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- [00:02]
A
Good news, good news. The good news is finally here. Friends, listen to me. This is serious business. What the world needs today is Jesus. The Bible says in John 3:16 that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
- [00:32]
B
And hello everyone and welcome to a program the truth was set in free Bible prophecy edition. I'm Vic Batista along with my co host Nathan Jones with Lamb Lion Ministry. We thank you for being part of today's program. We have a great program prepared for you today as we continue making our way through the book of Isaiah, chapter 61 with a message titled the promised Messiah. So stay tuned. And for those of you that follow us on social media, we'll love for you to share this program with your friends and family so they can follow along with us. But before we continue, I'm going to ask my co host, Nathan Jones if he will open us up with a word of prayer.
- [01:03]
C
We thank you Lord Jesus for another opportunity to get together, study your word, Lord, grow in our relationship with you. We pray your blessing upon everybody who's tuned in and hears this. We thank you Lord for the technology that enables us to reach people all over the world with your we message, Lord, and may they draw close to you during this time. In your precious name, Amen.
- [01:23]
B
Amen. Again you're tuned into a truthful section, Bible prophecy edition. Vic Batista. Nathan Jones, lam Lion Ministry. Again, our topic is that of the Messiah, the promised Messiah, Isaiah, chapter 61. So if you have a Bible to follow along with us, please get that ready. And of course before we continue, I'm going to welcome my co host of the program, Nathan Jones. Nate, good morning. And I think it's actually morning still in Texas.
- [01:48]
C
Good morning. Yes, another beautiful summer day. We're into the summer season and exciting. Not only are we in the summer season, but I would say we're in the fall of Isaiah because hey brother, we're in the 60s.
- [02:04]
B
I love that. That's, that's a very good observation. And I'm sure those that are part of our program are also excited when they hear the 60s in Isaiah because they've been tracking us now for over a year.
- [02:20]
C
Yeah, it's been a long, long journey, but it's been a wonderful journey, man. I really. Isaiah is such an impressive book. You really get the heart of God. What he feels, what he's planning and what he's promising. It's all in there. You know, there can be repetitive in Parts, especially when Israel is being cursed for their rebellion against God. But for the most part, that that's just always just a small part of the bigger plan that God has, the eternal plan to bring them to salvation, bring Gentiles in as well. And so, man, it's an exciting book, you know, Nathan.
- [02:54]
B
And now these, these ending chapters are really fun and exciting because they're going to be filled with a lot of ENC information and things that I think are going to bless our listeners. So for those of you that maybe are new to the program, Nate, would you be able to share with them how they can get a hold of us and also the past podcast that we've done here?
- [03:17]
C
Okay, well, if you're new to the truth will set you free. We're the podcast Outreach of Lamb and Lion Ministries. We're a Bible prophecy teaching ministry, and our mission is to proclaim the soon return of Jesus Christ. And we've been doing that since our founder, Dr. David Reagan, founded the ministry back in 1980. We believe the signs of the times indicate the imminent return of Jesus Christ. And so all our research, our TV show, Christ in Prophecy, our radio program as well, an archive of these podcasts, our Lamplighter magazine, social media, it's all on our website@christinprophecy.org, that's christinprophecy.org or you could also download our Lamb lion app.
- [03:56]
B
Thank you, Nate, for sharing and what great resources those are, especially the conference that just took place at the annual conference. And they can catch all that on social media and YouTube. And what a wonderful conference that was as well, Nate.
- [04:11]
C
Yeah, it was so good that you could come out here, Vic, all the way from Florida to make the trek to God's promised land here in Texas. And join us for our annual conference, folks, if you'd like to catch up on. We had some fantastic sermons, but Tim Moore and myself, we had Pete Garcia, a very popular prophecy teacher, and Dr. Hebert from the Institute for Creation Research was here as well. We had a good Q and A at the end, and you can find all of that on our Christ in Prophecy YouTube channel.
- [04:43]
B
You know, Nate. And also, I just forgot to add, we might be posting a few of our pictures that we took together because we actually have less hair now, but we're better looking.
- [04:52]
C
Well, you have less hair. I have as much hair as I've always had. It's just getting grayer.
