Well, these super-promising words were spoken by the Prophet Isaiah to the Jews, and he was talking about something that would happen to the Jewish nation in the future; that of being exiled in foreign Babylon.
Slide 3: Prophets like Isaiah–are men whom God raised as His mouthpiece during the dark days of Israel.
In the Old Testament, the word prophet comes from the Hebrew word nabi, meaning "one who is called."
In the New Testament, “nabi” in Greek is “prophates,” meaning “one who speaks on behalf of another.” As the word indicates, a prophet does not speak his own words but is called by God to speak the words of God. His job description is clear and straightforward: to speak the message of God who sent them, which usually happens in times of national crisis and need.
Deut 18:17-22 (NIV)
17 The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
PRETTY EASY TO FOLLOW! If God said it, “100% that it will happen!’ 100% that is it true! V23 says, “I am Yahweh” I am speaking.” Let’s quickly scan the
Prophetical Books:
A. Major Prophets – (big volume - more chapters and pages)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
B. Minor Prophets (small volume)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
The prophets' message is more of forth-telling (preaching the will of God rather than foretelling or predicting the future). What we have observed in many cases is that people are more interested in foretelling than forth-telling. So, we see people willing to pay a hefty price to fortune-tellers.
Example: Acts 16:16-19 - It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!" At that moment, the spirit left her. PAUL EXPELLED IT. ONLY DEMONS ARE EXPELLED!
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. Now, what did Jesus say about the prophets? Luke 24:25-27
(v25) He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! (26) Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”
Luke 22:37 - For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.
Jesus being numbered with the transgressors was prophesied centuries before:
(Isaiah 53:12) Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Overall backdrop of prophetical books are
1) The scattering of the Jews among the nations of the world.
2) The coming of the Messiah from the line of David
3) The restoration of God's people to their land under the coming Messiah.
4) The reign of the Messiah over the whole earth.
When reading a biblical prophecy, we are after finding what is there to learn about the nature and character of God.
So, what is Isaiah’s prophecy about? 49:19-23 is talking about the future glory of Zion (Israel). Yes, the prophecy says the nation of Israel would be exiled for 70 years in Babylon.
When this happens, the Jews would think that God had abandoned them. But God assured them that He would not turn His back on them. GOD WILL REBUILD JERUSALEM. God will restore his relationship with his people. He assured them of his love, his enduring love – like the love of a nursing mother (49:14-15). As no mother in her right heart and mind would forget her baby or withhold compassion on the child, she bore, and even though some mothers might, God assured them that his people were engraved in the palm of his hands.
49:15 - “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she@ has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.” (16) See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
The prophecy warns them that it will get worse before it gets better! Two things are certain: God promises restoration. God promises fruitfulness!
Isaiah 49:18 – Lift up your head and look all around you. See! All your children, your builders, gather to come back to you. As surely as I live, I make this promise,” says Yahweh. “You will wear them all like jewels, as a radiant bride wears her beautiful jewelry!
God has not forgotten, and He promised to restore them to their rightful place (Jer. 29:10-13).
10 This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
If there is one thing that God wants us to understand this morning, this is it! GOD HAS NO AMNESIA. GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN! No matter what happens, I charge you never to forget that God has not forgotten you, and He will not!
Life will return in your streets. (v19).
The hope of an extraordinary future will return – (20) You thought you had lost your children (21) You thought you were bereaved like a widow or an orphan grieving for his parents.
(21) You thought you were barren. You thought you were incapable of giving life into something, etc. But despite all the negative feed crowding our minds, GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN! He is just a prayer away! He is just praise away! God has not forgotten you. No parents will ever forget that they have a son or a daughter!
1 John 3:1 - See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Nahum 1:7 - The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
2nd God promises fruitfulness! And this plan extends beyond the walls of Jerusalem to include all nations – the Gentiles. In v6, He says: “it is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light to the Gentiles, that my salvation reach to the ends of the earth.”
IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU COME FROM – Jew or Gentile. What matters is how you respond to God.
Slide 9: Isaiah 49:19 – 21 - Make room; it's too crowded here!
19 “See? Your ruins and devastated places
will soon be overcrowded with settlers – from empty to overcrowded
while your destroyers stay far away.
‘This place is too cramped for me.
Make more room for me to live in.’
Jerusalem and surrounding land would be too small for the people (v19-20). Why? Because the "numbers coming would be so great, the city could not house them all.”
21 And you will say to yourself,
‘Where in the world did all these children come from? – you cannot explain where and how did it happen.
Who birthed these for me?
I thought I was bereaved and barren.
I thought I was all alone, forgotten in exile—
so how did they all get here?’”
This prophecy is fulfilled and is continuing fulfillment. How many Christians are there in the world? Sporting arenas and venues turn places of worship; temples and worship halls extend beyond the borders of Israel as the prophecy says, and the Messiah came from Judah!
Prophet Isaiah declared in 53: (v3) "he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (4) Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God stricken by him and afflicted. (5) But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. (6) we all like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to our own way; the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all."
