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The Bible reads, Nevertheless, the demi shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff off his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of a warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood. But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. The Lord sent a warden to Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim, and in the inhabitant of Samaria, that saying, the pride and stoutness of heart, the bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of raisin against him, and join his enemies together, the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts. For the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head, and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause him to err, and they that are led to them are destroyed. Therefore, the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows. For every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer. For every mouth seeketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burneth as the fire, it shall devour the briars and thorns, it shall kindle in the thickest of the forest, and they shall mount up like lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire, no man shall spare his brother, and they shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, and they shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh. And they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Let's pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this wonderful church you've given us, dear God, and your precious word you have preserved for us. Thank you for our pastor. Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word onto us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're continuing this evening with our Bible study in the book of Isaiah. Now, if you've been following the series here with our Bible study on this book, you'll notice that there's been a trend or a theme throughout the last couple of chapters with the birth of children and or their names, right? A couple chapters ago, you had the son of Isaiah the prophet who came with Isaiah to preach against Ahaz, and his name was Shear Jashub, okay? And Shear Jashub essentially means that a remnant shall return. So he knew that even though Isaiah is preaching to Ahaz, he's trying to get him to get right with God, he's trying to get him to repent and change his ways, he knew that ultimately Ahaz was going to disobey, he was going to rebel against him, and of course, endure the wrath of God upon him, but it's okay because a remnant shall return. He brought his son Shear Jashub as an object lesson to give him that promise that even though many would be taken into captivity, a remnant shall return. Even later on in that same chapter, you had Immanuel being born, right? A virgin shall conceive, his name shall be called Immanuel, and the significance of that name is that it means God with us. And the immediate interpretation of that is that even though the Assyrians were going to come and plunder them and destroy them, God was still with Judah, he was still going to be with them, they would still return one day, and of course, it's very prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the fact that we understand that Jesus Christ is God, he is essentially Immanuel because he is the word of God made flesh who dwelt among us. And then later on, you had the birth of Isaiah's other son, Meir-shal-ah-hazbaz, say that five times fast, Meir-shal-ah-hazbaz, and his name essentially meant that the Assyrians would quickly plunder the people. So essentially referring to the fact that the discipline would come with haste, it was going to be thorough, and he was going to destroy them. So we have Shear-jashub, you have Immanuel, you have Meir-shal-ah-hazbaz, well, in chapter nine, you have the birth of, or another prophetic statement about Jesus Christ, and it's referring to his birth, and this is often a verse that we'll use during Christmas, right? It has a connotation of Christmas, Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and we often put that on our Christmas cards, and you put that in your post, and that's the verse that kind of comes to mind when we think about Christmas. But this evening, I want to give you the context that surrounds that particular passage and why it is that God has given that to us in chapter nine. Now let me give you a little bit of review from chapter eight because of the fact that the latter end of chapter eight, that thought carries over into chapter nine, it'll give us some context. Now look at verse 19 of chapter eight, if you would. It says, and when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead. Now what is being referred to here? Well, obviously, he's talking about the discipline that's going to come upon the nation for their rebellion, right? And the land is going to be made desolate, and he's saying that, you know, there's going to be people in that land of desolation that are going to come up and say, hey, we need to find a solution, we need an answer, let's go ask the wizard, let's go ask the person with the familiar spirit, let's go talk to the necromancer, those who communicate with the dead. And he's telling them, when they come to you asking that, this should be your response. Should not a people seek unto their God from the living to the dead? And that should be the obvious answer, right? Especially God's people, Judah, shouldn't it be like, how about we don't go to the necromancer, the witches, and the wizards, and all the demonic forces of this world, and why don't we just go to God himself, okay? So he's telling them, like, this has to be your response once they start coming to you, and this should be the answer that you give. Now obviously, we can make a great application to this in our day, right? When catastrophic things happen in our world, when wars take place, when there are cataclysmic events or evil that falls upon a city or a nation, you know, there's gonna be people that are like, oh man, we should seek the favorite podcaster or the necromancer on YouTube or something, the person who's the wizard who has all this wisdom. Let's see what the Republican party has to say about this, or the conservatives or whatever. But no, you know, Christians should say, should not we seek unto our God? Should not we seek unto our God and ask at his mouth what it is that we should do? And it doesn't matter who's popular or who has the best rhetoric when it comes to conservative talk or who's the closest to the Bible and the conservative circles, you know, our answer should always be, well, let's see what God has to say about it, okay? Let's go read the Bible. Let's go to the house of God, the pillar and ground of truth, and find out what God has to say about this. And this