You notice that chapter 57 ends with saying there is no peace says my God for the wicked. That indicates a division in the section. This is the last section now of the book of Isaiah. Chapter 58 through 66 is the last division of Isaiah. And we're going to take it in two sections, this week and next week.

Isaiah in the section looks in two different directions. He's looking to the future. He always does that. He's very futuristic in his writing. And yet, at the same time, he has his eye on his own present condition. And the people of Israel at the time of Isaiah were depraved spiritually. And yet God speaks about restoration. So if there is to be restoration in the midst of such depravity the incentive must come from God. And it must be something that God does and that God inspires and indeed he will. How will he do it?

It will be a process. First of all, God must get their attention because they're not listening to God. No matter how much. Isaiah shares with them the love of God and the restoration in the future, the people don't want to hear it. So God must now get their attention. He gets their attention by sending the Babylonians to take them captive. He steals their freedom from them. He brings them to a foreign land. Much of the nation is destroyed. Now they listen to God. Now they're very open in the land of captivity.

God, after 70 years, brings them back into the land and promises to restore the things that have been broken down. That becomes a picture, a model of what God will do in the future. For as you know, Israel was again exiled from her land in 70 AD. She's gone back into the land. It's a work of God. Yet there will be a future restoration where Jesus Christ will return to Mt. Zion and set up his Earthly theocratic kingdom. And there will be everlasting righteousness. Total restoration, not just temporary restoration, but total. And Isaiah touches on all of these things here.

In verse one, cry aloud, spare not. Now here's Isaiah's commission. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob, their sins. Whenever you do this, people don't like it. People want to be told nice things about themselves. People don't like to be told their sin. They don't react well unless they have humble hearts. When they have humble hearts, they receive it and they repent. People that are proud don't listen, don't repent, and get angry when you share their transgression.

According to history, when King Manasseh took over the throne of Judah, he took Isaiah the prophet who spoke the transgression of the people and had him sawn in two. Because he was violating the commandment of God and Isaiah was a reminder of God's righteousness to Manasseh. And he just wasted him. And so here is Isaiah blasting like a trumpet telling people their sins.

Now there was a group of prophets who arose in the land during the time of Jeremiah who were telling everyone that God would not send them into captivity. And they were bringing a message of peace and prosperity instead of judgment. Which do you think the people wanted to listen to? The prophets who preached peace. And so God comes and says about these prophets, they have healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying peace, peace when there is no peace. Oh, that's the message the people wanted to hear. Tell us nice things. We read about that in Isaiah.

The people said, prophesize to us lies. Tell us good things. Don't tell us about judgment. We don't want to hear it. It's not a pleasant message. We want to hear smooth things, even if they're deceitful. Tell us anyway. And these prophets had taken the edge off the hurt of the people slightly, saying peace, peace. But there is no peace coming.

There are those who are ministers who instead of telling people the truth about their lives, tell them nice things, always positive things so that they feel good about themselves, they'll believe in themselves instead of committing themselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ first in repentance, which must always precede restoration. It has been said that we are not only called to comfort the afflicted but in some cases to afflict the comfortable. And that's what Isaiah is doing is afflicting the comfortable. He's getting the people who had settled in complacency and apathy spiritually to a place of trying to get them to seek the lord.

Now look at verse two, strange twist. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They asked me the ordinance of justice. They take delight in approaching God. Why have we fasted, they say. And you have not seen. They're saying this to God. Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? Now they were going through all of the perfunctory rituals of their religion. And yet they were getting no response from God. It's because they were doing it simply outwardly as a ritual and their hearts really weren't in it. And they were wondering, you know, we're going through all the motions. We see no result. We're afflicting our souls as the scripture says that we should fast. But we're not seeing anything.

In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the lord? You see, what God was getting at is a group of people we've seen it over and over again in Isaiah, who are going through the motions outwardly. Inwardly they were not changed.

Remember the letter that Jesus wrote to the Church of Ephesus? He said I know your works and your labor. You're hard working church people. And your discernment you cannot bear with those who call themselves apostles and they found that they are not, but I have something against you. You've left your first love. You're going through the motions. You've left the emotion. It's not real to you anymore. It's not the same as it was when you started out to love me. You had such a heart for me at one time. And now you're working, you're laboring, you're a growing church, but your heart isn't pursuing me like it was at the beginning. He says remember from where you are fallen. Repent and do the first works again or else I will take and remove the lamp stand from its place.

