well it's unexpected but welcome privilege to be able to uh... to address you this morning, especially from this book. Isaiah, I've always been a big fan of the Old Testament from the very first time I became a Christian. I love the New Testament, obviously, but there's just a special treasure in the Old Testament that has always drawn me to try to comprehend what's being said here, because the Old Testament's the foundation of the new. Some people these days, in the last few years especially, have been some notable, popular Christian preachers who have told us, stay away from the Old Testament. You don't need the Old Testament. Just stick with the New Testament, and you're going to have all the information you need. And I think that's such a disservice to the Bible, because without understanding a lot of the foundation that's laid for us in the sacrificial systems, in the depravity of man, in God's sovereignty, and all these other issues which come to the forefront when we're reading the New Testament, to say that we don't need the Old Testament is not only a disservice, I think it goes farther than that. I think it's almost a heresy. to say that we don't need it. So I've always loved it, and I began, I studied this passage, the whole chapter of Isaiah 40, back in the late summer of last year, preparing a series of sermons to preach from this when I got the opportunity, which is intermittent, and I never know when those times are coming. But the first section that we looked at last November was verses one through five. And so I'm just going to give you a very brief review of the main points of that. One of the other things I dislike is reviews of things that you've done before. When I teach Sunday school, that's why I have handouts. There's the review. This section here is what we did last time. Now we're moving on. But since there's been five months, I think it's only fair that I give you just a brief review of at least the main points of that passage, which was entitled The Voice of God. So the three main points that I brought out of those five verses is that God was warning of serious disciplinary action that he would take in Israel's future because of their wanton idolatry and their general disregard for his love and the law he provided them with. Isaiah 40 is the opening chapter of such warnings alongside promises of comfort, redemption, and revelation of God's incredible greatness that goes right to the end of the book in Isaiah 66. In that last sermon, I commented this, God's words of comfort here early in Isaiah 40 are meant to convey that though God's cause or control seems to be coming up short, what is most needed by his people is a fresh revelation of who this God really is and of what his character is comprised. And then the third main point is from Isaiah 43 to 5, that we have the promise of Christ's coming, a prophesied herald, whom we know to be John the Baptist, would appear first to announce his arrival. And yet, as we also observed last time, the Israelites of the New Testament era also rejected God, and this time his son. As we wrapped up that message and realized that scripture cannot be broken and it does not lie, then the promise of God to Israel is also the promise of salvation in his blood for us in the church age as well. So as we move now further into Isaiah 40, the prophet Isaiah begins to flesh out why God can be trusted to carry out the comforting times he promised his people in verses one to five. In verses six to eight, he lays out for us the frailty and temporal nature of man, sometimes something that we're all well familiar with right now, that we have no control over what's going on in our lives. He compares all flesh to grass or to flowers which wither and die. And then in verses nine to 10, he talks about the Lord coming in might, this God of whom he has just said that the way would be prepared for his coming and whose glory would be revealed. And then finally, in verse 11, Isaiah gives us an analogical view of God as a gentle shepherd who will care for his flock as those he loves. This image, as we will see, should remind us of John chapter 10. And Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you'll recognize a reference picked up by the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 34, which is what John 10 is, what Christ is basing that chapter on when he's talking to the people in John 10, he's thinking through Ezekiel 34. So we're going to mention both of these passages briefly when we get to verse 11. But as this chapter unfolds, it'll become apparent that John Oswalt is correct when he says this. The prophet seems to be saying that if humanity could even glimpse the true picture of God's greatness and glory, their problems would be on their way to being solved. I think that's a good statement. I think that's quite true, that once we get a recognition in our mind of the greatness of God and realize how much in control he is, then the things that seem to bombard us on a daily basis from all sides We can accept them. We can realize that these things are not going to send us into despair. They're being sent sometimes as tests, sometimes as temptations for us to do the right thing, for us to follow Christ because he's so great. So chapter 40 in Isaiah is the favorite chapter for many believers. I've had many believers tell me their favorite Old Testament chapter is Isaiah 40. And I prefer Isaiah 53 as my favorite chapter in this book. But this one is very important. And I would agree with the people that say that. It's certainly got the makings of a favorite chapter. But for the very reason that it magnifies God so that the reader will recognize their own smallness but be strengthened. as they consider his immensity and his grandeur, his control of all future events, his grace and love for his people, and