[0:00] I shall sing some verses from Psalm 139, Psalm 139, and from verse 14 to verse 18.
[0:19] Psalm 139, verse 14.
[0:49] Psalm 139, verse 14.
[1:19] Psalm 139, verse 14.
[1:31] Psalm 139, verse 14. The evil I praise for fearfully and strangely made I am. The evil I praise for fearfully and strangely made I am.
[2:00] Thy works are marvelous and right well. My soul doth know the same.
[2:18] My substance was not hid from thee.
[2:28] When thou hast in secret eye was made and in earth's lowest heart was wrought postuliously.
[2:53] Thy night my soul shall still behold.
[3:05] Yet being unperfect. And in the volume of thy good my members all were writ.
[3:31] Which after the continuance. Well-fashioned everyone.
[3:48] When as they yet all shipless way.
[3:59] And of them there was none. How precious are.
[4:13] So are thy thoughts. O gracious God to me.
[4:26] And in their song. And in their song. How passing great. And numberless they be.
[4:45] If I should count and understand. They'd more than number be.
[5:02] What time so ever lie awake. I am ever not with thee.
[5:25] Let us turn to the passage read. Isaiah 40. We can read from verse 3. Isaiah 40 reading at verse 3.
[5:38] Isaiah 40.
[6:08] Isaiah 40.
[6:38] Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41. John 2. Isaiah 41. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 41. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Swami logosing in orderly. Isaiah 52.
[6:48] Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. Isaiahということ. Isaiah 53. Bobaya 52. Timothy. Isaiah 53.
[6:59] Isaiah 58. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 54. Isaiah 53. M. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. grain of thought that he presents to us.
[7:10] That many have taken liberties, I suppose that's the only way to describe it, and considered it to be the work of two different scribes, two different authors.
[7:26] Obviously if we believe in the integrity of scripture we give such arguments short shrift. But the reason for the movement is much more simple than that there are two pens or two authors at work here.
[7:48] Always, I suppose, you have to be alert to the people who are trying to accommodate their own lack of faith and lack of understanding, I suppose that's all it is.
[8:03] It's lack of appreciation for the person of God and what God is able to do and not able to do. But they try and wrest the scripture out of its proper position.
[8:19] So that some would argue that the prophecies are so accurate that they can't possibly be the work of the same man.
[8:33] And particularly the accuracy suggests to them that they were written with hindsight rather than with foresight.
[8:47] Now we don't give any credence to that argument. But what we do find is that the prophet has repeatedly and very clearly brought to our attention and to the attention of those who were the initial recipients of the prophecy the sins of the people and the displeasure of God with regard to these sins.
[9:14] And clearly declared to them the consequences of continuing in the sin. the blindness of the people is something that is probably a reminder to us of why so many in our own day and generation cannot see what is staring them in the face.
[9:44] It is always thus. The king Hezekiah had been visited by emissaries from Babylon.
[9:55] And in his pride he revealed the riches of the kingdom and directed the attention of his his people and his people.
[10:06] And he revealed the riches of the kingdom and the riches of the kingdom and the possessions that they had. Not realising that within the space of a short period of time these people who were given access to the possessions of the land and the possessions that were God given that they would jealously decide them for themselves.
[10:31] And within a short space of time the invader came and took these possessions and took the people into bondage as we know historically.
[10:49] And the prophet tells the king the foolishness of that but he also tells them that exactly what will happen at the end of chapter 9, chapter 39, short chapter before chapter 40.
[11:09] chapter 40. Behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon.
[11:21] Nothing shall be left saith the Lord and of thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
[11:37] Now the response of the king to that is strange. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good, this is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
[11:48] He said, moreover for there shall be peace and truth in my days. It's as if the prophecy, the disclosure given by the mouth of the Lord gives him respite and he is able to settle on his lease and think, well this won't affect me.
[12:09] And in a certain way it reminds us of the way many people are with regard to God's judgment.
[12:20] You tell them of the nature of judgment and the imminent nature of God's judgment and they they'll say, oh well, it won't find me unprepared or it'll come to others but not to me.
[12:38] Anyway, at this point in the prophecy the prophet then begins to provide for the people a word of comfort and consolation.
[12:53] That's why chapter 40 begins the way it does. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God. Again there is discussion about who's actually speaking there.
[13:08] who is speaking, if it's God himself or an angel or a messenger from God or whatever.
[13:19] But what we do understand is regardless of whose voice is heard, the message is clear.
