What Did Isaiah See? - Chris Rue - September 27, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of God, of all ages.

Welcome to the City Place Church Podcast, wherever you are in the world.

We thank you for making the time to tune in.

Take a moment to get focused.

Clear your mind, close your eyes, open your heart and receive what God has for you on this day.

If you're ready for the word, say let's go.

Let's go.

Are you really ready? Yeah.

You ready? Ready.

Awesome.

So hey, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to get ready to lean in.

Don't just listen to the word.

I want you to lean in, have an expectation that, "God, this is for me.

God, I wanna hear what you're going to say.

God, I want to be ready to do what you're asking me to do."

Uh, today I have the high honor of, uh, welcoming back one of my closest friends.

Pastor Ty and I, we connected with Pastor Chris first when they got in an argument.

That is a true story.

We were at a conference at the church, uh, that sent us here, and we were out to lunch, and the challenge was, was go connect with pastors and other people in ministry.

Go out to lunch with them.

And so I, I went to the table, and Chris was sitting at the table with Taisha, and they were just kinda looking at each other, and they went kinda like this and going back and forth.

And then I was like, "Why are their faces changing?" And they were going back and forth, and, "Palm City is here."

"No, Palm City's two hours."

"Palm City's 45 minutes."

And it just kept going back, and I'm like, "What is going on? Do I be a husband and interject?" And then I was like, "No, she's got it.

She's, she, she's holding her own."

And ever since then, it's been harmonious.

That really is the first time.

Uh, but one of the things that we joked about was that in that conversation we were like, "We like those people."

And we decided that friendship would be built from an argument.

Now, um, that is a true story, but it didn't happen the fully.

But, but one of the things that, uh, has developed over the last years is just a connection, uh, with the heart of God.

Um, Pastor Chris and Pastor Dana lead an amazing life-giving church, Word of Life, in Delaware.

And if you remember, we've prayed for Pastor Chris.

We prayed, and we were uplifting their arms, uh, while Pastor Chris was navigating, uh, the passing of his mom.

And we were praying for her heart to receive Christ.

Yeah.

And remember, we celebrated the following week- Amen that, uh, after many years of saying, "No, I don't want Jesus" that he got to share that moment.

And so today, uh, we get to welcome a family member.

Pastor Chris and Pastor Dana have spoken life into Ty and I.

Uh, one of the things that I love about Pastor Chris and Pastor Dana is that they really love Jesus.

Yeah.

They don't just preach about him, but they really love the man.

And, uh, we are honored to be your friends, but you know that we've moved past friendship to family.

And so CityPlace, would you please stand to your feet and welcome a part of our family, Pastor Chris Ryu, as he comes to minister the word of the Lord today.

Let's go, let's go.

Hey, CityPlace.

Hey, hey.

Bless you.

Come on.

Let's give Jesus a really, really big hand.

Come on.

God bless you guys.

You may be seated.

Uh, I'm probably gonna have you stand in just a moment.

My voice may be a little sketchy, etchy.

Um, I'm one of those sinus guys.

So, uh, here we go.

But hey, what I wanna tell you is from the bottom of my heart, thank you for praying.

Uh, my mom resisted Jesus, uh, for many, many decades, and I just wanna give you a glimpse as to what your prayers did.

So we were sharing, uh, when I first got here in Florida, we were with her for, like, five days in the hospital.

We got her home, and she had round-the-clock nursing care, two nurses, 12-hour shifts each day.

Almost every nurse that came to be by her side was a Christian.

Mm.

And we even caught one kneeling by her bedside praying for her.

Oh, no.

My brother and I shared the gospel, and I'll, I'll just tell it to you this, uh, this way.

My mom didn't know any church vernacular.

My mom didn't-- She knew church when she was a kid, but she didn't know any of the language.

You know, do you know what I'm saying? Her last words to me when she came out of...

When she had morphine and some of the other medicine, she came out of a sleep on the Friday before she died on Saturday, and she said this.

She looked at me and said, after she said a couple things, she said, "Chris, everything is in His hands.

Forgiveness is in His hands.

God gave His Son for me, and God gave His Son for the world, and I pray the Lord to receive me."

Amen.

So when I tell you that you prayed and there was a last-minute, on-her-deathbed experience, I am here to tell you it's real, and it's valid.

And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Woo! Thank you for praying.

To God be the glory.

Woo.

To God be the glory.

And so I just wanna acknowledge, uh, both Pastors Damon and Ty, our family.

Um, both my wife Dana and I love them very much, and we're so glad that God has called us to labor together in seeing Jesus and His name exalted, not just in Florida, not just in Delaware, but in nations and peoples.

Yeah.

So come on.

That, that's who we're here, uh, to, to exalt and uplift.

And as I walk these halls this morning, we may be in a school, but I'm seeing your hallways of your future building.

Yeah.

I'm seeing your rooms of your future rooms.

I am seeing a place where you guys build God an altar, that He is worshiped and exalted in Orlando, that people come from every tribe, tongue, nation, and with all those babies, generations.

