Isaiah 40:1-2

We're going to be in Isaiah chapter number 40

this week and again I do ask for your patience

and grace with me and my voice. If I have to

take a break to take a sip of water just pause

your

attention and then pick right up when I when I

start back up and I'll do the the best I can

to

keep on track here. We're in Isaiah chapter 40

and we're going to be looking at the first two

verses

of this chapter the beginning of what is

called the book of comfort in Isaiah excuse me

God's word says comfort oh comfort my people

says your God speak kindly to Jerusalem and

call out to

her that her warfare has ended that her iniqu

ity has been removed that she is received of

the Lord's

hand double for all her sins let's pray

Heavenly Father we do pray that you'd bless

the rest of

our service today bless the preaching of your

word for the grace to your people and for the

glory of

your name bless your message in spite of the

messenger and may we do everything in your

name

today in Christ's name amen all right so I do

have an interesting problem now that that I've

started preaching um the last Sunday of of

every month and I decided that what it would

be a good

idea for us to balance you know Philip goes

through New Testament books and I've started

to go through

Old Testament books and see but the reason

that I decided to do that was is I thought is

I think

it's important for us to see that the Bible is

a whole book that the Old Testament and the

New

Testament um are are a complete uh idea and

they tell a complete story from beginning to

end and

so as we go through the different passages and

in the Old Testament that I go through the

different

divisions the the first five books uh are the

called the Pentateuch and then they have the

historical books like First Kings and Chron

icles and Ezra and Nehemiah they have the

poetic books

like Ecclesiastes Psalms Job and then they

have the prophet so every time I preach I try

to go

through a different one of those books now

what I want you to think about when we we talk

about

this and the reason that I repeat myself

almost every month is is a general rule if you

're a

preacher that seeks to preach God's word and

the whole counsel of God as as Paul calls it

you do

like what Philip does you go to Ephesians and

start in verse number one and you keep going

through

until you get to the end of chapter number six

so um but because of of how it works I do once

a

month and I want to kind of give a broad

overview of Old Testament books I don't have

the opportunity

to do that and you can see why he does that

why Philip does that and why it's a good idea

to

because the books build on themselves Paul has

a message in Ephesians and when you get to Eph

esians

four it's very helpful to have gone through

chapters one through three to see what he's

talking about

in Ephesians four we're not just trying to to

get some idea that we're trying to portray we

're trying

to see what Paul wrote through the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit in his word and get that