even as verse 17 tells us, all the nations are as nothing before him. They're accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. The challenge for us is to see him as totally other, totally holy, as contrasted to us is also taken up by Asaph in Psalm 50. I'll read this passage in Psalm 50, and if you wanna turn there and read along, verses 16 to 23. But Asaph wrote this Psalm, and he says this in verses 16 down to 23. But to the wicked God says, what right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? You hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you're pleased with them, and you keep company with adulterers. You give your mouth free reign for evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. These things you've done, and I've been silent. You thought that I was one like yourself, but now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. Mark this then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart and there be none to deliver. The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. To one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God. So this psalm first expresses the greatness of God, then rebukes the wickedness in this section, who forgot God, and then the contrast is provided in stark pictures in verses 22 to 23 in this psalm. The people Isaiah writes to have lost their vision for God's greatness. and accepted the easy path of idolatry and careless thinking about God. Woe to us if we, knowing much more than those who lived in the Old Testament times of Isaiah, do the same. We can't do that. We have to understand who God is and we have to honor him and worship him in that regard. So let's read verses six to eight here in Isaiah 40, if you're still there. If you're not, I'll give you a second to get there. A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of our God will stand forever. We've got just a quote here with regard to the end of verse six, all its beauty is like the flower of the field. This is from Charles Quarles from his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, oddly enough, but he does mention this passage here. He says this, they are here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, according to Matthew 6.30. In a single day, the wildflowers that adorned the grassy hillside could dry up so completely that their withered, crisp petals and stems became highly flammable and could serve as tinder in the earthen ovens where the Palestinians cooked their food. Coals, nearly dead, would suddenly burst into flame when fed the brittle remnants of the flowers that had stunned beholders with their beauty only hours before. This is talking about A very temporary, very brief time. Here he's using this analogy of the flowers and the grass to speak of the lives of humans. And which to us, depending on how long we live, we tend to think that life is pretty long, it's pretty lengthy. Sometimes it goes, for many people, it goes so far when they get into end of life suffering and things like that, they wish it hadn't lasted that long. And yet, however long it lasts compared to God's word and compared to the eternity of God, it's very brief. It's as if like the flowers of the field or like the grass. The section starts off, as verses one to five did, with, again, as in verse three, where a voice says, cry. This sets up what forms an immense contrast for the reader between man's mortality and God's word, which stands forever. It is, after all, God's word that the people of Israel are to depend on. and were to depend on, to trust in for the fulfillment of the promises of comfort, especially since they will not come to fruition immediately. These warnings were far off yet. Even as Isaiah wrote, there were many, many decades in the future before what God is promising here as discipline would take place, giving them time to repent before that happens. But they will come true only after a time of war and captivity, which we saw last time was still far off, and once it came would last 70 years. Whereas the New Testament clued us in that the voice of verse 3 is John the Baptist, we have no such New Testament passage to swing our attention to a human herald for verse 6. Instead, it's best to see this voice as God's voice with Isaiah's voice being used to convey it to the people he serves. It serves partly as a mild warning in the form of a reminder to these wayward people that God who is eternal is not like them. because they're mortal, here today, gone tomorrow. Well, God's word, and surely this also stands for God, will stand forever. And we saw that contrast just a few moments ago in Psalm 50, verse 21. This is a somewhat mysterious dialogue being carried out by two anonymous voices. A voice says, cry, and then another voice says, what shall I cry? But this literary feature brings the message into stark relief. The repeating of the phrase all flesh here reminds us of the all flesh of verse 5. And here in verse 6, all flesh is compared to grass or flowers, the main point being under the glaring heat of the sun, it would soon dry up. In other words, it's temporary. Many such comparisons are given in scripture between men and grass. It seems prominent in Moses' words in Psalm 90 verses 3 to 6. It says, you return man to dust and say, return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight, or as but yesterday when it's passed, or as a watch in the night. Speaking of God, you sweep them away as with a flood. They're like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning, it flourishes and renewed. In the evening, it fades and withers. And so even Moses in this psalm is talking about the brevity of life. In fact, the whole psalm is really about that. James 4.14 adds yet another analogy when he says, what is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Now in the