The Bible Breakdown

Isaiah 09: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 585

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Speaker 1:

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Isaiah, chapter 9, and today's title is the Light at the End of the Tunnel the Light at the End of the Tunnel. We're going to talk about that in just a moment because, if you remember, there's so much going on in this book of Isaiah, but constantly, throughout Isaiah, the Lord continues to speak to him about this hope that is coming at the end of all of this trouble. We'll get into all that in just a moment and how it affects our life as well. But, of course, as always, before we do that, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like share, subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and also make sure you're going to the YouTube channel. Even if you listen to the podcast, go to the YouTube channel and comment on the videos. Let us know how you're engaging with God's work. Also, go to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing team of people writing amazing devotions every day, and the more we dig, the more we find. Also, make sure you text RLCBible to 94000, because not only will we send you the daily information about how you can listen to the podcast, do the YouTube video, all that stuff. But you can also ask questions on there and we can reply to you and get information to you Probably one of the best ways that way.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right, if you have your Bible, want to open up with me to Isaiah, chapter nine? Remember the idea behind this. The overall theme is God is our salvation and God is writing through Isaiah. Isaiah is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write to the nation of Israel to say hey, judgment is coming if we don't turn around. And what he's constantly saying is these bad things are going to happen to you and these bad things are going to happen to these neighboring nations. And he's even saying these neighboring nations that are coming against you. God is not stopping them. He is using them in a way to humble you because he has something better for you. But if you'll turn back to God, god's got a great plan for you. And that's what this chapter is all about. It's about the hope that they have in that coming Messiah and there's a lot of information in here that you're going to recognize if you've ever been to church around Christmas. Because what is going to happen is.

Speaker 1:

Isaiah is going to be talking about this coming Messiah, and it is. You know, at this point Jesus is still a few hundred years away from where he is going to arrive, but Isaiah sees this in the future and he's saying one day there's going to be this king that's going to come and it's going to be this amazing moment. And what's wonderful for us is now. You know Isaiah's looking in the future, but now we can look at the past and go, wow, that really is what God did. So we're going to read this and along the way, we've been talking about how we were going to have this treasure hunt for these scriptures that talk about the coming king. This is all about it. This is all about King Jesus. So let's read this, let's enjoy it, and then we'll finish up together at the end. You ready?

Speaker 1:

Isaiah 9, verse 1 says this Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. Praise the Lord for that right. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with God's glory. Verse 2, the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in the land of deep darkness, a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder, for you will break the yoke of their slavery. Listen to this. Peace will never end and he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor, david, for all eternity. And the passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's armies, will make this happen. Did you recognize a lot of that? A lot of that is read around Christmas time because it is a prophecy about the coming Messiah.

Speaker 1:

Let's keep reading Verse 8, the Lord has spoken out against Jacob. His judgment has fallen upon Israel, the people of Israel and Samaria who spoke with. Let's keep reading Verse 8. Sycamore fig trees with cedars. But the Lord will bring Rezan's army against Israel and stir up all their foes. The Syrians from the east and the Philistines from the west will bear their fangs and devour Israel.

Speaker 1:

But even then the Lord's anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent, they will not seek the Lord of heaven's armies. Therefore, in a single day, the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed. The leaders of Israel are the head and the lying prophets are the tail, for the leaders of the people have misled them and they have led them down the path of destruction. That is why the Lord takes no pleasure in the young men and shows no mercy even to widows and orphans, for they are all wicked hypocrites and they all speak foolishness. But even then, the Lord's anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. This wickedness is like a brush fire. It burns not only briars and thorns but also sets the forests ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke. The land will be blackened by the fury of the Lord of heaven's armies. The people will be fuel for the fire and no one will spare even his own brother. They will attack their neighbor on the right, but he will still be hungry. They will devour their neighbor on the left, but will not be satisfied. In the end, they will even eat their own children. Manasseh will feed on Ephraim. Ephraim will feed on Manasse.

