I am the Lord, and there is no other

Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66 Class #4: Isaiah 45-49 I am the Lord, and there is no other Uptown Church Sunday School November 24, 2013 Goals for the class: 1. We will know our Lord better as he reveals himself in powerful ways in this text. 2. We will gain a greater appreciation for our redemption through the atonement of Christ. 3. We will gain a greater understanding of God s ultimate plan for the future -- for individual believers and for the world. May we take hold of the great hope that God offers his people. 4. We will reflect upon suffering and evil in a broad sense, but also reflect more personally on our own trials and how we deal with them. When we are in the midst of uncertainty, where would God have us turn? Where is our hope to be found? Do we, as Christ-followers, handle trials differently than non-believers? Today s Plan: 1. Quick review of classes 1-3 2. Isaiah 44:24-45:25 3. Isaiah 48 4. Applications Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 1

Quick Review This week, we spend one more session on Isaiah 40-48, which scholars lump together. This section usually is labeled something like consolation for God s people, because many of the oracles in these chapters focus directly on comfort. Remember, the Lord was speaking to a chastened, suffering, disillusioned people in exile in Babylon, far from their home. After 1000 years in the Holy Land, God s redemptive plan had seemingly been totally derailed. God, through Isaiah, was interpreting these terrible events so that they would make sense to his people and they would be comforted. Three weeks ago, we studied chapter 40. We got a glimpse of God in his throne room in heaven sending out messengers to continually comfort his people. He comforted them by showing them 1. what he had already done for them in the past (peace), 2. what he would do for them in the future (hope), and 3. he reminded the exiles of his character - He who promises is faithful. Our God himself is our greatest comfort. Two weeks ago, we looked at Isaiah 41 and 42. Our God comforts us in our distress: 1. He reminds us that He chose us to be his people 2. He tells us NOT to fear and gives us good reasons not to fear 3. He reminds us that our confidence and hope come not from our own merit ( worms ) 4. He assures us that He is a God who answers us when we come to Him with needs 5. Our Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who promises deliverance through the servant in chapter 42, the first of several servant songs focusing on the servant of the Lord. an ultimate deliverance for individuals, the collective people of God, and the world justice will be the mission of the servant -- justice will be established on the earth it is a costly deliverance that will require sacrifice that we cannot make the servant functions as a prophet, priest, and king Last week, y all looked at Isaiah 43. The theme was promises. God spoke comfort to his people through promises. Suffering will come, yes, but God promises that his people will be sustained and strengthened through suffering. This week, we will look at sections of chapters 44, 45, and 48, before making a transition from the first section of the second half of Isaiah (40-48) to the middle section (49-57). After chapter 48, Isaiah never again mentions Babylon or Cyrus the Persian deliverer. The focus moves to the suffering servant, who is discussed in 49, 50, 52, and 53. In these passages for today, we will again find great comfort in God s character and his promises to us. But we also learn something new: God is surprising. His deliverance for us does not always come in the form that we expect. His redemptive plan for our lives is not what we would map out. We often miss or reject God s comfort because we don t understand the relationship between comfort and suffering. This application was a lesson for the exiles in Babylon 2500 years ago, and it s a lesson for us today. Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 2

Isaiah 44:24 45:25 READ 44:24-28 44:25 foolishness and wisdom Read 1 Cor 1:18-20 We are encouraged throughout the Bible to seek wisdom, yet here, and many other places in scripture, we are told that God thwarts the wisdom of the wise and exalts the foolish. Why? Because redemption is his. He wants our dependence, not our independence. Proverbs: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. 44:26 and 27, God states that he will rebuild Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and this would be great news for the exiles in Babylon. How does God plan to rebuild Israel? Cyrus very specific prophecy v 27 I will dry up your rivers What does that refer to? perhaps a reference to the first exodus, crossing the Red Sea. Along w 45:1, refers to Cyrus rerouting of the Euphrates River to march his army through the gates. Ezra 6:3-5 and 2 Chronicles 36:23 and Jocephus on Cyrus READ 45:1-7 45:1 loose the belts of kings = they drop their weapons 45:3 hoards in secret places = the mines of Lydia In both 45:4 and 5, what does God tell us about Cyrus? Cyrus does not know the Lord] It is clear from scripture and other documents that Cyrus did not convert to Judaism. He remained a pagan, yet God used him for the deliverance of his people Hard not to think of Pharaoh in Exodus (many parallels) Despite not knowing the Lord, what does the Lord call Cyrus in verse 1? his annointed = masiah also used of kings, priests, prophets, patriarchs did not yet, at this time, have the meaning of the promised eschatological deliverer (didn t mean the same to the original hearers as it does to us) names him (significance throughout scripture). What would the Israelites have thought about their deliverance coming through a pagan king? Let s think about other times in redemptive history when God uses people outside of the Jewish nation to play integral roles in the deliverance of his people. Can y all think of any? [Rahab, Ruth, Tamar] What does this suggest about God and his redemptive plan? [He is sovereign over ALL, even pagans and suffering. His plan is universal.] What non-christians is God using in your life for your good? Is that an offensive question? Do you think God still uses non-christians to achieve his purposes? In 45:7, God says, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord who does all these things. 1 John 1:5: This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 3

