The 23rd message from the book of Isaiah, “Praising God for his blessings.”

"O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." (Isaiah 25:1)

Isaiah chapter 25 is divided into three sections. Each of these sections praises God for something. We will look at each of these three sections and find out how much God has and will bless his children.

Prophetically, this passage is about the future judgment of God and the Lord’s millennium reign.

We will not receive our full inheritance and rule with Christ until he comes back. However, we can apply many of the blessings and truths to the church now.

Isaiah chapter 25 is an encouraging passage about praising the Lord.

We can praise him for:

• His protection and righteous judgments
• His blessings and benefits
• Salvation

The 22nd message from the book of Isaiah, “Glorifying the Lord in the fires.”

Isaiah 24:14-15 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. (15) Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

Here in Isaiah 24, we have a picture of glorifying the Lord through the fires of this life. A good illustration of this is the three Hebrew men in Daniel chapter 3.

In Daniel chapter three, we have one of the most exciting stories in all the Bible and it is a peculiar one. What makes this story different, is that these three Hebrew men were not delivered from their enemies at the beginning. God allowed them to go through the fire, walked with them in the fire, and then delivered them out of the fire.

Even in the middle of the fires of life, we can sing praises to our God!

The 21st message from the book of Isaiah “Christ our King, Saviour.”

Isa 22:20-25 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. 24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Eliakim, a type of Christ.

Today we will look at this passage as a type of Christ. It is clear it is a prophetic passage about the Lord Jesus Christ ruling and reigning, as well as paying for our sins.

It is interesting to note how many of these points match the four gospels. Matthew shows Jesus as king, Mark as a servant, Luke as a man, and John as God in the flesh.

This passage in Isaiah is not a perfect type of the four “faces” or sides of the character of Jesus, but it does show some of them to a certain extent.

As a King of kings he did not come to his throne by birth, he earned the right by being the conquerer of all foes. And the last and greatest foe (enemy) was death.

As a Servant, he came to bear our sins upon the cross.

As a Man, he came to be the last Adam and the first of a new race.

As God, he showed that his power is greater than sin, death, Hell, or Satan.

The nineteenth message from the book of Isaiah, “Egypt, A picture of the world coming to Christ.”

This chapter is a great picture of the Gentiles and the Jews becoming the body of Christ, the church.

Egypt in the Bible is a type of the world. In this chapter, we can find an illustration of how all are made one in Christ. We see the Gentiles (Egypt and Assyria) and the Jews becoming the children of God.

The eighteenth message from the book of Isaiah “The Lord is not worried.”

In this short chapter we have a vivid picture. Ethiopia and Egypt are advancing in battle against Assyria (verse 1-3). This was probably when Shabatok the Ethiopian was King of Egypt.

In verse four the world looks and hears all that is happening. But then look at verse 4, the Lord is taking a rest. He is not concerned about this at all! The Lord gives them a victory against Assyria and then in verse eight they (the Ethiopians and Egyptians) give a gift to the Lord.

Today we will look at how the Lord is calm and not worried, even though the world looks on with concern and wonder.

I would like to contrast the excitement and agitation of the world, with the calm, restful, patience of the Lord.

The seventeenth message from the book of Isaiah “Looking to your Maker.”

Isa 17:7-8 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. (8) And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

Man is a creation of God. Someone created you—that means you have a maker. Many will try to deny this fact, but if you look deep in your heart you will know it is true.

Isaiah 17 shows how all people, at some time in their lives, will respect their Maker. For many, this will be after they have respected other men and the work of their own hands.

It would be much better if we respect our Maker now!

Let’s look at what the Bible says about our Maker and his relationship with his creation.

The sixteenth message from the book of Isaiah, “The Throne of Jesus.”

This chapter has three parts: 1. An offer of mercy on condition they show mercy and help to the Israelites. (16:1-5), they reject this offer and are threatened (16:6-12), 3. The time is fixed for the judgement of Moab.

In addition, in verse 5, there is a Messianic prophecy concerning the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isa 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

Today we will look at the future throne of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The throne of the Lord Jesus Christ will be forever, established in mercy and truth, and it will be a place of active judgement and righteousness.

The fifteenth message from the book of Isaiah “Weeping for your Enemies.”

Isa 15:5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

Isaiah chapter 15 is about the destruction of Moab. Moab was the son of Lot. When the children of Israel came into the promise land the king of Moab, Balak, hired Balaam to curse them. Instead he blessed them!

God told Israel to leave the Moabites alone. The Edomites and Moabites did not let Israel go through their lands, because they feared them. However, Moab had a history of being enemies of Israel.

Let’s look at a few things about our enemies today.

God wants us to love our enemies, not hate them. Treat people the way you want to be treated, even those that oppose you or cause you trouble. That is what a Christian should do!