Alright, now let's turn back
to Isaiah chapter 49. What we're going to be studying
in this chapter in the coming weeks as we continue on through
the book of Isaiah is pretty much a study in the life and
mission and accomplishment of our Savior, our Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's almost like a biography
sometimes. the revelations of God to His
prophet that are so vivid, and so explanatory, and they identify
who the Messiah is. Many quotations in the New Testament,
many parallels, just like the one that I read in Luke chapter
2. But let me put it in the context
to start off with. The title of this message I took
from verse 8, where Christ, the Messiah, is identified as a covenant
for the people, or of the people. And that's the title, Christ,
a covenant of the people. Now just before chapter 49, the
emphasis has been on the nation Israel and their sin, their disobedience,
and their idolatry. We've seen some great prophecies
and descriptions of our Savior in those chapters. Don't get
me wrong, that's not what it was all about. It wasn't just
about their sin. But it seemed like there was
an emphasis on their sin and their rebellion. And we were
shown back over in chapter 48, look at verse 9 of chapter 48,
how God restrained His wrath and the punishment unto Israel,
the nation Israel, And the reason he did that is because his glory
as God, dependent upon his people Israel, not being destroyed at
that time. Look at verse 9, he says, this
is chapter 48, verse 9, for my namesake, that is for my glory,
he's saying, will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will
I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have
refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction for mine own sake." Even for mine own sake, he says. Will I do it? For how should
my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory
unto another. So again, his wrath upon that
nation was deferred, he says. It was restrained. because His
glory, dependent upon that people staying together and not being
destroyed at that time. Now, it's clear. One thing is
clear, though. They deserved to be condemned. They deserved the wrath of God. They deserved to be destroyed.
That's what they had earned and what they deserved. But God had
a greater purpose in mind for that nation. And that greater
purpose is stated explicitly here, beginning in chapter 49.
It was the salvation of His covenant people in and by the promised
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. That was His purpose for keeping
them together. Now, as we know, it was through
that nation that the humanity of Christ was born, the Messiah
who is both God and man in one person. And it's also clear that
God could not delay judgment on sin forever. He couldn't do
it forever, and the reason is because that would violate His
justice. That would violate His holiness. Israel, the nation,
would, without doubt, suffer the wrath of God. But now listen,
God's covenant people, His elect out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile, would not suffer the wrath of
God. would not be under the condemnation
of God. Now, why is that? Aren't they
sinners too? Don't they deserve condemnation
and wrath and punishment and death, just like national Israel? Aren't they children of wrath,
even as others, as the Apostle Paul described, as he was inspired
by the Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 2? In other words, when
he said in Romans chapter 3, there's none good, no, not one,
were they exempted? There's none righteous, no, not
one. Were we exempted? Absolutely not. We don't deserve
anything better. We haven't earned anything more
than what national Israel in their sin and their rebellion
deserved and earned. We're all sinners. But you see,
here's the point. God had already made a covenant
with his Son. God had already made, God the
Father had already contracted with His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He had already given Christ as
a covenant for His people. And that's what that means there
in verse 8. And you know, that explains it. You know, over in
Romans chapter 3, I'll read this to you if you want to try to
get there quick. Romans chapter 3. It explains a phrase in Romans
chapter 3 verse 25. He's talking about God's purpose
of redemption being fulfilled in the coming, in the obedience,
and in the death of Christ. And he says in verse 25 of Romans
3, whom God hath set forth, now that word set forth means foreordained,
a propitiation, a satisfaction to the justice of God. And the
nature of propitiation is that the satisfaction comes by the
death of an innocent sacrifice. So whom God hath foreordained
to be a satisfaction to his justice through faith in his blood. You
see, without blood there is no propitiation. There is no satisfaction. To declare his righteousness,
that's the result of his death. His death was for our sins. He
drank damnation dry. He paid the debt in full. Now,
the result of his obedience unto death was his righteousness. Now, it is honoring to the justice
of God, but what he's speaking of here is faith in his blood
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins. In
other words, we get his righteousness in trade for our sins. You might
say it that way. Christ took our sins, they were
credited to Him, charged to Him, and we in turn get His righteousness
credited, charged to us. Now, he says, for the remission
of sins that are past. Well, does that mean that Christ
only died for the sins of the past? Well, if it is, we're in
trouble because we weren't even born here when He died on the
cross. He died for all our sins, past, present, and future. But
what's he talking about? He's talking about the sins of
those who died before he went to the cross. He's talking about
the sins of Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Lot, and
Enoch, and on and on, David, Moses, go on down, all the Old
Testament saints. the remission of sins that are
past, and how did he do it? Through the forbearance of God.
