Let us turn again to God's word. A text this morning was found
in that 55th chapter that we read, the 55th chapter in Isaiah's
prophecy and verses 4 and 5. Behold I have given him for a
witness to the people a leader and commander to the people.
Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew thee not shall run unto thee, because of the Lord
thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. In Isaiah chapter 55 and verses
4 and 5 and what we read here of course historically concerns
the calling of the Gentiles And you will observe how that each
of these verses commences with that little word, Behold, behold,
I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee, shall run
unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the holy one
of Israel for he hath glorified thee. It is a truth then that
we do well to observe and to take account of both the one
who calls and those who are the called. The calling of the Gentiles
is a theme that we see much in this book of Isaiah. Interestingly
after that great 53rd chapter in which we read of the Lord's
suffering servants, a remarkable portion of Old Testament scripture
that speaks so graphically of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. And immediately after those things,
at the beginning of chapter 54, we see God's purpose in the calling
of the Gentile single barren, thou that didst not dare break
forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with
child, for more are the children of the desolate than the children
of the married wife, saith the Lord. The married wife of course
being Israel and the desolate being the Gentile nations. Enlarge
the place of thy tents, let them stretch forth, the curtains of
thy habitation lengthen thy courts and strengthen thy stakes. The
imagery has to do with what we would still see today with those
Bedouin tribes who live in tents or tabernacles and as the family
grows there must be the extending of the dwelling place. And then
in verse 3 they shall break forth on the right hand and on the
left and thy seed shall inherit the Gentile and make the desolate
cities to be inhabited. The calling then of the Gentiles,
as Christ is to see of the travail of his soul and he will, we are
told, be satisfied. These are remarkable chapters
in it. We observe a number of things
concerning God's great purpose of salvation for those Gentiles,
who were so very far off, we have here the promise of God,
do we not? What a remarkable promise it
is in verse 5 of chapter 54, thy maker is thine husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. Oh, this God the only living
and true God, the God of Israel, the God now of the whole earth. What a promise! How it speaks
of that real union, that intimate union, thy maker is thy husband. And then we have that word redeemer,
thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And it is that great
word that we find in the book of Job, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. It's the go-out. It's the kinsman,
Redeemer. It's that one who is the close
relation. It's that that we see so clearly,
of course, in that lovely little book of Ruth. It's a go-out. The kinsman who comes to redeem. or the intimacy of that union
then, that is between Christ and his people, even those of
the Gentiles, who were so very far off, desolate, dwelling at
the ends of the earth, not knowing the God of Israel, thy maker
is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he
be for here is the promise and then it goes on in chapter 54
to speak of the teaching of God and God is the one who will so
teach his children there in verse 13 of chapter 54 all thy children
it says shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace
of thy children. These are the very words that
were taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in John chapter
6. Remember the words of Christ
there in verses 44 and 45. No man can come to me, he says,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophet
They shall be all taught of God. This is the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ as in mine. It is written in the prophets.
