Scripture reading is found in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter
11. I'm going to read more of
chapter 11 than you see in your bulletin and I'm not going to
read The Exodus passage at all so I got permission to do that.
You'll stand now for the reading of the word.
There shall come forth, a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a
branch from the root. Shall bear fruit.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and his Delight
shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eye sees, nor decide to Spirits,
by what his ears hear. But, with righteousness, he
shall judge the poor and decide with the equity for the meek of
the earth. And he shall strike the Earth
with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of his lips,
he shall kill the wicked righteousness.
Shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness.
The belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the
lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the
calf and The Lion, and the fatted calf together and a
little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall
graze. Their young shall lie down
together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Ox, the nursing nursing child shall play over the whole of the
Cobra and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adders Den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in.
All my Holy Mountain for the Lord shall be full of the
knowledge. The Earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters, cover the sea.
The word of the Lord, you may be seated.
I just felt I needed to deal with a few things.
Concerning the Advent season that might be helpful to us in
our overall understanding of how to read our Bibles.
When we say Advent, getting back to about as basic as we can get.
It comes from the two Latin words means to come, And to, or
toward the Advent? Is that time in which?
Our Lord comes to us. In the parlance of the
scriptures, the father sins the sun, the sun is a missionary.
He is an emissary, he comes from the father to do, the will of
the father, but from our perspective, we see his work as
a coming and Advent. There are several words in the
New Testament that are used to describe this.
It's sometimes called a coming sometime.
Times, it's called an appearance a manifestation.
Sometimes it is even called in the Old Testament of visitation
a, visitation of the Lord. So God visits his people.
And the way he visits his people is through the Incarnate son
through. Jesus Christ his son, he is the
primary visitor in the Bible, and he comes to visit his
people. When he comes to visit his
people, he brings both judgment and blessing.
So when you read your Bible, when you look at the old
Covenant, the Hebrew scriptures Genesis to Malachi.
There's often speech in there about the Lord coming and the
Lord has a visitation day. That is an appointed day.
He's going to come on an appointed time.
He comes in the fullness of time, he comes precisely Nicely
would God the father wants him to come.
And his coming to Earth is seen as a visitation whereby, he is
accomplishing the things that the father has called upon him
to accomplish all through the Old Testament.
There's an anticipation of that day that appointed day that
visitation day when the sun will come to Earth.
And principally, he's going to deal with two classes of people.
He's going to deal with the righteous.
That had been made righteous by his grace, by the way, and he
will deal with the wicked. Who is everybody born in their
sin? And he will deal with those.
The way in each case, it needs to be dealt with over and over.
The emphasis is that he will make a judgment.
He will make a discernment. And when he makes a discernment,
he will judge between the righteous and the wicked, and
the righteous will be ushered into his Perpetual Eternal
blessing. And the wicked will be consigned
to his eternal curse. So, the coming of the Lord is an
important thing. And in the Old Testament, we see
the coming of the Lord, as a dad, a out there in the future,
it's out there. We don't know when it is.
We don't know how long it's going to be.
Before he comes the prophets will lament.
How long O Lord? Will you not come and save your
people and vindicate them and and justify them, and destroy
the wicked, and get rid of those people that are harassing us
throughout the And the Lord Waits. and he tells the prophet
to wait for the vision, it's going to come it'll surely come
it's the sure word of Prophecy but you don't know when You
don't know what he's coming. When is this day of visitation?
When is it going to happen? The Lord talked to the Ancients
about it, he talked to Abraham about it and Isaac, and Jacob.
He talked to Moses about it, he talked to David and have talked
to the prophets, giving them all kinds of visions and all kinds
of indications about that coming day the day of the Lord.
When will it come what will it be like?
The scripture teaches that, in fact, in the fullness of time,
the visitation took place. God sent his son, born of a
woman made under the law, who was here to fulfill all that the
father had promised, but the time between the promise of
Abraham and the coming of Christ was 2,000 years.