Going through the motions but leaving a real heart worship for the Lord. They were on the surface, they looked like they were following God. They were seeking him daily but their heart was far from God. It's very much the same as in the case of Cain and Abel. Remember both of them brought sacrifices to God. God did not accept Cain's sacrifice but accepted Abel's sacrifice. And God told Cain why. He said, Cain, you know, he brought a sacrifice to God and Cain's sacrifice wasn't accepted. God wouldn't accept it. And this made Cain upset. His countenance had fallen, the scripture says. Or he was bummed out.

And God said, why art thou bummed out? Why is your countenance fallen literally? If you did right, you'd be accepted. You see, he was going through the ritual of worship. But he was not living a life that was pleasing to God. It was hypocrisy. He was very religious outwardly, but his life was not in conformity to the will of God. And yet so many people think that if they just do the religious stuff that they're OK. Hey, I still go to church, man , lay off me. I still pray. Yeah but it's just dead works. You'll never buy God any favor from him by going through these things when your heart really isn't in it.

In verse three, why have we fasted and you have not seen. Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? God never wants mechanical worship. And you know we can, in this church, fall into the same trap that the ancient people of Israel did. You say, but oh, we don't have rituals like they. Well, anything can become rote and routine. How about singing songs to the lord and our mind is in an entirely different place. We're not thinking about the words. We're thinking about tomorrow morning or what we're going to say or what we're going to do when we get out here, where we're going to eat afterwards. Is it going to be Bennigan's or is it going to be village Inn? Who's going to be there? Is she going to be there? Is he going to be there? It's easy to get distracted. We can go through the rituals of attendance and singing songs but our hearts can still be far from the lord.

You know, if God wanted mechanical worship, he'd have made robots. And God always wants love to be voluntary and spontaneous. He doesn't want just routine praise the lord praise the lord. He'd have created a bunch of robots to do that. He doesn't get off on any kind of routine ritual. When somebody goes through a ritual, God doesn't go, oh, man, that really-- I'm blessed by that. That's great. But when he sees a heart in simplicity and spontaneity loving him, no matter how crude it is, he falls in love with that. It's real. It's from the heart. God wants you to be who you are. God wants your heart. The worship of your inner being to him.

In verse six, he continues about this fast. He corrects their thinking. Is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily. And your righteousness shall go forth. The glory of the lord shall be a rear guard. And you shall call and the lord will answer. And you shall cry, and he will say, here I am.

The jews had one day per year upon which it was obligatory that they fast. And that was the day of atonement called Yom Kippur. They had to fast and then offer the sacrifices. However, there were voluntary days of fast. You didn't have to. You could do it if you wanted to. David fasted when Abner killed Joab. or when Abner went out and flipped out. He fasted. When his son died, he fasted. It wasn't demanded but he did it anyway. In the new testament fasting became fashionable for some of the Pharisees.

They did it two days a week. The real strict religious people fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, which incidentally happened to be the two busiest days in the market. And that was significant because what these people would do is that they would put a white powder on their face and put on old clothes that looked really torn up and beat up. And they'd go walk in the marketplaces on the days of fasting. And they would look really gaunt and like they haven't eaten for days. And people would look at them and notice that they just, look at those guys, they've been fasting. They need food. Look how spiritual they are. They've withheld from the flesh, these things.

But they did it to be seen by man. And Jesus called attention to that. When you fast, don't be like these hypocrites who do it to be seen by man. But do it privately. Go wash your face, Jesus said. Put on nice clothes. Put on perfume. Put on cologne. So you look like you're healthy and like you haven't withheld anything from yourself. And you do it unto God and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. See this is the danger of doing any religious thing is that we can do it to be seen by men and not by God. We can do it when we pray. We can do it when we sing. We can lift our hands so that that person behind us thinks, boy, isn't that person really spiritual.

Now you can do it unto the lord, but you can also do it unto man. You can do anything to get recognition by man. That's always the danger of doing something. And fasting became a ritual. Rituals, and I grew up, my background spiritually, I know about rituals I've been through many of them. The problem with rituals is that you can set the thing in motion without your heart being really in it. You've got it down. You know the words. You know the actions. They've been a part of you so long you can just set the wheels in motion. It gathers its own momentum. And you could be miles away, not even thinking about what you're doing. And of course, this happened here when it came to fasting.