- [04:59]
B
But that's the. That's the fun part. But speaking of fun, we always have a lot of Fun. And we try to. Because God is so good, right, Nate? In so many ways. And when we see his goodness in His Word, it's very encouraging. Especially in the book of isaiah in chapter 61. What an exciting passage. So I want to invite those of you that have a Bible to follow along with us as we start In Isaiah, chapter 61. Nate, will you be able to open us up there? Reading chapter 61, verses one through three.
- [05:26]
C
Oh, this is. This is a fantastic chapter. Yeah, let's do that. All right. So the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who were bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Verse 4. And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities and the desolations of many generations.
- [06:18]
B
Nathan, what an amazing opening, and what an amazing ministry. And oftentimes when we read this, no doubt we see so much that that Messiah embodies our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because really, this passage in Luke chapter four, Nate, is one of those passages where Jesus himself shared after that temptation, after he was tempted for 40 days, his ministry started. And we find so much of this in Luke chapter four, where we read in verses 16 through 20, speaking of Jesus. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as. As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set a liberty, those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And then it says that he closed the book and gave it back to the attendants and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogues were fixed on him. Isn't That a cool name?
- [07:46]
C
Oh, yeah. I mean, when you realize too, that. Then he said, basically he says, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And can you imagine? So he's back in his hometown, right? He grew up there. The people once they, Mary and Joseph and Jesus got back from Egypt, you know, he was just a local boy. Probably they thought he was a little odd, he was a little too good. He never seemed to sit or anything like that. But he had become a rabbi. And he's teaching them, he's reading it and then he's saying that he. That today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And you know, they're like, well, isn't this Joseph's son? I mean, who is this guy? And they really, they were going to run him out of the city and even throw him off a cliff. And he just passed through them and went on his way. And so the Lord couldn't stay and go back to his hometown anymore. But it's amazing because it's interesting, Vic too, that he only reads half of the passage. He. He stops there in verse 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Isn't that interesting? Why do you think that he did not read all of that chapter?
- [08:52]
B
Well, Nate, I think prophecy, full prophecy, was still being fulfilled. And Jesus, as his ministry developed, he wanted them to be clear on who he was. And here I think it was just the beginning of the ministry. But later on through the miracles and everything else of the. That Scripture speaks of, continues to fulfill his ministry here on earth.
- [09:12]
C
Absolutely. Because really we're talking about when Isaiah gave prophecies, he gave them with both the first and the second coming in mind. And so they call it prophetic perspective, where let's say you're. If you're driving, say Colorado Springs, right? And you. You driving across the plains and you see all of a sudden the mountains rise up before you, and you assume it's just one big chain of mountain. But once you get in the mountains, you realize there's valleys in between the peaks. And that's prophetic perspective. There is a valley between the first and second coming that the prophets didn't understand at that time. So when the Lord gave the messages, like to Isaiah here, he gave it without the valleys. And so Jesus read to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to that point, which was his first coming ministry. But then you get the. The second half of verse two and the day of vengeance of our God. Well, that wasn't part of his first coming. That's his second coming. And so it's amazing. Vic. What a 2000 year valley between the first and second sentences of verse 2.
- [10:18]
B
Nathan, thank you for bringing that up. That is an amazing observation. And this is why we find that the book of Isaiah is so incredibly amazing to think about. Like hundreds of years earlier were reading this. Not only that, but we also found entire copies of the book of Isaiah in the Qumran caves. Right, Nate. When they would discover the Dead Sea Scrolls to validate all of what Scripture says. And here you. We find Jesus pretty much proclaiming what was written hundreds of years early about himself. And yet so many still didn't see it.
- [10:57]
C
No, no. And you couldn't expect it really. The people to understand Jesus had just started his ministry. I'm sure the people should have been able to say, wait, there's something different about him. He claims to be the Son of God. This probably wasn't the first time he told them that he was the Son of God. But you know, they had enough is enough. They're saying, okay, this is just blasphemy. We need to. And of course the Jewish people weren't allowed to have capital punishment. That was now up to the Romans. But still there was times where they wanted to stone. They certainly stoned Stephen. And his own people, the people that grew up with him were ready to chuck him off a cliff and kill him over this. And so you would think that the miracles that he started performing and when they started hearing about all that he'd done and how he did most of his ministry up in Galilee, around where Nazareth is, that the people would have turned to him. But there's another passage where he says, a prophet has no honor in his home country. And that's true because how many prophets and pastors and priests or whatnot have any honor in their own homes? I mean, the family members remember you when you're a little boy and doing different things, they can't change the mind and say, oh, wait a minute, he's now a grown man and he's a pastor or preacher or whatever. And so it was likewise for Jesus. They didn't, they couldn't yet accept him. I think after he resurrected from the dead, certainly that changed their mind. But up to that point, they just couldn't see him as being the Messiah.