Two full Millennia 2000 years. Can you imagine living in about
1000 years in the middle of all of that and wondering?
When is it going to happen? When is the Lord going to come?
Lets it go to be, like, come quickly, Lord Jesus, by the way.
King, David lived at about that time.
Can you imagine living at the time, 500 years before, 500
years before, say, when is he coming?
What's it coming going to be like we hear about his coming.
And then he came. and when he came, he begin to do the work
that his father had given him to do and to accomplish all of
those things, all of those things that had been promised by
the prophets, But here's the strange thing.
When he came, it was obvious that he had come in the fullness
of time, but it also come at the end of time.
It's called the last days in Scripture.
The scriptures are divided between the former days, the
days of Prophecy and the latter days, the days of fulfillment,
and Jesus comes in the latter days.
He comes in the last days. It is appointed unto man once to
die and after death. He is he has given one
opportunity to believe in his lifetime is the time of Faith.
Now is the day of salvation Today is the Day of Reckoning.
Jesus Christ came and he began to accomplish all of those
things that the father gave him to accomplish to do two things
to save his people and to condemn and punish and destroy
the wicked. It's a pretty simple
straightforward job description. But one of the things we learned
when he was here, he said, if I go, I will come again.
That was a real surprise effect Paul refers to it as as one of
the great Mysteries that Christ came with revelation of God
manifesting himself. There is a time for his coming
and yet he leaves. He said it's expedient for you.
That I go away. He said I'm going to prepare
mansions and but he still continues his work and we are
living now in a period of expectation.
Again, when is he coming? Why is he going to do?
What will it be? Like what are the indications of
his coming? Why had it been long enough?
It's been 2000 years. Same amount of time.
God operated within the old coveted he's operating now with
us Christ. Came, he came as a king.
He came as a savior. He comes as a lord.
He comes as the, all the Fulfillment of the expectation
of is Rayul to be their Messiah. And we'll look at those as we go
along through the Advent season this year of the, of the root of
Jesse, and all the things that pertain to Christman.
What I'm giving you now is kind of the big framework.
We are now expecting another visitation, another coming.
Another purusa, another appearance, another presence,
we're expecting him to to come and we will see him and he will
operate. In such a way that he'll be
accomplishing the purpose that God gave him.
And we are living now in What's called the inter Advent 'l
period to get that the inter Advent.
In other words, Advent means the coming of the Lord, the
visitation, but we have his visitation to Earth, 2,000 years
ago in Bethlehem. And then there is his
visitation, his coming, his coming again his return, which
we now anticipate, we're in no different place.
Yes. with respect to the expectation than the prophets
were The prophets heard the word of the Lord.
Believe the word of God. Proclaim the word of God.
Faithful to him. Waiting waiting waiting, and he
came He did him what he needed to do, and he's gone.
And he's going to come again. And the accomplishment.
Of what the Messiah is going to do spans that entire range of
time at his first coming. He did some things, he
accomplished some things. At his second coming, or his
second Advent, he will accomplish things as well.
You'll get some things done, in fact, that second Advent, we
anticipate will be the consummation.
He inaugurated a kingdom, he will consummate that Kingdom and
bring it into an absolute Eternal reality.
That's what the Lord will do at his second coming.
One of the things that we have difficulty with is we read our
Old Testament, is the Old Testament.
Prophets didn't see that. Scheme.
Working out like that. They just knew there was a day
when Christ was going to come, and when he did, he was going to
take care of all the business. And so when they wrote their
prophecies, they mixed and mingled everything that Christ
would do. At his first coming during the
inter Adventist period. And the final Advent, the second
coming, put it all in there. Together.
This passage we just read as an example of it.
Let me just, and I'll show you a couple of other examples.
So you shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.
That's his birth Branch from his roots, then the spirit of the
Lord, rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding
counsel, and might the spirit of knowledge, the fear of the This
was his work and Isaiah 61 prophesied.