They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that have
heard and have learned of the Father cometh unto learn. Or none teach like him. May the
Lord teach him. Those sinners of the Gentiles. And teaches them the truth of
his word. and brings them then to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it goes on, we have the
promise, we have the teaching of God, and then, when we come
into chapter 55, the invitation. That precious word, the gracious
invitation at the beginning of this chapter, O everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the water, and neither doth no money come
ye by, and each day come by wine and milk without money and without
price. Now God has made provision and
he invites the sinner to come, the sinner who spends his money
after vain futile pursuits. Recently we've been reading through
that book of Ecclesiastes and how Solomon was brought to recognise
all the vanities of the things of this world, only vexation
of spirit. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which
satisfieth none? Hearken diligently unto me, eat
ye that which is good, and your soul shall delight itself in
fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me, here and your soul shall be the gracious invitation then
of the gospel all of these things flowing of course from what we
have recorded in chapter 53 all as the result, all as the consequent,
the fruit of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ we have
the promise of God we have the teaching of God we have the invitation
of God and then we have the call, our God is pleased to call the
sinner unto himself what does he say? verse 6 seek ye the Lord
while ye may be found call ye upon him while he is near if
the wicked forsake his word and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For all that the Father
giveth me, says Christ, shall come to me. And he that cometh
to me I shall in no wise cast out. For it to be those then
who would be seeking after the Lord. This then is something
of the context. It's all gospel. The context
in which the words that we announce at the beginning of our text
is found It's the gospel of the grace of God here in the Old
Testament. And so as we come to these words
in verses 4 and 5 of chapter 55, I want us
to consider the called, who are those who are called, and the
caller, who is the one who does the calling. And we'll look at
the verses in the reverse order, first of all we look at the called
in verse 5 and then we look at him who calls, the one spoken
of in verse 4. Verse 5 says, Behold thou shalt
call a nation that thou knowest not The nations that knew not
thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the
Holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee. Here we have
mentioned, observed of a nation and nations. A nation and nations. This is not just Israel, that
was the nation that God knew in the Old Testament. but this
is a clear reference to the gentile notion as I said time and again
Isaiah speaks of this great purpose of God back in chapter 49 and
verse 6 he said this is a light thing that thou shouldest be
my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
of Israel I will also give thee for a light of the gentile that
thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Now what
of these nations, these gentile nations? Well we can observe
at least two things with regards to these nations. First of all,
they knew not God. They knew not God. That's what it says here in the
middle of verse 5. Nations that knew not that how
they were so ignorant, how they followed their vanities, how
they worshipped their idols. God had not revealed himself
to these people. And it was the apostle Paul,
of course, that man who was the Hebrew of the Hebrews, that man
who initially was an awful persecutor of the true church of God who
in the mysterious purposes of God is called to be the great
apostle to the gentiles and he establishes these various gentile
churches and amongst them that church at Ephesus and it's in
the Ephesian epistle that he has much to say concerning the
calling of the Gentiles in chapter 3 for example he speaks
of that great purpose, the mistress that was hidden from the generation
but now in the dispensation of the fullness of the times it
has been revealed even that God will call sinners of the Gentiles
and so he writes into this Gentile church and what does he say?
there in Ephesians chapter 2 He reminds in verse 11, wherefore
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who
are called on circumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands that at that time ye were without
Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God
in the world These are the very nations that God is pleased to
call in his grace. Now in Christ Jesus he says,
ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. But what was their natural condition?
They were strangers from the covenant of promise, they were
without hope and they knew not God in this world. He goes on to say something more,
does he not, with regards to their inward condition. In chapter
4 there he says, having the understanding darkened, alienated from the
life of God, through the ignorance that was in them, because of
the blindness of their hearts. How awful, they knew not God. This is the grace of God, you
see, to those who knew Him not. Those that never thought of Him.
those who had no desires towards him. Time and again as he writes
to the churches, gentile churches that he'd been able under the
good hand of God to establish as he engaged in his ministry,
Paul reminds those churches of what they were by nature. Again
writing to the Romans he speaks of them that sought me not. speaking as God's servant, as
God's mouth-precious, then that's certainly not. The Doctrine and
Doctrines, they have no thought of God. In his preachings as much as
time, when we see him there preaching at Athens, in Greece, he speaks
of the times of this ignorance. time passed you see the Old Testament
dispensation the times of this ignorance when these nations
were left to their own devices how they knew nothing of God
and yet with the coming of the Gospel this glorious light is
to come even to those sinners who were so distant from God,
so ignorant of God so set in their ways enemies of God, alienated
from God They knew not God. This is the mark of those to
whom the gospel call comes. And then also this, we see in
the text that God knew not them. They knew not God and God knew
not them. Behold, verse 5, thou shalt call
a nation that thou knowest not. A nation that thou knowest not.
