As Far as the Eye Can See: The Glory of God to the End of Time (Isaiah Sermon 44)

In the summer of 1987, I went on my second mission trip, I had been the year before, in Kenya, but this time I went to Pakistan, and toward the end of that summer, we made an incredible trip across the Karakoram mountains along the Karakoram Highway, into China. And the part of that incredible journey was a trip through the Khunjerab Pass, which is the highest pass in the world, in terms of altitude, it’s the highest I’ve ever been while standing on terra firma, almost 16,000 feet. And I remember distinctly that day, it was one of the most spectacular days of my life, because I took my life in my hands and rode on the luggage rack of the van, down the Karakoram Highway, for hours. The kind of thing I wouldn’t do now, as a married man with children, but I’m glad I did it, at the time.

And I can’t even describe, I can’t put into words the scenery that I saw from that lofty perch, from the Khunjerab Pass. You can see mountains as far as… It was a clear day, and just row upon row of mountain ridges, that were just going out before my eyes. It was just amazing, and I stood there and just soaked it all in, and I just thought about it. And then it occurred to me as I was standing there, that these mountains look like they’re touching each other, but they’re, really, probably 20-50 miles apart. Maybe even more. And this gives me, this morning, as I begin this overview of the last section of Isaiah 40 through 66, a kind of an analogy of what it was like for Isaiah, the prophet, touched by the supernatural power of almighty God, touched by the Spirit of God, to be able to stand at a certain point in history, 7th century BC and to describe, to write down, in timeless words on a scroll, things that wouldn’t be fulfilled for centuries. And they’re just, literally, side by side with each other, in the words of this scroll. You go from one chapter to the next and from one theme to the next, and they’re just one chapter on top of each other, but these events are separated by centuries, even by millennia.

And so, Isaiah, supernaturally endued by the sovereign Spirit of God is able to write about things that were only beginning to happen in his time, or that wouldn’t even happen for a long time. He prophesied, for example, the return to idolatry of Judah and Jerusalem under Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, and how that idolatry would lead to the invasion of Judah by Babylon, and how Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. The Temple of Jerusalem would be razed by the Babylonians, leading to a small remnant of Jews, exiled to Babylon for their sins. But then, subsequently, the destruction of Babylon, by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great whom he names specifically by name, in two chapters, Isaiah 44 and 45, and how Cyrus the Great would issue a decree to rebuild the ruins of Judah and Jerusalem and let the foundations of the temple be laid. He named Cyrus the Great 100 years before his parents were born, Cyrus’s parents.

I’ve often wondered if they had free will in the naming of their son. Or if there was somebody whispering, “Cyrus would be a good name. Why don’t you try Cyrus?” But how this specific prophecy had been written down a century before that. And then, how this small remnant of Jews 42,000 of them, he didn’t say the number, but a small remnant of Jews would return to the rubble of Judea, the rubble of Jerusalem and rebuild it? And re-establish a Jewish presence in the Promised Land, leading to the greatest single event in redemptive history, and that’s the life-death resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who’s ministry, he saw more clearly than any other Old Testament prophet. Isaiah wrote, very, very plainly of the coming of the Messiah, and his bloody death on the cross, his piercing for our transgressions, and of his bodily resurrection from the dead. All of these things seen seven centuries before Christ was born.

And then, the coming of the Holy Spirit, poured out in abundance like rain on the people of God, and how, as a result of the sovereign activity of the Spirit of God, the sons and daughters of God would spring up like plants from a field. And there are a lot of different ways to look at that prophecy, and we’ll talk about them, about the coming of the Spirit, and how Jesus was going to be a light for the Gentiles, that he might bring the salvation of God to the ends of the earth. And how the Gospel would spread to the ends of the earth and be successful there and there would be Gentiles who would believe in this Jewish Savior. And they would repent of their sins and trust, and they would call on the name of the Lord while he was near and find salvation in Jesus, how this would happen even to the ends of the earth and to the ends of time.

But how the final wrath of God would be poured out on the earth, for its wickedness and its sins, leading to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And debatably, we can talk about it, but possibly, the millennial kingdom. And if there’s any Scripture that describes in detail the thousand years reign of Christ on earth, it would have to be Isaiah, although that’s debated. But how people live to unnatural old age before they die, and how there’s an astonishing flourishing of agriculture in the land, and all of these things. And then, what’s not debatable is judgment day beyond all of that, and the separation of the entire world into believers and unbelievers and a clear depiction of the final place of condemnation, hell, in language that’s right there to the very end of the book of Isaiah, but then also a depiction of the New Heavens and the New Earth, the home of righteousness is coming. All of these things, like those mountain ridges, one on top of the other, you just can reach out and touch them all as you read this book.

But separated in actuality by dozens, hundreds, even thousands of years, and Isaiah saw it all. So I have a different image from another mission trip I made. A number of years later, I was preaching in Poland, and we were in a very beautiful area, rolling green hills, lakes, and I was in a hotel I was writing on the balcony of the hotel. And I looked out from where I was on the sixth floor, and just so pretty there, in Northern Poland, and there was this ultra light, you know those little planes that people fly they’re like powered hang gliders? Those guys are maniacs. But I would love to have been that person. He was just barely missing the high tension power lines which I was grateful for, but he was just soaring out over this lake and just… And I’d like to kind of do that, but without any danger today and just move out over these mountain ridges of prophecy. And I want to draw out seven grand, glorious themes that are going to be recurring in these 27 chapters. Kyle said I’m going to be preaching for the next few weeks, is that what you said Kyle? Is that all I have? I better get going. I’ve got a few weeks.

