Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to part two of the Book of Isaiah. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, did some travel, see some family, ate some good food, whatever else is included in your Christmas. I hope you had every bit of it. We are going to be continuing our study through the Book of Isaiah. If you remember last, two weeks ago, we didn't meet last week, so it's been two weeks. That's whenever we did part one. And I know that a lot of y'all may have missed part one. We do have the same handout with some extra copies over here. So if you need one, feel free to come grab one. I did just check, and that recording is on sermon audio if you wanna catch up on Isaiah part one. So I'd encourage you to do that, cuz this is really one lesson that we've divided into two sections. So to get the full picture, it's best to listen to both. With that, let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll begin our time. Father, we are thankful for this morning. I'm thankful for your word and the way that you illuminate us and teach us according to it. So I pray this morning that you would help us to behold glorious things in your word this morning as we look at the book of Isaiah and what a wonderful thing it is. We pray these things in the name of Christ, amen. So just to go ahead and dig in, since we do have, I know a lot of y'all were out, I do want to do a little bit of review from where we were two weeks ago. And if you remember on your handout, what we started by doing was really looking at some general tips for interpreting Old Testament prophecy. So if you remember what those things were, and we spent a little more time on this last time, but these are basic rules for interpreting all of the prophets in general, not just the book of Isaiah. Here they are. So number one, discern the immediate context and structure of the book. Discern what kind of oracle is being employed, whether it be judgment, salvation, or something else. Third, study the balance between the historical, and the predictive. So when we talk about the historical, we're talking about forth-telling, that the prophet is forth-telling a word from the Lord, versus a more predictive, which is the prophet foretelling. And a lot of times the prophets are more full of the prophet forth-telling, bringing a word from the Lord about some judgment that he's bringing against them or deliverance, more than it is even necessarily predictive. And sometimes it's both of these things together. So that's the idea that a lot of these prophecies may have multiple fulfillments. Fourth point, determine what kind of language is being used, whether it be a poetic discourse, disputation, some kind of narrative. And then here's an important one, to place the text in the overall place in redemptive history. So be careful not to make the wrong associations between Israel and our nation, for example, or the church. It's a very common mistake. So make sure you're placing what you're looking at in its overall redemptive history. And then another one, which is important for today since we're going to spend the rest of our time on these last two, to be alert to certain recurring and sweeping themes in the book. Especially those which bear on the relationships between the Old and the New Testaments. Last tip for interpretation. Consider how the New Testament authors employed your passage, or at least maybe made reference to the book. And then remember that in the New Testament we have essentially what's an authoritative interpretation of Old Testament text. So the New Testament writers, they teach us how to interpret these Old Testament prophecies. So that's looking at that canonical. So when we think about canonical, we're thinking about the whole canon of scripture. We're thinking of that context whenever we're considering New Testament use of the Old Testament. Okay, so as we turned our attention from those principles two weeks ago, we really identified the following theme for the book. So this is again on the front of your handout. The theme of Isaiah could be put like this. Obviously, you could lay it out a number of different ways, but I thought this was helpful. And it's just from the textbook that we're using to teach this class, and it's this. Israel's rejection of God's kingship and the eschatological promise of his universal kingdom. So when we think about the word eschatological, that's a big theological term. What's that referring to? End times, last things. This pending fulfillment that's coming in the last days. So the rejection of God's kingship and the eschatological promise of His universal kingdom. So in our study of the book of Isaiah, we structured really the rest of the last time, but also all of this time, by looking at some of those principles of interpretation. And the first one we looked at and spent all of the rest of our time last time on was to know the structure. To know the structure. In particular, we looked at the two introductions that Isaiah gives us in chapter one and in chapter two. And we looked at how those two sections, those two introductions, how they really form and inform the rest of the whole book. So that's there in your notes. You can go review that and go listen to the recording if you want more information about that. To summarize what we talked about last time, And this is possibly to risk oversimplification, but the first 39 chapters, broadly speaking, focus on the historical Jerusalem and its failed kings. While chapters 40 through 66, broadly speaking, focus on an eschatological Jerusalem. And another character who, maybe at first glance, doesn't really sound like