context of that, which we can apply to what we're going through today, he's talking about people who say, I'm going to go to such and such a city and I'm going to visit and I'm going to do business and I'm going to make a profit. And he says, you haven't considered God's providence when you say that. You have to consider that God's in control. Is he going to let you do that? Is he going to allow you to survive that trip? And when we think of what we're going through in this pandemic, which was mentioned earlier, it's gone on for over a year now. And when we see that, and when we look around and see the small businesses that we just know are not going to survive this, No matter how much government assistance they get, they're just not going to reopen. Then we begin to see, who could have thought that a year ago, that that would happen? And yet it's happened, because we don't consider God's providence. Yet Isaiah 46, the third part of the verse, tells us that though all flesh is grass, it still has an inherent beauty. like the result of man being made in man's image, like a flower of the field." A verse in that quote that I just mentioned, read for you earlier. First Peter 124 cites this verse, and he too makes the important observation of the contrast between the brief span of the life of grass to the living, abiding Word of God. Then verse 7 expresses the reality even more succinctly than verse 6. The grass withers and the flower fades, not just because it's affected by time, but because there's a providential force at work here. These things fade and wither, says, when the breath of the Lord blows on it. This expresses at the very least that God is in control of the life on the planet he created. It could also be an expression, since the start and finish of human life is part of the metaphor here, that the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, is in sight. The Hebrew word translated breath is the same word translated spirit. That word is ruah. Recall Christ discussion with Nicodemus in John 3, 8, where he refers to the new birth and the granting of eternal life, of bringing life from that which is dead in that passage. Wind that blows where it wishes is the same Greek word for spirit in the same passage. And so we see that these analogies are carrying two possible translations, or two possible avenues of interpreting them. both of which are viable. So then again back in Isaiah 40, we see verse seven and actually verse eight now, the second part, especially the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. So now there's an immediate contrast. bring out the weak and transitory nature of the created order and to compare it with that which is permanent and enduring, the word of God. John Feinberg comments on this verse when he says this, no one can overturn what God promises to do. Whatever he promises will come to pass. Hence, in this verse, stands certainly contains the idea of fulfillment, but for the metaphor in verses six to eight to work, God's word must endure, not just in the sense that what it promises must come to pass, but also that unlike grass, flowers, and humans, it will never fade away. No matter how long it takes to fulfill a promise or prophecy, God will do it. And once the promise is fulfilled, God won't undo the fulfillment. Isaiah's message of comfort is genuine grounds for his encouragement. God, in his word, can be trusted. That's the general flavor of this whole chapter. God's word can be trusted. In fact, right to the end of the chapter, right through to chapter 66, if you're looking for passages If you're looking for passages that highlight the greatness of God, that's the first place I'd turn, is between Isaiah 40 and 66, because you're going to run into these passages that exalt God all the time in these passages. So Isaiah's use of this verse is encouragement for Israel or Jerusalem, as is stated here, because whatever may lie ahead for the Israelites, they may know that God's word of promise will not fail them. Isaiah brings to the forefront the characteristics of human transitoriness and weakness in order to more sharply contrast man's fallibility with the unfailing and enduring quality of the word of God. As Christ says in John 35, The scripture cannot be broken. Numbers 2319 reports this, God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he not said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? And then Psalm 119, verses 89 to 90, longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses. And he says here in verses 89 to 90, forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth and it stands fast. God is in full control of everything that takes place back then and now and in the future. So back in Isaiah again, verse nine says this. Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of great, of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Isaiah now begins to truly magnify who God really is. As in this initial verse of instruction personifying Jerusalem, being here used as a synagogue for the entire nation of Israel, as a strong-voiced herald to the rest of the nation to behold your God, this is to be proclaimed on a high mountain, a place of high visibility, a place where the voice will carry a long ways off a message of good news. This brings to mind Romans 10, 15. In that passage, he cites, Paul cites Isaiah 52, 7. And Isaiah's original message in that verse says this. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. That's the gist, that's the main message of that verse. Behold your God, and now in Isaiah 52.7, your God reigns. He's the one you need to behold, because he is reigning. And here in verse 9, the text says, lift it up, fear not. And then the obvious question is, lift what up? This good news. It will come, and when it does, the news will be, behold your God. In these words, we're to hear the proclamation of the gospel, and we're to proclaim it without fear. Remember the herald of Isaiah 40, three to five, the voice crying out in the wilderness, the owner of the voice according to the New Testament being John the Baptist. He was a fearless proclaimer of truth, and his message was, according to John 1, John 1, 22 to 36, So they said to him, this means the Pharisees, are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. referring right back to the passage that we looked at last time. Now, they had been sent from the Pharisees and they asked them, then why are you baptizing if you're neither the Christ nor Elisha nor the prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not unworthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. And the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. Then John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I've seen and bore witness that this is the Son of God." So now the one who has been prophesied to come and complain or to come and proclaim Christ is now the one who is here and is proclaiming that same message, and he is fearless about it. As a remainder of this section, verses 10-11 expresses that God will be with his people, which is the very hope of the gospel. To be with God as a child of God. This is the great theme of the rest of Isaiah. If we have not God, we have nothing, and if we have him, we have all things. Think of one of, Our favorite hymns here at Emmanuel, all I have is Christ. That too is a message of what the gospel has done for us, clearly proclaimed, celebrated, and living in obedience to it. Thankfully, we must realize as the world falls in all around us that truly all we do have is Christ. I can't imagine going through this pandemic as a person who doesn't have this faith in Christ. It would be, I mean, it's overwhelming even when you have Christ at times. I can't imagine if you don't have Christ. It's got to be completely overwhelming all the time. Isaiah 40 verse 10. Behold, the Lord comes with might in his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. So this theme The might of God carries through here to verse 10. Behold, the Lord comes with might, and his arm rules for him. This is explanatory of verse 9. The cities of Judah are to behold your God, but he is not yet with them in a physical way. In part, it's this absence of the visual that has caused many to revert to idolatry. They don't see him, so they worship what they can see, which is an idol. the practice of which Isaiah rebukes in verses 18 to 20. Once he comes, it will be with might, and then they will behold him. Isaiah uses a terminology familiar in this book of the God of might, of sovereign power, and he will come as he did centuries before in Egypt as redeemer and deliverer and bringing great comfort and blessing, as promised in Isaiah 41 to five. In the ESV, it's expressed as the Lord God, Yahweh, comes, which in English could be a present as he comes, but is instead a future as in he will come. In keeping with the prophet's context, the Naspi in the New King James Version are clearer. He shall come. He's not there yet, and the work of salvation is still to be accomplished in Isaiah's time, that is. From Isaiah's perspective, the advent of Christ was nearly 700 years in the future. It seems as you study Isaiah that his thoughts of the promise of the Messiah were never far from his mind. The rest of the verse is telling us he comes with might in his arm rules for him. The idea of his arm ruling for him, which is a very prevalent phrase in the Old Testament, his arm ruling, usually it says right arm ruling for him, arm of strength. is further indication that with might means that he will come with great power. The way for his arrival will be prepared, and as he comes to his people, he will bring into subjection all that opposes him. From our vantage point and from our understanding of the gospels, which present this coming of God to his people in the incarnate Jesus Christ, we see this might and ruling arm as a meek yet powerful savior. Opposed by many, yet masterfully overcoming their attempts to murder him. and only capitulating when God's time was right. If you're familiar with the Gospels, which I think most people here are, you realize that. That he was under the gun almost from the first time he came on the scene to minister. For that three years, he was under constant pressure to stop doing that. They wanted to kill him a number of times. It's brought up in the four Gospels, the times when they wanted to kill him because they didn't like the message. They didn't like the fact that he claimed to be the son of God. They didn't like the claim that he called God his father. Just time after time after time, and yet he overcame all of that. The only time that he capitulated, and you look at the Gospel of John, there's so many times says, my hour has not come, my hour has not come, my hour has not come. Then when you get to the end of the Gospel, his hour had come. And he even said to himself, this is the time of Satan's power, because he was being given over into the power of Satan all the time under the sovereignty of his father. And yet this is what God has planned. Acts 2.22-23 and Acts 4.26-27 are very clear about that. God initiated it, God planned it, and yet it was wicked men that carried it all out at the right time. So what greater might and sovereign power is there? that allows a sovereign God to use that which appears to be completely out of his control to come to pass an exact sequence, detail, and for the very results that he's planned before the world began. I mean, what could be a better way to see his sovereignty than to recognize that even the things that you would think that can't possibly be God's will, and yet the Bible says it