Watchman Radio Hour

David Schulte: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Schulte your announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker Alex Dodson to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: Our scripture reading for today is Isaiah 45 verses 7 and 8. Let us hear the word of God. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster. I the Lord do all these things. You heavens above rain down righteousness. Let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide. Let salvation spring up. Let righteousness grow with it. I the Lord have created it.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in all that it says. And now, oh Lord, as we come to study your word, we pray that you will send forth your Holy Spirit in great convicting power. In Christ's name, we pray, amen.

God is able to make things change. Isaiah looks ahead to a time when the Jewish people would be delivered from their time of captivity in Babylon. We pointed out previously that Isaiah's prophecy of Cyrus was made over 200 years before Cyrus conquered Babylon and before Cyrus would set the captive Israelites free. The Jewish people would spend 70 years in captivity, and then God through Cyrus would bring them back to their homeland in Palestine. All of this was future to Isaiah.

Yet God was speaking through him and knew what he would do in the future. God is able to bring disaster upon a people, and he is also able to make them prosper. Verse 7 says, "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster. I the Lord do all these things." God is able to do the same today to any nation. Our own nation is under God's judgment even now in many different ways. Yet God is able to send better times if revival comes and the nation repents of its great sins.

Today we want to look in particular at Isaiah 45 and verse 8 which says, "You heavens above rain down righteousness, let the clouds shower it down, let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it. I the Lord have created it." God promises revival to come. One of the greatest needs of our nation today is a national spiritual revival. We as a nation are steeped in sin and because of our great sins, we are under the wrath of God right now.

The blessings this nation has seen in the past were the fruit of our forefathers who honored God. We as a nation today no longer honor God and our blessings will leave unless we repent as a people and turn back to God. The Jewish people sinned against God and God brought judgment upon them, and yet he did not forsake them and restored his people by bringing them back to their land. Today we are far from God as a nation. We are under his judgment and we need to repent.

And yet we have faith that God will send revival to bring this nation to its knees and restore it to what it once was. Let us pray to that end. Now let us see in the first place that this verse is talking about revival for Israel. It's talking about a restoration to their homeland. They would be restored to their homeland. They would be enabled to rebuild the temple.

Keil and Delitzsch writes, "In the prospect of this ultimate and saving purpose of the mission of Cyrus, the redemption of Israel and the conversion of the Gentiles, heaven and earth are now summoned to bring forth and pour down spiritual blessings in heavenly gifts according to the will and the power of Jehovah who has in view a new spiritual creation." Edward J. Young writes, "Thus the earth together with the heavens causes the growth of righteousness in which the divine justice is realized in the promises made to Israel."

God raised up Cyrus to open the way for the people of Israel to return to their homeland and to rebuild the temple. Let us see next that they returned to make way for the Messiah to come. This was God's plan. They returned and rebuilt the temple that Jesus himself would come to. Their return had a purpose. God had a purpose in bringing them back.

Adam Clarke writes, "These images of the dew and the rain descending from heaven and making the earth fruitful employed by the prophet and some others of the same kind which are used by the psalmist may perhaps be primarily understood as designed to set forth in a splendid manner the happy state of God's people restored to their country and flourishing in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue. But justice and salvation, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace and glory dwelling in the land cannot with any sort of propriety in the one or the other be interpreted as the consequence of that event. They must mean the blessings of the great redemption by the Messiah."

And so let us see in the second place today that we have a promise here in Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah. Verse 8 again says, "You heavens above rain down righteousness, let the clouds shower it down, let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it. I the Lord have created it." Looking forward to the coming of Christ to set up his kingdom is what this prophecy is doing. In Mark 1:15 Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel."

Jesus came to set up his kingdom. He was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. When Jesus came on the scene, he announced the coming of the kingdom and called on everyone to repent and believe the gospel. The angels announced his coming and the good news that it brought. In Luke 10 in verses 10 and 14 it says, "And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." And again, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

The angel's message was that something good had happened when Christ was born. The Messiah had come and he would bring blessing to the world. John Gill writes, "Thus the Holy Ghost, the spirit of prophecy proceeds at once from Cyrus to Christ, from the type to the antitype, from the temporal redemption of the Jews to the spiritual redemption of the Lord's people. And these words are to be considered not as a petition of the prophet or of the church for the coming of Christ and salvation by him, but a promise and prophecy of it."

And John Calvin writes, "For he speaks of the deliverance of the people from Babylon in which the Lord shows that he will be their protector. Yet while we understand the natural meaning of the prophet, we must come down to the kingdom of Christ to which these words undoubtedly bear a spiritual import. For God does not limit these promises to a few years but continues his favors down to the coming of Christ in whom all these things were abundantly fulfilled. There can be no doubt therefore that he likewise celebrates that eternal righteousness and salvation which is brought to us by Christ. But we ought first to observe that simple interpretation about the return from the captivity in Babylon."