What is the purpose for fasting by the way? It is never commanded in the scripture. It is always allowed. And it's optional. Fasting, let me tell you what it's not. It's not a sanctified diet. Oh, yeah, you know, I could fast. I do need to lose a few pounds. That's not the reason you do it. Nor is fasting done as a lever to get something you want accomplished, thinking well you know what, I prayed about this but God hasn't given to me. Maybe if I fast, then he'll see it my way. He'll see I'm really serious and he'll give me what I want. Hey, if it's not the will of God, tough toast. All the fasting and withholding you want won't give it to you. That's how much God loves you. He knows what's best for you.

The purpose of fasting is that it allows you to focus on things spiritually and intake things spirits. You're withholding purposely things that your flesh needs to survive-- food. And what that does it gets you to then focus upon spiritual things. You think well, it seems to me like it would be a distraction because you're trying to focus on spiritual things and your stomach's growling. It's all you can think about is food. Well, that's good for you, you see.

And God says the purpose of fasting is that your heart has conformed to obey him and to think about people who don't have what you have. It's not easy to think about how hungry people are after you've had a big vanilla malt and a huge meal. And as you burp your way out of the restaurant, thinking all those poor people in those countries, you know. But when you don't eat for a while and you know what it feels like to go without food for a couple days, your heart goes out to people who don't have much. And God says, the fast that pleases me isn't the ritualistic withholding while you're out taking people's money. But the kind of fast that pleases me is that you take the food that you withhold and you give it to the poor. God always has a heart for the poor, the underdog, the people who are underprivileged. Find someone who doesn't have it and give it to him and withhold it from yourself. That is a fast that pleases me.

And look at verse nine, then you will call and the lord will answer and you shall cry and he will say, here I am. Now I want you to notice something as we read the next few verses. There is conditional words that are used. There is a condition and a promise. I say that because many of us in underlining our bibles never underline the conditions. We always underline the promise. Conveniently, of course. We read a promise, we think that's beautiful. I'm going to stand on that promise this week. Well, you can't unless you fulfill the condition.

If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger in speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noon day. The lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones, and you shall be as a watered garden and like a spring of water who waters do not fail.

Now I have seen how many people-- and I did this before-- have underlined in their bible just that promise. The lord will guide you continually. And we memorize it, commit to memory, and claim it whenever we feel like we need provision. Can't do that. We are not allowed to isolate out of its context or out of its condition, its precondition, a text of scripture and claim it for ourselves without meeting that conditions. Whenever there is an if we have to pay attention to that.

And God says now if you are concerned with my concerns and you take care of the oppressed and the poor, then when you're in tough times, I'll take care of you. But the condition of obedience must always precede the promise and the fulfillment of that promise. I want you to turn to a new testament passage of scripture. And I lost my place entirely here, flashing my bible around like an evangelist. Turn over to Philippians Chapter Four. Keep your finger there and flip to Philippians Chapter Four. We'll show you how this scripture is also-- or this idea is also found in the new testament.

Now, it does not mean that every promise is conditional, but many of them are. There are certain covenants in scripture that are absolutely unconditional by grace alone, not by works. But there are other promises that are filled with conditions. Here, for an example, it says in verse 19 of Philippians Four, a scripture many christians are familiar with and stand upon, and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Isn't that a beautiful promise? Yet it has a condition. And we are not able to lift that out and blankly apply that to ourselves unless we read context, fulfill the context, and then claim the promise. This, folks, is why expository bible teaching should be in every single church throughout our country so that people begin to think in context, not out of context. Not just saying, OK, let me find a convenient scripture. I like that one. That's mine.

And many people cheat themselves because they don't know the context of scripture. Well, let's go on. Let's go back to verse 10 where you see there's a break. Paul says, but I rejoiced in the lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again. Though you surely did care, you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need for I've learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased. I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through christ who strengthens me.

Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared-- that means shared financially-- in my distress. Now you Philippians know that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even an Thessalonica you did send aid, that's financial gifts, once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all in abound. I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

You see the context? They, even when they lacked, sent to Paul to support his ministry to get the gospel preached. And Paul says, you know what? You have kept God's concerns in the forefront of your minds and hearts. You've shared financially with me from your own resources to get the gospel preached. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. The precondition is sharing what you have to get the gospel out. And my God shall supply all your needs.