was. It's exactly what he planned. Otherwise, we wouldn't be saved. This will be a fruitless event coming to a church to talk about a great God who never did anything to save us and can't do anything to save us, so basically we're on our own. Why come? But that's not the message of neither the New Testament or the Old Testament. God wants to save and he has put in place the things that need to happen for us to be saved. Isaiah 40, 28 tells us, in case we're thinking, how is this possible? He says about God, his understanding is unsearchable. We can't figure it out. We try to ponder these mysteries of, well, why does God even care about us, as Psalm 8 says? Who is man to your mindful of him? We look at that and we go, yeah, good question. Why do you even care? Because he loves us. And he states that throughout his word. Then in the second part of verse 10 we read, This is a bit more difficult to exegete. What's meant by this? The first question we should ask is, is this referring to rewards God will hand out to his people? And is the recompense a reward for service rendered on God's behalf? In other words, is it a wage? Is this something we're earning? Well, we might draw some support for this idea from a verse like Hebrews 11, 6, where it says, and without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and it rewards those who seek him. But is faith really one of our works? Or as Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 tell us, is faith a gift that God gives us in order that we might respond to the gospel positively? So it makes more sense here to see this as a reward of God, of justice meted out in the glory of that justice being heaped on Christ. This concept is somewhat borne out by the only time in the New Testament that this verse from Isaiah is cited or alluded to, and that's in Revelation 22, verses 11 to 13. It doesn't quote it exactly, but the thought behind what's being said here by John is going back to this passage. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evil doer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. In Revelation, these verses, almost at the very end of our Bible, are referring not to Jesus' first advent, but to his second and final return. Those being repaid for what they have done are the wicked, of whom Revelation 20, 12b says, of the great white throne. And the dead were judged by what was written in the book according to what they had done. Christians aren't going to be judged according to what they have done. Christians are going to be judged by what was done for us by Christ on Calvary. We don't have to face the great white throne judgment. We're going to face the judgment seat of Christ, which is a far different thing. We're going to be judged for what works did we accomplish once we became believers, and in what sense did our lives honor and glorify Christ. That's not what's going to happen to those who are going to be recompensated for what they had done. That's the wicked. They're going to receive the just desserts of their sin and their wickedness. In Revelation 21, 1-4, what that says. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." So this can be true. and believers now vindicated, justified, can enter heaven, knowing that God has blessed them through Christ alone to live eternally with the knowledge that He who created all there is has been sovereign over all of it, every detail, all of history and its every nuance, and to be added to the scenes of massive worship as seen in Revelation 4 and 5. When I've studied through the Book of Revelation and I've taught it a couple of times now, when you get to the last couple of passages, what shines brightest for most people is the scenes of heaven, the scenes of what's taking place there. But one of the things that seemed to be the focus for John is what we just read here in these four verses, is that God himself will be with them as their God. That's what John focuses on. He says that about four times through the end of chapter 20 right to chapter 22, that for him, it's being with God that's the greatest aspect of this. And I remember John Piper one time, one of his books mentioned, that would you want to, you know, a lot of, let me try to phrase it the way he did, if I can think of it that way. His point was all the people that are wanting to go to heaven, how many of them, and I'm paraphrasing, how many of them really want to go to heaven because of golf, constant golf, constant boating. I mean, all the things you love to do here, it's like a giant retirement. You can do whatever you want in heaven. But that's not the point. Piper brings up the point. The reason we should want to go to heaven is because Christ is there. And this is the point that John makes near the end of Revelation. It's a point a lot of people skip over. It's not as brilliant. It doesn't shine as bright as the scenes of heaven. His main point is, for John, what was the greatest thing is that God will be with him. And Christ, because Christ is mentioned as well. The temple of, you know, the New Jerusalem is the temple of God and of the Lamb. And so those are the things that we're seeing here. These are the things that Isaiah is looking forward to, not realizing, really, I don't think he understood exactly what he was laying out there for the future. Couldn't understand it, but he was giving it to us so that we might have that sense of it. And even now we look at it, we can't, what's it going to be like to live in a body that doesn't have sin all the time? Who can even comprehend that? So we're... Of course, we'll take the time right now to look at the scenes that we're all familiar with, I think, from Revelation 4 and 5, where all the people, the dwelling people in heaven, especially the angels and those surrounding the throne, are praising the Father, praising the