Good evening. All right, we're
going to be in Isaiah 17, verse 12. And then we're going to be
going all the way through chapter 18 to the end of the chapter,
verse 7. Now, in the close of chapter
17, we're given another view into the destruction of Assyria. And spiritually, it's a picture
of the Lord's rebuke of false religion. And then that leads
very nicely into chapter 18, which references Ethiopia. And
the prophet Isaiah is given a view of the accomplished salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. And what we see is
that gospel sound goes forth and reaches the ears of the elect
of Christ among the Gentile nations. and calls them into Christ, calls
them under the sound of that glorious gospel. Our title is
The Present Brought Unto the Lord. And we're first going to
be looking at this rushing of many waters that's described
here in Isaiah 7 beginning in verse 12. So let's look there. Woe to the multitude of many
people which make a noise like the noise of the seas and to
the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of
mighty waters. So this is a reference to the
Assyrian army and the Assyrian army was growing in strength
growing in numbers, growing in confidence, and the threat of
their dominance over the Lord's people, which is Judah, was becoming,
seemingly, more like this is what's gonna happen, that these
people, this Assyria is going to conquer the land of Judah. Turn over to 2 Kings 18, and
leave a marker there in 2 Kings, because we're gonna come back
to chapter 19 a little bit later. 2 Kings 18, And let's look at verses 19 and
20. Now, these are the days of Hezekiah, and he's king of Judah. And this is the Assyrian army
that would come up to the neck of Judah. All right? So this
is 2 Kings 18, verse 19. And Raphshecha, and that's probably
a title, but Raphshecha said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah. Thus saith the great king, the
king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest, but they are but vain words, I have counsel and
strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust,
that thou rebellest against me? We do well here to remember the
words of Isaiah. Go back to Isaiah, and we'll
begin in verse 8. Remember what Isaiah was moved
by the Lord to say to Ahaz, King Ahaz, when the people refused
to trust the Lord's promised salvation in his son. It says
in Isaiah 8, verses 6 through 8, he said, for as much as this
people Refuseth the waters of Shiloh, the peace, this is Isaiah,
that go softly and rejoice in reason and Remeliah's son, right? They were rejoicing in the sense
that they were fearful of Israel and Syria's confederacy, right? They were fearful, and so they
turn to their own human wisdom and go into Assyria. But he says,
Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters
of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and
all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels and
go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah, he
shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck,
and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth
of thy land, O Emmanuel." And so here it is, many years later
now, under the rule of King Hezekiah, that this is coming to pass,
where now they're being threatened by Assyria, and they're right
up there to the neck. They're surrounding Jerusalem,
and they're threatening Jerusalem. But the Lord loved Hezekiah,
and the Lord loved the people, his elect people there in Judah,
and he would deliver them from the hand of the Assyrian. And
it's because they're not going to be destroyed. He has promised
salvation to the ends of the earth, through the lineage of
David. So he's not going to let them
be overrun. Look at Isaiah 7. Isaiah 7, verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. Go over to Isaiah 9, verse 6. Isaiah 9. For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder. And his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David. and
upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this." So the Lord Omnipotent had determined
already beforehand, way before it came to pass, that he was
going to bring forth the Savior through the lineage of David. And the people of Israel and
the Gentiles of the earth, all his elect people, And in Judah,
Israel, and the Gentile nations, they would all come under that
salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah 9 too. where it
promises this salvation to the Gentiles. It says, The people
that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that
dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shined. And so, what we're seeing, just
before I go on, is just notice that Isaiah, through all the
destruction, the promise of woes and destruction that are coming
upon the wicked, you constantly see being woven through this,
through the fabric of his gospel message, you see Christ, Christ,
Christ, salvation, salvation to the Jew and salvation to the
Gentile. And so you see that, it's constantly
being reiterated over and over again. So you see this pattern
all throughout Isaiah. And that's why Isaiah is referred
to by many as the Gospel according to Isaiah. Because it's so sweet
and exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you see it here in Isaiah,
you can take that same sight That same understanding, that
just as Christ is woven through here, even in verses that I may
not initially see Him, but He's there. And we'll see that tonight,
that He's here in this passage. That then you can take that as
you're going through all the prophets, and all the historical
books, and look for Christ in that same way. And that's what
you'll see, that sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ being the
food of His people. So Isaiah is relaying in our
text this unfolding of the glorious gospel where all these things
are coming to pass to ensure the promise of God will come
to his people. He's not forgotten. Nothing's
out of his control. Everything is in his control
here. And so we'll see Christ saves
his elect people. But first what he's going to
do is he's going to draw in the enemy. The enemy is going to
come in, and they're going to think that they're going to destroy
God's people, but in the process of that, Christ actually crushes
the head of the serpent. So back in our text there, Isaiah
17, Isaiah 17 verses 12 again, Woe to the multitude of many
people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas into the
rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of
mighty waters. The nations shall rush like the
rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them. All right,
so the people in our text here, they're likened to the noise
of the seas and the rushing of many waters. Now this same imagery
is used in the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ. So turn over
to Revelation. Look at Revelation, go to chapter
12 first. And we'll see how the enemy of
our souls, that wicked one, how he uses this flood to try and
destroy, to overrun, to overflow the church. So Revelation 12
verses 1 and 2. Now first, again, we're going
to see this fulfillment of the promise of the Lord to bring
forth the Christ. and to do his work of salvation.
