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We return to the book of the prophet Isaiah and my sermon text today is Isaiah chapter 8 verses 16 through
22. Isaiah chapter 8 verses 16 through 22. You’ll find that on page 680 in your Pew Bible.
To fill out the context a bit, I will begin reading at verse 11 and read to the end of
the chapter. But again, our focus will be on verses 16 through 22.
This is the word of God. Let’s hear it with reverence and awe.
For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in
the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy,
and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall
honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary
and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it, they shall fall and be
broken, they shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among
my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob,
and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs
and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say
to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people
inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the
teaching and to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because
they have no dawn. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry. And
when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their
king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold,
and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. Dear friends,
the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s
pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Heavenly Father, we thank you and
praise you that you have given to us these God-breathed scriptures, that you have given
to us your word, that you have clearly communicated to us. But we recognize, Lord, our need for
the illumination of your Spirit, that we might understand your word and how it applies to
us. And so we would ask, O Lord, that by your Spirit, you would open our minds and our hearts
to behold wondrous things from your word. And we pray that by the sovereign work of
your gracious Spirit, you would cause your word to find a lodging place in our souls.
And Lord, we ask that you would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that
which is faithful to your word. We ask, Lord, that you would use me, your unworthy servant,
to declare your word. And we would pray, Heavenly Father, that we might receive your word, embrace
it, assimilate it, and live out the implications of it in our daily lives. We pray these things
in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people’s said. Amen. You may be seated.
The title of my sermon this morning is, To the Teaching. And if you have your sermon
outline, you’ll notice, and I suggest that children can listen for some or all of these
words in my sermon today. The key words for my sermon are the words, trustworthiness,
superstition, revelation, darkness, and light. Well, my dear friends, life is confusing today,
isn’t it? Dear ones, we find ourselves living today in a deeply confused, and indeed a deeply
confusing age. Every day, for example, through various means such as social media, every
day we find ourselves confronted with a multitude of conflicting and often contradictory voices,
a multitude of conflicting ideas and ideologies, all of which seek to grab our attention, all
of which seek to gain our interest, and ultimately to win our allegiance. So much so that it
can sometimes feel like we’re drowning in an ocean of conflicting information and contradictory
truth claims. Just to give you an example, perhaps you felt this way during the recent
presidential election season, which mercifully has finally come and gone. It wasn’t too
long ago, however, you’ll remember, that you and I had to endure a barrage of political
information and political ads being crammed down our throats on a daily basis, ads and
information in your mailbox, ads and information in your email inbox, ads and information
conveyed on the radio, on your television screen, in your social media, on your favorite
podcasts, on your favorite news websites and newspapers, and so on and so forth. I mean,
it was ubiquitous, it was everywhere, and it was hard to avoid even if you wanted to
avoid it. It was an exhausting and confusing experience as political candidates and their
campaigns confronted us with their endless and conflicting claims and counterclaims,
claims and counterclaims which, of course, were usually laced with a toxic combination
of ad hominem personal attacks and nasty juvenile innuendo, all designed to denigrate and demonize
their political opponents in the hopes of winning your vote. I mean, what would American
politics be without nastiness, personal attacks, and appeals to rage? Well, friends, it’s
in a world filled with so many different and contradictory ideas, so many different
and conflicting worldviews, philosophies, ideologies, and religions. Where can we turn
to get the actual, real truth? Where shall we go to ground and to center ourselves in
reality, not just the reality that we see in the media, but the reality that we see
on an earthly plane, but the reality that serves as the bedrock and foundation, the
ultimate foundation of all reality, namely, ultimate transcendent reality? Where do we
find a firm and solid rock foundation upon which to build our faith, our lives, our families,
and our future? Well, as the Holy Spirit through the prophet, Isaiah, and his disciples
tells us in our passage for this Lord’s Day morning in verse 20, to the teaching and to
the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
Now, friends, remember the historical setting of our passage. King Ahaz, the Judean king,
and the people of Judea, and the people of Judea, and the people of Judea, and the people
of our passage. King Ahaz, the Judean king, and the people of Judea as a whole, had sadly,
tragically, rejected the word of Yahweh, their God, which had come to them through the prophet, Isaiah.