and nations that knew not me shall run unto them. It wasn't
simply that they knew not God, God didn't know them. Now, we
know of course, there's that sense in which God knows all
things. He knows all His creatures and He knows each and every one
of them better than ever they could know themselves, neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom
we have to do. God is that one then who is omniscient. He knows everything. But it's
clear, is it not, that God in the Old Testament has a very
special knowledge of his people. This was the glory of the children
of Israel, that God knew them, and he knew them like he knew
no other nation on the face of the earth. And yet out of earth
they were, they wanted to be like the other nations. At the end of Deuteronomy 26, Moses says to the children of
Israel, The Lord hath vouched thee this day to be his peculiar
people, as he hath promised them, and that thou shouldest keep
all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations,
which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour, and
that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he
hath spoken. This was the glory of the children
of Israel. You only have I known. You only
have I known, he says, among all the nations of the earth. And we sang, of course, in the
Metrical Psalm from the beginning and the end of the 147th Psalm. And there at the end, those closing
verses, he sendeth out his word, he showeth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes, judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with
any nation and as for his judgments they have not known them praise
ye the Lord. Oh what a favoured people they
were what blessings and privileges were granted unto them above
all the peoples of the earth and so when Paul writes in the
epistles of the Romans There at the beginning of chapter 9
he says, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Lord, and
the service of God, and the promises, who are the fathers, and of whom
as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed
forever. Amen. All what blessings belong
to them, and yet what do we read concerning that great purpose
of God in the fullness of the time when he sends his only begotten
son into the world he came unto his own and his own received
him not but to as many as received him to them gave he power to
become the children of God which were born not of blood nor of
the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God No
more, you see, is it national Israel. God's true Israel is
clearly seen to be a spiritual Israel. They're born not of blood. They're not born of the flesh.
They're not born of the will of man. They're born of God. And who are these people? Well, they're those who were
once so ignorant. and so very far removed from
God. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that they knowest not, and nations that know not them. This is God's
great purpose, you see. Even to sinners who are so very
much at a distance from Him. Even those who are at the ends
of the earth. And how Isaiah in his prophecy
finishes on this same note, There in chapter 66 he says at
verse 18, I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come
and see my glory and I will set a sign among them and I will
send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish,
Pull and Lod that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the isles
afar off that have not heard my name, neither have seen my
glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. What a comfort it is, friends,
that God calls those who are afar off, those who are at such
a distance from Him, those who are so alienated from Him. These
are the very ones that God is pleased to have mercy upon. Look unto me, you see, and be
ye sane. all the ends of the earth for
I am God He is the One you see and He
comes to those who are at the ends of the earth and not only
in a literal sense in the sense of the Gentiles but those who
in their feelings at times would conclude that there is no hope
for them they are at such a distance from God When he writes to the
Colossian church, what does Paul say to them? You that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by witty words. These are
the very ones that God calls. To whom does the gospel call
come? Oh, it comes to those poor sinners
who feel themselves to be so far removed from him at such
an awful distance, who have no hope, who look into themselves
and see only that that would fill them with utter despair.
These are the very ones. And we see it of course as the
Lord Jesus Christ is exercising his own ministry here upon the
earth. He says it so plainly, I claim not to call the righteous
but sinners to repent. The whole have no need of the
physician but those that are sick. these are the very ones
there is a call in the gospel and it is a call to the ends
of the earth it is a call to those who have such a sense of
their sinnership and the gospel is so suited to them and we see
it of course when we consider the one who does the calling
who is the one who calls these gentile sinners well we are told
are we not here in verse 4, Behold I have given him for a witness
to the people, a leader and a commander to the people. This is the one
who calls you, they shall run unto thee because of the Lord
thy God and for the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified
the earth, for he has glorified God, he is honoured and magnified
the law of God does he not by the holy lives that he has lived
and that great sin atoning death that he has died he has honoured
the law both in terms of its precepts he has obeyed all its
commandments but he has honoured it also in terms of its penalties
he has borne the punishment that was due to the transgressors
