Hope for the Future
Isaiah 40-66
Intro: Something that has characterized all cultures throughout history is the presence of heroes. It seems that in every culture we develop heroes. Whether it be John Wayne, riding out onto the range alone to defeat the bandits, or Luke Skywalker, flying a mission to save the empire, or Michael Jordan leading the Bulls through a championship season, or James Bond, saving the world in an afternoon while not spilling his tea. We all have images of heroes, those people who seem larger than life, doing things thought impossible, and setting a pattern for us to follow.
One of the reasons we focus on heroes is that deep down each of us wants to be a hero; we each want to be special, someone who makes a difference in the life of somebody. The need for significance is one of the most compelling needs we face: far greater than the need for food or water or survival. We each want to give ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves.
The second reason we love to focus on heroes is that we never want to give up hope. When do the heroes show up? Not during the Cowboy/Indian peace talks, but when the Indians are on the warpath, the fort is surrounded, and the water supply is just about gone. Those who offer hope when all hope is gone are the ones seen as the heroes.
This morning I would offer you a truth: God loves to provide heroes! Think with me through Jewish history: Abraham - When Lot and all the inhabitants of Sodom and the area are captured and taken away, Abraham gets his home boys, 318 soldiers trained in his household, and they go beat up on the Elamites and the others there.
Joseph - If you like Rocky, you’ve got to like Joseph. In Rocky, he keeps getting beat up, but when he’s beat up the most, that’s when you know he’s just getting ready to fight. Joseph - hated by his brothers, kidnapped, sold into slavery, tempted to sin daily, when he does right is thrown in jail, is forgotten there, helps two prisoners have hope, but is neglected when they get out of jail. Just when you think it couldn’t get much worse, he is elevated to be the second highest in the land.
How about Moses, the deliverer, parting the Red Sea. Or how about Gideon, defeating the massive army of the Midianites with only 300 men. How about Samson, time after time destroying the Philistines, and in the end killing more in his death than he had in his lifetime. We love heroes.
God is a God of heroes, a God who constantly offers hope. No matter how bad things get, there is always hope. In the midst of our problems, God offers us hope. We see this hope expressed in the second half of the book of Isaiah. In the first half of the book, we see much written about the judgment that is coming on the people for their sinfulness. But in the last half we see that Isaiah writes to give the people comfort and hope in the midst of their punishment.
God gives his people hope!
I. God provides hope for Israel.
A. He provides hope through a conquering leader.
The prophets had warned the people for years that they would be punished for their sinfulness and idolatry. But they kept right on ignoring the pleas of the prophets and the commands of their God. So God sent the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity to Assyria in 722 BC. The southern Kingdom of Judah had a few more years, because there were some good kings. But the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonian empire in 586 BC. Yet, even before the fall of this kingdom, God was preparing comfort and hope for the people through the words of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied of a leader that God would raise up to overthrow the power of the Babylonians, and he named him by name, years before he ever came to power: Cyrus, king of Persia.
* He is one from the East & God hands over the nations to him
Is. 41:2-4 - "Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind-blown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. 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."
*He is anointed by God for this task - 45:1
"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: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.
*He will rebuild the city - Is. 44:28 - 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."’ Is. 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."
And the city was rebuilt -
Ezra 1:1 - In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "`The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you--may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’"
*God had provided hope during the Babylonian captivity by elevating another hero, Daniel, to a high position in the Babylonian government. And how long did Daniel serve? Daniel 1:21 tells us And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
This was in 541 BC that Cyrus comes to power - years after Isaiah had written - at the time the Persian empire was not a world power - How could Isaiah have known this ahead of time?
Is. 42:6 - I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
Isaiah prophesied ahead of time about Cyrus so the people would give glory to God when it came to be. It says, “the former things have taken place” - the Jews were taken into captivity just as Isaiah prophesied. In a day when the Assyrian army was the army of power, Isaiah prophesied to King Hezekiah,
Is. 39:6 - 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. 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."
The new things prophesied here was the coming of King Cyrus to be a hero, to set the nation of Israel free and to send the Jews back to their homeland.
*God gives his people hope through heroes.
B. God also gives his people hope through the repentance of their sin.
In captivity, they would turn from their sinfulness and acknowledge their God. In return, God would bring them back to the promised land and restore the nation.
Is 40 - 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.
Is. 48:18-20 - If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me." 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."
Is. 48:17-20 - This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me." 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."
C. God gives his people hope through the coming Messiah.
Isaiah prophesied of one to come, one who would be a sign to all nations. Familiar verse in Is. 7 - Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
This child would bless the area of Galilee and would be a mighty ruler sent from God - Is 9 -
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
Is. 52&53 speak of the promised Messiah -
52:14 - speaks of his crucifixion - Just as there were many who were appalled at him-- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness--
53:2-3 speak of his humble life - He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 - Speaks of his healing ministry while on this earth - Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
cf. Matt. 8:16 - When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
53:5-6 - speak of the spiritual healing and cleansing us of our sinfulness through the salvation he provides - 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.
53:7-9 speak of his trial and crucifixion and burial - He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 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.
Many prophecies of the Messiah given to us in Isaiah to give us hope in the wonderful plan of God.
Because of the finished work of the servant Messiah in 53, this means
Restoration for Israel - 54:4-8 - "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband--the LORD Almighty is his name--the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit--a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God. "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer.
An Invitation for the Gentiles - 55 - 56 - (56:3) - Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people." And let not any eunuch complain, "I am only a dry tree." For this is what the LORD says: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant-- to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." The Sovereign LORD declares--he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered."
A Warning to Sinners - 56-59 -
D. God gives us hope through a true vision of our God.
God gives us hope through earthly helpers, through repentance and forgiveness, through his Messiah, and finally we have hope when we see God for who he really is.
*We get a vision of God - as greater than idols - in Is 40
Read Is 40:18-31
When we realize we serve the one true God, and he watches over us and sustains us, we find hope for each day.
Not only does God provide hope for Israel, but
II. God provides hope for us today
A. God uses others to help us bear our burdens -
Gal. 6:2 - Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
1 Thess. 5:11 - Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
B. God offers blessings for obedience
Eph. 6:7 - Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
2 Cor. 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
C. There is strength through Christ
Phil. 3:8 - What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
D. There is hope when we see our God as he truly is
One of the biggest problems we face today is that we do not see our God as he truly is. We serve a holy God. 1 Peter 1:15 - But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Concl: Those who do not know God, do not know hope. Those of us who do know God, know that there is hope, for the power of God is present to help us each day.