But just amazing journey that we’re going to be on as we begin in Isaiah, and I want to draw out seven grand themes, that we could refer to again and again, I wonder if we need laminated cards in the pew back and as I preach chapter after chapter after chapter, in Isaiah 40 through 66.

I. Setting the Context

Okay, this morning we’re going to be looking at themes one, four, six and seven. Alright, the next week will be themes two, five, and seven, next week, we’re going to do one, two, three and five, it’s just going to keep coming up again and again, these same seven themes. So that’s the task in front of us. I want to set the context, I already done it briefly, but Isaiah is standing at this juncture, Isaiah 1 through 39, the central kind of drama there has been Assyria, and the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and their deportation of the Jews in Israel, the Northern Kingdom. And then he goes on into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and is stopped right at the walls as we saw when I was preaching last time how the Lord sent the angel of the Lord and he killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night. And Sennacherib king of Assyria, turned and went back, God sovereignly led him back to his home city of Nineveh and there he died. And so you get a feeling that Assyria’s done now. And though the Assyrian empire would continue for another hundred years or so, it was ever waning in power from that point on.

And now we have the rise of the next great power in that region of the world, the ancient near east and that is Babylon. At the time that Isaiah lived, it was a city in the Assyrian Empire, a conquered little city state, but Isaiah saw with the eyes of prophecy, what was coming, and that was that Babylon would rise to be a mighty empire, reach its zenith, and then in a very short time, be toppled itself by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great. He saw all of that. Now you may ask how does he see all this? How does he know what the future holds? How can he predict so clearly what is coming? Well, 2 Peter 1 said this, above all, you must understand this is about prophecy. This is what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. Fulfilled prophecy specifically focused on the person and work of Christ. This is what separates Christianity apart. So those of you in the college campus, you’re going to face this again and again, What makes Christianity different than Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism?

Start with this, “Fulfilled prophecy.” Fulfilled prophecy. And so, 2 Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture ever had its origin in the will of man.” Prophecy never had it’s origin in the will of man, “but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” And so the Holy Spirit came into Isaiah the prophet, and he sat down and wrote on a scroll these timeless words about all of these things that were coming. And I want to draw out these themes now and make them plain. God is able to predict the future and no one else can because God is sovereign over the future that he predicts. He is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy or prophet. He says, in effect, “This is what I’m going to do and nothing can stop it.” And He is the King of the universe, and so he can make predictions. And he challenges the idols and he has them come in again and again on this very issue, “Bring in your idols,” he says in Isaiah 41. “Let’s see what they can do. All right, idols, tell us the former things if you can, and what their final outcome would be, and then predict to us, the future things. Yes, tell us what the future holds. Do something, good or bad, so that we may know that you are gods.”

And so he does this again and again in Isaiah 41, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 46, 48. “I can predict the future and no one else can.” And so he has this power to do this in detail.

II. The Infinite Greatness of God

And so, now let us bring forth these themes and let’s begin with the first and greatest. And it’s a central theme of the Bible, it’s a central theme of the universe, it should be the central theme of your life and that is, The infinite majestic greatness of Almighty God. We’re going to see a celebration of the attributes of God in these 27 chapters of Isaiah that will take your breath away, strengthen your faith, give you courage to face the trials that you will face in your lives. First and foremost, the infinite greatness of God over all creation. God is majestic and powerful and infinitely greater than the creation he made.

We’ll see this in Isaiah 40:12, where it says, “Who has measured the water in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket? Or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” God is also infinitely majestic over all the idols and the gods. Isaiah 40:18, 20 says, “To whom then will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman crafts it and the goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.” Well, our God isn’t made of gold or silver or wood and He will never topple. He doesn’t need to be nailed down, no chains need to be put on Him to support Him. He is an infinite and mighty God and all of the idols and gods of the nations are nothings. God is also infinite, and majestic over all the nations themselves including their kings and princes and rulers and all the mighty men and women of the earth.

So he says in Isaiah 40:20-22, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people before him are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to nothing and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground then he blows on them and they wither and the whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.” And so because of this God is infinitely great and majestic over all of time and history. He rules over history. In Isaiah 41:4, he says this, “Who has done this, and carried it through calling forth the generations from the beginning.” Listen to this. “I the Lord with the first of them and with the last, I am He.” God calls forth each generation by His sovereign power. He knits each generation of people together in their mother’s wombs and he is with them as they rise to their, the zenith of their power and their strength and their energy, and then they fall off, age, and die. He’s with every generation, he was with the first and he will be with the last.

He rules over all of human history. He is omnipotent. He is absolutely immeasurable power. Again, Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens, who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls each of them by name. Because of his great power, and his mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” He is also infinite in his wisdom and knowledge. Again, Isaiah 40:28, “Do you not know, have you not heard the Lord the everlasting God, is the creator of the ends of the Earth, he will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

And yet how incredibly gentle and tender is this infinitely majestic God with sinners like you and me. How it says in Isaiah 40:11, “He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young.” So the scope of this God is immeasurable. The scope of Almighty God from his tenderness, all the way up to measuring out the Cosmos with the breadth of his hand.

So Isaiah pictures a God who is both terrifyingly immense in His power and knowledge, but also meek and lowly and tender-hearted in dealing with sinners. The display of the glory of this great God is the center piece of Isaiah 40 through 66. And so it says in Isaiah 40:9, “You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, Lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up. Do not be afraid, say to the towns of Judah, behold your God.” That is my privilege today, I get to do that. I get to just say to you the towns of Judah spiritually, Zion, spiritual Zion, “Open your eyes and behold your God. And there is no problem in your life that even comes close to his capacities and his power and his grace, and his love, for you. So just behold, your God.” How are you going to do that? Listen to the Word. Because faith is the eyesight of the soul, and by hearing God’s Word, we see our God who cannot be seen. First theme.

