Our final theme, as we conclude our Isaiah series Awesome God, God is Awesome to Restore. You may have noticed our students have joined us! They always sit together in the first 6 to 7 rows. Some of them are as young as 6th to7th grade. If you guys have your Bibles, we’re going to look at the last 6 to 7 chapters of Isaiah.
Last Sunday we talked about how God is awesome in Mercy and Justice. No matter how obnoxious, or even rebellious God's children became, he kept on loving them. The Bible says God doesn't just forgive 6 of 7 times, but 6 of 7 times 70! My apologies to the rest of you… Brad and Seth told me that unless I said 6…7 at least 6…7 times, the students wouldn't be prepared to listen. Are we good now?
But yes, we’re looking at the chapters of Isaiah. Isaiah 60-66. When I was kid, Dad loved taking our family to car shows. It's one thing to manufacture a car on some assembly line; it’s quite another thing to take a car off the street, or out of some old barn, and restore it to new condition! It’s the same with houses. It's one thing to build a brand-new house, but quite another, to restore an old house.
My oldest brother Chris was all about restoring cars. He was always wheeling and dealing. He'd find some old rust bucket, wheel it into our driveway, and start banging, grinding, and sanding away. One of the first things he'd always do is upgrade the stereo system, so he could play it while he worked. Then he'd go gets pales of “Bondo” to fill in the cracks, holes. He’d tinker with the engine. Once something has been ruined most people give up on it—but not Chris. And incidentally, not God.
One of the reasons Isaiah realizes, that God is incomparably great, is because God is creator. There are dozens of places like Isaiah 40:28, where Isaiah writes things like, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth—does not become weary or tired.” Or Isaiah 45:18: "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): 'I am the Lord, and there is no other'".
But you decide what is the greater demonstration of God's greatness and power? His ability to form or reform… to create or recreate… God does both. He is Awesome to Restore all that has been lost or broken. Restoration is the major focus of Isaiah 40-66. God announces all the aspects of creation he must fix, to bring creation back to its intended form and function; purpose and glory.
When you look at something that needs restoration…like an old house, or old car… what most needs attention? What about our old self, or this old world? I'll be honest, I saw my brother's cars as junk piles, I was always glad when they got towed away. But when it comes to God, there aren't any junk piles. And my brothers’ cars didn't have any value in my eyes…yet in God's eyes we have incomparable value—God did not spare even his Son to redeem us.
There is a pretty long list of things God must do to restore his people. The price of our sin must be paid, which God does with his own blood. Our iniquity must be pardoned, our crimson stains made white as snow. The evil within us, and all around us defeated. Every idol crushed, every stronghold broken, every prisoner set free. Our hunger and thirst must be satisfied. Our flesh healed. Our bodies strengthened. The eyes of blind opened to see. The ears of deaf opened to hear. The minds of stubborn and arrogant opened to understand. Darkness dispelled. Our paths made straight and level, our minds instructed, our hearts compelled, our bodies surrendered, our souls justified, redeemed, and sanctified. Justice resolved. Mercy extended. Naked clothed. Homeless sheltered. The orphan adopted. The widow included. God must take his throne, ruling over every aspect of our lives, reigning over all things created, every prince, every king, every nation, every creature. Every knee bowing, tongue confessing allegiance to Christ as Lord.
If you’re interested, no passage paints a more vivid picture of our need for Restoration than Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59:1-4, “Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. 2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice. 4 No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.” Isaiah 59:6b-8, “..Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands. 7 Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths. 8 They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace. Isaiah 59:9-11, “Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night. 10 We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy. 11 We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.”
But remarkably, in Isaiah 60, comes this piercing invitation. ARISE! Lift up your eyes. Look all around you. Your light has come. The Glory of the Lord is shining upon you. Just as Isaiah 59 paints one of the most despairing pictures of man's fallen condition, from Isaiah 60 Isaiah paints one of the most hopeful.
Isaiah 60:17-22, “I will appoint peace as your government and righteousness as your overseers. 18 Violence will never again be heard of in your land; devastation and destruction will be gone from your borders. You will call your walls Salvation and your city gates Praise. 19 The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. 20 Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not fade; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over. 21 All your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch I planted, the work of my hands, so that I may be glorified. 22 The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; I will accomplish it quickly in its time!” Isaiah 61:4, “They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.”
Isaiah 65:17-25. A New Creation! “For I will create new heavens and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. 18 Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. 20 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old will be mourned as a young man, and the one who misses a hundred years will be considered cursed. 21 People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For my people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. 24 Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain,” says the Lord.
This is God's promise… God is Awesome to Restore Us! To take his Holy Spirit and do a New Thing. 2