Amen, you may be seated. Please turn in your Bibles to the prophet Isaiah chapter 2, verses, we're going to read verses 1 through 5. Isaiah 2, 1 through 5. Before we read, let me just kind of set the table. I grew up very interested in current events. In our house, we almost always had a news radio station tuned on our, remember AM radio? Remember AM radio? Always had the local news station on, and so we were always tuned in to the things that were happening in our community, in the state, in the country, and in the world. I was 15 years old when the 1967 war broke out in Israel, where several of the nations surrounding Israel attacked simultaneously, the 67 war. We were glued to our radio station, listening to the reports that were coming in from that. It was a world-changing and even in those old days of 1967, it's hard to believe that that's almost 60 years ago, we could listen to news reports that were very current and very up-to-date. I say that, I introduce this because we are still very much, and even more so today with the access that we have to all kinds of media, television, radio, podcasts, the internet, news sites on the internet and so forth. It's very easy to become inundated with information about the world around us and what's going on in the world. Hard to hide from the fact that we are in the midst of international conflicts and Ukraine with the refugee problem that that has caused, and Russia, the terrible toll on the Russian people that we don't hear much about, and yet there have been for Russia Almost a million casualties, that's wounded and killed, almost a million. That's a terrible cost and it's going on even as we speak. We saw just a few years ago the attack of Hamas on Israel and now we have Israel attacking Iran, and we have participated in that. Jesus said one of the things looking for an indication of his coming is that there would be wars and rumors of wars. But against the backdrop of that picture we have this passage. And so let's read from Isaiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz 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 he 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 the nations, and 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. Here we end the reading of God's Word. The opening five chapters of the book of Isaiah have sometimes been compared to an overture in a symphony. A symphony is a musical composition that is composed of many different parts, many different moods that set the different parts. Some are fast, adagio. Some are slow, lento. Some are joyful and others are introspective. But the overture is an opening composition for the symphony that gathers together the themes, the musical themes that will appear later and more fully in the symphony. And so you have an overture like the William Tell Overture. How many of you remember the William Tell Overture? You probably remember What? The Lone Ranger. That was the William Tell Overture. But the William Tell Overture is actually much longer than that and it is a composition drawing themes from the whole William Tell suite. The whole work that's much larger and much longer and tells the whole story of William Tell. That overture is probably the only famous part or the only part that we remember from the William Tell suite. And so Isaiah 1 through 5 has been, as I said, compared to an overture. In those first opening chapters of Isaiah, we have all the themes briefly presented that will be laid out more fully later on in the book of Isaiah. And this is one of those themes. It is the theme of the Messiah's reign of righteousness and peace over the nations of the earth. Now, as we've already seen in our worship service, this theme is not just limited to Isaiah, though. We read about it in Psalm 67, Psalm 99, I'm sorry, yes, Psalm 99, Psalm 67, we just sang Psalm 72, the first three verses, which is a messianic psalm, and it very clearly lays out the reign of the Messiah, David's greater son, who reigns over the nations with justice and with peace and righteousness, his reign of peace and righteousness. Let's make an important distinction before we move on, though, to further passages of Scripture. We all believe that the Lord reigns. Does the Lord reign? The Lord reigns. The Psalms say it. Our whole worldview built on the sovereignty of God. The Lord reigns. Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. The Lord reigns over the earth. But usually when we talk about the reign of the Lord or the rule that God rules over the earth, we are talking about his general providential control of all the events of the earth, all things happen according to his will, all things have been established by his decree, and all things work out according to his decree and according to his will. That's what we would call the general providential reign of God over his creation. He even controls evil and uses it for his own purposes. But these passages that we look at tonight are talking about God's reign in a different way. not just through the general exercise of his providence, but a very specific reign over nations of the earth, on the earth, that administers peace and justice and goodness over the earth. very different, very different from our experience. And we shouldn't just look at the world around us with its rebellion and its wickedness, its sin, its wars and rumors of wars. It's frankly very discouraging violence and divisions and all the things, the falsehoods that we see and hear every day around us. We shouldn't just look at that, well, the Lord reigns. Yes, the Lord providentially is in control of all of these things and uses them