a king, and we'll look at this a little bit today, doesn't really sound like a king, but indeed really is. For a detailed outline of the book, go ahead and turn to the back of your handout, and you'll see a full outline there. Hopefully, y'all were able to read through the Book of Isaiah over the Christmas season. I made a point to do that, obviously, since I'm teaching it. But just because it is such a rich book to read around the advent time of year, about the first coming of Christ, really rich book. So if you haven't read it, go ahead and make sure you read it. And hopefully, that outline on the back is helpful to you. So again, this morning, we are going to turn to some of these principles of interpretation in order to frame the rest of our study. So principle number two, okay, number one was last time, number two this time, and this is there on the second page of your handout if you're taking notes and following along. Okay, be alert for recurring and sweeping themes. To be alert for recurring and sweeping themes. So reading through the prophets can be difficult. And it can be difficult because sometimes they jump around a lot, and it's hard to really follow the arguments. But I think you'll be amazed that as you read over broad sections of the book like Isaiah, there are certain themes that you can identify that show up again and again. And it's maybe worth notating these themes as you see them just in the margin of your Bible. So I'll give you a handful here, but there's others that you could identify as well. But as you read books like this, especially if you're not reading them all in one setting, it's helpful to make a little table of themes that you start to identify and put some kind of notation in the margin of your Bible every time you come across that theme. That'll help you track some of these things as you read some of these more longer, complicated books. But the first theme is the theme of pride, the theme of pride. And we see this, and here's a few texts to look at. And really it's focusing on Israel's pride, but obviously that can pretty easily be extended to humanity's pride, because we see that with some of the other nations that Israel refers to in the book. But the theme of pride comes up again and again in Isaiah, and the Lord has to continually address it. So here's an example, Isaiah 2.11. It says this, the eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men will be brought low. Isaiah 521 says this, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Okay, there's many, many, many more examples like this in the book of Isaiah. really show that much of Israel's rebellion has to do with pride. We've also connected that to how it looks at how idolatry forms within the heart. We've talked about that as well. Pride is one of these root sins that Isaiah addresses again and again related to the people of Israel and the nations. Okay? And really, all of us sitting here this morning, we know that pride is not something that we are, you know, that we are exempt from. Thank you. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Something that we deal with as well. So the nation of Israel in many ways is nothing more than really an example of humanity. And as we read through Isaiah, and read about their despicable pride and the injustice that it yields. Remember that, you know, really apart from the work of God through Christ in our own lives, that's absolutely us as well in our, you know, affront to the Lord. So pride number one. Number two, trust. Another major theme that we see in the book. especially found in chapter 7 through 39, the theme of trust. So here's a little context. In chapter 7, the northern kingdom of Israel, together with Aram, make war on the southern kingdom of Judah. So if you remember, we've talked about this a lot, that the kingdom of Israel had split to a northern and southern, with the northern kingdom kind of falling into full apostasy sooner than the southern kingdom. But during this time that Isaiah is prophesying, the southern kingdom still has a Davidic king that's over it, and there still is a kind of connection with the Lord. And in this case, you see the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom, together with a pagan nation, King Aram, make war on the southern kingdom of Judah. Now Isaiah tells King Ahaz of Judah not to make any foreign alliances. This is there in chapter 7. And he even promises Ahaz a sign. Do you remember what that sign is? This is interesting to me. What's the sign that Yahweh promised King Ahaz? The virgin will conceive and bear a son, right? That's the promise that's given in this context of what the Lord's commanding King Ahaz not to do. Now Ahaz, out of this show of false piety, pretty much says, no, I will never put the Lord – so the Lord tells him, ask for a sign, and Ahaz says, oh no, I would never ask the Lord for a sign. This kind of show of false humility. And then he proceeds to make alliances with foreign nations, which of course angers the Lord. So you can just see how this future messianic promise is tied in this historical context with Ahaz choosing to make this alliance with these pagan nations as they are being threatened by the Northern Kingdom and also Aram. So very interesting. So the theme is further developed through 31, so obviously the point there is that Ahaz is not trusting in the Lord. Chapter 31, woe to those who go down to Egypt, this is verse 1, who go down to Egypt for help, that's what Judah was tempted to do, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen. But do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the help from the Lord. So the question of trust really reaches its climax when the city of Jerusalem, this is under King Hezekiah, so a few kings later in Judah, is surrounded by the armies of Assyria. And the Assyrian field commander taunts the inhabitants of Jerusalem about their trust in Hezekiah and Israel's God. So this is Isaiah 36, 14 through 20. You can turn there. It's a little longer section I'm going to read. Okay, so verse 14 of 36, the Assyrian army commander shouts, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord. So there it is. Do not let Hezekiah, the king, persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, the Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. And then down to 19. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sherevim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? So you see this Assyrian commander taunting Israel to not put their trust in the Lord. have a choice, trust God or to trust someone else. And gratefully, at this time in history, Hezekiah, maybe to the surprise of us as you've looked at these kings, and the people of Jerusalem in this episode, they actually, unlike Ahaz before them, they do trust in God. And God delivers them miraculously from the Assyrian army. So as you read the chapters of Isaiah, it's an important application point to just reflect on where do we place, where do you place your trust? Third theme, God as the Holy One. So the first two themes we looked at, pride and trust, they really centered on the people. Pride of the people, what the people are trusting in. But this one is really more about God, and really the whole book of Isaiah is more about God than it is about people. First, he's the Holy One. Isaiah calls God the Holy One 39 times in his book. That's a common name that's given to refer to God. And throughout the rest of the Bible, that phrase being attributed to God is only used six times. So you can really see in the book of Isaiah, there's this huge emphasis on God being the Holy One. So why does Isaiah have such a strong sense of God's holiness? Okay, if you remember back in Isaiah chapter six, think about that encounter that Isaiah had whenever he was called into ministry. Okay, you'll remember it's a very famous passage. This is chapter six, verse, I think one and two, one through three. Okay, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. So let's just try to picture this. Isaiah sees this. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood Seraphim, each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he fled. And he called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." Okay, so there's the thrice holy, attribution to the Lord, the whole earth is full of His glory." So to be holy means to be set apart, right? On a whole different plane, especially when we're talking about God. Is there anything that is like God in its holiness? He's in a category, He's in a class of His own. This is that creator-creature distinction that we talk about so often. He's on a whole different plane. And what is the culmination of God's holiness? Okay, look at the second half of verse three. It's that it would be known and understood and displayed to everybody, the whole earth being full of His glory. So God's driving purpose, in that His greatness might be made known and enjoyed by His creatures. That's the driving purpose of God, that He would be known and display His gloriousness to the creatures that He has made. And that's really why he does everything, right, including even saving sinners. Chapter 48, this is another verse that highlights this point. This is verse 9 and 11. It says this, chapter 48, 9 and 11. For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you. For my name's sake I defer my anger, and for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you. For my own sake, for my own sake I do it. For how should my name be profaned, and here's the key idea, my glory I will not give to another. Okay, so we talk about God being jealous for his glory, okay, because he is the most infinitely glorious being to be found. So for him to be interested in the glory of another would be for God to create what? Idolatry, which of course God cannot do. So we learn that God is the Holy One and therefore he's committed to his own glory. Number four, God as the sole and incomparable ruler of creation and history. God is the sole and incomparable ruler of creation in history. So we also learn that He's the sole and incomparable ruler of creation in history, and this theme becomes particularly prominent beginning in chapter 40, and is highlighted really through the following eight chapters. Here's a few verses, Isaiah 40, 25. And it's just interesting to think about this. There's so much that you can just drive home, especially if you're by yourself without kids talking to you in the back, and just think, to whom, then, will you compare the Lord? Try it, okay? What will you compare Him to? This is Isaiah 40, 25. "'To whom, then, will you compare Me, that I should be like Him?' says the Holy One." Okay, the point that God's making there is that he's not to be compared with anybody. There's no one like him, right? 