[13:30] It's a message of hope brought by way of the prophet. And it's so easy for us to think that when things are working against us that God does not care.
[13:53] That when events are in procession, one after the other, and each one of them seemingly undermining our confidence in God, and undermining the nature of our faith and challenging its genuineness, that at that moment we are inclined to argue that God is not with us, God is not interested in us as individuals or as a generation, as a church.
[14:37] But the exact opposite is true. It is because God is in it that these things are permitted to go on.
[14:52] It is because God has an interest in his people that he cares more than we can understand.
[15:03] And because of his care, he will permit and he will demonstrate his ire by allowing so many of these unpleasant things to be encountered by us.
[15:23] But as I said, it is a word of comfort. Most commentators say that the words 1 to 11 are a prologue to what follows for the remainder of the prophecy.
[15:39] And in a sense, it is an introduction to what will be the focal point of the teaching of the prophet, or the truth that the prophet wishes to bring to bear upon the minds of the people.
[15:57] And that is the prospect of the salvation of the Lord. And in verse 3, there is a call to make ready.
[16:10] But as I said, no indication as to who is making the proclamation. But it is a proclamation that is delivered with the understanding that there is to be a royal visit, as it were.
[16:28] That is the way the language is couched. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
[16:41] The language is simply a statement of an imminent visit by a king. And we know from these words being quoted in the New Testament, how they are to be understood and how they are applied.
[17:01] Because we find them in the context of the New Testament applied to the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[17:12] They are applied to the person of John the Baptist and the role that he has to display or to carry out.
[17:23] But as I said, the background historically is that when a king came to visit, the path of the king would be mapped out.
[17:36] The roads upon which the king would march or would ride would be treated exactly the same if our king was to visit this island of ours.
[17:53] I remember a number of years ago, I'm not really sure when exactly it was, but I was with the school.
[18:04] I think it was Graver School, but I can't really be certain. And they were staying over in black houses in Garnon.
[18:16] And coincidentally, there was to be a visit of the Princess Royal, Princess Anne.
[18:27] And I don't think the school were aware of the clash. But the head ministers had to give a full itinerary so that when Princess Anne arrived, as you would by helicopter, those who were organizing the visit would know exactly who was there and where they were going to be.
[18:57] Now, as the plan that the school had was that they were going to walk from Garnon down to Dalmore or Dalbeck.
[19:08] And they were going to leave at a certain time in the morning. They wouldn't be around when the princess visited. But the reason I mention this is the attention that was given to the location where the princess was going to attend.
[19:27] There were security men and policemen in their dozens all over the village, looking in the drains, opening manholes and covering the vicinity as it were with a fine tooth comb.
[19:47] Because of the nature of the person who was visiting, they were paying a great deal of attention to her security and making sure that nothing into word would happen.
[20:01] Now, in a sense, I was reminded of that when I thought about the words that are spoken here. That's the nature of the words that are spoken by the prophet.
[20:14] It's not, you know, when he's saying to them to make straight the way, to make the crooked path straight.
[20:25] That's what he's referring to. The action that is going to take place, the event that is going to occur is of such importance that it is God's doing, as he will later on refer to, that everything has to be dealt with with care.
[20:48] So when we're reading the gospel of Matthew, the words clearly refer to, therefore, this is he that was spoken of by the prophet, Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
[21:06] They are telling us who John the Baptist was and what his mission was. Because the person that he was the forerunner to was the king.
[21:17] And his arrival on the scene had to be understood in that way. And the prophet was declaring that even though when the son of man was born, he was born in ignominy.
[21:32] He was born as a poor, poor infant with little resources to his name. And as far as his ministry was concerned, it was to be understood in light of what was promised concerning him.
[21:58] And John the Baptist, as a forerunner to Jesus, his mission, his ministry involved him in, I think it's John L. Mackay who says his mission was not as a road maker or a road mender, but as somebody who was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
[22:28] But looking on, and I want us to focus on the words of verse 5, because there are three things in that verse that we can take on board.
[22:40] Because the whole purpose of what the prophet had to say cannot be lost to us. We cannot belittle it. We cannot despise it as if it is a meaningless piece of dialogue or a piece of historical recording.
[23:05] It is a clear declaration of God's intent for the world. And that is laid before us by the prophet in an undeniable way.
[23:20] First of all, what he is saying is he begins with a promise, the glory of the Lord will be revealed. The glory of the Lord will be revealed.
