Isaiah’s Passion – part 5
Isaiah 61-62 (62:3-5)
November 10, 2024
We want to pick back up tonight where we left off this morning.
We’ve seen:
#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 62:1-11
Where Isaiah was filled with God’s Spirit and commissioned to preach.
What did he preach?
1) THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION
2) THE GLORY OF SALVATION
We looked at that a few weeks ago.
This morning we turned to the second aspect of Isaiah’s passion.
#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 63:1-12
And we are breaking this commitment down into three parts.
1) HIS VISION (1-5)
Isaiah’s vision is vital to understanding his commitment.
He was committed to the commission God had given him.
As we saw in verse 1, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,”
Here was a man who faithfully preached for nearly 60 years
Despite preaching to a blind, deaf, and stubborn audience.
Even when they mocked him, he continued.
Even when they told him to stop, he continued.
This is remarkable and inspiring to us.
For many of us often feel like we are also in a nation
Of blind, deaf, and stubborn people who do not want to hear the gospel.
Certainly we do not have it as bad as Isaiah,
• But we do understand the ramifications of living in our post-modern culture.
• We understand when Paul told Timothy to preach the word “in season and out of season”.
• We do have some understanding of that.
So when we see a man like Isaiah,
Who is in a culture even more closed than ours,
Faithfully preach for nearly 60 years
We are interested in where he found the strength to be so committed.
And that is what we see here in these first 5 verses.
We called it: HIS VISION.
• It is the future end that Isaiah looked toward.
• It is that future end that God had promised.
• It is that future end that Isaiah expected.
He knew what God had promised about a returning nation of Israel.
He knew what God had promised about a righteous remnant.
He knew that God would use his preaching to accomplish it.
And so even though Isaiah had not seen it yet,
He kept preaching faithfully as he looked to the promise.
In short, Isaiah would preach until those promises became reality.
LIKE WHAT?
We saw two this morning.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REAL (1b)
(1b) “Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”
• He was not satisfied with hypocritical and phony religion.
• He wasn’t stopping until they were actually redeemed and righteous.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR TESTIMONY IS EVIDENT (2)
(2) “The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”
• Isaiah was not satisfied with a people who hid their light under a basket.
• Isaiah was not interested in flavorless salt.
• He was going to preach until the people of Israel were shining their light and sharing their flavor all over the world.
There are 3 more expectations Isaiah had for Israel that he worked toward
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR GLORY IS RESTORED (3)
(3) “You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”
Isaiah is well-aware of the current condition of the nation.
They were a nation that suffered great affliction because of their idolatry.
Isaiah even knew that in roughly 100 years after his ministry
Israel would be removed from the land and exiled into Babylon.
He saw a nation that was about to lose glory.
He even spoke about it in his preaching.
Isaiah 3:1-8 “For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread And the whole supply of water; The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter. And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them, And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable. When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,” He will protest on that day, saying, “I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people.” For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence.”
Isaiah saw a people who had so offended God
That God made a mockery of their political leadership.
He removed men of wisdom and character
And replaced them with unworthy men, women, and children.
But Isaiah also knew that when Israel finally came to their senses
That God would restore the nation with His glorious presence.
Isaiah 4:2-6 “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.”
We saw the promise even recently:
Isaiah 60:1-2 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”
Isaiah knew that judgment was coming for the people.
But he also knew that God had promised
That one day their glory would return.
He knew that today they were rejected,
But there is coming a day when they will once again be glorious.
“You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”
You see words like “crown” and “diadem”
Which are words that speak of a returning monarchy.
There is coming a day when Israel will reemerge
Even as a political kingdom with Christ at the helm.
And we know WHEN that will happen.
• When Israel finally repents and returns, as Peter told us,
• Then Christ will return and He will rule and reign from His glorious throne in Jerusalem.
Isaiah wasn’t going to stop preaching until glory is restored.
And there is a great motivation for us as well.