Now, God, His forbearance of those. In other words, He did
not destroy them in their lifetimes. Why? Because He had already credited
to them the righteousness that His Son would bring in. And that's
what this means over here. Look back here in Isaiah 48,
it's very similar. He said, I defer mine anger.
Now, he deferred his anger upon those whom he would eventually
destroy. My friend, he also deferred his
anger upon his own people whom he would not destroy personally
because he was going to punish them in the person of his son.
Now that's where we get to. For God's words to make sense
here in Isaiah 49. Now let's look at that. Israel
must be His people in spiritual reality. In other words, He can't
have rebels as His covenant people. The Scripture says He's going
to bring His people into submission. And since they're unable to obey
Him, and since they're unable to atone for their own sins,
what's going to happen here? Well, God's going to send a Savior.
He's going to send one whom He appointed, one who is able, and
one who is willing to stand in their place." You see, God is
the Savior. And He sends His Son to be born. That's what He's going to be
talking about here in Isaiah 49.1. The birth of Christ. A
Savior. One whom Simeon would later on
take up in His arms and say, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. That's the covenant of the people.
So now here, Isaiah focuses on the ministry of Christ. It's
not simply the promise of His coming, but it's the details
of His coming. It's the ministry and the mission
that He would accomplish. Now, you remember Cyrus. We've
talked about Cyrus, who was the physical deliverer of the nation
of Israel from Babylon. And I'll tell you what, that
was a great deliverance. When Cyrus came down with his
army, conquered the Babylonian Empire in one day, In a miraculous
way, when you look back at the details, you remember how they
dried up that one river and how the gates were open, and nobody
could explain why they were open. But God, when He said they will
be open, and they were open, that was a great deliverance.
But I'll tell you something, it wasn't the greatest deliverance
by any stretch of the imagination. Salvation from sin is a much,
much, infinitely much more greater deliverance, and it had to be
the servant of the Lord to do that, not Cyrus, and not for
Israel only, but for the nations of the world, because God has
a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Now, Isaiah 49 then is a prophecy of Christ. It's a prophecy of
redemption by Him. It's the establishment of the
terms of the covenant of redemption. And it speaks a lot of the enlargement
and the growth and the building of the church in the latter days
in the conversion of God's elect in both Jews and Gentiles, spiritual
Israel. This chapter is full of Christ.
You say, well, I thought these others were too. They are. But
this is really full of Christ. And the words quoted here in
Isaiah 49 could not possibly have their complete fulfillment
in any other save our Lord. They couldn't do it. Now, let's
look at these first few verses. I'm not going to try to cover
the whole chapter tonight. But in the first two verses,
we have the call and the preparation of the Messiah. He says, Listen,
O isles unto me, and hearken, hear, heed, listen, ye people
from far. And that's the Gentiles too,
see. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels
or the matrix of my mother. hath he made mention of my name,
and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow
of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft in his
quiver hath he hid me." Christ himself is speaking here. This
is the Messiah speaking forth prophetically. Just as God himself
called on Israel and the Isles to listen, The Messiah Himself,
who is none other than God in human flesh, prophetically, He
does the same. In other words, He has the same
authority as God. Now, you know why? Because He
is God. Somebody says, well, doesn't
a preacher have the authority of God? Yes, because he preaches
the Word of God. But the Messiah has the same
authority of God because He is God. He is the Word of God. Now yet he speaks here of being
called of the Lord, he was called of God, of coming from the womb
and the bowels of his mother, the matrix, the birth opening
of his mother. And what that's speaking of here
is exclusively of his mediatorial work, the covenant office and
the birth of his humanity. He, for unto us, a son is given,
a child is born. Isaiah already prophesied that
back in Isaiah chapter 9. The son was not born. His deity
has no beginning and no end. He's the eternal Son of God without
beginning and without end. But the child was born. That's
His humanity without sin. And he says here, he was called
from the womb. This was his mission as God-man
from the beginning. And what that shows us is that
his mission wasn't something that come later in his earthly
life. He was called from the womb.
