Welcome to The Word for Today.
The Word for Today is a continuous study
of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith
of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old
Testament.
And for those of you following along in
your Bibles, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah
chapter 9, beginning with verse 1, as we
continue with an in-depth study.
And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck.
When at the first he lightly afflicted the
land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
and afterward did more grievously afflict her by
the way of the sea beyond the Jordan
and in the Galilee of the nations.
Now God sort of gave them a warning.
They went through some difficult times, times of
real hardship and difficulty, but they failed to
repent.
They failed to turn to God, and thus
God then dealt with them in a more
severe way.
God is merciful even in judgment, and God
always gives to us the opportunity to repent.
And sometimes He allows things to happen which
are bad, which are only a foretaste of
the worst things that will happen if we
do not repent and turn.
They are sort of just warnings of God
to turn from your wickedness.
Now I have often said that there are
important lessons that we need to learn, and
God intends that we learn these lessons because
they are important to our own welfare.
We have to know these things, just like
there are certain things that your children need
to know, important lessons they need to learn.
Now there are many important things that we
need to learn because our lives depend on
it, and God is determined that we're going
to learn.
And as He is training us, maybe in
the beginning it's just sort of a light
reprimand in hopes that we will use good
judgment and we'll see the danger and the
folly of it.
But if we persist as did the nation
of Israel, then God becomes stronger and stronger
in the methods that He uses to teach
those important lessons.
And so their affliction was rather light at
the first, but it was a foreshadowing of
that which was to come if they did
not change.
God has important lessons that you need to
know that you must learn, and if you
don't learn the easy way, you'll learn the
hard way.
For there is always an easy way and
a hard way to learn things.
And if we are stubborn, then we'll learn
the hard way.
And a lot of times people say, oh,
why did God ever allow this to happen
to me, you know?
And oh, well, you just didn't learn, friend.
You know, you needed to know, but you
wouldn't listen.
So you can make up your mind to
learn the easy way or you can learn
the hard way.
It's up to you.
They're going to experience this dimness.
Not as bad when God first began to
vex them.
That was just slight.
It's going to get worse until it will
be complete darkness.
The dimness will turn to darkness.
But then out of that darkness, those people
sitting in darkness, having been taken captive by
the Assyrians, the people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
They that dwell in the land of the
shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined.
God, it seems, just never gives up.
He continues to pursue.
Even when we've turned our backs upon Him,
even when we've gone into captivity, God continues
to pursue.
And they now sitting in this darkness, God
brought to them a glorious light.
The people who were walking in darkness have
seen a great light and we know that
that light is this child that was to
be born.
The sign of the virgin that would conceive
and bear a child is the great light
that is promised.
They that dwell in the land of the
shadow of death, this land had now been
forsaken.
It was empty.
The villages were destroyed and the land was
desolate, the land of Zeppelin and Naphtali.
The Lord declares, you have multiplied the nation
and increased the joy.
The word not is, should be omitted from
the translation.
The joy before thee according to the joy
and harvest, and as men rejoice when they
divide the spoil.
The day is coming.
Those that are sitting in darkness are going
to see the great light.
It will be a day of tremendous joy.
God will multiply the nation.
He will increase their joy.
It will be the same joy that they
have at harvest time.
As men rejoice when they've won a victory
and are dividing the spoils of war.
Because you have broken the yoke of his
burden and the staff of his shoulder, the
rod of the oppressor as in the days
of Midian, the Midianites who were defeated by
Gideon and actually defeated by the Lord.
Gideon was the human instrument.
And so will Assyria be broken, even as
Midian was broken.
For every battle of the warrior is with
confused noise and the garments are rolled in
blood.
But this shall be with a burning and
the fuel of fire.
And this will all take place when unto
us a child is born.
Unto us a son is given and the
government shall be upon his shoulder.
So here we have now a further prophecy
of the Messiah in 714.
Behold, the Lord himself will give you a
sign for a virgin will conceive and bear
a son shall call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is God with us.
Now we are given a little more information
concerning this child.
Unto us a child is born.
He is the one that will bring light,
bring light to the people.
John said in the beginning was the word.
The word was with God.
The word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God
and all things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was
made and in him was life and the
life was the light of men.
This is the true light that shineth unto
every man.
Jesus said, I am the light of the
world.