The spirit of the Lord would be on him during his entire Earthly
Ministry. His Delight shall be the fear of
the Lord. He shall not judge by what his
eyes. See, these are decide to speech
by what his ear hears. But with righteousness, he shall
judge. In other words, his first coming
had to do with setting forth a judgment and he dealt with
Mankind's singular issue. Sin.
It's why the New Testament. Says, the second time, he will
come without regard to sin. But he will come with regard to
Salvation. Finishing his salvific work,
accomplishing his purposes crowning and wrapping up all
that he does asthma and bringing in that Eternal order that has
been promised and you see it all mixed in here together.
All the sudden in verse 6, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb
and there's this beautiful description of the animals in
the days of the new Heaven. And the new Earth.
It's matched by other passages in Isaiah, And the beautiful
thing is they shall not hurt or destroy in all my Holy Mountain
for the Earth, shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as
the waters, cover the sea. We see that in another passage
of scripture, just back up a few verses, a few chapters.
And in Isaiah here, Isaiah chapter 2, the word of the Lord.
That Isaiah, the son of a moth saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. He says, 2:2, it shall come to
pass in the the latter days. Okay, that's in the days of
fulfillment. That's in the days.
When Christ comes in the mountain of the house of the
Lord shall be established at the highest of the mountains and
shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall
flow to it. And many people shall come and
say let us come up to the mountain of the Lord to the
house of the god of Jacob that he may teach us his ways that we
may walk in his paths and it is out of Zion, shall go the law,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, That's what's going
on right now. That's the preaching of the
Gospel. That's the going forth from
Jerusalem, the word of the Lord, the Divine Law Goss, that's
moving out of God's place in Jerusalem, in God's place of
ancient Capital City to the entire world.
Before long. You realize that the whole every
nation is included. He's the king of all the nations
and he's calling the nation's to himself, that was the nature of
commission. He's going to all the I'll all
the ethnic groups and disciple them and bring them in.
All true worship of God goes up to Jerusalem.
What is the crowning of Jerusalem?
It is Christ himself. It is the work that was done
inside the Gates of Jerusalem with his, with his arrest, his
trial that which was done outside the Gates of Jerusalem,
his crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection, all of these
things have taken place, he shall judge between the nation's
he shall discuss. Decide disputes for the many
peoples. They shall beat their swords
into plowshares and their Spears into pruning.
Hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation.
Neither shall they learn War anymore?
This is the Prince of Peace, the king of all the nations, who
brings about this. This, this very ideal pacifist
situational House of Jacob. Come let us walk in the light of
the Lord and just for the fun of it.
In a few minutes that we have left, I want to just confine
myself to nothing but the Minor Prophets.
Now there's nothing minor about him.
That's the last 12 books of Prophecy in the Old Testament
and a couple of my won't hit on. I won't mention Obadiah, or
Jonah, perhaps, but, but listen to just a small reading of what,
what the what they talk about in in Hosea, let's just start Hosea
Hosea, chapter 2, verse 16, In that day, declares the Lord, you
will call me husband. That's Christ, and his bride.
In that day, I will answer declares the Lord.
I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the Earth and
the Earth shall answer the green and wine.
That's the Communion. I will have mercy on people that
I said, I wouldn't have mercy on that is the Gentiles.
I will say to my people. The Gentiles, You Are My People
and he shall say, you are my God.
Joel. You're familiar with the
passages in Joel. Joel chapter 2, the day of the
Lord is coming, it is near. It's a day of darkness and Gloom
a day of clouds and thick Darkness like Blackness their
spread upon the mountains of great and powerful people like
there has never been before Northern, will the be again
through the years of all generations, fire devours before
them and a flame Burns. And yet it turns out that
there's like a Garden of Eden before them and behind them is a
desolate wilderness. That's what the Lord's going to
do. He's going to turn this earth
into a Garden of Eden after he has burned it and purged it with
fire thoroughly, once. He purged it with water, Next
time, he purges it with fire. Joel chapter 3.