Now, actually, he was called even before he was in Mary's
womb. I want to read you a passage in the book of Micah, chapter
5. Now, Micah was a contemporary with Isaiah. In fact, the three
prophets who prophesied during this time, Isaiah's time, the
actual day, were Isaiah, obviously, Hosea, and Micah. And Hosea and
Micah, they prophesied in different places, but Isaiah, he was the
one in the court of the king, he was the one who was in Jerusalem.
That's why they sometimes refer to him as the royal prophet,
because he prophesied. Some say he was related to the
king, especially the king Uzziah. He may have been. But Micah prophesied
during this time too, and in Micah chapter 5, in verse 2,
this is a prophecy of the Messiah, of Christ. He says, "...but thou,
Bethlehem Ephratah." Now that's just another name for Bethlehem.
Well, obviously you know what happened in Bethlehem. Christ
was born in his humanity. Though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah," this city of Bethlehem, a very small, insignificant
town, "...yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me," that
is, to be ruler in Israel. And, of course, you know the
Jews, they make that exclusively referring to David. The problem
is, is this was after David's time. You see, David was already
gone by this time. So this is speaking, now David
did, he was born in Bethlehem. It's called the city of David.
But this is speaking of David typically. This is speaking of
Christ. And he says, whose goings forth have been from old, from
everlasting. That is from days of eternity. That one who was to come through
that small, insignificant town, who was going to be ruler of
Israel, ruler in Israel, the consolation of Israel, Simeon
called it. He was set up from everlasting.
But now Isaiah, when he speaks of being called from the womb,
he's talking exclusively of the birth of the Messiah. That's
what he's talking about. Isaiah knows that this Messiah
was set up from everlasting just like Micah did. But now he's
talking about a specific time here. So Isaiah starts at his
birth. And this prepared him for the
work. This birth prepared our Lord for His work. Over in the
book of Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 4, let me just read that
to you. The Apostle Paul, in comparing the new covenant with
the old, he says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. Now that's so. The blood
of animals could never take away sin. But there's got to be blood,
because without the shedding of blood, there is no taking
away, remission, forgiveness of sin. So, in verse 5, the Messiah
speaks, and this is quoted from the Old Testament, Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. That is,
the Father determined it, purposed it, and the Spirit formed that
body in the womb of the Virgin Mary, that womb of which Isaiah
is speaking of. That speaks of the humanity of
Christ. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. You see how it all fits together?
Well, shouldn't it? It was ordained and worked out
by God, so it all fits together, doesn't it? He was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. He was born not of man,
but of woman. He is called back in Genesis
3.15, the seed of woman. For He could not be born a sinner,
and He could not be made a sinner. Now back over in Isaiah 49 and
verse 2, it speaks of His word. It says, His mouth was like a
sharp sword. What He means there is His very
words have power and have authority. When Christ speaks, We're responsible
to listen. The Word of God is sharper than
any two-edged sword. It's able to cut asunder the
body and the spirit. It's able to reach to the marrow
of the bones and discern the thoughts and the intents and
the motives of the heart. That's the Word of Christ. He
is the Word of God incarnate. He is the living Word of God. And He prophetically proclaims
that he's like a carefully made and polished arrow. That's what
that means when he says, in the shadow of his hand he hath hid
me and made me a polished shaft. That's an arrow that's shot from
a bow. And what he's saying is that
God made him in this birth. As God-man, you see, made him
a polished arrow, one that is pure and perfect, One that is
able and willing and ready to do the service of the Lord and
to hit the mark. And I think an arrow is a very,
very apt type of Christ. Because you know what the Bible
says about us? We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Literally meaning we've what?
We've missed the mark. We can shoot all the arrows that
we want all day long, all our lifetime, but we're going to
miss the mark. But now here's an arrow that God himself shoots,
and it's going to hit the mark. He's a polished arrow. And when
he says that he's waiting, verse 2 there, when he says, in his
quiver hath he hid me, most commentators believe that that's speaking
of the time of his youth. There's nothing revealed in Scripture
about it. He was hid like an arrow in the quiver, and he wasn't
seen. But now he's showing here how
the time of his work is going to come. Now look at verse 3
of Isaiah 49 here. In verses 3-4 we have the Messiah's
confidence in the Lord. Listen to what he says. He says,
"...and he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel." Notice
how the Lord is called by the name of Israel here. That's significant. He says, "...in whom I will be
glorified." Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent
my strength for naught, and in vain, yet surely my judgment
is with the Lord, and my work with my God, or my reward with
my God." That's the Messiah's confidence in the Lord. Here
in verse 3, the Lord God proclaimed Him publicly to be His servant. God the Father, proclaimed publicly
on several occasions during the lifetime of our Savior as He
walked this earth as God meant, proclaimed publicly that He was
His servant, His appointed Messiah. He did it at His baptism. He
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. You
hear Him. His same thing was spoken on
the Mount of Transfiguration. But my friend, there was no greater
manifestation of that publication of the servant of the Lord than
at the Cross of Calvary. when he spoke seven times from
that cross, all in fulfillment of prophecy, and when he said
it's finished, and when he gave up the ghost, the veil was written
to from top to bottom, those who had died in the, many who
had died in the Lord came out of the graves just like Lazarus
and walked the earth, the sun was dark, and all of that was
a public testimony. of the Father and the Spirit,
that this is truly the Son of God. And you know who spoke that?