The evidence of this rejection of the Lord and of his word was their lack of trust in the
Lord’s promise to deliver them from the military threat from their neighbors to the north, namely,
the northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Aram, or Syria. Instead of trusting in the Lord’s
promise of deliverance, King Ahaz and his people had turned to the king of Assyria for help
against this military threat. Instead of trusting in Yahweh, the Lord, the true and living God,
they trusted in the military might of a pagan king and a pagan people who worshiped lifeless idols.
Do you see the contrast there? They turned away from trusting the living God and his
absolutely trustworthy promises, and they turned instead to worshipers of lifeless idols,
false and deceptive deities. Now, in response to this rejection from Ahaz and his people,
the wording of our passage for today has often been interpreted as suggesting that at this particular
point, Isaiah withdrew from his public ministry for a time in order to focus his attention on
teaching and instructing and ministering to the faithful remnant among the people of Israel,
who are described here in this passage as Yahweh’s disciples. And that brings us to our passage
for today. And let us turn our attention first of all to verses 16 through 18, and let us consider
the unchanging trustworthiness of God’s word, the unchanging trustworthiness of God’s word.
It says in verse 16, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for
the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the
children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who
dwells on Mount Sinai. Now, in verse 16, Isaiah uses the words, the terms testimony and teaching.
To what are these terms referring? Are they referring, for example, to the testimony that was
spoken of back in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 8? Let’s go back to those verses. We read in those verses
the following. Then the Lord said to me, take a large tablet and write on it in common characters
belonging to Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Now, what does that mean? That’s one of Isaiah’s sons.
Meher Shalal Hashbaz means, it means speed the spoil, hasten the booty. It is a symbolic name
that the Lord instructed Isaiah to give his son as a testimony to the people that indeed
judgment and exile was coming, and also that the Lord would deliver the people from the military
threat from Syria and Israel. And I will get reliable witnesses, verse 2, Uriah the priest and
Zechariah the son of Jeberrikayah to attest for me. Is this the testimony and the teaching that was
to be sealed up until what the word of the Lord said would be fulfilled? Or are these terms testimony
and teaching, are they referring to the words and signs that the Lord had delivered to the people
through Isaiah? Well, in the context of our passage for today, this latter interpretation makes the
most sense, contextually speaking. God’s word as revealed to the people through the prophet Isaiah
is particularly in view here, especially as that word predicted the Lord’s deliverance of Judah
from the military threats from Israel and Syria, and also the predictions of judgment that the Lord
had threatened against those who rejected him and rejected his word. But friends, in a broader
sense, in a broader sense, this refers to God’s word as a whole. These terms can refer together
to the entirety of the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, and not merely to the Lord’s word
given through the prophet Isaiah. Now, these two terms are, of course, synonymous terms, and they’re
closely connected, although they are referring to the word of God through a slightly different angle,
from a slightly different angle. But, of course, God’s word is rich and multifaceted, so the
Scriptures use different terms to describe themselves. The Bible is referred to, and we see that, for
example, in Psalm 119, where God’s word is referred to as law, as precepts, as testimonies, and so
forth. As Matthew Henry suggests in his commentary, as a testimony, it, the word of God, directs our
faith. As a law, it directs our practice, in other words, how we live our lives as followers of the
Lord, and we ought both to subscribe to the truths of it and to submit to the precepts of it.