Again, the principal is in Matthew. Jesus speaks to a crowd of people who are worried about daily provision. Where are we going to get money to pay the rent? Where are we going to get food for breakfast tomorrow? And Jesus says to them, seek first the kingdom of God and all of these things will be added to you. He did not say, just all of these things will be given to you. Seek first the kingdom and all of these things will be added to you. Places us in a wonderful position, that we have to have a certain set of priorities which are not where am I going to get food, where am I going to sleep, what am I going to eat, what kind of clothes am I going to where. Now, on the practical side, of course, we want our families to be taken care of.

But the real is that if we put God first and seek first building his kingdom, not a comfortable kingdom for ourselves, God will just provide all that we need. But there is a condition before the promise. And so we see also in Isaiah, if you take away the yoke from your midst, if you extend your soul to the hungry, then your light will dawn in the darkness. The lord will guide you continually on and on. God promises provision as they then obey him.

The principle here is this. God is not a blank check, where you just fill in your name and the amount, and by faith receive it. God is not a blank check nor a Sears catalog. God loves you too much to give you a catalog and just say, hey, you just name it. And you just speak it. And you just believe it. You can have it. God loves you far too much to give you that kind of power. He's your father. Would you do that to your kids? You'd spoil them rotten. If I Nathan, now look, you just do whatever you want and whatever you say that you want from me, you just speak it out and I'll give it to you. You just really believe me for it and I'll give it to you. Goodness gracious, he'd be a spoiled brat. I love him too much to give him that kind of authority. I want him to grow up to be strong. And there's certain things I even withhold from him because I love him and I want him to become mature. And so, God, we have here the condition and the fulfillment of the promise.

In Chapter 59, God says, behold, the lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. By the way, you come all the time in scripture with words like hand and arm as applied to God. And it gets us to think in our mind that God has arms and hands and legs and feet. The scripture does that for our benefit. It's called anthropomorphisms, putting God in human language to that human beings can relate. God is spirit. He's not flesh and bones like we have. But in order that we can understand him, he's written in poetic, picturesque metaphors called anthropomorphisms so that we can understand him.

And here's a poetic way of understanding God's attributes. Behold the lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God. And your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. You know. oftentimes when prayers are not answered, guess who gets the blame? God. You didn't answer my prayer, God. I trusted you for this. You didn't give it to me. I'm taking my football and going home. You're not a loving God. I'm not trusting you anymore.

Hey, wait, wait, wait, a minute. God says, don't put that on me. It's your fault. I'm powerful. My hand isn't short. I can still hear you. But there's something that is separated between you and me and it happens to be called sin. And David said in Psalm 66, if I regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me. If we are mastered by sin, that breaks fellowship with God. And that must be confessed when we have known sin, when we have rebelled against God, and we know it. We've transgressed a commandment. We have to confess that to God. You say, but Skip, I sin all day long. Well, I agree with you. All of us fall short of the glory of God.

There's a difference between sin and let's say transgression. If I say here's a line, don't cross it. You go, OK, I'll never cross it. But you're not thinking and you're speeding one day and you see the line, you put on the brakes, but you've kind of gone a little too fast and you cross the line by a few feet. You've gone over the line. It was unintentional but you've sinned. If I say, don't cross this line and you stand there with your arms folded and go, what are you going to do about it. That's transgression. It's willful disobedience. It's not ignorant now. It's willful. And we sometimes do that, too, don't we? We know God doesn't want us to do something. We do it anyway. We cross the line. We have committed an iniquity. We must bring that to God because we have severed fellowship with God. It doesn't mean we're not sons of God anymore. It means that although we have union with God, we have lost communion with God. We must restore fellowship by bringing our sin to God and allowing him to restore us to fellowship with the father and with the son.

When we pray, if we are sinning deliberately against God, living a life of sin, God doesn't answer. God doesn't hear. God does not answer the prayer of an unbeliever until the prayer is Jesus save me. Once that prayer and faith has been uttered, and a person becomes a child of God, then communication lines are open. But unbelievers can pray all day long. God can hear them because he is God but he doesn't answer.

When a christian is deliberately rebelling against God, the lines of communication are cut. It's like taking a telephone, cutting the line, and then picking up the receiver and talking on it. Now you can have a very eloquent speech. It could be very long. It could be very meaningful. But there's no communication because there's no connection. And so sin must be dealt with. If you're living a life of rebellion against God, you're pursuing a course that you know is something God doesn't want you to do, your prayers are not being answered by God and he doesn't owe you anything. Your sin is separate. Don't blame me for it. Your sin is separated between you and your God.