III. The Sinfulness of the Idolatrous Human Race

Second theme. The sinfulness of the idolatrous human race. The wickedness of idolatry is a major theme of Isaiah 40 through 66. He mentions it again and again. This great God of ours, this great God of Isaiah 40-66 is a jealous God. He created each of us to love him, to cherish him, to worship him, to live openly for him. That’s why He created you and me. And so he says in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord, that is My name. I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols.” He’s jealous over his glory and over his place in your heart. But instead sadly, tragically the human race, all of the human race, not just the Jews, under Manasseh and not just the Babylonians, with Bel and Nebo and all that, not just them, not just those totem pole worshipping Aboriginal tribes or whatever, not just all people apart from his sovereign grace are idolaters.

Here, I’m going to reach to Romans 1:25 for the best definition of idolatry. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator who’s forever praised. Amen.” That is idolatry. When you exchange the worship you should be giving to God and you’re worshipping, living for, ultimately living for some created thing, you are an idolater. And all of us were idolaters apart from the saving grace of God. God is at war with the idols in Isaiah 40-66, at war with them. He hates them and he’s fighting them. Idols are mentioned 19 times in these chapters. So again and again, he brings them up. And as I mentioned, he challenges them probably four or five times to a duel. He wants to take them on. I love that part that I already quoted to you where He says, “Do something. But you’re nothing, you don’t even exist.” But our God is the living God and so he wants to challenge the idolatry that is rife in our culture, our time. And let’s be specific. The idolatry that tempts your own hearts, too. It is dangerous to read about the idolatry of the Jews or the idolatry of the Babylonians and say, “What wicked people, they are, glad I’m not like that.”

So God through Isaiah the prophet mocks the idols, makes fun of them. We’ve already seen that some of it, how these idols have to be nailed down or they’ll topple. You remember the memorable passage in Isaiah 44, where you’ve got this guy who goes out and selects a worthy piece of wood, drags it home, cuts it in half and uses half of it to cook his dinner, and warm himself in his workshop, and then uses the other half and carves it and makes it into an idol and he bows down and worships it and says, “Save me, you are my god.” And in case you missed the details, he goes back over it. Half of it he used to cook his meal and the other half he bows down and prays to it. It’s just mockery.

So, idolatry is exposed. God’s hatred for idolatry is revealed, but the idolatry of the entire human race is also clearly unfolded as well. You know that Hezekiah led the Jews of Judea in a revival of true religion, biblical religion. Got rid… Finally got rid of the high places. Had everyone worship in the pattern of the Law of Moses. But then he died and his son Manasseh took his place and vigorously led them all back into wicked idolatry, including to the point of sacrificing one of his own sons, a descendant of David, a son of David, in the fire to Molech. Well that brought about the exile to Babylon, it brought about the punishment of God. Judah indulges in idolatry, and this is the very reason why Judah will be sent into exile. Listen to Isaiah 42:17-19. “Those who trust in idols, who say to images, you are our gods will be turned back in utter shame. Hear you deaf, look you blind and see. Who is blind, but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?”

Well, that’s Judah. But all the nations are doing the same thing. And Isaiah 46:1, the prophet exposes the gods of Babylon, Bel and Nebo. You know Bel from which you get the name Belshazzar, the final king of Babylon. Nebo from which you get the name Nebuchadnezzar. These were the two key gods of Babylon. And they are exposed as the false burdens that they are, they’re heavy, made of gold and they have to be loaded on ox-carts and the oxen, they’re stumbling under the weight of these things. And it’s saying, the crushing idolatry of the world will destroy everyone who worships those idols. So this is a problem to the ends of the earth.

IV. The Wrath of God in the Judgment of Sins

Theme number three. The wrath of God in the judgment of sins. This is a major theme throughout the Bible, but in Isaiah 40-66. God is actively involved in human history. He’s not the absentee god of Dius who started the universe up like a complex clock mechanism, wound it up and let it run. That’s not the God of the Bible, it sure isn’t the God of Isaiah 40-66. No, he gets involved, he moves out and one of the number one things that God does in these chapters, is pours out his wrath on idolatrous, wicked, sinful, nations. His just judgments on them, for their sins. God will judge, first his own people and purify them of their sins by slaying the wicked.

Isaiah 51:17-20 says this, “Rise up oh Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs, the goblet that makes men stagger. Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her. Of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you. Who can comfort you? Ruin and destruction, famine and sword, who can console you? Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, and the rebuke of your God.” So God’s judgment began with the house of God, with the Jews, as he pours out his wrath on them, who said that they were Jews, but they really weren’t, only in name, only. But they were generally… They were genuinely idolaters and God poured out his wrath on them. And because of that, he destroyed Jerusalem and his temple, the place where he wanted his name to dwell forever but he destroyed it, God did, by the Babylonians.

So it says in Isaiah 64:11, “Our holy and glorious temple where our fathers praised you has been burned with fire. All that we treasured lies in ruins.” Why? Because of the judgment of God. But God in his grace, and in his mercy, restrained his wrath completely from the Jews and by his sovereign grace left them a remnant, chosen by grace, he didn’t completely exterminate them. The sons and daughters of Abraham, still exist, and God reserved for himself a remnant. He left a remnant. Now, beyond the issue of the Jews, Judah and Jerusalem, we have the consistent activity of God in judging this nation, or that nation, or the other nation for their sins. He’s not just a national tribal deity, just the God of the Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but he is the God of the entire world. And he is just and righteous and will judge every nation on earth for their sins. This is the God of the whole world. Not just of the Jews.