A Roman soldier. Truly, this is the Son of God.
A Gentile, whose heart has been turned by the Lord. Isn't that
amazing? Well, that's the public declaration.
And you know what? He did it at His ascension, too,
when He took Him up into glory. And the angel told the disciples
that this one you've seen who has ascended up, he's coming
down. In the same manner, he's coming again. He's going to publicly
declare it before the whole universe then because every knee is going
to bow. Every tongue is going to confess.
Now do you notice here how he referred to him as Israel? You
know the term Israel, the name Israel. That was the name God
gave to Jacob. Changed his name. That was a
lesson. That was an object lesson. Jacob,
the cheater, the supplanter, the conniver. That's us by nature. That's man in his depravity and
sin. But God has the ability and the
willingness to change His people from cheaters, supplanters, and
connivers unto Israel, which means Prince of God. Or it means
governed by God. It can mean either one. Well,
Prince of God. Consider this. National Israel,
the nation. They were not worthy to bear
that name. Their whole history was one of
generally, it was rebellion, it was idolatry, it was murmuring,
complaining, unbelief. Well, let me tell you something.
We're not worthy to bear that name either. Who here would even
be so bold as to say, I'm worthy in myself to wear and bear the
name of Israel, Prince of God, governed by God. Aren't there
many times in your life that you feel like and know, if you're
honest, you're governed by the flesh instead of governed by
God? So, this is significant now.
What does He say in verse 3? He said unto me, Thou art My
servant, O Israel. He identifies the Messiah by
the name of Israel. Now, why is that? Because only
Christ, the Messiah, is worthy to bear that name. He's the only
one who is. So, where is our worthiness to
be found? In Him. We can only bear that
name, Israel, spiritual Israel, princes of God, governed by God
as we're found in Christ. And that's the only one. For
He is our worthiness. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. You're not worthy. I'm not worthy
in ourselves. Never. Never. But He is, and
I'm in Him. And He's my worthiness. And He
bears that name. He's the Lord my righteousness.
And I want to tell you something, he's the only righteousness I
have. This speaks of our union with him. And notice what he
says here, "...in whom I will be glorified." Glory to God in
the highest! When he came on the scene, that's
what the angel said. This is the highest manifestation of
God's glory in the God-man who would do the work of the covenant.
Who would fulfill the commission. He prayed unto His Father in
His high priestly prayer. He said, glorify thou me with
the glory which I had with thee before the world began. He said
that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
me. He's worthy. And here in verse 4 when He says,
I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught
and in vain, this is a comparison here in verse 4. It is not the
Messiah crying that He had failed. He's speaking as men look at
Him. He was a man of sorrows, despised,
rejected, acquainted with grief. And when it comes to His work
here on earth, in His miracles, in His preaching, His people
rejected Him. And they looked upon Him as a
failure. But what's the contrast here? Well, here He says it,
surely my judgment is with the Lord. You see, when men look
at Him, they say failure. They say he missed it. He was
crucified. But he's saying here, it doesn't
matter how men judge me. He says, my judgment is with
the Lord. Jehovah judges me, he says. And
my reward is with my God. You see, that's the key. That's
the key. He was justified in the Spirit.
He shall not fail. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the prevail of
his hope and shall be satisfied." That's the issue, you see. He
didn't fail on the cross. Not at all. He got the job done. He drank damnation dry. He finished
the work. He made an end of sin, finished
the transgression, brought in everlasting righteousness. that
enables God to justify the ungodly. Look at verse 5. Here in verse
5-7, we see how the Messiah blesses Israel and the nations. Look
at verse 5. He says, And now saith the Lord
that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob
again to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be
glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
Though Israel rejected and despised him, He would be glorious in
the eyes of the Lord when his work was finished. And the purpose
of God was not frustrated by sinful, depraved humanity. It
fulfilled His purpose. Peter said that at Pentecost.
He spoke of Christ, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You've taken Him by wicked
hands and crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death. That means He got the job done.
He conquered death. Because it was not possible that
He should be holding on. The grave couldn't keep Him.
Couldn't hold Him. He was victorious. And then look at verse 6. 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. Christ will restore the preserved
of Israel, the chosen of God, the elect of God, the remnant
of the tribes of Jacob. God has given his Son for a light
to the Gentiles. This is the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's the light
of the Holy Spirit who shows us our sin and drives us to Christ
for all salvation. It's the illumination that He
gives us in all things that are spiritual and in His Word. And
He says that thou mayest be my salvation. Christ, the Son of
God, is God's salvation. That's why Simeon, when he took
Him up in his arms, he said, mine eyes have seen God's salvation. Right there in that child. Now
how do you suppose old Simeon figured that one out? Did he
go back into the genealogy? Did he see a halo around the
little baby's head? Or anything like that? No. He
knew it by the revelation of God. Just the way you know it. And I know it. We've never held
the child in our hands, have we? But we know it so because
God has revealed it. God has shown it to us. And so
He is God's salvation. Now why is He God's salvation?
Because He earned it. He bought it. He gives it. That I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. He preserves it. He said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. No man will pluck them out
of my hand, He said. And He completes it. It's His. It's His to have. It's His to
give. And He gives it freely to any sinner who wants it. to
any sinner who wants it. I was talking to a fellow on
the phone the other day. He said, you know, we wrestle over these
issues of sovereignty and responsibility. You know, he said it boils down
to one simple thing. He says, God's going to give
you what you want. Think about that. God is going to give us
exactly what we want. If we want salvation His way,
He'll give it. If we want it our way, He won't
give it. All right? Think about it. What is His way? Christ. That's
His salvation. Christ's blood and righteousness.
What's our way? Works. Free willism. That's what
you want. God won't give it to you. He'll
give you what you really want. Because that's death. That's
what He'll do. But think about this now. Christ, His salvation. If you
would get salvation, you must get Christ. It's almost like
you could say it like this, don't go after salvation, just go after
Christ. They're one and the same. All
I need is to have it, Paul said, all that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection, I want to be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness which is of the law. Just run to Him,
for He is salvation. And then look at verse 7, he
says, Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, And His Holy
One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him..." Now, that's us by
nature, you see. The Holy One of Israel. The Holy
One. The Redeemer of Israel. By nature,
we despise Him. You see, by nature, we don't
want salvation God's way. That's why I say God's going
to give us what we wanted our way. We'll get death. And He
says, "...to Him whom the nation abhorreth." Think about that. That's us by nature. We abhor
the Son of God. That's why when Job in his growth,
I believe this was his growth, he came to a new realization
of who God is and who he was and he said, I abhor myself and
I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Job realized that in all of his
arguments that he was making with his friends and defending
himself, he got a little bit too big for his bridges. And
he said, now, I have heard of thee by the hearing, but now
mine eye seeth thee, and I abhor him. But see, by nature we abhor
him. That's hatred. Did you know that?
That's hatred. And he says, to a servant of rulers. This Messiah
became a servant to rulers. He stood there while Pilate had
a discussion philosophically about truth. Now, you know what Pilate's thoughts
were on it? He said, what is truth? Now,
that's a common way back then of their philosophy. There's
no real absolute truth. There's no absolute what is truth.
It's whatever you think it is. Well, there's truth incarnate
standing before him. He didn't open his mouth. He
stood there while Herod ridiculed him and mocked him. While the
soldiers spat on him, plucked his beard, and put a crown of
thorns on his head and laughed at him. He just stood there while
that happened. He became a servant to rulers. He says, 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. Now, all that speaks of his humiliation
on the way to his glory. It starts out, we despise, we
abhor. But then all of a sudden, in
the end, it says the Messiah will not be despised and abhorred.