message

into our bones and into our marrow and the

amazing thing is that you can do that you can

get into

the nitty gritty of Ephesians and see the

remarkable truths there and those truths as

you go through

other books even in the Old Testament that

were written thousands of years before those

same

truths will be brought up in those books but

in in seed form there's an overarching story

that goes

from the beginning to the end and the reason

that is is because the Bible was the the the

authoring of the Bible was super intended by

God the Holy Spirit and then all those 40

different

authors over 2000 years from kings to cowher

ders like Amos to scholars like Paul to doctors

like

Luke different all kinds of different type of

men over 2000 years and there is this one

coherent story and that that's the the big

deal and that's why the opportunity that I

have here

to go to the Old Testament and I want to show

the the connections between the the beginning

of the story in the Old Testament to the to

what Philip's been teaching in John and in

Acts and

Romans and Ephesians and all those different

books it's really a great privilege for me

to to be able to do that and it really is

amazing to me that I have this opportunity so

I do

appreciate y'all and appreciate God for that

and so they are connected from the beginning

and to the end and so that's why so many times

the beginning of these sermons I have to go

into

history and geography and all these things

because we're just dropping down into the

middle of Isaiah

40 instead of going from verse chapter one to

chapter 39 before we get to it but because

that the story is connected we can still do

that and be accurate because we you know we've

gone

through the Abrahamic covenant and that where

God promised that that God would create a

people

from Abraham and give him a land and that he

would bless all those that bless him and curse

all those

that curse Abraham and in that story of the

covenant God reckoned Abraham's faith as

righteousness so

that the gospel in seed form was there we've

gone through judges and we saw how over and

over again

even though they had all the benefits of of

the leadership of godly men before of Joshua

of Moses

that that the people still in their sin would

keep falling away and we see how they get up

and down and up and down through judges

through the kings and chronicles we've seen

how how David

the god made a covenant with David that um

that he would maintain his throne forever that

someone

would sit on David's throne forever and we saw

how that looked past the the temporary kingdom

of Israel and how what God was talking about

was a Messiah that would sit on a son of David

that would

be uh the the sit on the throne of God in God

's kingdom forever and so all that we've gone

through

from from the covenant of Abraham that we

talked about in Psalm 32 by the covenant of

David we've

gone through judges and then Joshua and and H

osea and all that is is all part of this one

coherent

story of redemption that goes through the Old

and New Testament from from the first book of

Genesis

to the last book of Revelation and so now as

we're parachuting into Isaiah 40 I have to

show

how that connects to the rest of it and and

how um the the first testament is connected to

the

second testament as one grand story of God

getting a people for himself to bring glory to

himself over

all of eternity so with all that being said

and you know next month when we get to a

another

part I may go to the rest of Isaiah 40 I might

say the same thing again I think it's so very

important for us to really get into our bones

that this is one great story of redemption

so let's look at these two verses begin Isaiah

chapter 40 in in context of how it fits into

that story and how it fits into the lives of

the Jewish people at the time so Isaiah was a

prophet prophets were were men and women who

who were chosen by God to to speak his word

to to to tell of judgment and justice to come

and tell of of the future but also to to call

the

people of God to account for what they were

doing and he lived during that part of of

Israel's history

where they were were divided we talked about

that in Sunday school that there was a

northern kingdom

of the 10 tribes and then the southern kingdom

of Judah where he prophesied mainly to the

kingdom

of Judah through the reigns of Uzziah Jotham

Ahaz and Hezekiah and so by the time we get to

chapter

40 we're in the reign of the last king that he

prophesied to Hezekiah and so at this point

the northern kingdom had already been captured

and exiled into Assyria. Assyria was a big

empire

at the time and they were taking over the

world and soon after Hezekiah a couple

generations later

the Babylonian empire would usurp the Assyrian

empire and and take Judah with them but we're

not

to that that point yet and then what's

important to note is these are all historical

events and

there's names in here in the in the book of

Isaiah of real kings and emperors of the time

of Sennacherib

and Nebuchadnezzar and all these men we can

point to them in history as real people and we

're finding

more and more truths matched in archaeology

with what we know from the the telling of

history from

the Old Testament and so if you've ever read

the the books of kings or chronicles you know

that there's always stories they they go

through the lives of these different kings and

then you

know he did right in the sight of the Lord or

or he followed after the sin of Jeroboam as we

learned

in in Sunday school you'll read that a lot

about the the northern kings and Hezekiah was

was one

of the more positive kings he had had he had

destroyed the idols of the king that was

before him

and and tried to to do what was right but in

in Isaiah chapter 38 Hezekiah fell under a

mortal

sickness he got sick unto death and in in