And so, in Isaiah 63:6 he says, “I trampled the nations in my anger. In my wrath, I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.” And then 66:15-16, it says, “Behold the Lord is coming with fire and his chariots are like a whirlwind, he will bring down his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire, for with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men and many will be those slain by the Lord.” So we have many cities devastated, many people slaughtered. And the culmination of the righteous judgment of God for sin is hell and that is also pictured in the words of Isaiah the prophet. If you were to go to the very last verse in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 66:24, you don’t have to turn there now, but just listen, this is the very last verse, this is the last word. Isaiah 66:24. “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me. Their worm will not die nor will their fire be quenched and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” That’s the end of the prophecy.

Well, Jesus picked up on those same words and used them to describe hell. In Mark 9 he says, “If your eye cause you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Isaiah 66:24.

V. The Atonement of Sins by the Redeemer, the Suffering Servant—Jesus Christ

Theme number four. The wonderful good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. The good news that there is a Savior from this just wrath of God and his name is Jesus. Jesus the atoner of sins, the Redeemer, the suffering servant, Jesus Christ. No one in the Old Testament saw the ministry of Jesus Christ more clearly than Isaiah the prophet. No one. It was Isaiah that saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. John 12 tells us, Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.

But he saw most specifically the promise of a full payment for all of our sins. Now it’s going to begin and I’m going to start with this next week. Isaiah 40:1-2. I’m going to preach three sermons on Isaiah 40. After that, I will try, not promising, but I’ll try to keep to a chapter a week. We’ll do our best. But I can’t do that in Isaiah 40. And look how Isaiah 40:1-2 begins. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Well, there’s only one way that sin gets paid for in the Bible and that’s with the shed blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other atoning sacrifice, no other atoning sacrifice. So, how then did Jerusalem’s sins get paid for? How then is there forgiveness?

Well, the servant of the Lord, so called in the book of Isaiah, this is Jesus. And Isaiah 49:6 says that he is the light for the Gentiles. There’s an Intra-Trinitarian conversation there in Isaiah 49:6. God the Father says to God the Son, what his mission is going to be. He says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” That’s Jesus’ mission to be the light for the Gentiles that He may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And so we have this term Redeemer, or redeem. The term redeem or Redeemer is used 22 times in these 27 chapters. Again and again, we have this idea of redemption or redeeming. The word means to buy a slave out of slavery by the payment of a price or to buy a captive out of captivity by the payment of a price. That’s what redeeming is.

Now Judah and Jerusalem, the Jews will be captives in Babylon, they have to be bought out from Babylon, they have to be redeemed. And so this is the language used in Isaiah 48:20. “Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians. Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, ‘The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.'” So when the remnant went back to the promised land, when they went back, they were redeemed. Yeah, but the payment hadn’t been made yet. It’s like a big, grand, glorious redemptive history IOU. An Intra-Trinitarian IOU. Jesus would shed his blood to pay the price of that redemption. That’s the only payment there could ever be. And then Isaiah 52:9-10, it says, “Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” The whole world is in slavery to idolatry and to sin. The whole world is under the righteous judgment and wrath of God. We all deserve it. And Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. Not just for the Jews, that’s two small a thing, said God. But a Savior to the ends of the earth for every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, everyone.

And so it says in Isaiah 59:20, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.” So the Redeemer is coming. Now, Isaiah 53 is the clearest depiction of how that redemption would come about. Without the shedding of blood there’s no forgiveness, the book of Hebrews tells us. And Isaiah 53 tells us who’s going to shed his blood. And it says, in Isaiah 53:4-6 of this suffering servant who is Jesus. “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet, we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted, but He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” But that’s not enough there in Isaiah 53, you also have a clear depiction of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He wouldn’t merely die, he wouldn’t merely be pierced for our transgressions on the cross and shed his blood, but on the third day, God would raise him from the dead.

And so we have also in Isaiah 53:9, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Verse 11. “After the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied; and by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many.” He was put to death for our sins but raised to life for our justification. How awesome is that.

VI. The Spread of the Word and the Call of the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Theme number five. The spread of the word of this gospel, and the call of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. this is the powerful Word of God. You’ve already heard it alluded to. “All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flower of the field.” Isaiah 40:6-8. “The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely, the people are grass. The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.” And then you heard Damien read so beautifully Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and will achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” So God’s going to unleash this powerful force in the world called his Word. What we know is the gospel of Jesus Christ, he’s going to unleash it. And he’s going to let it do it’s powerful work and it will not come back empty, it’s going to come back with what he intended to achieve having been done.

And he has in mind the ends of the earth. What do we mean by that? Every tribe and language and people and nation. Isaiah is the prophet of the Gentiles. You could call him that. He’s talking again and again about us. And he says, there in Isaiah 42:12, “Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands.” What are the islands? Far away places. If you’re living in Jerusalem, the islands means the ends of the earth.

We’ve already seen that in Isaiah 49:6, “That you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 52:15 says, “So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” This is the spread of the Gospel predicted in the Book of Isaiah. It’s going on right now. And so there are these messengers of good tidings. Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.'” How beautiful are the feet of those who bring that good news. And then listen to this Isaiah 66:19, “I will set a sign among them and I will send some of those who survive to the nations.” I’m going to send them out to the nations, “to Tarshish,” that’s Spain, that’s like Gibraltar. That’s a long way away from Jerusalem when you don’t have very good sailing vessels. “I’m going to send them “to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.”