Yeah.

That this is a place, that it will be a place for people to encounter the risen King, the exalted One.

Yeah.

That your church will be an embassy in the midst of a war-torn community.

And whenever you have an embassy, whenever you walk into an embassy, you have left one nation, and you have stepped into a new nation.

Yeah.

You as a people and you as the church, you will be a place where people, the moment they walk into your midst, they have left the world, and they have entered under a new authority- Yeah a new language, new food, new drink, new ways of doing things.

That's what happens when you step, what? Into an embassy.

Yeah.

And if you like what you get in the embassy, then you're saying, "Get me a passport.

Get me a visa.

I want to see the real thing."

Come on, now.

The world is starving to interact with a people who represent the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords.

And if they can get a taste of Him- Come on they're gonna like, "Get me my visa.

Here's my heart.

I want Him."

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go see the King.

These are your pastors.

And so, I, I bless them, and again, I, I wanna thank you guys, and I, I wanna get into the word this morning.

And ironically, the word I'm about to share with you is one that, um, I've been stewing in for about 18 months.

It's a passage I spent about 18 months in with friends, uh, locally, globally.

And as I was just locked in on it, uh, the first time I ever began to really dwell upon it was actually when I came to Florida to see my mom in February of 2025 when her husband at that time had passed away, my stepfather And it led to me preaching a message that I was ready to do five messages on in our church, but I preached this message on the last Sunday in May, not knowing that five days later I'd have to abandon everything in Delaware and be in Florida for the next couple of weeks.

And the Lord only brought that to my attention because this passage opens up with a passing or a death.

And so the Lord was letting me know, uh, that this is a passage where we're gonna contend for something in the church.

We're gonna contend for something, okay? Now, Uzziah's death is a man I'll mention in a second.

His death was unto that he did not see well.

My mom's death was actually unto seeing Jesus.

That's good.

Let's go.

So when we preach this passage, it's unto actually seeing Him.

Come on.

Good.

It's unto seeing Him.

So you ready to see the Lord? Ready.

Let's go.

Now I want you all to stand up 'cause we're gonna read the Word of God.

You've not come to hear me do a message.

You've actually come to be gathered around the scriptures.

You've come to the living Word of God.

Yeah.

Church is not a nonprofit.

It's, it's not a charity.

It's not a 401[c][3].

We are a supernatural expression of a people who've been called out of darkness into His light, and He dwells in the midst of a people.

There you go.

This is supernatural.

Let's go.

I'm gonna read from Isaiah chapter six, starting in verse one.

It says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw," everyone say saw.

Saw.

"The Lord sitting on a throne.

He was high and" what? Lifted up.

Say it again.

And? Lifted up.

"And the train of his robe filled the temple.

And above it stood seraphim.

Each one had six wings.

With two, he covered his face, and with two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew.

And one cried to another and said," what? "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts."

Now, they don't just do three polite holies.

The-- Th- this is just a point of emphasis.

It means they can't stop saying it.

Yeah.

It means that when they see Him, they're just going, "Holy, holy-" Yeah.

holy-" Yeah.

holy-" Yeah.

is the Lord of Hosts.

The whole earth is full of His glory.

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said, 'Woe, woe.

Woe is me, for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King,'" not the one that passed away, but the one that's exalted over everything.

Amen.

"The Lord of Hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips.

Your iniquity- Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged.

How many know that's good news? Yes.

Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I.

Send me."

Yes.

Lord Jesus, I, I, thank you for a church that's going from cautious to courageous.

Lord, I thank you for CityPlace Church, the people, Lord, who are saying, "We are going to build something in this city.

We are standing strong."

And so Lord, I thank you that today, God, we contend for what we see as a people.

We contend for what those who don't know you are going to see, the glory, the glory of the Lord.

So God, I'm asking for help.

God, I, I'm not a great teacher, I am not a great preacher, but I'm asking for the power of the Holy Spirit that I might speak with clarity and conviction as to what you've unpacked in your Word.

May we see like Isaiah saw.

God, I'm asking give to us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you.

God, I pray these things in Jesus' mighty name, and we say- Amen amen.

Amen.

You may be seated So, so here we are.

We're, we're, we're in the Book of Isaiah, and if you don't know I- Isaiah, I- Isaiah is the called...

He's the prince of prophets.

This book has 66 chapters, and we're, we're already in five chapters, and again, the, the Bible's not originally given with numbers for chapters.

That was done later.

But the point being is that we're already into the book.

We're already into that God has spoken through him to the nation of Israel.

He's already spoken that this is the word of God.

And so we find ourselves that I- that Isaiah, he, he's here, and, and he, and he's familiar with God, and he's in the temple, but then he gets a vision, and he's like, "Whoa, whoa."

Wha...

He, he can't move any further.

He, a- and it's not just 'cause he sees the Lord.

He knows the Lord, but now he's seeing something that is making him stop in his tracks.

Good.

And so my question is: What did Isaiah see? Yeah.

What would cause him to say, "I'm undone"? Because that word woe means grief.

