Isaiah 40-41

Introduction

One of the questions asked in the blessing book with regard to our previous class period is the thought question. Where Robert asks, does God have a set time for each of us to die?

Now you know that he asked that with regard to the text of the lesson, it’s not just a random question. So what would you say? Joyce, what do you think? I think so. I often heard Christians say, well, it was part of God’s plan. That was just his number was up. God called him home. Does God have a set time for each person to die? That’s the question. He’s never surprised when they do. He’s not surprised by it. John? Well, I think there’s a difference between does he know when we’re gonna die and does he appoint the time for us to die? Right. And I think that I don’t have a scripture to back this up, but but I think he knows when we’re gonna die, but he doesn’t set the time.

Uh in other words, he’s omniscient, so he knows he can see into the future, but he doesn’t establish that, for example, we’re gonna on our way home tonight be hit by a drunk driver and killed in a car accident. He may know that’s gonna happen, but he doesn’t set that time. That’s my thinking. I’m guessing at the intent that Robert asked the question in light of what was said to Hezekiah.

Did that mean that he had a set time to die? Well, we know the answer was 15 years. God can be entreated. Doesn’t really answer the question. God could have set that time, but he can be entreated. And that’s the key to the answer, I think. Is that what you were looking for? Yes, in that he had he had given Hezekiah 15 more years. That’s the only occasion in the Bible I think we have where a time has been promised how many years one might live. So in view of the fact that some say, oh yeah, he, you know, but uh if he holds us like puppets at the end of a string, he’s a respectable persons. Uh and he’s not. And I start with scripture like that, he’s not a respect of persons.

Right. And I think John’s answer was correct. He he knows when we die, and can know in advance because he can know all things. But does he say, okay, uh, I want you to be hit by a drunk driver as you go home tonight? I don’t believe in this thing. Well, if someone dies in a in a car accident, but the other person lives, and what he wants to thank God for that. Well, and I think um David, you said he can be entreated. Yes. And that’s why we should be praying for safety for our children for our and for healing of all sure. Sometimes it seems like we pray for many and not many get well. But that does not mean that God cannot be entreated.

We know that he can be, and that’s part of the assurance that we have out of this passage is that God can be entreated. How is it damaging to our faith if we say the other way that yes, God did appoint the time for us to die? Well, it’s presumptive for one thing. We don’t know. That’s true. God hasn’t given us to know that. Isaiah 57 1 would say, Is death bad? Isaiah 57 1 said the righteous perish and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. And he shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds, even when they’re walking in his own right. So maybe it’s a blessing to die.

If we would look at it that way, Paul said it far better. It’s a different point of view, isn’t it? There was uh one particular young child that was died. Uh he was potential heir to the throne, and he died before all of the siblings were slaughtered. And God the text says that God took him because he found something good in him. Uh death and life. It’s a question that many have. Uh there are some things we just simply have to say we don’t have the answer to. Uh when a person dies, there is nothing in the Bible that would indicate that God chooses the time of death. What does it say that he does? Time and chance happens to all men. So we’re going to leave it at that and move on to chapter 40, and we’ll talk about uh quick review.

The two parts. I like the guy that said part A and part B. A stands for Assyrian. Uh if you had to summarize it very simply, God’s complaint against Judah and Jerusalem. Starts off that way. Don’t forget that. And that God is sovereign over all the nations. Remember all the burdens against this, the burdens against that. Once we get to part B, we’re kind of done with that. And then chapters 28 through 39, the only source of true deliverance. And then we start part B. B stands for Babylonian. We have a contrast between God and the idols, and that starts in these two chapters and continues for some time. Next, we’ll talk about the servant that brings salvation and finally the future glory. And that’s really the focus of these, this whole last section is focused on the future glory.

