Welcome to Let Us Reason Together, an overview of the book of Isaiah. And I'm going to begin today with a series of questions to help you understand why we're studying the book of Isaiah, what we hope to get out of it. Because the questions would be things like this. Why should we dust off the book of Isaiah? If you don't know, the book of Isaiah is somewhere around 2,700 years old. And why should we go into something so old, something that predates Jesus Christ, and study it? And furthermore, how can we understand it? It is 66 long chapters filled with mention of many people and many places that have been long gone. And it's also full of highly symbolic language, something that is a stumbling block to many people trying to understand it. How can we be sure with this highly symbolic language in a cultural context so far removed from our present day that we are properly interpreting it, that we have the right interpretation of it? We are so far removed from it. We also need to ask the question, how can it possibly apply to us today? Don't we live in a different world? Aren't we experiencing very different things than we were in Isaiah's time? Well, the answer, of course, is yes, we have a very different cultural context, but mankind has not changed all that much, as we'll see when we dig into it. And God, as you know, does not change. And so stay tuned. What we're going to do is we're going to unpack this book. over this next series of however many couple dozen sermons that we'll get out of this. And by the end of this study, you will be equipped to read and to understand the book of Isaiah for yourself. And having done so, having conquered one of the most difficult books in the Bible, it will begin to open your mind to understand many of the other prophets and other great books of the Bible as well. We will pray that God will use it to grow us, to teach us, that we will become more of a blessing to our families, to our church, and to people we meet, having been armed with the truth of God that we find there in Isaiah. So today's text is going to be from Isaiah chapter 1, starting at verse 1 and going to chapter 2, verse 5. And what we're going to find there, in the midst of that, towards the end of chapter 1, is a little phrase that the Lord implores the people of Judah, let us reason together. And that is the title track, if you will, of this series. It is understanding, reasoning with God. In other words, understanding what he is saying. Getting real with ourselves and our situation and getting real with who he is and why there's such radical implications of what he is saying. So this is called Let Us Reason Together and we're going to begin simply by reading just this first verse. The first verse says this, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So we see there, according to the setting, Isaiah is preaching to Judah, which is the southern kingdom. The nation of Israel, after receiving a king, King Saul, and then King David, and then King Solomon, went through a split. They went through a political division into north and south. The north being called, still often, Israel. sometimes Ephraim, the south being called Judah. And Judah had Jerusalem, which was the temple, the legitimate place of worship for the people of Israel. It also had the king from the line of David, which was the legitimate line of kings. And so we have the southern kingdom much more legitimate than the northern kingdom as far as their claims to Judaism, their claims to the covenant of God, and everything else. And because of this, they lasted longer. They were closer with God. They were not good, and they had mostly bad kings, but a few of those kings were decent. And there were times of decency in the land. And God blessed that according to the terms of their covenant. And so they lasted much longer than the Northern Kingdom did. Now, Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament. 90% of the chapters of the New Testament have a reference to it. And the structure is very interesting. According to verse 1 here, the structure according to Isaiah is self-described as a singular vision. And what we'll see is it is arranged thematically. It's not necessarily chronological and you will tie yourself in knots trying to sort out the chronology of the book of Isaiah. But it speaks to Judah regarding their present crisis of the Assyrian invasion. And it also looks ahead to the Babylonian threat that would come after Isaiah's lifetime. And then their eventual exile from the land because of their idolatry and unfaithfulness toward God. But it looks even further ahead. It looks to a restored kingdom, a future purified people of God occupying this holy city of Jerusalem. Now, as scholars have looked at the book of Isaiah, the way it's compiled, the way it's put together, Many of them have been led to believe that it was assembled later from all his writings, and I do agree with this. I do believe that every bit of the material is completely Isaiah, the son of Amoz, this singular person whom God inspired to do all these things, but I think it's highly possible that also led by the Holy Spirit, somebody later, perhaps Ezra or one of the other important scribes or another prophet, assembled these things in the order in which we now have them. So, there's a couple major themes we want to be aware of. Major themes include this, God's judgment and wrath against sin, both in his people and the nations of the world. And another important theme that we see, and there's many themes, but some of the most important are these. God's preservation of a remnant of people who will survive and ultimately enjoy peaceful existence in a new and purified Jerusalem. That is Zion, as it's sometimes called in the book. So, in order to understand these things, what we want to do is we want to read some and we want to look at this and as we've seen, just to note, here's what we've determined. According to Isaiah 1.1, this is a singular vision. Some of the themes, God's judgment and wrath, God's preservation of a remnant. And now what we're going to do is we're going to see that Isaiah 1.1 and Isaiah 2.1 connect this together showing this to be a singular vision. Connecting the concerning Judah and Jerusalem to a future that includes all nations. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read from chapter 1 verse 2 now through chapter 2 verse 5 and here's what I want you looking for. What I want you to see is that this vision that Isaiah has is concerning not only what's going on in the present with Judah and their sins and the judgment that God is going to bring by the hand of Assyria but it looks forward to a Zion that's not just preserved through the difficulty but what it is perfected whose people enjoy a great and outstanding peace, as we see in the beginning of chapter 2. And so I want you to see that he is not only addressing the issues of Judah, he's addressing issues pertinent to you and I today. All right, let's go to the scriptures and read this together. And here's the vision. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged. Why will you be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even to the head. There is no soundness in it but bruises and sores and raw wounds. They are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. In your very presence foreigners devour your land. It is desolate, is overthrown by foreigners. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the Lord of hosts had not left for us a few survivors, we should have become like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord? I have had enough of burnt offerings, of rams, and the fat of well-fed bees. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who is required of you, this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings, incenses and abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations, I cannot. Endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How the faithful city has become a whore! She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water, your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and a widow's cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord declares the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and I will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired, and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water, and the strong shall become tender, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it. And many peoples shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Now the first thing I want to do, and the first issue I want to cover, having looked at the scriptures here, is I want to point out this connection between 1-1 and 2-1. Isaiah 1-1, as we saw it, it is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And then he gives a list of all the kings under which he served. And so this sets the tone, really, for the entire book, because these visions all occurred during that time. And then chapter 2 verse 1 narrows this down. It echoes a similar type of wording but instead of the vision it is the word. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And then time frame is not given. And so this connection between chapter 1 and chapter 2 is powerfully important for us to understand. Because what this connection allows us to do is it allows us to connect what's being said to Judah and Jerusalem and see that God is also applying this to a distant future of a renewed Jerusalem. Now we'll have another sermon called the transformation of Zion which will be very important for understanding what is going on in this book. But for now, this connection allows us to make contemporary applications of these texts in this book by extracting the principles that Isaiah brings forward and applying them to the people of God and the world today. And so this is very important for us as we move on because we will be making application of these things to us. It immediately shows the relevance of it when it says he's speaking of a future that will include all nations. Notice in chapter two, that verse two, all the nations shall flow to it. In verse three, many peoples, those many nations shall come and say. So this speaks of this future time, which we know is now the church age, in which people from every nation are going to be coming to this renewed Zion, which we see is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his church. So, let's get to the near issue at hand as we see the problem. The problem is laid out by Isaiah in his first chapter is simply this, it's rebellion. And we saw in that the rebellion is described as sickness. It's described as hatred of God, of ignorance. And this rebellion is revealed in the sins of the city. When it gets specific about the city of Jerusalem, we see murder, corruption, oppression all mentioned there. Social injustice happening there. And this is how we see the problem is rebellion. Well, this is also the problem of mankind through all the ages, as it's summed up by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1. After Christ came, Paul puts this in Romans chapter 1, where we see, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. You see that men are unrighteous. Mankind, that is all of us, are unrighteous. And with that same unrighteousness, we actually suppress the truth. We push it back. We hold it back. Our problem is not pure ignorance and not knowing the truth. The problem is in actually pushing it away, trying to keep it at arm's length, trying