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[3277.68 --> 3279.80] and proclaimed to us the former things?
[3279.80 --> 3284.28] Let them bring in their witnesses to prove if they were right,
[3284.40 --> 3286.68] so that others may hear and say it is true.
[3287.98 --> 3291.28] You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,
[3291.34 --> 3293.28] and my servant whom I have chosen,
[3293.64 --> 3295.72] so that you may know and believe me
[3295.72 --> 3298.08] and understand that I am he.
[3298.84 --> 3300.80] Before me no God was formed,
[3300.90 --> 3302.40] nor will there be one after me.
[3302.74 --> 3304.76] I, even I, am the Lord,
[3304.84 --> 3306.70] and apart from me there is no Savior.
[3307.04 --> 3309.34] I have revealed and saved and proclaimed.
[3309.78 --> 3312.06] I am not some foreign God among you.
[3312.18 --> 3314.80] You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,
[3315.06 --> 3317.40] that I am God.
[3318.98 --> 3320.50] Now notice what Isaiah is doing here
[3320.50 --> 3323.16] and what God is doing through the prophet in this moment.
[3323.24 --> 3326.16] He's setting up a courtroom drama, as it were.
[3327.08 --> 3328.24] And he's saying, effectively,
[3328.68 --> 3330.42] which of the gods of the other nations
[3330.42 --> 3331.46] could let this happen?
[3331.76 --> 3333.94] Which of the gods of other nations could intervene?
[3334.52 --> 3334.66] Right?
[3334.66 --> 3336.70] Tell those other gods to bring in their witnesses
[3336.70 --> 3338.10] so that they can prove them right.
[3339.34 --> 3341.34] Which of course, they don't do.
[3342.58 --> 3344.72] Instead, the Lord says,
[3345.22 --> 3347.92] you are my witnesses.
[3349.16 --> 3352.26] You will give testimony that I am right.
[3353.12 --> 3354.44] You will give testimony
[3354.44 --> 3356.58] that what I have promised has come to pass.
[3356.98 --> 3358.06] You will be a witness
[3358.06 --> 3361.48] that those with blind eyes had them opened.
[3361.68 --> 3362.50] You will be a witness
[3362.50 --> 3364.24] that those with deaf ears
[3364.24 --> 3365.72] have had them unstopped
[3365.72 --> 3366.64] and they're able to hear.
[3366.90 --> 3368.02] And he finishes by saying,
[3368.30 --> 3370.06] you will be my witnesses
[3370.06 --> 3372.76] that I am God.
[3374.36 --> 3375.62] Paul's testifying,
[3375.80 --> 3377.26] the disciples witnessing
[3377.26 --> 3378.90] is to say,
[3379.18 --> 3381.68] Jesus is God.
[3382.48 --> 3384.18] Jesus is the Christ,
[3384.38 --> 3385.10] the Messiah,
[3385.28 --> 3386.26] the Son of Man,
[3386.32 --> 3388.26] and the Savior of nations.
[3388.26 --> 3388.36] God's mission to the nations.
[3388.82 --> 3390.56] God's mission to the world
[3390.56 --> 3392.80] is for him to say to the nations,
[3392.94 --> 3393.68] here I am.
[3395.54 --> 3396.58] Here I am.
[3397.86 --> 3399.28] And in the same way,
[3399.62 --> 3401.82] the church's mission to the world
[3401.82 --> 3405.22] is to say that he is God.
[3405.66 --> 3407.94] That Jesus is God.
[3407.94 --> 3407.98] God.
[3410.54 --> 3411.02] Recently,
[3411.18 --> 3413.12] I was listening to a podcast
[3413.12 --> 3415.00] by Christopher Wright.
[3415.80 --> 3417.26] He's a missiologist
[3417.26 --> 3420.56] who really roots his understanding
[3420.56 --> 3421.76] of the mission of the church
[3421.76 --> 3424.18] and the grand story of God's mission
[3424.18 --> 3425.84] as the primary way
[3425.84 --> 3426.86] to understand the Bible
[3426.86 --> 3428.14] and the work of God in the world.
[3428.92 --> 3429.80] In the podcast,
[3430.46 --> 3432.64] he mentions that the way
[3432.64 --> 3435.80] most of us read the Bible
[3435.80 --> 3437.68] is to read
[3437.68 --> 3439.28] and then to ask the question,
[3439.64 --> 3441.42] how does this apply to my life?
[3442.76 --> 3443.00] Now,
[3443.42 --> 3444.76] this isn't a bad question
[3444.76 --> 3446.40] and this isn't a bad way
[3446.40 --> 3447.42] in and of itself
[3447.42 --> 3448.70] to read the Bible,
[3448.70 --> 3450.40] but it does have the tendency
[3450.40 --> 3453.86] to be sort of a self-focused way
[3453.86 --> 3454.62] to read the Bible.
[3455.40 --> 3455.60] Right?
[3455.64 --> 3457.14] This sort of makes it about you
[3457.14 --> 3458.70] and then whatever the Bible says
[3458.70 --> 3460.38] is sort of tangential to you
[3460.38 --> 3461.46] and then you've got to figure out
[3461.46 --> 3462.46] how to incorporate it.
[3463.90 --> 3464.32] Right?
[3464.32 --> 3466.02] It ends with the kind of question
[3466.02 --> 3467.60] of what should I be doing?
[3468.48 --> 3468.84] Now, again,
[3469.00 --> 3470.92] that's not a bad question,
[3471.64 --> 3473.70] but there's also, I think,
[3474.06 --> 3476.48] perhaps a more profound way
[3476.48 --> 3478.06] to read the Bible.
[3478.86 --> 3478.92] Right?
[3478.94 --> 3481.32] Instead of asking the question,
[3481.66 --> 3484.06] how do I apply this story to my life?
[3485.30 --> 3486.62] We can ask the question,