Last Week of Prophetic Series

Intro - Blessing

Recap of the Series

We started with blessing

That has really been the theme throughout this whole series

That the prophets help us to understand that we are blessings to others

That God in fact designed us that we might be God’s blessing

Not only does God have good news to share, but that we are actually the people that get to share that good news with others

We worship together not just to remember that we are blessed children of God

Not just to remember that there is something holy within us

But also in deep recognition that there is something holy that there is something blessed in our neighbor as

That there is a profound blessing that we hold that God loves us

and in fact God loves a lot of other people to

It is not us that blesses others it is God that blesses other

But it is through our faithful actions that those blessings are made known

That’s what the prophets were about they were faithful people who followed God with their next right step and they were a blessing to others

This series has traced the history of the people of Israel through their struggles as time and time again their

Peace

Offering

Confession

Anger

And now we talk about hope

Prayer

God I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart would be pleasing to you my rock my redeemer. Help us to find your hope in our midst. We seek to know and to be your blessing in the world around us. It’s in your name that we do everything and it is in your name that we pray. Amen.

We come into a time that doesn’t feel so hopeful

Another round of things getting canceled or postponed or changed

We come to a time where things that are “normal” matter a whole lot

Smell that are familiar

Tastes that are familiar places and homes that holidays have been celebrated with in the past are familiar

The people sitting around the table are familiar. For many this could be the first season after a loss

We seek where we think hope is found

when our patterns are disrupted we think that we would find hope in everything getting back to normal

Israelites

The Israelites surely had something similar at the time of Isaiah the Israelites had been living in exile for generations

Many people hadn’t even been alive when they were kicked out of the land that their ancestors called home

It’s interesting they went through these different seasons as people

Unspeakable

Complaining

Getting eager to get back to their normal

They got angry

And right when they were at what felt like the end of their rope they entered the rebuilding phase

Where Isaiah starts to prophesy about the blessing that God has in store for the people

Unlike some of the other prophecy we have read this is a predictive prophecy meaning that it makes predictions about the future, and it just so happened that those predictions ended up being pretty accurate.

So hear these words of hope that are meant to build up a people that was in exile for a longer time than they expected to be....

Preface to Scripture

Isaiah 53:11–12 NRSV

11 Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

God’s hope is found in an unexpected place

They wanted circumstantial hope they got eternal hope

They wanted it now but got it 600 years late

They wanted a king but got a servant

They wanted hope to be found in their hometown and it wasn’t

It wasn’t what they were looking for

It wasn’t a shallow affirmation of things that they already believed, but Isaiah is providing the people with a hope of a messiah to come

Now of course we are living after Jesus has come

So it can be difficult for us to understand what it means to hope in Jesus that is yet to come

The hope of Jesus is found for us in an unexpected place this season

What might God be doing on the horizon in our lives that is yet to come?

Our hope in Jesus defies all circumstances

They wanted circumstantial hope they got eternal hope

Jesus isn’t even here yet, and yet Isaiah speaks this word that brings life, and I think what is most powerful about this prophecy is that they don’t know what form that God or this suffering servant will take.

Isaiah finds hope in the need for a saviour.

My view of hope is often connected to my circumstance

Meaning that if I was thirsty I would hope to get water

If my circumstance was that I was poor I would hope to be rich

If I am in a pandemic I would hope that pandemic would end

If I am not able to join with my family in-person I would hope that I soon would be able to

But Isaiah zooms out far from the circumstances of the Israelites to offer them ultimate hope.

A hope that will eventually transcend anything else that could be hoped for.

And beyond this Isaiah paints a picture that through this Messiah will interceded for our sins for our transgressions.

That we both need a saviour, and that this saviour that is to come will free us from those sins that were holding us back

What a blessing that news is

That we will be freed from our transgressions by a person that will suffer for us and with us

As the people are beginning to rebuild that most certainly is the place where their hope would be rebuilt

Bless others with Hope in Jesus

We started this season challenging you to understand that you are a blessing and that God might be speaking to others through you

We end the series on a similar note saying that all that you do all that we do as a church is to spread the message of hope of a messiah

A Messiah that has come, and has yet to arrive

The ways that we live should tell people where hope is found

That our hope is not found in circumstance it is found in knowing and making know Jesus

That news is surely good news that will be a blessing to anyone that hears it

Shall make many righteous

How much difference can one person really make?

Ultimately Jesus’ life is meant to be an example of how we might live

The notion that one can make many righteous

Even in the midst of less than ideal circumstances find hope in this week in the good news of Jesus. May it be so