and this is the one who comes in the gospel We see then here in verse 4, three particular aspects of his
ministry. Firstly, he is referred to here
as a witness. I have given him for a witness
to the people. And what does he bear witness
to? He bears witness to the truth. This is the very hallmark of
his ministry. Even when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes to the end, when he comes to that great purpose of his
coming that he might make that one sacrifice for sins forever. Do we not see him there before
Pontius Pilate? In the end of John 18, Pilate
therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
cause I came into the world that I should bear witness to the
truth. Mark what the Lord says to his
earthly judge, To this end was I born, And for this cause came
I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Or do we know
him, friends, as that one who bears witness to the truth? And
does he not tell us the truth about ourselves? Is he not the
one who tells us what we are in our fallen nature, and we
are those who are truly at the ends of the earth? that we are
those sinners and we are sinners of the Gentiles and we are those
who are so ignorant and it matters not you know what our family
connections are or our church or chapel associations might
be we are ignorant because we are born in that condition we
are dead in trespasses and sins and here we have one who tells
us the truth And has the Lord Jesus Christ been to us a witness
of that truth concerning our real condition? We read of him
again in the Revelation, Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. In the opening words here where
we have that Trinitarian greeting at the very beginning of the
book of the Revelation, That's how the Lord Jesus, the eternal
Son of God, is referred to in verse 5. Jesus Christ who is
the faithful witness. And then later as he addresses
the churches John speaks of him as the Amen, the faithful and
true witness. How he witnesses then? He witnesses
against the sins of his people. Look at the prophecy of Malachi. In Malachi chapter 3, Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger of the Covenant, who be delighting. Behold, he
shall come, says the Lord of hosts. He comes as that one who
is the messenger of the Covenant. And as he is the messenger of
the Covenant, and it is the Covenant of Christ, so Malachi goes on
to speak of him as one who is a witness. In verse 5, I will come near
to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and
against those that oppress the highling in his wages, the widow
and the fatherless and that turn aside the stranger from his right
and fear not me, save the Lord of Hosts. He witnessed against
sins. the Lord Jesus Christ yes he
is the saviour of sinners but remember the ones that he came
to call as we have said he comes to call not the righteous he
comes to call the sinner this man receiveth sinners and eateth
with them and so he bears his testimony constantly against
their sins even though he be the mediator of that better covenant
for we deal so graciously with those who are sinners And those
who come to trust in him, those who come to a real faith in him,
do they not have the witness in themselves, as John says,
at the end of his first epistle? He that believeth as the witness
in himself is there all the time testifying against him. There's
that sense, surely, in which we have to recognise what we
are, we're sinners. Or, thank God, to be a side sinner but
ever conscious of what we are ever more aware of what we are
as the Lord is dealing with us and as we have that witness in
ourselves as we know this one who comes to call the sinner
behold I have given him for a witness a witness to the people a leader
here we see him you see him the second time as that one who leads. Now the word simply of course
means the one in front. That's the leader. He is the
one who goes before. And isn't this what the Lord
does for his people? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want
he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside
the still waters. Or that he would come and lead
us you see. Having brought witness in our
souls against our sins or they would come and lead us beside
the still waters, lead us into his world. Cause us to lay down
in the green pastures to know that we are those who are truly
the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks, does he not there
in that 10th chapter of John so much of his ministry as the
great shepherd of the sheep look at what he says concerning the shepherd in verse
4 when he put forth his own sheep he goeth before them and the
sheep follow him for they know his voice and the stranger they
will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the
voice of strangers or to have friends that spirit of discernment,
to know the voice of Christ, and to distinguish that voice
from the false shepherds. There are false shepherds. Oh,
there are many false shepherds. There are those who stand in
pulpits only to deny Christ. Many professed churches in our
day and generation, are they not marked by that? There are
men who call themselves Christian ministers and they don't even
believe the word of God. There are those in the established
church, bishops in the church of England, they don't believe
the word of God. And you can listen to them, maybe some of
you do, you can listen to the radio, thought of the day and
see what these men have to say when they are invited to come
and speak for two or three minutes. And often they say absolutely
nothing about Christian values. There are those, you see, who
are false shepherds. But it's more subtle than that,
is it not? Satan is such a crafty fowl and There are those who
would even profess to be evangelical in their doctrine, may be reformed
in their doctrine. Or they can say the right things.
