John goes ahead, and I'll take just one where he does it, he does it twice in Revelation, but in John, he says again in other scriptures, he says, they will look on him whom they pierced. He's applying Zechariah 12 to Jesus Christ. And so are we.
And it is, you can't think this stuff up. As complicated as the scripture is, a little child can understand enough of it to get to heaven because of it, and yet theologians can go mad trying to figure out what Peter the fisherman was saying. 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. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through Isaiah chapter 52 on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. The unjust death of Jesus paid the debt for us all. This is what the Isaiah 53 is going to be all about. Now, I must point out, there's not the physical blood of Christ. There's no power in that.
We don't believe in magic. This is a spiritual issue. The words that I speak to you, Jesus, are spirit.
I'm not telling you to engage in cannibalism. I'm telling you, unless you take of my flesh and take of my body, the words I'm saying to you are spirit. If we were saved by the physical blood of Christ, we'd all be lost because there's no blood for us to have sprinkled on us.
These are spiritual issues, and they are bigger than the physical issues. So, keeping everything spiritual, depending on the Holy Spirit, we're supposed to be a spiritual people. When we talk about being born again, that Greek word can also mean born from above, that we're in total contact with the unseen. The unseen to us is very real, and it is not to the unbeliever, or the unbeliever has a counterfeit that they have exchanged the truth for the lie. Verse 4, for thus says the Lord Yahweh, my people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there, then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Well, there's a gap between the Egyptian oppression, or captivity, and the Assyrian enslavement of the northern kingdom by 600 years. Now, why point that out? It's critical for end times stuff. When the Lord comes and speaks about end times, he merges so much of it, he condenses it, and leaves it for us to sort out the timeline. Because what's he supposed to do? The church wasn't even in existence when he preached on the end times.
The Jews would never have understood him saying, well, the Gentiles are going to flood into the church, and they're going to preach that I am the Son of God, and you're going to hate them. What's he supposed to do? So he just condenses end times things, just packs it in, and leaves it for us. And some of it has a dual application, some of it is a single application.
It is very discernible. It just takes a lot of work. And you say, well, how are we supposed to... Well, you have the codes right here in the Old Testament, and the New Testament develops those codes for us. And then John, you know, in his apocalypse, he just, you know, says, well, let me just show you how this all plays out. And he sort of runs this, you know, you remember when they used to show slides and click them? This is us at the beach, click.
This is us at the restaurant at the beach, click. Well, John is kind of doing some of that with the revelation. Well, verse five, now therefore, what have I, says Yahweh, that my people are taken away for nothing. Those who rule over them make them well, says Yahweh, and my name is blasphemed continually every day. Well, baked into that are these kings in Israel that were monsters. And God is like, you know, hey, these are my people. But those who are my people, as far as a nation goes, are not saved as individuals just because they're of their ethnicity, as we've covered that.
It's going to take more than being a Jew to get to heaven, and it's going to take more than being interested in the Bible to get there. You have to have that relationship, that born-again relationship. And you've got to maintain it, because the wilderness of carnality will take back whatever it can. Just, you know, don't mow your lawn anymore, and just see what happens.
The wilderness will take it back, and a tree will grow through your living room, give enough time. Anyway, when verse five, the cruelty and the captivity of the Jews, how much they've suffered over the centuries, Yahweh's people enslaved because they disrespected God. There's nothing random with God. It's not like, oh, look at that.
I must have missed that. I did not see those armies on your border. Never. God is sovereign. And I'm a true believer, when someone comes to church, whether they're a critic or just a soul in need or there to serve or worship, it's not by accident. God's all over it.
What you do with it is another story. So, when his people persistently defied him, he ordered even Jerusalem destroyed. Twice so far a third one is coming. So, this perception of divine weakness or meanness is addressed in Ezekiel 36. We don't have time to go into all of that. Just I'll take one excerpt from Ezekiel 36, verse 21. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.
And that section, it keeps repeating that. You profainted. You messed this up. I wanted to bless you. You wanted to make me judge you. And so, God is saying, let's get this clear. Anybody that conquers you has not conquered me. You're being judged and I'm using them to judge you. And I'll deal with them, too.