That’s clear missions, friends, in Isaiah 66:19. And at the center of that message is a call to repentance and faith. Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth.” That’s repentance. Turn, turn away from your idolatries, turn away from your wickedness and away from your sin, turn unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Isaiah 45:22. Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” When God reveals his arm, people believe, that’s what happens. They believe and in that belief they are saved from their sins. Simple justification by faith. Isaiah 59:20, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.”

And so, we have going out to the ends of the earth this invitation to free grace which you heard again, read for us already. How beautiful is this? Isaiah 55:1-2, “Come to me all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” And then later in that same chapter Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man, his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, and he will freely pardon.”

So I just want to stop right now, this ultra light flying over mountain ridges, and just stop for a moment and say, have you ever done this? Have you ever called on the name of the Lord for the salvation of your soul? Have you sought the Lord while he may be found? May I say more accurately, are you seeking the Lord while he may be found? It’s not just once, that’s just the first time when you come to Christ, then you’ll be seeking him the rest of your life while he may be found, and you’re finding him day after day, by the Spirit. But have you done that? Do you know for certain that your sins are forgiven you through repentance and faith in Christ? You’re included in all of this, you’re included in Isaiah 40 through 66. You’re among those nations that are there to the ends of the earth. Have you repented, and trusted in him?

VII. God’s Restoration of Israel and of the Promised Land Itself

Number six. God’s restoration of Israel and the Promised Land itself. Real quickly. God is going to restore Israel, He’s going to rebuild Jerusalem. He says it very plainly in Isaiah 44. Cyrus is going to allow the remnant to go back, he’s going to say to the rubble filled towns of Judah, “Let it be rebuilt,” and to Jerusalem, “Let it be restored,” and of the temple, he will say, “Let its foundations be laid.” By the way, that must have been a shock in Isaiah’s day. “Oh, any word from the Lord?” “Yes. Yeah. There is.” This is Hezekiah’s day now, everything’s going well. Things are flourishing, things are going really well. Everybody’s high places removed. He said, “The good news is, God is going to move Cyrus the Great to rebuild the temple.” “Rebuild it?”

“Well yeah, he’s going to… Well, he’s going to have the foundations laid after him then it’ll get rebuilt.” “Lay the foundations of the temple.” “But we have a good temple. It’s running real well.” “Yeah, well let me tell you what’s going to happen to that temple.” Well, God ordained that that temple be destroyed but he also ordained that it be rebuilt and that a small remnant of Jews would come back to that pile of rubble that was Jerusalem and under Nehemiah, rebuild the walls and the city itself, and under Ezra and Haggai rebuild the temple even though it was smaller. And why did he want to do all that? Because he was excited about a small number of 40,000 Jews returning? No, to set the stage for Jesus, so that Jesus could say to the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is of the Jews,” and that would mean something. And so, he’s setting up a play… A set on a play with curtains, and with everything needed setting it up, so Jesus could come and die there.

He would restore it, but bigger than all that, the language of restoration of a remnant streaming back to Jerusalem, it’s spiritual language for the success of the Gospel. And God is going to pour out his Spirit and it’s going to rain down like righteousness, it says in Isaiah 45, that the Spirit is going to rain down and his, God’s, sons and daughters are going to spring up by the sovereign power of the Spirit. If you’re a child of God today, you’re included in that prophecy, you’re one of the sons and daughters of Abraham, you sprung up by the sovereign power of the Spirit and you are now flourishing for the glory of God. That’s the restoration of the Jewish nation. So yes, physical, but ultimately spiritual. And in the end, he’s going to be restoring the land itself. Lots of environmental verses in Isaiah. God has a lot of interest in what’s happening to planet Earth and he’s going to be restoring all of it.

VIII. God’s Glory in the New Heavens and New Earth

Ultimately, number six or seven, the theme, “the New Heavens and the New Earth”. Ultimately He’s going to build a new Jerusalem, Isaiah 60, and the light of this new Zion will shine, and the glory of Lebanon will come and all of the glory of the gentile nations will flow in, and all of the Gentile converts, let’s put it in that language, will beautify the New Jerusalem with their faith in Christ. And they will live there forever and ever as Peter calls us, living stones in that eternal sanctuary, that eternal temple, we’re going to be there and we’re going to beautify that place, every tribe and language and people and nation. And it’s going to be majestic.

And it says in Isaiah 60, “No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders but you will call your wall salvation and your gates praise. And the sun,” listen to this, “The sun will no more be your light by day or the moon, your light by night.” Does that sound familiar? Revelation 21 coming right from Isaiah. “For the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory.” And then finally, the New Heavens, and the New Earth, Isaiah 65, “Behold I will create New Heavens and a New Earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create. For I’ll create Jerusalem to be a delight and it’s people a joy, and I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take the light of my people, the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” That’s the new Jerusalem. Isaiah saw all of that? Yeah, and more besides. So come in the next number of weeks to hear some of these sermons from Isaiah because these themes are going to enrich us time and again.