Isaiah 38 one through six it tells the story

of what

had happened in those days Hezekiah became

mortally ill and Isaiah the prophet the son of

Amos

came to him and said to him thus says the Lord

set your house in order for you shall die and

not live then Hezekiah turned his face to the

wall and prayed to the Lord and said remember

now Lord

I beseech you how I have walked before you in

truth and with a whole heart and have done

what

is good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitter

ly then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah

saying

go and say to Hezekiah thus says the Lord the

God of your father David I have heard your

prayer

I have seen your tears behold I will add 15

years to your life I will deliver you and in

this city

from the hand of the king of Assyria and I

will defend this city so God said that he

would spare

his life that he would live 15 years longer

and that Judah would not fall to Assyria but

as we

spoke before the Babylonian empire was coming

into into play and they were starting to

ascend and

power in the world and while the Assyrians

were still the king of the most of the empire

the

Babylonians were starting to to get power and

so after Hezekiah received the word that God

would

heal him and that he would live for another 15

years the king of Babylon sent an envoy

to Hezekiah to tell him you know that they

wished him well they sent him a present says

we're glad

you got better a little diplomatic mention

mission if you would but there was alternate

alternate uh mind frame that they had they

were we're sending spies to to see how big

the forces of of Judah were for for their

later military campaign so this envoy comes

and in Hezekiah's pride he shows them

everything he opens the temple and shows him

the wealth of

of Judah he opens the armory and shows him how

many chariots they have and how many

horses they have and how many weapons they

have and and just shows them everything

because he was

bragging he's like man this king of Babylon

this thinks so much of me he sent an envoy

over here

with a present and sees how I was doing so he

was showing off how good he was as king and

and how much

they were prospering so Isaiah came to him and

said who who was that who just came he said

what was the

envoy the Babylonians what did you show them I

showed him everything so in chapter 39 so 38

he

gets sick he prays he cries and God hears him

it says you won't be taken over by Assyria and

this

happens in chapter 39 and in Isaiah 39 5

through 7 it says then Isaiah said to Hezekiah

hear the

word of the lord of hosts behold the days are

coming when all that is in your house and all

that your fathers have laid up in store to

this day will be carried to Babylon everything

that they

just saw is going to be their booty nothing

will be left says the Lord and some of your

sons who

will issue from you whom you will be get will

be taken away and they will become officials

in the

palace of the king of Babylon now put

yourselves into the shoes of the people that

are involved

here Hezekiah thought he had it going on and

now Isaiah has to come and tell him the the

bad news

and I just how deflated that he must be well

it turns out when he heard that he wouldn't

see that it was his kids he said oh it's all

good but but being the prophet of God can you

imagine

being Isaiah and having to be the one to

always tell the bad news to tell him hey you

know Judah

is going to fall there's going to be thousands

killed and they're going to be taken into

exile

and slavery to another nation and and they're

going to fall and and over and over again he

did

this for four kings for years told them of God

's judgment on Israel if if you look at

Jeremiah

he had even harder ministry with harder news

and and he was punished and thrown into the

Myrie pits for his prophecies of doom and

judgment that he brought to the kings and if

you read the

book of Lamentations you just see how how hard

he took it how how hard a time he had

emotionally

having to do that but he kept going and kept

preaching because that's what God told him to

do

and so now Isaiah has to again go to King He

zekiah and say doom and judgment and pain and

death

and slavery are coming on to you so with that

that is the background of our passage today

those were the last verses of chapter 39 and

now we come right into Isaiah 40 verses one

and two

and Isaiah had the pain of teaching and

telling of just judgment but he also gets the

glory for

several chapters after this of telling of how

God is is going to give comfort and grace and

mercy Isaiah 41 through 2 we'll read it again

comfort of comfort my people says your God

speak

kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that

her warfare has ended that her iniquity has

been removed

that sin has received the Lord's hand double

for all or excuse me that she has received the

Lord's

hand double for all her sins and so we see a

division here we see chapter 39 I believe

verse

number eight and then it's chapter 40 and we

go into verse one so chapters and verses were

put

there to make it easy for us to to find places

when we're going I could tell you to go to

Isaiah

chapter 40 verse one and we don't have to keep

searching in our Bibles with no markers but

the

problem with chapters and verses is that they

weren't there originally originally you

stopped

reading at the end of his prophecy of doom in

chapter 39 and it goes right in to comfort

comfort me my people says God so there's no

division there and so God prophesies judgment

and with no separation right after that he

prophesies grace and mercy and peace and so

this is

this is the benefit that we have as we get to

zoom over all of of world history and all of

the

story and of scripture and we can see the

judgment and then we can see the comfort

