Among a whole lot of complicated things and feelings and situations, like just this interesting picture of like, oh, that, that's what God does. Like he's willing to trade anything in exchange. Sure. Yep. So moving on in Isaiah 43, do not be afraid for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up into the south. Do not hold them back. I'm curious about the directions of that and where sure where everyone was and what that might be saying, if anything. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, who my created for my glory, my formed and made. Lead out those who have eyes, but are blind, who have ears, but are deaf. All the nations gather together and the pupils assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things. Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right so that others may hear and say it is true. Yeah.

And you, I mean, you raised a good question there. I wasn't even thinking about, but the, I mean, so geographically speaking, just the nations and north would typically represent either a Syria or Babylon would typically be north and then south would typically be Egypt. I think maybe the better way to even think about this is when, especially Babylon, when Babylon would come in and say, oh, yeah. And when Babylon would come in and conquer and they would take all these people captive and they would take, they would not take everybody back to exile. They would use their, this captive peoples as a economic resource and asset that they would then leverage and sell on, on the national, the international market. And so they sell these slaves and these captured these war, these people that they've conquered and have taken, taken captive, end up getting sent all over the world. Obadiah, we talked about talking about the exiles who were in Safarad, which becomes Sardis later on. But how did they get there? Well, they got there in the Babylonian exile when Babylon sells off. And so you end up with people everywhere. People get sold to Egypt and to the south and to Kush and people get sold to, to, to the Greek, so the Persians and people get, like they just go everywhere. And so here's God saying, wherever they went, whether they went directly to Babylon, whether they got sold off to the West or to the North or to the south, let's bring them all back home. I'll say to the North and to the south. And I think that's the, that's the image in the picture though. The diaspora, we often like to talk about happened. It is not just one diaspora happens all throughout history. Happened during the Babylonian exile happens again during the Greco-Roman period happens again, like just the diaspora has always kind of been a reality of. The

persecuted people of God and even post exile when a lot of them remained in Babylon. Absolutely. 100%. You are my witnesses declares the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, no God was formed nor will there be one after me. I even I am the Lord. And apart from me, there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed. I am not some foreign God among you. You are my witnesses declares the Lord that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days, I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can

reverse it? All right. So there's my third word. So Isaiah 41, I have the word helper. God is God is the helper of Israel. 40, 42, I had the word advocate. God is the advocate of Israel. 43, I have the word savior comes out of this section. You just read. I will say I even I am the Lord. And apart from me, there is no savior. I have redeemed and saved and proclaimed God as savior. So savior is my word for Isaiah 43. And I'd be ready to move on to Isaiah 44. But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel

whom I have chosen. Another reminder who we're talking about. Just checking. Yep. This is what the Lord says. He who made you who formed you in the womb and who will help you. Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant. Jesher, who whom I have chosen. What is that? There's a little footnote on that word. Yeah. It's always a word means the upright one. Yeah. That is Israel.

I've heard I've heard different explanations for when that word is used. It shows up in Moses's song back in Deuteronomy. It talks about yes, you run. Yes, you run. Yes, you run. You run. Grew fat and kicked. Moses said in his song. And I've heard that the word is often used to talk about God's people when they are blessed. God's people when they are. You said it means upright one? Yes. Yeah. So when God's people are as they should be and they're experiencing Shalom and they're experiencing not material abundance, but the abundance of God. But I've heard other explanations as well. So would have to ask Al about that one.

Yeah, that Deuteronomy reference that you said is the only other place that appears into an ox. No way. It's just really here and in Deuteronomy, well, it's 32 and 33. Okay. Wow. So I think the one you referenced is 32, but then it uses again in 33, but that's it. Other than here in Isaiah 44. Very interesting.

You must have been the Deuteronomist.

Just kidding. Just kidding. Now nothing

to love. I love it.

For I will pour water

on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. There will spring up like grass in a meadow, like popular trees by flowing streams. Some will say I belong to the Lord. Others will call themselves by the name of Jacob. Still others will write on their hand the Lords and we'll take the name Israel. So yes, it's another

section where God's clearly identifying who the servant is, which is his people yet again. And again, like the you're not seeing the conversation change. It is not that I'm saying it's a seamless single conversation because it's not. But the conversation of this portion of Isaiah is this. It's all thematically. The same and God is going to restore and there is a partnership. There is a partnership between God and his people. That is why he's looking for a servant. He's called the servant. He's formed a servant in the womb. Everything that God has done has crafted his people for this moment because they're not just observers. They're physical participants like they're going to participate in the thing that their God is doing in the world. And what is God doing in the world over and over and over again and restoring it. I'm pointing it back together. I'm healing it. I am going to stand by you and help you and protect you and call you and you are going to help me do the same thing for the rest of the world. You will be a light to the Gentiles. There is a thing that I'm asking you to do as I put the world back together. I think we skip ahead a little bit in this chapter, Brent. There's another section that kind of does similar things at the end more towards the middle end of 44. Middle end, AKA verse 21. Remember these

things,

Jacob, for you, Israel are my servants. I have made you. You are my servant. Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me for I have redeemed you. Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this. Shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains. You fall. You fall. And all your trees. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob. He displays his glory in Israel. Right. We can feel

the theme. We can sense what's going on and we can keep moving to chapter 45.

Again, going to the middle here, starting in verse 14. This is what the Lord says, the products of Egypt and the merchandise of Kush and those tall Sabaeans. They will come over to you and will be yours. They will trudge behind you. Coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and played with you, saying, surely God is with you. And there is no other. There is no other God. Truly, you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel. All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced. They will go off into disgrace together. But Israel will be saved by the Lord within the world. And I am not sure if you are not here, but Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You will never be

put to shame or disgraced to ages everlasting. Right. So here in this section, I see these same, like speaking to this experience that they're having in exile, like God has been hiding, like God's been. We haven't necessarily seen God, but he is at work so much so that all the roles are going to be reversed. They were the ones that weren't. And I admit that like chapter or verse 14, a little tricky, like the language is a little militaristic, but they've been on the other end of that militaristic experience. They've been the oppressed. They've been the one, the one in chains. And yet this message is people are going to come to you and change in chains. But what they're going to say is we see that God is with you, which makes me think of Isaac in the book of Genesis, but because of what you've gone through and because of, and I'm going to say this very clearly, because of how you have gone through it. Because you've experienced suffering and because of how you have decided to suffer and faithfulness, the nations will end up seeing God. Now, please don't twist that into some message about somebody's trauma and how you're supposed to suffer through trauma. That's not the message of Isaiah here. It's not speaking about a victim of abuse, speaking to a group of people that have experienced an imperialistic national oppression. They've lost everything in a militaristic way. And God's saying, because you've chosen to remain faithful and suffer the way that you will be a light to the Gentiles and they will end up seeing God. Now, if you just take up sword against sword, if you just decide to fight fire with fire, nobody's probably going to see God in that. But because you have gone through this, the way that and essentially God has forced them to go through this, he stripped them of all their ability. Because they were fighting fire with fire. They were trying to go toe to toe with Assyrian Babylon. They were making alliances with Egypt. God stripped all of that away so that he could remind them of the way of what we would call the kingdom, what the way of the kingdom looks like so that the world can see a better version of a better, a clear, more accurate depiction of who God is and how God works in the world.

Do you have anything else in this chapter? Nope. Moving on to 46. Bell bows down, Nebo stoops low, their idols are born by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together, unable to rescue the burden. They themselves go off into captivity. Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth and have carried since you were born, even to your old age in gray hairs. I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and

I will rescue you. So it seems to me that the tone, it's not that the tone is changing. The conversation isn't changing and the tone isn't necessarily changing a lot, but I do feel like now, like it's been so poetic. It's been so God is going to save you. God is going to save you. God is going to redeem everyone. God is going to put everything back together. But in order to do that, I'm sure everybody who's sitting in exile is raising one very important question, which would be what, Brent? When is this all going to happen? Yeah, because it's not happening right now. So what are you going to do? This is all well and good. But what do you do with the oppressor? Like what do you, but Babylon is still here. Like I love the poetry, Isaiah. I love all the hope. But this is, and so the conversation starts to become more and more and more practical of what this is going to look like. So I'm going to just start reading. I don't know if I'm going to do the whole chapter. I'm just going to give Brent a break here for a moment because Brent's going to have some reading to be set by the time we're done. I'm going to just start reading chapter 47 of Isaiah and just see, just hear the message of what God has to say to the oppressor and about the oppression. Chapter 47, go down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon. Sit. So who is this directed at Brent? Babylon Babylon. Okay. Sit in the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour. Take off your veil. Lift up your skirts. Bear your legs and wade to the streams. Your nakedness will be exposed. Your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance. I will spare no one. A Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, is his name as the holy one of Israel. Sit in silence. Go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called queen of kingdoms. I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance. I gave them into your hand and showed them no mercy. And you showed them no mercy. Ah, I like that little little boy action coming through there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Paying attention to the to the pronouns and the characters. Even on the age, do you lay to very heavy yoke? You said, I am forever the eternal queen, but you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure. Linging in your security and saying to yourself, I am and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children. Both of these will overtake you in a moment, in a single day, loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness. And have said no one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, I am and there is none besides me. Disaster will come upon you and you will not know how to conjured away. A calamity will fall on you that you cannot ward off with a ransom, a catastrophe. You cannot foresee will suddenly come to you. And remember that this is a message to to the one on top of the power pyramid. This is the this is the message to the superpower. We have to remember the context here. We can't just see this in an abstract vacuum. This is being spoken to the ones that the proud for the arrogant oppressor that sits on top, taking advantage, exploiting other people, selling off slaves. This is where that message is directed. Keep on then with your magic spells, with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed. Perhaps you will cause terror. At the count at the council you have received has only worn you out. Excuse me. All the council you have received has only worn you out. Let your astrologers come forward. Those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble. The fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not colds for warmth. This is not a fire to sit by. That is all they are to you. These you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error. There is not one that can save you. So we hear with some sense of clarity the message that God has for the oppressor. This is that section. We have one more chapter left. I wanted to pause here because all throughout this section I couldn't help. But I kept hearing echoes of the gospel of John. Brent, we talked about this when we were doing John. But when I read when the shift of John happened, if you remember we had two sections of John. Two sections of John and two sections of Isaiah. I find that in John. We had the book of signs which took us through, I think we said John 1 through 11 or 12ish. And then John 13 on, we called the book of, did we decide on the book of glory or the book of hours, Brent? The book of glory. The book of glory. And right in the middle of that there is this big discourse about the Holy Spirit. Just like in the same way in Isaiah there is this big discourse about God's servant. I think of, can you find which episodes those were were we might have talked about John. 13, particularly the conversation about the Holy Spirit

as the helper, the Para Kletos.