- [12:25]
B
Nathan. And what a great point. You know, there's a lot of things that we just take for granted. Like for instance, God's blessing here in this country. We're blessed so much that we take for granted the things that we have here. Not all the Other countries or nations have what we have. But then after a while, we have so many blessings that God has blessed us with that we forget to say thank you or recognize here our freedom in America, the fact that we have so much readily available to us that we just have to walk outside of our door and literally grab all these blessings. And it's the same thing with spiritual things. We're so blessed here. We have so many amazing churches, Bible resources, podcasts, and oftentimes you find Christians. Oh yeah, well, I don't need that. Or they're into this whole social media stuff. They're not really developing the spiritual lives because they take it for granted. But the time will come where there will be that famine that we're starting to see, and it's a famine of the world. People are getting so distracted today, Nate. All the blessings.
- [13:27]
C
I was at a Mexican restaurant the other day with my wife and I was looking around the room and almost everybody was sitting with their families or friends and nobody was talking to each other. They were all staring at their phones and, and that constant interruption that you get with social media. I was reading an interesting article that just came out this week. So every 10 years or so they do these tests to see for ninth graders coming into high school, can they sit down and read a 20 page article or chapter in one sitting? And back about 20 years ago, 40% of them couldn't do it. Now 60% of the students coming in can't finish it. They're too distracted or their attention span. And that's the big question they ask them, say, why can't you read 20 pages in one sitting? And they're like, oh, I need to be distracted. Well, isn't that the point that Satan doesn't want us to sit and think about the deep things? You know, if you read the Puritan writings from hundreds of years ago, when they weren't working, they were studying the Bible, they had deep conversations, they sat on their porches and contemplated the life, universe and everything. And they were really deep in their spirituality. But it seems like Satan today doesn't want us to take a second to have a deep thought because that will bring us closer to the Lord.
- [14:54]
B
Nathan and I so agree with you. And that is one of the ploy of the enemy. One thing that I wanted to share in, in regarding to distractions and Satan's plot, I, I, I normally don't recommend movies. We don't go to the movies a lot because honestly, there's really nothing out there worth seeing. So my wife and I, we just wanted to go on a date. And I said, well, you know what, let's see what's in the movie theater. Like a Father's Day thing, right? So honestly, we couldn't find anything. But what we do enjoy from time to time is if we can find anything decent, we say, well, let's see. Sometimes they have a nice animated kids movie that's at the level that we are right now. Nathan.
- [15:32]
C
Toy Story 5.
- [15:34]
B
But we went to see, yeah, Toy Story 5. And I have to say, honestly, Nate, it was. They did a great job in presenting. I won't, I won't share the whole movies with people in case they want to go see it. But they made a great point in showing the distraction aspects of technology. And I thought it was a great kind of like wake up call to parents in the reality of where we're going. So I'm not saying, I want to say, hey, I encourage everybody to go see this movie, but I thought it was a well worth it. And the message was very aligned what was happening today. And even believers, Nate, they just. Their attention pan span is so small that they can't even read a few chapters a day of the Bible or even pray.
- [16:24]
C
No, no. And you say, well, I don't have time. Well, why don't you have time? What have you filled your day with? Well, we filled it with distractions. My son actually had went on a YouTube fast because he found that he was getting addicted to him. I really like these arrest videos. Sergeant Curtis has a great chapter, excuse me channel. And sometimes it's interesting to watch court cases. And it's just amazing the human nature, but they can be addictive. You could spend two hours and like, wait, what did I just do? I watched people acting poorly and getting arrested for two hours. What's wrong with me? You know, it's just so easy to be distracted in this day and age. And it's, it's on purpose. It's meant to not have us reflect on the deeper things in life. And so we've got very shallow, very emotionally low IQ humans as a society. And the depths that we used to have as a society came from contemplation. And we just don't seem to have that now. I'm not sure if we're off on a tangent or not, Vic. You know, getting back to Isaiah 61, but clearly the people just couldn't see Jesus as the Messiah because they had grown up with him. They were distracted by his family and his brothers and his sisters, and they just couldn't see his messiahship until I believe he resurrected from the dead.