Verse 1. And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being
with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. Look down there in verse 5. And she brought forth a man-child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child
was caught up unto God and to his throne. So this is Christ. This is the promise of Christ
being spoken of and being talked of figuratively. But we know
this is exactly what Christ did. And when he accomplished salvation
for his people, he ascended up to the throne of the Father,
where he took the book out of God's hand. And now he's opening
the seals and fulfilling all the will of God in the earth
and establishing his kingdom. And you'll hear wild things out
there on the internet and they tell you things like looking
at celestial things, how this is, you know, fulfillment of
these things. All that is antichrist. We know that Christ is the fulfillment
of this. Christ fulfilled this. Anything
that's happening in our day is just it's just a thing to take
our eyes off of Christ and look at carnal, fleshly things. But
this is Christ here. And then look at verse 15, because
this woman is the church. And verse 15 says, the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. So this flood
is the rushing of many waters, a noisome watery rushing of a
flood there. And so what it is, is it's people
deluded by false religion. They are deluded and they think
they know salvation, they think they worship God, they think
they're doing God service in their putting to debt the people
of God who speak the truth, who speak according to the light,
who speak according to the spirit of Christ in them, so that we
have no confidence in the flesh, And we declare this gospel, but
there's many who are deluded, who are under the power and the
sway of the enemy that hate this message. And so they come at
us like a flood to destroy and overrun the church of Christ. All right, now turn over to Revelation
17, and you can see this. Revelation 17, verses 1 and 2.
We'll begin again. And there came one of the seven
angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto
me, Come hither, and I will show unto thee the judgment of the
great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings
of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication, so that
in spite of all the woes And all the warnings of God through
his prophets and through all the history of Israel and through
the church now and the declaration of the apostles and the declaration
of the gospel by his saints in the church, in spite of what
we're saying there, they're deluded. They're drunk and intoxicated
with the wine of this world. and they don't know the truth.
And that's why they're just out of their minds in hatred against
the truth of God and the salvation of his son Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 5. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and the abominations of the earth. So she's responsible for all
the deaths of the saints of God. All those people that put the
believers, the brethren to death for their confession, for their
profession and hope and faith in Christ. She's the one who's
behind it with the wine of her fornications and deluding the
people. in what they're doing. Now, verse
14, Revelation 17, 14. These shall make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords
and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen
and faithful. And He saith unto me, The waters
which thou sawest, where the horse sitteth, are peoples and
multitudes and nations and tongues. And so you see that, she's sitting
over the people and they're just controlled by false, dead, vain,
man-made, fleshy religion. And they hate the truth of God,
going all the way back to Cain when he slew his brother Abel,
who was righteous and accepted of God, and he hated him for
that, so he killed his brother. So, what you see there, and you
see how Antichrist is always mimicking the body of Christ,
because even that term there, where the horse sitteth are peoples
and multitudes and nations and tongues, she's trying to appear
like that body of brethren in Revelation 5. who are worshipping
the Lord and giving praise and thanks to Him out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nations." He's always trying to look like
God. He always wants to be as God,
but he can't be, and the Lord will destroy him. Alright, so
back in our text there, in Isaiah 17, Isaiah 17 there, in the middle
of verse 13, we'll pick up, but God shall rebuke them, and they
shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the
mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
whirlwind. And behold, that evening tide,
trouble. And before the morning, he is not. This is the portion
of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us." Alright,
so they're promised destruction, and notice that word, it says
there, before the morning, He is not. For the morning, He is
not. And that's exactly what happened
to the army of Assyria. He's showing us the destruction
in Assyria, and so we know it's the destruction of all the enemies
of God's people. And that destruction happened
to Assyria in one night. Turn back to 2 Kings 19. And
leave that marker there, because we're going to come back one
more time later. But 2 Kings 19, verse 35 and 36. I just want
you to see it. And it came to pass that night
that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of
the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand, and when they arose
early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went and returned
and dwelt at Nineveh." I just want you to see that what's happening
here in Assyria is a picture, a type of what always happens
to the enemies of our Lord. It's all picturing the salvation
where they seemed like they had the upper hand, they seemed like
they were going to swallow up and destroy the Lord's people.
