Panorama of the Prophets
Christ in Isaiah
It
was Rez Sunday – when Jesus met two men on the Road heading out of
A)Jesus approached these two
men – sad – dejected
Why do you guys look so sad?
B) Are you a stranger –
Heard of Jesus……mighty in word and deed – we Hoped He was the one who was going
to redeem
C)Jesus continued along –
Sharing Moses thru the Prophets how it was declared that the Messiah must
suffer.
D) House bread – Disappeared
“How our hearts burned with in us.”
There
is a quote in the book Hebrews – Psalm 40 but the reference is speaking of
Jesus
5 Therefore,
when He came into the world, He said:
"Sacrifice
and offering You did not desire,
But a body You
have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin
You had no
pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have
come — In the volume of the book it is
written of Me — To do Your will, O
God.'"
It
is true in the Volume of the Book it is written of Him!
A)The purpose of the Bible
is not principles – but a person – TO PT
B) Starting with Moses –
Pentatuach on thru the Prophets
C)One Prophet who pointed us
to Jesus more than any other it is Isaiah.
1)His book is layered with
one reference after another to JESUS.
Isaiah
also wrote with a Near and not Yet !
A)Some of his prophecies had
a immediate application but also a future application.
B)Example of that in Isaiah
Ch.7 fascinating prophecy – let me set the scene.
A)Heading toward Jersusalem
– but they have taken prisoners back toward
Now
it is during this time that God sends the Prophet Isaiah to
1) recorded for us in Isaiah ch.7
A)
3 Then the LORD
said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son,
at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's
Field,
B)The Lord sends Isaiah along
with his son Shear-Jashub To meet Ahaz – Shear-Jashub
his name means a remnant shall return
V4 and say to
him:'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two
stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the
son of Remaliah.
Notice the
first thing the Lord has Isaiah say to these people who were wavering in fear Take heed, and be quiet
A)Common word from the Lord
for those who are filled with worry & fear . Be still
C)God
knows the need that we have to quiet our hearts
1)Sometimes the first road
to quieting our hearts is to quiet our mouths {Stop talking
2nd
He says – Don’t be afraid – Why? They are just smoking fire brands { Smoking
stick – been in fire
A)So Ahaz
looked at
B)God
looked at
1)To
the Lord, they were all smoke and
no fire! The fire is gone – almost exstinct
C) Ahaz says
these guys are on Fire God says- no they
are smoking Sticks
1) They are just guys Full of smoke
Why does God give them that
description?
It is because
he sees what Ahaz doesn’t
5 Because
Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying,
6 "Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its
wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel" — 7 thus says the Lord GOD:
"It shall
not stand, Nor shall it come to pass.
This
is why What they are planning against you is not going to happen – It shall not
stand.
v.8 For the
head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of
Within
sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken,
So that it will
not be a people. The head of Ephraim is
A)In 65 yrs
B)
Their leaders will be the first to go down.
C) Then the Lord issued this
exhortation
V.9b If you
will not believe,
Surely you
shall not be established."'"
D) If you are not going to
believe the word of the Lord then you will not be established
1) continue to be scared –
tossed – shaken
E) Anything but established
This
is such a good word for us to consider
A)You see God wants us to be
established
He doesn’t like to see his people shaken
B) But the key to being
established is in believing the word of the Lord and acting on it.
Notice how remarkably close the Lord draws to Ahaz
V10 Moreover the LORD
spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD
your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above."
God says ask
for a sign I want you to believe that I am with you – willing to work – I will
show you ask
12
But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!" Ahaz says no { not going to ask
God says I
will give you one anyway – Prophecy about Messiah
13
Then he said, "Hear now, O house of
David! Is it a small
thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the
Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
This is one of
the most famous prophecies regarding the birth of Jesus the Messiah in the
Bible.
A)It also illustrates a principle of prophecy, that prophecy may have
both a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment.
V.16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the
evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her
kings).
Simply put, God would give Ahaz a sign that within
a few years, both
Many
commentators think that this was immediately fulfilled when a young woman a
virgin in the royal household shortly married, conceived a son, and unknowingly naming him “Immanuel.”
Before
this boy came to eat solid food,
The far or ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy
goes far beyond Ahaz, to announce the
miraculous virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
A)We know this passage speaks of Jesus because the Holy
Spirit says so through Matthew: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and
they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
B)We know this passage speaks of Jesus because the
prophecy is addressed not only to Ahaz, but also to David’s entire house (O house of
David!).