THE MESSIAH – the Messiah, will reconcile all men to Himself and each other. You and I have a great role to play this year, to invite people to experience and embrace the Messiah’s work prophesied by Isaiah! Jesus illustrates it this way:
Matthew 22:8-14
8 “Then the king said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, yet those who had been invited to attend didn’t deserve the honor. 9 Now, I want you to go into the streets and alleyways[d] and invite anyone and everyone you find to come and enjoy the wedding feast in honor of my son.’
10 "So the servants went out into the city streets and invited everyone to come to the wedding feast, good and bad alike until the banquet hall was crammed with people! 11 Now, when the king entered the banquet hall, he looked with glee over all his guests. But then he noticed a guest who was not wearing the wedding robe provided for him.[e] 12 So he said, ‘My friend, how is it that you’re here and you’re not wearing your wedding garment?’ But the man was speechless.13 “Then the king turned to his servants and said, ‘Tie him up and throw him into the outer darkness,[f] where there will be great sorrow, with weeping and grinding of teeth.’ 14 For everyone is invited[g] to enter in, but few respond in excellence.”[
This year, God is challenging you to go out of your comfort zone and find these good and bad. Bring them in until heaven gets crowded. God’s promise, “I will never disappoint those who entwine[c] their hearts with mine.” (v23) (v20)
Matthew 9:36 - Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. This year, one of our significant tasks is to find them. We must find them! Let’s create more room for them to come. We start with having a heart of compassion because, like you and me, God has not forgotten them.
"We live in a culture in which the Church has to earn credibility, and without acts of compassion, I believe the Church loses its credibility in the world." George Oliver Wood, Former General Superintendent, Assemblies of God and Global Co-Chair of Empowered21. We must warn them!
Titanic, the unsinkable ship. Titanic received a series of warnings not to sail in Newfoundland's Grand Banks. But Captain Edward Smith chose to ignore them. Around 1500 people died on 10 April 1912.
One of the most controversial issues examined by the inquiries was the role played by another vessel SS Californian. Captain Stanley Lord was the ship’s captain. It was said that this vessel was only a few miles from Titanic. But Captain Lord ignored the five rockets signaling distress and help by Titanic. At around 5:30 am, Captain Lord got news of Titanic's loss. Often, we act like Captain Lord. We don't want to be bothered even though we can see and hear distress signals or call for help. We are too busy. But we need to remind ourselves that people out there think like the Jews. They believe that God had forgotten them! And our goal is to tell people that God has not forgotten them. Our goal is to tell people that Jesus the Messiah is committed to their restoration and recovery. Through the power of the Holy Ghost,
We have genuine faith that is expectant, unshakeable, and sacrificial. Like in the days of the prophets and Jesus, we believe that God does wonders. Strongholds are still being loosed. Bodies are still being raised; Giants are still being slain. God, we think because we can see it. Death bows to Jesus, Cancer bows to Jesus, depression bows to Jesus! Let us create more room in our hearts for Jesus. Miracles happen when Jesus thru the Holy Spirit, move. Let's speak the name of Jesus until every dark addiction, anxiety, depression, start to break. I speak the hope of Christ and the freedom in Christ. His name is Power; His name is Healing, His name brings life, His name breaks every stronghold and burns all nasty things that bridge us to the old. Would you create more room for Jesus? O Jesus, this place is indeed too small for us!
We are here for You, Lord! Confident that every word You said you would do. We trust in you, for You don’t disappoint those who trust in You! Lord, Come and do what You do. We are here for You. We set our hearts on You. Come and do what You do. We need You, Lord, to move in our lives, families, finances, health, and everything that concerns us. God, we surrender all our worries and predicaments and subject them all under the feet of Jesus, the Messiah! The God of Israel!
We clothe ourselves with the Peace of God, the provision of God, the Protection of God. We cancel the spirit of rejection, delay, and denial that blocks the blessings of God from flowing in all areas of our lives! We decree, and we declare the favor of God to flow without obstruction to every sick body and mind, to every visa application that is awaiting decisions. God, we decree and declare supernatural grace and unprecedented favor to these visa applications! We create more room for you to move over these circumstances.
2022 is the year of restoration to many of you. 2022 is the year of fruitfulness to all of us! Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord. We are not afraid to go to the enemy's camp because we are sure that You have everything in Your power to bless us with success and victory wherever and whatever we put our hands. Thank you, Jesus!
Beloved, if Jesus is not your Lord, I invite you to decide now! Make Him Your Lord and Saviour. The cross of Calvary is yours to embrace. Repent of your sins and take a step of faith and trust Jesus alone to save you from the wrath of sin and eternal condemnation. Because of sin, we cannot save ourselves nor earn salvation. We could follow a million steps, and it is still not enough. That is why Jesus has to die in our place. Only God can accomplish our salvation, and so He did. Anyone who will receive him He will not deny. Restoration and fruitfulness are yours to receive!
"Jesus, I am a sinner, and I need you to save me. Forgive me, Lord, I renounce any allegiance I have with Satan and his works. Jesus, I put my faith in the power of your death and resurrection. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that, Jesus, You are Lord! You are my Lord and Saviour! Come into my life. Holy Spirit, walk with me as I walk with Jesus each day. In Your Name! Amen!”