not to gaze upon The truth. This is a problem of rebellion. And what from Paul's words here we see very plainly that this is an issue of the will. That we are willfully rebellious against God. Look what he says going on in verse 19 and 20. He says, what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Oh yeah? How has he shown himself to all people? For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. In other words, God has revealed himself in everything that's been made. Not only the fact that he is, but what he is like. And yet we refuse in our sin to see it. And it's remarkable when someone becomes born again by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. When they repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation, all of a sudden they begin to understand what these verses are saying. They begin to look around and see this revelation of God. And see how everything that has been made and the way it has been made speaks of not only His existence, but His character. And this becomes then clear only to those whose eyes have been opened by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And you notice there in the last phrase of that, so that they are without excuse. Very frightening phrase because what it is saying is that the revelation of God and all of creation, everything else, is sufficient to convict us. In other words, we've been shown enough to be accountable to Him for our lives. And so this passage is critical for us to understand. Now he goes on in the next chapter to explain how it's also the law of God's written on our hearts and our conscience bears witness. This is why every human being has some kind of a sense of justice. And yeah, it's warped in many people, but it is there nonetheless. You will find justice codes even on death row. You'll find them everywhere. In every culture that has ever existed, there has been moral codes. They have drawn the line of the human behavior at some point. And so even though that is marred by sin, it is still there and it bears witness against us. So we have the external witness of everything that's been made. We have the internal witness of a conscience that tells us there is right and wrong. And if we're honest, it tells us that we've done some of that wrong. And so this is the problem. The problem is rebellion. And the problem is not a lack of religion. Let's go back to the scriptures here and look in Isaiah chapter 1 verses 11 through 15. He starts talking about their sacrifices. He starts talking about the burnt offerings and these things and the blood that's being offered there, and when they come to appear before Him, New Moon and Sabbath, calling of convocations, these appointed feasts, and all these things, these are all things that God commanded in His law for them to do. So why is he saying he hates them? He hates them because they are doing them while ignoring what he has asked, the important things he's asked them to do. And that would be, of course, love of him and love of neighbor. And so the problem is not a lack of religion, He is receiving these kind of worships and these kind of things. And yeah, the temple is still going on and they're still observing the feast and everything else, but they are acting wickedly. Our religion does not matter when the heart is not right. He doesn't want those kind of ritualistic things without us making some effort to have hearts after his own. That is what He demands, that we would love Him, that we would love neighbor as ourselves, and the rest will follow, and the worship will follow. But these acts of worship, Jesus addresses this issue in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. He turns all religion upside down. When he says, look, it's not just about the law that says you can't murder. It means you ought not to even have hate in your heart. And it's not about not committing adultery. It's about not having lust in your heart. It's not about praying. It's about praying for a show, that you should pray sincerely, that you should keep those things to yourself. It's not about you giving. It's that you should be willing to give anonymously. In other words, all these matters are about the heart. This is very clear that Jesus made it clear, religion matters not when the heart is not right. And so this is the problem that they are having. The people of Israel are in rebellion to God according to the terms of the covenant that they made with him when he brought them out of Egypt. So what is the solution or what are the consequences of this problem here? This is profound to understand as well. There are definite consequences outlined by Isaiah and we can sum them up in a word, wrath. See, when we're reading the book of Deuteronomy, we very simply have to pay close attention to Deuteronomy chapters 28 through 30, because that's where the terms of the covenant are really spelled out. That's where God tells the Israelite people, look, if you obey me and you do as I command, things are going to go well for you in the land that I am giving you. You'll have good, healthy crops. You'll have big, happy families. You won't have destruction from your enemies. You won't have famine or sickness or any of those things. And it was a conditional promise that God said, if you do well while you're in the land, you'll receive these blessings. But then he goes, Then he also lists out look if you do poorly that is if you don't obey me if you do evil if you Entertain these other religions that I have told you not to then you will receive The attacks of enemies you will have sickness and famine and disaster in your land And he lists all those things out. He spells them out clearly if you understand Deuteronomy chapters 28 through 30 the entire Old Testament