45, five and six, I am the Lord and there is none other. Beside me there is no God. I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun from the west that there is none beside me. The absolute independence of God is on display in the book of Isaiah, and that he is the only one who rules creation, but also, as we see in the book of Isaiah, as he fulfills his word, also rules history. Isaiah 42, I'm sorry, 45, 21 through 22 says this, who told this long ago? Who declared of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none beside me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none other." Okay, so there you see the Lord referring to his word from of old, that he declared it of of old. Okay, just highlighting once again that he is the ruler of history. Number five, God is the sole Redeemer. If you look at, go ahead and turn to 54 and there's a few verses we'll look at there. So notice in this last passage how God is being the only ruler of creation. How God being the only ruler of creation means that He alone can save. That's another prominent theme in Isaiah, that he's the sole redeemer. Not only does he govern creation and history, but he's the sole redeemer of creation. Isaiah 54.5 Your Maker is your Husband, the Lord of Hosts is His Name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He has called. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. It's just a remarkable thing to think about, that even in the Old Testament, before we have the full revelation of the Messiah, of the Redeemer incarnate in human flesh, there's this idea of God being the Redeemer of Israel. We see that, but we know that it's going to be revealed with more clarity, maybe, at the Incarnation. Isaiah 54, 8, So God refers to Himself repeatedly as the Holy One and the Redeemer of His people. Another theme that we see is this idea of remnant. It shows up quite a bit in the book of Isaiah. And if you think about God being the sole Redeemer, well then maybe the next question would be, well, who does He save, right? Does He save everybody? And the answer is no. He doesn't save everyone. And through the course of Isaiah, it becomes clear that He means to save a remnant. Isaiah 10, if you turn back there, 20 through 21, says this. In that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Judah will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. In truth, a remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God." Okay, so you see this promise and this reference made to a remnant that will be delivered, that will be saved. Also, you can look at Isaiah 28 5. We won't go there right now, but that's another verse you can look at. And there's others in your notes too. Spend a little more time on that if you want to. But what's interesting about Isaiah, and this becomes clear in chapters 56 through 59, that even the remnant that, you know, we kind of get this idea, and there's elements of truth to this, I mean, obviously they are trusting in the promises that God made, but they still have, they're still sin, they're still in sin. They're still in some sense in a measure of rebellion to the Lord. And they're not entirely holy before God. And in fact, really, if you read the book of Isaiah, you start to see that the true remnant really appears to be a remnant of one. Okay, really a remnant of one. In Isaiah's call, Isaiah is told that God will bring destruction until everything is laid waste. Everything, that is, except a holy seed. That's Isaiah 6.13. So who is the holy seed? Chapter 11 provides the answer for us in that. So you see this picture of everything being laid waste except a remnant, which in Isaiah's, in that text, he's defining it as a holy seed. And then in chapter 11, verses one and two, it says this, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his root, and he shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Okay, so as you're hearing these things, and as you're familiar with your whole Bible, these things should be, of course, causing you to want to say, this is Jesus, this is Jesus, and it is Jesus, right? So, come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. So you have the picture of a stump, a tree that's been cut down, And yet from this stump comes a shoot, a righteous shoot. And this is what Isaiah talks about when he's talking about this holy seed. So who is it upon the spirit will rest? We know from the first half of Isaiah, particularly chapters 9 and 11, that it's a messianic, a future messianic, kingly figure. And in the second half of the Isaiah, we discover a little bit more about who this figure is. And that brings us to our seventh theme, the servant. Okay, the servant. So God's spirit, and we're thinking about God's spirit, on whom the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Okay, so who is this one that the spirit will rest upon? It's a servant. God's spirit will specifically rest on one who is a servant. And we learn about this servant in four different songs. We can call them the servant songs in Isaiah. Okay, the first one's in Isaiah 42, verse one. Isaiah 42, verse one, it says this. So this is the first of those four songs. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon Him, and He will bring forth justice to the nations." The second song, Isaiah 49. Someone turn there, I'm going to have someone read 49, 1-3. The whole song is 1-6, that's the relevant part, but we'll just read 1-3, so whoever gets there first can just go ahead and read it. Very good, okay. Good, so you see this calling of the servant, okay, there in those verses. Another song is Isaiah 54 through 9. I'll let you read that. on your own, I think that's there in your notes as well. But the last one is good too. This is Isaiah 52, 13 through 53, 12. That's the whole section, I'm just gonna read the first few verses. And these are all very familiar texts, but we're trying to put them in this context of what Isaiah's doing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so Isaiah 52, 13. Behold my servant, again referring to this servant, one in whom the Spirit will rest, He shall act wisely, and he shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and