that God has provided for his people and so

all of us everywhere have to every one of us

every

man and woman have to rest in the comfort that

God provides through his promises the first

way

we can see that in verse number one is by

trusting in his word verse number one is very

short comfort

oh comfort my people says your God and so 39

chapters like we said of judgment and pain and

and Isaiah calling out the the sins of Israel

and Judah and and look it starts right at the

beginning if you go to Isaiah chapter one we

'll read a couple verses there and this is this

is

chapter one verse one it says this is Isaiah

the prophet son of Emmaus and then verse two

says listen

oh heavens and hero earth for lord speaks sons

I have reared and brought up but they have

revolted

against me an ox knows its owner and a donkey

its master's manger but Israel does not know

my

people do not understand all alas sinful

nation people weighed down with iniquity

offspring of

evildoers sons who act corruptly they have

abandoned the lord they have despised the holy

one of

Israel they have turned away from him where

will you be stricken again as you continue in

your

rebellion the whole head is sick and the whole

heart is faint from the sole of the foot even

to

the head there is nothing sound in it only bru

ises and welts and raw wounds not pressed out

or bandaged

nor softened with oil your land is desolate

your cities are burned with fire your fields

strangers

are devouring them in your presence in his des

olation as overthrown by strangers the daughter

of Zion

is left like a shelter and a vineyard like a

watchman's hut in a cucumber field like a bes

ieged

city lest the lord of hosts had left us a few

survivors we would be like Sodom we would be

like Gomorrah and over and over again for 39

chapters God calls out their wickedness and

calls out doom and judgment on them and then

we get to chapter 40 which is called the the

book of

comfort so he he prophesies judgment but at

the same time he prophesies a future comfort

to both

of those things judgment and comfort our

future when Isaiah prophesies that and so I I

like to

think about these these old testament prophe

cies like you're standing in a valley and and

you're

looking up at mountains and and you see one

mountain but behind that there's an even

bigger

mountain kind of covered by the the first

mountain but you can see the peaks over it so

once you get

to that first mountain and get over it that

next mountain right behind it and so many

times it's a

helpful way to look at the prophecies in the

old testament you can't see the whole picture

the whole

story you just have to live through it and go

through it and that's what they do they would

go

through the future judgment the right behind

the mountain of future judgment there was an

even greater

future comfort that would come so look let's

look closely at what he's saying in verse one

comfort oh comfort my people says your god now

comfort here is used as a verb god is is

commanding

that those that are speaking his prophecy to

to not just speak judgment but to speak

comfort he

there he's commanding them to bring comfort to

his people he is looking forward to god's

people

being exiled in Babylon under the weight of

his just judgment but he's looking through

that into

a future of great comfort and peace knowing

that that god won't leave them there in that

judgment

that they will be tempted to think that god

has abandoned them to this great doom in

Babylon

but all through that time they are to be

looking forward to a future coming of peace

and rest

and comfort just as sure as the judgment will

happen that the comfort will happen so if god

fulfills his word of their judgment by taking

them into Babylon they can know for sure as

well

that god will give them peace in the future

after that and the history of his people as

they return

from their exile and the the great history of

the story of redemption that god has given us

through

the old testament we see that the future proph

esied comfort was given in his son

jesus christ and truly the rest of this

chapter is a prophecy that isaia gives of john

the

baptist who would come before that final

comfort would come in jesus but isaia just

again put

yourself in his shoes he's hearing these words

from the the holy spirit to prophesy to these

people

but he doesn't even know the full story he

doesn't even know exactly what he means or

when this is

going to happen or how this is going to happen

and peter brings this out in in first peter

chapter one

he says as to the salvation as to this

salvation the prophets who prophesied of the

grace that would

come to you made careful searches and inqu

iries seeking to know what person or time the

spirit of

christ within them was indicating as he

predicted the sufferings of christ and the gl

ories to follow

it was revealed to them that they were not

serving themselves but you in these things

which now have

been announced to you through those who preach

the gospel to you by the holy spirit sent from

heaven

things into which angels long to look so we

have the privilege of being on this side

looking back

at how it all worked out we can see how

history played out with the with the jews in

their exile

into Babylon and and and then as they came

back into Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple in

the city

and that laid and paid the foundation for how

the fullness of time would come and christ

would come

the messiah into his people and and give him

that grace we have the benefit of looking back

and having

2020 vision but isaia himself didn't even

understand all of the things that he was

writing and how

they would work out peter says that they would

write it down and then would go back and read

it

over and over again trying to figure out how