IX. Applications

Application number one, come to Christ, number two, stand in awe of fulfilled prophecy, stand in awe of it. Stand in awe of this Bible, this miracle that we carry around and underestimate all of it, stand in awe of what’s in it, and be comforted that your God is such a mighty God that He can dwarf all of your problems. And so, as we sang earlier, when you pass through the fire you’re going to make it all the way through, you’re not going to be consumed. When you go through the waters you’re not going to drown. The fire and the water are not for your destruction if you’re a child of God, but for your purification, and he’s going to strengthen you through all of that. So pray for me as I prepare for next week, I look forward to meeting you again on Isaiah 40 next week. Close with me in prayer.

“As far as the eye can see…”
Summer of 1987, short-term mission trip to Pakistan… travelled along the Karakoram Highway through the lofty Khunjerab Pass from Pakistan into China—the highest paved international highway in the world; on the return trip, I rode on the luggage rack of the minivan we were travelling in. As we passed through the Khunjerab Pass, I had an amazing view of the mountain ranges that spread out from the that lofty perch as far as the eye could see. The Pass is 15,397 feet above sea level… the highest I’ve ever been on earth. The air was amazingly thin up there… and the visibility that day was astounding. You could see mountain range upon mountain range until the earth curvature hid them from sight. It has occurred to me since that day that these mountains, the second-highest in the world, looked like they were literally on top of each other, but were actually separated from one another by as many as a hundred miles or more. Line upon line of snow-capped peaks, looking like they were touching, were actually far apart…

But to my eye, from that perspective, they were close together So is the astounding prophetic eye of Isaiah the prophet

He stood at a moment in time—seven centuries before Christ was born. He listened to the eternal God whisper His words into his prophetic ear. They filled his prophetic mind with visions of God’s glory and infinitely wise plan… a plan for Redemptive History that would unfold generation after generation, century after century… until the end of time.

Each phase of God’s unfolding redemptive plan would bring Him glory, but the real glory lay in the BIG PICTURE: the salvation of sinners from every nation, to the ends of the earth, through the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ

Isaiah stood there at that brief moment of time, when the Assyrian threat had been removed by God’s spectacular deliverance in a single evening—185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead by the Angel of the Lord—and Isaiah looked ahead to what would come next

And he wrote line upon line in a prophetic book—a scroll that covered centuries of the future—a scant few inches from each other on the page, but covering events that would be fulfilled centuries apart:

The idolatrous rebellion of Judah under Manasseh The invasion and conquest of Judah by Babylon

The destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple by Babylon The exile of the small remnant of Judah to Babylon

The destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great The decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple by Cyrus

The restoration of a small remnant of Jews to the Promised Land to do the rebuilding The coming of the Messiah—Jesus Christ

The suffering and death of Christ on the cross The resurrection of Christ from the dead

The coming of the Holy Spirit on God’s people

The understanding that Jesus is the “light for the Gentiles” and that the gospel message must be spread to the ends of the earth

The spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth—the success of the gospel among the Gentile nations

The final wrath of God poured out on the rebellious nations of the earth The restoration of the final remnant of the Jews by faith in Christ

[Possibly] the Millennial Kingdom, in which Christ would reign on earth for 1000 years in a time of special blessing by God, including unnatural long life and flourishing agricultural wealth and blessing

The Judgment Day, when all mankind will be divided into believers and unbelievers

The place of final condemnation—Hell—where unbelievers will experience torment forever

The eternal state, with the New Heavens and New Earth, in which the believers will live in joy

ALL OF THESE EVENTS in Redemptive History can be found discussed to some degree in the 27 chapters that lay out ahead of us…

Row upon row of mountain ranges, separated by centuries—even by millennia—of time, but side by side in this small book, this prophetic scroll

All written by Isaiah the prophet about 700 years before Christ was born!

That is the AWESOME GLORY that we will see to unfold as we begin this journey in the second “half” of Isaiah—Isaiah 40-66.

Isaiah 46:10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Isaiah 49:6 I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 66:18 I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory.

I.   Setting the Context

A.  Assyria is Gone; Babylon Next

1.  Assyria the Focus of Isaiah 1-39

Mentioned 40 times from Isaiah 7-Isaiah 38

2.  Assyria Hardly Mentioned Beyond 38 One more mention: Isaiah 52:4

3.  Babylon Mentioned in Both Halves… but not nearly as much

4.  Two clear moments:

a.  The destruction of Assyria’s army and retreat to Nineveh

Isaiah 37:36-37 Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning– there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

b.  The envoys from Babylon

Isaiah 39:6-7 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.

Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

5.  Isaiah 47:6 is a clear prediction of God’s use of Babylon to “desecrate his in heritance”

Isaiah 47:5-6 “Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy.

a.  God clearly predicts the fall of Babylon in Isaiah 13, then again in Isaiah 47

Isaiah 13:19-20 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there.

Isaiah 47:1 “Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Babylonians.

b.  Final mention of Babylon: Isaiah 48—the command to flee Babylon

Isaiah 48:20 Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

B.  The Eternal Eye of the Prophet

1.  By the Spirit of God, Isaiah the prophet is able to see distant things that no one could ever predict!

2.  He writes of events that would not come to pass for centuries

3.  He writes of tiny details that boggle the mind and stagger the imagination

4.  But he does all of this only by the direct communication of the Holy Spirit of God into his heart… not because of any special ability he possessed

2 Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

C.  The Idolatry of Judah, the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Exile, the Restoration and Rebuilding… All in the Future!