J.A. Alexander writes, "J.D. Michaelis explains this whole verse as relating to prophecy and its fulfillment." Let us see then that the coming of the Messiah will bring great blessing. It would bring salvation to the world. Again verse 8 says, "You heavens above rain down righteousness, let the clouds shower it down, let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it." And so it was that when the angels announced to the shepherds his coming they said, "On earth peace, goodwill toward men."

God had kept his promise. He had sent a Savior into the world. In John 3:16 it says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Have you received the Savior into your life? Have you come to Christ and accepted his salvation? Now is the time to come. Now is the day of salvation. Jesus came that you might be saved from your sin. Come to him now and accept his great forgiveness and salvation. Come to Christ.

And then let us see in the third place that this passage is looking forward to a coming revival. In verse 8 again it says, "You heavens above rain down righteousness, let the clouds shower it down, let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it. I the Lord have created it." Psalm 85, which is much like this passage, is the revival psalm. Psalm 85:6-13 says this, "Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?"

Geneva Bible says, "Wilt thou not turn again and quicken us that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what the God the Lord will say. He promises peace to his people, his saints, but let them not return to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him that his glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together. Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps."

The King James Version says, "Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps." Adam Clarke writes, "The 85th Psalm is a very elegant ode on the same subject with the part of Isaiah's prophecies, the restoration of Judah from captivity and is in the most beautiful part of it a manifest imitation of this passage of the prophet." Revival comes from God. He creates it. And so the psalmist calls on God to send revival. Wilt thou not turn again and quicken us that thy people may rejoice in thee?

Salvation comes from him. And so the psalmist calls on God to grant us your salvation. When God sends revival, men fear God. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him that his glory may dwell in our land. His glory has departed from our land but it can return if he sends revival again. When revival comes, love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace prevail. When a nation experiences revival, righteousness pervades the land. "Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps," the psalmist says.

If we want righteousness to prevail in our nation, we must seek God for revival to change men's hearts. Our text says, "You heavens above rain down righteousness, let the clouds shower it down." John Calvin, in commenting on Psalm 85 with this passage in Isaiah, says, "Piety and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other, truth shall spring forth from the earth and righteousness look down from heaven, where David describes the kingdom of Christ and its prosperity and shows that in it righteousness, peace, mercy, and truth shall be joined together."

This passage treats of the same subject. Edward J. Young writes, "All the picture of blessing that this verse sets forth is a creation of God." He goes on to write, "The sovereign power that brought heaven and earth into existence now is employed in bringing about the abundance of righteousness and salvation." Matthew Henry says, "It is from heaven from above the skies that righteousness drops down, for every grace and good gift is from above. Nay, since the more plentiful effusion of the Spirit, it is now poured down and if our hearts be open to receive it, the product will be the fruits of righteousness and the great salvation."

And Keil and Delitzsch write, "What the heavens are to cause to trickle down and what is to flower when the earth opens is salvation and righteousness." And again they say, "It is a creation of Jehovah himself. Heaven and earth when cooperating to affect this are endowed with their capacity through him from whom cometh every good and perfect gift and obey now as at the first his creative fiat." Revival is God's creation. He brings it about. It says, "I the Lord have created it."

And then let us see that we must look for revival to come in our day. Ian Murray writes in *The Puritan Hope*, "The evangelical revival in the English-speaking world 200 years ago had vast influence in increasing the confidence that all the nations of the earth would yet be turned to the gospel of Christ. The great numbers who then simultaneously entered the kingdom of God, the many more who though still unconverted gave outward allegiance to the truth and the moral change wrought upon the attitude of whole generations gave Christians to understand that gospel preaching accompanied by future outpourings of the Spirit would be well able to transform the world."

Concerning the Great Evangelical Awakening of the 18th century Murray writes, "In 1738 when Whitefield was away in Georgia, John Wesley had his evangelical experience at Aldersgate Street in London and continuing the preaching work of Whitefield he could soon write great multitudes are everywhere awakened. By 1739 it was beyond question that a great revival had commenced in England. New Year's Day witnessed the small group of leaders in London including Whitefield and Wesley met in a prayer meeting reminiscent of the private gatherings of ministers in the previous century."

