"Isaiah 11" Pt.3

Hi, this is John Ozanting, the lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Would you remain standing with me as we go?

I want to invite you back into Isaiah chapter 11.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

This is the third and final week in this chapter as we head into Holy Week and move into Easter.

And Pastor Bennett just taught such a beautiful word last week.

If you were in the room, I mean, what a fun text uh with all the animal language.

But I think one of the things that stuck out was how through what he shared, we were invited to see this ancient prophetic text through the lens of our current day and what Jesus is continuing to do in us.

And that's our heartbeat for this series.

Um we're in Isaiah 11, uh starting in verse 10.

And uh as I read, it'll be up on the screen here.

In that day, the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world.

The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.

In that day, the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people, those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt, in southern Egypt, Ethiopia and Elam, in Babylonia, Hamat, and all the distant coastlands.

He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel.

He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.

Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end.

They will not be rivals anymore.

They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west.

Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east, they will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab, and Ammon will obey them.

There's lots going on here.

Can anybody guess where we're going today?

Not yet.

Me either.

It's gonna be fun.

The Lord will make a dry path through the Gulf of the Red Sea.

He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can be easily crossed on foot.

He will make a highway for the remnant of his people, the remnant coming from Assyria, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.

God's word for us today.

The goal, the goal in this season of Lent, one week out from Easter Sunday, the goal for each one of us through this text is to see Jesus more clearly, to know Jesus more deeply, and to follow Jesus more truthfully.

Amen?

Can we pray?

Father, thank you.

Thank you for your word.

Come, Holy Spirit.

As you invite us deeper into a scripture that is alive and well because of Jesus Christ.

We acknowledge your presence in us and around us here in this space today, watching from home online.

And Jesus, we surrender our hearts and minds, spirit, soul, and body, to your way, your truth, your life everlasting.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Why don't you grab your seats?

Starting in verse 10, in that day, the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world.

The nations will rally to him.

I love that word rally.

The land where he lives will be a glorious place.

Jay Motyr in his commentary on this text.

How can one and the same person be both the shoot coming from Jesse and the root from which Jesse comes?

If you missed last week or the week before, we talked a bit more about this root idea and the stumps that were cut down and Jesus being like new growth, new life.

And if you weren't in the room two weeks ago, I want to encourage you to go back and have a listen to that message.

But this is an enigma unexplained until the Gospel of Luke 132.

And Luke teaches, and I'll give you some context, Jesus, speaking of Jesus, he will be great.

He will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David.

And so Moyder goes on to say, this an enigma, glorious glory, the Messiah is at home in the divine glory, and to this he welcomes all who rally.

I want to start in verse 10 by saying, Jesus is at home in a divine glory, and he invites you and me to rally to him.

Is that okay?

I like rally, literally meaning seek.

This doesn't mean groping after something that's lost, hoping, like I hope this works, but coming with joyous and zealous commitment to where it is known that Jesus will be found.

I want to just challenge you today, as I take a few minutes to share, to rally your heart.

Not with a questioning like I hope this works, but with a confident, zealous joy that you are confident that you know where Jesus will be found.

That as we as we spend some time in these verses, the Messiah is at home in the divine glory.

And to this he welcomes all, not some.

Jesus welcomes all who rally, literally seek.

And this doesn't mean that we're groping, trying to find something that's lost.

It means we come with joyous and zealous commitment to where we know he is found.

You and I, church, get excited.

We're a part of the house that Jesus is ruling over forever.

We are.

We're part of that home.

You and I belong to his kingdom that has no end.

And you might be in the room today, and maybe you've been serving Jesus for a long time.

And maybe the distractions of this world or the season you find yourself in, or the chaos, or the noise, or the pain has somehow tried to like ebb its way into your heart where you're like uncertain.

Am I really a part of this thing?

Am I really attached?

Does God still know me and see me?

I want to encourage you today, simply by starting off and saying, will you rally your heart, joyous and zealous commitment in the pursuit of where you know him to be found?

And if you're here today and you're uncertain about your spiritual condition, maybe you've never made a decision to surrender your life to Jesus, that's okay.

You're not alone in this room today.

But maybe, just maybe you would make some space for the Holy Spirit to say, will you rally?

Rally.

Not like blindfolded seeking, but like confident, zealous, joyful commitment to the place where Jesus is found.