1.  The Rise of Babylon

a.  When Isaiah wrote these chapters, the invasion by the Assyrians was over and Sennacherib had been turned back to his own nation

b.  At that point, Babylon was a conquered city-state in the Assyrian empire

c.  Babylon was a small actor on the world stage… but all of that would change in the decades that followed Isaiah’s prophecies

d.  The Assyrian Empire had reached its zenith, and would gradually—over the next century or so—retreat and lose power and influence

e.  Babylon would become mighty and would conquer the Assyrian empire and go beyond it to build the largest empire the Ancient Near East had ever seen

2.  The idolatry of Judah

a.  Hezekiah was a godly king who had finally gotten rid of the high places and had turned the official religion of Judah and Jerusalem back to the living God

b.  But his son, Manasseh, would come along and aggressively turn Judah back to Baal and Ashtoreth and Molech… he would lead Judah into wretched idolatry… worse than any king that Judah had ever seen

3.  The Destruction of Judah and Jerusalem… including the temple of the Lord

Isaiah 44:24-28 I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, 26 who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be built,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’ 27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’ 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”‘

D.  One Mountain Ridge After Another

1.  Analogy: Lewis and Clark Expedition looking at row upon row of mountain ranges yet to cross

2.  So Isaiah is able to see a series of events in one chapter after another which in their fulfillment will be decades if not centuries apart

E.  Only God Knows the Future

1.  One of the most astounding aspect of Isaiah 40-49 is God’s challenging the idols (and all humanity) in this one issue: the prediction of the future

2.  We will talk about this in detail, but let’s just note these passages now

Isaiah 41:22-23 “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, 23 tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

Isaiah 44:7-8 Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come– yes, let him foretell what will come. 8 Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Isaiah 45:21 Declare what is to be, present it– let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.

Isaiah 46:9-10 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

God alone knows the future because God alone can ordain the future! God rules heaven and earth and his purposes will always stand

AND God declares His purposes to the prophets and then upholds the predictions they make:

Isaiah 44:26 who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be built,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’

3.  The timeline is amazing

a.  Isaiah is writing after the Assyrian invasion of Judah has been stopped at the walls of Jerusalem… that happened in 701 BC

b.  He predicted the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians; that happened finally in 587 BC when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city

c.  He predicted the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great of Persia; he identified Cyrus BY NAME in Isaiah 44 and 45; Cyrus was born sometime between 600 and 580 BC—at least a century after the prediction of his name; and Babylon fell to him and his Medo-Persian armies in 538 BC, at least a century and a half after Isaiah predicted it

d.  The order for the rebuilding Jerusalem and of the temple was made by Cyrus as the scripture records in 2 Chronicles 36 and Ezra 1

F.  Culmination: Finished Work of Christ and the New Heavens/New Earth

1.  The GLORY OF GOD in the SALVATION of sinners is the central purpose in all of this

2.  So Isaiah’s prophetic eye sees into the distant future and sees the end of all things, and it is GLORIOUSLY BRIGHT

3.  Isaiah 53 is the clearest prediction of the death of Christ in the Old Testament; it wouldn’t be fulfilled until over 700 years after it was made!

4.  Isaiah 65-66 contains the first mention of the New Heavens and New Earth, and those prophecies (obviously) haven’t been fulfilled yet!!

So… let’s trace out the main themes of these incredible 27 chapters of Isaiah—the second half of Isaiah’s magnificent prophecy

II.   The Infinite Greatness of God

A.  Over all creation

Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?

B.  Over all idols and other “gods”

Isaiah 40:18-20 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? 19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

C.  Over all the nations, including their kings and mighty men

Isaiah 40:22-24 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

D.  Over time and history

Isaiah 41:4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD– with the first of them and with the last– I am he.”

Omnipotent… absolutely immeasurable power:

Isaiah 40:26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Infinite also in His wisdom and knowledge:

Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

And yet… how incredibly gentle and tender-hearted God is! How great in mercy and kindness to sinners:

Isaiah 40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

So… Isaiah pictures a God who is both terrifyingly IMMENSE in His power and knowledge, but also tenderhearted to save sinners. The display of the glory of this GREAT GOD is the centerpiece of Isaiah 40-66:

Isaiah 40:9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “BEHOLD your God!”

Nothing could be healthier and more encouraging this morning than for you to do precisely that… BEHOLD YOUR GOD!

My joy is to put Him on display by simply preaching the words of Isaiah!

III.   The Sinfulness of the Idolatrous Human Race

A.  The wickedness of idolatry

1.  This great God is a JEALOUS God… He created each of us to love Him, to cherish Him, to worship Him and delight in Him

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

2.  Instead, the human race has run after idols:

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.

3.  God is AT WAR with the idols throughout this section of Isaiah… idols are mentioned NINETEEN TIMES from Isaiah 40-66

4.  He challenges them to a duel

Isaiah 41:22-24 “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, 23 tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. 24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable.

B.  He Mocks Them:

1.  He says in Isaiah 40 they have to be NAILED DOWN so they won’t topple over

2.  In Isaiah 44, he mocks the idol-maker who uses half a piece of wood to cook his dinner and half of it to make a god which he bows down and worships:

Isaiah 44:16-19 Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” 17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.” 18 ¶ They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. 19 No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

C.  The sinfulness of Judah and of All Nations

1.  After Hezekiah, Manasseh would lead Judah into the worst idolatry of their history

2.  Before it even happens, Isaiah’s eagle eye of prophecy sees what will happen; God uses him to warn them

3.  Judah will indulge in idolatry; this is the very reason why Judah will be sent into exile

Isaiah 42:17-19 those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame. 18 “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see! 19 Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the LORD?

4.  But the NATIONS also are doing the same things!

5.  In Isaiah 46, he exposes the idolatry of Babylon…

Isaiah 46:1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden.

The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.