"In the next five weeks Whitefield preached some 30 times in and about London and then moving to the Bristol area he took the momentous step on February the 17th of preaching to some 200 colliers in the open air at Kingswood, the use of a church having been denied to him. And from this point onwards open-air preaching became the inescapable necessity as congregations gathered in the thousands. In the bleak months in February and March Whitefield estimated that there were as many as 10,000 hearers on one occasion at Kingswood. And in London on Moorfelds and Kennington Common during the following months still vaster crowds assembled for the preaching of a message which had so recently been generally dismissed with scorn."

"At a time when the population of the capital was only some 600,000 and when gin and gambling were the great public interest, it was an amazing phenomenon that a Christian preacher could now command far larger gatherings than any of the theaters or entertainments of the day. In July 1739 Whitefield wrote from London, 'A great work of God is doing here. The Lord Jesus gets himself the victory every day.' And in August he writes, 'The Spirit of God is moving on the faces of thousands of souls in England. The word runs very swift and Satan falls like lightning from heaven.'"

Not only was there a great evangelical awakening in Britain but also the Spirit was being poured out in America. Murray writes, "In May 1740 it was reported there was never such a general awakening and concern for the things of God known in America before. In June Whitefield who had returned to America the previous autumn wrote, 'Oh what wonderful things is God doing in America. What the events of the present general awakening will be I know not.' In July amazed at the spread of the work he exclaimed, 'Surely our Lord intends to set the world in a flame.'"

The Great Awakening continued in America until 1743 to '44 bringing thousands to the kingdom of God and establishing a new spiritual and moral outlook in the colonies as a whole. It was estimated says Turnbull, an American writer who belonged to the generation immediately following the revival, that in two or three years 30 or 40,000 souls were born into the family of heaven in New England besides great numbers in New York, New Jersey and the more southern provinces.

Of the many whom he personally knew as having professed conversion during the awakening he writes, "They were constant and serious in their attendance on public worship, prayerful, righteous and charitable, strict in the government of their families and not one of them so far as he knew was ever guilty of scandal." Murray also shares about the great revival that took place in Wales later in that century.

He writes, "Until 1791 the gospel only had a very limited and partial success in North Wales. But in December of that year the sober-minded Thomas Charles wrote of the glorious work then taking place in Bala and its neighborhood. General concern about eternal things swallowed up all other concerns and a spirit of conviction spread so rapidly that there was hardly a young person in the neighborhood but began to inquire what will become of me? The work has continued to go on ever since with unabated power and glory spreading from one town to another all around this part of the country."

"A dispensation so glorious I never beheld nor indeed expected to see in my day. The coming of the Lord amongst us has been with such majesty, glory and irresistible power that even his avowed enemies would be glad to hide themselves somewhere from the brightness of his coming." Concerning the future of revivals Murray wrote, "The evangelical revival in the English-speaking world 200 years ago had vast influence in increasing the confidence that all the nations of the earth would yet be turned to the gospel of Christ."

"The great numbers who then simultaneously entered the kingdom of God, the many more who though still unconverted gave outward allegiance to the truth and the moral change wrought upon the attitude of whole generations gave Christians to understand that gospel preaching accompanied by future outpourings of the Spirit would be well able to transform the world." We must pray for revival in our day. We must pray for a great outpouring of the Spirit that will bring our nation to its knees.

We must pray that the Lord will send forth his word and spirit throughout the land in great power. We must pray that a great mourning will go up in the land as people all over the land come under great conviction of sin. We must pray that the people of this nation will start mourning over their sins and see their need for Christ. We need a great mourning to take place that will cover the land. We must pray that this mourning will drive people to Christ in great numbers throughout the nation.

This is our present need. Our country is under God's wrath now. We have sinned greatly. We have rebelled against God's moral law. We have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. God's wrath is upon us. We must turn from our sins and turn back to God before it's too late. Come now to Christ. See your sin and your need to have it cleansed in the blood of Christ. Come now before it's too late. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come now, let us reason together says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."

Come to Christ today. Come, repent of your great sins and turn to the Lord. Come and pray this prayer of commitment if you would. Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me for my great sins. Forgive me for the things that I have done wrong in your sight. Purge me and cleanse me. I come and I accept Christ right now as my Lord and Savior. I accept his forgiveness. Oh Lord Jesus, help me now to live my life for you. In your name I pray, amen.

And our Father, we do pray that in this day you would pour out your spirit in great convicting power all of this nation. From north to south and east to west, we pray that you will send another great awakening like you did before in the days of Whitefield and Wesley. We pray that you will send another great awakening, Lord. Another great evangelical awakening.

We pray that you will send forth your word and spirit throughout the land in great power. We pray that a great mourning will go up in the land as people all over the land come under great conviction of sin. Oh Father in heaven, we pray that you will pour out your spirit in great power in our day. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

David Schulte: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon, 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon, 97213.

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