But they are not necessarily the true shepherds of the flock. We need a spirit of discernment. And if we are those who are the
sheep of Christ we must have that discerning spirit. This is a mark, is it not? The
Lord himself says concerning these who are his sheep, a stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers. They'll have nothing to do with
the hirelings, for they bear that precious mark of being Christ's
sheep. He goes on, does he not later
there to speak of them again as those that know his voice. They know my voice. And they follow me. And I give
unto them, he says, everlasting life. And they shall never perish. No man shall pluck them out of
my hand. My father that died for me is greater than all. No
man can pluck them out of my hand. Lord and leader is this
one who leads his sheep. He was gone before them. And
has he not gone before them now even into heaven itself? Whither the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. He's the forerunner. He's gone
to heaven. And what does he do in heaven?
His presence there is a constant fluid. He there intercedes for
them. He ever lives to make intercession.
But he tells them he will come again. If I go and prepare a
place for you, he says I will come again and receive you unto
myself. He is the forerunner. He has
gone to prepare the way that he might ultimately take his
sheep to be with him forever. He is that one then who is spoken
of here as the great leader of his people. Yes, he is a witness
but he is also a leader and not only that he is spoken of as
the commander. Behold I have given him for a
witness to the people a leader and a commander to the people. What sort of a commander? He
is a military commander. He is that one who is the great
conqueror. Remember when the children of
Israel cross over Jordan under Joshua and they come into the
land of Canaan, the promised land. And there at the end of
Joshua chapter 5 we see how that man of God is favoured with such
a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a theophany, is
it not? It's an appearance of Christ
before his incarnation. Here is Joshua by Jericho, the
end of chapter 5. He lifted up his eyes and looked
and behold there stood a man over a dance stick with his sword
drawn in his hands. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now
come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship. And said unto him, What saith
my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. It's the same one, you see, that
appeared to Moses in Exodus chapter 3 at the burning bush. As with
Moses, so with Joshua, he must loose the shoe from off his foot
because he is on holy ground. Who is this one? It's the I AM. It's Jehovah Jesus. It is the captain of the host
of the law. It's the same one that is spoken
of here in the text. A commander to the people. the captain of salvation. That's how he's spoken of in
Hebrews chapter 2. The captain of salvation who
was made perfect through suffering. Oh what a commander, what a captain
is this one. He is the great conqueror. And
he's made perfect through sufferings. He's in his sufferings of course
that he vanquished satan as that he has
vanquished all the consequences of the sins of his people or
death where is thy sting or grave where is thy victory the strength
of sin is death the strength of the
Lord I can't remember it how does it rhyme those words at
the end of the 15th chapter in 1 Corinthians O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I think of those
words that we sang just now in our opening praise, that lovely
hymn of Anne Stiltz. which speaks of course of Christ
as a great leader and commander of his people. And as we sang it, the words
did strike me. In verse 3, he fought, he conquered,
though he fell, while with his last expiring death he triumphed
all the powers of hell, and by his dying, vanquished death."
What a statement, what a truth is contained in that one little
line, by his dying, vanquished death. This is how the Lord Jesus
Christ is, that one, you see, who is the great captain of salvation. Made perfect. made perfect through
sufferings and so we come back to chapter 53 and the promise
that is given to him he shall steal the trough out of his soul
and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong even with strong sinners He devised
the spoil because he had poured out his soul unto death and he
was numbered with the transgressors and he bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors. Here is that one
then who is the great commander, that one who has died but not
held by death, he has risen again from the dead, he has ascended
on Him as God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and
a Saviour we are told to give repentance to Israel and the
forgiveness of sins. So He is exalted you see, He
is exalted to save and to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him. Here is the call then and why
is this call given? Because of the Lord thy God and
for the Holy One of Israel for He has glorified them He has
glorified God in all that work that He accomplished and He is
able therefore not only to call but to gather the sinners all
His call is a mighty and an effectual call or that we might be those
friends who know what it is to have an interest in this great
caller to hear his voice, that great call of the gospel. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One
of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Behold, I have given him
for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander, to
the people. Amen.