This week we plan to study some of the classic passages in Isaiah about the Person and work of the Messiah. Does it really matter if they are true statements? Does it really matter if we believe what the passages teach? Is it enough to believe in a Jesus or do we have to believe certain things about Jesus as the Word describes Him? It seems to me that we can’t say we really believe in Jesus if we deny what the Word of God says about Him. If we don’t believe what the Word says about Him, we are believing in another Jesus, not the One of the Bible and the One the Church has confessed for the past 2,000 years. The Word reveals that Jesus was born of a virgin, that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that He is the Son of God. The Word reveals that Jesus is God in flesh. 700 years before His human birth, the prophet Isaiah foretold this reality, and the apostles affirmed these truths. Yes, it matters. The prophesy matters. The virgin birth matters. The deity and humanity of Jesus Christ matters. This is why there is salvation in no other Name. Of course, there are critics and scoffers about these matters. Some think it is a sign of intellectual prowess to explain away these doctrines. I’ll just be blunt and write that it is foolish and irrational to doubt what is so clear in the Word. Our faith is not a blind leap in the dark. It is a rational step in the light. And the consequences are eternal.