It's good to see you all. This month, we've been looking at our Christmas candles, sometimes called Advent candles. Over the month of December, we have seen a candle that represents the prophets. That's where we see in Jesus Christ the fulfillment of the hopes and the fears of all the years. The prophets spoke about the virgin birth. about Christ's birth in Bethlehem, about the virgin birth, and about how Christ would come to reign. So we talked about the prophets. We talked about the angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the sky. And so we spent some time meditating about these messengers and their message, of course, as spokesmen for our God. Their message were messages of God, from God. God was the one who sent the angels with messages about the Redeemer, with messages about the law. We as human beings were created a little lower than the angels. And Christ, for a time, also became lower than the angels as a human being. But with his incarnation, he raised us to a new estate, to a new dominion. And so the angels, of course the angels came to the shepherds. And we talked about the hard life of the shepherds, those that were despised by the rest of society. These were what economists today would call the lower class, right? They worked long, they worked, the shepherds that first heard the message of Christ were working the night shift, third shift. in the darkness, in the night. And so here were hard workers who had a job to tend their sheep, who know their sheep by name. And of course, Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. And not only the good shepherd, but he's a lamb of God, who gave himself as that final sacrifice. And so here is our good shepherd, our guide. Here's the one who is the final prophet, like Moses. And then last week, we looked at the prophets, pardon me, at the wise men, sorry, the sages. And we saw that it has always been the fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom. People have always sought wisdom. We have needed wisdom from the beginning. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was something that was the temptation from the beginning for Adam and Eve. But when they went for worldly wisdom, Satan's wisdom instead of God's wisdom, they became very foolish indeed. And so we need wisdom, and we find wisdom in our wonderful Counselor, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wise men still seek the Savior, Jesus Christ. The final candle for December is the one that all of us have been pointing to, where we realize all the prophets, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, were all coming to worship and to announce Jesus Christ. It is this fifth candle that represents the purity the Savior, the Creator, the Redeemer, the One about whom all the Scriptures is about. And so our monthly memory verse is there on your handout. It is 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. So you can see it there in the bold there at the top of your paper. Hopefully it's big enough there. And so we'll say the reference, the verse and the reference and then meditate upon this once more. 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently? Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you? Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11. Let's spend the next couple of minutes meditating on these two verses. Brother Knopf, where did you put the handouts for this? Did you, for Mrs. Henderson and maybe the boys in the back there? Isaiah, Isaiah. Yes, we'll be in Isaiah today. Thank you. I don't think those boys got it either. Oh, you did, okay. Let's test Ian here. What color for Christ though? A white for purity. Remember, snow white. All right, we've had the entire month to work on this. Let's see how we do. We have it there on the handout if you still need it. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify. when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So this month, I've used John 5.39, which speaks of Christ as the fulfillment of the scriptures, as a directive to go from Bethlehem back to the Old Testament to learn more of Christ. We've seen the prophetic word about the prophets and the great Mosaic prophet, Jesus Christ. We've seen angels, the servants of God, great in power, contrasted with the messenger of the covenant. Hebrews 1 makes clear that the Son of God is much greater than the angels of God. And so we've seen this. We have looked at the work the humility of the shepherds that were despised by their peers, despised in their age, and yet our Savior is the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. We have seen sages seeking wisdom, seeking the King of Israel. And they found that King, they found that wisdom, lying in a manger, or perhaps a few years later as a young boy. Throughout this month we have found our Savior in the Old Testament. Today we're going to focus specifically on the book of Isaiah to really see. You see these verses from our memory books, 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. So you look at these verses and here is Isaiah basically just laying it all out, putting out there what Jesus is, who he is, what he will do from the incarnation to the Holy Spirit resting upon him, to his suffering, to his death, to his resurrection, to the millennium, to the eternal state. Isaiah has it all. And not only that, but Isaiah was a man who ministered in his