all of a sudden makes sense and It's the covenant that Israel had with all of its blessings and its curses being laid out for us. So the results, the consequences, look at verses 7 through 9 here. We take a look at that. It says, your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire. There was a time when you could look out from the walls of Jerusalem and you could have seen the destruction of the Assyrians that had laid waste to all the northern kingdom and all of the southern kingdom except the singular city of Jerusalem which did not fall to the Assyrians. And you could see the smoke rising in the distance from all the cities around that had been attacked and destroyed by the Assyrian armies. And you would have even worse seen the Assyrian army around Jerusalem laying siege to it. That is how close they came to annihilation from the Assyrians. This is accounted in the narrative section of Isaiah in chapters 36 through 39. So you can read that as you read through the book of Isaiah. So there's great consequences and there's results to it. And it is a difficulty. The daughter of Zion, that is Jerusalem, is left like a booth in a vineyard. In other words, everything else had been knocked down. All that was left was the city of Jerusalem with its walls. And the Lord is telling them this is what it's going to look like. This is what's going to happen. And then there's even more wrath to come. When we look later in the chapter, the Lord declares, I'll get relief from my enemies. I'll avenge myself. I'll turn my hand against you. I'll smelt away your drosses with lye and remove all your alloy. These are all visions of purifying them in a very difficult kind of way. And we look further down, verses 28 to 31. Rebels and sinners shall be broken together. Those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. And very strong words here. Promised wrath to come. Destruction for rebels and sinners. Well, if that's the problem, and these are the consequences of the problem, then the question remains, what is the solution of the problem? Well, let's take a look at this. The solution of the problem, very simply is this, they must listen to the message. This is what Isaiah said in chapter 1 verse 10. You know, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. He compares Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that the Lord utterly destroyed. And they become iconic throughout the rest of the Bible. You can read about those in Genesis chapters 18 and 19. But those cities become representative of all that God hates. about sin and what it does to degrading the human condition to be unrecognizable to the point that all that is left to do is to physically destroy it because it is already spiritually destroyed. And so he addresses them as Sodom and Gomorrah, which would be provocative as the prophet Isaiah perhaps preached these to the kings in their court, to the people on the street. We know that he was in the court of the kings and everything else. And many of these things would have been preached in addition to them being written and delivered to the kings. And so he is proclaiming these things and he's calling essentially these people Sodom and Gomorrah, which are like the worst example of sin in the entirety of the Old Testament to that point. And so the solution is that they should listen to the message. And this is indeed what Moses said way back in the book of Deuteronomy. Yes, we'll find ourselves in Deuteronomy a lot, when he speaks of prophets to come. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Oreb on the day of the assembly. And then he goes on to tell them how to test these prophets, how to know if they're telling the truth or not. How do you identify a true prophet? While this speaks of the many prophets that would come after Moses, it most importantly speaks of Jesus Christ who would be to come. Because Jesus refers to these, the New Testament refers to these verses as applying to Jesus Christ himself. But they need to listen to the message. They need to repent and obey. This is the promise that's found in the middle of chapter 1. He implores them, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. They must learn to repent and obey. This is the crux of reasoning together. Right in the middle of this passage about what to do about the solution to their problem, he says, come now, let us reason together. The reasoning of God is very simply this. It's with the nation Israel. It's with all of mankind through all time. It is this. Your sins are like scarlet, but they can be white as snow. And though they're red like crimson, they can become like wool. If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land." Now that's a promise for them concerning the land. But we would have fallen to the other promises. We'll get to that momentarily. But he's telling the nation very simply, if you will repent and obey the promise of the covenant, the blessings of the covenant that I've told you, you will receive. And he's imploring them to do it. And then he is promising to redeem and restore them. In verses 26 and 27, I will restore your judges as at the first, your counselors as at the beginning. After you, afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. And so the message to Jerusalem is, you know, you're going to be restored by God. You're going to become this city of righteousness. Now they were city of many things at that time. And some of those things he just told them what he thought about them. But they would then become a city of righteousness, redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent by righteousness. The promise to those who repent is to be redeemed. Redemption is promised to those who would repent. And so they have