To Israel My Glory

Pray:

Read text:

"It was the Lord who put it into my mind, (I could feel His hand upon me), the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.......

I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence.

For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah* had prophesied......

No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will, even though He gives advice. Oh, what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible! Day and night, moment by moment, everyone should express their most devoted gratitude to Him."

-Christopher Columnbus This book before us has had a great impact on the history of our world, and especially on our country. Our labors in it are worth all the trouble.

Purpose:

To continue our exploration of this great book of Prophecy; we will see today the love and salvation of the Lord toward His church.

PNP

Today we will see three main ideas: that the Lord carries His people, like a mother her children; that the Lord commands His people to remember His deeds, and the Lord brings His righteousness upon His people from afar.

Review:

The theme of the great book of Isaiah is God, and His relationship with His chosen people, Israel, her beginning, her purpose, her failings, her salvation, her failings, and her victories, from the beginning of time until the end of the world.

All the specifics examples and historical instances of enemies, or idols, or historical events of the book serve this larger function.

Israel was chosen by God, not because of anything special in her, but as an act of divine will, that she would be the means of converting the world to the knowledge of Yahweh.

He blessed her, He nurtured her, He provided everything she could need.

For this reason of her special election is why Idoloatry is so particularly offensive to the Lord. An abomination.

It is detestable in the sight of God for the holy nation to be filled with influences from the east and the west.

To mix the pure worship, with the false.

God’s worship was given to Israel through Moses as a tutor, to safeguard and keep them, until the great seed of Eve would come, spoken of in Gen 3. That great seed of Abraham, the ruler Shiloh to come from Judah.

Israel, entrusted with the worship of the Lord had in many places become hypocrites, boasting in intrinsic merit, and believing superstitiously about the practices of the temple system.

Some had forsaken it by open idolatry.

Some had outward lawfulness, but inward lawlessness.

For these reasons, Israel as the holy nation will be judged. Their position of preeminence will be removed. A certificate of divorce was given to Israel. She failed in her mission.

Yet God will not cast off His people.

For the faithful remnant within Israel, the remnant according to the election of grace,

These have always been the true Israel. The true seed of Abraham, Jews who were inward Jews. Who had circumcised hearts.

Tue Israel will continue forever. The Lord promises to fulfill His word through them and to them.

This will be done by that great Servant of Yahweh, the true Israel, the king of Israel, the descendent of David. The Christ.

He will redeem the true Israel, He will be crucified for them, and by His stripes they will be healed.

They existed within the state of carnal Israel, and when God works this great change, this shaking of the heavens and the earth with the events of the coming of the Christ,

He will simultaneously

save the true Israel, freeing the church into her liberated and more glorious state, growing her through the ascension of the Gentiles into her.

And also He will bring a fiery judgment. The total destruction of the carnal false Israel.

God will redeem Israel, and cause her to endure through her brothers and sisters in the far off nations, who have never heard of the Lord nor seen His glory. Zion the city of God will spread out over the whole earth and possess the nations.

And God will burn down the old temple. It’s purpose is complete. There is a new temple now.

Just as Jesus said:

Matthew 21:43 LSB

43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it.

He removed the wicked nation, because there is now a nation, a people producing the fruits thereof, made up of both Jew and Gentile together as one.

As Peter says:

1 Peter 2:9 LSB

9 But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Isaiah says that the coastlands, the fair off Islands, which can only be reached by ships, they will wait for the Law of God.

And thus here we are.

The Church of Jesus Christ has spread throughout the earth. Our fathers brought the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

This book says that “The coastlands” will wait for His law. The distant Islands and shores. The far off nations, which have never heard of Him nor seen His glory.

We are in that place. We are in those coastlands.

When Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, he thought explicitly that he was fulfilling the prophecies of this book, bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

We will discuss these things later. Know that this book is very relevant to understanding the history of the world, and especially the history of America.

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We are walking through Isaiah, 40-66

-This is one long excursis, one continual prophecy, some of the most principle points we’ve spoke of so far are these:

-Israel is to be comforted, her punishment is done.

-The Lord is coming to visit His people.