You know, I've heard people say things like this, well, you know I might not be as good as that person, that person but I still pray. So what? It's meaningless, your prayers until you've come and dealt with the sin issue. When the sin issue is dealt with, the communication lines are open. For your hands have been are defiled with blood. Can you imagine that? The jews would often lift their hands in their worship, it was a form of surrender. And yet God says, look, there's blood all over your hands. Figuratively speaking of the fact that by their sin they were oppressing some of the poor and the people, and God wouldn't listen.

Verse four, no one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs, dies. And from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments nor will they cover themselves with their works. Nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity. And the act of violence is in their hands.

All of the works that they are performing, all of the rituals and ceremonies will never suffice to cover their sin. The web that they're weaving of their works, it's no big deal. It's not working. It's not covering their sin at all. Which places the modern jew in a very precarious situation. In the old testament God provided atonement for their sin. And God said without the shedding of blood there is no remission or taking away covering of sin. And so they would always have to bring a sacrifice. Blood was shed. Their sins would be atoned for. Yom Kippur, every year they fast and afflict their souls. They'd have a sacrifice. Today there is no temple. There is no sacrifice. And what the Jews have resorted to, it's a time of reflection.

Yom Kippur is a time of meditation now because there's no sacrifice for their sin. And so what they do is they are taught by the rabbis to once a year on the day of Yom Kippur think about their past sins and reflect upon their good and make some resolutions now for the future. And so that is why oftentimes you will a few days before Yom Kippur, go out and do a lot of good works, hoping that your good works will overshadow your bad works. Well, nor will they cover themselves with their works. There's no covering for their sins. There's no blood sacrifice. And they haven't trusted Jesus to take away their sins.

The act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to do evil. And they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts or thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known. There is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Now from verse nine on, Isaiah assumes a different role. Notice the word us and we throughout these verses. He talks about we have sinned, we have committed iniquity. In other words, Isaiah identifies with the sin of his people. You know, it's easy to point your finger isn't it? You are all sinners. Isaiah says, we have all sinned. I want to be part of the solution, therefore I identify myself as part of the problem. Collectively lord, we have transgressed as a nation.

In verse nine, he says we look for light but there is darkness, for brightness but we walk in blackness. We grope for the wall like a blind, we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noon day as is twilight. Verse 12, for our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are with us. As for our iniquities, we know them. Verse 16, verse 15, so truth fails. And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord. Saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice. They've admitted their sins. God sees that these people are incapacitated by their iniquity.

He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him. His own righteousness, it sustained him. There was no one to intercede. God looked and he found no one praying for the people, interceding, changing. That people were so depraved of salvation, if restoration was to come it had to come totally from God as an act of God. Verse 19, so they shall fear the name of the lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the lord will raise up a standard against him.

Now here is the broad principle that is the end of the funnel from all that has gone before. People of sin, Isaiah recognizes that. He identifies with the sin of his people. People are depraved. They won't turn to God. The leaders aren't helping much. Salvation must come from God. He promises restoration. And the principle is when the enemy comes in like a flood, like it has throughout nation of Israel to this point, the spirit of the lord will raise up a standard against him. A standard was an ensign for a war. You'd raise up a standard on a pole, signifying that there are troops present.

And so the enemy is coming in like a flood to Israel. God says, now wait a minute. You can go only so far here. I'm raising up the standard. I am going to bring restoration to my people. How? Verse 20, the redeemer will come to Zion, the second coming of Jesus Christ. And you could say the first coming. By the first coming, he came to take care of the sin issue. When Jesus comes again, he will come as a mighty warrior to reign over his people. And to those who turn from the transgression in Jacob says the lord. As for me, says the lord, this is my covenant with them, my spirit who is upon you. And my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth nor from the mouth of your descendants nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says the lord, from this time forth forever more. It's the promise of the millennium, promise of future restoration.

Chapter 60 is awesome. Because it speaks of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ upon the Earth. The theme is peace and prosperity to come. Arise, shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the lord is risen upon you. You notice the tense? Has come. Is risen upon you. In hebrew language, there is a tense known as the prophetic tense, which means the prophet goes way ahead in the future, ahead of the event itself. Goes so far ahead that he then turns back and speaks of the future event as if it's already happened, past tense. It's called the prophetic tense.

Isaiah 53 is a perfect example, where it speaks of the suffering messiah past tense. You say, why does it do that? Simply to remind us of an attribute of God that he knows everything and he knows it in advance it's called precognition. God knows what's going to happen before it happens. And he tells you as if it's old hat. And it hadn't even happened yet. Your life is like an old used roadmap to God. God already knows your end from the beginning. You can be glad you don't. Drive you nuts. But God does. So nothing escapes his grasp because he has precognition. He thinks in advance. He knows the future.

For behold the darkness cover the earth in deep darkness, the people. But the lord will arise over you. And his glory will be seen upon you. The gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. When Jesus was on the Earth, he said as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And Jesus will come again. And when he comes and he returns to the Earth, it will be a time of great spiritual darkness. You know what amazes me is that the gospel has been preached for 1,900 years and there is an incredible sense of spiritual darkness still over all the Earth.

Jesus told us, we are the light of the world after he went away. We reflect his glory. And yet when Jesus comes again, the world will still be very dark. But he'll put an end to it. He'll turn on the light real quick. The rest of the chapter continues to do that. Let's skip up to verse 10, the sons of the foreigners shall build up your walls. And their kings shall minister to you, for in my wrath I struck you. But in my favor, I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be opened continually.

I personally love that verse. God has been speaking in this chapter about restoration, that wealth will return to Israel. Spirituality will return to Israel. Integrity will return to Israel. None of which they have now. Israel is in her land today by God's grace. But they are blowing it big time. They have secured God's favor, but it's an act of grace. They're not walking in obedience to God. Israel is still in transgression against her God. And though I am very pro-Israel, it's not because they're holy and righteous. And the way they're treating their neighbors in the West Bank is not to be commended.

But God predicts a time when things will be different and it will be so great. It will be so peaceful that the gates of Jerusalem will be opened continually. When I was in Israel last time, a riot broke out between a Palestinian in the new city of Jerusalem and somebody was shot. Well, I was there, minutes before it happened. In fact, I was there about two minutes before a guy went down the street and just shot a whole bunch of people. And I was trying to go through the Damascus Gate shortly after the event had occurred. And I was doing it. People were rushing to leave the old city to get into the new city. But the doors were shut. They started closing the doors, the ancient Damascus Gate, not letting anybody through. And it was kind of a petrified feeling that because of violence the crowd had to be quelled by closing the gate so the nobody could go in or go out. They could control the crowds.

Well, that's not the first time it's happened. It's happened for generations. There'll be a time when the gates will be open continually, because there'll be no harm. There'll be no problems. There'll be no violence. I can't wait for that day. They will not be shut by day or night. That men may bring to you the wealth of the gentiles and their kings in procession for the nation in the kingdom which will not serve you shall perish. And those nations shall be utterly ruined. In the kingdom age, all of the nations will acknowledge Israel. Israel will occupy foremost position spiritually, economically, politically. I know that that makes probably some people upset, hearing that. Especially the way they are acting today. But things will change. Israel will have foremost prominence over all the nations of the Earth.

Verse 13 the glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cyprus, the pine, the box tree together to beautify the place of my sanctuary. And I will make the place of my feet glorious. Jerusalem will become the center of the Earth. I look over in verse 18, violence shall no longer be heard in your land. Oh, praise the lord. When I think of that when I hear the reports on the news of what's going on in the West Bank and in Gaza, the Palestinians struggling for their autonomy and the Israelis struggling for their autonomy. And there will not be violence heard in their land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders. I love this. You shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall be that the moon will give light to you but the lord will be to you an everlasting light. And your God, your glory, your sun shall no longer go down. Nor shall your moon withdraw itself for the lord will be your everlasting light. And the days of your mourning shall be ended. Also your people shall all be righteous.

Obviously, he is speaking of something that is not now. Obviously this is the future. This is the millennium, the kingdom age. In reading these verses, I envision a totally spiritual community, something people have dreamed of for years, something that people have tried to even create, a utopia on Earth. Imagine the walls being called salvation and your gates praise. I mean, people, it's going to be so awesome that even street names are going have spiritual names. Can you imagine that? Go down Hallelujah Avenue a couple of blocks, you'll turn on Praise Street, go up a few blocks, and Salvation Wall, Praise Gate. I mean everything will just be speaking of the lord.

Wouldn't it be awesome? Everybody will be righteous. You get up in the morning, your neighbor comes across the street. Hey, praise the lord. Can I borrow your saw? Sure, go for it. Oh, man. Everyone will know the lord. Interesting, what happens in verse 19, what is spoken about is something John says in the book of Revelation. There will be no more sun. The sun is the primary source of energy. We depend upon it totally on the Earth. The Earth happens to be situated 93 million miles away from the sun, giving us a beautiful balance of seasons with a 23 and 1/3 degree axis tilt on the Earth to the sun. We depend upon the sun for energy, especially in the southwest with all of our solar units, passive and active. Imagine not having any sun.

But God is light. And his glory will permeate the new kingdom age. We won't need any moon, any sun. God's presence will be there. The people will be righteous. They shall inherit the land forever. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands that I may be glorified, a little one shall become 1,000, a small one, a strong nation. I the lord will hasten it in its time. Let's see how far we get in Isaiah 61. We have 10 minutes.

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 broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord, the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the lord that he may be glorified.

In those verses that I just read, we have in view both the first coming and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Some of you are thinking well ahead already to a book in the new testament, Luke Chapter Four, when Jesus stood up in the synagogue at the commencement of his ministry in Nazareth, He was in the synagogue. And it just so happened quote, unquote that the keeper of the synagogue, the rabbi gave to Jesus, being from Nazareth, the scroll. And they said, it's your honor today to read the scripture for us. It just happened to be Isaiah 61. Of course, we know it didn't just happen. It was orchestrated that way. Because Jesus stood up and you can just picture in your mind the synagogue setting , where Jesus reads the scriptures and these old guys are stroking their beards going, hm, yes, right, that's right until Jesus said something that wasn't in the text.

Jesus stood up and he said, the spirit of the lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel or good tidings to the poor. And they're going hm, yeah, I agree. That's Isaiah 61. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord, and Jesus stopped. Because that's all he came to do the first time he came. The rest of that will be fulfilled as second coming. It is said that Jesus closed up the scroll. And all of the eyes of the people in the synagogue were watching Jesus. And he said to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Awesome.

They took Jesus out and wanted to throw him over that cliff that you can still see in Nazareth, over the Galilee Valley. Who is this man claiming to be? It's fulfilled in your ears. So part of Isaiah 61 was fulfilled when Jesus came the first time. Jesus announced his arrival and pronounced the purpose of his mission, to preach good tidings-- notice, the people, to the poor, to heal up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. Why?

Why always the underdog it seems that God reaches out to? It's because these are the people that are conscience of their need. They are aware that they need God's help. That's why usually people come to know Jesus Christ at times of great crisis. Oftentimes there are what we call foxhole conversions. They're at a point of death, oh, God, please save me. I'll commit my life to you. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. But it's a time of great crisis that a person will turn their life over to God because they're aware that they have a need. The poor, the broken hearted, the afflicted to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord.

Now in verse one at the end, captives in opening the prison to those who are bound actually is a prophecy of the ministry of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion and before his resurrection. He opened prison doors to those who were bound. In the old testament, when a person died, he went to what the hebrews called show Sheol. The place of the dead. In the new testament it's called Hades. Different word, same meaning, the abode of the dead.

When a person died in old testament times, they went-- a saint or sinner went to Sheol. But it seems as if Sheol was divided into two compartments-- a place of comfort and a place awaiting the judgment of God where the unrighteous dead were committed. We get a glimpse of this in Luke Chapter 16 when Jesus gives not a parable but a story. Because he gives names, Jesus never gave names in his parables, only in his stories.

And he gave a story that goes like this. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus full of sores who laid at his gate, desiring to be fed from the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. Kind of gross. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angel to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried. He said, father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he made dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. Abraham said, son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot. Nor can those from there pass to us.

That's very important in light of a doctrine that I grew up with called purgatory, that if you're in this place of purging, fiery purging, suffering in a sense, that eventually if enough things, indulgences, are granted. and enough time-- you know, you do your time, that you'll be granted access into the place of God, into heaven. Well, there's a great gulf fixed. People who want to go can't. When the scripture speaks of death, it speaks of finality in the sense that choices made on Earth can never be reversed. You don't get out of a place you're in once you pass the threshold of death.

So it seems that Sheol was divided into two compartments, a place where Abraham comforted the old testament men and women who lived a life of faith and died in faith. He was comforting them waiting for the promise of the messiah. Why? Because the old testament sacrifices never removed sin, simply covered them. Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. When he did, Peter in his epistle of second Peter, said that Jesus preached to the spirits who were in prison.