to listen to the message. They have to repent and learn to obey Him. And this is also the message of the book of Deuteronomy, as you will find. If they will repent and obey the promise of the covenant blessings, they will receive. God will redeem and restore them. And this is the final bit of the promise here in verses 26 and 27. So let's be real clear what we're talking about here. God is speaking to the nation Israel about her sins. He is calling her to repent and to obey the conditions of the covenant. And then he's promising to them restoration and blessing according to those terms of the covenant. These are their terms. But there's much more play here. Remember, the vision is not just for Judah and Jerusalem, but the structure of the text has shown us that a renewed and redeemed Zion and Jerusalem is for all nations. And look at verse 27 here and what it reveals. Very interestingly, Zion shall be redeemed by justice, those in her who repent by righteousness. Something's going to happen. There's a notion of a remnant. Those in her who repent will be redeemed. Not everyone redeemed, not just blanket redemption for everybody who happens to have their zip code in Jerusalem. No, it is for those who repent. And this implies that then Zion, this holy mountain as it's called, it is Jerusalem, that it will be redeemed. But then look at the second half of the parallelism, it's more specific in verse 27 here. The second half is those in her who repent. So God's just not going to blanket give redemption to the entire city, but only to those who will repent, that will be redeemed. Now the problem is this. The problem is they've all sinned. Every human being in the city of Jerusalem at that time and every human being who has lived since or is alive now has sinned. And in the context of Israel, the entire covenant people has been indicted for the sins. It's very plain that the whole chapter God is speaking to them as a nation. How can God then just look into their and only pardon those who repent and the others pay for their sins? Well, that's exactly what happens. See, rebels and sinners shall be broken together. Those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. They will have to pay the price for their sins. But what happens to the sins of the others? Just because they repent, those sins just go away. Is that reasonable? Remember he said in verse 18, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. How can that be? How are you going to do that? while the New Covenant fills in the blanks for us. That the city would be redeemed by righteousness or by justice is this. Those who repent and believe who also have sin, the punishment for those sins is upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament, the New Covenant fills this in for us. The good servant that is spoken of later here in the book of Isaiah is the one who would lay down his life for sins. He is the one that would be stricken for our iniquities. It says in Isaiah chapter 53 that this coming one, this one who's ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, would give himself to pay the price for the sins of those who indeed repent and trust in him. The others unfortunately are left to pay for their own sins, but either way justice has been done that the sins have been paid for by the blood of those who committed them or by the blood of Jesus Christ. And then this is the righteousness, those in her who repent by righteousness. Jesus Christ is also this righteousness. Not only did he avoid sin his entire life, he lived a life of perfect obedience. And he shares that righteousness, all the credit that he earned for living a perfect life in obedience to the Father, He shares that righteousness with all those who believe and repent This is why it says in verse 27 that she is redeemed by justice and those in her who repent by righteousness Jesus Christ fulfills all justice and all righteousness and throughout all of Isaiah this idea of the the coming Zion, Jerusalem, the Holy Mountain. These are all synonyms for the same thing. And they're referring, of course, in the near term, in what Isaiah is saying, to the city of Jerusalem. But they also, Jerusalem or Zion or the Holy Mountain or whatever, are looking forward to having an ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Referring to Him and to His body. The faithful of all the ages. And this is the encouragement we find in chapter 2. What does it mean? The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains. It will be the ultimate thing upon the earth. And it shall be lifted up above the hills. In other words, it will be made known throughout the world. Many people shall come and say come let us go up these people willingly want to go to worship the Lord And this is what happens when someone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ They repent of their sins and all of a sudden they want to go see him. They want to know his ways They want to obey his ways. This is what happens and this is what's being described here in these verses That's terribly And here's what I want us to get out of this today. And here are some of the encouragements I want you to see. Let's go back to this so you can see it. First of all, let us summarize. God punishes all sin and will ultimately remove all rebels and sinners from the face of the earth. And we say that's good news because what happens if you take all the rebels and all the sinners off the face of the earth? Well, there'll be no more crime. There'll be no more evil. There'll be nothing else bad ever done again. But the problem is, as we point that finger at the baddies, we have a bunch of fingers pointing back to us as always. And we say, ah, but wait a minute. I'm one of those sinners. I