-The Lords Arm is going to rule for Him.

-A great and grand truth told is emphasized over and over again, is that the Lord is absolutely sovereignty over all creation, both in creating the world and in it’s constant governance:

-in establishing and deposing ruler.

-in rescuing the needy and afflicted, in renewing the strength of His people

-in breaking the wicked and proud, in the destruction of the babylonians, who stand in for all the enemies of God’s people.

-in good, and even in calamity, in the destructions and devastation of the world, He is sovereign.

-The Lord call the ends from the beginnings, perfectly always.

-He is God, and there is no one else.

-He gives a specific example of raising of Cyrus the conqueror, by name. And the specific details of Cyrus’ life and campain described in a way far any natural explanation.

- because of these things, those who trust in idols are fools.

-On the basis of these things, God’s people are to believe in new things.

-He has called forth Israel, His chosen people, from the ends of the earth. He has constituted them as a nation, that they may know and believe that God is, and there is no other. They will be His witnesses. His conquerors, His servants.

-Yet, they fail. There is still the greater Servant, the Head of the Servant of the Lord,

-who is given as a covenant with the world, for the salvation of the world.

-He is the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ,

-He will lead forth JUSTICE TO VICTORY, and the coastlands, the distant shores, will wait for His law.

-He is a COVENANT with the world!

in 43, a very important chapter,

-We see prediction of latter day glory, of great outpouring of the Spirit of God on all flesh, on the dry places, and the sons of Israel will pop up all over. They will write Yahweh on themselves and call upon the name of Jacob with reverence.

-Yahweh has redeemed Israel, and no other nation. This is stated, and then immediatly shown afterward that God has called forth His sons and daughts from the east and the west,

He has brought them together, and has gathered them, He challenges them out of their ignorance, and reveals Himself to them, that they would be Israel, His people.

**read 43:5-10**

You see Israel constituted as a nation gathered together, for the purpose of them knowing and believing that God is He. He is. He does not change.

He cannot be resisted!

And He does not remember the sins of His people.

He promises that the plunder of the nations will be given to His people,

That the gentile nations will come and bow down toward them and know that God is with them,

A promise which Jesus takes and applies to a little Gentile church congregation, that the Jews persecuting who are really not Jews, they will come and bow down before them and know that God has loved them.

The Lord declares in 45 that He created the world to be inhabited, that He has made Himself available to the world.

He culminates with the command to all the world, to be saved! For unto Jesus Christ, every knee will bow.

Every knee, the ends of the earth will say “Only in Yahweh have they righteousness and strength,” the men will come to Him from a far, and thus in Yahweh shall all the seed of Israel be justified and boast.

Which brings us to where we are today.

PNP:

Today we will see three main ideas: that the Lord carries His people, like a mother her children; that the Lord commands His people to remember His deeds, and the Lord brings His righteousness upon His people from afar.

Yahweh Carries You

Perhaps you have seen the life alert commercial.

-an old woman on the floor, saying help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. She needs life alert.

-Hold that picture in your mind as we read this verse

Bel Carried off

Isaiah 46:1 (LSB)/NASB

1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their images consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast.

These two are chief divinities of paganism - Bel is another name for Marduck, who is the chief god of babylon.

Nebo is another. These two are the Zeus and Hermes of greece, the Jupiter and Mercury of Rome. They are false gods.

You can hear the influence and reverence given to them in the practice of incorporating the names of gods into the names of people.

What was Daniel renamed?

Belshzzar, There was also Belteshazzar, and Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan and so on.

These represent the gods of Babylon; they are chief examples of all the gods of all pagan idolatry.

Being Bowed down, and stopping over, is to say they have fallen in death!

The first has fallen, the other is falling.

The are weak. They fall. They are unable to rise.

Isaiah picks up, as he often does, in the middle of a scene.

These gods stoop over in weakness, and their images are taken away into captivity.

Insofar as there is any real supernatural demonic activity behind these gods, which is likely, these spirits are incapable of preventing their own images from going into captivity.

They are given to the beasts to be carted away. Bel is carried off!

Isaiah 46:2 LSB

2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the load, But have themselves gone into captivity.