Let all men be a liar. God is not mocked. Romans chapter 2, verse 24.
We'll be getting this one Sunday and a few Sundays. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written. Now, he's talking to the fraudulent believers, the make-believers instead of the true believers. And he's saying, you know, this false testimony you have, you make unbelievers want to reject Christ.
They blaspheme Christ because of you. You know, why isn't the Bible enough? I mean, I'm not saying we can't read other materials on Scripture.
We certainly can. But if those materials don't match the Scripture, if they contradict the Word of God, let them be anathema to you. Burn those things.
You don't need them. Don't go by, oh, but I felt so good. You're being deceived. You're being suckered. Oh, but I felt a warmth in my heart.
You're stupid. Because you're trading your salvation and the truth of God for a sensation that he has forbidden and happens all the time. I used to do a prayer in the church in Manhattan. Each of the boroughs, there are five boroughs that make up New York City, and Manhattan was mine. And one of my, it was only like two or three men and a lot of women, like 20 women or so. And in the house of the hostess, she had bookshelves. So I looked on the bookshelves and I said, I better not do this again. Just choose your battles. Deal with it from the Scripture when we come to it. But man, there's so much junk in those.
I don't know if she believed it or if she just was a book hoarder. But you got to be careful. The problem with being a voracious reader is you run out of good stuff. So you start drinking the bad stuff.
And that's just beyond guard. Anyway, the Jews were disciplined by God for flagrant disobedience. Big difference practicing versus being a participant in sin. Flagrant sin is, you know, who cares what God says? But the Christian that won't even look up, Lord, I'm ashamed of myself. That's not flagrant sin.
That's someone struggling against sin. So after God allowed his people to be judged, they were mocked. They were mocked by their, those who conquered them.
Double humiliation. They were conquered and then they were humiliated because they failed to understand that Israel suffers for turning on their God. Isaiah 40 verse 2, speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended and her iniquity is pardoned for she has received from Yahweh's hand double for her sins. Healing for the humiliation, healing for the defeat, God's restoration is thorough. So verse 6 now, therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks.
Behold, it is I. I love when God gets personal like this, you know. That behold, when you see behold in scripture, it's drama music. You know, if you watch a suspense movie without the music, you won't be in suspense. I do it all the time.
Because I don't like them playing with my feelings, you know. They get that music going on. Your blood pressure goes up.
Turn the sound off. So this is actually kind of good. But in the scripture, when that behold kicks in, that's the drama music but it's not there, well it shouldn't be there for the righteous to be frightened. It excites us but to the wicked it can be a warning.
Behold, it is I. So ethnic Jewish people will see what genuine Christians have been saying since the empty tomb. Zechariah 12 again, he says, and I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.
Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. The language is New Testament all over it. The only son, the only begotten son and the firstborn. You know, it's just Mary's firstborn, incidentally, because she had second, third, fourth born, etc.
So beautiful language. Well, you say, well, that's Old Testament. Well, it's clear. The house of David, the tribe of Judah, Jesus, the Nazarene. But then John goes ahead and I'll take just one where he does it. He does it twice in Revelation. But in John, he says again, another scripture says they will look on him whom they pierced. He's applying Zechariah 12 to Jesus Christ. And so are we.
And you can't think this stuff up. As complicated as the scripture is, a little child can understand enough of it to get to heaven because of it, and yet theologians can go mad trying to figure out what Peter the fisherman was saying. Anyway, verse 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says, Zion, you, your God reigns. And this is a beautiful song. We have this in song and you get to the chorus, our God reigns. I mean, I love songs that just magnify the sovereignty of God because his sovereignty doesn't frighten me.
It encourages me. It's his invincibility, not his tyranny. God's not looking to thump me upside my head when I goof. He's looking to restore me every time. His mercies are new every morning because if they weren't, I couldn't survive.
Neither could you. We have a robust salvation and just a treacherous flesh. And we got to understand that to be able to be useful. Well, here he says, well, I just reminded, you know, whatsoever things are good, of good report.