He that abideth in me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.
And so those sitting in darkness have seen
the great light, the nation of Israel in
his darkness to them, the light did shine
the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
The good news, the Messiah has come unto
us.
A child is born there on that special
night in Bethlehem.
We read in Luke's gospel that she brought
forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
because there was no room in the end.
A child is born, but he's a special
child.
He is born of a virgin, but more
than that, this child that was born in
Bethlehem of the virgin Mary is the son
of God.
As the angel said to Mary, when he
announced to her that she was highly favored
of the Lord because she was to be
the earthly instrument through which God would bring
his son into the world, he said to
her, he shall be great and shall sit
upon the throne of his father, David, and
spoke of the glorious government and the peace.
So this child that is born is a
son that is given.
And the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, God
so loved the world, he gave his only
begotten son.
And throughout the gospel of John, over and
over, Jesus affirms that I did not come
to do my own will, but the will
of him who sent me.
And he spoke of God as his father
until finally they took up stones to kill
him.
And he said, I've done a lot of
good works.
For which of the good works are you
stoning me?
And they said, we're not stoning you because
of the good works.
We're stoning you because you being a man
are constantly insisting that you are the son
of God.
And as you go through the gospel of
John, you find that their charge is correct.
He was constantly affirming that he was the
son of God.
Unto us a son is given.
God gave his son.
Now Isaiah here talks of the future glory
of his son.
Now the Bible tells us that the prophets
in the Old Testament wrote of things that
they did not fully understand.
They desired really to know more completely the
plan of God.
And they were confused many times by the
things they wrote.
Because at times it seemed that they were
writing things that were contradictory.
And here Isaiah in speaking about this son
that will be given speaks about the glorious
reign, the eternal reign of this son.
How the government will be upon his shoulder.
At the increase of his government and peace,
there shall be no end sitting upon the
throne of David and upon his kingdom ordering
it in justice or righteousness and judgment from
henceforth, even forever.
But later on in chapter 53, Isaiah tells
us concerning this son that he will be
despised and rejected by man.
He will be a man of sorrow and
acquainted with griefs.
He will be put to death and in
his death he will be put to death
between thieves, transgressors.
And he goes on to tell us though
that his death is for us.
That God laid on him the iniquities of
us all.
He was bruised for our transgressions, wounded for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
And God cries out for my people.
He is afflicted.
And so it seems to be totally contradictory,
put to death, despised and rejected, and yet
reigning forever a king.
We find that in the first coming, the
prophecies of the latter part of chapter 52
and 53 were fulfilled.
Jesus was crucified.
He was despised and rejected.
He was a man of sorrow and acquainted
with grief.
He was put to death, numbered with the
transgressors in his death.
The only way by which he can possibly
fulfill the other prophecies is by coming again,
empowering glory.
And that's exactly what he told his disciples
he was going to do.
As he was getting ready to be put
to death to fulfill those first part of
the prophecies, as he was ready to be
despised and rejected and hanged on a cross
the night before, gathered with his disciples, he
said, Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God.
Now believe also in me.
For in my Father's house there are many
abiding places.
And if it were not so, I would
have told you, and I'm going to prepare
a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place
for you, then I am going to come
again and receive you unto myself, that where
I am, there you may be also.
And he spoke words of comfort, promising to
come again.
And he told his disciples earlier as they
were saying, Lord, what will be the sign
of your coming and the end of this
age?
And he said unto them, when giving them
the signs, the great tribulation.
But immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall they see the sign of the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with great
glory.
And so this particular portion of the prophecy,
as Isaiah at this point, speaking about God
giving his son, jumps over the first coming
and goes to the second coming, the coming
of Christ in power and glory.
And you can only understand the prophecies concerning
Christ when you see it in the aspect
of his first coming and in his second
coming.
He came first to be an offering for
sin, to provide for God a way by
which he might forgive you your sins.
By his taking your guilt and your sin
and dying in your place, providing for God
a righteous basis for the forgiveness of your
sins.
But he's coming again, not as a child,
but as a reigning king to establish God's
kingdom upon the earth, reigning over the earth.
And thus the other prophecies of which the
Old Testament is also filled, will come to
pass when Jesus reigns as king over the
earth.
And so here the child is born, the
son is given, jumping though the aspects of
his first coming.
