The Mission Given to Watchmen (Isaiah 62:10-12)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“10 Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples! 11 Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ’ 12 And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”
Introduction
Last week we spoke about the watchman and the importance of healing within ourselves. When a watchman goes out, what is more important is that they receive healing within themselves and within the church first. Within that, there is an important part of healing that we need. There is something that we need to realize. We are bound by legalism. Even nonbelievers have fallen into legalism. Non-believers grow up trying to say the correct things and living the correct life but what is more important is, what is discerning their lives? Their standard is their own knowledge and experience. Since they base their standards on their own experiences and knowledge, they have no choice but to become the judge of their own lives. The problem is that even believers are bound by this as well. You may wonder why you are failing even though you go to church but you need to come out of your own standards. Galatians 4:3 “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” - This is speaking about how we base everything on the standards and knowledge of this world. We are busy becoming slaves to the world. We need to open our eyes and come out of the standards of the world. God always wants to set out and show a new world for us.
1. A Plan For A New World
1) God's preparation for gentiles
Verse 10 - Go through the gates means that God is giving an urgent command to us. What is that urgent command? God wants to prepare the way for the people. The people is not referring to the Israelites returning back to their homeland but it is referring to the way for the Gentiles. God is telling us to prepare the way for the Gentiles.
This was what Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:25 “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” - How many people will come? It is saying many, many people will come. God is telling to prepare the way for the great number of Gentiles who will come. That is why God is telling us to prepare the way. God is saying this with an urgent heart for the watchmen. We saw how it says for the watchmen to prepare. How can we prepare? It is to prepare with the gospel. In other words, we need to edit, plan, and design the gospel. We are proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles but we have no gospel to proclaim, then that will be a problem. There may be circumstances that may arise but we need to prepare for anything that may arise. We need to set a plan. That is why it is so important for us to edit, plan, and design the gospel so that we can correctly relay. God is telling us to hurry and urgently prepare ourselves. God is telling the watchmen as well as for the Gentiles to prepare as well. Before God called the Gentiles, God prepared the Bible. Before Jesus Christ came, the Bible was translated from Hebrew to Greek. Why was the Bible translated to Greek? God allowed the entire land to be conquered by Alexander the Great and through this, this allowed the language of Greek to become the common language. After that, God used Caesar to conquer the entire land of Rome and Europe. This paved roads for the entire land of Europe. If Rome didn’t conquer the land of Europe then it would’ve been impossible for the gospel to be proclaimed to the entire land of Europe. If they didn’t have these roads paved then the gospel would’ve been hard to proclaim and preach. This allowed evangelists to go anywhere and to go to different places to share the gospel. This was the great plan that God had for the Gentiles. After Jesus Christ came, He raised up watchmen. Jesus used the 12 apostles and raised up the 70 workers. God used Apostle Paul to share the gospel through these roadways. God allowed the people of the gospel to share the gospel to their heart’s fullest extent. God gave His watchmen a mission.
2) The reason God gave a mission to the watchmen
God commanded them to go share the gospel to all nations. The role of a watchman was to shine the light and raise the banner for all people. What was that banner? We know that people are bound by their fundamental problems. All people are bound by Satan, fate of hell, and curses. God told the watchmen to raise the banner because of these fundamental problems. Jesus knew the spiritual state of mankind.
Matthew 12:29, 45 “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” - Satan is building his house within people, making mankind fall into misery and darkness.
Matthew 12:45 - Satan built his house and he is having fun with it. Because of that, he took seven more wicked spirits within the house. When Satan captivates the house, he will make it into his ultimate playground. He makes people fall into drugs, addictions, and absolute suffering with mental afflictions. If you cannot come out of Satan’s captivity, he will do anything to make people fall deeper and deeper into problems. Through this, God said that He will shine His light through His watchmen. What is this banner that we need to raise? It is the cross of Jesus Christ. We need to look towards the cross of Jesus. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they were bitten by snakes and they were dying. At that time, God commanded Moses to raise up his staff with the bronze snake for all people to see. What was fascinating was that anyone who looked at the bronze snake, they lived. No matter what problems come to us, if we just look at Jesus, then we will live. Do you have a problem that you cannot solve? Look up to the cross. Look up to Jesus then you will live. God is telling to urgently shine His light.