Genesis 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Acts 2:23: this Jesus -- delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Westminster Confession of Faith (3:1, all of 5, and 6:1) Mackay (commentary on Isaiah, pg 167): Isaiah is not asserting that God does moral evil; nevertheless, by creating mankind with the possibility of contrary choice, he has set up the circumstances in which it is permitted to exist. Yahweh brings both the good and the bad circumstances of life into existence and uses them and the evil choices of morally responsible beings to fulfill his purposes for his own glory and his people s good. Is it comforting to you or discouraging to you that God is the maker of calamity? When you face calamity, do you feel like God is in the midst of it? After a natural disaster (or school shooting), there is always a public debate: Where was God when this happened? How do we answer that question? READ Isaiah 45:8-13, which reinforce the above themes READ Isaiah 45:22-25 In 45:22, to whom is the call of salvation given? [to all nations again the universality of God s plan] In 45:23, To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance Quoted in Romans 14 Philippians 2:8-11 Looking at these verses, what appears to be God s motivation to offer salvation for his people? [his glory] Conclusions: In this chapter, God describes specifically the agent of redemption for the exiles in Babyon, and it s a pagan king who had yet to be born when this prophesy was uttered. This would have been shocking and difficult to accept for the Hebrews. We learn that God foils the wise of this world and exalts the foolish. He does this to bring about our dependence on him and to bring glory to his name, keeping us from detracting from him. We learn that God uses all people (even those who renounce him) and all events to bring about his redemptive plan. We learn that God is the maker of calamity -- sovereign even over our sufferings. We learn (again) that God s call for deliverance is universal. We learn that God is motivated to save his people in order to bring glory to his name. Isaiah 46 and 47 contain oracles of woe against Babylon Isaiah 48 again turns to the Lord s deliverance of his people from Babylon and points toward an ultimate deliverance for the world. Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 4

Isaiah 48 READ Isaiah 48:1-11 READ Isaiah 48:12-16 We need to sort out the pronouns to grasp the power of this oracle. In verses 14 and 15, who is the him that is referred to? [Cyrus] In these 5 verses, the words I, me, or my occur 15 times. Who is the I??? [Jesus Christ. V 16 is OT evidence of the triune nature of God, a doctrine that would not be developed systematically for another 800 years.] What does this tell us about God s plan for salvation? [It has always been there. The deliverance of the exiles from Babylon via their pagan deliverer Cyrus foreshadows the great and final deliverance of God s people through Christ.] Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 5

Applications God s plan does not usually work out the way we would have imagined. The exiles had a hard time accepting that their redemption would come through a pagan ruler (Cyrus). The Jews of Jesus day had a hard time accepting that their redemption would come through the son of a carpenter who had a brief, three-year traveling ministry before being hanged on a Roman cross. Clearly, God is sovereign and we are not. In Isaiah 55, God says my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. God is surprising, and we are not always to understand how his blessing will come. We don t write the script. Is this truth comforting to you or discouraging to you? If it s discouraging, why is it discouraging? [Because we want to know how our redemption will work out. We have issues with control. Many cultures historically have not had this issue.] How has God s blessing come in your life in surprising ways? What is happening in your life that you are having a hard time accepting as part of God s redemptive plan for you? Thinking back over the last three studies, let s think a little deeper about the relationship between comfort and suffering. Clearly, God loves his people, and he wants to comfort us when we are suffering. The natural human response to comfort someone who is suffering is to remove the cause of the suffering. But God s ways are not our ways. Let me read a few passages from Paul on suffering: Philippians 3: 8-11: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Romans 5:1-6: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. Why is it, then, that Christians can truly rejoice in suffering and find great comfort in suffering? Great paradox: the worse your circumstances, the more you cling to him, and the greater peace and joy and comfort that can be had. Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 6

Are you putting yourselves in positions where only God s presence in your heart can comfort you? How is this message counter to a lot of non-christian philosophy and religion? We should not expect God s redemption and blessing to come into our lives in ways that are predictable or comfortable or in ways that we would have chosen. Expect the unexpected. God s redemptive plan for each of us will be surprising. When we follow Jesus, the external circumstances of our lives do not stabilize. In fact, they should de-stabilize. Yet our hearts find a peace and stability that can only be found through our union with Christ. In the midst of calamity, God is enough. His presence must be enough. Conclusions: 1. God is sovereign over even our worst sufferings, and he comforts us in the midst of them. 2. God s comfort and blessing come in surprising ways not what we expect or would have chosen. 3. Ultimately, the Christian s comfort and hope is in God alone, not our circumstances, which produces one of the great paradoxes of Christian faith that in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, we cling to God alone, who is the only source of true comfort. So suffering, rather than keeping us from peace and joy, in fact leads us to the only real source of peace and joy God himself. C.S. Lewis: If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair. C.S. Lewis: Pain is God s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Tullian Tchividjian: God s office is at the end of your rope. Tim Keller: The only way you can know that you are loving God for him and not for the good gifts he gives you is through suffering -- when those gifts are taken away. If you knew why you suffered than you couldn't possibly love God in the midst of suffering in the same way. If you could always see the benefit of suffering to you (the silver lining in the cloud), than you wouldn't be forced to trust God and rely on him alone. How we deal w suffering is one of the most accurate measures of our faith in Christ. Heidelberg Catechism Question 1: What is your only comfort, in life and in death? That I belong body and soul, in life and in death not to myself, but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready, from now on, to live for him. Live for him this week by suffering well! Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 7

Cyrus of Persia, the instrument of the Lord 2 Chronicles 36:22-23: [22] Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: [23] Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up. Ezra 6:3-5: [3] In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, [4] with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. [5] And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God. Josephus, first century Jewish historian (Antiquities of the Jews): "In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity. And these things God did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: "Thus saith Cyrus the king: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea." This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: "My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple." This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices." Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty: A Study of Isaiah 40-66, Nov-Dec 2013, Class #4! 8