They could not rescue the load.

Taking away the protector gods of a nation is ancient practice. It is the sign of total victory.

Jeremiah 48:7 LSB

7 “For because of your trust in your own works and treasures, Even you yourself will be captured; And Chemosh will go off into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Hosea 10:5–6 LSB

5 The dweller of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has gone into exile from them. 6 The thing itself will be carried to Assyria As tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will receive shame, And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel.

This is why the Philistines celebrated so much when they took the ark of God. They put it in their pagan temple.

But the Lord made it clear to them, that He was greater than all their gods, and the philistines sent the ark back in fear.

Their own selves, their own images have gone into captivity. They are unable to their own idols. In so far as they had any existence at all, they were impotent.

That’s the power of these gods. But what of Yahweh?

He carries His people, from the womb to the tomb.

Womb to Tomb

Isaiah 46:3 LSB

3 “Hear Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been burdening Me from birth And have been carried from the womb;

The false gods fail to even take care of themselves, yet Yahweh, as a mother and father who care incessantly for their infant, who get no sleep, who make constant appointments with the doctor, who feed and nurse, raise and discipline their child,

So Yahweh does to His people. His level of care is like that of a nursing mother.

The idols are carried off, so the Lord carries His people in all their lives.

Isaiah 40:11 LSB

11 Like a shepherd He will shepherd His flock; In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

He carries His lambs in His bosom.

Isaiah 46:4 LSB

4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you, and I will rescue you.

There comes a time in a child’s life where the parents no longer give the care which is appropriate to an infant.

And in the course of things, they even comes a time when the child is called upon to care for his parents in their old age.

But it is not so with Yahweh, for even to your old age, He cares for you. For His people.

Their whole lives, He cares.

Isaiah 46:5 LSB

5 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?

A simple concluding thought. Who else does this? Who else is like this?

Certainly not the metal image. Certainly not the false god. who is the dumb gold of a fool. The dumb gold of a fool.

Dumb Fool’s Gold

Isaiah 46:6 LSB

6 “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale, They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They fall down, indeed they worship it.

These are rich idol worshippers. They have real money. Gold and Silver. Not our paper.

At least in the old days men would have the decency to worship something made of gold! and not paper printed yesterday.

Isaiah 46:7 LSB

7 “They carry it upon the shoulder and bear it; They set it in its place, and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot save him from his distress.

This “god” is not only made by hands, but it must be moved by them. It cannot move of itself. If it cannot move, how much more that it cannot save. It can do nothing. It answers no prayers. It gives no hope. It cannot speak.

It is dumb, the gold of a fool.

Yahweh Commands You to Remember!

(look to the past to trust Him in the present about the future)

The Past

Isaiah 46:8 LSB

8 “Remember this, and be assured; Cause it to return to your heart, you transgressors.

You transgressors, more specifically, you apostates. Covenant breakers. Oath breakers. Those of you who fall away, Those who covenant with false gods. Apostates and rebels.

Remember this truth. Remember who is the truth.

Isaiah 46:9 LSB

9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Look to the past. To the creation, to the deliverance of Egypt, to the conquest of Cyrus. And to us, to the resurrection, to Pentacuast, to the destruction of Rome, to the founding of America, to the great things which God has done through His people.

We are a people who forget so easily. So we crawl through the Scriptures, line by line, precept on precept, so that we will remember!

There is no God like this God. There is no other. He is as God today as He ever was, and as He ever will be. He helps His people today as He ever did and ever will.

Your forefathers expected great things from Him, and received great things.

We must expect great things from this God. We must expect His care. Anything less than that is unfaithfulness.

We look to the past, that we will know in the present!

The present.

The Present

Isaiah 46:10 LSB

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My counsel will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,

We must know that the things which happen today are His will. His has ordained the dark day, as He does the light.

And still, He says, He will accomplish all His good pleasure.

And what is His good pleasure?

Is it His good pleasure to see the world from sea to sea covered with bloodshed? With Tyranny? That murder will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea? That the coastlands will wait for robbery and envy? Filth and lewdness?

Is not His pleasure, salvation? Is it not grace? Is it not in giving the nations to Christ?