Meditate on these things. You know, don't be the one that always comes and drags everybody down. Did you hear about the fish that died? You know, it's like a grim reaper every time this guy shows up.
The Eeyore complex. Go the other way with that. Hey, I got good news.
I don't have any bad news, at least that I'm going to tell you. Well, Jerusalem is surrounded by hills and mountains. In the ancient Jerusalem, before you know, the taller buildings, you could go up on your housetop, which the people did, especially to cool off in the evening, and you could look out and you would see the hilltops. And so if a messenger coming, you'd see them moving over the hills as depicted well, it happened in Samuel when David had a messenger coming.
Anyway, that's what he's talking about. When it's good news, you know, it's a beautiful picture. I remember the day when so-and-so told me, maybe you remember the day when you know that your child, you know, it's a boy. I was, you know, away from home when my son was born. And it was, I remember to this day, he had a captain, he was real tall, real big feet, and because they called him Sasquatch, not to his face. And he spoke, you know, Corporal Gaston, you're now the father and you know, it's good news. You never forget these kind of moments in life. Anyway, and he left out the bad news.
You know, he's a premature kid, you better get home. So anyhow, Abraham quotes this also, Ephesians 6, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And you might have noticed in this verse, peace and good and salvation. Jesus Christ did not come here with good ideas and philosophies. He came with good news and absolute truth.
Of course, his ideas are facts and they are good. But the devil, he works to corrupt good news. Good news for us is bad news for him. And you know, there are those that when they get good news, hear good news of someone else, they become envious or sarcastic. And you just fight those kind of things. That's what's going to have to happen if you're susceptible to it.
You don't have to put up with that stuff without a fight. John, remember when Philip, the future apostle, they found Christ and he heard him and he said, man, he couldn't wait to tell Nathanael. You got to hear that, we found Jesus the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael, like, he tries to put the kibosh on it. Can anything could come out of Nazareth?
Whoa, it was us. And Philip, who could never answer pressure, you know, it seems, Philip, how many loaves of bread? I don't know. Anyway, Philip, instead of arguing with Nathanael, he said, come and see. He brought him to church.
And then Nathanael, you know, as soon as Christ sees Nathanael, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile, somebody I don't have to worry about trying to deceive me, not up to something. He's a straight shooter. I want to be that guy. I want to be the guy that people don't think I'm up to no good. I've tried. They still don't like me. I kind of like that sometimes.
You know, it's funny. This person thinks that, you know, they're tolerating me. But in reality, I'm tolerating them and they're too dumb to see it. And I go home.
You know, it does happen, though, sometimes. You can tell when somebody is being condescending and, you know, you're just like, what makes them think that the world revolves around them? It revolves around me and they don't see it. The feet of him.
The him here is a collective pronoun. The feet of those, you could say, who bring good news. That would be us. That would be the righteous. And Paul quotes this section, but we're running slow on time, Romans 10, and he applies it to the gospel, of course. Peace, good salvation. The Bible is not a message of, the Bible is primarily not a message of doom. Primarily it is a message of salvation.
And it's up to the individual. You won't drift into heaven. You're going to have to stand up and receive it. Well, you know, it's like God says to, you know, to the planet, who would like to receive salvation?
Stand up. And only the born-again, you know, the ones that stand up. Who says to Zion, your God reigns? A glorious feature of God is his invincibility, his omnipotence. Again, not synonymous with tyranny.
There are doctrines that do portray God as some sort of a tyrant. He's, you know, and you can't challenge him. You can't ask. It's hidden.
That's nonsense. There are things that are hidden, and you can tell they're hidden because you won't find them. But otherwise, if you ask, seek, and knock, there are things that will be told to you. But not anything. You know, you can't ask, you know, Lord, what's my co-worker's IQ? He's not going to tell you.
And there are many such questions. I'm being polite. Anyhow, 1 Peter chapter 4, therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. Peter resolved that when I find hardship in my life, my creator is faithful, and I'm going to leave it there. And the pain that I suffer, I'm just going to have to take it.