It means agony.

And the word undone means cut off.

Yeah.

It's, it's only used, that word is only used 12 times in scripture, and it's used for words like, "My people perish or are undone," for what? A lack of knowledge.

Yeah.

And what, what caused Isaiah, I mean, Isaiah knows the Lord.

What is causing him to go, "Hey, I, I, I, I'm, I can't go any further.

I, I'm a sinful man."

Yeah.

"My, my mouth is unclean."

What's causing him to be this way? 'Cause newsflash, he's been going for five chapters already.

If you, if you read through the first five chapters, he's like, "Look, Israel, we got an issue with our God.

We're, we're in sin.

We have broken ways."

At one point, you read during some of this timeframe, they're beginning to have actually more gods than they do cities and more altars than they do streets.

And in, in Isaiah 2, it's a magnificent chapter because what he prophesies, he's like, "Hey, you-- we're, we're a jacked up people, but there is coming a day when God is going to come, and He's going to rule and reign on Mount Zion.

He's gonna rule the nations, and this mount will be exalted over every other mount."

That day is coming, but in the meantime, we're jacked up.

And so all that has unfolded.

So what is causing Isaiah in what we know as chapter 6 to be like, "I, I, I, I can't move any further"? What did he see? Why did he say, "I'm dead"? It's not just dramatic language.

Something he saw caused him to be like, "Whoa."

So what I wanna do is I wanna take a journey through the scriptures.

I wanna take you through some different aspects of the Bible so that we can feel the imagery.

'Cause the Bible's not just meant to be read, it's meant to be experienced.

Come on now.

Because there's a man who is the apex of the scriptures.

He's the center of everything from Genesis to Revelation, and He loves to be encountered.

That's why He came down.

That's why He died.

That's why He ripped open the veil.

God did not come and hang to keep you at a distance.

He did everything to bring you in.

So when you read His Word, it is no different.

You are to meet the Man in the pages So what we're gonna do is we're, we're gonna actually go through some different parts of scripture.

I'm gonna mention different passages and different stories.

So let me say this.

I may mention some things that you're familiar with.

That's great.

If I mention stories that you're not familiar with, that's okay too.

You're still going to be able to understand and track with the message.

But here's the thing I wanna say.

If, if I mention a passage or a story that you don't know, what I wanna expose is that sometimes people go, "I'm not smart enough.

I don't know enough."

Le- let me just say this.

Listen, if this afternoon you and I went somewhere, and we saw a movie, and you're like, "This is an amazing movie.

I, I didn't even catch the first 10 minutes.

I love it."

And I was like, "Well, actually, there's like four others around the same, this, this whole series."

You'd be like, "What? There's four others? Are they all just as good?" They're all just as good.

You'd be like, "I wanna see the other films."

Right? No one would say, "Well, I don't know enough.

I haven't seen enough."

No.

This is the same thing with the Bible.

If Jesus is the most beautiful man, if He has saved us, and I like this part, I'm gonna go, "Well, wait a minute.

You mean there's other parts of the book that actually give insight into Him? I don't care if I don't know them, show them to me."

'Cause the whole Bible is the unfolding and the revelation of Jesus.

So as I do this, I want us all to be encouraged, not discouraged.

All right? So here what we're gonna do.

This is what we're gonna do.

By the miracle and grace of God, over the next about 30 minutes, right, we're gonna look at four different things that give us insight into what Isaiah saw.

Yeah.

So you ready for the journey? Yeah.

Buckle up, buttercup, 'cause here we go.

Okay? The first place-- The, the first thing that's going to actually, um, give us insight into what Isaiah saw is the place where Isaiah saw it.

Isaiah saw it in the temple, but the temple's on a mount called Mount Moriah.

Now Mount Moriah has some very vivid imagery within the scriptures, and I'm just gonna cite a few references.

The first one would be in Genesis 22 in the story of a man named Abraham, who's told by the Lord to sacrifice his son Isaac, who at this point is a young adult.

And Abraham says-- uh, pardon me, God says to Abraham, "Abraham."

And God has promised the gospel through Abraham, through his lineage, and now he's gonna take his only miraculous son, who's a life from a dead womb- Yeah a supernatural life on whom the whole covenant, the gospel rests on him being alive and having family, and the Lord says, "Take your son, your only son, the son that you love, and take him to the mount that I'm gonna show you.

And up there offer him as a burnt offering or a sacrifice for sin."

And so Abraham takes Isaac up to the mount.

Isaac allows Abraham to tie him down.

Remember, he's an adult at this point.

And while he's getting ready to sacrifice Abraham-- uh, Isaac, uh, the Lord tells Abraham, "Listen, stop."

And he stops right there, and Abraham looks up, and there's a ram caught in the thicket.

Now thicket would mean thorns too.

So you've got a ram caught by its horns in the thorns, and the Lord says, "Stop."

And so he offers what instead? The animal as a sacrifice.

Isaac was as good as dead, then he comes out alive, and now we've got a sacrifice.