In Ephesians Chapter Four, it says he that ascended first of all descended into the lower parts of the Earth. Let captives from their captivity that he might fill all things. And so you can picture Abraham comforting the saints. Don't worry. God promised. You know, it's a place of comparable but one day we'll be ushered into the presence of God and Jesus preaching to the spirits who are imprisoned or announcing it's over. It's done. You don't have to stay in this place of just comfort under Abraham anymore. But you can go into my father's paradise. Jesus told the thief on the cross. And it was granted for the first time. Today you will be with me in paradise. It's because Jesus was opening up the avenue whereby a person would go directly into the presence of God.

So if you die today, you don't go to Abraham's bosom. You don't sleep. You are directly, according to Paul in second Corinthians Five, in the presence of God. We did a funeral for a dear brother yesterday, Alan Locke. It's hard to believe that he's passed from our midst. He's been a part of this fellowship for so long. He's in the presence of God tonight. He moved to heaven. And he got there before we did. And so when we get there, he'll be able to show us around a little bit because he's beat us there.

So if you die today, you're in the presence of God. There is no holding place. So that Abraham's bosom today is a vacant spot. It's fulfilled his purpose. When a person dies who doesn't know christ, the wicked dead still go to the place of Hades. And according to Revelation, will be handed over to outer darkness eventually. And they are waiting the great white throne judgment of God. But there is no place of Abraham's bosom anymore. So now that we've covered that, that's what I think it's a prophecy about in Isaiah Chapter 61.

Jesus closed the book. We're going to have to stop here. He closed the book in Luke Chapter Four because that's what he came to do. But the fulfillment at his second coming will be this, and the day of vengeance of our God. Jesus did not come the first time to avenge people for their sin. He came to save people from their sin. Jesus will come again. When he comes in Revelation 19 he comes on a white horse with a drawn sword with blood on it, the blood of his enemies. He is judging a God hating world. And it will be a day of vengeance, the great tribulation period is a day of vengeance, and also judgment.

So when Jesus comes again, it will be as a judge but also to comfort all those who mourn and console those who mourn in Zion. Those jews who had gone through the tribulation period, Jesus will be comforting them when he comes the second time , to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of happiness. They'll be weary after that period. That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planning of the lord, that he may be glorified. And then it speaks about the great rebuilding that will happen after the tribulation period and the rest.

So next week we'll pick up speaking a little bit about the tribulation period and the aftermath thereof and what we can expect to be doing in the millennium after the tribulation period. We won't go through the tribulation period, I believe. We'll have a bird's eye view of it from heaven. But we will be involved in the kingdom age. And there will be some rebuilding during the millennium. So we'll talk about that next time. And next time, we will finish up the book of Isaiah. Even if we don't read every verse, we will finish it up. I hope. Let's pray.

Lord, we're grateful. Grateful that we live in a country that allows us freedom of assembly, where we can park cars and walk into a building and have a nice comfortable seat with friends, and hear your word. And we remember our brothers and sisters in certain countries certainly less than there used to be, but still who still don't have that freedom, for instance in China. We thank you for our freedom, lord. We also thank you for your word and the promises of the future, the warnings of the present, and the glorious promise of the kingdom age where we will be able to call streets and cities and gates by great names, names that give honor and glory to you. And people will have that priority of giving honor and glory to you.

Though we don't see that day presently, we are still part of the kingdom of God. And we were told to seek first the kingdom of God because Jesus reigns as king in our lives. We have a little smattering, a little peak of what it's going to be like just among ourselves with the love that we have one for another. Lord, open up our hearts to give and receive more of that love, for we long for the kingdom and you will reign in righteousness, when Jesus will come to Mount Zion and establish his kingdom over all the Earth, and we will be a kingdom of priests and reign with you forever as John said in Revelation.

Until that time, lord, I pray that knowing this would comfort us, that we would not let our hearts continually be agitated in distress, that knowing what is going to happen would give us great hope in the midst of whatever we are going through now. We know that it can be a comfort. We know, lord, that when Paul wrote those words about the coming of Jesus Christ, he said wherefore comfort one another with these words. And we're comforted with that, lord, that history is going somewhere. And though we go to heaven through the valley of the shadow of death or by the rapture of Jesus Christ coming to snatch us away, we're still going to go to heaven. We can't lose, lord. And we thank you for our glorious inheritance. In Jesus' name. Amen.