2. A Bartizan That God Establishes
1) The bartizan of judgment and salvation
Verse 11 - God is telling us to raise up the banner for the world. Those who believe, an absolute answer will come to us.
Mark 16:16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” - If we look up to God and raise up the banner, then we will be eternally saved. If we raise up the banner and those who look up the banner, they will live. The Bible uses the word, “banner”, which means for us to rise up. What is on the banner? The banner of Mount Calvary. Raise up the banner on the Mount of Calvary. What is the content of this?
It is John 19:30 “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” - Those who believe, they will live. We will come out of the life of death, sin, and curses. Jesus finished everything and if we just believe, then we will live. Believe in this. The moment you believe, then it is finished.
Raise the banner within the Mount of Olives. What is the content of Mount of Olives? Acts 1:3 “To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” - For 40 days, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God. Those who believe in this, they will receive the power of the heavenly throne. Those who believe, they will receive salvation.
Raise up the banner for the Mark’s Upper Room. Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - The power of the Holy Spirit that was upon Mark’s Upper Room will come upon us. God is telling us to raise up these banners within these watchtowers and bartizans. Our problems are not problems. If we just look up to and believe in the banners of the Mount of Calvary, Mount of Olives, and Mark’s Upper Room, then we will live.
2) Name given to believers
Verse 12 - God has given us four names. God has given us eternal power and authority. Why did God give us this authority? It is because God’s temple is within us. We may be weak and lacking but God loved us so much that He raised up the church so we can live. That is how holy the church is. We are the church.
1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” - It is such a word full of wisdom. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. Jesus calls us saints. Saints within the church are so important. When we are the church, this means that we have received the blessing when God is the head of the church and we are the body. That is why Jesus is called Christ and we are called Christians. This is a great blessing. This all happened because of God’s grace.
The important Bible verse is written in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” - It is speaking about the characteristics of a person who goes to church. A person of the church does not receive the word of God as the words of the pastor but as God’s word. The moment we receive God’s word as God’s word, then God will work through us and His word. When we take God’s word as God’s word, then the work of faith will arise. The word of God will absolutely be fulfilled through you. Do you have any problems? Jesus Christ finished everything on the cross, even finished the problem of death and hell. What is more powerful than that? Then, that means that you have nothing to worry about. Jesus has overcome everything so we just need to have faith. Nothing is impossible for Jesus Christ. Hold onto Jesus Christ.
3. Restore Your Status and Authority
1) Relationship covenant
There are three things in order to restore our status and authority. We need to restore our relationship with God.
Galatians 4:7-8 “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” - What is important is that we are God’s heir but we are still bound by our past and problems of our nature of sin. We are still bound by our past and we are still worrying about our past. All we have to do is hold onto bartizan and have victory but we are still living within our past. Enjoy our blessings and authority as a child of God.
2) The covenant of absolute sovereignty
Galatians 4:9 “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?” - This is the word that God has given to His children. God is telling us that we are being deceived because we are still going back to our weak and beggarly past. There are even pastors who go back to their past and keep talking about their past. They are also still basing their foundation on their own experiences and knowledge. The Bible tells us that we are still going back to our weak and beggarly nature. No matter how advanced science and technology are, they cannot surpass God.
Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” - The people of the world base their foundation on books and things of the world. They are so focused on the center of technology and science. They are saying that this is the truth and fact just like the 10 spies in the wilderness. They are not following God. This means that Joshua and Caleb were right.
3) The covenant of absolute answers
Galatians 4:10-11 “You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” - Many people are still bound by their own thoughts, circumstances, and knowledge. If we become bound by this, then we have no choice but to have failure. Your mind and thoughts are the most important thing. When problems arise, if you look towards books and experiences to solve them then you will fail and problems will worsen. What is important is that it only limits the knowledge of man. If we just follow the knowledge of men, then it all falls under Genesis 3, 6, and 11. Look towards God’s bartizan. Look towards God’s word. Then you will have victory.
Conclusion
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” - Believe that you are God’s temple. The almighty God is the God of our church and we need to shine the glory of God. This God created the entire world and universe, He is the Creator. He is the Triune God. This God wants to fulfill His plans through you. Because you, the Triune God died on the cross for you. He did this so that He can be with us. Don’t be deceived by your current circumstances and problems. The moment you believe, then you have no choice but to give thanksgiving and have enjoyment.
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