PITP #01

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned... The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:1-3)

Why does God answer a prophecy of coming judgment with one word — comfort?

A Stirring to Understand the Prophets

Over the last several years, the Lord has stirred in me a desire to understand the prophetic passages of Scripture. When I returned from Germany in 2005, I began teaching at the Home Fellowship in Valley Center, and we went through the minor prophets, one a week. As we read certain passages, my mind started going — sometimes keeping me up at night — because what we were reading looked an awful lot like what is going on in our world today.

Then the director of the Bible College in Murrieta asked me to teach through the book of Isaiah. I had never taught one of the prophetic books, and Isaiah is the king of them — you'd normally start with something like Haggai. But Dave Shirley asked, so I dug deep, and I was amazed at the correlations between Isaiah and what we see in the world today. I've now taught through Isaiah four times, finishing the fourth time this last Tuesday, and every time the Lord shines light on new passages.

God Has Not Changed, and He Still Speaks

Malachi 3 says, "I am the LORD, I change not." The Old Testament God is not different from the New Testament God; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He spoke very clearly in times past, and He still speaks — and He wants us to listen. He has chosen to speak primarily through His Word, so He wants us to study to show ourselves approved, workmen and workwomen who rightly divide His Word of truth.

I know many of you are interested in the last days — what the Word says for us living in 2008, with Israel having become a nation 60 years ago, taking Jerusalem in 1967, and the growing alliance between Iran, Russia, and radical Islamic nations. There are tons of books connecting these things to Scripture, and there clearly is much going on that comes straight from words God spoke 2,700 years ago through Isaiah, or 2,500 years ago through Ezekiel, and others — Amos, Haggai, Obadiah. They saw events that wouldn't come to pass for thousands of years, and God wanted them written down so we would know what He is doing.

God Reveals Before He Acts

Amos 3:7 says, "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." God doesn't act just to catch us off guard; He wants us watching. When Jesus entered Jerusalem that final Palm Sunday, He wept over the city and said they should have known the time of their visitation. Because of the prophets who wrote hundreds of years before, they should have known He would come in on that very day — but they weren't watching.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus calls us to be watchful and ready — the parable of the wise virgins, the watchful servant who waits for the thief. The church needs to be awake, because 1 Thessalonians 5 says those who aren't watching will be taken like a thief in the night, caught off guard. Nobody here wants to be caught off guard. We want to know what God is doing.

The Context Behind Isaiah 40: King Hezekiah

This passage in Isaiah 40 — "Comfort my people... her warfare is accomplished" — won't make much sense without the context. To understand Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, or Obadiah, you have to read 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. The historical books shine a great light on the prophecies.

In 2 Kings 18 we meet the king ruling over Judah at this time. Remember, after Solomon and his son Rehoboam, civil war split the nation into a northern and a southern kingdom. The southern kingdom, Judah, had Jerusalem, the temple, and would produce the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Of all the kings of both kingdoms, only about ten were ever called good — a sad thing.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD... He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. (2 Kings 18:3-5)

Hezekiah became king at 25 and reigned 29 years. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the groves, and even broke up the bronze serpent Moses had made, which the people had begun to worship. He was, for all intents and purposes, a good king.

Fifteen More Years — and a Proud Heart

In Isaiah 38, near the end of his life, Hezekiah becomes deathly ill, and Isaiah comes and tells him, "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live." That's not the kind of news anyone in a hospital bed wants to hear. As Isaiah is leaving, Hezekiah cries out and prays, and the Lord tells Isaiah to return: "I have heard your prayer... I will add unto your days fifteen years." God graciously gave him fifteen more years.

But 2 Chronicles 32:25 says something interesting: "Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up." The New Living Translation puts it, "Hezekiah did not respond appropriately to the kindness that God showed to him," and he became proud.