own time to his own people. He was a prophet to the kings. He was bringing messages to Ahaz, to Hezekiah, and all the rest. And so we're going to see how Isaiah kind of encapsulates the principle that we've been seeking to teach all month long. find Christ in the Bible, find Christ even in the Old Testament. And so we've been trying to model doing that with our Sunday school lessons this month. Now then, as you look at 1 Peter 1 10, you see of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you." Searching what? In what manner of time? The Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify. Now, what I want you to notice, you see there, number one, there is a blank for you to fill in if you're following along in the notes, that these prophets personally encountered God. Here in 1 Peter 1, 10, and 11, we see this the studiousness of the prophets where they, God has given them his word, they record it, they write it, and then they think about it. They meditate on it. They study it. They try to figure out what is it exactly that God has been saying about the future, about himself. about Christ. And so what we see here is that prophets were not simply, you know, sometimes we think of academics as boring stuff suits who get up there and lecture and drove while the students out there on the desk have their heads down and kind of, you know, try to stay awake. That's kind of the stereotype that we have of teachers, or some teachers, not all teachers, But the prophets, as students of God, as students of God's word, were involved, not only in relaying God's word, but they were involved in their society, and they were personally, they personally came to know God for themselves. In other words, before they could be God's spokesmen, they had to know God. They had to meet Him. We see this in Isaiah 6. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah, the prophet, has apparently been prophesying for some time, but he is commissioned, he is authorized there in Isaiah 6, and the way that this takes place is Isaiah, gets a glimpse of God. Just as Moses gets a glimpse of God at the burning bush, as Jeremiah gets a message from God in Jeremiah 1 as a youth, here is Isaiah's commissioning. And so we see that as the Lord appears to him, go ahead and turn to Isaiah 6. Isaiah chapter 6, we're going to be in this prophecy all morning, at least during the time we have together. And so, in Isaiah chapter 6, we see that this is during a traumatic time for Isaiah. It was the year of Uzziah's death. Of course, King Uzziah, good king, where they promoted righteousness, and now he's off the scene. It's like Joshua. The man with the big shoes, Moses, had died. And there's Joshua going, go. I mean, I've got all these people. We've got all these enemies. The creed word is ultimate, right? How in the world can I do this? And God appears to Joshua and says, be strong and courageous. I'm with you. Be strong and courageous. I give you my word. Be strong and courageous. You will have the victory. I will give you the victory as you fight. Be strong and courageous. And we see by the end of Joshua 1, the people are coming to Joshua and saying, yeah, be strong and courageous. Lead us. And so here in Isaiah 6, we have King Uzziah's death. And he sees the Lord, the great King, the deathless King, eternal King. The father does not die, the son will. Sitting on his throne, high exalted, with the train of his rood, fell in the temple. Think of the majesty of this, the glory of this. Here is God himself on his throne. This is like Jacob at Bethel as he sleeps with his head on the rock. He sees angels ascending and descending, but his focus is not on the angels he is seeing. the one on the throne. He is seeing God himself. And so, yes, there are seraphim. And yes, these seraphim are pretty awesome. They've got their wings. They've got their flight. They are proclaiming God is holy, holy, holy. And so Isaiah in the In the face of such majesty, in the face of such holiness, such greatness, such glory says, oh, woe is me. Verse five. For I am ruined. Why? Because I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among the people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen, not King Uzziah. He saw kings all the time. Ahaz, Uzziah, Hezekiah. He saw who? He saw God himself. And my eyes have seen the King. Yes, the whole earth is full of his glory, but he has seen not the reflected glory of creation. He has seen King, the sovereign of the universe. I've seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And of course there is that cleansing as the seraphim takes a cold, touches his mouth, verse seven. This has touched your lips. Verse seven, your iniquity is taken away. There's forgiveness. There's cleansing. Your sin is forgiven. Wonderful, glorious message. For a preacher or a prophet to be any good, He's got to be God's man. He has to be safe. He's got to be clean. We all know that there are prophets who messed up. Earlier this week, I was reading about the prophet who was told not to stop. He didn't stop for the king, but he stopped for the old prophet. He became lion's food as a result. Here's a man who's been cleansed. Here's a man who's been purified. Here's a man that God can use. And so we see that following this in verse eight, it's like God questioning himself. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Where is a man who is ready? Where is a man who is willing? Where is a man who by God, my grace and my empowerment is able to do what I tell him to do, to go to the nations, to go to people who will not receive him kindly. Prophets are not always welcome, especially when they go to their own nation, to their own family, to their own people. Who will go for us? The task is big. The task is large. There is a nation to rebuke. There are kings to confront. There is God's word to proclaim. Who will do this? Will you? That's verse eight. And so he's questioning verse nine. Go, tell this people. Keep on listening. All right, I've got a word to say. Open your ears, but don't understand. Right here, teachers again, right? We're out there, we're behind the podium, we're doing our notes, we're doing what we can, but these guys just aren't computing. It's not connecting. It's not getting the point. And the prophet keeps on prophesying even though the point isn't being made. Keep on looking, people. Keep on... Eyes up front, look at me. Keep on listening, watch, but you don't understand. Now that is terribly frustrating for a teacher. It's terribly frustrating for a pastor or preacher too, or a prophet. Render the hearts of this people insensitive. So here is God's word and it's acting as a fire not to soften hearts, but to bake hearts into hard rocks that will become impenetrable to God's Word. It does have that effect. For God's Word will achieve its purpose. And Jesus told parables, and God's Word does harden the conscience of those who reject it. And if you reject God's word, if you refuse to obey it, you won't be able to understand more. Because God's not going to show you the next thing until you do the first thing. Right? So render the hearts of this people insensitive. You're just going to pour this stuff out. I mean, here are 66 chapters. People compared it to the entire word of God. And you're just putting it out there. The present, the past, the future, it's all in here. Their ears don't. Their eyes do. Otherwise, they might see. Otherwise, they might understand. Otherwise, they might hear and return and be healed. Isaiah, your job is to damn these people by proclaiming who I am. This is not fun. This is not easy. Because like the Christ he prophesies, this is going to earn him rejection. He is not going to be Mr. Popularity, Mr. Time 722 B.C., man of the year, you know? So I said, you know, that doesn't sound fun. How long do I have to do this? Verse 11. until cities are devastated, until the judgment comes. Oh boy. And he does die in Egypt, according to tradition, where he is sawn. Houses without people, the land is desolate. The Lord has removed, so here's the exile, forsaken places. And yet, that sounds discouraging. There is a silver lining, or as verse 13 says, there's a stump of hope. There's going to be a tear of it, or an oak whose stump remains. A holy seed in its stump. When everything looks like disaster, when the great tribulation comes, there's hope. there's a seed, and that seed will sprout. Of course, Jesus is the seed of the water, Genesis 10, who comes and delivers. All right, we're going to have to go a little more quickly through the rest of this, but what I wanted you to see there from Point number one is that prophets personally encounter God. They were believers who consent to serve God as He directs. They obey God's commission, they relate God's message. And so in Isaiah 7, verse 3, we see that Isaiah goes to King Ahaz, and in the context of Isaiah 7, prophesies that Immanuel will come. And we see in Isaiah 37, that he goes to Hezekiah as the city of Jerusalem is surrounded by the Assyrians and relays a message that there will be deliverance. And he also is the one who gives the message, Hezekiah, say goodbye. You're going to die. And then the Lord hears Hezekiah's prayer and heals Hezekiah. All right, so all of this takes place. Here is this man. who is consecrated, who gives God's message. And what we want to understand is that, you know, sometimes this was not, you know, we pastors sometimes, you know, we get our suits on and we're stiff, we're formal, we take off our hats. We do what we have to do to be presentable. But Isaiah was out there embarrassing himself by God's order. In Isaiah 20, The last line there, we see that God tells Isaiah, go around and make it, because that's what's going to happen to Ethiopia and Egypt. And you are going to put on display just how bad it's going to be when my judgment falls on these nations, when the enemy comes. I think Isaiah 20 is only about five verses, but that is just, Tremendously embarrassing and you read Ezekiel and he's doing the same thing, you know laying on the side To symbolize judgment and all the rest eating these bricks that you know, it's nasty So these prophets are obeying God whether it's pleasant or not they're speaking for God But notice chapter one, as we look at our memory verse, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. Now what I want you to understand is that when prophets record the scripture, they are prophesying not their own words. They are prophesying what God has spoken through his Holy Spirit. And so time and again they say, thus saith the Lord. thousands of times in the Old Testament. Thus saith the Lord. And so what we see is that the Holy Spirit makes sure that from cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation 1, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why? So that you and I, the man of God, might be, the word our King James uses is perfect or complete, might be complete, thoroughly furnished, well-equipped to all good works. And so, turning with me to 2 Peter chapter one, quickly as we, I keep on saying quickly, it's starting to burn. 2 Peter 1, we'll read verses 17 through 21. 