C)Notice it says the virgin shall
conceive, and that conception would be a sign to David’s entire house.
D)
the far or ultimate fulfillment clearly points to a woman miraculously
conceiving and giving birth.
Immanuel speaks both of the deity of
Jesus (God with us) and His
identification and nearness to man (God
with us).
The
word became flesh and dwelt among us
This Prophecy continues into
Chapter 8
A)Prophecy of the impending
invasion by the Assyrians –
8 He will pass
through
He will
overflow and pass over,
He will reach
up to the neck;
And the
stretching out of his wings
Will fill the
breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.
This
refers back to the “Immanuel” prophecy of
The message is this
The
land the Assyrians will invade doesn’t really belong to
It belongs to the Lord God, to the coming Messiah, to Immanuel.
Then there is this
incredible word.
RD V.11-15
Do not say, “A conspiracy” . . . nor be afraid of their
threats:
A)Isaiah, and all the people
of
B)At
the time of this prophecy, the combined armies of
Their
armies either encircled
C)They
planned to depose King Ahaz of
D)Now,
Isaiah’s prophecy declared the armies of
E) In the midst of all this, it would be easy
to let your heart or mind settle on conspiracies and threats. But God tells
them not to.
V.13 The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
let Him be your fear: Instead of fearing conspiracies and threats, fear God. Don’t see
yourself at the mercy of opposing armies; you
are in God’s hands.
Worry
about your place with the Lord
instead of your enemies!
V.14 Great Promise:
He will be as a sanctuary: The Lord
will be our sacred place, and our place of protection. He will keep us
safe from our enemies.
But a stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense:
A)Note:
For those who trust Him, the Lord
will be as a
sanctuary. But for those who don’t, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
B)
Instead of finding protection from the Lord,
they will “trip” over Him, falling to destruction.
1)Indeed,
many among
them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken.
We know that Jesus is this stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense (1 Peter
2:6-8).
A)This
is a strong statement of the deity of Jesus, because clearly in
B)
Peter 2:6-8, Jesus Christ is the stone.
Better to fall upon the Rock
of Jesus and be broken than to have it fall on you in Judgment and be crushed.
Ch.9
continues RD V.1-2
Nevertheless the gloom: The gloom carries over from
A)The invasion of the Assyrians would be terrible
for the Jewish people, gloom – dispray especially
for the northern regions of the Promised Land, the
B) In
this context, the promise of
C)The
northern regions of the Promised Land - around the Sea of Galilee (
D)The
promise is that this land, once seemingly lightly
esteemed by the Lord, will one day have a special blessing.
The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light . . . upon them a light has shined:
A)Since the majority of Jesus’ ministry took place in
this northern area of
B)God certainly did have a special blessing for this
once lightly esteemed land!
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is
given;
And
the government will be upon His shoulder.
And
His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the
increase of His government and peace
There will be
no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and
establish it with judgment and justice
From that time
forward, even forever.
The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this.
Move to Chapter 11
Chapter
10 ends with the Lord explaining how he would allow affliction to bring
Humility in
There shall
come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch
shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of
wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of
counsel and might,
The Spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
Now,
the Lord is looking over the
stumps, and causes a Branch to grow out of one of them, the root of the family
of Jesse, David’s father.
Indeed, Jesus did come from
the stump of Jesse.
A)The royal authority of the
house of David had lain dormant for 600 years when Jesus came as King and
Messiah.
B)When Jesus came forth, it
was like a new green Branch coming from an apparently dead stump.
C)The Lord wanted
D)Even if they looked like a
long-dead stump, God can bring forth life.
The Branch that comes from the apparently dead stump isn’t just barely
alive.
A)It
is full of life, and full of the Spirit of the Lord.
B)The
Messiah has seven - the number of fullness and completion - aspects of the Spirit of the Lord.
#1 He
has the Spirit
of the Lord. It is not
a false spirit or a deceiving spirit or even the spirit of a man.
The
Spirit of the
Lord God of
Another
Spirit – Marveled – Compassion – sinners were
drawn to Him
#2 The Spirit of wisdom is upon the Messiah.
A)Jesus
is perfectly wise in all things. Marveled at his wisdom
#3 The Spirit of . . . and understanding is upon Him. A)Jesus understands all
things, and He understands us perfectly.
B)He
is perfectly suited to be our sympathetic High Priest in heaven (Hebrews
4:15-16).
1)Understanding
in Hebrew has the idea of a sharp sense of smell.
#4 The Spirit of counsel is upon Jesus.