We see this pride in Isaiah 39. An envoy from Babylon — including the king's son — visits Hezekiah after his healing. Babylon was a great city, and Hezekiah felt privileged, as if the president had called wanting dinner. He was so glad that he showed them everything: the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious ointment, his entire armory, all his treasures. There was nothing he did not show them.

"Peace in My Days": Compromise and Coming Judgment

Then Isaiah came and asked what they had seen. Hezekiah said, "All... they have seen." And Isaiah delivered the word of the Lord:

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house... shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left... And of thy sons that shall issue from thee... shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. (Isaiah 39:6-7)

Notice Hezekiah's response: "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken." But the original reveals he then thought in his heart, "For there shall be peace and truth in my days." Hezekiah had become compromised and indifferent. His own grandchildren would be carried into Babylon, but he comforted himself that at least it wouldn't happen on his watch.

With this, the focus of Isaiah's prophecy shifts. From chapters 1 through 39 the threat was Assyria — and the Lord had protected Jerusalem, destroying 185,000 of the Assyrian army in a single night. But now, with Hezekiah's pride, the threat becomes Babylon. It won't happen for another 115 years, which is why Hezekiah says, in effect, "Everything will be okay in my days." That is the context of Isaiah 40: coming judgment.

How God Comforts a People Facing Judgment

Imagine being told that this entire nation you love is going to be completely destroyed — the White House, the Capitol, everything in New York, all our security gone. And then the very next thing God says is, "Comfort." Speak comfort to my people. It seems out of place, even mismatched. How can God comfort someone He has just told He will judge?

Here is how. God comforts His people not by removing the judgment but by reorienting their focus past it:

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD... And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. (Isaiah 40:3, 5)

That voice crying in the wilderness is John the Baptist. Yes, 115 years later the nation would be devastated, the temple destroyed, the gold carried to Babylon. But after that would come a great restoration — a messenger preparing the way for the Lord Himself. The way God comforted a people facing destruction was to show them that on the other side of the trial was something far greater: the joy of the Messiah. Remember Amos 3:7 — He does nothing without revealing it to His servants the prophets. He did not want His people taken unaware.

Predictive Prophecy: The Best Evidence of Inspiration

It has been said that a third of Scripture is prophecy — predictive in nature, history written in advance, telling us what will happen before it happens. I believe this is the best evidence of the divine inspiration of Scripture. It reveals God's omniscience and omnipotence, that He is outside of time and space, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. In Isaiah 44 God asks what other god, what other idol, can tell you the end from the beginning. There is none.

A little more than half of biblical prophecy has already been fulfilled, with 300 prophecies fulfilled in Christ at His first coming. In Isaiah 13–23, God speaks judgment against nine nations — Moab, Assyria, Philistia, Babylon — and today those nations no longer exist, because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. But in Isaiah 24, God speaks of a judgment coming on the entire earth that has not yet happened. The fact that 13–23 was fulfilled assures us that chapter 24 will be. God will make good on what He said.

When Prophecy Gets Heavy, the Word Is Still "Comfort"

When you read Isaiah 24, Ezekiel 38–40, Revelation, Joel 3, Matthew 24, or Luke 17, the apocalyptic judgments can feel heavy, even frightening. You can begin to grow anxious. What is the word to us? The same word God gave 2,700 years ago to people facing difficulty: comfort.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians, who feared they had missed the Lord's coming, and after describing His return says:

Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

Isaiah comforted Israel with the certainty of the Messiah's first coming; we are comforted with the certainty of His second coming. Jesus says the same in Luke 21:28: "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Over the coming weeks we'll look at many prophetic passages, and I want you to hold onto that word — comfort. The comfort is found in the predictive promise that He will come again and establish His kingdom.

If We Believe It, It Should Change How We Live

Our belief should affect our behavior. If we believe these things will come to pass, it should change how we think, view the world, and treat people. Paul says in Romans 13:11-14 that, knowing the time, it is high time to awake out of sleep, to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh.