It will come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit
on All Flesh, your sons and your daughter's shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see Visions even
on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out
my spirit. It shall come to pass that.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved for
in Mount, Zion. And in Jerusalem.
There should be those who've escaped as the Lord has said in
among the survivors shall be Those whom the Lord calls
Pentecost. Accomplished as it was given in
those days. And at that time, chapter 3 in
the at that day, I don't have time to go into every one of
these, but they're really interesting.
Here's Amos. I've got a passage out of Amos
chapter 9. In that day, I will raise up the
booth of David that has fallen repair.
Its branches and raise up its ruins and rebuilt it as in the
days of old. And all the nations who are
called by my name shall possess Remnant, declares the Lord, who
does this? That's Acts chapter 15, that's
the Jerusalem Council, that's the passage that's quoted.
When they were trying to decide what to do with all these
Gentiles that had believed into the Jesus Messiah as the
Messiah, the Jewish Messiah. And that's the passage that's
quoting. They were enlarging the
Tabernacle of David. The Lord is raising up that
Fallen Kingdom that Fallen booth that Fallen Dynasty and
restoring it to its full meaning and that's what is happening.
In the church, all my life. Just see all these.
I got I got to mention a couple of more for behold.
The Lord is coming out of his place.
He will come down and tread upon the high places of the Earth.
That's that's Micah chapter one, chapter two force.
In that day, they shall take up a taught in a song.
And moan says, we were utterly ruined.
He changes the portion of my people and he removes it from me
to the apostate helots our Fields.
This is the Judgment. This kind of preaching had this
kind of effect in its day. Listen to what happened in Micah
chapter 2, Do not preach. One should not preach of these
things. Disgrace will not overtake us.
Should these be said, or House of Jacob, has the Lord grown
impatient. And these Deeds, not my words,
do good by him who walk uprightly.
But lately, my people have risen up as an enemy.
God's Own people. Have forsaken him and are
denying his word and his law that's taking place in our
denominational churches to day. All these things in that day,
these things, they're being fulfilled now, In that day,
declares the Lord. I will assemble the lame and
gather this and he goes on about the lane.
That's what happened in Acts chapter 3 when when Peter and
John healed the lame man. All the healing of the lame was
a vivid sign that the era of the Fulfillment of the Messiah had
come. And then the passage we just
read a little while ago in Micah 5:2 To You O Bethlehem.
Shall come forth one, who is the ruler in Israel?
Oh, I love this passage here in the rest of his brothers shall
return to the people of Israel. He shall stand and Shepherd his
flock. In the Majesty of the name of
the Lord. They shall dwell secure and
shall be great to the ends of the Earth and he shall be their
peace. Well, this intensifies and you
can see it really as it gets into the latter Prophecies of
the of the Old Testament. In the book of Zephaniah over
and over and over, it talks about the coming of the Lord in
the Judgment that will take place as well as the salvation
of Israel ended in Zachariah. You see the things that are said
there. Some of these passages were
going to run a cover later. A listen to this.
The Lord will give salvation on that day.
I will make Jerusalem on that day.
Declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and every
writer with Madness, on that day, I will make the clans of
Judah like a blazing pot. In the midst of the word.
The Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah, and the
glory of the House of David. And the glory of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, may not pass that of Jerusalem.
On that day. The Lord will protect the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. you realize that Jerusalem is the
church if you don't realize it, read the book of Revelation It
is God's accomplishment, what he did in his first coming with,
respect to sin and salvation, what he's doing?
Now in terms of calling the nation's and what he will do,
when he returns in terms of separating judging, we're out of
time. But if you would read over in
this, this book again, you'd find the one of the things that
the Lord does is he brings everybody into a great valley.
It's the valley of Jehoshaphat it means the valley of judgement
judgement awaits. Everyone.
It is appointed unto man once to die.
And after that the Judgment, he will appear a second time
without sin. But unto salvation Tommy, I'm
way over you made to be real brief with this with this
communion. Not too brief.