[23:34] Now, as you can imagine, that's a huge area. The glory of the Lord. Where do you begin when you begin to think about the glory of the Lord?
[23:46] Where would you see the glory of the Lord? The glory of the Lord. Some have a very restricted view of it, bearing in mind the historical context. Because as we've said, there is reference in chapter 39 to Babylon.
[24:05] And the way that the Babylonians are going to take the people of Judah into captivity.
[24:18] And bearing that in mind, some have a restricted view of the glory of the Lord. And they're saying, the glory of the Lord is going to be seen in the way that he exercises his mighty arm in bringing his people back from captivity, which he will do.
[24:40] Now, bear in mind that what is promised, what will happen, will happen not in the near future, but in the distant future as far as Judah is concerned.
[24:57] And the return from captivity is lying further before them. And the fact that it's prophesied and that God will do this is sufficient for some to say, well, God's power, God's glory is seen in bringing his exiled people home.
[25:22] But we need to widen our understanding of God's glory. It may contain that, and it most certainly should contain that.
[25:35] But when we go to the Gospels and the use that the Gospel makes of the word of the prophet, he says, all the flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord.
[25:47] That's what's important. That's what's important. All flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. And what is integral to what the prophet is speaking about is how God's glory is going to be seen in the salvation of sinners.
[26:08] And in John's Gospel, where there is a reference to the testimony of John the Baptist, we read these words in the first chapter of John.
[26:19] And the word was written in the first chapter of John the Baptist, we read these words in the first chapter of John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit. And the glory as of the Holy Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[26:31] And then verse 18, no man hath seen God at any time, the Holy Begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared to.
[26:42] We beheld his glory, the glory as of the Holy Begotten of the Father. So, in a sense, when John, in his Gospel, is speaking about the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is seeing the glory of God described there in a way that we should not and cannot ignore.
[27:12] Because that is what is at the heart of the gospel that the prophet Isaiah is reputed to have declared. The gospel in Isaiah is something that is often described in Isaiah 53.
[27:33] The prophet Isaiah 53. The prophet Isaiah 53. The prophet Isaiah 53. The prophet Isaiah 53. Has a firm grasp of what God is going to do and what God intends to do for the salvation of sinners.
[27:45] And surely, here we have the supreme revelation of God's glory. There are, I suppose, if you read extensively on what many people see as God's glory, there are ways in which we should see the glory of God in other ways.
[28:10] In Psalm 19, the creator is God and his glory is revealed in his creation.
[28:23] The heavens create God's glory to create, to declare. And there is a sense in which creation itself speaks of the glory of God.
[28:36] There is a sense in which the word we are actually reading declares the glory of God. None more so than the prophecies of the Old Testament and declaration that we have of the saving interest of God and how he has pre-planned and foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
[28:58] And through his word made that known to us. There is glory attached to the revealed will of God as we have it in the scripture.
[29:09] There are, I suppose, many other areas we could explore and touch on just by way of mentioning them. But I think what is essential to our understanding of these words is that the glory of God pre-eminently is to be found in the willingness that he has to save some by way of the cross in the passion of Jesus Christ.
[29:42] The way in which he saves, the way in which he saves, the manner in which he saves, the extent of the salvation as it touches the lives of all who are recipients of it, all speak to us of God's glory.
[30:00] And I think that we could put our aim to.
[30:14] But we have to move on. And I think possibly the way the prophet is making known to us the will of God sometimes is difficult to follow.
[30:31] We mentioned with regard to the prophet Isaiah something that is more obvious in his prophecies, what is called prophetic foreshortening. Sometimes he can speak of some things, events that will occur within a very brief space of time.
[30:51] And then almost without drawing breath, what he declares prophetically is something that will happen down the years, with a much longer time span in view.
[31:09] So in a sense, when you read these words, it is no surprise that you find some who will say, what the prophet is talking about here is not really the glory of God as the gospel is brought to fruition.
[31:27] But the glory of God in what lies beyond that. Not the glory that belongs to the incarnation, but the glory that belongs to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[31:43] And you can understand why they are saying that. Because the prophet is clearly saying to us that all flesh shall see it together.
[31:57] Now it's hard for you to attach that statement to the incarnation. Because the glory of the Lord was not immediately obvious to those who were present when the Lord was born into the world.
[32:16] Yes, it was present to the eye of faith and all who by the eye of faith saw Jesus as he was and saw in him what God revealed in him as the saviour of sinners.