for his purposes. But that's not what the passages that we read tonight are talking about. Those passages are talking, as I said, about a very specific, pointed, real-time, real reigning of God's Messiah over the nations of the earth. You know, we do have different perspectives on our eschatology, what we believe will take place in the end times, and I'm not going to get into that debate, but I do want to encourage you, let the Scriptures speak to you tonight. Whatever our views might be, we should rejoice that this is a theme throughout the Prophets and through the New Testament and into the New Testament. This is a theme that doesn't just say, well, all things are going to be better when we're in heaven, or God reigns from heaven, but in fact, the reign of righteousness and peace comes to earth. So what are some of those other scriptures? Well, again, turn with me in your Bibles. to some other passages. Let's turn to one in Isaiah, since we're reading Isaiah 2. Let's turn a few pages over to Isaiah chapter 9. And here we have this theme is returned to and elaborated a little bit more in Isaiah chapter 9. It's a familiar passage. It's part of Handel's great oratorio, Messiah. One of the great choruses is built on this passage. So let me read from Isaiah 9, beginning in verse 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them is light shown. Who are those people? Let me ask you that question. Who are those people? Are they the Jews or are they the Gentiles? Well, the Jews had the light, but they rejected the light. But they did have the light. The Gentiles lived in darkness, and usually this passage is interpreted as the light shining over the Gentile nations, the people who have walked in darkness, the lands that have been covered in deep darkness. On them, the light shone. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as its joy at the harvest, and they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. or every boot of the trampling warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire." Why does this happen? See, the implication is that war will cease, that the instruments of war and the rubble of destruction that results from war will be taken away. Why? For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it, with justice, with righteousness, from this time forth and for evermore. the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." What a beautiful passage, and so thankful that we remember this and we can actually sing that beautiful chorus from Messiah that is built on this passage. Let's turn to the next one, which is Psalm 110. Psalm 110, another messianic passage, I want you to see in this psalm, again, the theme of the Messiah reigning over. And this Messiah is not just a king, but he's a priest as well. Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, Notice in that first line, as you're reading our English Bibles, the first use of the word the Lord is all capitalized. That means behind our English word that is capitalized, Lord, is the Hebrew word Jehovah or Yahweh. For some reason, they decided not to just transliterate that, but we could read it this way. Jehovah says to my Lord, that is, God, the living and true God, the God who is. When Moses says, when I return to the people of Israel, and they ask me, what is the name of the God who sent you? What name will I give them? And the Lord says, tell them, I am. has sent you. And that, of course, is the root of the word Yahweh, or Jehovah, that we have. It is the name, the actual personal name by which God has revealed himself to us. The Lord Jehovah says to my Lord, my Master, my Superior, my King, actually, and this is David writing it. So Jehovah says to my Lord, David writes, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. The Messianic psalm, this is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, and Jesus uses this psalm as a question to those who did not believe that he was in fact the incarnate God, the Son of God. How can David say The Lord Jehovah says to my Lord, who is my, who is David's Lord here? Who is David's Lord? Well, David's Lord is his son. Puzzling, yes, but David's Lord is David's son, who is the Messiah. The Lord says to my Messiah, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Another passage that we could read, Isaiah 51, verses 3 through 6. Isaiah 51, 3 through 6. Isaiah 51, beginning of verse 3. For the Lord comforts Zion. He comforts all her waste places. He makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples, the coastlands hope for me. You see how Isaiah and how these messianic prophecies about the reign of the Messiah look far beyond Israel, far beyond Israel, the nation and the land of Israel. When it says the coastlands, will hope for me." The coastlands, those are inhabited by those Gentiles, those pagan Gentiles. That's where the coastlands are, far, far out across the sea, the coastlands, far away, the islands, lands that most Jews had never even thought about or knew about. Perhaps they had met people from those foreign lands, but even those foreign lands will hope for the coming of the Messiah, and he will give them their laws and teach them. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning at verse 22. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning at verse 22. Paul is writing about the resurrection of Christ. Of course, this is the famous passage where he reminds us that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then we are still in our sins and our faith is in vain and we are to be pitied above all men. But then he says in verse 20, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And then he goes on, and I'm picking up in verse 22, he goes on to explain the order of the resurrections, the order of resurrection. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. He must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. under his feet. He reigns, he conquers, he overcomes. All that flows from his resurrection and from the proclamation that Jesus is Lord. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection. When he comes, those who belong to him are raised. Then he must reign. Then comes the end. He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority. power. So that's a New Testament verse that reflects on this same thing, the Messianic reign of Jesus Christ, and it gives us a little more information concerning that reign. Well, you can see that this is a theme throughout scripture. It's not an isolated passage. It's all through the Psalms. One of the reasons it's all through the Psalms is that God made a covenant with David. We call it the Davidic Covenant, and it's a covenant in which God has promised David that he would establish his throne forever, and he would establish David's line forever. Now, interestingly, David's line humanly speaking, very quickly degenerated and led the nation of Judah into sin, idolatry, and captivity. But that line was not ended. You know, even after the captivity, the line of David still existed. We have Zerubbabel, we have Joshua, the high priest, Zerubbabel, the prince, and they were of the line of David. Did you know that Daniel was of the line of David? Tribe of Judah? Yes. Daniel was part of the royal household. But of course those prophecies in that covenant made with David reach their great fulfillment with the coming of Jesus Christ. He is the one who will establish David's throne forever. For to us a son is born, a child is given, and he will establish his father David's throne. Of the increase of his government there will be no end. Imagine that. I want you to reflect on these beautiful passages about the Messiah's reign, because in part they are so different from what we experience. They are so different. I think it's one of the reasons why when the Apostle John reaches the end of the book of Revelation, and he's wrapping it up in that final chapter, and he says, even so, come. Lord Jesus. When we contemplate these things, we shouldn't be running to debate our eschatology. We shouldn't be throwing insults at each other, like, you're all messed up in what you think. We should be rejoicing that the Bible is clear. There is a Son of David who is coming, who will reign over the nations of the earth, and his reign will be characterized by righteousness and peace. Justice will be administered. Disputes will be settled. and therefore we say even so, come Lord Jesus." I don't hear any amens, but okay, you're Presbyterians. God does reign providentially, and he will reign very pointedly over the nations through his Son, Jesus Christ. Well, let's go back to that passage in Isaiah chapter 2 and look at that a little bit more. I wanted to show you how this theme is also laid out in other passages of Scripture. But in Isaiah chapter 2, and I call your attention to verse 3 particularly, The second verse talks about the exaltation of the house of the Lord and the mountain of the Lord, and that Jerusalem will be lifted up into a place of honor, and that it will be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it." This is a picture here of Messiah's reign where the place where Messiah is becomes the epicenter of the world. The place where he is is the focal point of everything. Think about that. It talks about the house of the Lord is established. It's a reference to the temple. The temple, aside from being a physical building in its day when it existed, the temple also signifies the place where God is worshipped and the place where God reigns. When Isaiah saw a vision of God in chapter 6, he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. He saw God in the temple. It was a place where God was worshipped by the creatures surrounding him, but it was also a place where God reigned and gave the command to Isaiah to go and speak. Who will go for me? Who will speak my words to the people? Isaiah. In verse 2, it ends by saying that The nations shall flow to it, that is, the house of the Lord. But then verse 3 takes us further. Why? That he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. Think about the implications of that. Think about our own country, our own nation. Can you imagine a time when the leaders of our nation would say, let us go to the presence of God and have him teach us our laws? I don't even care if you like the guy or not like the guy. Wouldn't that be incredible to see? And I don't want to say it's incredible, meaning it's unbelievable, because I actually believe it. But wow. Can you imagine the leaders of our nation going up and saying, let us all gather. We're going to adjourn Congress. We're going to let the Supreme Court off for a while. Mr. President, you're invited to join us. Please do come and join us. We are going to the Messiah to be taught his laws and his ways. Wow. And not just one country, but the nations of the earth. A little further in verse three, it explains more. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The word of the Lord out of Zion will go forth the law. That is, it will be, in a sense, broadcast from the epicenter to all the nations of the earth. And then in verse 4 there's a description of his reign. He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples. He shall judge between the nations. There are disputes between nations. It is the cycle of war and conquest and destruction. War is a result of man's sin, and we might glorify wars by saying we are patriots and we're off to war, we're going to defeat the enemy. Yes, and on that earthly plane, on that earthly level, there is a certain valor in defending your homeland and your families and so on. There's a certain valor to that, especially when others seek to come and destroy. what we have. But on a higher plane, we must admit that war and its destruction is a result of man's sin. And in the reign of the Messiah, that evidence and that fruit of man's sin is suppressed. He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples." You know, the implication here, of course, is that the nations submit to the reign of Messiah. It doesn't say there aren't disputes. But it says those disputes are settled by messianic righteousness and wisdom and the administration of justice. 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. Not only will he judge between the nations and decide disputes for many peoples, but also that underlying cause of war, man's sinfulness, his avarice, his desire to control, his desire for glory, all of that is put aside, and they will not lift up sword against nation. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war. anymore. Our military academies, our war colleges will close down. They won't be needed anymore. Think of that. And it finally says this, and this is a reflection, this reflects back, because this messianic psalm, which tells us about the epicenter of the reign of the Messiah, now reflects back, and while it's been looking into the future, now it addresses the present. O house of Jacob, come. let us walk in the light of the Lord." Now, here's an application for us, because this sentence at the end here, this call to walk in the light of the Lord, is given to the people of Isaiah's time. And Isaiah, as it were, God speaking through Isaiah, saying, in the light of what I had promised and covenanted to David, In the light of the coming of the Messiah, in the glory of his kingdom, in the light of his administration of righteousness and peace, today people of Israel, of Jacob, walk in the light of the Lord. When we state a truth, we should ask, how then shall I live? When we state a propositional truth, the Lord reigns in righteousness and brings peace to the earth. Then we ask, how then shall I live in the light of that truth? Shall we be satisfied with half measures of righteousness? Shall we be careless? Shall we be caught up? in the conflict. I think there's a place for Christians to take public stands on public issues of moral importance. I'm not one who says, well, you know, the Lord's in control. We don't have to get in this. By the way, the church is spiritual. We're not to be involved in these things. No, I'm a little more of an activist. There is a place for Christians to take public stands, and especially in the light of what the Bible says of the coming of the reign of the Messiah. We should not hesitate to say to people, this is what God teaches us about this issue. This is what God says about this issue. Let us walk in the light of the Lord. And if you refuse, guess what? Messiah is coming, and he will bring a reign of righteousness and peace. Every knee will bow before him, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. You can bow before the Lord now, or you will bow later. Much better to bow now. Much better. It is so different. And a passage like this can be so difficult to believe because it is at such odds with our experience. Can something like this ever happen? Could God ever do something like this? Could He ever bring to pass what He describes in this passage in Isaiah? Well, do you believe that God can raise the dead? If God can raise the dead, believe me, He can do this. He can do this. But the Bible affirms that this, in fact, is true, and affirms it in many different places. Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Do not let the wickedness of this present evil age discourage you. As I've said before, and I'll say it many times I think before the Lord takes me home, we've read the end of the book. We know how the story goes. Jesus wins. Jesus is victorious. and he shares his victory with his people. Do not be discouraged. Do not be silenced in your testimony. Do not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. Do not let the world put you in its mold. Do not be conformed to this world, but rather be transformed. Jesus will reign. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that we might find encouragement in these words of Scripture, a consistent message that we find in the Old and the New Testaments, and a message that points us once again to the glory and the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray, Father, that you would bless us and encourage our hearts, strengthen our testimony. We should not be ashamed of the righteousness of our Messiah. We should not be ashamed of his full messianic role as prophet, priest, and king. And we should tell people that the day is coming when righteousness will be exalted and peace will come under the reign of God's Messiah. and that it is much better to prepare for that now by faith in him and trusting in him and bowing before him than to continue in rebellion. These passages are given to us, Lord, so that we might testify to the nations of the earth, and call the nations to repentance, and call the nations to faith and obedience to you. We pray that you would give us courage and strength in this endeavor. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.