- [17:45]
B
Yeah. No. And Nathan, and the point we were making with that was not so much on a tangent, but it was verses one and three going back to Isaiah, chapter 61. It just speaks about all of what Jesus or the Messiah did and continues to do that we oftentimes take for granted as we get distracted because the full ministry that we look back here, it says when. When the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Notice because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings or good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and opening the prison to those that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance of our God. And then it says, to comfort all those who mourn, to counsel those who mourn in Zion, to give beauty for ashes, oil for joy of mourning. I mean, Nathan, look at this list of what God said that he wants to do for us, what he is doing for us. And oftentimes we take that for granted. So we thank those that are actually tuned into this program right now, investing their time and listening to what God has in store for them.
- [19:03]
C
Absolutely. And it's interesting too, is that the people would be thinking of Messiah Ben David as warrior king, who was literally going to break open the prisons and declare God's vengeance and conquer the Romans and lead liberty to the captives. But what Jesus is saying here is that this is a spiritual. He's not spiritualizing the text, but he's saying this is a spiritual battle. He's going to free people who are bound to sin. He's going to heal the brokenhearted from sin. He's going to provide salvation from sin. The captives of sin will be set free. But there will also eventually in the second coming, be a physical restoration where he will then defeat the enemies and free the captives. And. And there's a physical part of that salvation as well. But to have that, he had to establish the spiritual salvation first. And again, the people didn't understand that. And frankly, that's a subject that most Christians struggle with as well.
- [20:01]
B
Excellent point. And Nate, speaking of that, I think that is great there. For the next part of Isaiah, I'll read verses four through eight and if you remind, you can finish it nine through eleven. But we see that also the, the second part, it says verse four. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined Cities that desolations of many generations strangers shall stand and fear. Feed your flock, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowman and your vineyard vine dressers. But you shall be named the priests of the Lord. They shall call you the servants of God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and the glory to to you shall boast. Instead of your shame, you shall be a double honor. And instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in your portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I, the Lord love justice. I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their works in truth and will make with them an everlasting covenant.
- [21:09]
C
Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its buds, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. You know what's interesting about this, Fico, is that what we're reading here isn't the words of Isaiah. Isaiah is just the prophet. It's not even God the Father. What we're reading here, 700 years before Jesus's first coming is the Son of God recording a message. All this is about Jesus Christ. And so this is a. I'm not saying this is pre incarnate Jesus. I mean, he's outside of time. But this is as the Old Testament would call Jesus, the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord, the Son of God is sitting here talking about all he's going to do in the future, and yet we're 2700 years out and we're still waiting for a lot of these to be fulfilled.
- [22:29]
B
Nathan. And that's, that's what I love about the, the encouraging things that we find in the word of God is when people truly want to find the truth, they will find it in Scripture. Because you cannot read through the Bible and not see Jesus in it. Right, Nate? And we see that spirit sprinkled throughout the whole entire Bible. That's why we encourage people, if they have the opportunity, try to read through the Bible at Least once a year. Connect all these stories and suddenly you begin to realize, wow, so this is what the Bible was talking about. Sometimes people just focus on the New Testament, Nate. But sprinkled throughout the entire Old Testament, it's also all about Jesus.
- [23:07]
C
Oh yeah, and there's even like verse four, for instance. Really focuses on what a current prophecy that they shall rebuild the old ruins and the desolations and of many generations. Well, we know when the Romans destroyed Israel in 70 AD and dispersed the people throughout the land, the land went fallow, it became a desert wasteland. Nobody wanted to go to it. And. But when the Jewish people started coming back in the late 1800s and 1900s, they started rebuilding the desolate cities. And look at Tel Aviv. It came up where Jaffa is or Joppa, out of nowhere. I mean, and now it's a city. Jerusalem is now in the world politics. People are always talking about Jerusalem. The, the countryside, which was desert, is now blooming with flowers and vegetables and all. And. And when the millennial kingdom comes even more so the whole earth will be just flourishing. There won't be desolate areas and wilderness anymore. There's. Lord says the entire earth will be habitable and fruitful. And so this is kind of a foretaste of what what's going on in Israel is what's going to go on for the entire world when Jesus returns to set up his kingdom.
