Isaiah

The Lord's Day Evening December 2, 2012 “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament — The Virgin” Isaiah 7:1-25 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 7. We’re going to read the whole chapter tonight so that you have the context of the very famous verse, Isaiah 7:14, in mind as we explain it. This is the second of our series, “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament.” And this prophecy dates from more than six hundred years before Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Let me tell you what I want to do tonight. I want to first explain to you the story that is recorded for us in Isaiah chapter 7, especially looking at 2 Kings chapter 16, a passage which describes the…

Isaiah 7:14 A Virgin With Child Please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 7. Over the next four weeks, on each of the Lord's Days in December, and on one of the Wednesday evenings, Derek and I are going to be working through these texts of the various recitatives and choruses of Handel's Messiah, exploring this testimony to the person and work of Jesus Christ from these important Bible passages. And we start very appropriately today with Isaiah 7:14 and this proclamation of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Now as many of you no doubt know, for at least 200 years now the virgin birth has been under the assault of the skeptics and the critics. One of our early presidents of the United States, who was himself enamored of the morality of Christianity but who didn't like…

The Lord's Day Morning December 9, 2012 “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament — The Child” Isaiah 9:1-7 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 9. We’re going to give special attention to verses 6 and 7, but I want to read Isaiah 9:1-7 so that you have an appreciation of the context. Last Sunday morning we began our series, “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament,” by looking at the story of Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis 3. And I think that if you look at Genesis 3 and the passage that we looked at last Lord's Day Evening, Isaiah 7, and then again Isaiah 9 this morning and Isaiah 11 this evening, you’ll begin to see a pattern develop. And I…

Isaiah 9:6 A Child Is Born If you have your Bibles I'd invite you to turn with me to Isaiah 9:6. This morning we began a series on “Getting a Handel on Christmas”–thanks to Derek Thomas for that title–by looking at a promise and prophecy from Isaiah 7:14. And we commented that this part of the Christmas story begins with an invasion, an attempt to conquer Judah, the Southern Kingdom, the kingdom ruled by David's descendants. The Northern Kingdom of Israel–Jacob, Ephraim, along…

The Lord's Day Evening December 9, 2012 “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament — The Branch” Isaiah 10:33-12:6 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 10. We’re going to read a section that runs from Isaiah 10:33 all the way to 12:6. We’re looking tonight in our series called, “An Ancient Christmas,” at a passage, especially Isaiah 11:1-10, which speaks of the prophecy of a…

A Festival of 9 Lessons & Carols The Lord's Day Evening December 11, 2005 Isaiah 11:1-9 “The Gospel According to Isaiah” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III We begin tonight exactly where Derek left off this morning. If you’ll remember the third “D” in the outline this morning, it was Dominion. And this passage picks up with dominion, but let me remind you of what Derek has already told us. From at least Isaiah 7 on for a number of chapters, the context is King Ahaz and his plan to rescue…

The Lord's Day Morning December 16, 2012 “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament — The Servant” Isaiah 42:1-13 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Isaiah 42, as we continue our series, “An Ancient Christmas: The Coming of Jesus in the Old Testament.” You will have perhaps noticed a pattern in the messages from the Old Testament, a pattern of problem, promise, and provision. We see that, for…