Isaiah’s description here of God’s word as both testimony and teaching, or it could be translated as law,
the Hebrew term is Torah. Isaiah’s description of the word of God as testimony and Torah, or teaching,
law, reminds me of the answer of Shorter Catechism question three. The question is, what do the
Scriptures principally teach? And I know some of you know the answer to that question. The Bible-based
answer is that the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty
God requires of man. In other words, dear ones, Scripture reveals both testimony and teaching, or
law. It reveals doctrine and duty. It reveals theology and ethics. It tells us what we are to believe
about God and also how we are to live faithfully for God. And so that is what is in view here when we read
of, in verse 16, of the testimony and the teaching. And what is Isaiah to do with this testimony and
teaching? The Lord instructs him, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples.
Now, some understand this language to mean that Isaiah’s students or disciples were actually to bind up
or seal a scroll of Isaiah’s prophecies until the predictions of Isaiah’s words about the defeat of
Israel and Syria by the kingdom of Assyria came to pass. And that would come to pass in relatively short
order. Now, this would clearly show Isaiah that Isaiah was indeed a true prophet of God. For one of the
criteria of being a true prophet of God is that if you made a prediction about the future, that prediction
would come to pass if you were a true prophet. If you made a prediction and it didn’t come to pass, well,
that would show you to be a false prophet. I don’t know about you folks, but I remember back in the last
election, back in 2020, that there were some alleged or professing contemporary prophets who predicted
that Donald Trump would win the election in 2020. And, of course, he didn’t. And so those individuals
and then those prophets and prophetesses would sort of tweak their predictions or what have you.
But the very fact that they made a prediction that didn’t come to pass shows that they were in fact and are
in fact false prophets or prophetesses. And so, friends, Isaiah had made a prediction. The Lord would
deliver Judah from the military threat given by Israel and Syria. And he was to seal up the testimony
until that time, bind it up, seal it up. And the very fact that this came to pass testifies to the truth
that Isaiah was indeed a true prophet of God, that the word of the Lord truly came through Isaiah the prophet.
But this binding and sealing up of the testimony would also demonstrate that God’s word is unalterable.
It’s unalterable. It’s unchanging. If it’s bound up, it cannot be altered. It cannot be changed.
As one commentator says, this written record was literally sealed, possibly in the presence of witnesses,
so that it could not be altered. In any case, friends, this language points to the fact that God’s
revealed word, his God-breathed, inspired, infallible, authoritative word, his word is unalterable,
his word is unchanging, and thus it is entirely trustworthy.
That’s why the Scriptures repeatedly warn us as God’s people, neither to add to nor take away from God’s word.
We have some very stern warnings. For example, if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 32,
we read the following words in Deuteronomy 12, verse 32.
The Lord through Moses the prophet says, everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do,
you shall not add to it or take from it.
Or think of the very last chapter of the New Testament in Revelation, chapter 22, verses 18 and 19,
as the Bible closes with this warning.
Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19, I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
A very solemn and somber warning not to add to or take away from the word of God.
And so the law and the testimony, the word of God given through the prophet Isaiah is to be bound up and sealed.
And bound up and sealed where or to whom?
Well, bind up the testimony and seal the teaching among my disciples.
Now, one of the keys to good Bible interpretation is to ask good questions.
What’s the question that should come to our minds as we read these words?
Well, the question that should come to our minds is among whose disciples?
Whose disciples are being referred to?
Is Isaiah referring to his disciples, his pupils?
Or is he referring to the Lord’s, to Yahweh’s disciples?
Well, probably the latter, at least in the ultimate sense.
Although in the proximate immediate sense, this may be referring to Isaiah’s students and followers.
But Isaiah’s students and followers were among the faithful remnants.
And so ultimately they were disciples, followers of Yahweh the Lord.
And then it goes on to say in verses 17 and 18 the following.
I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Sinai.
Again, what’s the question that we should ask?
The question is, who is the I here?
Is Isaiah referring to himself or is this, is Isaiah conveying to us the words of the promised Messiah?
Well, Pastor, where do you get that?
Where do you get this Messianic interpretation?
Well, we get it by comparing Scripture with Scripture.