At what point do we stop calling sinners to repentance?
At what point do we stop preaching the truth that sanctifies?
We stop when sin is totally eradicated and glory has come.
Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 13:8-12 “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
There is coming a day when
We will no longer need to boldly proclaim the words of God.
That day is when the perfect comes.
That day is when glory occurs.
Until that day we strive and we preach and we evangelize
Seeking to pull men from sin and push them on to glory.
Isaiah saw a promise of coming glory,
And he wouldn’t stop preaching until that glory was revealed.
What an encouragement for us.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR MARRIAGE IS HEALED (4)
(4) “It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”;
Well certainly we understand this reference.
Israel, having rejected Christ, and thus been broken off.
Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”
We see Israel, even to this very day in that role of a Gomer
Who abandoned the Lord through idolatry and has thus been sent away.
But we also know that HER RETURN IS PROMISED by the Lord.
Isaiah 54:4-8 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. “For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the LORD your Redeemer.”
Isaiah went on to say:
Isaiah 54:11-14 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires. “Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones. “All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great. “In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; And from terror, for it will not come near you.”
We know that Israel is the LORD’S Gomer.
We know He will bring her back.
We’ve read in Zechariah
• How He will pour His Spirit of grace and supplication over them and they will mourn for Christ and return to Him.
We know that
• God will graft them back in again.
• He will restore them to Himself.
We know that
• “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”.
AND ISAIAH KNOWS IT TOO!
And he won’t stop preaching until it happens.
This is his vision for Jerusalem.
“It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, (Hephzibah) “My delight is in her,” And your land (Beulah) “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.”
That is to say that God will return to your land and dwell within it.
• He will return to the land.
• He will marry His bride.
• He will reign with her in glory.
This broken marriage of the Israelites will be healed, God promised it.
Isaiah isn’t going to stop preaching until he hears the wedding bells.
And again, it is a great example for us.
Do we not also know that the elect are coming?
Have we not read what Jesus said:
John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
Jesus said that every one of the elect will come to Him.
• He knows who they are.
• We don’t know who they are.
But we know that the method through which He calls out His elect to Himself is the preaching of the gospel.
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
We preach like Isaiah did
Until every single one of His elect has come home.
And we know when they all come home,
He will bring us all home to Him.
Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
We haven’t seen that day yet, but we know it’s coming.
• We know that when all of His wheat is safely in His barn
• Then He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
We think of:
2 Peter 3:8-9 “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Christ will not come and destroy this world
Until ever single one of His elect are brought home.
• He is patient.
• He is not willing that a single one of His elect should perish.
• But once they all come, He will return.
We talk often about the TIMING of His return in relation to Israel.
We know that when they repent and return
That Christ will return for them to rule and to reign.
But is there any indication anywhere that the salvation of the Gentiles marks the coming of the Lord?
ABSOLUTELY!
Matthew 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus said the end wasn’t coming
Until this gospel is preached to every Gentile nation.
Romans 11:25-26 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”
Paul indicated that Israel isn’t going to return and believe and be saved
Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
After that, Israel will return, and then Christ will follow.
Does that motivate your urgency to preach a little more?
• Are you tired of this corrupt and wicked world?
• Are you ready for the King of Justice and the Prince of Peace to reign?
Well He’ll come once Israel repents and returns.
And Israel will repent and return
Once the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
That makes modern day Isaiah’s out of us all.
We determine not to be silent
Until all of Christ’s chosen have been restored to Him.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR GOD REJOICES (5)
(5) “For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”
How much of God’s dwelling with Israel could be described as patient frustration?
• They grumbled with Him at Massah and Meribah and He said, “For forty years I loathed that generation.”
• Through Hosea He asked, “How long shall I put up with you?”
• Eventually He departed from them during the days of Ezekiel.
But even in Isaiah’s day we saw the LORD’S frustration with them.
He wasn’t satisfied with them, He was grieved.
Remember that song of the vineyard?