And so the point being is on this mount, we have the image of sacrifice, we have the image of death, and we have the image of life.

It's not one or the other, it's all of them crashing together in at the same time.

Come on.

In the story, uh, pardon me, in Psalm 2, if, if you've ever read the Psalm, it says: Why do the nations rage and the peoples, or the people of Israel, plot a vain thing? And it says God's response to the rage of the nations and the plotting of His own covenant people is this: "I have set my king on the holy hill of Zion or Moriah."

Yep.

And that word set doesn't just mean install, it means poured out like a drink offering.

So my answer to the rage and rebellion of the nations, and even of Israel, is, "I will pour out the life of my king on that holy hill, and I will call him my son."

So on that hill, you have rebellion and you have sacrifice at the same time.

You have a coronated king, and you have a life spilled out.

Not one image or the other, but both crashing together at the same time.

What's another place that we see with Mount Moriah? In 1 Chronicles 21, you have the story of David's greatest sin, King David.

Everyone's going, "Bathsheba."

No.

Bathsheba's bad, but there's actually a sin that has even greater weight to it.

It's one of the few times Satan is, is even mentioned in the Old Testament, and it says that Satan persuaded David's heart to count or number all of the people of Israel.

And you say, "What's the big deal with that?" Because God is the one who from the beginning said, "I will be responsible for their growth.

I will be responsible for their numbers becoming greater than the stars in the sky, grains of sand on the earth."

So David wants to take credit for what God has done.

In other words, David begins to imitate Satan- Come on moving the same pride of what self-righteousness.

That's right.

And this is where it says that he sinned egregiously, and the consequence to his sin is that pestilence breaks out in Israel to the point that 70,000 people die.

That's right.

That's it.

And David is watching.

At one point he goes, "God, let, let, let the p- let it fall on me."

But he's watching everyone else die because of his sin, and finally the Lord leads him to a place on Mount Moriah, and he says, "D- David, you've gotta offer me a sacrifice there."

And David buys it from this man, uh, a plot from this man named Ornan, and there he lays a sacrifice.

And when he makes the sacrifice, the end of the pestilence happens.

So we have 70,000 dead people.

We have mercy coming.

There's judgment that has come.

But not just that, that becomes the place where they build the temple.

With the temple comes the glory of God, the fire, the cloud, the presence of God in the midst of His people.

But every time you would go to the temple, you would realize, "Wait a minute, this is where pestilence stopped.

We had death.

We had judgment.

Now we've got the glory and sacrifice.

There's blood, shedding of blood, glory, crown."

Compromise- Yeah sacrifice, exaltation, all of them exist at the same time.

Yeah.

And so when you would go to the temple, you'd be sober that we have the glory of God, where judgment was...

came down.

So you have all those images, they come together on the mount.

Y'all good so far? Yeah.

Okay, so that's just, that's just a little bit with Mount Moriah.

This is gonna help us to understand what did Isaiah see.

Good.

Now, second would be the use of the word here in the passage, the use of the word that Isaiah saw him high and what? Lifted up.

Isaiah saw him what? High.

Yeah.

So what I wanted to do is I, I looked at this word lifted up, and then I, I tracked it through a lot of different passages in, in the Old Testament or what's also called the Tanakh.

And so I wanna go to some of those passages just with a rhythm, just so we catch the imagery.

What does it mean for...

that he saw the Lord high and what? Lifted up.

Okay.

In Genesis 4, you have a man named Cain who has killed his brother Abel, and the consequences of those sin are now being s- uh, come upon him.

God has basically said, "Here's the, here's the impact," and here's Cain's response.

Verse 13, "And Cain said to the Lord, 'My punishment is greater than I can'" what? "'Bear.'"

The word bear means? You'll get it.

The word bear means lifted up.

In other words, "I am dealing with the weight of my sin, and I lack the ability to" what? "Lift it up.

It is too heavy for me."

So there's a sense of trying to lift something that has such a weight to it that it can't be lifted.

That's good.

In Genesis 7, you have the story of the ark and the flood, and you have Noah, and the whole family is in the flood, and the waters are starting to come down.

God is judging man, and he's judging the fallen angels, if you read in the passage, and the water represents the wrath of God.

But in verse 17, it says this: "Now the flood was on the earth 40 days.

The waters increased" and what? Say it with me.

Lifted up.

"Lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth."

So the waters represent the wrath of God, and they're trying to get into the ark.

The only thing keeping the water from getting into the ark is the pitch that's holding the wood together.

The word for pitch is the Hebrew word for atonement or for what? The covering for sin.

So what's keeping the ark from going under is actually the work of covering sin.

Yeah.

And it can't get through, so you have wrath, but the ark is what? Safety and mercy.

So judgment is coming.

You have mercy, which is risen above, and you have the wrath beneath.

You cannot shake either image.

It is wrath, it is sin, and it is salvation all at the same time.

Genesis 18, where the, the Lord is going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah.

And as He tells Abraham that, "I'm going, about to go do it," Abraham stands in His way, and Abraham begins to intercede 'cause he knows the Lord's invited him to do that.