See, when we compare Scripture with Scripture, the Messianic interpretation of this passage clearly seems to be the correct one.
Dear ones, we must remember that the Spirit of Christ, in other words, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Messiah,
the Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Testament prophets.
We learned this.
This is implied, for example, in passages like 1 Peter, chapter one, verses 10 and 11.
Let me just read that to you real quickly.
In 1 Peter, chapter one, verses 10 and 11, it says, as Peter is speaking about the salvation that the Lord Jesus has won for us as his disciples,
it says, concerning this salvation, the prophets, he’s speaking here, I believe, about the Old Testament prophets,
concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours,
searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating
when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
You see, my friends, all of Scripture, including the Old Testament, is ultimately from Jesus Christ.
Christ is the subject of all of Scripture, ultimately, and Christ is also the source of Scripture.
It is His Word.
The Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Covenant prophets, even as He spoke through the New Testament apostles.
And as we go back to verse 18 of our passage for today, we notice these words,
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts.
Now, certainly, Isaiah himself, as a prophet of the Lord, was a sign of both mercy and judgment to the people of God,
and the Lord had instructed Isaiah to give symbolic names to his children.
We already considered one of those names, Meher Shalal Hashbaz, Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty,
but there was also his other son, Shear Jashub, and what does that mean?
That means a remnant shall return, and it points to the promise that God would ultimately preserve and return a remnant to Israel.
But nevertheless, the author of Hebrews interprets verse 18 not as a reference to Isaiah and Isaiah’s physical children,
Shear Jashub and Meher Shalal Hashbaz, but no, the author of Hebrews interprets this passage as a reference to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 2 and look at verses 11 through 13.
Hebrews chapter 2, verses 11 through 13.
It says this.
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Jesus Christ is our elder brother.
We are brothers and sisters in union with Christ, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation.
I will sing your praise.
And again, I will put my trust in him.
And again, these words should be familiar.
Behold, I and the children God has given me.
That’s a quotation from Isaiah chapter 8, verse 18.
You say, well, what’s the connection?
How is it that Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, how is it that he is speaking on behalf of the Messiah here in Isaiah 8, verse 18?
What’s the connection?
Well, think about it, friends, just as Isaiah and his children with their symbolic names were signs and portents to their contemporaries.
So Jesus, the Messiah, and his children, which includes you and me, are signs and portents of judgment and mercy to the world today.
We, brothers and sisters, we are signs of judgment and mercy.
We have tasted that the Lord is good.
The Lord has been merciful to us.
And we have opportunity to confess Christ to others.
And as we do, we speak of the Lord’s judgment against sin.
We also speak of his mercy in Christ to sinners.
We are signs and portents in that sense.
So what are some of the takeaways?
What are some of the lessons that we can glean from this first point, from what we have considered thus far in our passage for this morning?
Well, first of all, friends, let us remember that God’s word is unalterable.
And so we are to receive it as it is, neither adding to it nor taking from it, for it is entirely trustworthy.
It cannot be changed.
So you can base your life on it.
You can build your life upon it as a solid rock foundation of truth and grace.
Many religions and cults and false philosophies either add to or take away from the word of God.
The Jewish religion takes away from the word of God by rejecting the New Testament Scriptures, rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and the New Testament Scriptures.
They accept the Old Testament, which they call the Hebrew Bible, or the Holy Scriptures, but they reject the New Testament.
On the other hand, you have religions like Islam and Mormonism, which add to the word of God.
We’re told in Hebrews chapter one that in Jesus Christ, God’s final word has come.
Christ and his inspired spokesman, his apostles, that’s the final revelation of God.
And we have the final revelation in the New Testament Scriptures.
So we are not to expect an additional word of God.
We’re not to accept the Book of Mormon as it claims to be another testament of Jesus Christ.
It isn’t. It is a forgery. It is a falsehood.
Same thing with the Koran, written hundreds of years after the New Testament was penned.
