Crystallization-Study Outlines
Isaiah (2)

Message One

Announcing the All-inclusive Christ,
Jehovah the Savior, as the Glad Tidings

Scripture Reading: Isa. 40:1-26

1. The all-inclusive Christ is Jehovah the Savior, the glad tidings—Isa. 40:5, 9; 43:3, 11; 45:21; 49:26; 60:16:
   1. Jehovah means “He who was, who is, and who will be”—Exo. 3:14:
      1. God’s name is I Am; His name is simply the verb to be:
         1. I Am denotes the One who is self-existing, the One whose being depends on nothing apart from Himself.
         2. The I Am is also the ever-existing One; that is, He exists eternally, having neither beginning nor ending.
         3. Apart from God, all else is nothing; He is the only One who is, the only One who has the reality of being—Isa. 40:12-18.
      2. God requires us to believe that He is—Heb. 11:6.
   2. Jesus is Jehovah—Exo. 3:14; John 18:4-6:
      1. The Lord Jesus is I Am—the eternal, self-existing, ever-existing God, the One who is everything to us—8:24, 28, 58.
      2. The name Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior,” or “the salvation of Jehovah”—Matt. 1:21.
   3. The coming of the all-inclusive Christ as the glad tidings is to be announced as Jehovah our God (Isa. 40:3), as Jehovah of glory (v. 5), as the Lord Jehovah coming with might to rule (vv. 9-10), and as a Shepherd feeding His flock (v. 11).
2. The word of comfort spoken to the heart of Jerusalem is actually the announcing of the gospel; the fact that this word is spoken to the heart means that it is concerned not with the outer man but with the inner man—vv. 1-2.
3. Christ as Jehovah the Savior was ushered in by the voice of one (John the Baptist) crying in the wilderness—vv. 3-4; Matt. 3:1-3:
   1. To make clear, or to prepare, the way of Jehovah is to prepare our heart; every part and avenue of our heart needs to be straightened by the Lord through repentance so that the Lord may enter into us to be our life and take possession of us—Isa. 40:3; Prov. 4:20-23; Matt. 5:8; 15:7-8; Luke 1:17; Eph. 3:16-17.
   2. To make clear the way of Jehovah is to make clear the way of Jesus, who is the New Testament Jehovah; the way of Jesus is a highway for our God, indicating that Jesus is our God—Isa. 40:3; Matt. 1:21.
4. Christ as the glory of Jehovah is the revealing of Jehovah—Isa. 40:5:
   1. The glory of Jehovah is the center of the gospel for the new creation—2 Cor. 4:4-6; Heb. 1:3; Luke 1:78:
      1. Glory is the expression of God—John 1:1, 14.
      2. Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory, and this effulgence is like the shining of the sun—Heb. 1:3; Luke 1:78-79.
      3. When Christ appeared, the glory of Jehovah was revealed to be seen by the God-seekers and Christ-believers—Matt. 17:1-2, 5; Luke 2:25-32; 9:32; John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16-18.
      4. To those on whom Christ has shined, Christ is the glory of God and the hope of glory within them—Col. 1:27; 2 Cor. 3:15-16, 18.
   2. The gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, which illuminates, radiates, and shines into the heart of man—4:4:
      1. The illumination, the enlightenment, that makes the glory of Christ’s gospel known to us issues from the shining of God in our hearts—v. 6.
      2. God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything—v. 7.
5. Jehovah is revealed through His speaking—John 1:1, 14, 29, 32, 36, 42, 51; 3:34; 7:16-17; 14:24:
   1. The word of God is actually Christ Himself, the embodiment of God, as the gospel of God—Isa. 40:8; Col. 2:9; Rom. 1:1, 3-4, 16; 10:6-8.
   2. The Lord Jesus was sent by the Father for the purpose of speaking the word of God for God’s expression; in His word, His speaking, God is revealed and presented to us—John 1:1, 14, 18; 3:34; 5:36-37; 7:17; 14:10.
   3. The entire fallen human race is like withering grass, and its glory like the falling flower of grass; the believers in Christ were once like that, but the living and abiding word of the Lord has changed their nature, making them living and abiding forever—Isa. 40:6-8; 1 Pet. 1:23-25:
      1. Those who receive Christ, the glory of God, as the living and abiding word of God, are regenerated and have eternal life to live forever—John 1:12-13; 3:15.
      2. This living word has brought the eternal life into us to regenerate us, and we have received the eternal life for our daily enjoyment—1 Pet. 1:23-25.
      3. The Lord’s word will stand forever to enliven men that they may partake of His eternal life for their enjoyment—Isa. 40:6-8; 1 Pet. 1:23-25; Rev. 2:7.
6. In Isaiah 40:9-26 we have the revelation of the Lord Jehovah—the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incomparable God:
   1. “Behold your God!”—v. 9:
      1. This is the revealing of the Lord Jehovah, the appearing of the very God as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, in His becoming a man through incarnation—Matt. 1:18-23; Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 14.
      2. Jesus, who is Jehovah, is our God; the revealing of Jehovah is the appearing of Jesus—vv. 1, 14; 8:24, 28, 58; Matt. 1:21.
      3. Christ is the complete God manifested in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:16:
         1. The Word, who is God, became flesh—John 1:1, 14.
         2. In incarnation Christ is the entire God manifested in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:16.
         3. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily—Col. 2:9.
      4. Such a brief declaration—Behold your God!—is the glad tidings—Isa. 40:9.
   2. The Lord Jehovah as Jesus Christ is the Ruler who comes as a mighty One to rule over us, and He is the Judge to either reward or punish us—v. 10; Matt. 2:6; 25:14-30; 2 Cor. 5:10.
   3. As the mighty One, the ruling and judging One, Christ comes to be a Shepherd; He cares for His flock by ruling and correcting His sheep and by feeding His flock, gathering the lambs in His arm, carrying them in His bosom, and leading those who are nursing the young—Isa. 40:11; Matt. 2:6; 9:36; John 10:2-4, 11, 14.
   4. Christ is the Holy One, the eternal God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, sitting above the circle of the earth—Isa. 40:22, 25-26, 28a:
      1. As the Holy One, Jesus is unlimited, unsearchable, incomparable, and high; there is no comparison between Him and anyone or anything else—vv. 12-18, 28b, 22a:
         1. All peoples are like a drop of water from a bucket, like specks of dust on the scales, and are nothing, even less than nothing, just vanity, emptiness—Isa. 40:15, 17; Eccl. 1:2; cf. S. S. 1:1.
         2. The proper preaching of the all-inclusive Christ as the glad tidings, the gospel, causes people to realize that they are nothing and that Christ is everything—Isa. 40:15, 17.
      2. The more we realize that apart from Christ we are nothing, emptiness, and vanity, the more we will appreciate Christ, treasure Christ, and seek to be filled, saturated, and permeated with Christ—Phil. 3:7-8.
7. The prophet’s speaking in Isaiah 40—his announcing of the all-inclusive Christ, Jehovah the Savior, as the glad tidings—is an excellent example of preaching the gospel; all human beings need the incomparable God (vv. 18-26), the coming Christ (v. 3), the glory of Jehovah as the center of the gospel for the new creation (v. 5), the living and abiding word of God for regeneration to have eternal life (vv. 6-8), and the manifestation of the Lord Jehovah, the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ (vv. 9-12).