To see Jesus more clearly, to know Jesus more deeply, and to follow Jesus more truthfully finds rest under the banner of Jesus' salvation.

No other banner.

We need not grope desperately for what is lost.

Rather, we simply come.

And we come with joyous and zealous commitment to where it is known he will be found.

Well, where is that, Pastor?

How do we know where he'll be found?

Well, that's the gift.

2 Corinthians 6.

What union can there be between God's temple and idols?

For we are the temple of the living God.

As God said, I will live in them and walk among them.

I will be their God, they'll be my people.

Or Colossians 1:27, to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in us.

Colossians 1:27

Christ in you.

That groping, that desperate searching has people looking for hope somewhere out there.

And the reality of Jesus says, I've come to make myself at home in you.

Under the banner of Jesus' salvation, we say, Jesus, would you make yourself at home in me today?

I will build my life upon this rock.

Jesus, would you make yourself at home?

Evolve Fam, would you rally to Jesus today?

Would you rally your heart?

Rally to the salvation that only He can bring.

And maybe that's a decision you made a long time ago, but I want to tell you God wants to do something new in your life.

There's still growth for you, there's still wisdom for you, there is still learning for you.

Can we rest in the simplicity of a God who longs to live in us and walk among us?

Wow, that's profound.

For generations, people have been building idols and traveling to Meccas and traveling to sacred rooms to try and encounter some kind of spiritual experience.

And here's Jesus.

Flipping the script once again, saying, actually, you don't need to look very far.

You just need to give me permission to Lord and rule and reign, make myself at home in you.

That's my desire, he says.

Receive the gift of the rich, mysterious glory, which is Christ in us.

I actually just sense even in this moment that I just want to pay attention to the room.

Either somebody watching from home or somebody here.

The word like desperately groping has kind of summed up your life when it comes to spirituality.

When it comes to faith.

You've been like clawing your way trying to figure things out.

There's been no peace.

There's been no rest.

And I just want to give you permission, just can we just like all of us just close our eyes for a second?

Just in the quiet of this moment.

With with joyful and zealous commitment that you would give Jesus rule and reign to make himself at home in you today.

And that might mean you just honestly whispering a simple prayer, Jesus, would you make yourself at home in my life?

Jesus, would you come and be Lord of it all?

From the inside out, my soul cries.

No longer desperately groping, but with a joyful and zealous commitment, I know where I can find you.

You've made yourself at home in me.

Beautiful.

To see Jesus more clearly, to know more deeply, to follow Jesus more truthfully is to understand that his work today is still a banner of salvation to every person everywhere.

That's still what Jesus is up to.

Alright, moving on.

Verse 11 and 12.

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people.

Those who remain in Assyria, northern Egypt, southern Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, all the distant coastlands.

He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel, gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.

Last week, Bennett gave us some great context that this text in Isaiah is for us today.

It's not a foreshadowing of what will be.

This isn't like an end times text, a one-day text.

This is talking about a second time or a second exodus or a second pilgrimage.

That's already taken place.

Through the person of Jesus Christ and through his life and death and resurrection, this second time has actually already occurred.

This isn't a one-day text.

This is a we're living in this right now text.

Is that okay?

And it says he wants to bring back all of his people, not to a place, but to himself.

Not to a geographic region, but to his heart and to his ways and to his truth and to his life.

Isaiah's picture here, there's five things listed, sort of geography of the Middle East.

The first one that it says he wants to bring us back from is this past and present occupied state, Assyria and northern Egypt, where they came in and they conquered and they took over and then they took out as slaves.

Okay, so that's the first thing.

Second, it talks about the south, southern Egypt.

Then it talks about the east, Elam and Babylonia, and then it talks about the north, Hamat, and then it talks about the west, distant coastlands.

So there's this picture in verse 11 and 12 of geography with the nation of Israel being in the middle, and then the first thing it says is we've been taken captive in the past and we're currently taken captive through Isaiah's lens.

The second is south and then east and then north and then west.

You tracking with me?

Well, what does that mean for us today?

How does Jesus invite us into this?

I think it's important not the geography itself, but what these geographical regions represented for the for the people of God.

And why does Jesus want to bring them back from these places?

Why does Jesus want to return, again, not to a place but to himself, from this captive state, both past and present, and from the south and the east and the north and the west?

Why does Jesus want to bring us back?

And so I want to take a look at this together.