In Christ, God’s final word has come to us, and his word is unalterable.
It is reliable. You can bank on it.
Another lesson that we learn from our passage.
You know, some look to the Bible merely as a textbook or a resource of doctrine and theology.
And certainly there’s much doctrine, much theology in the Bible.
But this book is not a systematic theology textbook.
It gives us truth and revelation that we use to build a biblical systematic theology from.
But the Bible is not merely a textbook of theology.
Others look to the Bible as a book of moral guidance and ethics.
Sort of like a divinely inspired Aesop’s Fables or what have you.
But friends, it’s not one or the other. It’s actually both.
It is both testimony and law or teaching, Torah.
It is doctrine and ethics. It is gospel and law.
It’s not one or the other. It’s not either or. It’s both and.
And so let us search the scriptures to learn both what we are to believe about God
and his amazing plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let us also search the scriptures to learn how we are to live as followers of Jesus Christ
out of gratitude for God’s gift of salvation to us in Jesus.
So let us remember the Bible teaches what we are to believe concerning God
and what duty God requires of man. It teaches testimony and teaching.
Another lesson here is that as the Spirit of Christ spoke through the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah,
let us remember that Christ is at the heart and center of all of Holy Scripture.
Christ is revealed in all of scriptures.
In some places he’s revealed more clearly and directly than others,
but all of the Bible ultimately points to and is fulfilled in and has as its content
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so let us always be sure to read and study the scriptures in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That includes the Old Testament scriptures.
As it has been said, the Old Testament prepared the world for Christ.
The Old Testament points forward to Christ and prepares the world for the coming of Christ.
The New Testament reveals him in his fullness.
And so children, I know I’ve said this before, but what that means is that when you read the Bible,
especially when you read the Old Testament, you need to read it with your Jesus glasses on.
You need to ask what is this teaching me about Jesus?
How is this preparing the world for Jesus?
How is this pointing to Jesus our Savior?
Now that brings me to my next point.
We’ve been talking about the unalterable trustworthiness of the Word of God.
But Isaiah’s contemporaries had a problem, many of them,
in that instead of turning to their God and His Word, they turned to pagan gibberish and superstition.
And so as we look at verses 19 and 20, consider next the gibberish of pagan superstition
versus the clarity of divine revelation.
The gibberish of pagan superstition versus the clarity of divine revelation.
It says in verse 19,
And when they say to you,
Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,
Should not a people inquire of their God?
Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
To the teaching and to the testimony.
If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
You see, friends, instead of seeking the light and clarity of divine revelation
as revealed in God’s Word and through the prophets like Isaiah,
many of Isaiah’s contemporaries were seeking guidance from other sources, namely from the occult.
In particular, from pagan mediums and necromancers who sought to communicate with the dead.
Now does the Bible look with smiles upon such practices?
Of course not.
The Bible sternly forbids and prohibits God’s people from such superstitious pagan practices.
In fact, the Bible describes, the Torah describes such practices as an abomination.
Turn with me if you would to Deuteronomy 18 and let me just read verses 9 through 12 of Deuteronomy chapter 18.
And here the Holy Spirit through Moses addresses us as the people of God.
And it says this beginning at verse 9.
The Lord instructs his people, when you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you,
you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
And then he gives some examples.
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.
The practice, the horrible barbaric practice of child sacrifice was very common in the ancient Near East and among Israel’s neighbors.
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or daughter as an offering.
Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or look at verse 11.
Or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead.
It’s pretty clear there, God doesn’t want his people doing that.
For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.
And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
You shall be blameless before the Lord your God and so forth.
So instead, think about it friends, instead of seeking truth and guidance from the true and living God,
they were seeking guidance and urging Isaiah and his followers to seek guidance from necromancers and mediums who chirp and mutter.
This may be a reference to the kind of hushed tones that mediums and necromancers used in supposedly conveying a message from the spirits of the dead.