And while he's doing that, here's what he says, "Lord, suppose there were 50 righteous within the city.

Would You also destroy that place and not" what? "Spare it?" The word for spare is- Deliver if the 50 righteous were in it, Abraham's being like a glorified auctioneer.

"Lord, if there's 50.

Lord, if there's 50.

Do I hear 50? Do I hear 50? 45, God.

45, God.

If there's 40.

Lord, if there's 40, save them."

But he's saying, "Spare it, God.

There, I know, God, there's great wickedness.

I know, God, that sin requires judgment, and You are righteous to judge, but You love for mercy to triumph over judgment.

God, would You spare or would You lift up in the midst of the sin?" Deliver So we see brokenness, we see sinfulness, and we see a cry for mercy.

In Genesis 19, when Abraham's prayer starts to get answered and his relative Lot is being delivered, Lot's wife got a little salty on the way out, but his two daughters, she was a real pillar in the community But as Lot is leaving with his two daughters, he's like, "We're not gonna make it to the mountain."

So he appeals to the angels, "Could you spare that city over there? We can make it to that city, but would you just spare it?" And here's what it says in 19:21, "And he," being the angel, "said to Lot, 'See, I have favored you.'"

I have favored you.

The word I have favored you, that expression is the Hebrew word for what? Lifted up.

"I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow the city for which you have spoken."

So I want you to picture this.

There, there is fire and brimstone is raining down.

It is the judgment of the Lord.

But in the midst of the judgment, Lot is able to be what? Lifted up, he and his daughters.

Not because of how good he is, he's jacked up, but because of how good God is.

So judgment and mercy right in the same s- scene.

Death and life all at the same time In Genesis 22, the passage I, I-- the story I referred to earlier with Abraham when he takes his son Isaac.

When he's got Isaac on the altar and he's about to sacrifice him, here's what it says in verse 13.

It says, "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, 'In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.'"

And what I want everyone to capture is this.

It says, "He lifted his eyes."

His son was as good as dead, but when he what? Lifted up his eyes, he saw an animal that was unblemished.

He saw a perfect animal that was caught by its strength.

The horns are the strength of the ram, but there were thorns around the ram's horns.

It was caught.

He remained clean.

He was caught by his strength, and so the sacrifice that had thorns around its head was actually able to go in Isaac's place But it only happened when Abraham what? Lifted up.

Good as dead, now alive.

Sacrifice, blood, judgment, life preservation, resurrection, all at the same time.

In Genesis 45, if you're familiar with the story of Joseph, a, a man called by God to be exalted over his brothers.

His brothers were older than he was.

They didn't like it.

They were very jealous of him.

They sold- they, they threw him into a pit.

They wanted to kill him.

They sell him into slavery.

He ends up in jail, falsely accused of rape, but he advances in Egypt and becomes second in command, and in the course of time, saves his family, forgives his brothers, weeps when he introduces himself to them again.

But now their dad has died.

I'm sorry.

No, I'm a little early.

Anyway, we're in the story, but now Jacob, his father, realizes that he's alive, so Joseph is sending supplies to him, and I wanna read this to you.

It says, "And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys..."

Everyone say this word with me.

Loaded.

Oh, come on.

Say it again.

Loaded.

"Loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys- Loaded with grain, bread and food for his father for the journey."

The word loaded is the word...

Meaning a donkey is a beast of burden.

A donkey can carry weight that other animals can't, and so they would load everything onto the donkey 'cause the donkey is able to lift up what nobody else can, which is why it's called a beast of burden.

The burden's too great for anybody else.

This beast can carry and do In Genesis 50, after Jacob dies, Joseph's father, all the brothers are worried, like, "Maybe he just forgave us 'cause Dad was alive.

But maybe after Dad's dead, he's gonna be like, 'Psych!'" So they send a servant to Joseph, you know, "Please forgive, please forgive, please forgive your brothers."

And here's what it says: "Thus you shall say to Joseph, 'I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.

Now please forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.'

And Joseph wept when they spoke to him."

The word forgive that is used there twice is the word what? Lifted up.

In other words, Joseph, Joseph said, "I took the fact that you threw me into a pit.

I took the fact that you communicated to my dad that I was dead even though I was alive.

I took the fact that I was falsely accused.

I took the fact that I went into prison and I was forgotten.

I took all of that, and I have lifted it up, and I have forgiven everything that you've done to me."

Let's go Exodus 19, in the story of Israel and God's delivering them out of Egypt from under the Pharaoh.

Here's what it says.

This is what the Lord says to Israel in that time.

This is when God called-- Because of his faithfulness to Abraham, he goes in to deliver the Hebrews.

But because of what he does for the Hebrews, there are other ethnic groups and nations that are like, "We don't care what God we've worshiped at this point.

Your God is now our God."

And so they came out, the Bible says in Exodus 15, a mixed people The first time they're ever called Israel.

Yes, at the core is the faithfulness to the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but God's faithfulness actually brought in nations.