Number one, Assyria and northern Egypt, Jesus wants to save us from that which is and was holding us captive.

Present tense and past tense, Jesus wants to set you free from whatever is or was holding you captive.

That there's something that's moved into your life and taken hold.

And this is good news for somebody today that you've been struggling in an area of fear or addiction or anxiety or worry or disease, and something's literally held your life captive.

And Jesus says, I want to call you back to me from that place of captivity.

I want to call you back to my heart, to my way, to my truth, to my life from this place of past and present tense captivity.

Jesus, would that be true in us today?

The fear and the worry and the doubt and the dread and the addiction and the anxiety and the things that have gripped our lives.

Their hold is broken.

No more do they have power over us in Jesus' name.

I thought you'd get a little more excited about that, but maybe it's just me.

Number two, southern Egypt.

Specifically, the Bible talks about Patros and Cush, these two places.

Jesus wants to save us from southern Egypt.

Well, what does that mean, Pastor?

It means that Jesus wants to save us from blatant and indifferent worship of other gods.

He wants to be Lord of it all.

We read about these southern Egypt regions.

Jeremiah talks about them in Jeremiah 44.

All the women present, all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols, a great crowd of all the Judeans living in northern Egypt and southern Egypt answered Jeremiah.

We will not listen to your messages from the Lord.

We will do whatever we want.

We will burn incense and pour out liquids to the queen just as much as we like.

This is the spirit of southern Egypt that Jesus wants to draw us back from today.

We will not listen to your messages from the Lord.

Or maybe you've adopted a choose your own adventure faith.

You go through the Bible and you go, I like that, that works for me.

This is pretty good.

Ooh, that's hard.

It's gonna be hard to be a Christian in 2023 if I believe this truth about the heart of God.

So that's I'm out.

No, no, no.

Jesus wants to bring you back from any kind of piece of your story or piece of your heart, a piece of your surrender that doesn't see him as the way, the truth, the life.

We will do whatever we want.

Isn't that the world we live in?

Isn't that the culture we find ourselves anchored to in this moment?

Jesus is pulling us back from that narrative.

We will worship whatever we like as much as we like.

This is the blatant and indifference that Jesus is saying, No, no, no.

I'm calling you back to me.

Not to a geography, but to his heart, his way, his truth.

I'm bringing you back.

Number three, Elam and Babylonia.

Jesus wants to save us from pride and sin, human self-sufficiency.

This is what the text says.

We read about Babylonia and Elam in Genesis 11, the story of the Tower of Babel.

That was the birthplace of Babylon.

And Zechariah 5, Zechariah's vision of an altar built to wickedness.

And so here's this third geography that Isaiah prophesies that the king wants to pull us back from.

Jesus wants to save us from pride and sin and human self-sufficiency.

Where have you quit praying?

Where have you stopped inviting Jesus in?

Maybe because you invited him in a long ago and it didn't get answered the way you hoped it would.

Or maybe you just believe, I've got this, I don't need his help.

Where have you quit praying?

Like the people of Babel, read about the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11.

This was their this was their their uh their understanding of why they did what they did.

Let's make a name for ourselves.

Where have you allowed pride to sort of eke in and say, well, I got this?

Because if I've got this, then it's me.

But if Jesus has it, I have to give him the credit.

Jesus wants to save us from our pride, from our sin, and from this disease of human self-sufficiency.

I am enough, my truth.

I'll figure it out on my own.

No, Jesus wants to draw us back.

It's already been read today.

But of all the names that you want to make for yourself, or all the names that culture wants to make for itself, or all the proving, all the striving, all the I've got this, all the human self-sufficiency.

Philippians 2, therefore God has exalted Jesus and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

It's simple.

Jesus wants to pull us back to his name, being the name that rules and reigns over every piece of our narrative, every piece of our life.

Number four, Hamath.

I had to do some work for this one.

But I found it in 2 Kings chapter 17.

2 Kings 17 · chapter mention

I talked about the people from Hamath who worshipped Ashima.

Ashima was the goddess of fate.

So why does Isaiah prophetically say that Jesus wants to call us back to himself from Hamath?

This represents that Jesus wants to save us from the lie of fate.

This is important.

Fate defined in the sense of that which has been predetermined and written into the lives of individuals before birth, and which comes into existence in many different predetermined forms or fate as a chain of causes.

This is not who we are.

We are not people of fate.

We are people of faith.