- [24:19]
B
Nathan. And what a beautiful prophecy we find. Also just detailing so many other details, especially when we get to also the next chapter, chapter 62 in the book of Isaiah, where it just begins to again unfold, unfold for us some more amazing blessings and more of who the Messiah is. And Nate, just here looking at this chapter, one of the things too that you read that I thought was kind of neat there in verse 11, it says for us, the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown into it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. And you and I covered Isaiah chapter 55 earlier on in the months. And I'm also reminded, Isaiah 55:11, it says, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the things of which I sent it. And I just love the promises of the Word of God and also how it always brings forth life for those, the reader, for those that follow it. So Nate, I just thought the word but there bring forth was just Amazing.
- [25:43]
C
That's a great point, Vic, great point. And look at that. It doesn't just isn't a prophecy for Israel. It's before all the nations again when Jesus returns to set up his millennial kingdom, that there is going to be righteousness and praise. There are passages in the Bible that talk about how the entire world will know Jesus. The entire world will praise Jesus. And brother man, right now his name is used as a curse word. And I long for the day when he gets the praise that is due him. And then his love will pour through the nations, the new nations that will form during the millennial kingdom. Brother, this is what's neat too, is that when you read in the beginning here, that that, that salvation that he brings to people is the down payment. The fact that he fulfilled that is the down payment for the future promises that have a second coming in his kingdom so we can be. It's an ironclad guarantee that he is going to do all these wonderful things for the earth because he's done all those wonderful things to bring us salvation.
- [26:46]
B
Oh, praise the Lord. I love that. Nathan. There's not many things guaranteed in life today, but the promises of the Lord. You can definite bank on those. Sometimes people invest in the stock market 401ks. There's no guarantees in that. No, but, but the promises of God are, are forever. And you that are out there, that should comfort you, especially if you're part of this program that God has a wonderful plan for your life. God loves you and he has eternity in mind for you. And maybe you've never given your heart to Jesus. Maybe you happen to, to just be listening to this program. Maybe you were surfing the web and came across this. And we find that nothing happens by coincidence, but by divine appointment. God wanted you to hear this message because he loves you, he cares for you, and he wanted for you to see clearly why he came to this earth. And God wants to start the relationship with you today if you give him that opportunity. So Nate, before we close, we always encourage people to, to draw closer to the Lord. Maybe someone feels far away from the Lord, maybe they made some mistakes. How might they be able to draw close to God today and start that relationship?
- [27:58]
C
Well, if you go back to chapter 61, maybe you're one of the brokenhearted, the poor in spirit, a captive to sin. You're bound to the prison of your life. And the Lord says, hey, today is the acceptable year of the Lord. I would even say right now is the acceptable year of the Lord. You, the Lord has got his hand reaching out to you saying, I offer you salvation. I paid for it by my own blood. I beat death by resurrecting from the dead. And if you put your faith and trust in me as the Son of God and Savior, I will forgive your sins. My Father's wrath will be off you and you will inherit eternal life forever. And so this is the moment and I pray it is. Pray from your heart. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I've been living in rebellion against you. Please forgive me. I love you and I want you to be my Savior and the Lord of my life. Jesus promises that he will forgive your sins and you will be a member of the body of Christ. You will inherit eternal life. Go out there, find a great church that is God honoring and can help you grow in your relationship with the Lord. Read your Bible, pray and grow in that relationship now that you're saved.
- [29:09]
B
Gift. Praise the Lord. Thanks Nate for sharing that. What a wonderful blessing and what a wonderful way to close our program with those many blessings of Isaiah, chapter 61 verses 1 through 3 for you. And of course you can always reach out to us. 305-992-9537. You can text or call or write to us@webministeralamlion.com and we would love to continue to encourage you in this amazing journey and celebration that is in heaven for everyone, everyone that turns to Christ. So again, we thank you for being part of today's program. Vic Batista, Nathan Jones saying goodbye. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you. Have an awesome day.
- [29:53]
A
The good news is finally here. Friends, listen to me. This is serious business. What the world needs today is Jesus. The Bible says in John 3:16 that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal.