Most of us know what it feels like to wonder whether God has just lost interest—whether we’ve messed up too much, waited too long, or ended up too far gone for him to still be working. The prophet Isaiah delivered God’s word to people who felt exactly that way, and what he told them in passages like Isaiah 7 and 9 raises a question worth sitting with: does “God with us” still hold when everything around you says otherwise?
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
Ashes where glory dwelt. Jerusalem shrouded in silence. The temple in ruins. Its people far from home. Yet, in darkness, hope speaks. A future foretold, a new and forever promise, a return to glory. A nation restored, a temple rebuilt. But even this wasn’t the end. The prophet spoke of a king, whose dominion would forever be. We awaited the Savior, this deliverer of his people, to accomplish what we never could.
Good morning, Harvester. It’s great to be with you. Great to have all of you here in St. Charles, but also great to have you with us online as well, too. You got your Bibles this morning, go ahead and open up to Isaiah, chapter seven. We’re going to be there in just a few minutes. It’s just about right in the middle of your Bible. Open up to Isaiah chapter seven. Put your finger in that, we’ll come back to it. Hey, it’s great to have you here this morning.
I don’t know about you, but I woke up confused this morning, which is kind of normal for me, right? But two specific things happened, right? One is time change. And even though we’ve been dealing with this time change thing my entire life, I still, the night before, am doing the time change math going, do I have to go early? Do I have to go late? Am I going to… And of all the weeks to be preaching, right on time change weekend, I’m like, so worried I’m going to be late or early or just so confused.
And then you do the whole thing about, like, does my phone update automatically? Like, anybody else think that? You know, it’s like, yeah, it has for years. But I still don’t trust it. So the other thing is I woke up this morning and was kind of confused about why my clothes fit a little more snug this morning. I didn’t realize that had to do with all the candy that was in our house this week. So, hey, it’s great to have you here.
We are finishing up the Old Testament. If you’ve been with us during this service, or during this series, From Eden to Eternity, it’s been fantastic. I have learned so much going through it, and we’ve just been going through the story of the Bible, and today we are wrapping up the story of the Old Testament. And it’s been great.
Now, before we sort of finish things up, sort of put a bow in it, I just want to recap and rethink about where we’ve been. And let’s go back to the beginning, right? In the beginning, God created humanity and the universe, and we were perfect. But it didn’t take long until we weren’t perfect because humanity eventually rebelled. And because of that, we spoiled God’s good creation.
But God promised that he would not just sort of leave us in the pain of sin, but that he would actually redeem us. And even though those consequences were hard and difficult and harsh, God worked to accomplish his redemption. He called Abraham into the land of Canaan, he birthed the nation of Israel. He gave Israel the land to dwell in so they could create the nation that he wanted them to have. He sent them into exile whenever they rebelled. He brought them back because of his promise to reestablish them in the land. And that’s where we ended last week.
It’s a story that shows that God is faithful even when humanity is not. And I absolutely love reading and studying the Old Testament. I just absolutely love it. But to be honest, to be completely honest, when I read the Old Testament, I get to the end, I feel like the Old Testament ends on a little bit of a down note. Like, it just sort of ends at a point. I mean, after the exile, you have this group that God had sent his people into waiting in exile, and he brought them back, but as he brings them back, they’re just kind of this ragtag group of people. It’s not even all of them. Just some of them come back and they come back to this bombed out city of Jerusalem. They have to rebuild it. It’s just filled with rubble. They actually have to rebuild the walls. I mean, they have this temple, where it is, it’s just not really what the other one was, and it’s just very disappointing in all of that. And it’s honestly unclear about what’s going to happen next.
The story of the Old Testament just ends with, they’re there. That’s it. You’ve got this epic journey that kind of has, honestly, a bleak ending and it’s very unfulfilling. But here’s kind of the most troubling part of all of that: when you get to the end, at least for me, I have this feeling—I’m going to come back to the feeling part of this in a second—but I have this feeling like God’s just kind of given up on them. Like, he’s lost interest or God just wasn’t able to fulfill the promises that he made. Israel has been through the ringer, and the story just ends as if it’s kind of stalled.
Now, of course, from our vantage point in history, we’re able to look not just backward at it, but we’re kind of able to look at it from a vertical angle, like look down on history. And we see that even though we had that feeling, God, of course, was working and God was actually doing that.
But in the midst of the closing pages of the Old Testament, God sends this group of people called the prophets to Israel, to his people, to deliver the message of hope to them. And as that, the Old Testament fades into that darkness, we see that the prophets sort of light these flickers of hope that show exactly how God will fulfill his promises, even though it might feel as if he isn’t.
Now, before we jump into, we’re only thinking about the prophets this morning. Let’s pause just for a little bit and think about this mysterious group of people we call the prophets, right? They’ve got crazy names, and you don’t really know what to do with them. The best way that I can describe the prophets, if you’ve read through them, is the prophets are like the crazy uncle who shows up at Thanksgiving. Every family has this, right? They show up uninvited, they’re unannounced. They look really out of place, right? And they say things that make everyone uncomfortable. They bring up topics that nobody wants to talk about at Thanksgiving, right? They’re talking about politics, this, that, they’re talking about the boyfriend you used to have, you know, all that sort of stuff that makes you really uncomfortable. They do weird things. And then they just disappear. And you’re like, where’s Uncle Jack at? I don’t know. He was here. He’s gone now. We don’t know how he came, left, whatever that is. Right? That’s how we think of it.
Now, that’s what the prophets remind me of. And by the way, if you’re thinking to yourself right now, you know, my family doesn’t really have a crazy uncle, it’s probably you. So, just know that, right? A little self-awareness there.
But we just kind of don’t know what to do with the prophets, except don’t make eye contact and just keep walking, because then we can get to Matthew, and that’s where things start to make sense, right? But in reality, the prophets serve this incredibly vital role in the life of the nation of God’s people in that they delivered these messages to his people in truly difficult circumstances.
And so before we get into what their message actually was, I just want to give you just very briefly some tips on how to understand and engage and really read the prophets so that you don’t just have to walk by and act like they’re not there.
So let me give you just a couple of lists here real quick. The first list is this: What are some guidelines? Four guidelines for understanding the message of the prophets? These are just four things to keep in mind.
The first one is this: There is an immediate context. The prophets spoke God’s message to real people in real circumstances in real time. That there was something going on that God said, I need to deliver a message to you. So when you read these, always look and see, try to figure out, it’s not always super easy, right? But sometimes you need to know what that actual context was. Figure out what that context is. That’ll help you understand what’s going on.
The second tip is this: You have to remember that the prophets used what I call conflated timelines. Here’s what it is: The prophets liked to talk about, this is God’s message for today and moving forward. Now, you’re going to have to conceptualize something here. When we think about history, right, we think history is moving forward, and the prophets, when they talked about, they talked about some specific events coming up in the future. But from the prophet’s perspective of looking straight into history, these events sort of stacked on top of one another. It’s like this event is going to happen then this event’s going to happen, then this event’s going to happen. And these events kind of get bigger as you go along. But what they didn’t realize is that there are time gaps between those events.
It’s like this: The first time I remember the first time I drove west from St. Louis, and we were going out to Colorado. And you drive through Kansas and you’re like, okay, let’s just get this over with, so we can see the mountains, right? And then you cross the border into Colorado, and you’re like, where are the mountains? They’re not here. You still have hours to go before you see the mountains in Colorado. But then you see these mountains, and you realize that the mountains, as you look at them going straight into them, mountain, mountain, mountain, and it looks like they’re all stacked right on top of each other. But the reality is that when you drive through that, you realize there’s sometimes hundreds of miles between these mountain peaks.
And that’s how the prophets looked at history. They said, here’s this event coming, and then here’s the next event, here’s the next event, here’s the next event, and they don’t show you the time gap between those events. They just show you, here’s the next mountain peak, if you will. They use this phrase “on that day” or “in that day” to talk about all of these events, which makes it kind of difficult sometimes.
A third tip to remember is that they have layered fulfillment. What I mean by that is what the prophet sometimes said, “Hey, this is, I’m going to give you a message that applies to today or this next event or the next event.” But then as time passed, especially the New Testament writers took those messages that they gave the people and said, you know what, that actually applies to more than one of these events. And I’m going to come back to those events in just a second. So you have to remember that sometimes they gave a message that had multiple applications.
And then last, they always had a consistent message: that despite all the mysteries surrounding the prophets, they delivered one consistent message to God’s people. And it was this: Stay close to God because he has a plan for your redemption. Stay close to God. There are things that God is working on that he’s going to bring about your redemption. You have to stay close to him to make that happen.
So those are just four tips.
Now let me give you just one other brief list, and I’m not going to talk about these for very much, but just here are the five events in the prophet’s timeline that as the prophets talked about things they use that phrase “in that day.” Here are the five events that they talked about. And sometimes they don’t always talk about these events in order; sometimes they mix them up. But here are the five events:
One is the exile. They told the people, like, God’s going to send you into exile because of your sin. The second event is the return from exile. We’re going to read one of those in just a minute. He said, how do we actually think about that? The third one was the first coming of Jesus. Then they also talked about the second coming, the beginning of the church, and then last is the second coming of Jesus. So the exile, return, first coming of Jesus, then the beginning of the church, and then the second coming of Jesus. Those are the events that the prophets talked about.
Now, let’s go back to that original question: How do the prophets show us how God fulfills his promises? Well, we’re going to use the prophet Isaiah as a pattern. And the prophet Isaiah lived during the southern time of the southern kingdom of Judah. He lived in a period where there was immense political turmoil, both inside and outside the nation. And they faced threats from every direction.
And this is the message of hope that Isaiah delivered to his people, but it’s a pattern for all the message of the prophets. And it’s this:
Number one is that in the near, God is with us. And I know that’s grammatically incorrect. My spell check did not like it all week long. But in the near, God is with us. In 734 BC, the nation of Judah is surrounded. They’ve got the nation of Israel coming against them. They also have the nation of Syria, and they wanted them to join this coalition against another looming threat, the Assyrians. And so, there, they’ve got Jerusalem surrounded. And King Ahaz is king of Judah.
Now, King Ahaz is spiritually worthless, right? He just has no spiritual bone in his body. And he is freaking out because his nation is surrounded. And this is the message that Isaiah delivers to him. Isaiah chapter 7, starting in verse 10: “And the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask for a sign of the Lord your God, let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as the heaven.” And Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Here then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. You’ve heard this: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat curds and honey, and when he knows how to refuse good from evil, for when the boy knows how to refuse evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.”
So God tells Ahaz, like, you’re worried about it. Let me tell you. Here it is. I’m going to be with you, and here’s the sign. There’s going to be a young woman who has a child, and by the time this child is old enough to know right from wrong, a few years in the future, the nations that you’re worried about are going to be long gone. That’s the message of hope.
Now, again, we know that the New Testament writers took that as a sign of something that happened later on as well, too. But I love this. The sign is, God is with you and here it is. You know the name of the child is Emmanuel. And you know the name that that name means: God is with us.
The sign was that God is going to be with us, and this child is proof that that happens.
In the near, the problems right outside your door, the problems of today and tomorrow, God chose Ahaz. You know what? I’m going to keep my promises to you. And I’m going to fulfill my promises because I am with you right now.
But a second message that the prophets give us is this: And in the near, God is with us, and in the far, God is with us.
Isaiah continued to deliver God’s message to Judah, and he looked further into the future. He said, there is going to be an exile and it’s going to be difficult. And it is going to seem like God is not keeping his promise to you. But then this is the message that he delivers. Isaiah chapter 10, just turn over one page.
Isaiah chapter 10, starting in verse 20: “In that day,” that day is the return from exile. “In that day, the remnant of Israel, and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but he will lean on the Lord, the holy one of Israel, and truth. A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. For though your people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of all the earth.”
“In that day” is the key. A remnant shall return.
God’s promises are not going to evaporate during the exile. His promises won’t be forgotten when his people are in Babylon. See, God is working not only today, but God is working in the far away.
And then the third message that Isaiah has is: In the near, God is with us. In the far, God is with us. And in the distant, God is with us.
Looking so far into the distant future, Isaiah tells Judah that God will eventually fulfill his promises to redeem all of humanity, to right the world, to bring people into his plan, as he calls it, in the latter days.
Let me read several verses here for you. Chapter 9, verse 2. Isaiah 9:2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them, the light has shone.”
And then skip down to verse six: “For us, to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and it shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, the prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. And on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
And then flip over to chapter 52, verse 7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.”
Isaiah reminded the people. He reminded God’s people that even though it seems like God may have lost interest in you, he, in fact, is working so far into the distant future that it’s hard to even imagine. But the promise is still there. God is with us in the distant future. He will fulfill his promises. In fact, God will bring a child into the world, and he will sit on the throne of David, and he will bring the world back to the place where creation and humanity were meant to be.
I love verse 7 of chapter 52. I love it because the Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Romans chapter 10 about the gospel that Isaiah was talking so far in the future that Paul says, remember what Isaiah was talking about? That’s about the good news of the gospel.
See, these are the days of good news. These are the days of the son being born. These are the days of the coming of the king.
Now, if you’re like me, you have days where you feel like the people at the end of the Old Testament. You have days where you feel like, you know what? I’ve been through the ringer. My life has just been wrung out, and honestly, I don’t see how God is making sense of anything that is going on in my life right now. I felt like that.
Have you ever felt like you’ve made a mess of your life? And you think that maybe God has just lost interest in you? You’re like, you know, I have messed up so much that I am beyond help. There’s no way God could be interested in me. Or maybe you’re just to the point in your life when you’re waiting, and you’re waiting to see what God has for you next, and you’re waiting and you’re waiting, and you’re still waiting. That’s how the people felt at the end of the Old Testament.
God had made these promises, and God had worked in their lives, and God said, I’m working. I’m working in the near. I’m working today, I’m working tomorrow. And the problems that you are concerned about right now, I am with you. And in the far away, I am with you. And in the distant future, I am with you.
You see, God is working in your life. He is working today. He is working tomorrow. He is working far away, and he is working in the future.
So if you feel like, you know, God just has given up on me, I’ve messed up so much that God could never bring me back to a place where I’m valued or loved, I want to tell you that’s not true. It may feel like that. You may feel like God’s people at the end of the Old Testament. You may feel like God has just sort of left the room. But God sent the prophets. And the prophet said, God is with us now. And God will be with us. And God will be with us as far as you can possibly imagine. The king is coming. And that is a day of good news.
Amen. Amen.
Let’s pray. Father, thank you so much. Thank you for your message of hope. And even though it feels like, and it seems like, you may have given up on us, Father, even though it feels like you’ve lost interest, it’s just a feeling. We know that’s not the truth. Father, we know that you have worked in the past, and we know that you are working today, and we know that you will continue to work in the future. Father, thank you for the message of the prophets. Thank you that the king has come, and thank you that the king will come again. Amen.
Start the Conversation