this is all going to work out they didn't have

the the

same privileges that we do here on the corner

of hooper and love it in 2025 we have the

whole

revealed word of god to see how god works

everything out and what what a comfort that is

he didn't leave them there in the pain of that

judgment but he gave them true hope the same

true hope that we have as we look through the

judgment to come and we can see that no matter

what we go through in this life we have true

comfort on the other side of it the end of

chapter 40 explains this concept to us verse

27 says why do you say oh jakeb and assert oh

israel

my way is hidden from the lord and the justice

do me escapes the notice of my god do you not

know

have you not heard the everlasting god the

lord the creator of the ends of the earth

does not become weary or tired his

understanding is inscrutable he gives strength

to the weary

and to him who lacks might he increases power

through though youths grow weary and tired and

vigorous young men stumble badly yet those who

wait for the lord will gain new strength they

will mount up with wings like eels they will

run and not get tired they will walk and not

become weary because god has showed in the

truth and as they trust in the the truth of

the future

prophecy of comfort they have strength to go

through whatever happens next god knows what

he's doing

and every single one of us who trust him will

see what he is doing and and turn that into

praise

and glory to him you know simian in the the

gospel of of luke um was a man who who knew

what this meant

and it's such a great story luke said of sim

ian and luke 225 he said and there was a man in

jerusalem whose name was simian and this man

was righteous and devout looking for the

consolation

of israel and the holy spirit was upon him

that phrase the consolation of israel

is actually coming from the prophecy that we

read this morning in 40 verse one comfort

comfort yi mai people the word consolation is

just kind of how the the new testament

translated this passage so simian was looking

to this prophecy of comfort for god's people

and looking for the messiah to come that would

bring the consolation of israel and so one day

joseph and mary um had baby jesus and eight

days after baby jesus was born it would go to

the temple

and the the baby would be circumcised and

there were certain offerings that you had to

give for

the first born male of the family and and as

they they they came out they came across this

man's

simian now god had told simian in a prophecy

that he wouldn't die before he saw the consol

ation of

israel and messiah of the christ and so when

that when when joseph and mary came out of the

temple

with baby jesus simian said this in chapter

two verse 29 now lord you are releasing your

bond

servant to depart in peace according to your

word for my eyes have seen your salvation

which you

have prepared in the presence of all peoples a

light of revelation to the Gentiles and the

glory

of your people israel his he saw the consol

ation of israel this comfort that isaia wrote

about

simian saw face to face and baby jesus and and

the lord was able to take him and he went in

peace

after that and so that's the same comfort that

we look to today but instead of looking

forward

as the old testament saints had to we get to

look back and see how god worked it all out

for his glory and his great plan of salvation

that's how we find true comfort by trusting in

god's word

just like isaia did and just like simian did

we also find true comfort in god by trusting

in what he has done look at verse number two

to speak kindly to jesus and call out to her

that her warfare has ended that her iniquity

has been removed that she has received the

lord's hand

double for all her sins when isaia through the

inspiration of the holy spirit wrote these

words down it seems like he used the wrong

tense look at the the verbs with me again in

verse two

speak kindly to jesus and call out to her that

her warfare has ended that her iniquity has

been

removed that she has received the lord's hand

double for all her sins so the grammar here is

wrong he's writing of a future judgment and

then following that a future comfort but he's

writing

these in a past perfect tense has been has

ended has been removed has received and this

is a special

tense that the the hebrew has that we call the

the prophetic future so he's writing these

like

they have already happened because it's a

prophecy from almighty god who in his prov

idence makes all

things work out towards his will and so if he

says it it's as if it already happened it just

hasn't worked out in time yet and and we we we

can see that all throughout the the old

testament

this called the prophetic future tent if you

're a grammar nerd but but it's so sure that

they will

happen they're written like they already have

god has spoken through his prophet and it's as

sure

as if it already happened that their warfare

has ended that their iniquity has been removed

that that that they've paid double for that

they've been double for their

iniquity his word is sure and his promises are

good forever because he spoke it and he cannot

lie so he tells isa to comfort his people by

speaking to them kindly as it says here and

that

that speaking kindly means to speak to the

heart so if you if you look at that it that's

what it

it literally means in the hebrew speak to the

heart boas spoke to to ruth this way as she

said in

ruth 2 13 i have found favor in your sight my

lord for you have comforted me and indeed have

spoken

kindly or spoken to the heart of your maid

servant though i am not like one of your maid

servants

and hosea spoke to his his wayward wife um go

mer uh after she had wandered from him and went

back

to her prostitution hosea 2 14 says therefore

behold i will allure her bring her into the

wilderness

and speak kindly or or speak to her heart so

so christ when the the weight of the the truth

of

of his holiness comes upon us and then the

weight of the truth of our unholiness and our

our sin and

the deserving judgment and justice that that

we deserve christ doesn't speak to us as a

judge

he speaks to his people as a a one who speaks

tenderly he speaks to our hearts he he calls

unto us to come and says hey i've paid for

your sin come to me matthew 11 shows exactly

this christ

was was prophesying to chorisen and to side on

to to beth side and says woe to you chorisen

woe

to you beth side i've done all these miracles

in you and you still don't have faith uh he

compares

them to sodom and gemora i mean he looks

around at the people with him and says look if

you believe

he says in verse 11 28 he says come to me all

who are weary and heavy laden i will give you

rest he he speaks tenderly to them even with

the deserving judgment that they're seeing in

front

of them he he speaks to their hearts he calls

us with his tender words and tells us the

truth

about his future comfort so let's see how how

he does that in the last part of this verse

he says call out to her in verse two that her

warfare has ended that her iniquity has been

removed that she has received of the lord's

hand double for all her sins he says that her

warfare

has ended and if you're looking at your your

nasb bible um there's a little number two

superscripted

by warfare and if you look at that annotation

look for number two on the bottom of the page

it'll say or hard service that means they had

to make a decision in translating this and

they

translated it warfare but it could also mean

hard service so before christ our life could

be described

as warfare as hard service as as as a slave to

to sin we worked hard at it job use the the

same word

here um to describe the pain of life on earth

in verse one of chapter seven is not man

forced to

labor that's the same word forced to labor on

earth and are not his days like the days of a

hired

man and don't you feel like that even even now

after christ you feel like man the day in and

the day

out that's why we have that future comfort to

look forward to that's exactly how paul

describes

life of all of us before christ whether you

were into major sin or whether you were into

just

doing religion your own way and following a

bunch of rules and you look good on the

outside before

christ we are all like this ephesians two one

through three and you were dead in your tresp

asses

and sins and once you formally walked

according to the course of this world

according to the prince

of the power of the air of the spirit that is

now working in the sons of disobedience among

them we

too all formally lived in the lusts of our

flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and

of the mind

and whereby nature children of wrath even as

the rest there's no difference in us we were

all under

that hard service that all the all under the

warfare of a life outside of christ but in the

the future the prophetic future tense i say it

says that that warfare has ended the hard

service

is over phesians two four five but god being

rich in mercy because of his great love with

which he

loved us even when we were dead in our trans

gressions made us alive together with christ by

grace you

have been saved that warfare has ended in

christ then the second part the second thing

that has been

finished isaia tells them that their iniquity

has been removed man named alec moatier writes

this

about this part of the verse he said here's

the element of justice that lies behind the

word of

comfort how can the god of judgment in chapter

39 become the god of pardon and comfort not

just by

saying so for that would be to treat his

holiness as negotiable and sin as negligible

the verb paid

for is used the lord's pleasure and

particularly of the acceptance of the lord

according to to

excuse me particularly of the acceptance the

lord according to atoning sacrifices it

stresses

therefore not so much that the sacrifice

offered is sufficient to cover the sin

committed though

that has to be true also but that it satisfies

the requirements of the holy god there's that

that

word propitiation that word satisfaction our

iniquity has been removed removed because the

judgment and wrath of god has been satisfied

he takes pleasure in the the sacrifice of his

son

jesus christ and then this this problem where

god is holy and just and we are are sinful so

how

can he let us into his presence is what's

called the the great dilemma and paul explains

exactly

this in romans 3 21 he says but now apart from

the law the righteousness of god has been

manifested

being witnessed by the law and the prophets

even the righteousness of god through faith

in jesus christ for all those who believe for

there is no distinction for all have sinned

and

fall short of the glory of god being justified

as a gift by his grace through the redemption

which

is in christ jesus whom god displayed publicly

as a propitiation in his blood through faith

this was to demonstrate his righteousness

because in the in the forbearance of god

he passed over the sins previously committed

for the demonstration i say of his

righteousness at

the present time so that he would be just and

the justifier of the one who has faith in j

esus

in other words god was was right and just and

passing over the sins of those

those who came before christ by waiting on the

perfect and righteous sacrifice

that jesus christ would make that brought prop

itiation or sat or a satisfaction to god

for his holiness in spite of our sin and so

that's how god can remain just and at the same

time

justify us as sinners he is so very good that

our iniquities were ended and cleared and

removed

through the perfect sacrifice of jesus christ

