The Bible Breakdown

Isaiah 62: Christmas is Coming

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 640

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Speaker 1:

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Isaiah, chapter 62. And I know it is not Christmas time, at least when this first comes out. But today's title is Christmas is Coming. Christmas is Coming and hopefully that'll all make sense in just a moment. But if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Isaiah, chapter 62, we're going to jump into this. But, as always, while you're doing that, you know what to do. Make sure you are like sharing and subscribing to the YouTube channel, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find. And you can go to thebiblebreakdowncom, where we are on this long, slow journey of creating a commentary on the entire Bible that is free for everybody, that we can just access and just enjoy. And there's actually places where you can go under each chapter, because it's a blog entry and you can comment some different things, so you leave us some resources too, as we are slowly building ways for us to know God's word more. All right, if you have your Bibles. Isaiah, chapter 62,.

Speaker 1:

Let me explain what I mean by this, the idea of Christmas is coming is because when my girls were little, they loved Christmas. It was fun. We tried to make it as engaging as possible. We had all these different family traditions that we would do, and I would love to know in the comments of the YouTube video are there any special Christmas traditions that you either grew up doing or you currently do now? What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? We did all kinds of stuff. We would watch certain movies, we'd wear matching Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. We just wanted to make it as much fun as we possibly could for our kids. But what would happen is, when we were right there at Christmas, it was so much fun, but as soon as January would start, it would be so discouraging for our girls because it just seemed like it was so far away. And so what I would do a lot of times is, even beginning in January. I would start telling them hey guys, christmas is coming, christmas is coming. And they would say, dad, it's so far away. And so I would try to shorten the time by saying well, you know we're only a few days away from February and you know February is really close to March and March is just around the corner from summer, you know, and before I did it, I had made it out so that it wasn't as far away as it seemed and we would start getting excited even then. Well, that is exactly what I think about when I think of Isaiah 62.

Speaker 1:

Remember, the overall goal of Isaiah's message in all of Isaiah 62, or all of Isaiah, rather, is God is our salvation. Now you got to think about the idea that Isaiah is, he is a prophet, and so he's a preacher, and he is preaching over the course of years and years and years, and so in Isaiah that we have now, these are just some of the sermons that the Holy Spirit inspired and wanted us to remember perpetually, and so these are the ones that the Holy Spirit had him right now. But these are just a drop in the bucket of Isaiah's ministry, and his overall ministry was hey, we've got to turn back to God, we have to turn back to God, we have to turn back to God. And now, as we are finishing his ministry and these are some of the last sermons that he wrote down he is looking ahead, and even though there's still all this strife going around in the nation of Israel political, social, religious strife and all of this. He's saying, all of this is happening. But, man, I see ahead for Jerusalem, I see ahead for the nation of Israel. This great day is coming one day and it's closer than you realize. And so he's saying these are the great things that are going to happen, and it's going to be a city of joy one day, and all of this. And so what we see in Isaiah 62 is he's doing kind of like what I would do with my girls, and that is, he's saying it's not here yet, but it's coming and it's sooner than you realize, and when it gets here it's going to be great. And so, just like I would tell them in January hey, christmas is coming, it's coming, it's coming. That's what Isaiah is saying. He's saying good things are coming, it's on its way, don't give up. And so even when you're going through these bad times, if you look ahead at what's coming, it makes what you're going through right now a little bit sweeter. So let's read about the prayer that God inspired Isaiah to write down, that this is the hope for Israel, and let's see if maybe we can see how God is speaking to us through this today. You ready.

Speaker 1:

Isaiah 62, verse one says this Because I I will not keep still, because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations you will see will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory and you will be given a new name by the Lord's own mouth. The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see, a splendid crown in the hand of God. Never again will you be called the forsaken city or the desolate land. Your new name will be the city of God's delight and the bride of God, for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride. Your children will commit themselves to you, o Jerusalem, just as a young woman commits herself to his excuse me, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

Speaker 1:

O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls and they will pray day and night continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth. The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength. I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will the foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine. You raise the grain and you will eat it, praising the Lord Within the courtyards of the temple. You yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.

Speaker 1:

Go out through the gates. Prepare the highway for my people to return. Smooth out the road. Pull out the boulders. Raise a flag for all the nations to see. The Lord has sent his message to every land. Tell the people of Israel look, your Savior is coming, see, he brings his reward with him as he comes. They will be called the holy people and the people redeemed by the Lord, and Jerusalem will be known as the desirable place and the city no longer forsaken.

Speaker 1:

Wow, what a promise that is. It's even more amazing when you realize that this promise is made when everything looks bad. It's like the idea of talking about going to the beach in the middle of the winter. Or, as my earlier analogy, it's talking about Christmas, a joyous time in January when it seems like it's as far away as it could possibly be. But when it seems like it's so far away, god is reminding the nation of Israel through Isaiah Better days are coming. I'm going to do something great. I'm going to do something amazing. I have not forgotten about you, all these bad people who are doing all these bad things. It's not going to be like this forever, all of this difficult season you're going through. It will not be like this forever. I am going to do something so great that people will not know what to do with it. You know how amazing that is when you realize that God doesn't wait until things are good, but right in the middle of the worst days possible, he reminds you of what's coming.

Speaker 1:

And maybe that's what God would like to say to some of us today. Maybe he would like to say to some of us yes, you're going through a difficult season, yes, bad things are happening right now, but it won't always be like this. God is faithful. God's word says that in all things, he causes all things to work together to the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. The thing about that is is we have to realize that he causes them to work toward the good, which means that they're not always working for the good, but he has a way of changing them and so that in the end it does work for the good. And so that helps us to understand, and there's so many places in the Bible that speaks about in this life, we will have trouble.

Speaker 1:

That's the thing about a testimony. Everybody wants to have a testimony in these wonderful stories of all the great things that God has done, but what we don't want to do is experience the test, experience the difficult thing. Everybody wants to experience a miracle, but we don't want to experience the problem that only a miracle can solve, and so many times it is getting into that situation. That isn't setting us back, but it's setting us up for what God can do, and so maybe the message for you today is to find a way to say, instead of God, why me? It's. What are you doing in me? What are you preparing me for? What are you doing in me? What are you preparing me for?

Speaker 1:

Because, even though it may be January right now in your life you use the analogy Christmas is coming, better days are coming, god is doing more than we realize and, let's be honest, that doesn't take away from how difficult the season is right now. It's still difficult, the bills are still due. The job is still hard, the relationship is still challenging, loneliness is still a thing, grief is still a thing, unforgiveness is still a thing. All of those things are still there. But the edge is taken off when we realize that God is doing something and better days are coming.

Speaker 1:

So today, when we finish our podcast, what if you took just a moment and you just thought about the goodness of God to realize number one he's walking with you through anything you're going through, but also he's already working out the answer. And if you'll stay faithful and not give up, better days are coming. God promises that in his word, and God is faithful and he always keeps his promises. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are honest with us and you tell us that bad days will come, that there's so many reasons why those days come and it's got nothing to do with your faithfulness, but sometimes they come. Faithfulness is what you show to us in that, while we are going through difficult seasons, you're already working on the solution.

Speaker 1:

Lord, I pray today for anyone who is hurting, anyone who is struggling. Lord, you'll open their eyes to see what you're doing. You'll show them just a glimpse of your goodness, and it will give us the joy to realize that you are faithful and better days are on the way. We celebrate you right now. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. What God's word says, say it with me. Isaiah, chapter 12, verse 2. God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has given me victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Isaiah, chapter 63.

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Brandon Cannon

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