But the Lord always delivers them, and he crushes the head
of the enemy. They're always destroyed. And
that's exactly what we know Christ did in his death on the cross. And we'll see that now, because
that brings us here to chapter 18. Chapter 18. I call this the Lord rests salvation
upon Christ. Now look at chapter 18, verses
1 and 2. Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia, that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even
in vessels of bulrushes, upon the waters, saying, Go ye swift
messengers to a nation scattered and peeled,
to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation
meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled."
Now, I don't want to spend a lot of time, and there's some talk
about which nation this really is, but it seems to be speaking
about Ethiopia, actually describing even the people of Ethiopia and
their land. And so Ethiopia was actually
powerful. They were growing in strength
at this time, so powerful enough that they were beginning to be
a trouble to Assyria. And so they threatened Assyria's
rule and power. And it seems like at some point
they must have sent an emissary Israel or Judah's way to say,
look, we're going to take on Assyria and we'll take care of
you. You just trust in us and we'll will be a problem to Assyria
for you. Now, look there at 2 Kings 19
verses 9 and 10. So this is now before the Lord,
the angel of the Lord, destroyed Assyria. So a little bit earlier,
prior to that, you see in verse nine, it says, and when he had
heard say of Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia, behold, he has come
out to fight against thee. He sent messengers again unto
Hezekiah, saying, thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah, king of
Judah, saying, let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive
thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand,
of the king of Assyria. So Assyria tried to further threaten
and scare and make Judah afraid with this news that they wouldn't
trust in what they're hearing because of Ethiopia, as though
they're not going to come back and deal with Judah there. But that's fine because we know
that salvation is of the Lord. And that's why the Lord is allowing
this. He's not going to allow this
nation of Ethiopia to deliver Israel. He's going to be the
one that delivers Israel. As he said to Zechariah, it's
not by might, it's not nor by power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord. So the Lord's the one who's going
to deliver his people. And this is all pointing to the
gospel in which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself destroyed
the works of the devil over the people, that hold that he had
us there because we are sinners and we deserve death and we deserve
hell and therefore we were subject to his rule and what he said,
being unable to free ourselves until Christ came and delivered
us from the hand of the enemy. And so Ethiopia here, they're
going to prove to be, their part in this is that they'll prove
to be those that are the called out elect of the Lord. They're
not going to do the saving of Israel, but instead the Lord's
going to strengthen Israel. He's going to establish the gospel
there by the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And then he's going to
teach them the gospel, and then the gospel's gonna go from Jerusalem
out to Judah, out to Samaria, and then out to all the other
nations, so that the Lord's gonna do that work. He's gonna prove
to be the wings of safety for his people. He's the one who's
gonna deliver them that are his. And look at Psalm 36, verse 7. Psalm 36, verse 7. Here we see we're not trusting
in the strength or under the shadow of the wings of other
nations, but in the Lord. Psalm 36.7 says, How excellent
is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. And Psalm 57 verse
1. Psalm 57 verse 1. Here the psalmist says, be merciful
unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be over past. So the Lord here, he's warning,
he's actually giving a warning to Judah, saying, take heed now. When I brought the gospel word
to Ahaz, he rejected the Lord's salvation and he trusted in another
nation in Assyria and now they're troubling you, they're up to
your neck and giving you a lot of trouble. Don't put your trust
in Ethiopia, put your trust in me because I'm the one that's
going to deliver my people. Turn over to Isaiah 49. Isaiah
49, because we see that the Lord, through all this, through that
seeming conquering of Christ, He's going to bring all the Gentile
nations that are in darkness. He's going to call them out and
draw them to Himself. Isaiah 49, verse 1, Listen awhile
unto me, and hearken, ye people, from far. The Lord hath called
me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention,
my name." Every time the scriptures speak about the isles or the
islands, it's talking about those Gentile nations that are far,
far away that the Lord is going to call and he's going to deliver
them as well. Drop down to verse 6, Isaiah
49 verse 6, and he said, it 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
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to
him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers kings
shall see and arise, princes also shall worship because of
the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he
shall choose thee. Alright, so the Lord's going
to do this work. And so first, He's summoning in these nations.