It's a mixed people who become the family of God.

And in Exodus 19, this is what, this is what the Lord says, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I," everyone say this word with me, "You on eagle's wings and brought you to myself."

In other words, you were in Egypt.

You were under the domain of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh worshiped, the whole pinnacle of his worship was a snake.

You were under the oppression of the snake.

You actually submitted to the snake's ways.

You loved the snake's gods Like the snake in the garden You were there under that.

It wasn't just slavery.

You were under the demonic oppression.

You were under the way in which you learned.

You loved the things of Egypt, but I went in and did what you could not do.

I went in, picked you up 'cause you couldn't pick yourself up, and I bore you.

I'm the beast of burden.

I'm able to carry what no other men can carry, and I carried you out on eagle's wings.

This is that word lifted up.

Exodus 28 Or pardon me, Exodus 23 While the, the, they have a cloud that leads Israel by day and a fire by night, the Lord is exhorting the Israelites to walk worthy, to walk without sin.

And here's what he says.

He's speaking that there's somebody in the cloud, and here's what it says.

It says, "Beware of him and obey his voice.

Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon."

The word pardon is what? Lifted up.

"Your transgressions, for my name is in him."

Side note, Father is speaking about somebody in the cloud, and he says this one forgives sin.

The only buddy-- The only person that forgives sin is God himself.

In other words, the Father is talking about the Son.

Yeah.

Because in the midst of the cloud, in the fire and the cloud, is the divine man.

Come on.

This is a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus.

But God's saying, "Hey, listen, if, if you, if you sin against him, like, he's not gonna forgive, but you've gotta work with him so that when he can forgive you..."

The word that's used there for pardon is lifted up.

Let's move on.

Exodus twenty-eight, when God's giving instruction to, uh, Moses and to Israel about how they're gonna handle sacrifices, and particular the, the high priest is the one who was responsible for handling the national sacrifice or salvation of Israel.

Here's what he says about the high priest.

It says, "So Aaron," who was the high priest, "shall bear," the word for bear is what? "The names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually."

And here's the point I'm making.

The high priest would wear this, this beautiful, uh, breastplate or breast of judgment.

It would be over his breast, pardon me, but it would have each of the 12 tribes, the names of each of the 12 tribes on it, so every time he would oversee sacrifice, every time he would handle the duties, he was carrying or lifting up the entirety of the whole nation.

It was a reminder that it's not just the priest, but the whole nation is to be holy, and it's all subject to what the high priest was doing.

Exodus 32, this is where Moses is saying, "Lord, I, I know your people have sinned against you, and they're jacked up."

And the Lord said, "Listen, Moses, I'm gonna start this whole thing over.

We're gonna get rid of them.

I'm gonna reboot it through your family."

It's gonna be like when we did Spider-Man, and Toby Maguire went away, and Andrew Garfield came.

We just rebooted the whole thing, right? But Moses is like, "No, you're not gonna do that."

Verse 32: "Yet now, if you will forgive," the word for forgive is what? Lifted up, "their sin.

But if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written!" In the story I told you about King David and the whole building of the temple and the 70,000 dying, here's what he said when he bought the land to make the sacrifice.

The King David said to Ornan, the man he bought the land from, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price," 'cause the guy tried to give it to him.

He says, "For I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings for that which costs me nothing."

Um, the word for take is lift up, and what David is saying is, "I'm responsible.

I'm responsible for all this, so I'm gonna pay a price, and I'm going to" what? "Lift up that offering to the Lord."

Last one.

Last one we're lifted up here in, in the Old Testament.

Y'all, y'all good so far? Yeah.

Okay.

I may be up north, I may speak a little quicker, but I just want you to feel the imagery.

Last one.

Esther, the Book of Esther.

Esther is a, uh, is a Jewish woman.

She's living, she's an orphan.

She's lived now, uh, her people have lived now for 100 years in exile, meaning they were taken out of Jerusalem.

They're now scattered through what's called the m- uh, Medo-Persian Empire, which is modern-day Iran.

And while they're scattered, while she's living where she is, there's a man named Haman who convinces the king to wipe out all of the Jewish people throughout the entirety of the kingdom, and this was a massive kingdom.

He goes, "We're gonna wipe them all out."

And so when Esther finds out from her relative Mordecai, she realizes, she's like, "Wait a minute."

She's the queen.

She hasn't divulged that she's Jewish to the king.

And so what happens is she says, "All right, we're gonna pray and fast.

We're not gonna eat any food or any water for three days."

And then what she does is she gets in sackcloth, and she puts the ashes over herself so that she looks like death.

And when you read the story, when you read the story, she's looking like death, contending for salvation for her people, and she disappears from the text on the eve of Passover And you don't see her in the text until the third day.

And when you see her on the third day, she no longer looks like death.

She's dressed in her royal robe, and now suddenly she's in the inner court.

But we still have a problem.

She never announced, she never got approval to go to the king, which means the law says she has to die.