[32:34] And even in the experience of those closest to him, that happened, peace me, it didn't happen instantly. You could argue that it's all who see him by the eye of faith that is meant.
[32:49] But possibly what is spoken of here lies beyond the fulfilment of the coming of the Lord and all that he did as he came as the saviour.
[33:06] In his obedience to the Lord, in everything that was in his life, but in particular in his death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascension.
[33:19] And what is promised concerning him that he will come again. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
[33:30] That is a prophecy that was accurate at the time that the prophet declared it. It was several hundred years in advance.
[33:43] And it was equally valid to consider it like that. But the part of it that says all flesh shall see it together suggests that it looks beyond what we've already seen and what lies in the future.
[34:02] Now, I'm not saying that that is the only way we can understand it. But I know that when we go to the New Testament, that the New Testament saints, they are looking forward to this coming of the Lord.
[34:28] Paul was looking for it. Peter was looking for it. And he anticipated when the Lord was to come in his glory. That every eye would see him in his glory.
[34:41] Not just those who were his own who would see him with the eye of faith, but all would see him. Every knee would bow and they would acknowledge him for what he is.
[34:54] Now, whether we are right in insisting on that, I leave it to yourself to consider. I would favor that.
[35:06] But it's so difficult when you're reading through a prophecy like this, which moves almost without breath from one possible interpretation to the next.
[35:23] But either one of these, they depend on one thing. And that is this. The mouth of the Lord have spoken it.
[35:35] We can, from a vantage point, look back and we can see what has been done by God. But we can take on board the certainty expressed in these words that took in exile, restoration from exile, the coming of the Lord as prophesied in the passion of his son Jesus Christ.
[36:04] Because we have the warrant of scripture and we must appreciate that. We cannot deny what the scripture is saying. The scripture takes these words of this passage and they apply them to the person of John the Baptist as a preparator to the coming king.
[36:23] So clearly the fulfillment of prophecy in that respect is firmly fixed at a certain time. But on the other hand, if the fullness of the prophecy is to be understood, there are aspects of it that you cannot believe have been fulfilled in the passion of Jesus in the incarnation.
[36:51] It is yet to be fulfilled in the second coming. But either one must be understood. Any one of the three, in fact, must be understood because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
[37:08] And that is what the prophet wants us to understand more than anything. The late John L. Mackay quotes the words of Peter.
[37:22] And Peter is looking forward to the second coming of the Lord. The end of all things is what Peter says is near.
[37:33] Therefore, be self-controlled and sober minded and watch unto prayer. Peter takes the words of scripture and uses them anticipating what is yet to be fulfilled.
[37:48] But he expects it to be fulfilled and he expects the believer to be prayerfully waiting for that fruition of the promise of God. The word of God endures forever.
[38:03] We can rely upon it. We can rely upon its truthfulness. We can rely upon its veracity. And no matter what fickle man would say concerning it, we can dismiss their meanderings into fantasy.
[38:22] Because that's all it was. And it is, if it contradicts what God has declared, will happen. It is the desire of many in this world that God's word will be proved false.
[38:36] But their desire is a vain desire because God's word, he has spoken it. Whatever it says, you can put your trust in it.
[38:48] And that's what we have here. From the mouth of the Lord, the promises all contained, yea and amen, in the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[39:01] Well, may he bless to us these few thoughts. Let us pray. O Lord our God, help us to acknowledge that there is mystery concerning your word in the awesome revelation that you make through your servants, the prophets, prophets, that are so detailed and so perfectly fulfilled at one level and other areas that are yet waiting to be fulfilled.
[39:31] But surely we should look to yourself to give to us that certainty that we have in the fulfillment of prophecy, that that that same certainty applies to what is yet to be.
[39:47] Help us to understand these truths. Grant mercy for our many sins. Remember all we entrust to your care and keeping. Forgive sin in Jesus. Amen.
[39:59] We're going to conclude singing in Gaelic from Psalm 145, the last two verses of the Psalm.
[40:12] Psalm 145, the last two verses of the Psalm. Yes. The first verse called as a Shield of Pescast in Gaelic.
[40:26] Yes. Well, one knows some very good things. That is place every other water I find as a maid which I stand every other way Okay, when these situations were algo pendant, There seems to be shalling that spiritual Have or not one out of time.
[40:47] Passes... Thank you.
[41:18] Thank you.
[41:48] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[42:56] Thank you. Thank you.
[43:56] Amen.