He's drawing them in to come against His people that He's
going to perform this work. Look in Isaiah 18. Isaiah, back
in our text, Isaiah 18, verse 3. He says, all ye inhabitants of
the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth
up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet,
hear ye. So the Lord's going to work this
work in their eyes. He's going to show all nations
that He is the Lord, that He is the one who's sovereign and
rules over all things and over all peoples, and that whatsoever
He pleases, that's exactly what He does. And so the nations,
they're coming together and they seem like they have the victory,
but Christ in this, in this, in His work, he destroys the
enemies, that in his debt, he actually secures the salvation
of his elect people. By the work that he did, he accomplished
the salvation of his elect chosen children, of his people. And
so we see this coming together, the nations against Christ, there
in his work on the cross. In Psalm 22, why don't you turn
there, And then put a marker there now because we'll come
back to it one more time later. But let me read a few verses
here. First in Psalm 22 verses 11 through
13. This is Christ on the cross who
says, Be not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is
none to help. Many bulls have compassed me.
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me
with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. Go down to
verse 16. For dogs have compassed me. The
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. I may tell all my bones. They
look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture." So we see how it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see how all the nations were
in agreement to destroy the Christ of God, to try and destroy the
Son of God, just as we saw there in Revelation when the flood
was cast out to destroy the The church, it came against Christ,
but what they didn't understand is that in this, Christ was actually
triumphing over his enemies. And it speaks about them parting
his vesture. They cast lots for his clothes. And though they spoiled his outward
things, though they took his life, though they spoiled him
of his clothes, what the Lord was doing there in his death
is that he went into the strongman's house. And he bound the strong
man, and he spoiled the strong man of all his precious things. He left the worthless things,
but he took out all the precious elect of the Lord God, and he
took them with him, so that he took captivity captive, and he
brought out all his chosen ones And he delivered them out from
under the hand of the enemy in that work that he did so that
by his blood, by his blood, the shedding of his blood, we are
redeemed. That's why we say we're purchased.
We are redeemed and purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we've been delivered from that coming judgment. Paul says in Colossians, we'll
come back to Psalm 22 later, but in Colossians 2 verses 13
through 15, Paul speaking to sinners saved, he says, And you
being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him. having forgiven you all
trespasses." How did he do it? By blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, so that now
the law has nothing to say to us, because we fulfilled it.
The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is our very righteousness. whereby we stand before God's
throne, perfect and accepted because we're holy. We've been
made holy and righteous by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And having, verse 15 says, and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it, so that they thought that they had defeated the Lord
and the Lord's people, and yet Christ snatched victory from
the jaws of death. and he accomplished our salvation.
And the apostles, they were boasting in Christ's victory, so that
when they spoke to the rulers, they said it this way in Acts
4, 26 through 28. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. They saw that end sign lifted
up. Come and get it. Come and get
it. Take it if you can. And they heard the trumpet blow
in their ears, and so they came out. And they gathered around
the Lord's anointed, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. And the Lord allowed them, he
rested, and he let them do to his son what they would, because
in that was our very deliverance, our very salvation, and Him allowing
that. So it says in Isaiah 18 verse
4, So that He allowed them to do that work
and it was the sealing of their own destruction. It was the end
of them so that they would be destroyed and rise no more. And
in Psalm 22 verses 4 through 6, We see what our Lord says, because
we know the Lord is able. We know the Lord is able to deliver
His people and to rise up and to save them, but for Christ,
He says in Psalm 22, verse 4, Our fathers, this is Christ speaking,
Our fathers trusted in Thee, they trusted and Thou didst deliver
them. They cried unto Thee and were
delivered, they trusted in Thee and were not confounded. They
weren't ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man,
a reproach of men, and despised of the people. So that that cup
of wrath which was our due, it couldn't pass Christ by. he had
to drink its contents that the deadly contents in that cup of
wrath which was for us would never touch these lips so that
we're delivered forever from the wrath of God because of the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ in doing what he did.