And the only thing you're gonna know is if the king extends approval towards her, and he does, which means she becomes greater than the law So here we go, Esther 5:2.

Esther 5:2

"So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she," what? "Found."

The word found means what? Lifted up, favor in his sight.

"And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter."

And here's the point.

All of that weight that was on her was lifted up when she looked like death, when she was interceding, and when she appeared before the king, God gave her favor.

She was lifted up even above the law All right, you good there? Yeah.

So we got the place, Mount Moriah, all the imagery.

We just went through a couple scriptures of the word lifted up in the Old Testament.

Now let's go to the words of Jesus Everybody all right? Yeah.

Check that pulse.

We good? So let me give you the setup.

Jesus is having a conversation with a man.

He's about to cite a place in the Old Testament, uh, something in the history of Israel, and it's when they were in the wilderness, and surprise, surprise, they were rebelling against the Lord.

Do you know that Israel in the Bible is nothing more than a reflection of the human condition? They still speak to us today.

And so because the rebellion was so great, God allowed serpents to come out and bite them, and they were dying, and they start crying out to Moses.

And they're like, "Moses, please, could you intercede for us?" And the Lord tells Moses, "Listen, I want you to get this-- make this bronze serpent."

Bronze is a picture of judgment, and what Moses was to do was to take that bronze serpent, put it on a pole and what? Lift it up.

Oh, you're catching on.

And you were to what? Lift it up.

Lift it up, right? So they're to lift it up, and so here's Jesus' words, verse 14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent..."

Why is this significant? Because if you were an Israelite and you were dying because of the snake venom inside of you, when you saw a snake on the pole, you were realizing, "I'm responsible for my condition.

What I'm looking at is my image, but it has been judged there so mercy can come to me here.

Nobody else is responsible for that but me, and when I see that, it's a reminder of what me, but how good God is that He judged my snake-like nature- All right.

Yes on that pole."

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

And what Jesus was saying is, "There's gonna come a moment when I get lifted up, and when you see me lifted up, it'll be a reminder of your condition."

Come on.

"But there's gonna be judgment on that thing that secures mercy for you."

What does Jesus say in John 8:28? It says, "Then Jesus said to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself.

John 8:28

But as my Father taught me, I speak these things.'"

John 12.

Now, isn't it amazing how the Word of God just speaks for itself? Okay, here we go.

John 12:31.

John 12:31

"Now," this is Jesus, "Now is the judgment of this world.

Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And I, if I am," what? "Lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.

This He said, signifying by what death He would die."

And the people are trying to process this and they're, "What, what, what do you mean?" Verse 34, "The people answered Him and said, 'We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever.

And how can you say, "The Son of Man must be lifted up"? Who is the Son of Man?'" In other words, how could someone be lifted up on a cross and die and still be a king forever? "But although He had done," verse 37, "so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of," who? The word of who? Where did we start? "The prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke: 'Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'" 41, "These things Isaiah said," when what? "When he saw His glory."

The passage that we read, "And spoke of Him."

Mount Moriah lifted up Jesus' words.

Isaiah, what did you see? That's good.

Isaiah, what did you see? And I think you guys should be getting it by now.

Yeah.

Isaiah, what did you see? Isaiah, who said, "For, for a son shall be, uh, born, a child shall be born, a son shall be given to us, and his name will be called Immanuel."

Yeah.

Isaiah said his name shall be called what? The Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, Almighty God, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and of the increase of his government there shall be no end.

Come on.

Yeah.

What did you see, Isaiah? Let's go with Isaiah's words, Isaiah 52:13.

Isaiah 52:13

Isaiah spent 60 chapters trying to tell us what he saw.

That's good.

Isaiah spent 60 chapters with more insight into Jesus than any other prophet who's ever lived.

Verse 13, "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently.

He shall be exalted," in other words, lifted high, "and extolled, and be very high."

14, "Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men."

Isaiah's like, "You're not gonna believe me if I told you.

He looked so ordinary.

He looked so common."

Verse 15, "So he shall sprinkle with blood many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths at him, for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider."

Isaiah 53:1, "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground.

Isaiah 53:1

He, he has no form."

He's not like Uzziah, who was great, not like Uzziah, who did economic reform and military transformation.

This one I'm looking at, who is exalted far above Uzziah, he's so ordinary.

He's so plain.

He's got nothing that the world says is strong, and yet he is the King.

Yeah.

"He has no form or comeliness when we see him.

There is no beauty that we should desire him."

Verse 3 of Isaiah 53, "But he is despised, and he's rejected by men.

He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised, and we did not esteem him.

Surely he has borne," or lifted up or carried away, "what? Our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him," what? "Stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions."

He's letting you know what he saw.

"He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed."

Isaiah verse seven, "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation? For he was," what? "Cut off," like Isaiah was undone, "from the land of the living: for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.

Yet it pleased the Lord to," what? "Bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days," resurrection, "and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Therefore I will divide him," verse 12, "a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and he made intercession for the transgressors."