is gonna be very much a reality in our lifetime, because this is always a reality where something happens and people always seek the alternative to God, they don't go to the house of God, they don't go to the Bible, they don't go to the man of God, they always go to some pseudo religious person or some podcaster, some YouTuber for the answers, someone who has familiar spirits, a necromancer. But he's saying, you know, you need to make sure you tell them we need to seek after God, because that's the reason we're in the mess that we're in in the first place is because we've been seeking after familiar spirits, necromancers and wizards. Look at verse 20, it says, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. That's a very powerful verse right there, because it's basically saying, you know, all these wizards and necromancers, if they're not coming to you with the word of God, it's only an indication that they have no truth in them, okay? Light is synonymous with truth, right? He goes, you know, the reason they're even saying that, the reason they're even saying, let's go to the magicians, the wizards, all these people who are ungodly, these abominable offices of the land, it's because of the fact that there is no light in them. And this reminds me of a New Testament passage in John chapter three, where it says, and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world, listen to this, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, the Bible says, right? It goes on to say, for everyone that doeth evil, haith the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth, the Bible says, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God, essentially telling us that anybody who doesn't have any light in them or any truth, they're not gonna come to, they don't wanna come to the house of God, they don't wanna go to the Bible, why? Because they love darkness, their deeds are evil, they don't wanna be corrected regarding their ideologies, you know, their truths or whatever it may be, but it's only an indication that they have no truth, it's only an indication that they have no light, they love darkness, whereas a person who actually has the truth wants their deeds to be made manifest that they're wrought in God. I mean, that's why you're here today, you're like, I believe the truth, therefore I'm coming to hear more truth, I'm coming to be reproved of truths that I may not even know about, and I'm here to confirm what I've already read in my Bible, my deeds are wrought in God, right? You know, the truth fears no investigation. And so when you're dealing with the people who don't come to you with the Word of God, it just means that they don't have light in them. Now, this is especially true when you're dealing with so-called Christians today, right? Who they claim to be Christian, they say they believe in Jesus, they even may even claim to be saved, but then when they talk to you about biblical things and don't mention the Bible, you know, they say, well, I just think I feel that, fill in the blank, but there's no verses to quote, there's no light in them. You know, the Bible says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. And anytime we talk about biblical matters, it's always good to use the Bible, you know, to mention a couple of verses, to talk about the Word of God, what are the doctrines of the Bible that reaffirm what I'm telling you, you know, use the Word of God. But if you have, you know, you have churches today, you have Christians, you have sects of Christianity, they claim to be Christians, but they're not, that will come to you in the name of the Lord, whether it's the Catholics, it's the Zionists, it's whatever so-called Christian, they'll come to you and they'll say, well, this is what the Bible says, love the sinner, hate the sin, it's like the Bible does not say that, that's nowhere in the Bible. Jesus said, love the sinner, hate the sin, he did not say that, stop saying that, because he didn't say that. So what does that tell us? It tells us there's no light in them. And you've met people like this, you're at the door and they'll tell you, well, Jesus said we should love everyone. No, he did not say that, there's no light in you, okay? And you know what? Let me just say this, is that it irritates me when people say that, but you know what, it irritates God even more. He actually says in the book of Jeremiah that he gets very, and I'm giving you a paraphrase version here, but he says he gets very angry at those who say, he sayeth. Like well, God said, no he didn't, he didn't say that. But this is the world in which we live, my friends. And we just have to realize that when people say things like that, it's simply a red flag, it's an indicator that this person does not have the truth in them. Now Lord willing, you have the truth in you, amen? Lord willing, you know what the Bible actually says. Lord willing, you can actually see when people are giving you lies, they're not just quoting the Book of Mormon and you think it's the Bible or something. I am the law of Moses, the chosen series or something, it's like wow, yeah, that was really powerful when Jesus said it. Jesus never said that, that's the gayest thing ever. I am the law of Moses, that's literally from the Book of Mormon. That comes from the Book of Mormon. Jesus never said, I am the law of Moses, he said, if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. That's actual verse from the Bible. And so powerful verse here to show us that if someone doesn't come to you with the word of God, you're like, well then how am I supposed to talk to people about the Bible if I don't know what the Bible says? Then learn the Bible and put some light in you, amen. Look at verse 21, and they shall pass through it, hardly beset and hungry, and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their god and look upward. Now this is very sad because it's saying that these people in Judah, it says they're going to be hardly beset. Another way of saying this is that beset is just another way of saying help or assisted. So they're not going to be assisted, they're going to be hungry, they are famished, and instead of looking up and saying, Lord, provide for me, Lord, help me, they actually curse their king and their god as they're looking upward. So they're basically pointing the finger at God, angry at him for not providing, and they curse God. This is definitely a people who don't have the truth in them, the light in them. Verse 22 says, and they shall look into the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness. Now the darkness that's being referred to here is the fact that their land is going to be destroyed by the Assyrians. Pillars destroyed, taken into captivity, a lot of death, you get the picture there. Now let's get into chapter nine here because it's carrying