1. Comfort, Yes, Comfort My People

And it really starts off with a great statement about comfort. Isaiah 40 in chapter one, chapter 40 and verse 1, comfort. Yes, comfort my people. The repeatedness of the comfort is for emphasis. God says to comfort his people, why? Well, what he has in focus is the captivity, the Babylonian captivity. And you’ll see that as we go forward. You notice that statement, my people, he calls them my people. That’s a tremendous statement. Because you think about what that means. That’s ownership, inheritance. Why is that important? Well, imagine those of Judah that are in the foreign land in Babylon. And they’re wondering, are we still God’s people? Remember what Jeremiah had to say about the northern kingdom. Judah saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a degree of divorce.

Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. She might well ask the question Am I going to be like her? Sent away, put away, divorced from God. And yet, in this statement, he says, Comfort, yes, comfort my people. It’s a statement that they’re still my people. He has not cast them off. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. That’s pretty significant. Because you think about the punishment that they endured in Babylon. Her iniquity is pardoned. Tremendous sin. For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. So the question that’s usually asked was, What does that mean? Double for all, or did she pay twice what she deserved?

2. Received Double for All Her Sins

No. I don’t believe the language indicates that at all. But it’s very similar to what Jeremiah says. We might ask the question, why did she pay double for her sin? Jeremiah gives us a hint. Chapter 16, starting in verse 17, for my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from my face, nor is their iniquity hidden from my eyes. First, I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin. Here he says, Because they have defiled my land, they have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols. Very simply, they had turned their backs on God, repudiated their relationship with him, and turned to idols. And that willful nature is what institutes this double payment. It’s not unusual in our system of justice to talk about double payment.

If you look into the legal matters with regard to torts, civil wrongs, if a tort is intentionally committed, or a contract is intentionally breached, such intent may increase the scope of liability as well as the measure of damages payable to the plaintiff. We understand that intent can cause an imposition of a greater sentence. With regard to murder. What’s the difference between first degree murder and second degree murder? Oh, planned? Pre-planned? Pre-planned. Some would say premeditation. When you could say premeditation and not out of anger or sense of injustice.

An old statement would do malice aforethought. But we understand that first degree murder brings a harsher sentence than second degree. Why? It’s intent. It’s willfulness. And if you look up the uh sentencing guidelines from the government, 2011, first degree, standard sentence is life in prison, if not the death penalty. So for a 20-year-old life would be 50 years or more, right? The average age is 70, 75 years old. Second degree, 20 to 25 years. It’s interesting. It’s about a doubling of the numbers of years. So, what about this intent? Did they know? Look at Jeremiah chapter 7 and verse 25, and look at how many times in Jeremiah he makes a similar statement. You see the words highlighted. I did a search on prophets, rising and early.

And this is what pops out. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this daily rising up early and sending them. The Lord has sent to you all my servants of prophets daily rising up early and sending them, but you’ve not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. Heed the words of my servants of prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up and early and sending them. Because they’ve not heeded my words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up and early and sending them, and you see this over and over again. What’s God’s point in saying, I sent the prophets to you early? I gave you plenty of opportunities for that time to change.

Okay, so far as I sent them to you daily, yeah, lots of opportunities. But what’s the emphasis of rising up early?

To teach you, to give you the warning, to make you change. Okay. To respond to God’s invitation. It’s a priority, right? What do we say? The early bird gets the worm. If you have a job opportunity and you’ve been out of work for several months, do you wait till the last minute to drive down? Maybe the traffic won’t get you there and you miss your opportunity? No, you rise up early. You make sure you’re there on time. It’s a matter of diligence, isn’t it? Rise early is a sign of diligence. So God was diligent and daily and early, sending his prophets. Yes, they knew. They knew they had a messenger. Over and over again. In fact, the conclusion of history in 2 Chronicles says our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. I believe this shows willful intent. It wasn’t that Israel wasn’t as good as God wanted them to be. It wasn’t that they weren’t perfect. They turned their backs. And you might ask, well, isn’t that kind of judgmental? Think about the situation we’re in right now. Hezekiah is a good king. In the last 15 years of his life, he has a son. What’s the son’s name? Anas. Manasseh. And what does the nation do under Manasseh? Goes back to the idols. Goes back to the idols. And you might ask, how could that be? A great number of the citizens stood on the wall in the hearing of the Rabshaka.