IV.   The Wrath of God in the Judgment of Sins

A.  God is actively wrathful against human sins

1.  Isaiah 40-66 portrays a God who actively intervenes in human history and uses His power to bring about His purposes

2.  Among His purposes is the display of His wrath against the wickedness of human sin

B.  God will judge His own people and purify them of their sins by slaying the wicked

Isaiah 51:17-20 Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger. 18 Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand. 19 These double calamities have come upon you– who can comfort you?–ruin and destruction, famine and sword– who can console you? 20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.

He will destroy the Temple because of their sins:

Isaiah 64:11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.

But God will restrain His wrath from completely exterminating the sons and daughters of Abraham… He will leave a remnant

Beyond the judgment of Judah and Jerusalem, however, God will extend His wrath on all nations of the earth…

C.  God brings His terrifying judgments on all nations

Isaiah 63:6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.”

Isaiah 66:15-16 See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the LORD.

D.  The devastation of cities, the slaughter of people

E.  The culmination: the eternal torments of hell

1.  The last verse in the Book of Isaiah is a picture of HELL

Isaiah 66:24 “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

2.  Jesus Himself quotes this verse and uses it to refer to Hell

Mark 9:47-48 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

V.   The Atonement of Sins by the Redeemer, the Suffering Servant—Jesus Christ

A.  The Initial Promise: A Full Payment for All Sins (Isaiah 40:1-2)

Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

B.  The Servant of Lord: The Light for the Gentiles (Isaiah 49)

Isaiah 49:6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

C.  The Term “Redeemer”

1.  TWENTY-TWO TIMES in Isaiah 40-66 we have the term “redeem” or “redeemer”

2.  The word means to buy a slave out of slavery or to ransom a captive out of captivity

3.  Judah and Jerusalem will need to be REDEEMED from captivity in Babylon

Isaiah 48:20 Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

Isaiah 52:9-10 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

4.  The whole world is in slavery to idolatry and to sin

5.  Jesus Christ is the REDEEMER not merely for the Jews but for the whole world

Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.

D.  The Suffering Servant—Isaiah 52-53

1.  Substitutionary Atonement

Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

2.  The Glory of Resurrection

Isaiah 53:9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Isaiah 53:11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many

VI.   The Spread of the Word and the Call of the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

A.  The Powerful Word of God

Isaiah 40:6-8 All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

Isaiah 55:10-11 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

B.  The “Ends of the Earth”: God’s saving intentions for the WHOLE EARTH

Isaiah 42:12 Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands. Isaiah 49:6 “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 52:15 so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

C.  The Messengers of Good Tidings

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 66:19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations– to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.

D.  The Call for Repentance and Faith

Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.

E.  The Invitation to Free Grace

Isaiah 55:1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

VII.   God’s Restoration of Israel and of the Promised Land Itself

A.  The Call of Cyrus the Great

Isaiah 45:1-2 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 I will go before you and will level the mountains

B.  The Restoration of a Remnant of Israel

Isaiah 43:5-7 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth– 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Isaiah 45:13 I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty.”

C.  The Rebuilding of Jerusalem and The Rebuilding of the Temple

Isaiah 44:28 [The Lord] says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”‘

D.  The “Flowering of the Desert”

Isaiah 43:19-21 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

This is fulfilled in the giving of the Holy Spirit:

Isaiah 44:3-4 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

VIII.   God’s Glory in the New Heavens and New Earth

A.  The Final Glory of Zion (Isaiah 60)

Isaiah 60:1-7 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. 7 All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.

The glory of the perfect temple in Zion will come from all over the earth!

Isaiah 60:13 “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet.

It will be a place of perfect peace and prosperity… a place illuminated by the glory of God continually:

Isaiah 60:18-21 No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. 19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. 21 Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever.

This is almost exactly like the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21!!

B.  The “New Heavens and New Earth” (Isaiah 65)

Isaiah 65:17-19 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

IX.   Applications

A.  The centerpiece of Isaiah 40-66 is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

1.  In the gospel, all these themes come together

2.  The Infinite Greatness of God is on display… and should cause us to stand in awe of his holiness and power

3.  The Sinfulness and Idolatry of the human race is a massive problem only in that is describes each one of us… we have all sinned and exchanged the glory of this infinite God for created things… we are selfish and lawbreakers

4.  Because of this, we stand under the terrifying wrath of God, in deadly danger of eternal torment because of his righteous judgments

5.  But God in his mercy sent Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins… Isaiah 53 makes this so plain

Isaiah 53:5-6 he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

6.  If we trust in Christ fully, and forsake our sins calling on His name, we will be saved

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

B.  Stand in Awe at the Miracle of Scripture: Fulfilled Prophecy!

1.  God alone knows the future!!

2.  Scripture alone contains accurate predictions of the future!!

3.  No other religion in the world has this attribute: specific prophecies about world history that have actually been fulfilled

4.  Isaiah stood at the crest of a mountain ridge and saw centuries and centuries into the future… and WROTE IT DOWN for us, so that we would trust in the God who told him all these things

5.  So also we can look into the uncertain future and know that God has already figured it out in detail

C.  Stand in Awe at the Majestic Power of God in fulfilling His plans!

Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

1.  The God of Isaiah 40 is worthy of worship for all eternity

2.  Let His infinite greatness dwarf your problems and swallow all your doubts

D.  Trust in this mighty God with the struggles of your lives

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

1.  No matter what you are facing, this awesome power of God is ready to deliver you and to strengthen you

2.  Rest in Him through all the trials you face

E.  Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you: final salvation in the New Heaven and New Earth