No. 55. >> The church and her members often struggle in a world of darkness. Is there a connection between Isaiah and the hope that we have in the risen Christ? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: I like that as a final question and I like it because I hope over these -- this brief time that I've had with you that, perhaps, through the pages of Isaiah, through the words of this great prophet of old, we can also always find the presence of the Christ and what he means. Now, I'm not one who knows American Sign Language. But I have learned a few things. And if I don't do it too incorrectly, I'll demonstrate to you the American Sign Language for Bible. There are two signs combined. Forgive me if I do this incorrectly. But it is Jesus with nail prints in the palm of the hands. And a book. And combined they are the Jesus book. I truly love that sign for the Bible. Because it is the single most descriptive way of talking about what Scripture is. It is ultimately always the Jesus book. Let me read one final section of Isaiah, just one verse. Isaiah 66:10: Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad for her all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her. And I've read that in the King James version. Because there is a majesty and magnificence to that language that I just love. But I remember some years ago when I was a brand-new Navy chaplain. I went to sea for the first time. And I happened to go to sea on a fairly small ship. It was called a frigate. And frigates like to run completely dark at night. It's a matter of stealth. So there's no lights on the ship on the outside. It happened to be one night in the Caribbean. And it was only a three-day trip so we were not particularly far from land. But as I decided one night that it might be fun to go out on the deck at night and just see what the sea looks like in the dark. There's some things I didn't know. One thing I didn't know is how dark it actually is particularly when the moon isn't there and the clouds covered the sky and there's no lights from the ship itself. Well, I walked out on that deck. And I stood there and was just kind of admiring the darkness in its own kind of strange way when I suddenly realized I had no idea which direction to go to get back inside the ship. And I realize that if I took too many steps in the wrong direction, I might wind up swimming back to Florida. And that didn't appear to me to be too attractive. I thought what I'm going to do is just sit down on this deck. And I'm just going to wait until the sun comes up. I can sleep out here and be okay. I can get up. And nobody will know about my stupidity. Well, about that time, the hatch opened. Just kind of cracked. And this young sailor stuck his head out. He said: Chaplain would you please get back in here? The skipper would kill me if I lost the chaplain. I said: Just keep the door open. I'm heading straight towards you. Keep talking. I'm going to be there. And sure enough, I got back inside that ship. Well, I learned a couple things that night. First, don't be stupid at sea. Very important rule. And second, while I was on the deck, I could see that small light that broke as that hatch was opened. And that young sailor called for me to come back in. Gave me direction in the darkness back to safety. In a lot of ways, this is what Isaiah and, indeed, all of Scripture provides for us as we walk through this world. And especially in those darkest moments of Christian life. There are times when all seems lost. But then suddenly, once again, God allows that distant light to draw us onward to safety. That distant light that ultimately comes from one place. An empty tomb. The prophet Isaiah did not always come with a joyous message. As you've studied the book of Isaiah, you've seen the many times in which Isaiah had to speak words that, perhaps, he really didn't want to say. But nonetheless, he knew they came from God. And that the people needed to know what was come and why it was coming. Because behind all of that, God had a wonderful redemptive purpose. He was calling his people to repentance. So Isaiah had to come and speak of the darkness of this world. To speak of things like Assyria. Things like Babylon. Yet despite the sometimes dark side of Isaiah's message, it was not without the overwhelming brightness of the message of hope. After the destruction of the nation, there would be a restoration of Israel. And the temple itself, though once destroyed, would stand again. That was God's promise. And a promise he would ultimately fulfill. Isaiah could point the people beyond the present to a future darkness. And still beyond that to a new city and a temple and tell them: Rejoice with Jerusalem. Be glad for her. All ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her. That temple, that building, stood for the people of God as the place where God would meet them. There the promise of the forgiveness of sins would be heard and seen. There the Old Testament sacrifices would be offered. But all the blood of lambs and goats and bullocks that would be spilled at that temple, not one of them would finally take away sin. All it would do is take those who observed, who saw the blood shed and point them to the one who was coming who would ultimately be the great and final sacrifice. The one whose blood would be shed not just as a bull or lamb or a bullock but as the Son of God shedding his blood and taking away the sin of the world. There at that temple a light would break through the darkness to the people of God. In that temple, they would see a glimpse of God's future. There the people of God would hear in words and see in action an image or a picture of God's own salvation for them. The psalmist would exclude: I was glad when they said unto me: Let us go into the House of the Lord. Because there they would see that great salvation portrayed before them. How strange it is sometimes in the midst of our struggles, in the midst of what seems to be an increasingly dark world to suddenly speak of and to believe in the light that shines. But yet it's not strange at all. We're reminded daily through God's Gospel, through his promise of salvation, that there is a heaven. And as preachers of the Gospel, you will be there with people in their darkest moments. You will be there with the young woman whose child has died. And you'll hold her hand as she questions. You will be there as the elderly man for many years in the face of the of the world finally slips away and returns to God. You'll be there in times of the greatest joy that people experience. When a child is born. When a marriage comes about. When all these great things happen. You'll be there when people as a community face tragedy, face fear. And you'll be there in all those times to speak the words Isaiah spoke. Perhaps not always with Isaiah's words. But the message nonetheless. That there is hope. That there is life. That there is light. That one doesn't have to sit on the deck of a Navy frigate and wait until the morning comes. The light comes to you. Calls you in. And in that light all the blessings of God are yours. God bless you as you do that.