and all the way back in the old testament

we have the same story here our iniquities are

ended or over or done with or cleared or

cleaned

and then if you go a couple chapters forward

to isaia 53 it describes the sacrifice and

propitiation that christ did for us all the

way in the old testament this very last part

of this

verse very interesting says that she has

received the lord's hand double for all her

sins so let's

look at the last part of that first double for

all her sins and when we hear double we think

of

twice as much we think of a double portion

like my son gets at dinner we think of of of

getting

more than what was there originally but the

word here is actually as it means to fold or

to double

over like in pain or in laughter to to to to

fold over a piece of paper so that it's it's

doubled

that the same word is used in in uh joe 11 6

he said and show you the secrets of wisdom for

sound

wisdom has two sides and literally that's for

sound wisdom is is doubled it's folded over

so there's different ways that this could be

interpreted and it's interesting to look at

all those but what i think because he uses the

word for for folded over that this alludes to

an ancient business practice that when you had

a debt that uh that you you paid off and you

made

the monthly payments for you paid all the

interest the the one who lent you the money

would take the

contract of that debt and he would double it

over and he would attach it to your door with

a nail

marked paid so everyone could see that you no

longer were under debt for that that money or

that

thing that you owed i think that's exactly

what he's talking about here that the picture

that he

is is trying to show this talks about that

that the debt of iniquity that we owe the lord

has

has doubled over the lord has showed that has

been paid off in jesus christ and this exact

same

picture is shown in collagens chapter two

verse 13 says when you were dead in your trans

gressions

and the uncircumcision of your flesh he made

you alive together with him having forgiven us

all our transgressions having cancelled out

the certificate of debt consisting of decrees

against

us which was hostile to us and he has taken it

out of the way having nailed it to the cross i

think

that's the same picture that isaia is trying

to go here this was a standard practice in in

those

days and then what he says they they received

it from the lord's hand double and this is

very

clear it was nothing because of the jews were

good people they obviously weren't they

deserve

judgment after judgment after wrath after

wrath they didn't just clean up their act and

and start

following the ten commandments all of a sudden

no they received this double payment this

doubled

payment this this cancelled contract debt paid

in full from the lord's hand and so we

find true comfort in the true god by trusting

in what god has done and then what was foresh

adowed

here in our passage today what he's done

through jesus christ so there's not a mean god

in the

old testament as you might have heard there's

this idea that there there's just a god of

judgment

and a god of wrath and the old testament and

then you get this lovey-dovey jesus of the the

new

testament there's not a separation wall

between the two two separate gods of two

separate

personalities or way acts towards people from

the very beginning of genesis to the last

first

of the revelation of john god has shown grace

and mercy and has taught the story of

redemption and

worked it out through so many ways and through

his own people in jerusalem and the things

that

happened to them isaiah was speaking of the

the forthcoming judgment of the jews and the

forthcoming

comfort of them when they would return from

exile but but through this which is obvious by

the next

part of this passage that we'll get into next

month he was speaking directly to us and all

those

who believe that we can look to christ for our

true and final comfort the messiah that at

that

point he would send and at this point we can

look back that he has already come so today if

you are

a believer if you bowed the knee to this mess

iah that has come there's this great comfort

that god has

sent us rest fully in that through whatever

happens what what comes in our lives and look

it's crazy every week there's something uh

that happens there's something that happens in

our

nation uh tim was telling me in canada there's

another uh mass murder with a with a vehicle

and you never know what's going to happen

today but i know what's going to happen

tomorrow

because of my comfort that i have in christ

and if you're not a believer if you haven't

fully rested

in the person and who christ is and what he

has done for his people know that there is a

judgment

promised but there will be a wrath to come and

there is no other true comfort outside of j

esus

christ the son of god paul said it to the idol

worshipers in act 1730 says therefore having

overlooked the times of ignorance god is now

declaring to men that all people everywhere

should repent because he has fixed a day in

which he will judge the world in righteousness

through

a man whom he has appointed having furnished

proof to all men by raising him from the dead

come to christ and find true consolation the

same consolation that simian found we can find

the day in christ and may all of us who

believe find that true comfort in christ alone

let's go to the

lord in prayer praise say father we do love

you and thank you for your great mercy on us

that you

show through christ and lord we all deserve

your judgment we are all sinners with stained

hands before

you lord you've come and sent your son to wash

us white as snow to be our comfort and our

consolation

i pray we'd all look to that in our lives for

your glory and your honor in christ's name

amen