over with that same thought of the dimness of anguish, the dimness of light, the darkness that's going to come upon the land. And just keep in mind, any time judgment, God talks about judgment in the major and minor prophets, what does he always follow up with? Hope, right? You know, God's like, I'm going to destroy you, you're going to get it, my hand is stretched out still. But then he always follows up with, you know, one day you will be restored though. And this is often the pattern by which God speaks to his people, even though that consolation or that hope does not come immediately, we can guarantee that it's referring to a permanent hope in the future through the millennial reign of Christ in the new heaven and new earth. So this is the light at the end of the tunnel that God gives here in chapter nine, and it's specifically revolving around the birth of Jesus Christ. Look at verse one, nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Now I hope that verse rang a bell, right? Because this is actually quoted in the New Testament in the book of Matthew chapter four, you don't have to turn there, but let me read it to you. It says in Matthew chapter four, verse 12, now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, Galilee of the nations, by the way, Galilee of the Gentiles, nations and Gentiles are used interchangeably in the Bible, and leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet referring to Isaiah, Isaiah is the New Testament rendition of the name Isaiah, saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, listen to this, the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. So this is what this is referring to, because in Isaiah chapter nine, it's like a literal darkness, it's a result of the Assyrian army coming and just destroying them, right? So there's darkness, people are dead, there's all types of death, people taking into captivity, it's a very grievous, sad, lamentable period in the history of Israel and Judah because they're just completely destroyed, and specifically he says Zebulun and Naphtali, which are areas in the northern kingdom, so they received the brunt of the attack, Zebulun and Naphtali received the brunt of that attack because they're closer to where the Assyrians are at, but then he gives them this promise, but hey, those of you who are in darkness, who are walking in darkness, you're going to see a great light, and he's actually prophesying 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, because when Jesus Christ begins his ministry, he actually walks in Galilee of the Gentiles. So even though the darkness in Isaiah chapter nine was like a literal darkness, what did it foreshadow? It foreshadowed a spiritual darkness in the future where people, they're not necessarily destroyed by the Assyrians, but they are being destroyed by Satan. They're not necessarily being taken into captivity by the Assyrians, but they are taken captive by Satan at his will, they're being taken captive or in bondage to sin, and they're not necessarily in darkness where, you know, they're just kind of sad and filled with lamentation, but rather, they're filled in darkness because they don't believe. They're not saved. And the beautiful thing about this is that when he says that you're going to see light, it's literally referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, because he actually ends up literally walking into Zebulun, Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles, the light is actually walking through and they're actually seeing the light with their own eyes, and of course, once they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they no longer sit in darkness, okay? And of course, this is reference to the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus is the light of the world, amen? The Bible tells us in John chapter one, in him was life and the life was the light of men. The Bible goes on to say that the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, the same came for a witness to bear witness of that light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And here's the thing is that when it says that Jesus Christ is the light, what does that mean? It's referring to the fact that he's a light bulb. No, he's not. Wouldn't that be ridiculous to teach that though? When the Bible says that Jesus is the light of the world, it means he's like one of these right here. You know? And you're like, well, where are you trying to get at? Well, you know, there's people out there that will take this overly literal interpretation of these examples that Jesus Christ gives to exemplify himself. And they say, oh, yeah, you know, he says to eat his flesh and drink his blood means we literally have to do that. But to make that assertion, you would have to say that Jesus Christ is literally a vine. He's literally a door. He's literally a cup of water. And he's literally a light bulb. But we obviously know that's not true. But you know what? You can't really blame Catholics for believing that because the Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can you know them for they're spiritually discerned. When we view that in light of scripture, we say, oh, it's a spiritual thing. He's the light of the world because he enlightens us when we get saved. You know, the Bible tells us prior to us coming to Christ, prior to us getting saved, that we were blind spiritually, right? Maybe not physically, but spiritually blind. The God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them. And once we believe on Christ, we're enlightened to the truth. And it's a wonderful thing to be awake in that way, right? Once you realize like, whoa, you know, because some of you may even think to yourselves, I remember hearing the truth multiple times throughout my life, or hearing that Jesus Christ is a savior, or hearing that we have to trust in him for salvation, but it never really connected in your mind until someone actually came to you, explained it to you. And now that you know it, you're like, whoa, this is like, I'm enlightened to the truth. I'm no longer in darkness, right? I'm no longer blind to the truth of salvation. And even beyond that, right? I mean, there's a lot of truths in the Bible that we're enlightened to. There's a lot of deep truths of God's word that even Christians who are saved are blinded to because the Bible does say that Christians can be blind as well. If they are not adding to their faith, virtue and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance, brotherly kindness, and so forth, the Bible says that they will become unfruitful, that they'll forget that they were purged from their old sins, and they'll essentially be blind. They're not growing, they don't see the truths of God's word, whereas God wants us as his people to not only come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but just come to the knowledge of the Bible period as we read it day to day. That means you can literally open up the Bible, read it, and understand it. And so we see that that prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew chapter 4. Let me read you a couple of verses here. John 8, 12 says, then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, showing us that, yeah, we need to be enlightened when it comes to salvation, but even thereafter, we need to walk with God to not be left in darkness, understand? In order to read the word of God, the Bible says, awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame. He tells us to awake and to pay attention to what's going on in the word of God, to walk in the spirit. This is another form of being enlightened from a spiritual perspective for the child of God. It says in John 9, 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 12, 46, I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And so once we believe on Jesus Christ, we're enlightened, but think about this. We inherit the responsibility to be a light as well, right? Because the Bible says, ye are the light of the world, the city that is set on the hill cannot be hid. It tells us neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light to them who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So our job, when we go on and preach the gospel, we're enlightening the unregenerated to the message of salvation. But even then, we're also enlightening other Christians and believers to the truths of the Bible as well. And so go back to Isaiah, or maybe you've already, you didn't even move from Isaiah. You're in Isaiah 9, look at verse number three, it says, thou has multiplied the nation and not increased the joy. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Now, the immediate interpretation of this for their immediate future, so to speak, is the fact that even though Judah and Israel multiplied numerically, so to speak, regarding how many people were actually in the land, they didn't have joy because of the fact that they're being plundered, they're being taken into captivity. But the secondary meaning to this, because we're still talking about in context of Jesus Christ and the prophetic statements made about him, he brought about the new covenant, the new testament, which along with that came being grafting in of the Gentiles into the covenants of God, right? So when it says thou has multiplied the nation, think about that. He multiplied Judah and Israel by adding Gentile believers to that nation. Because in the Old Testament, it was just simply made up of Jews according to the flesh, right? But now, you know, in the New Testament, all nations and all Gentiles who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are now added to the spiritual Israel through faith in Jesus Christ and thereby multiplying the nation, understand? And you know, when we think about the doctrine of replacement theology, we often focus greatly on the fact that New Testament believers, whether Jew or Gentile, replace the physical nation of Israel as being God's chosen people, and that is 100% correct. But another facet of this particular doctrine is that Gentile believers are grafted in with believing Jews, and they twain, are one in the eyes of God. This is why the Bible says that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but you're all one in Christ Jesus, right? Hold your place there in Isaiah 9, go to Ephesians chapter 2, if you would, Ephesians chapter 2. All right, I'm going to take a poll right now. Anybody cold? Raise your hand if you're just freezing cold. I can't do it for one. Can't do it for two. All right, we're good. Sorry, guys. You guys got outvoted. Hey, I like it like a freezer in here, so I'm not going to complain. Ephesians 2 verse 11, look what it says in verse 11, wherefore remember that ye, and who's the ye he's referring to? He's referring to Gentiles, because he's writing to the church at Ephesus. He says, ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, referring to the Jews, that at the time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. This is all of us. We didn't have Christ. We are foreign to the commonwealth of Israel. We didn't know about the promises. Look at verse 13. I love these first two words here, but now. Who cares what it was before, but now it's different, right? But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, the Bible says, referring to salvation. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, both meaning Jew and Gentile, and hath broken down the middle wall partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make it himself of twain, twain means two, one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. He came and preached peace to you, which were far off, and to them that were nigh. Beautiful passage here that's telling us that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross unified both Jew and Gentile. Not so everyone can sing Kumbaya, and it's just like, oh, all nations, we should just join hands. No, the commonality that we have to have is faith in Christ. So it doesn't matter if you're red, yellow, black, and white, doesn't matter if you are a Jew or part of the Gentile nations, in God's eyes, he only sees two different people, saved and unsaved, right? And if you want to be a part of that commonwealth, the covenants of promise, you want to be drawn nigh unto the Lord, you have to do it through the cross, through faith in Jesus Christ. So basically, it doesn't matter how many people in Israel claim that they're God's chosen people, they can spew that narrative all they want, doesn't make it true. There's more Israelites in this building, spiritually speaking, than there are in that nation alone, because of the fact that the spiritual Israel is made up of believers. And of course, at the end of the day, if there's a Jew that actually believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they can be saved, okay? And we're not an anti-Semitic church, I don't believe in hating Jews, okay? I don't hold to, oh man, I hate them, and they're all reprobate, I don't believe that nonsense. Obviously, it's very evident that the nation as a whole is cursed by God, and obviously, the religious leaders of that movement are very much reprobate, okay? But the common Jew, even though they're not saved, can be saved if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how do you know that? Because Romans 11 tells us they can be saved, it actually says that they can be grafted in. Let me just say this, though, that that is a very unreceptive people group, though. He said, why so? Because they crucified Jesus Christ, that's why. And their ancestors said their blood be upon us and on our children. So they have to kind of overcome that. And once a Jew believes on Jesus Christ, they can no longer be called a Jew. And for a lot of Jews, being called a Jew is a status thing. They got to cut their jerry curl little thing going on, they got to take off the skullcap, wear regular clothes, okay, and not be a Jew. Well, can I just add that, you know, can I be a Maisianic Jew? No, because you're not a savior. The only Messiah is Jesus. Okay, you know, it's just Christian. That's it. Okay. And so either get with the program, or stay unsaved. And split hell wide open and go to the lowest parts of hell, because that's the part that's designated for people who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Just ask Judas. And so the Bible clearly shows us that in the New Testament, you know, there is a grafting in of both Jew and Gentile by their faith in Jesus Christ. And the Bible tells us, let me read to you from 1 Peter 2, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, referring to the Jews, the stone which the builders disallowed, another way, another passage says rejected, the same as made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, where unto also they were appointed. So it's basically saying that, you know, the stone which is Jesus Christ, you're either going to believe on that rock, or it's going to be a stone of stumbling unto you. And the example that he uses is the Jews, because they rejected Jesus Christ, it means that they were offended at the rock. They were offended at the stone. They were disobedient to the message of the gospel, because they don't want Christ ruling over them. Okay. And then he follows up by saying, but ye referring to those in Cappadocia, Bithynia, Pontius, Galatia, and yes, even us, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest of the priesthood, listen to this, a holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called ye out of darkness into his marvelous light. And the reason that passage is so significant is because it is a modified, listen to this, that verse is a modified version of the Old Testament passage dealing with the physical nation of Israel. And when he said, you're a holy nation, well, now we have 1 Peter 2 that says, no, ye are that holy nation. The verse has been modified a bit, because why? Because now we have a New Testament, and you know what? This verse is better, because it's established on better promises, and we have a better mediator. All right. Go back to Isaiah 9. Just got to slip in some anti-Zionism there a little bit when the passage calls for it. So he's referring to Jesus Christ, he's going to be a light. He's going to take us out of darkness by believing on him. He's going to multiply the nation via various Gentile nations that will be grafted into Jesus Christ and the promises. Look at verse 4. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. Now obviously what this is referring to, spiritually speaking, is the fact that Jesus Christ threw our faith in him. He breaks that yoke, right? And in fact, we take on his yoke for his burden, his light, and his yoke is easy. And I'm not going to spend too much time on that, but you see the picture there, the fact that once we believe on Jesus Christ, first of all, you know we're not under the law, amen? But under grace, the Bible says. And thankfully, we're also not under the Old Testament ordinances either, because he abolished those ordinances. We no longer have to abide by them, that's why we don't keep the Sabbath. That was an ordinance instituted in the Old Testament, and you have all these Judaizers today, also known as seven-day Adventists, Sabbath-day keepers, who try to enforce the Sabbath on people, when the Bible tells us, let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moons or of the Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ, the Bible says. So they hate Colossians too, but I'm so glad that it's so clear that it's telling us, it's telling the Colossians, who are Greeks, right? They're Gentile Greek believers, and they're like, hey, don't let anybody come here telling you, you guys got to meet on the Sabbath, and you guys got to keep the Sabbath. That stuff was the shadow of things to come. Well, who said that? Paul, who was a former adherent to Judaism, so it's coming from the horse's mouth. Now look at verse five, it says, for every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. Now, it's a pretty enigmatic passage here, I'm going to explain to you what I think it means, nothing crazy here, but obviously the immediate interpretation would be the fact that the result or the ending of that pillaging and the Assyrian army coming to destroy them is that there's going to be confused noises. You know, when there's war, there's noises all over the place. It's a melee, a lot of confusion, and a lot of garments rolled in blood. That's the result of war, right? But then he says, but this, and I believe when he says, but this, it's referring to what Christ is going to bring, shall be with burning and fuel of fire. What does that mean? Well, I think this is actually talking about the millennial reign, because obviously prior to the millennial reign, you had the battle of Armageddon, and there's a lot of bloodshed in the battle of Armageddon, but during the millennial reign, there's no more war. And in fact, Jesus says that my people shall learn no more war. So for a thousand years, we will have permanent peace on this earth with Jesus Christ ruling, and basically the garments, the instruments of war, they're all just going to be like turned into plowshares, but the garments are going to be burned with fire, like what are we to do with them, you know? In order to have peace, you have to have this massive war against the Antichrist, but during that millennial reign is a very wonderful time of peace where you don't have to worry about locking your doors, you know, locking your car, there probably won't even be cars during that time. There's not going to be just, crimes not going to run rampant. Okay, there's not going to be any corruption with the police. There won't even be police. We're going to be the police actually, now that I think about it. But that's a sermon for another day. So he's basically saying that he's going to bring an everlasting peace. You're not going to, the inauguration of the millennial reign is not going to be a bloody inauguration, it's going to be a time of peace, tranquility. It's going to be a time of quiescence. Look at verse six, for unto us, now this is the main verse right here that we're focusing on because this is giving us, what is the culmination of all these things? What is he talking about? Verse six, for unto us a child is born, unto us his son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Let me spend a little bit of time talking about this passage right here. Okay. Cause he's talking about the Messiah's reign, Jesus Christ reign. So he's kind of going through, you know, when he came the first time fulfilled in Matthew chapter four. And then we get into the millennial reign thereafter. And of course, you know, verse six is also referring to the first century AD when he was born. Now the first part there is addressing his humanity because even though Jesus Christ is God, he's also man. He's 100% God and he's 100% man. He was born of a virgin and Mary did not continue to be a virgin thereafter. Okay. Because Jesus Christ had brothers and sisters thereafter, but this is that prophetic statement about him that he's born, he's given the word of God is made flesh, he dwelt among us. That's addressing that. And then it says that the government shall be upon his shoulder. This is addressing what? The millennial reign. God will rule and reign with a rod of iron, the Bible says. And what is the rod of iron? Well, it's not just the podcast, okay? The rod of iron is addressing the fact that when Jesus Christ rules on this earth, zero tolerance, there's no warnings. Like, oh, you committed sodomy, we'll let you off with a warning this time. It's not going to happen. Rod of iron means he's going to break in pieces anybody who just breaks the law and commits criminal acts worthy of capital punishment. It will be executed immediately. That's what it means to rule with the rod of iron. And he's not the only one ruling with the rod of iron. He's the supreme one ruling with the rod of iron. But then he also has his subjects, which are believers, regenerated believers, overseeing particular aspects of this world. They're given 10 cities, five cities, according to the gospels, based upon their works, based upon their service for God. God will tell them, well done, thou good and faithful servant, be thou ruler over 10 cities. So, you know, if you ever wanted to get into politics, the millennial reign is where you got to do it, right? Because, you know, you'll be the mayor of some city and your job, basically, according to the Bible, would be to execute righteousness in that particular area. The millennial reign is one of my favorite subjects to talk about, because it's such an interesting era that we know nothing about, right? Because we're the off scouring of this world. But in that world, you know, we should rule over angels, the Bible says. You know, it's like, we're going to be the top dogs in the millennial reign if you serve God this side of eternity, though. So, every saved person is going to go into the millennial reign, but not every Christian is going to rule in the millennial reign, okay? Some of them are just going to be sweeping streets or something or, you know, vacuuming or, you know, taking out the trash. You know, that's literally what it says, that if you're just a bad Christian this side of eternity, and you're teaching, like, false doctrine, you're teaching others to do the same, like, you'll be the least in the kingdom of heaven. That's what the Bible says. And I don't know what position that is. You know, picking up after people, I don't know what you're doing. But according to the Bible, if you serve God, though, he will honor you with authority. This is why the Bible talks about crowns in the Bible, is that it signifies authority. And so, our job will be to execute the laws of God during the millennial reign, obviously proclaiming the word of God. And why is that? Because the government shall be upon his shoulders, and it won't be a corrupt government anymore. You know, no more taxes, amen? No more property taxes, and no more wicked people in high places just robbing us every year, and, you know, no more street parking tickets, and to just meet a stinking quota or whatever, like, oh, you need to move your car so we can clean your street. Here's an $80 ticket or, you know, just the most nonsensical laws that are out there. They won't exist, okay? So, it's going to be a wonderful time. The humanity of Christ is mentioned, his millennial rule. And then it goes into what he shall be called, that says, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So, let me focus on one of these because this is a particular passage that many false sects of Christianity will use to promote what's often referred to as modalism, okay? And those who are Pentecostal, charismatic types will hold to this particular doctrine. These are individuals that actually reject the Trinity, the Trinitarian view of the Bible, which is that we believe there is one God, three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And this is a doctrine that you see throughout the Word of God. You're like, well, show me Trinity in the Bible. Well, you know, you won't even find Bible in the Bible. Did you know that? You'll never find the word Bible in the Bible, okay? So, stop bringing that up. You know, there's a lot of words that are not in the Bible that we use to describe a particular doctrine in the Bible, and modern English or modern terms or terms that were coined later on do a fantastic job giving that description, like rapture, right? Now, the Trinity is one of those, okay, because it describes the Godhead and it describes it perfectly. And that's what we are, by the way. Our church is a Trinitarian church. We believe that there is one God, three persons, all with autonomous wills who exist separately one from another, but are in perfect union one with another and subject one to another. And this is not a sermon on the Trinity, but this can be easily proven, just pulling out a couple of verses and pulling out a couple of concepts from the Bible. How about just the very first chapter of the Bible, let us make man in our image, referring to the fact that there's multiple people involved, three to be exact, okay? And how about the book of John, when talking about Jesus Christ, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. That's a perfect example how Jesus Christ is his own person, but he's also God himself. Not only that, but the laws, according to the Old Testament, was that in order for anybody to take any accusation serious for inquiry, there had to be two to three witnesses. And many came to Jesus claiming that, oh, your witness is not true. And he said, my witness is true and I'm not the only one that witnesses of me, God the Father witnesses of me. Well, if Jesus was God the Father, that wouldn't hold up in court now, would it? Making a distinction between God the Son and God the Father. And the reason this is important is because we don't want stupid doctrine like that to infiltrate our church and for people to think, well, Jesus is the Father, okay? No, Jesus is the Son of God. And in fact, the phrase Son of God even existed in the Old Testament, not just referring to believers, but even referring to Jesus Christ himself. Daniel 3 being one of the most famous passages of scripture, announcing the fact that the fourth is like unto the Son of God in the furnace. It's Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. Now, given there's many passages in the Old Testament where we can look at and learn about the Trinity, but the Trinity is far more distinctly and explicitly taught in the New Testament, okay? This is where you find God the Father being referred to as God the Father, okay? And so we reject this doctrine of modalism, which means that it's one God in three modes. You know, they'll say like, oh, it's like me, you know? I'm a son, but I'm also a husband, and I'm an employee as well. It's just three modes, the same person. That's not what the Bible teaches. Because the Bible actually says that Jesus Christ has a separate will from God the Father. How do you know that? Not my will, but thine be done. Thine being separate from the will of God the Son. Well, how can Jesus Christ have his own will? Because he's an autonomous person. Like then, that means they're not in union. Well, actually, they are because he said, but thine be done. Because the Godhead are subject one to another. There is a leadership or there's someone who's in charge that is God the Father, Jesus Christ submits himself to the will of the Father and the Holy Spirit testifies of the Son. So they work in perfect harmony, understand? Now, with that being said, you're like, well, what about this passage? Because this is a passage that modalists and those who reject the Trinity will commonly use to try to refute the Trinitarian view. Because it says of Jesus Christ that he shall be called the everlasting Father. Now, let me give you a little tip about Bible interpretation, okay? Whenever you want to interpret a particular doctrine and see what the Bible says about a particular doctrine, you need to go to the areas of the Bible where those doctrines are saturated with verses about that particular doctrine. Like a great book to go to to learn about the Trinity is the Book of John. The Book of John, the Trinity is just laid out in the Book of John so clearly and explicitly. And it's not to say we can't find it in the Old Testament, but it's like I said either this Sunday or a couple Sundays ago, if you want to learn about salvation, you don't go to the Book of Ecclesiastes. Book of Ecclesiastes is the Word of God, it has a lot of wisdom, but it's not a doctrine on systematic theology regarding salvation. You understand? Like that's a dumb place to go, but you know that's where the Jehovah's Witnesses go to talk about salvation. Do you know why? Because of the fact that they can twist scriptures from that book to teach your doctrine. They avoid the Book of John like the plague because salvation is explicitly taught there, you understand? And so when we talk about the Trinity, we can point to different passages in the Old Testament to show what the Bible says about the Trinity, to prove the Trinity, but it's far more explicitly taught in the New Testament. So they'll go to Isaiah 9-6, what Jesus called the everlasting Father. Well, we know that the New Testament says that Jesus is not the Father and that he's his own person, he has his own will, that he is God and he's not the Father and that he distinctly made a distinction between him and the Holy Spirit and God the Father. So obviously, Isaiah 9-6 can't mean that then because if we have a myriad of scriptures telling us explicitly, teaching us the Trinity, we can't go to Isaiah 9-6 and say, oh, never mind, let's throw all those out, Jesus is the Father because it says so right here. That's bad Bible interpretation. It's like this, it's like saying, well, let's forget every Bible verse about salvation, let's just stick to James 2, right? Let's just stick to James 2, forget Romans 4, forget the entire Book of John, forget the entire Book of Romans, let's just stick to James 2, that's bad Bible interpretation. That is the textbook method for teaching heresy with false prophets, right? That's what they do. They don't want to claim that we cherry pick, but we don't cherry pick, we take the whole entire vineyard, amen? Okay, now with that being said, then what does that mean then, Pastor, when it says the everlasting Father? Well, let's go to the New Testament. In order to interpret Isaiah 9-6. Who's got a problem with that? I don't. Go to John, if you would, Book of John, and let's go to chapter 10, if you would, and then we're going to go to chapter 5. By the way, let me say this is that Isaiah 9-6 says that he's going to be called the everlasting Father, not that he is the everlasting Father. That's a big difference. Secondly, when it says that he shall be called the everlasting Father, when we compare the New Testament teaching on this, it's essentially referring to that he's going to come in the authority of his Father, okay? Why? Because Jesus Christ is the express image of the Father, and in the New Testament, he comes with the authority of God the Father. Look what it says in John 10, verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. So he's doing these works in his Father's name, right? It's like if my wife calls a particular company for me, she'll say, I'm calling on the behalf of Bruce Mejia in my stead, right? That's what it's referring to. Go to John chapter 5. So when it says that he's the everlasting Father, or that he shall be called the everlasting Father, it's not saying that he is the everlasting Father. It's a simple way of describing the fact that he's coming with the authority of God the Father. Look at John 5, 21. For as the Father raised up the dead and quickened them, even so, the Son quickened with whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Go to verse 43. Verse 43, it says, I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. Go to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Now in John chapter 14, that's actually a passage, we're not going to go there, but it's a passage that modalists will use to try to prop up their false doctrine. And what they'll use in John chapter 14 is the part where Jesus Christ says, I am in the Father, okay, and the Father in me. And they'll say, see, that's proof that they're one, the oneness of God. But here's the thing, folks, is that, did you note that the Holy Spirit lives in me? Does that make me the Holy Spirit? I have Christ in me, the hope of glory. Does that mean I'm Jesus? No, it doesn't. That's a stupid way of interpreting that. When the Bible describes being in the Father, Jesus Christ is, that God the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father, it's really just another way of describing the perfect union that they share, okay? That they're in accordance one with another. Look at John 17, 20, there's a very powerful passage here. This is the prayer of Jesus Christ for his disciples. It says in verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou has sent me and the glory which thou gaveth to me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. So does this mean we could be God? Because it's saying that we're going to be one like them, one the way Jesus is with the Father. No, this is obviously referring to the harmony that they share, perfect unity that they have. It says in verse 23, I in them, uh-oh, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved me, has loved them, excuse me, as thou has loved me. Again, referring to that perfect harmony. Now, if you find someone who struggles with this particular doctrine and you show them these passages and they still don't believe it, then they're a heretic. Because it's pretty clear what the Bible's saying here, understand? And if you're a oneness Pentecostal, this is not the church for you, okay? You need to go to some tongue-flapping Pentecostal church. And let me say this, is that that is a damnable heresy. That is an absolutely damnable heresy. If you believe in modalism or oneness, you're not saved, okay? And by the way, let's say you were confused about it, but now I gave you this verse and you're like, okay, that makes sense. That's another thing. But to see these verses and then reject them, you're just an unsafe person. Because you need to believe in the Trinity in order to be saved. How so? Well, because you have to believe that God sent the Father, excuse me, that the Father sent the Son. And then once you believe on the Son, you receive the Holy Spirit. You know, people who are born again, if they're new believers, they don't know how to verbalize the Trinity, but they believe in the Trinity. Cuz they understand that God the Father sent the Son, and the Son, once we believe on him, seals us with his Holy Spirit, okay? And so when it says that he shall be called the everlasting Father, It's simply another way of describing the fact that he's coming with the authority of God the Father. All judgment is committed unto him. He has union with the Father. He's coming in his name. He's doing all those things that please him. He's doing everything that he asked him to do, right? That's what it's referred to. Go back to Isaiah Chapter 9, if you would. Hope that made sense. If it didn't, then you might not be saved, okay? I think it's pretty simple though. I mean, we could just look at one verse and just see, okay, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Cuz obviously, the Trinity can be, when you dive deep into the subject of the Trinity, it can get complex. And there's no illustration perfect to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. Great is the mystery of godliness, the Bible says. And so obviously, I think one of the best illustrations to describe the Trinity, if we were to just use an illustration, it would be like, for example, a person, myself, I'm Bruce Mihia, my spirit is Bruce Mihia, and then you have my physical body is Bruce Mihia, and then you have my mind is Bruce Mihia, right? So if I died, right? If I died, my physical body would be here. If you look at it, it's like, that's Bruce Mihia. But if I'm talking to some saint up in heaven, they would say that this is Bruce Mihia. It would be all correct. And so obviously, no illustration is perfect, but the way we can compare that to the Trinity is that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all God, but they're all separate as well, okay? And probably one of the reasons why there's not a perfect illustration for the Trinity is because of the fact that the Bible should be sufficient. Obviously, we wanna put the cookie on the bottom shelf, but folks, if you can't reach the cookie by now, it's like, you must not like cookies, or you just don't want a cookie, you don't want the truth. There's no light in you, okay? I'm gonna have to finish up right there. So I'll finish this up next week. So what do we learn from Isaiah chapter nine? We learn that any time destruction comes upon a land, God always provides hope for the future, right? And here's the thing, folks, this is the greatest hope that we will ever experience as an unsafe person, first and foremost, is salvation. But even us who are saved, whatever happens to this country, whatever catastrophe comes upon this world, we can always rest in the hope of the future. And you know what, this not only applies to us as a whole, as a nation, but how about to individuals? You may be going through a tough time, you will go through a tough time. You're gonna go through a very arduous, difficult, painstaking, lamentable time, and you're just like, when is this gonna end? Well, just know that there's hope in the future. The things concerning you have an end, right? They will end one day. We're not always gonna suffer. We're not always gonna go through trials and tribulations. We're not always gonna experience depression, and death, and sorrow, and discouragement. It's all gonna end one day. And sometimes it's hard to try to convince Christians of that. Telling Christians like, hey, don't get too comfortable. We're strangers and pilgrims here. This is all gonna end. Hey, we're having a great time in church tonight. We're gonna have a great time in church on Sunday, but one day it's all gonna end. One day there will be no AC to freeze you. One day there won't be any problems with the audio. One day there won't be any persecution. One day there won't be any sickness. One day there won't be any financial problems. One day there won't be any health problems. It's all gonna go away. This is only for a season. And yeah, to you it may seem like a long season, but folks, when you're like 500 years into the millennial reign, this day will be not even a drop in the bucket. You'll be like, what was that ceremony? What is it? It seems so distant ago. I mean, think about for those of you who've been saved for decades, thinking about how it was before you were saved, sometimes it's hard to remember that. And more so when you're in the millennial reign. Things have an end. And at the end of the day, the hope that we should be, the light at the end of the tunnel should always bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the hope of Jesus Christ and all that he means to us. Because if we lose everything, we still have you, we still have the Lord. You'll never leave us nor forsake us, Lord. And the promises still apply. And even though we may not see victory in our lifetime, Lord, we know that one day we will see it in the far distant future. It will become a reality one day. And I pray that we continue to set our hopes upon that, Lord, help us to be eternally minded, that it may affect the way we live our lives here today. We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please turn your songbooks to song number 10.