They heard the blasphemy. They knew what happened. It wasn’t like some hearsay evidence. And then when the deliverance happened, they said, Oh, well, they’re just spinning it that way. No, they were witnesses. They saw what Rabshaka had to say. They would have heard the prophecy from Isaiah saying, here’s what you do. It would have been spread around. And then they could all go outside and look and see the carcasses of those that were slain. In the face of such tremendous proof, how could they in such a short period of time turn to idols? It had to be knowingly and willfully. So double for your sins? Yes. Double for your sins. I believe that’s the intent of that. And so we talk about speaking comfort to Jerusalem.

3. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

There’s three key things, I believe, in these first verses. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, the voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare a way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up and every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. In other words, take out the high places that are hard to get through, level it out. Take the valleys that are hard to travel in, level it out. In other words, no obstacle is going to stand in the way. That’s the picture. No obstacle is going to stand in the way of God and accomplishing what he says. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

A great passage. If you listen around Christmas time to Hamdel’s Messiah, this is one of the key songs. Comfort ye, comfort you, my people. And from Isaiah 40. It’s one that should be very familiar to us. These key three things a voice in the wilderness calling, prepare it for the Lord, and the preparation itself makes straight in the desert a highway for God, and all people will see it. The key aspects. The primary context is returning from Babylon. And you see that in the statement. Why is she having comfort? Well, because she’s received from the Lord’s hand double for her sins. Verse 9 will say, say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. There’s a claim that’s presented in verse 27. Why do you say, O Jacob, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over?

And God provides reassurance in chapter 41 and verse 9, for I have chosen you and I have not cast you away, which is a message that was needed during the time of the Babylonian captivity. And then chapter 41, he assures them that all who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced, they shall be as nothing. In other words, the oppressor will be removed. And then even further, when you get to chapter 45, you see Cyrus himself named in the context as the one who will provide that deliverance from Babylon. So the primary context is Babylon and the return from Babylon. But we also know that it’s quoted in Matthew chapter 3. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I’m sorry. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And so the question is, does it have to be an either or? If the context demands it’s spoken about the Babylonian captivity, but Matthew says it was spoken about John the Baptist. Does it have to be one or the other? I say to you that it really can be both. In fact, these two events are so similar that you see the comparison already in Isaiah. Remember back in chapter 11, verse 11, the chapter where it starts off talking about the rod from the stem of Jesse, talking about the days of the reign of Messiah.

The wolf shall lie down with the lamb. And in that context, he says, It shall come to pass in that day, that is the day of Messiah, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left. It must be talking about Messianic times. When he says a second time. If that’s the second time, when is the first time? It’s the return from Babylon. So he’s already compared these two events in Isaiah. And so the second time under Messiah would be released from the captivity of sin. This idea of the voice crying in the wilderness is interesting. Now, with the case of John the Baptist, he was literally crying in the wilderness, right? What about our current situation with Babylon?

If you look back in Isaiah chapter 23 and verse 13, this word wilderness is used over and over again with reference to Babylon. He starts off saying, Behold the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not till the Assyrians founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness. And they set it up the towers, they raised up the places, and he brought it to ruin. It’s a ruin, it’s a wilderness again. Is this the man who shook the earth? This is talking about the reign of the king of Babylon in chapter 14. Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble? This man who made the world a wilderness? That is, he ruined so many civilizations as his went conquering. Such that in chapter 21, he talks about a burden against Babylon.

He calls it the wilderness of the sea. Your translation may say desert of the sea. Desert is a wilderness. Very similar meaning. And it’s it’s a word describing its future. Babylon would be made a wilderness and a place for the wild animals to roam. And so I think he’s talking about his future when he says the wilderness of the sea. So in 27, he says, Yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness. So when comfort is proclaimed to God’s people, where is it so important that it goes out from? The place they are, in Babylon. A voice crying in the wilderness. Comfort ye, my people. And so you look at these comparisons in these three key events that I talked about, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Yes, wilderness being Babylon, its future state. Prepare the way of the Lord. Did that happen? Absolutely. God named the man, Cyrus. Nothing would stand in his way. God said he would do all that I given him to do. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Chapter 45, I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. The same language used here in chapter 40. Jeremiah 31 and 21 says, set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. In other words, the same way you came to get here in the wilderness, you’re going to go back. The Lord will make a highway for you to return. Not a literal highway, but as travel on a highway is without obstacle. So when God brings back his people, there will be no obstacle.

God will bring them back. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. He says in chapter 45 to Cyrus, I will gird you. Why? That they may know from the rising of the sun to the setting that there is none beside me. Look how similar it is in the statement to John the Baptist. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria. That’s talking about messianic times, even though it’s in Isaiah 11. And Isaiah 11 as well, they shall not hurt nor destroy an all my holy mountain, for the Lord shall be the earth shall be full, the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Again, talking about messianic times. Both of these are fulfilled in such a similar way. The comparisons are the same. Many commentators have preferred this to be like someone observing mountains separated by a distance, but from a side, so that they look are seen together. And they are so similar that the descriptions are given of them both together. That’s what we see here. It’s not that we’re just taking arbitrary meaning and pouring it into a prophecy and saying, Oh, this is a double meaning, it really it’s got a hidden meaning. No, it’s it’s the meaning that’s given by the prophet himself. From the context of chapter 11, the fact that from chapter 40, he’s going to launch into the immediate contextual return under Cyrus, but he’s going to go on to talk about messianic times as well, and the descriptions will be similar.

4. To Whom Then Will You Liken God?

And as recorded by the New Testament authors, Matthew, you see, the apostles understood it that way. So we see Israel described as the servant in chapter 41, but let’s finish chapter 40 before we get there. Quick read through. The boy said, Cry out, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and its loveliness is like a flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. To those in Babylon, they’re surrounded by this mighty nation. How will we ever be delivered? Picture your God. All men are as nothing before him. The very breath of God can cause civilizations to fall. But the word of our Lord stands forever. Ozion, you who bring good tidings, get up to the high mountain.

Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up and be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand. His arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. Same statement made in Revelation, right? Chapter 22 and verse 12. His work is before him, he will feed his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs under his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. Such a picture of comfort to those that seem to be separated from their God. He begins a long description that’s very similar to the description we find in the book of Job. The glory of God when compared to creation.

Who has measured the waters in the hollows of his hand, measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Obviously, man can’t do that. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or has his counselor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel? And who instructed him? Who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? It’s man’s position to learn. Who taught God? No man. Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and counted as a small dust on the balance. Look, he looks up the islands as a very little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. We think of the great timber in Lebanon. When the Lord’s house was built, where did they bring all the timber from?

Lebanon. But there’s not enough there to burn for a sacrifice. It’s nothing in God’s sight. Its beasts are not sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted by him less than nothing and worthless. Now, when you look from that picture of God, to whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare it to him? The workman molds a graven image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, a silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter. This was the condition of man. When it came to worshiping a God, they chose a tree that wouldn’t rot.

Or they might have overlaid it with gold or silver, and they claimed this was a powerful being. But how does that compare with God? Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth. That’s God. God sits over all.

Think about it. A circle is actually a two dimensional object, not a three-dimensional. Those that claimed the earth was flat could say it was probably like a circle, because that was the common observation of the man. But that’s not the point. Don’t miss the point. The point is that God is above the earth. God rules over the earth. He is over uh powerful over the earth. John, you had a comment. Yeah. Amos 9 and 6 gives a pretty good explanation of that. Which says? Let me turn there.