Lamb, praising Him for all the things they've done, for creation, for salvation, all those things, amazing things. And just to go back to a couple of the parts of passages we've already looked at, we have to look at the salvation being applied in that sense, that now we see ourselves in heaven. In fact, the pastor has said a number of times in Revelation chapter four, in that praise, he says, that's us, we're in that scene. And I believe he's right. But we have to look at this and say, our God reigns, and behold him, and as the angel said to John in Revelation 22, nine, worship God. That's what Isaiah's pointing us to, worship God, trust him, because all the things that are gonna come up in our lives are not out of his control. Then, excuse me, in Isaiah 40, verse 11, says he will tent his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms and he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. So apart from the voice of judgment on the wicked, we just saw in verse 10, verse 11 now turns to a voice of gentleness and grace. Surely here's a picture of the Lord Jesus who in John 10 calls himself the good shepherd. His coming already promised in Isaiah 40 will bring his people into all that is meant by the green pastures and still waters of his grace from Psalm 23. When Christ came, And then in Matthew 9, 35 to 36 points this out. The Pharisees said, He casts out demons by the prince of demons. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And Numbers 27, 15 to 17. is also instructed because without looking at it, Moses recognizes in those verses that God must be the one to appoint a shepherd for his flock and his people because they needed a shepherd. I've mentioned Isaiah 34 already, the passage that chastises the shepherds of Israel in verse two. Note the rebuke in, this is worth looking at in Ezekiel 34 verses two to six. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God. Ah, shepherds of Israel, you've been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you've not strengthened, the sick you've not healed, the injured you've not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you've not sought, and with force and harshness you've ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered all over the face of the earth with none to seek, search, or seek for them." And then, of course, as I already mentioned, enters Christ in John 10. Verses 7 to 15. So Jesus, and this is with this passage in mind, I'm sure that Jesus is preaching this. Truly, truly, I say to you, I'm the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I'm the door. If anyone enters by me, he'll be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hen and cares nothing for the sheep. I'm the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as a father knows me and I know the father, and I laid down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, as there be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again, this charge I've received from my Father." I mean, this chapter 10, if you're familiar with it, is an amazing passage of scripture. And especially when you recognize that what Christ is drawing from is Ezekiel 34. Because when you read Ezekiel 34, and then you read John 10, you go, That's exactly what he's saying. In Ezekiel's time, they had this problem with those who were the priests and the leaders of the people, the Pharisees and so on. And in Christ's time, they still had it, and in fact, it was worse. And Christ now is going, you know, which is what Isaiah is talking about, that he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms and he will carry them in his bosom and just gently lead those who are with young. This is talking about Christ. This is talking about the good shepherd that we see here in John chapter 10. And he's going to gather the lambs. When they're in his arms, nothing can harm them, no wild animal can get at them, and nothing will separate from him. He will tend the flock, gather the lambs, the baby sheep, carry them in his bosom near his heart, and gently lead them as families. He doesn't drive them forward, he leads them, because they hear his voice and they follow him. So prior to this, in Isaiah 43, we saw that Israel had received double for all her sins. Justice about to be meted out. Now with the promise of comfort in verses 3 to 11, we come back to verse 11 in this promised comfort. The Lord who is coming, for whom the way will be prepared, for whom the proclamation will be made from the mountaintop, and who will be a tender shepherd to them truly. we are compelled to behold our God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for this passage. We're thankful for all these passages that we looked at this morning, these interconnected verses and passages that show us the truth of your word. And so that we can recognize from even 700 years before Christ came to now, almost 2000 after he's come, we begin to we can piece together and see the cohesiveness of the message that you've presented to us from the beginning of man's deserving of punishment for sin and yet your love for man and your desire to save them and because of that you sent your son to be our savior and our redeemer. Father, we're so thankful for the message of Isaiah, which we see even in these four or five verses we looked at this morning, point directly to Christ and the mission that he fulfilled when he came to earth so many years ago. Pray that you'll be with us, be with all those we prayed for earlier, especially with Sheila. As she recovers, help her to get better. Be with her and pastor and comfort them at this time. And we pray that you'll be with the rest of us. And we pray that In quick time, the things will begin to open up even more that we can fellowship with our entire congregation soon. We ask that in Christ's name. Amen.