Speaker 1:

Notice how this chapter just goes from great to judgment. And if you notice what it said is it was saying that after all this punishment, the people will still not repent and will not seek the Lord of Heaven's armies. And what it reminds me of is it reminds me of when I was a kid. My parents, you know and this is not the same for everybody, I get this, but in my situation, my parents and this is not the same for everybody, I get this, but in my situation, my parents they would a lot of times discipline me, because about the time I got to be 13 years old, I was as tall as my dad and so he was like okay, we got to come up with a different type of discipline here, and so there'd be things where I would have to take on new chores and do new things and just constantly things that needed to be done.

Speaker 1:

But the goal of the punishment wasn't for the sake of destroying. Like my parents got nothing good out of me having to stay in my room or nothing good out of me having to do something over here that wasn't any good to be gained right. Like that didn't bring them joy. What brought them joy was me learning the lesson so that I didn't do the to be gained right Like that didn't bring them joy. What brought them joy was me learning the lesson, so that I didn't do the bad thing again, right, and it would almost be like I would do the same thing wrong over and over again. They would say, brandon, if you would just learn this lesson, we don't want to have to keep doing this to you, right? But I was very stubborn and I assured them that I needed to do that again. I I assured them that I needed to do that again.

Speaker 1:

I kept doing it wrong, and you can see this happening in the book of Isaiah over and over again, how God is constantly saying to the nation of Israel I want you to turn back to me. But if you don't turn back to me and you keep doing all this evil like, you want me to be a God of justice and so you want me to save you when other people do bad things to you. Well, what about when you do bad things to other people? Do you not want me to be a God of justice? It's easy to want God to be just when we're the ones that would consider ourselves a victim, but what about when we're the victimizer. What about when we're the ones cutting the corners that's causing other people to get left behind? What if, when we're the ones cutting the corners, it's causing other people to get left behind, or we're the ones who are not turning to God and we're the ones who need justice acted upon us?

Speaker 1:

That's what Isaiah is saying here. He's saying there's such hope that God has given us that one day the Messiah is going to come and his name is going to be Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, prince of Peace. The government is going to be on his shoulder. But the problem is right now we keep on turning away from that God. We keep on turning away from his justice. And so what does that have to do with us today?

Speaker 1:

What if we asked a very hard question today? And what if we asked the question God do I only want you to be just when I'm the one that's suffering, but maybe not so much when I'm the one causing pain to others? How many times do we ask God why he's so unfair? But when we looked at it, is he just being just because of things we've done in the past? Now the answer is sometimes that's not it at all. It's a whole different situation. There's times when the Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust alike.

Speaker 1:

As we live in a fallen world, sometimes bad things happen to good people, and the amazing thing is is God is able to use even those bad things to do great things in our lives. However, there's other times when, just like he says to the nation of Israel here, he's saying I got a great idea for you, but when you turn away from me and because of that I have to punish you, not because I want you to be punished, but because I want you to see the error of your ways and turn back to me. You don't do it and I wonder if God would say that to some of us. Like there's a light at the end of this tunnel. I've got a great idea for you, but you've got to turn back to me. You have to turn your whole heart back over to me and, if you will, I want to do something great in your life. Maybe you're somebody else. Maybe you're not experiencing the justice of God. Maybe you're just experiencing pain because of something that's happening.

Speaker 1:

Can I tell you there's also light at the end of the tunnel, because God promises us that when he comes, that he was going to become the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, and the great news is he's already come. The greatest miracle we could ever hope for we've already received if we're a Christ follower. And so today we don't have to wonder, but we can turn ourselves over to that King and realize, no matter what we go through, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. So, as you can see, in this chapter there's both an encouragement and there's a strong challenge as well. Let's pray together, god.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you love us enough to encourage us, but you also love us enough to encourage us, but you also love us enough to challenge us. And I pray as we continue to read the book of Isaiah, you'll help us to see both sides the challenge, because you want us to be better, but also the encouragement, because we've never been more loved than we are right now. Thank you for that. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen. What God's word says in Isaiah, chapter 12, verse 2, god has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord, god, is my strength and my song. He has given me the victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Isaiah, chapter 10.

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Brandon Cannon

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