from beyond that of the children of mankind, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. Okay, so the bottom line, we really get this picture that this servant, yes, will be one on whom the Spirit resides, but he is also one who will suffer. If you read those servant songs, that's a very big theme in those songs, is that this servant will be one who suffers. He's a suffering servant. One might even go as far as to call him a man of sorrows. It's kind of a joke, but not really. Another theme, the conqueror, okay, so he's a servant, but you also see this idea, this theme of conqueror, a conqueror. So remarkably, a few short chapters after Isaiah 53, we learn that God's spirit is going to rest not just on one of the suffering servant, but on one who is a conqueror. Now, could this be the same individual? If you're reading Isaiah, maybe without the full context of what's to come, you can see how it'd be very easy to imagine these are two separate entities, or two separate people. You have a suffering servant on the one hand, and you have one who's going to come and conquer on the other. And there's actually four conqueror songs in the book of Isaiah. So you have the servant songs, and now we have the conqueror songs. So first conqueror song, Isaiah 59, 15 through 21. Go ahead and turn there and I'll read the first part of it. Isaiah 59, 15. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. 61.1-4 is the second song. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. The third Conqueror song is 61.10-62.7. The Conqueror comes as a bridegroom to take his bride away to rescue her. That's what we see in that song. In the fourth Conqueror song, which is 63, 1 through 6, we have a horrible image of judgment. So when this Conqueror comes, he's going to come as a judge. So a few more themes, and then we'll consider the New Testament's use of these things. New Jerusalem, also the Bride. These are linked images. So with this servant conqueror in place, the final chapter of Isaiah is going to focus especially on the New Jerusalem as the New Bride. which is also representative, as Isaiah says, in a few places of the new heavens and the new earth. So this is that eschatological inbreaking of the last days. Isaiah 62, three through five says this, you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord. and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed forsaken." So he's speaking about Judah and Israel here, okay? That they will be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of their God. You shall no more be termed forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed desolate. for the Lord delights in you. As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." So I've strung a few of those verses together in that reading, but you get the idea. What we have here is really a glorious vision And think back to the fact that we're talking about the Holy One who's saying this, the soul and incomparable ruler of creation and redemption. And He says this to His people. I delight in you. I rejoice over you. Now in Christ, we know that He says this about us as well. Isaiah says that all true Christians are the crown and splendor in His hand. And it's obviously not because of anything that we've done, nor is it anything necessarily intrinsically good about ourselves, anything particularly lovely within us, good looks, intelligence, career success, keeping our nose clean, etc. We have to go back to the Servant Song of Chapter 53 to understand how God could say these things and see about one who suffered, who made atonement, right, for the sins of the people. that He can say these things of us, okay, that you are His delight, He rejoices over us. This is all done through Jesus, obviously. Principle three, so this is the new section, okay, this is our last interpretive principle we looked at, and that's to consider the New Testament's authoritative interpretation, okay, and we can call this the canonical context. So we have a closed canon scripture, Old Testament New, and when we think about the canonical context, we're really looking at the whole thing as we're looking at these things. So we need to read all of Isaiah in light of the New Testament. That's the third principle for reading Isaiah. Read it all in light of the New Testament's authoritative interpretation. I've mentioned the fact that the Old Testament prophecy often yields several horizons of fulfillment, and sure enough, the New Testament literally reverberates with the sounds of Isaiah. Okay, it's quoted, maybe the only book that's quoted more in the New Testament is the book of Psalms. It's quoted a lot, okay? And it says that all these great and glorious promises that we see in Isaiah, that they're fulfilled in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. So let's look at these the way that the New Testament makes reference to the book of Isaiah. Number one, Jesus is the promised Messiah. So if you remember, we made a big deal about God as the sole Redeemer. That it's God who's the Redeemer. In the New Testament, we see that Jesus is the promised Messiah. So looking back to the Messiah promised in Isaiah 9 and 11, Paul says, and this is quoting Paul who's quoting Isaiah, and again, Isaiah says, this is Romans 15, 12, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. Okay, so Paul quotes Isaiah, and who does he apply this to? He applies it to Jesus. So Jesus is the promised Messiah. Second one, this one's interesting to me. Jesus is the Holy One. Think about just, I mean you can understand how scandalous this is that you have a living, breathing, eating, walking man who has flesh and bones that