Where has a belief of fate caused you to lose faith?

Be honest for a moment.

I've had a run of bad luck.

This must be my lot in life.

This tragedy, well, it must have been my my fate.

This season of pain and brokenness.

Well, it was just my my luck, I guess.

Fate says, this is my lot, so what's the point?

But in that, and I've seen a lot of good.

Well-meaning Christian brothers and sisters believe the lie of fate, and what it does is it pulls them away from the presence of Jesus, doesn't call them back to him.

Because if this is my lot in life and my lot is painful right now, God's supposed to be good.

I don't believe that.

So what's the point?

We are not people of fate.

We are people of faith.

When faith says this is my lot, what's the point?

Faith says this has happened, yes, but I still trust in who my God is.

I still trust in his word.

I still take him at his word.

I still pray in a way that has my heart and spirit and mind and soul and strength, understanding whose I am as a son and daughter of the Most High God.

We are not people of fate, but people of faith.

And where has a lie of fate caused you to lose faith?

Number five, the coastlands of the sea.

Jesus wants to save us from that which has us drifting away from the Father.

What is it that causes you to drift away from rallying?

I mean rallying with joyous, zealous, deeper commitment to the cause of Christ.

What's tugging at your heart?

Is it past wounds from a small group or a pastor or a faith community?

Is it unanswered prayer?

Is it the pain of a broken or disordered friendship with a mentor or a trusted friend or someone you thought represented Jesus?

Things happen.

And then we find ourselves drifting.

And in that drifting, we we we always ask, like, where are you, God?

Where are you?

I still believe.

It's the honest assessment of those things that have caused us to drift away.

That invites Jesus' Lordship and the Holy Spirit's authority and power to actually bring healing and draw us back into Him.

Draw us back into His presence.

Before we take communion together.

These last few verses, as Dane and Kyla come and the team and says this, then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end.

They will not be rivals anymore.

Judah and Israel represent the twelve tribes, the nation of Israel that's split and divided, and we're at odds.

Ten and two.

And the reason they split was because of they couldn't agree on who should be king.

But Isaiah prophesies that through Jesus that unity's coming.

Division will be no more.

No more rivalry.

They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west.

They will attack and plunder the nations to the east.

They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab and Ammon will obey them.

The Lord will make a dry path through the Gulf of the Red Sea.

He'll wave his hand over the Euphrates, sending a mighty wind to divide it.

Does anybody track world geography?

This is just a rabbit trail.

Has anybody read over the last few years about how the Euphrates River is drying up?

Interesting.

He will wave his hand over the Euphrates, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can be easily crossed on foot.

And verse 16, he will make a highway for the remnant of his people, the remnant coming from Assyria, just as he did.

And this text is actually a throwback to Israel being set free from slavery and Moses striking his rod and the Red Sea dividing and the people walking through on dry ground and pulled out of slavery, brought into a land of promise.

And I like that Isaiah's reference here brings the people of God back to the place before they were fighting, back to the place before they were divided, back to the place before they couldn't agree, back to the place.

And as I close today, I just want to give your heart permission to trust and believe that Jesus is still drawing his people back to himself for the purpose of unity and healing and oneness in the kingdom of heaven.

And this text talks about the jealousy ending, the rivalry being no more, so that the people can be mobilized to move out and take ground.

And if we're going to continue to see God move and use his church in a way that brings justice and life and radiant truth and healing to the world around us, we have to be in unity.

We have to posture our hearts to a place of togetherness.

To see Jesus more clearly, to know Jesus more deeply, and to follow Jesus more truthfully is to understand that he's still making a way back to him through healing and unity.

No more rivalry, no more comparison between tribes.

Jesus is building his church.

If you didn't get one, you can flag down one of our service hosts and uh as we come to this table, the invitation to receive bread and wine, bread and juice, is for those who believe.

We do this in remembrance of Christ.

We do this from a posture of surrender to Jesus.

And if you prayed that prayer for the first time earlier in my message today, a simple say, Jesus, would you make yourself at home in me?

This is for you.

And if you're uncertain where your spiritual condition lies, it's okay.

There's no pressure on you in this moment.

But as we close the book on Isaiah chapter 11 this time, just invite the spirit.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

What's even stood out today as we've opened scripture together to see Jesus more clearly, to know him more deeply, and to follow him more truthfully.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch dot com.

We hope to see you soon.