In any case, instead of seeking truth and guidance from the spirits of the dead,
should not God’s people seek guidance from God himself, the true and living God and from his word?
And the answer of course is yes, as Isaiah says in verse 20, to the teaching and to the testimony.
He doesn’t say to the necromancers and to the mediums, but no, to the teaching and to the testimony.
And then he says, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
To the word of God, not to the supposed words of the spirits of the dead.
And those who speak according to the spirits of the dead, they have no dawn.
In other words, they have no light of divine revelation, or it could possibly mean they have no light of salvation.
Oh, Church of God, consider what an immense privilege it is to have what Matthew Henry calls the invaluable treasure of divine revelation.
Beloved, we are not left in this sin-cursed world with the spiritual resources of mere human speculations or vain superstitions or mere guesswork.
Instead, our amazing, gracious God has spoken.
He has blessed us by entrusting to us his divine oracles, the priceless treasure of divine revelation.
And so, with Isaiah, we say to the teaching and to the testimony, to the word of God.
Dear listener, do you treasure the Scriptures?
Has the Spirit of God sealed the word and truth of God in your soul?
And so, dear ones, first of all, let us treasure the word of God, for it is indeed a treasure worth more than mountains of gold.
And, dear ones, let us internalize the word.
We do so by reading and meditating upon it and by attending upon the faithful preaching and teaching of it as you are seeking to do today.
Let us also guard the word of God from corruption by being devoted to maintaining sound doctrine and by neither adding to nor taking away from it.
And also, let us propagate the word of God.
We do so through covenant nurture by raising our covenant children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as we teach them the word of God and we catechize them.
We raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We also propagate the word to those outside of the covenant community through missions and evangelism.
So let us treasure the word of God, let us internalize the word of God, let us guard the word of God, and let us propagate the word of God.
But sadly, not everyone who hears the word believes it.
Many reject it.
And so, as we wrap up our time in the Scriptures today, I would present to you as my final point based on verses 21 and 22.
Let us consider the gloomy darkness of those who reject the Lord and the light of his word.
The gloomy darkness of those who reject the Lord and the light of his word.
It says in verse 21, They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry.
And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward.
And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Isaiah here under the Spirit’s inspiration describes the darkness that would engulf his contemporaries who had rejected Yahweh and rejected his word of deliverance.
You know, it’s interesting that those who persistently harden their hearts against the Gospel, against the word of God,
those who persistently harden themselves against it and reject the Lord and his word will often rage against the Lord when they begin to feel within themselves and to experience the effects of his judgment.
But they have no one to blame but themselves.
Dear listener, have you received and accepted the word of God?
Do you accept the word, the message of the Gospel?
Or are you yet walking in spiritual darkness, rejecting the word of the Lord, rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hardening your heart against it?
Oh, be warned, be warned lest you end up being thrust into thick darkness, the darkness of God’s judgment.
Run from the darkness to the light of Jesus Christ and his Gospel word.
Jesus is the light of the world and he promises light, forgiveness, salvation to all who turn to him in faith and repentance.
Turn to Christ who was crucified to pay the penalty for sin and raised from the dead so that whoever, whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life.
Run from the darkness, run into the light of Christ who himself is the light of the world.
Amen. Let us pray.
Our Lord and Father in heaven, we do indeed praise you and thank you, O God, for the light of your word.
We thank you, Lord, for the testimony and the teaching.
And we pray, O Lord, that in this age that tempts us to turn to other sources for upon which to build our lives,
help us to remember that it is on Christ the solid rock we stand, that we are to build our lives upon the rock of Christ and his word.
Give us the grace, O Lord, always to return to the law and to the testimony.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen.
As Isaiah’s contemporaries, we’re told to look forward to the promised Messiah.
So in this season, let us look forward to celebrating the birth and coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Let’s rise and we’ll sing as our closing hymn, number 300, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, 300.