you can touch and handle. And you can see why this would be so offensive. that you are calling this man the Holy One. After all the emphasis we put on God being holy and in a category of His own, to apply that to a man, unless it's true, would truly be a kind of blasphemy that the Old Testament would say is punishable by death, right? So Jesus is the Holy One. So referring to chapter six of Isaiah, okay, we read that section a few minutes ago. John, in John 12, 37 through 34, makes this really interesting statement. So you can turn there if you want. John 12, 37 through 41. I think this is verse 41 that I'm about to read. The whole context is interesting. John says this, Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him. Whose glory did Isaiah see? I mean, if you read that verse and look in the context, John says, Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him. Okay? So do you catch that? Who's the holy God that Isaiah saw on the throne, high and lifted up, in the train of his robe, filling the temple? Well, according to John, what Isaiah caught a glimpse of was Jesus Christ in that heavenly vision. and then he wrote about him, right? So Jesus is the Holy One. Number three, Jesus is the promised Redeemer. There's so much more that can be said about that. I feel like I just completely, I wanna say more, but I'm not going to, because we're running out of time. But man, Jesus is the Holy One. What a remarkable thing to ponder. This is where the dual nature of Christ is so important, that He is truly God and also truly man, such that we can ascribe to this man, okay, divinity, and Him be truly the Holy One. That's how that's gonna have to work. Number three, Jesus is the promised Redeemer. All four Gospels quote from the opening words of Isaiah 40 to say that Jesus is God who has come to give salvific comfort to his people. In Luke 3, John the Baptist, who has come to prepare the people for Jesus, explains his role by quoting Isaiah, a voice of one calling in the desert. prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him, and all mankind will see God's salvation." So Jesus is the promised Redeemer. Okay, again, in our last section we really showed that God is the sole Redeemer, right? And here we see the New Testament essentially saying that Jesus is the promised Redeemer. Number four, Jesus as suffering servant. Jesus as suffering servant. The New Testament authors knew that Jesus was the suffering servant. Okay, to explain Jesus's ministry, Matthew writes this. This is in Matthew 12, 17 through 18. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. So Matthew quoting one of these servant songs and essentially saying, here is the servant that we have been expecting, looking for, waiting for, the one on whom the spirit will rest and the one on whom will suffer. Now, I made that comment about if you read Isaiah, it may be hard to discern if the suffering servant and the conqueror are one and the same person. You can maybe see that there's maybe two individuals coming. Well, just to put that to rest, we see also that Jesus is the conqueror. We see him portrayed like that in the New Testament, so that we don't have two individuals that Isaiah is foreseeing, but rather one individual who is both. Okay, the New Testament also shows that Jesus is the conqueror. So in the first conqueror song that we read, it promised that this one will repay each one according to what he has done. Okay, that's Isaiah 59, 18. And so, who is it that says in Revelation 22, verse 12, behold, I am coming soon, my reward is with me. And what does it say next? And I will give to everyone according to what he has done. And this is obviously Jesus, who is the one who is coming soon. His reward is with him. So we could go on and on. The New Testament is really full of examples showing that Isaiah is really revealing Jesus, okay? And then the New Testament authors, they pick up on that and they interpret Christ, right, by the way that he was portrayed in the book of Isaiah in many cases. Any questions? I talked a whole lot without giving y'all any time to stop and ask questions. So if you have anything you wanna share or comments you wanna make, now would be a really good time. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, yeah. Who is worthy to open the seal, right? Yep, that's right. That's exactly right. Other thoughts? Well, I've said that we really need the New Testament's interpretation of Isaiah, but I think you could also say it's true also in the opposite direction. Hopefully you've seen that as we've looked at the book of Isaiah. To understand the New Testament, to understand who Jesus is, we really need also the Old Testament. And we really need the prophecies of Isaiah in particular. What does it mean that Jesus is holy? That He's the Redeemer, that He's the Conqueror, that He's the Servant? What is sin? Who is God? What's He like? Is He really in control? All of these things we saw laid out for us in the book of Isaiah. And they really give us kind of a, maybe you want to call it a pre-interpretation. It gives meaning and significance to the words that are used in the New Testament. So if you want to understand and know and love Jesus, the encouragement to you is to make sure that you're reading the book of Isaiah. Read, study, learn it, and see how it reveals and what it reveals about, of course, God, but about the one that he sends to make redemption for his people. So hopefully you've gotten a taste of that as we've looked at the book of Isaiah over the past few weeks, and hopefully that's been an encouragement to you. I'm going to have Jake, would you pray for us and close us out?