Isaiah 5:1-4 “Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”
Do you remember the grief of the vineyard owner
At how pathetic His vineyard had turned out?
When we read on and we learned that
• The vineyard owner abandoned His vineyard and allowed it to be ruined.
• Then we found out that God was the vineyard owner and Israel was the vine.
THE POINT BEING,
There just wasn’t much for God to rejoice over regarding Israel.
• They never listened.
• They never repented.
• He called them false sons.
He was grieved over them until eventually He left them.
We might say the romance was gone.
But Isaiah knew that God had promised that
One day He would draw them back to Himself
And in that day He would rejoice over them.
“And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”
Some of you know, perhaps most of you, but Zek recently proposed to his girlfriend Lindsay.
If you want a measurement of his excitement.
• On Monday, he had asked me to pray because he was going to talk to her dad.
• Monday evening I looked on the location app to see where he was because I
was curious if he was done and how it went.
• When he showed up on the app he was parked at a jewelry store.
• I texted him, and he said, “Lindsay’s dad gave me his permission!”
• And hour later Zek called his mom and said he was engaged.
That’s what you call excitement.
About an hour after that, they both called to tell the rest of the family
And it was plum nauseating to listen to them.
They were so goofy, gooey, mushy you just wanted them off the phone.
The point is that he is a man who can’t contain his excitement
And rejoicing over having found a bride.
And that type of excitement is what Isaiah uses as an analogy
To explain how God will feel about Israel.
“as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”
We’ve seen the prodigal father running to meet the wayward son.
• That’s the picture.
Now think about YOUR EAGERNESS FOR THE LORD TO RETURN
And take you home to be with Him.
Think about the joy and excitement of the day
When we attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Does it surprise you to know that
Christ is just as excited about that day as you are?
Does it surprise you to know that
He anticipates that day as much as you do?
That on that day not only will you rejoice over Him
But He will rejoice over you.
And we preach until that day comes to fruition.
We know what Christ is doing now:
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Christ is washing us and purifying us to make us worthy to be with Him.
And as those who are committed to preaching the gospel
We understand that this mission is ours.
Listen to Paul:
2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”
Paul’s desire in his ministry was to wash the Corinthians thoroughly
So that they would be the bride Christ desired and deserved.
That speaks then to our commitment to continue to preach as well.
Christ deserves a pure bride.
Christ deserve a spotless bride.
We go out into the world and we preach
That the bride might come home
And when she comes we continue to preach
Until she is spotless and blameless and beautiful just like He wants.
THESE THINGS WERE THE GOALS OF ISAIAH.
He had heard the promises of God.
He knew these things were future reality.
• He knew God would call all her.
• He knew God would confront her.
• He knew God would correct her.
• He knew God would cleanse her.
• He knew God would consecrate her.
And He knew that God would do all that through
The preaching of the gospel of salvation and the glory of salvation.
SO ISAIAH PREACHED.
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet.”
HE WOULD NOT STOP.
We see that his commitment was a result of his vision.
• He could look ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God.
• And he would preach until he saw them fulfilled.
And again we ask what is your vision?
What is your desire for those you are around?
Will you have the commitment of Isaiah to say,
“I will not keep silent…I will not keep quiet,”
I’m going to preach until my kids
• Are saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!
I’m going to preach until my neighbor
• Is saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!
I’m going to preach until everyone in this church
• Is saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!
THAT WAS ISAIAH’S PASSION.
He had latched on to the promises of God
And he would not stop preaching until he saw them fulfilled.
Colossians 1:25-29 “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
You hear the same commitment don’t you?
There it is church.
Grab hold of the promises of God and go preach them until faith is turned into sight.
• Preach to the lost
• Preach to the redeemed
• Preach to the mature
Preach until:
• Their righteousness is real
• Their testimony is evident
• Their glory is restored
• Their marriage is healed
• Their God rejoices
That was Isaiah’s vision and it fueled his commitment.