John says it too: "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). And Peter, in 2 Peter 3:10-14, after describing the day of the Lord coming as a thief, asks, "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Three times he urges us to be "looking for" His appearing. If we believe these things, our lives should be radically changed.

The Danger of Complacency

My concern is that Jesus warned of many in the last days who will scoff, "Where is the promise of his coming?" Paul warned Timothy of those who depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. There are corners of the church today saying there is no more prophecy left to be fulfilled. The preterists claim every prophecy, even Christ's return, was fulfilled in 70 AD — that we're already living in the kingdom age. How sad.

When Charlie Campbell spoke here on the emergent church, you may recall many in that movement hold a social-justice gospel precisely because they believe there is no more prophecy to fulfill — so our job becomes bringing about righteousness through good works. Those works can be good, but Scripture is clear: He will come again. Those who lose this hope become like Hezekiah — complacent and uncaring. I am a literal futurist; I believe these prophecies will be literally fulfilled in the future, and I am looking forward to His coming, like a bride making herself ready.

The Witness of the Heavens

There are amazing things happening in the world. The rabbis say coincidence isn't kosher, and I don't believe in coincidence. Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God"; day unto day they utter speech, and there is no language where their voice is not heard. Paul says in Romans 1 that man is without excuse, for the invisible things of God are clearly seen in what He has made.

Two thousand years ago the Magi of the east, astronomers, recognized something in the cosmos and identified that the King of the Jews had been born. They followed that star — possibly for up to two years, which is why Herod killed children up to two years old — all the way to Bethlehem. How did they know? The heavens declared the glory of God.

From the Stars to Babel — and Back to God

How did the Magi know? Consider the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. When you study it, the tower wasn't mainly about height reaching the stars — it was a tower for observing the stars. They were astronomers. Ancient Arabic peoples say they received star-knowledge from Seth, the son of Adam, who received it from Enoch, who walked with God. God created the constellations to speak to man, but at Babel man stopped looking at the stars for what they said about God and began looking to them for what they might say about himself. That perversion became astrology — always man twisting it so it's about me rather than God.

E. W. Bullinger's 1893 book The Witness of the Stars shows that every major ancient civilization knows the same twelve constellations, each with three adjoining constellations — 48 in all — with the same pictures attached. Why? Because they all originally learned them from the same source, the Lord, before that knowledge was perverted at Babel and scattered with the dispersed nations.

Consider Revelation 12, where a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, is with child. That actually corresponds to the Feast of Trumpets, when the constellation Virgo — the virgin — is shrouded in the sun with the moon at her feet, and she brings forth a son, the desire of all nations. Next week, since we're out of time, we'll look at the second coming in the stars, and two weeks from tonight we'll watch the Bethlehem Star video showing the scientific data of what the Magi actually saw. I've set the hook — we'll see if you're here.

Comfort to the Believer, Warning to the Unbeliever

What is the purpose of all this? That one word from Isaiah 40 — comfort. "Comfort one another with these words." To the believer it is a comfort. To the unbeliever it is the scariest thing in the world, and it should be. We know the Lord will return with ten thousands of His saints, and we will return with Him. But the unbeliever will watch Him return and that should be a terrifying thing. So if you feel uncomfortable as we speak of these things, that may be a good sign — an indication that you need to turn to the God who made you and repent.

God still speaks. Are we listening? Throughout Revelation 2 and 3 we read, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." God wants us to listen. Next week we'll look further into what the Scriptures have to say.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You that You have promised to reveal to us what You are going to do before You do it. You don't want us to be ignorant, caught off guard, taken unaware like a thief in the night. You want us ready, waiting, watching, and expecting Your soon return. And Lord, even though it has been 2,000 years, You are not taking Your time; You are not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We thank You for Your mercy in not returning yet. But we know You have an appointed day, committed into Your hands, just as Jesus said the Father knows the day. You desire that we look forward to Your soon return. We are not ignorant of the times and seasons; the day or hour we may not know, but Lord, we say, come quickly. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.