2 Peter 1, 17 through 21. So here, Peter recounts his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. Verse 17, the Lord, when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made by him, to him, to Jesus, by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was awesome, that was tremendous, that was a life, this was something that Peter remembers for the rest of his life, as does John, as does, so, verse 18 says, we ourselves heard this, made from heaven, when we were with him on that holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word, made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention, pay attention to the Bible, Pay attention to the prophecies. Pay attention to the scriptures. You do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Why would you want to pay attention to a lamp in a dark place? So you don't fall on your nose and trip into sin, into danger. Until the day dawns and Christ returns and the morning star arises in your hearts. Verse 20, but know this first of all, No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. It's not what Pastor Bright says or what you think as you read the Bible. It's what God is saying. It's not a private interpretation. The Bible means one thing. What its authors meant, what the Holy Spirit meant. No private interpretation. For verse 21, no prophecy was ever made by an active human will. It wasn't Moses going, oh, what should I say next? Or Isaiah saying, oh, what's that word again? What happened? No, the Holy Spirit. No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved, the ideas carried along like a boat by the water, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God. This is why we trust the Bible. It's God's word. It will never pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away. that God's Word is established. Now then, quickly, as we move on, point number three is that the prophet spoke by the Spirit of Christ as he revealed, what, the triune God. Even here in Isaiah, we see the triune God. Isaiah spoke of the virgin birth. And notice that as he speaks of this, here is the one, Isaiah 9, 6, who is the Almighty God, the Eternal Father. That's God. But this is also the child who is born. This is someone different than the father. So we can distinguish that even in Isaiah. So the eternal Son of God becomes the Son of Man through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel explains that to Mary in Luke 1. So this Messiah is the child, the Son, who is a wonderful counselor, the Almighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And the government that rests upon his shoulder only increases. No one tries to contain his power or can control that power. And so what we see, Isaiah 11, this will probably be our last scripture. We'll just have to research the rest of it. Isaiah 11, verses 2 through 5, we see the branch from the roots of Jesse, verse 11. The Spirit of the Lord rests on Him. So here we have the Lord, Yahweh, Father, the Spirit of the Lord, the third person in the Trinity, resting on the Messiah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And so what happens to this root, this of Jesse, this stem of Jesse? Verse three, he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what his eyes see nor make decision by what his ears hear. In other words, he has omniscience. He's not just depending on eyes that are blind or eyes that have cataracts. He's judging righteously. Verse four, with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rock of his mouth and the breath of his lips. He will slay the wicked. Also, righteousness will be a belt around his loins, and faithfulness, the belt around his waist. All right, so what we see here, we have the Son, 3.1. We see the Messiah, 3.2, is filled with the Holy Spirit. His righteous reign helps instead of oppresses the poor. The Messiah is a servant of the Lord, sent by the Father to redeem the lost by suffering for our sins. So the Son, is a servant sent by the Father. And so we have these servant songs. And so you see a list of some of those servant songs there in their parentheses, as I said, 42, 49, 52, and 53. All right, notice number four, that the prophets not only speak about Christ's birth and about his person being filled with the Holy Spirit, being God and the Son of Man, But we also see that he spoke of Christ's second coming and his resurrection. In Isaiah 53, at the end of that song of suffering, we do see, in verses 11 and 12, an anticipation of resurrection after the death of Christ. Verse 10, Isaiah 53, 10, the Lord was pleased to crush him, the servant of the Lord, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt-offering, he will see his offspring. So here are those who trust in Christ. He will prolong his days. This is the eternal. And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied, the father satisfied by the servant. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify many. He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, verse 12, here's the resurrection, I will allot him a portion of the bread. He's not the right hand of the Father, is he not? He will divide the booty with the strong. Remember, all the nations will come to him. Because he poured himself to death. Remember, Ephesians speaks of him coming as a triumphal conqueror, quote in the Psalms. He was numbered among transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressions. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." All right? 4.2, he brings salvation through his word. And so, in Isaiah 55, we have God's word magnified. In Isaiah 53, incline your eye, come to me, listen that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercy shown to date. Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander for the peoples. Verse six, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways. And then we see the word It brings refreshment that is higher than the heavens. Verse 11, my word which goes forth from my mouth will not return to me void or empty. And so God's word brings salvation as people respond to the gospel. And so we see those that are despised and rejected in the Old Covenant accepted in the New Covenant. And so we have eunuchs and foreigners 56.3 and 4, coming and accepted, joining themselves to the Lord, Isaiah 56.6. And so the wicked are converted, the thirsty and spiritually hungry. Ho, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. You who have money, come buy and eat. Buy wine and milk without money, without cost, 55.1. Of course, that reminds us of Christ's promise. in Matthew 5. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. All right, so we have salvation extended, not just to the children of Abraham and the flesh, but to all nations. The humble, those who recognize their need for salvation, Isaiah 57, verse 15, will be saved. Thus says the high and exalted one, who lives forever, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy place. How can you get there? Well, also with the contract of the Holy Spirit. The lower you go, the higher God will exalt you. So the Lord revives the spirit of the Lord. He revives the heart of the contrite. You sin, you stumble, you mess up. Repent. God will open a new path. Now notice, Isaiah does mention that sin is dangerous. It is death. And so it doesn't matter if it's national sin or individual sin. So before we get to the little apocalypse of Isaiah 24 through 27, we have God going through the notion. Nations, Moab, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, all these nations, God basically says, you're going down. You were bad, you were wicked, you will be judged. And so he goes through the nations and then After he goes through all these nations, about all these people around Judah and around Israel, he says, and it's not just going to be your local nations, it's going to the entire world. And he goes on to speak about the great tribulation period. And so we see that there, 4.3, the wicked trampled underfoot. Isaiah 24 through 27, the little apocalypse. going through the judgment of nations that we really see amplified in Revelation 6 through 19. But it's not all gloom and doom and judgment. There is the millennium. We were in Isaiah 11 earlier, and this chapter that speaks of the one who is anointed by the Holy Spirit, His reign will be over the earth and will change nature itself. So the lion lays down with the lamb. And so children are able to play with serpents and all kinds of poisonous animals as playthings. We can't do that now. Not if you don't want to be arrested. All right, so in chapter 60 through 62, well, the kid's born. We see that as well, some more of the millennial things. And so in Isaiah 11, we have lions and lambs together. We have nations change. Israel becomes a source of blessing that we find in the Abrahamic covenant. All nations flown in there, her preeminence. There's regathering. And instead of the jealousy of the tribes, Ephraim and all the others being jealous of one another, We have unity and loyalty and love. And so that's in Isaiah 11, verse 13. So the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, Isaiah 11, 9 says. Everyone all around the world hears the good news, and those who bow the knee have this wonderful Eden restored to them. But it doesn't end with the millennium. There is eternity beyond. And so we do see in Isaiah 65 and 66 that there is a promise of the new heavens and new earth. Isaiah 65, 17 says, behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered or come to mind. Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create, for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness. They will rejoice, but God himself rejoices. Verse 19, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. There will be no longer heard in her the voice of weakness and the sound of crying. And so Isaiah 66, 10, be joyful with Jerusalem. Rejoice before her, all you who love her. Be exceedingly glad. with her all you who mourn over her during the days of her destruction. So yes, judgment is coming for the witty. Judgment's coming for the backsliding. But there is a time of restoration, a time of revival, and a time of renewal. Let us set our hopes on those showers of blessings. Father in heaven, I thank you for the promises of God, for the Word of God that is forever settled in heaven. Help us, Father, to study your Word, to know it, to love it, and to live in Jesus' name.