And so the point is that the earth’s inhabitants are like grasshoppers. It’s God who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judge of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarce is somebody’s song, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he shall blow on them and they will wither. And so he comes full circle in his argument. All man is like grass. John? And I’m reading uh I’ll read part of uh Amos 9, 6. The one who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and has founded his vaulted dome over the earth. Vaulted dome. And so the key point there is God dwells above the earth, and he has all power over it, therefore.

5. Those Who Wait on the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength

And so to whom will you liken me or to whom shall I be equal? Lift up your eyes on high and see who’s created all these things. Who brings them out their host by number, calls it by name, and by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power? Not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God. What was their claim, do you think here that was being passed over? The answer will be in just a few verses later. We’ll get to that in just a minute. Apparently, those in Babylon would think that God had forgotten them, and that he was not powerful enough to bring them out.

But he has a simple statement. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. That is, you can never find the extents of his understanding. So to say their just time is passed over in light of all this is simply a bad statement. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might. He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. Even the young men will utterly fail, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.

What does he mean by that? It’s an off-quoted verse. I often see it on bookmarks. You’ll see it on the sidelines at Edgewater High. Since the eagles are mascot.

They will attain their just reward. And basically, for your righteousness, you will be rewarded. I think that’s the that I may be wrong. Okay. The reward is sure. But he talks about strength. Run and not grow weary. Did anybody here ever get weary? Tired? Mentally just drained? Yeah. What’s he talking about? Look over with me in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16. I think we see a very similar sentiment here by the Apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians 4, 16.

He says, Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing. Yeah, we’re going to physically get tired. Yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The Apostle Paul says, Don’t look so much on your current situation. It may be not good. Our current affliction.

6. You, Israel, Are My Servant; Present Your Case

Prophet might say to those in Babylon, don’t look at your current situation. God has something better coming. So it is easy to get tired when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. But God says, Trust in me. Those who wait on the Lord, good things will come. Your reward is sure. Don’t lose heart. You will renew yourself on the wings of eagles because you trust in God. And so he says, and this looks like a judicial statement. Gather together, everyone. Keep silent, coastlands. Let the people renew their strength. Let them come near. Let us come together for judgment. And I believe this answer is coming, is in response to Israel’s statement, My just claim is passed over by my God. He asks the question Who raised up one from the east?

Now he’s speaking of some future event as past tense. As an indication of just how sure this event was. Who raised up one from the east? He’s talking about Cyrus in chapter 46 and verse 11. Who in righteousness called him to his feet? Who gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as dust to his sword? As driven stubble to his bow. Who pursued them and safely passed by the way that he had not gone with his feet? Who has performed and done it? Calling the generations from the beginning. I the Lord am the first, and with the last I am he. The coastlines sought and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid. They drew near and came. Everyone helped his neighbor, said to his brother, Be of good courage.

So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith, and who smooths with the hammer, inspired him, who strikes the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering. He fastened it with a pegs that it might not totter. All the idols, and all those that worshiped him tried to oppose this. But, remember the statement, make straight a highway, every valley will be exalted, every mountain will be made low, the crooked places will be made stink. The idols are not an obstacle to God accomplishing what he has said he would do. You, Israel, are my servant, Jacob, whom I’ve chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend, you who I’ve taken from the ends of the earth and called you from its furthest regions, and said to you, You are my servant.

That’s the reassuring statement they needed to hear. Things look dire.

God says, I have not cast you away. Wait on the Lord, lift up your strength. God will bring you back. And so God’s challenge really is who can do the things that he does? The Gentiles fear and trusted in their idols, but Israel will be a witness, a demonstration of God’s strength and faithfulness. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you. In verse 10. Yes, I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God, right-handed, I sometimes ask.

