where he departed from, he's returning to. Zechariah 14, 4 is where we get some of this, and in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And so as the mountains separate, there's going to be this access point towards Jordan.
That's where it's going to face. Now, Eden represents the ideal environment on earth, not heaven. Of course, heaven transcends Eden. The New Jerusalem is much more than Eden could ever be. But from earth's perspective, Eden is the top of the line. So prophetically, the return to Eden is a metaphor for a relationship, a restored relationship with God, because before they were cast out of Eden, before the fall, they walked with God. He mentions Thanksgiving here in verse 3. Once restored and comforted, Zion will be full of worship and song. Ezekiel refers to, in Ezekiel 20, verse 6, he refers to the Promised Land as the glory of all lands that the prophets were able to see far beyond the time they lived in. And that's a miracle.
You know, it's like an unsung miracle, to be able to see the future with such certainty. You can prophesy about it as though it's already happened. There's nobody here who can do that. Well, you can if God lets you, but it's not how the church is set up. There are some exceptions, but overall, the role of the church is the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ in accordance to the word of God. We're not here to go around healing everybody.
We'd love to. Sometimes it does happen. It's always the Lord's doing, but our primary role is the salvation of souls. What does it profit a man if you heal him and he still goes to hell?
Not very much. Well, anyway, there's room for miracles for sure, but there's more room for getting the work done that we've been assigned to do, and that is to, by faith, you shall receive power. To do what? To be witnesses of Jesus Christ. And we read about that in the book of Acts. Anyway, verse 4, listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, O my nation, for law will proceed from me, and I will make my justice rest as a light on the peoples. What did the non-fundamental Jews do with such verses as this?
All of these superlative verses from the prophets, with their verses to us in those days, just the prophecies, what did they do with them? Well, I'm going to take the witness of Amos, Micah, and Zechariah. They tell us what the non-fundamental Jews did. When I say non-fundamental, the ones that did not hold to their scripture.
A fundamental Christian is one that adheres to the Bible. How else would you know how to be a Christian and what a Christian is without the word of God? Well, Amos says this about their behavior. You gave the Nazarites wine to drink and commanded the prophets, saying, do not prophesy. So you stumbled those who were trying to dedicate themselves to God, and you told the preachers to shut up. That's how they handled such verses. You know, they hated Amos. He's from the south, and he was ministering in the north, and they wanted him to go back to the south.
Micah rings in. He tells us, and both Amos and Micah are ministered or contemporaries of Isaiah at some point. He says, her heads judge for a bribe. Her priests teach for pay. Her prophets divine for money. Yet, they lean on Yahweh and say, is not Yahweh among us? No harm can come to us. They're delusional.
They think because they own a Bible and they're God's people that, okay, I could just do what I want to do. I can disrespect God to his face. I don't care.
It's not going to harm me. That's why God dealt with this, because an unbelieving world would be watching and say, man, if their God lets them get away with this stuff, then I guess anything goes. But he doesn't. He's a holy and righteous God, and that's why the prophets warned of doom. The final one on giving us a view of how God's word was handled by the people is much later, after Amos and Micah, then Zechariah comes along some 400 years later, almost. But they refuse to heed, shrug their shoulders, and stop their ears so that they could not hear. The faithless have inoculated themselves against the voice of God. They've set up all sorts of fancy barriers so God's word can't get to them. They become delusional, spiritual sociopaths. They function in God's creation, and yet they can never touch the heart of God.
This happens. There are people that are like this today. Facts mean nothing to them.
The only thing that means something to them is whatever they want. He says that they would, he says by his presence, when he comes to establish his kingdom, that his justice will rest as light, as a light of the people, peoples plural. So once the Jews are restored and comforted, Zion will be full of worship and song, as I mentioned earlier. This in contrast to Isaiah 50 verse 11, where it was the sparks of man's generated wisdom and intelligence. Compared to God's light, man without God, his light are like sparks. You don't get much light from a spark, even with a pneumatic grinder.
You're not going to get enough light to do much. Anyway, verse 5, my righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait upon me, and on my arm they will trust. Now we've covered the coastlands before, not waste, but not take time to repeat that.
We'll move on here. In verse 5, here is God's grace, doing for his people what they don't deserve. That's the fact of all of God's people. What they could not do for themselves is make themselves right with God.
They could only receive the solution. That's what a believer is. The divine pronoun, me, shows up four times in verses 4 and 5. The divine first person possessive adjective shows up seven times. So whenever that happens, God is emphasizing something, and in this case it's his presence, it's him. My righteousness, my salvation, my arms. We're in verse 4, my people, my justice, my nation.
Oh Lord, we get it and we love it. Verse 6, lift up your eyes to the heavens and look on the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
Well, that's last Wednesday's message. Again, Revelation 21, 1, and 2 Peter 3, 10 are other places. There are more, but what we covered last week covers that verse. Verse 7, listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is my law, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. So now again, he's addressing those whose, the word is in their heart, verses someone who just is in their head and hands maybe, but it ain't in their heart. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength.
The heart really covers all of it. 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.
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