Go ahead and open your Bibles to Jeremiah. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I know we didn't finish Isaiah last week. I know. I know. I know. Fail. It's okay. That just means more time for the next couple of sections of the prophet Isaiah. But before we get into that, just a couple of things, um, by way of, of recap, we're looking at the this is an introduction also to the prophetic books and Isaiah is writing give or take between one and two hundred years for the Babylonian exile and he's really foreshadowing a lot of the problems that the people of Israel and the people of Judah are facing and the reason for which they are going to wind up in exile. We spent a lot of time in the first two chapters of the book last week, and I would just ask, does anybody remember really what's going on in the first two chapters? The Lord is issuing a, well, do you guys remember the term that we used? He's issuing a specific type of decree. It is a, Covenant lawsuit that's very good, so he's laying the case he's laying the foundation for for the charges He's bringing against his people and what ultimately are the charges that he's bringing against them You might even just take a look at chapter 1, verses 2 and 3 and see if you can pick up on some, just looking at the verses, you don't necessarily have to have your notes from last week. Chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, what do you see that the Lord is saying about the people of Israel and Judah? James. They don't know him. They don't know him at all. He says, the ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know, and my people do not understand. They are receiving the benefit of being God's people, and yet they are ungracious. They don't reconcile the fact that they have all this blessing with the fact that it comes from God. They have been an adulterous people. And so the Lord is really in these opening chapters, and really we took a big chunk chapter one through chapter 35 is laying the foundation of the problem and the punishment that will come as a result of that problem. And the problem is they are not trusting the Lord. And that's really the question that Isaiah lays before us. Will you trust the Lord or will you trust the world? And that's a question we all will have to answer at some point in our lives. And we see really this section of the book has two strong examples, one a strong negative example in that of King Ahaz, not to be confused with King Ahab, who actually, this is bad. Those of you that were at the 830 service, who was the king? Yeah, no, who's the king? Ahab. Ahab, right. Not to be confused with Ahaz. All right. Anyway, that's, yeah, there you go. King of Judah. He is the negative example of how not to respond to that challenge. Will you trust the Lord or will you trust the world? But before we get to him, last week I referenced Isaiah chapter six. It's one of those chapters that you just should know. Question? The pit thing where they had to do the bowl with the false prophets and then Isaiah, was that Ahaz? No, that was Ahab. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a issue with the Northern tribes. Uh, anyway. Uh, so let's look at Jeremiah six cause I referenced that last week. This is the call, excuse me, look at Isaiah six. Let's look at Isaiah six. This is the call of Isaiah. Uh, and it just, this is one of those passages that, that we ought to be familiar with. And this is the call of Isaiah, and we'll look at this briefly, and then we'll get into really the meat of the lesson. But I think this will be helpful for us. Isaiah chapter six, beginning in verse one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called. And the house was filled with smoke, and I said, woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for. This passage is obviously very significant for the book because this is the commissioning of Isaiah to be a prophet amongst God's people in Israel and in Judah, and you see that really in the rest. But the reason I wanted to draw our attention to it is this is ultimately what will help us to be those who would trust in the Lord. The pattern that's laid for us in this text, and you may not have caught it, but this pattern is actually rehearsed by you every Sunday morning, this exact flow. It begins with a coming together to worship the Lord. It begins with being called into his house and Isaiah is brought into the temple of the Lord and he hears the songs of holy, holy, holy. glorifying God, worshiping Him, declaring that the whole earth is full of His glory. This is what we sing in substance, though not these words, when we sing the Gloria Patri. This is what we're saying, that the Lord would be glorified, that His name would be held up all over the earth. And when we catch this vision, when we catch this sight of the Lord, When he comes to us and we see the holiness specifically in the reading of his law and the explanation of this law, and how holy and righteous and just is he, what is our response? I am undone. I have not done this. I have not kept this. I am not like this righteous, holy God. And that's exactly what Isaiah says. Woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And how does he know that's true? For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. The Lord has come to him in his holiness, and that has revealed to Isaiah his own personal unholiness. And so he confesses his sins. And then what happens? A messenger, an angel in this case, but a messenger nonetheless, is sent from the holy place, from the altar, And he touches Isaiah and he says, this from the altar has cleansed you, has atoned for your sins. That's the assurance of pardon that we read in the liturgical part of the service. The assurance that our sins, though they be many, have been atoned for, have been put away from us. Our guilt is taken away, the messenger says. This is woven into the fabric of our worship for good reason. It's the gospel. And it's our being reared in that that will help us to answer the challenge rightly again. Will you trust the ways of the world or will you trust the Lord? So with all that said, let's pick up kind of where we left off last week in chapter seven of Isaiah with King Ahaz. Would somebody please read chapter seven versus, actually there's some tricky names in here. I'll read this part. We'll give y'all some other texts to read. In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezan, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount the attack against it. When the house of David was told, Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. So he's being told that the nation of Assyria, is coming to invade, and they've got Samaria with them, they're in league with other enemies of God's people, and they're coming, and understandably, God's people, knowing that there's this military invasion coming their way, are scared. This is not an unreasonable response. But what do they do? And the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shir Jashub, your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field, and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint. Because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezan, Syria and the son of Ramaliah because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah has devised evil against you saying let us go up against Judah and terrify it let us conquer it for ourselves and and set up the son of Tabiel as king in the midst of it. Thus says the Lord God, it shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezan, and within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people, and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Ramaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. So Isaiah is sent with a message from the Lord, I know this big army's coming. And I know they vowed to overthrow you and your people. Do not be afraid, for the Lord will fight for you. Trust in the Lord. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. That's the setting. And so, Isaiah is now going to say, ask a sign of the Lord to be assured of this. because the Lord knows that our faith often stumbles, it's often weak, it's often faltering, and so he offers a sign to be confident of this very thing. Again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord your God. Let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men? Must you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. What's going on here is Ahaz is being told, trust the Lord, and to verify, to confirm that trust, I'm gonna give you a sign. And Ahaz effectively says, I don't want to. And he's going to go out and he's going to make military partnerships that will ultimately lead to the destruction of the people of Judah, just not at the hands of Assyria. Because the Lord has said that won't happen. And in his refusal to trust the Lord and preferring rather to trust military alliances and worldly wisdom, he's going to wind up bringing destruction on his people just at a coming day, far off. And what's powerful, though, is the Lord says even in the midst of that, well, I'm going to give you a sign anyway. I'm going to give you the ultimate sign that my people will be kept safe, that my people will persevere, that my people will endure, that they will not come into the judgment, and it's the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, which of course we read this text all the time at Christmastime. This is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus. And we spent some time last week dealing with a brief apologetic issue to do with this text. A lot of people will argue, secular skeptics, things like that, that the Hebrew here for the virgin shall conceive and bear a child. But that Hebrew word does not necessarily mean virgin. It could just mean young woman. And so some translations, such as the New Revised Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version, both will translate it that way. Does anybody remember this? Did we talk about this last week? OK. Now, on the one hand, that is a factually true statement. The word could just mean young woman. It's a legitimate translation of that Hebrew word. What's our response to that? There's two answers to that question. Or two responses to that. Dusty. Well, was it Paul or Peter when they, it was someone that quoted it in the New Testament and they used a word that couldn't mean anything else. Right. Matthew actually. And also, and also when Matthew quotes it, he's quoting the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which was done by people who like, Hebrew was their native tongue, and they understood what was meant. So that's one strong answer. If we're going to believe the authority of the Bible, when the New Testament cites this text, it cites it with a word that could not mean anything else. Okay? That's good. What else? Josiah? It's like a supernatural occurrence. It only makes sense for it to be a mean version. Right. Can you flesh out what you mean by that, or somebody else? I get what you're saying, but... So the Lord saying I'm going to give you a supernatural sign that you will be secured and protected. And that sign is a young woman's going to have a child. doesn't fit the context, not a supernatural work. However, a virgin will have a child, that is a supernatural work. So we know both from how it's translated in the New Testament and from the fact that it just wouldn't fit the context. That's not a miraculous sign to grow trust. Now, with that said, this is a negative example of how not to trust the Lord. how to refuse the sign and ultimately receive penalty for it. And what a sobering warning that is. But also, note the grace of God in that he gives the sign anyway. So let's look ahead now to chapter 36. Jumping way ahead, this is a new king, Hezekiah, and he's going to model for us the appropriate response to the challenge, who will you trust? We said in the outline I gave last week that Hezekiah is going to personify both the problem and actually the appropriate response. So chapter 36 to 39, were facing an invasion from Assyria again. They were dead set on conquering God's people, and so they come again. And we basically see the positive example here, and the hope that God's people ought to follow. Assyria has already conquered, at this point, the northern tribes, and now, in chapter 36, they are coming for Judah. Would somebody please read 36, one to three? Yep, go for it. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field. And there came out to him Elikim, the son of Hilika, who is over the household, and Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the reporter. Thank you very much, Ms. Duncan. So we see here, they've made short work of the northern tribes, and now they're coming for Judah. And they send a messenger, this Rav Shaka, and he brings this condemnation to them. And the Rav Shaka, which is just a military official, said to them, say to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, on what do you rest this trust of yours? See, that's the question. On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. See, the people of Judah previously had made alliances with Egypt way back with Ahaz, and now there's still an allegiance with them, and the Rapshach is saying, I'll crush Egypt too, I don't care. I'm coming for you. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar? Come now, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. And so this is a pretty epic threat that he's laying on them here. He's saying, you don't even have a standing, Egypt hasn't even been able to supply you with a standing army. You don't have enough people to, I will give you the horses to fight against us, except you don't have men to ride on them. You don't have any resources. And then he says, and if you're gonna say you're trusting in the Lord, you've already been so unfaithful to him, do you really think he's gonna come through for you? Do you really think that's going to work? Now what's interesting is Hezekiah, excuse me, Hezekiah is accused of removing the altars that people would worship at and telling them to only come to one as if that's a bad thing. He's actually been tearing down false altars and false places of worship and telling them to come to the temple. It's actually pleasing to the Lord. He doesn't understand that. But the point is, the people, the perception is you're removing our places of worship, so how can we trust in the Lord? And then he even throws in, and this is a lie, that the Lord had said to him to go up against this land and destroy it. So you see the dilemma of the book. He's trying to remove all reasons to trust in the Lord's deliverance and say, rather just go ahead and surrender to Assyria. Just go ahead and join up with us. And Hezekiah will ultimately do the right thing. He ultimately serves as a very good example of entrusting his circumstances to the Lord. There's a lot more that you can read about what the Rabshakeh said, but what we've covered there gives us the gist. Would somebody please read Isaiah 37, 14 to 20. Go ahead. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations in their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord. What's the gist of that prayer? What's he getting at? There's a couple of things. First of all, He lays before the Lord the need that he has to be heard. He says, here, open your eyes and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib. These are the things we're concerned about. And this is why we're afraid of this guy, because he has made waste of everyone he's come up against. But the reason that he has successfully destroyed all the other nations he's come up against is because their gods are not the real God. You, oh Lord, are. Therefore, for the sake of the glory of your name, preserve your people. We don't deserve it. I know and I understand that the history of what we've done And he's thinking back on Isaiah chapters one and two, maybe not those actual words, but conceptually what's there. I know that we have been unfaithful and yet for the sake of the glory of your name, that the earth may know that you alone are the Lord. Deliver us, spare us, save us. That is a powerful way to pray. And it's a decision that we will face every single day. Will we trust in the Lord to fulfill his purposes and his promises? Or will we look for another way? What we are to do is do what Hezekiah has done. He seeks a word from the Lord, from Isaiah the prophet. Then he goes to the scriptures, or excuse me, He seeks a word from the Lord's prophet. We, likewise, are to go to the scriptures. We do not have present-day prophets like Isaiah, perhaps with the help of a pastor or a parent or an elder, and we see what his word says, and then we lay it before him in prayer. The Lord has promised that he will preserve and protect his people, and we claim that promise. We lay it before him in prayer, asking for his strength, his peace, and the comfort that only he can provide. Now, while Hezekiah provides a very Good example of what we're to do in this passage. He ultimately does not end well. Let's just flip over to Hezekiah's, his end in chapter 39. At that time, Merodach, Baladon, the son of Baladon, the king of Babylon, Babylon a good place or a bad place? Bad place. And he sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house, in all his realm, that Hezekiah did not show them. Why is that a dumb thing to do, Mr. Johnson? Because he sent him a present and a nice card. Don't be foolish. He's did one nice thing and now I'm going to expose my entire inventory to you. Exactly right. There was nothing in his house in his room that he did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say, and from where did they come to you? Hezekiah said, They have come to me from a far country, Babylon. He said, What have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought, there will be peace and security in my days." He's content. He's trusting in the fact that judgment's way away. And of course, we know this does come to pass because we've been going through the prophet Jeremiah for the last couple of years, exactly as Isaiah predicted it would. And yet, The rest of the book, chapters 40-66, despite the problem, despite Israel's refusal repeatedly to trust in the Lord, even after He delivers them. He delivered Hezekiah, and then Hezekiah just blew the whole thing. The last 26 chapters of the book, With some other things mixed in, the predominant theme is the promise of peace. What will those who trust in the Lord find? Isaiah 40, beginning in verse one. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. This is immediately on the heels of the prophecy of the coming destruction. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquities pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. That is to say, that those who are trusting in the Lord. He has more than enough grace to cover all of their sins. And a voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert the highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. God's promise is that despite the constant mess that we make of things and trusting other things, He will make it right. And there's this, Isaiah 40 verse three is often quoted in the New Testament of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord's earthly ministry. And that's, of course, right and appropriate, because if the New Testament does it, it's right and appropriate. But we still await the full and final restoration of all things at the return of Christ. And that's really, what gets unfolded here is all of the things that the Lord will do. And really, we'll just end at the heartbeat of this prophetic section, the dead center of this book of hope and comfort is the security that we have of that in the Lord Christ. Let's go ahead and I'll read for us. Actually, I'll have you guys read for us, because my voice is about to go. 52. Now remember, we've talked about when we did Hebrew poetry, that we tend to think that something builds to a climax, and you hit the climax at the end. But generally, in Hebrew poetry, it builds up to a climactic point, and then it goes back down. And so generally, what you find in the center is the main point that's being made. So in the center of this book of Hope, chapters 40 to 66, we have chapter 52 and 53, which is the clearest prophecy of the Lord Christ in the entirety of the Old Testament. So if I could get somebody to please begin in 52.13. We'll do 52.13 to 53.3. And then somebody else, 53.4 to 9. And somebody else 10 to 12. So 52, yeah, 52, 13 to 53, 3. The next section, 53, 4 to 9. And then Mr. Johnson, if you could take us home with 10 to 12. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance. and is formed beyond that of the children of mankind, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed that he is heard from us, and to whom has the honor of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of the dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we seemed to not. Thank you, Francis. Before Ponder starts, let me just say a couple of other things here. So again, this, this prophecy that really is going to run through what the rest of these guys are going to read and starts with what Francis read, um, is so plainly, obviously about Jesus. that for a long time, the theory amongst critical scholars was that it was inserted into the text of Isaiah by Christians in like the, you know, second or third century AD, like so a couple hundred years after Christ that this was inserted in there. Until then we found a bunch of scrolls that date from about, I don't know, 600 years before Christ's ministry that all have this passage in them. This is also such a clearly prophetic text about the Messiah, about the Lord Christ, that modern Jews who read the Old Testament in the original Hebrew in their worship services every Saturday, when they read the prophet Isaiah, they skip this. They have a reason, they don't say it's because we're afraid it's about Jesus and people getting converted. Of course they don't say that. But it's kind of hard not to think that that's really what's going on there. And it's a promise that through this coming servant, the nations will be brought into the people of God. Many nations will be brought into the kingdom of God, and I can't help but to notice, Francis, what was the method or the mode there that they're gonna be brought in by in verse 15? Wow all right anyway um wonder if you could if you could move on with the next the next set of verses there But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. All right. Before Mr. Johnson takes us home, there are a couple of things just to note from that. He was crushed for our inequities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. One of the doctrines that Calvinists get attacked the most for believing is limited atonement. That Jesus died for only his people. He was not crushed for iniquities in general. He was not crushed for just any sins. The prophet Isaiah says it was for ours. And it brought us peace. Now yes, that ours, that us, is all who would believe. but it is not wasted in a generic sense. That is limited atonement. And then the other thing to see here is substitutionary atonement. In verse six, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was punished on our behalf for the things that we ought to have been punished for. This is very, very straight up what the, The Reformed faith teaches penal substitutionary atonement. Alright, Mr. Johnson, go ahead. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to duty when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession with the transgressors. Right. So what Ponder read said that he was going to die. Verse nine, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man and his death. But what Nate just read is, and yet, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. What's that? The resurrection, prophesied right here, hundreds of years before it would actually happen. And then also we see the ascension in here. Therefore, I will divide with him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. That's Christ ascending into heaven, receiving the gifts from the Father that were promised to him, and then pouring them out on his church. It's so vibrant and it's so clear. This is the solution to the problem and this is why we can trust him. And then I would just commend to y'all's reading cause we're running out of time again. Uh, and we're, we're not going to come back to this next week. So we have to keep going. The rest of the book, 54 to 66 are just the clearest pictures and descriptions of heaven and of the new heavens and the new earth that we have in the entirety of the Bible. that it is an eternal, everlasting peace. And I'll just read from the last chapter real quick before I dismiss this. Thus says the Lord, this is Isaiah 66, 12. Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream. And you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you. You shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice. Your bones shall flourish like grass, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. The Lord is basically promising that for the rest of your life, until the new heavens, the new earth, you will know his hand in your life. and you can trust him and be just as assured of his care and provision for you as a newborn child is the care and provision of their mother. And I'm here to tell you that that promise has borne absolutely true in my life, and should you trust the Lord, it will prove true in yours as well. Let's pray. God in heaven, we thank you for the prophet Isaiah and the truly marvelous things that are revealed in his book. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be those who would trust you all of our days, and so know your love, care, and provision for us. In Christ's name we pray, amen.