And so the Lord rested and in doing that when he rested from
delivering his son, what he was saying is, I'm resting all the
salvation, I'm committing all that work of salvation for my
people upon the shoulders of Christ. So he rested that salvation
work upon his son, Jesus Christ, to do for us what we cannot do
for ourselves. In Isaiah 18, verses 5 and 6, For for, or before the harvest,
when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,
and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left
together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts
of the earth, and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the
beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In these verses they
speak of The one who was cut down in an untimely manner, a
seemingly untimely manner in his strength, he was taken down,
he was cut down, but what that allowed What that did was that
it allowed all the fowls of the air and all the beasts, all the
Gentile nations to come and feed upon Him and to be sustained
and kept forever by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
we read of our Savior in Isaiah 53. Go to Isaiah 53, verse 8. This is what Christ did. Isaiah
53, verse 8. He was taken from prison. and from judgment. And who shall
declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Go to verse 11. He shall see
of the travail 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 spoil with the
strong. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. so that Christ accomplished the
salvation for the many who make up the elect family of God, the
chosen elect of our Lord. Now returning to our text there
in Isaiah 18, Isaiah 18 verse 7, it says, In that time shall
the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered
and peeled. It's referring now again to that
Ethiopian nation, that scatter refers to their being tall, drawn
out, and tall people. impealed, speaking of a polished,
a very polished, a very smooth skin, which they had there. And so it says, and from a people
terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out
and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled,
to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion. So that after Christ rose, the
gospel went out and it reached all the nations. It began to
reach the Gentile nations and reach their ears and call out
to them that this is salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
Isaiah 11, go to Isaiah 11 verses 11 and 12, And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. And so all the Gentile people,
they shall come and present themselves to the Lord. They'll flow up
to the city of our God, to Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusalem, the
heavenly Jerusalem, hearing that trumpet of the gospel sound,
being given an ear to hear it, and made to believe it, and so
they come to the Lord to present themselves, their bodies, a living
sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ for what He's done. In closing, let me just say in
Acts 8, I find it very peculiar that in Acts 8, it's the Ethiopian
eunuch who's there in the chariot and he's reading, right? Acts 8, 33. And it's the very
place where we just read in Isaiah 53, 8, where he's cut down, just
like we read in Isaiah 18, 7, and 8, where he's cut down and
all the fowls and the bees come and feed upon him. But it says,
in his humiliation, Acts 8, 33, he's reading, in his humiliation,
or as we read in Isaiah 53, 8, he was taken from prison. His humiliation speaks of his
being in the flesh, when he took upon him the weakness of our
flesh. So in his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. His life was cut short,
so that the fowls and the beasts could come and feed upon him.
And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom
speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus."
And so we see there in chapter 18 that this is speaking of that
time when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would go out and
reach unto the elect of all the nations so that those that hate
the truth, they'll be rebuked. They're crushed. They're destroyed.
but the Lord's people shall hear this gospel word, and they shall
forever be thankful and joyful, rejoicing in what Christ has
done for his people. I pray the Lord will bless that
word to your hearts. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your willing sacrifice, and
that you humbled yourself, coming in the flesh and fulfilling all
righteousness for your people. Lord, that you are our very salvation,
that you sent forth this gospel word that we may hear and feed
upon our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lord, you'll destroy
your enemies, even as you have already accomplished their destruction. And the last enemy to be destroyed
shall be death. And you shall raise us up from
the graves when you return. And Lord, we look for that day.
Lord, keep our hearts, keep us looking to the Lord Jesus Christ
and rejoicing in you and being faithful to send out this gospel
word of your salvation. For it's in Christ's name that
we pray. Amen.