Last verse, Isaiah 56, "I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard: I did not hide my face from shame and spitting."

And the reason I'm this emphatic about it, Isaiah tells you for 60 chapters, "I want unto tell you who I saw.

I saw a man.

He did not look extraordinary.

He looked very, very ordinary.

I saw a man in obscurity, but he was the man that God chose."

Yeah.

He is the Son of God.

He is.

Isaiah, what did you see? I saw the crucified Lord of Glory, and he's exalted because he was crucified He sees him.

And the reason he's, he's like, who, what type of love is this that God would come and take on human form and lay down his life- Yeah and not be strong in the eyes of the world, but he would be weak in the eyes of men.

Yeah.

And for this reason, God has glorified him because he's crucified.

Yeah.

He's exalted 'cause he's crucified.

He's glorified 'cause he's crucified.

He's the king because he suffered.

Guys, I'm, I'm here to tell you that the cross is not some little point that you believe in.

The cross is not some little thing that we acknowledge.

The cross is the glory of God.

Yeah.

The reason Jesus is exalted at the right hand is because he is the crucified Lord of glory.

So let me give you just a, a couple statements and a question as we wrap up.

Number one, nothing reveals the majesty of God more than the suffering Jesus endured on the cross for our sins.

Nothing more reveals the majesty of God than that.

Yeah, you have to understand how powerful the cross is.

Do you guys know what it took to put sin away? Do you know what it took to deal with it forever? It took God in a human body.

It took God in a human body being nailed to the beams.

Nothing else can do it.

Pastor Damon last week talked about that if your, your vision of God is, is, is waning, your faith is gonna wane Guys, why do we sing if we don't understand what it meant for Him to be crucified? Why do we sing if we don't understand what it took to deal with death? The cross is so glorious that it actually existed before time began.

In Revelation, in 1 Peter, the Bible says Jesus is the lamb slain before what? The foundation of time.

This is why David saw the cross.

This is why Isaiah saw the cross.

This is why Zechariah saw the cross and the wounded one.

It is so powerful it exists before time began.

It transcends time, which means the cross transcends every time of your sin.

He is the cross and the lamb slain for your past sin, for your present sin, and even for your future sin.

There is never a time where your sin triumphs over the power of the cross Jesus was the one who said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."

I was reading that one day.

I said, "Lord, I'm bothered by this.

You're talking about yourself in the past tense.

You're talking like you've already been given And the word used there to say that he's been given is a word that means the exact meaning of the word give in the past, in the present, and the future.

Even my future sin has been atoned for when I bring it to him.

The cross is so powerful, time cannot hold it Here's our second statement: If we do not see the crucifixion rightly, we will not know God as God.

If you don't know how to see the glory of the crucifixion, you do not know God as God.

Your Christianity is little.

Your Christianity is little.

I'm not trying to insult you.

I'm, I'm, I'm begging and I'm pleading for your eyesight to see the glory.

Without the cross, there's not a second coming.

Without the cross, death doesn't get put away.

Without the cross, salvation does not come to the nations.

And without the cross, salvation does not come to Israel Here's the last thing.

I wanna give you a question while we close out Do we know the humility of the crucified God man? And here's how I'll say it.

When Isaiah is looking into the heavens and he's undone, he knows that it's God, but he also knows it's a man, and he's blown away because this is the God that the Bible opens up with.

It says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth."

I'm looking at the one who created the heavens and the Earth, and he's man.

I, I, I'm looking at this one.

Says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth."

This is the one who said what He, he created planets.

He, He created expanse of galaxy.

He created the Earth, and when the Earth was not inhabitable, He said, "Let there be," what? "Light."

He's got mountains that weigh kilotons upon kilotons, but there's clouds that weigh more than mountains, and they float.

Who does that? This God who has done all of that so loves us, and this is what's blowing Isaiah away.

He's like, "This one that I'm seeing crucified, this one that I see at the highest level of His will, of His self-sacrificing nature on the cross, it's who He's always been."

He is going to take Himself, and He's put Himself in a human body.

And though He has created every language, He will not speak a word until He learns how to say it.

Why? "Because this is how much I love man.

I've become like man."

He takes upon a human body, and even though He upholds things by the power of His word, He's, He's gotta learn how to put one foot and then fall, and then He's gotta learn to put another foot.

I mean, He's the creator of universes, and He's in a human body, and He's learning how to even stand.

Why? Because this is how much He's willing to sacrifice.

Ladies and gentlemen, the incarnation of Jesus was the crucifixion before the crucifixion ever happened.

All of it was out of His love for you and me.

That's the self-sacrificing God that we have.

Do we esteem this Lord? 'Cause when Isaiah sees Him, he's like, "I'm done."

God became a man.

He looked weak.

He's been crucified.

Hear me.

There's blood, and there's mercy.

There's judgment, and there's forgiveness.

It's not one or the other.

It's both.

And now because that has happened, now that presence or that cloud of Christ can live in me.

If you receive the Word of God today, let the Lord know.

Let him bless His name.

Thanks for joining us.

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Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.