His name will be called Wonderful Counselor.
The word wonderful could also be translated and
is translated in some of the translations, Marvelous
Counselor.
That is, as a leader, he will exercise
tremendous wisdom.
His ways are right.
As a reigning monarch, he will be a
wonderful counselor, for he is the mighty God.
Now the mighty God is used again in
the next chapter, and it can refer there
only to God.
The remnant shall return even the remnant of
Jacob unto the mighty God.
And so here that same title is given
to Jesus, for Jesus is God.
In the beginning was the word, the word
was with God, the word was God, Jesus
is God.
And so his name will be called the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
Now, another translation of this and more literal
is the Father Eternal.
And it speaks of the nature of Jesus
as a Father.
It does not really refer to God the
Father, but Jesus in the characteristics of the
Father Eternal, and finally, the Prince of Peace.
You know, the world is so hungry for
peace today, that we're willing, for the sake
of peace, to even set aside good judgment,
because we're so hungry for peace.
And rightfully so.
There's nothing wrong with desiring peace.
God knows that war is a horrible thing.
And the prospect of war with nuclear weapons
is unthinkable.
And thus, peace is a attractive, desirable thing.
And we desire it so deeply that we're
willing to lay aside our good judgment, and
just the hope of peace.
Why?
You know, there are a lot of peace
movements around the world today.
And I sympathize with the desire for peace.
However, I have just enough knowledge of man
and of the Word of God, that I
know that there will be no real peace
until the Prince of Peace comes and reigns
over the earth.
As long as we have human governments, as
long as we have man in government, there
will be no peace.
It is not until the Prince of Peace
comes that the earth can really have a
real, true peace on earth.
Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few
closing comments.
But first, I'd like to remind you that
today's message is available in its unedited form
on cassette or CD.
Simply write or call and ask for ordering
details on tape or CD number C-3246.
Again, that's tape or CD number C-3246.
Well, it's that time of year again.
It may seem innocent, but the symbols of
Halloween, like black cats, jack-o'-lanterns, and
trick-or-treat, all have roots in sorcery
and Satanism.
We would never knowingly get involved with anything
related to Satan, but many Christians don't understand
what's really behind the pagan holiday.
The word for today would like to offer
you a presentation hosted by Pastor Chuck Smith
called Halloween Trick-or-Treat that traces the
pagan origins and history of Halloween.
This powerful movie uncovers the mystic rites and
ceremonies of Satan and will forever change your
opinion of Halloween.
Every year as the end of October approaches,
we are faced with the dilemma of family
and friends pressuring us to participate in the
celebration of this pagan holiday.
This documentary will definitely challenge you to decide
whether or not you'll continue to participate in
this tradition.
If you'd like more information on Halloween Trick
-or-Treat, then simply write or call and
ask one of our operators for the ordering
details.
Again, it's called Halloween Trick-or-Treat.
And right now, if you place an order,
the word for today would like to bless
you with Pastor Chuck Smith's pamphlet, How Can
a Man Be Born Again?
Absolutely Free.
Instead of just giving candy this year, the
pamphlet is the perfect tool for Christians to
share the gospel with loved ones and friends.
Available in both English and Spanish.
Again, it's free when you call right now.
To order Halloween Trick-or-Treat for yourself
or for a friend, you can call the
word for today at 1-800-272-WORD.
Or write to us at P.O. Box
8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628.
Once again, that number to call is 1
-800-272-9673.
And for those of you that would like
to visit our website, you can do so
at www.twft.com.
Or if you would like to email us,
you can do so at info at twft
.com.
Well, coming up next time on The Word
for Today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his
fascinating study through the book of Isaiah.
That's coming up next time on The Word
for Today.
And now, with a few closing comments, here
is Pastor Chuck.
Now may the Lord be with you, and
watch over you, and preserve and keep you
in His law.
And may you go forward in the things
of God, pressing on into that full, complete
relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Determining to live a life that is pleasing,
a life that is acceptable.
Denying the temptations to yield to the flesh
and the things of the flesh.
Resolved to live after the Spirit.
And thus may your life be enriched and
blessed as you've chosen the good path and
you walk in the ways of the Lord.
May you enjoy His fellowship and His love
and His Spirit working in your life.
In Jesus' name.
Lord, let
me love You face to face.