I don't like it any more than you do. But what I do like about this is it's not going to be forever. The day will come where there's not going to be any more sorrow, pain, or any of that. Anyway, the destiny of man, not random. No matter what man says or thinks he believes, God never loses control no matter what's going on. He was not defeated by Israel. He was not defeated by Israel's defeats.
Although the Gentiles thought, you know, you're God, he couldn't protect you. But they had an opportunity to tell the whole story, and they did, especially Daniel and Ezekiel. Anyway, Israel defeated because they exchanged lies. Verse 8, your watchmen shall lift up their voices with their voices. They shall sing together for they shall see eye to eye when Yahweh brings back Zion. Verse 9, break forth into joy. Say together you waste places of Jerusalem for Yahweh has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Verse 10, Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eye of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. Now, of course, this has not yet happened. This is why, you know, you can't apply this to the Babylonian captivity.
This is still the future. And, you know, you want to know about prophecy? Well, here's prophecy, you know, this covers a broad range of things. Verse 8, those looking for redemption, your watchmen, in contrast to those who don't care, who are disinterested. When Simeon was in the temple and Joseph and Mary bring in the baby Jesus, Simeon takes the child in his arms and he pronounces his blessing. Well, Anna shows up. And Luke chapter 2, she speaks and she says, in the coming in that, well, and coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all who looked for the redemption in Israel.
You catch, she shared there were others that were watchmen. They were interested in the redemption of Israel. They wanted their Messiah. And Anna, she addressed those people.
And so we're in verse 8 of Isaiah, he says, your watchmen shall lift up their voices. Well, who's not going to lift up their voices? Well, the ones that weren't interested. Anna found those that were interested. Simeon was one of them. And Luke, Joseph and Mary clearly were because that's how Luke got the information. He wasn't there.
Someone had to tell him. And by the time he comes along, Simeon and Anna were long gone. But Mary was still around.
Joseph was probably gone. But Mary was there. Mary hid a lot of things in her heart. Because she would, you know, she'd hide the blessing.
I don't know what this is, but I'm not going to forget it kind of a thing. You got to love her for that. She didn't feel like, well, I must know.
You know, she just, this is crazy. I have the best kid in the whole neighborhood. And it was true. The first time, the first time a mom got it right about their kid. Especially the youngest. Don't mess with the youngest. They got a double dose of venom for those who mess with the youngest. And I'm the youngest, but now I'm old.
How's that work? Anyhow, this, so when he says they shall see eye to eye, vividly, it would be vivid. This is not going to be.
It's kind of obscure. It won't be. Verse 9, the arm of Yahweh is his earthly exercise of strength. Saving the people. This is going to be a global headline. That's what the prophet is saying. It's not going to be hidden. The world is at a loss to explain Israel's survival. Because they don't want to.
That's why. And those in the world who want to end up coming out of the world. Revelation chapter 1. Behold, he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him. We're back to that Zechariah prophecy. Question, how is everybody going to see him at the same time? Well, I don't know, but I have some ideas and I've submitted them to heaven.
He could make a slow, you know, it doesn't say, he could slowly approach the earth like a comet or something, you know, just reenter, coming into, you know, that's one way. I don't know that that's going to be it. He says as lightning flashes from east to west, you know, they're going to find out.
It's going to happen. I'll be there, but I won't have my phone up, because I think it looks pretty dumb. 500 people standing there, it's like, what? You want to just smack their hand, but they might get you and then record it and post it. Look, this is me getting beaten up by a bunch of angry people with telephones for cameras. Anyway, that could be a good thing.
You could have telephones for cameras, kind of a fun drive for, all right. Verse 11, depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of Yahweh. I think he circles back here to his audience because he's a preacher and he's a very knowledgeable preacher. So he circles back and he's sort of like, hey, let's just remember in the face of all of these glorious prophecies, we have a commitment to separation from those things that are evil.
That's what the saints are all about. And so he circles back, tells the righteous to double down. Paul picks up on this in 2 Corinthians and they needed it. We know about that church. 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.