He will receive worship and the honor he deserves because he's
the chosen of the Lord. And he'll receive it from kings,
he says, and princes because of the Lord that is faithful
and the Holy One. Look at verse 8. Now here in
these last two verses, we see the glory of his ministry and
work. Look at verse 8. It says, Thus saith the Lord
in an acceptable time, Have I heard thee? And in the day of salvation
have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee
for a covenant of the people to establish or raise up the
earth to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." You've got
four words here that are significant. You've got heard, helped, preserved,
and given. We've already spoken of it a
little bit. His father heard him in the garden when he sweat
great drops of blood. and said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. In the weakness of his humanity,
not a sinful request, not a sinful thought, but just under the pains
and the sorrows and the weight of suffering, which he had not
experienced before, even as God's man. His father heard him in
John 17 when he prayed that high priestly prayer. His Father heard
Him on the cross as He cried out, My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me? And He cried out, Father, forgive
them, they know not what they do. Now here, thank God, His
Father hears Him right now as our Advocate, as our Mediator,
as the One who stands for us and pleads our cause because
He's the propitiation for our sins. And then the Father helped
Him. Helped him through all his suffering
in the weakness of the flesh and humanity. And the Father
preserved him because it wasn't possible for the grave to hold
him. His body could not lay in corruption. He came out of that
grave with a glorified body. And then lastly, he was given.
He was given as a covenant. As a covenant of the people.
First of all, you know, his people were given to him. given to Him
before the foundation of the world. God chose a people and
put all the responsibility of their whole salvation upon Christ.
And that's why He said when He come into the world, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. This is the will of Him that
sent me, and that of all which He hath given me I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He was given
to His people in covenant all of our salvation. became his
responsibility. Our whole salvation, every bit
of it, placed upon his shoulders, conditioned on him. He was given
to his people in his birth, for he identified with us in our
name and in our nature. The difference, he was without
sin. He was not born in sin. He was
given to us in His death, for He substituted Himself for us,
for He was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was given to us
in His resurrection, for He was raised again for our justification.
He was given to us in His ascension, for He sat down at the right
hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for us. And He's going to be given to
us again as the glorious Lord who comes to gather His people
unto Himself. Christ is the representative
and the surety of the covenant. He's the mediator. He's the messenger
of the covenant. He's the ratifier, the confirmer,
and the finisher of the covenant. For He is the covenant. I've
given Him, He says, as a covenant of the people. He is all and
in all. Now let me read these last verses
to you. Here's the fruits and the benefits of it. Let me just
read these to you. He says in verse 9, that thou
mayest say to the prisoners, go forth. He releases us from
bondage, the bondage of the law, the bondage of sin, the curse
of Satan, and we go free. He justified us, you see. Show
yourselves, he says, go forth to them that are in darkness.
Show yourselves. We have the light of Christ shining. in our testimony. They shall
feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be in all high places.
Everything that it takes to nourish us spiritually, we find in Him. Verse 10, they shall not hunger
nor thirst. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want, I shall not lack. Neither shall the heat nor sun
smite them. We're not under the wrath of
God anymore. Never were, really, because we
were always in Christ. For he that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide
them." He leads me beside the still waters. In verse 11, I
will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
His way is the way that he went before us, paved the way. We
don't have to build the road. We don't have to smooth out the
road. He is the way. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And then
verse 12, Behold, these shall come from far, that's the Gentiles,
and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these
from the land of Sinai. Now, in closing, what is Sinai? We don't know. There's been a
lot of speculation about it. And some say it's a land just
down around Egypt. Some say it's south of Babylon.
There's even several reputable commentators who say it's somewhere
around China. I don't know. But I'll tell you
what I think. I believe that it's no place
in particular. And why I believe that Isaiah,
the Holy Spirit through Isaiah, left it sort of obscure He is
in the context, he is showing that God has a people out of
the north, south, east and west. They are going to come from all
over. Places you have never even heard of. Places you have never
even known. That is what he is telling Israel.
That is what he is telling his people. They are coming from
everywhere. God has a people. And the light's going to shine,
the way's going to be, and you say, well, now Mount Everest
is between us and them. That's all right. It's not going
to stop the progress here. It's not going to stop Him getting
His Word to them and them hearing His Word. They're from all over. Now, what Israel should have
done is rejoice. Thank God He has a people out
of the nation, from Sinai, wherever that is. They're coming. But instead, Israel grew jealous.
Said, wait a minute. You mean they're not going to
be Jews first? They're not going to be circumcised? No, it has
nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with
Christ, the covenant of the people. That's the issue. Christ, the
covenant of the people.