It’s metaphoric. It’s metaphoric. It stands for your strength, right? Majority of people tend to be right-handed, and so the right hand is your strength. And so when God does this, he’s going to do it with his strength. Just as remember when he brought him out of Egypt, he did it by his strong right arm. So in this case, by the same great power. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced, and they shall be as nothing. And those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them. Those who contented you will be as nothing. And so a call to idolaters to present your case. I’m going to skip down to verse. Well, no, I can’t skip that.

Verse 17. Okay, I’ll go back up to 14. There’s just too much here. That’s good. If I run out of time, we’ll make it up on Sunday. Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel, I will help you. Behold, verse 15, I will make you into a sharp threshing sledge with sharp teeth. You will thresh the mountains and beat them small and make the hills like chaff. You shall win of them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them. You shall rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel. Is he talking about I will make Israel a great military power to conquer all nations? When you think of a thresh, what is a thresh or a threshing sledge and winnowing?

Process of separating the grain from the chaff, right? That which is desirable from that which is not. So Israel would be a key player in that separation. Why? They’re the witness in the sight of all mankind. Remember that statement? Chapter 40, verses 1 through 6. All mankind will see the idols are nothing, but God brings back his people. And so in that separation, Israel would play a key part. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their thongs, tongues fail for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I, the Lord of God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers and desolate heights. And instantly what jumps to mind is the situation in the wilderness. When Israel was come, had come out of Egypt.

They were thirsty, they cried out to God, and in the wilderness he brought out streams of water to nourish his people. So we’re talking about nourishing of God’s people from God Himself in a miraculous way. Not literal waters, but metaphorical. God will provide what is needed. And I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the Loreland springs of water. You’ll see that picture, metaphorical picture, over and over again. So in verse 21, present your case, says the Lord, to bring forth your strong reasons, says the king of Jacob. Let them bring forth and show us what will happen. Let them show the former things, what they were. He’s talking about the idols. You trusted in idols, let them tell you the former things and what they were, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them, or declare to us things to come.

Show the things that are come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good or do evil. And I believe what he means is bless your people or do evil, provide judgment. That is a role of the Almighty to provide judgment. Do either one, that we may be dismayed and see it together. Indeed, you are nothing. Your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination. This key point about knowing the end from the beginning is a key part of the evidence for the Bible, being the Word of God, and God being who He is. When you look at books like the Book of Mormon, you will not find any prophecies. Certainly not any that are fulfilled. When you look at books like the Quran, one of the great things that’s missing the Quran is there are zero prophecies.

Although the uh Muslim would say that its very existence is a miracle. But it has zero prophecies.

He told me, how do we know that those are characteristics of the true God? He’s still searching, he didn’t find enough satisfaction with our church. So he and he presented that argument with me. I didn’t really know what to tell him. He said, How do we know? If if the true God doesn’t necessarily have the ability to prophesy and I forgot the other thing he said. Then then we’re following the wrong guy. Well, the first statement is an assumption that’s not true. It’s an off-claimed thing by the atheist. The atheist would say that, oh, well, this i if he’s telling something it happened later, it’s because the book was written later and he was just recording history. No, no, no, that’s not all I’m saying. He acknowledges that there’s prop prophecy here, but his he was trying to say, how do we know that the true God can prophesy?

Why isn’t that a necessarily why isn’t Muhammad necessarily the true God just because our God can predict? He’s the only one. Yeah, I know, but why does that make him God of what’s his argument? Because no one but God can do that. That’s God’s argument. That doesn’t make him the true God. He makes five chapters should answer you right. Okay. Sure, it does. And so when you look and read the Quran, I urge you to do that just as awareness of what people out there believe. Zero prophecies. No, you’re presuming that prophecy is a characteristic of the only true God. That’s what God says. I’m not presuming that. No, that’s what the Bible says, not necessarily God. Someone that doesn’t believe it. Uh the last few verses we’ll talk about on Sunday morning.

Conclusion

Um, but this is a primary evidence, and we need to be aware of that and use it that way. Uh my time is up, so we’ll see you on Sunday morning.