Ephesians 1:9–10 LSB

9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him 10 for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.

His good pleasure, which is the administration, the government of the fullness of times to sum up everything in Christ!

For Christ to be glorified on the earth!

Is His pleasure with the wicked not to see their salvation, and with the reprobate to see their just destruction?

Jesus walked about a King, a Prophet, a Priest, and the Father said, you are my Son, in you I am well pleased.

Does that pleasure not also rest on us? on His church, the faithful? The body of Christ? those who trust in the name of Jesus Christ, those who believe in this God right here?

His pleasure is established by His word!

And what did verse 19 of the previous chapter say about His word?

Isaiah 45:19 LSB

19 “I have not spoken in secret, In some dark land; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a formless place’; I, Yahweh, speak righteousness, Declaring things that are upright.

He declares things that are upright, things that are right.

And we must trust Him, expect from Him great things in the future. He reminds Israel here of the future:

The Future

Isaiah 46:11 LSB

11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My counsel from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have formed it, surely I will do it.

Again He holds out His fine example. On this example alone, there is enough for you to trust in Yahweh for everything, with your very life,

but this is only the beginning.

For He has spoken already of Cyrus, his little anointed one, his little christ.

But we will soon enough be in the Servant Songs, the Songs of the coming Christ. There we will see so much more of these new things the Lord plans for His people, both then and now.

He speaks to the wicked, and tells the wicked of His Convoy of Righteousness:

Yahweh’s Convoy of Righteousness!

He speaks to those who are far from righteousness.

Far From Righteousness

Isaiah 46:12 LSB

12 “Hear Me, you stubborn of heart, Who are far from righteousness.

You with a stubborn heart, who are strong willed in error, far away from righteousness,

here these things, here the truth.

Righteousness is no where near you. What does He say?

He brings His righteousness from Afar, to the wicked!

Righteousness From Afar

Isaiah 46:13 LSB

13 “I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel.

He does not delay! Anyone, anywhere, who turns in faith the Lord receives the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself!

He brings His righteousness near. He brings it close. It does not come from the sinner, it comes from afar.

To the sinner, He grants the salvation in Zion, and His glory on Israel.

This is not the Israel which is in the news today, this is not the geopolitical nation which is at war with Gaza.

That Israel is no more the Israel of God than Ishmael was the promised seed of Abraham, simply by being his biological son.

This Israel are those who have the righteousness of God brought upon them. His righteousness is the cause and His salvation is the result.

This Israel IS those who are made righteous, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Redeemed from all evil.

That is to whom salvation is granted. This is Zion, the heavenly city, the innumerable company of angels and the festival gathering. The Church of Jesus Christ.

As is it written:

Hebrews 12:22–24 (LSB)

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,

23 to the festal gathering and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

It is the church! In our humble state on earth, connected by faith to our King in heaven! It is the saints of old who now reign in heaven in glory.

Just as the King sojourned through a state of humiliation until His state of exaltation, so we are called to sojourn in the same, awaiting the fullness of His glory upon us!

Yet today, we have the glory of justification! Righteousness which is brought from afar.

This last sentence maybe translated one of two ways: Either, I will give my glory unto Israel, or I will give salvation in Zion unto Israel (who is) my glory.

That’s the title of the servant, To Israel My Glory, either He gives to Israel His glory, or He gives to Israel, who is His glory.

But it doesn’t matter the difference.

She is His glory, because He gives His glory to her!

Israel becomes Yahweh’s glory because Yahweh’s glory is bestowed upon her.

Those who are stubborn of heart, by faith, receive and become the very glory of God on earth.

In conclusion:

Yahweh carries His people, while the idols are carried off.

Yahweh commands you to remember His works, to trust Him in your trials, that you would pray without ceasing to Him.

And Yahweh brings His righteousness from afar, upon the wicked, giving salvation in Zion, through Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 33:7–9 LSB

7 ‘I will return the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. 8 ‘And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. 9 ‘And it will be to Me a name of joy, praise, and beauty before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will be in dread and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

And

Galatians 6:15–16 LSB

15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And those who will walk in step with this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.