A)He
has perfect counsel
to give us at all times. He has both the wisdom and the understanding to be a perfect
counselor!
#5 The Spirit of . . . might is upon Jesus.
A)He
has the power to do what He desires to do. Many would help us if they could,
but are powerless.
B)Others
may have the power to help us, but don’t care about us.
1)Jesus
has both the love and the might to help us.
#6 The
Spirit of
knowledge is upon Jesus. He knows everything. He knows our hearts,
He knows all the facts.
Many times we have made
decisions that seemed strange or wrong to others because they didn’t have the knowledge that we have.
Jesus
has knowledge
that we don’t have, so it shouldn’t surprise us that sometimes His decisions
seem strange or wrong to others.
#7 The Spirit of . . . the fear of the Lord is upon Jesus.
He
willingly kept Himself in a place of submission, respect, and honor to God the
Father.
So
these are some very encouraging prophecies concerning what the Messiah will be
like
A)How He will minister – His
Character
His Kingdom – His Power and
person
B)The thing that I like is
this all comes during the part of the book that is full of Woes
1)Full
of Judgment because of Sin
C)Yet the Lord is constantly
reminding that there is hope!
1)Not
in a political party – not in program – not a plan
D)But a Person – Immanuel –
God is with us!
1)No
matter how bad things get – Remember that
Two
MT peaks Peak one – reigning King
Jump
ahead to
A)Suffering servant
In chapter 50
Isaiah tells how
In contrast
God’s other Servant, the Messiah, suffers to carry out the will of God.
Verse 6 he tells us, “I gave
My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the
beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”
Here’s a detail of the crucifixion not mentioned in
the Gospels – not only was His back beaten to ribbons, but His beard was
plucked out.
Rd 52:14 -53
Think of
1)Circular ripples and waves emanate.
C)The larger the rock the further out the ripples.
Chapters 54-66 are the ripples that emanate from the
rock of chapter 53.
D)The cross of
Jesus has far reaching ramifications. Not only does it pardon our sins, the
cross pays for the restoration of the planet – even a new heaven and new earth.
Ch.61:1-2
"The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the
Lord has anointed Me
To preach good
tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me
to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim
liberty to the captives,
And the opening
of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of
vengeance of our God;
The
Messiah announces that He is here to heal the damage that sin brings. Sin has
done great damage, so there needs to be a great work of redemption.
b.
Because sin impoverishes, He will preach good tidings to the poor. Because sin
breaks hearts, He will heal the brokenhearted.
Because
sin makes captives, He will proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound. Because sin oppresses, He will proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord.
c.
Because sin is a crime that must be avenged, He will proclaim . . . the day of vengeance of our
God.
Significantly,
Jesus stopped reading before this sentence.
A)He
stopped in the middle of the prophecy, because to proclaim . . . the day of vengeance of our
God is relevant to His Second
Coming, not to His first coming.
B)The
comma in year
of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance has stood for almost 2,000 years.
C)This shows us something of
the nature of Biblical prophecy: it may “shift gears” and time frames quickly,
and without warning.
A)The Lord Jesus is seen coming out of Bozrah.
Bozrah was the city of
B)It’s the sight where the Jews of the last days
will run to escape from the Antichrist.
1)Now here comes Jesus out of Bozrah.
C)His Robe is red – why And Jesus tells us in verse
3, “I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them
in My fury; their blood is sprinkled on My garments… For the day of vengeance
is in My heart…”
D)Notice what Jesus says in verse 5 “I looked, but there was no one to help… Therefore My own arm
brought salvation…”
Jesus rescues
A)Traditionally, the
B)Apparently, by this time either that support has
eroded, or we’ll no longer be militarily capable to fight.
C)The good news for
He’ll touch down on the
A)He’ll come to
A)It’s a prayer of repentance prayed by the Jews who
somehow manage to survive the Great Tribulation, and flee to Bozrah.
They cry out for deliverance, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come
down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence… that the nations may
tremble…”
In verse 6 the Jews repent and confess, “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…”
Literally in the original Hebrew it reads, “like used
menstrual cloths”.
Guys, that’s how God views our religious
acts and good deeds. They’re dirty and filthy in His sight.
This is why we can’t save ourselves. There’s nothing we can do
that will atone for our sin, or make us worthy before God.
And that’s why we need a Savior. The cross of Christ
is our only hope. We need to trust in Jesus.
Ch.65b-66 The
Consummation of their Deliverance
A)These Chapters give us details into what life will
be like when Jesus establishes His earthly kingdom and reigns 1000 years.