don't want to be removed from the earth. Well, that's the next piece of good news. The second point there, God is building a faithful remnant that come to him willingly. And then thirdly, we enter into these promises as we repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we don't enter into the specific promises that Israel had concerning their life in the land, that is, in the promised land of Canaan, also known as Palestine. Those specific things we don't receive. We receive something far greater, this new and redeemed Zion, this new Jerusalem in the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at these verses again and think about what's going on here. Where God judges between the nations, they shall beat their swords into plowshares. In other words, weapons of war become tools of productivity, their spears into pruning hooks, where they are now being used for agriculture, for things that are useful. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Is that not what you crave? Do you not, when you see the news, and you see what's going on in the world, and what's going on in Ukraine, what's going on with terrorism, and strife, and lies, and corruption, and governing authorities, and all these things that happen, and all the injustice that happens in the world, and the violence, and the difficulty, and the despair, and the depression, all these things we yearn in our heart to see them done away with. Do you not want to be right in your heart? Do you not want to be part of a world without sin and without end, without wars, without sickness or poverty or death? Well, I tell you the truth, in as much as we repent and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, we are part of the solution. We're part of God's ultimate solution to bring this to the earth at the return of Jesus Christ, when these things are completely fulfilled. But in as much as we rebel, we are part of the problem, and God is solving that problem. These great truths should do something for us. If we're already believers in Jesus Christ, should this not embolden us and embolden our evangelism that what we offer is not merely a way to clean up our lives. It's not an upgrade to the present life. It's not just delivery from bondage to sin, but it is that. It's not just an eternity without sin or corruption or rebellion and peace and joy in the presence of God. It is the ultimate solution for all of mankind to enjoy an eternity with God without the penalty of sin, without the blindness that sin brings, without the misunderstanding that it brings, without the rebellion in our hearts that turn away from those things that are good and most beneficial. And all who do not have Jesus Christ will perish for their sins, but we need not. You need not perish. There is Jesus Christ who was crucified upon, interestingly, that same holy mountain outside Jerusalem. Upon Mount Zion, as it is called, our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life to pay the price for sins for all who will believe. and then to make himself known by empowering the church with his Holy Spirit to bring this message to the world. And the world has never been the same. We not only mark our years by the events concerning Jesus Christ's first coming, but they irrevocably Changed the world and continue to change it to this day and he is now gathering to himself all who would believe Will take heart today and take the encouragement to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and you will be saved and Then to share this great message with others. Let us pray Father God, we thank you for your servant Isaiah. We thank you for all that you inspired him to say. We thank you for maintaining this throughout all of history to be a witness to us and to show forth its relevance to this very day. We have so much to be thankful for, Lord, for your goodness and intervention in the world, for your purification from sins that is made possible in Jesus Christ. We today, Lord, pray that you will help each and every one of us hearing this and looking at these words with you today. to repent of our sins, and to trust in your plan to save mankind, Jesus Christ. To trust in Him for our salvation, to let Him take our place in paying the price for sins, but then to grant to us the righteousness that He had, living a perfect life. And Lord, then we can begin that process of being conformed to His image. We can begin to walk toward Zion, as it were, to be perfected by You, and to worship You where You are found. We thank you, Lord, for all that you have done. We thank you for your goodness in revealing these words to us this day. We ask you, Lord, to guide us as we learn more from your servant Isaiah and these great words that have been kept. We ask you, Lord, to make yourself known and show yourself as you truly are in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I hope that's been enjoyment to you and encouragement to you. I encourage you to keep reading the great book of Isaiah, and I encourage you all the more to reach out to us if you have questions or comments or concerns. I don't have the website here, but I'll announce it to you here. Let's take a look. You can learn more about Whites Run Baptist Church at WhitesRun.org. That's WhitesRun.org. You can email me at WhitesRunBaptist at gmail.com. WhitesRunBaptist at gmail.com. I encourage you to take the opportunity to to send me a note, to let me know what you're thinking about this, to ask your questions, to even make suggestions, whatever it is that's on your mind. Please share it with us. If you have prayer requests, I will pray for you. But please interact with us concerning this material and pass this on for someone else to enjoy. God bless you. We'll see you next time.