Isaiah Apocalypse – Session Three Notes

Isaiah Apocalypse – Week 3

Remember – not only are we looking for the prophetic information of the writings – we are also looking to be “learning to learn” the ways of God and how He moved upon His prophets to write to us – to instruct as not only re THE MESSAGE, but also how God would be speaking to us throughout scripture. It is a great and more global revelation.

EXAMPLE: Dreams – the Lord, over time, has established and continues to establish a language that He uses to speak w me. He knows my “car thing”. Vehicles of different size, shape and theme typically mean different things to me. It likely may be different w you. Those “personal encounters and dialogues” are personal.

THE SCRIPTURES, meanwhile, are for “global distribution” – and w that understanding we can actually press into the understanding of God’s word w a good confidence that how He speaks is how He speaks – and that that will be a consistent throughout scripture.

Things clear up when we begin getting this. And many difficult things become a little less difficult to understand.

As I’ve said before, I believe the Lord has in some ways booby-trapped His word to keep it from the proud, the religious, the overly-intellectual, and the purposeful critic. It is reserved for those who would tremble at His word:

ONCE AGAIN – the Catch-22 of scripture:
Ps 111:2
2 The works of the LORD are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them.

FISHERMAN-PETE speaking about Rabbi Paul:
2 Pet 3:16
16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

We want to be those who take pleasure in studying His works – who come before Him w open hearts and minds, seeking HIM, wanting to know HIM, in all He has done and says He will do.

From that place of humility we can read w an anticipation of revelation on multiple levels.

We covered the end of Chapter 24 last week – but to set the stage for Isa 25 we will look again:

Isa 24:19
19 The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.
21 It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth.
(Not applicable to the Babylonian captivity. Applicable to Psalm 2 and to Psalm 110 and to Ezekiel 38 – which we have already read).

22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed (eclipsed? – as if covering its own face?); for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously. SURELY: HHY. And certainly did not occur in the first and second century “holocausts” of massive destruction and judgment to the Jews.

NOTABLE in fact the glory of the presence of the Lord – immediately AFTER a destructive judgment of Jerusalem, never appears in history as having happened. This would then suggest we gather those prophetic events together as related by way of prophetic marker – to the end of the age – when Jerusalem will suffer but then IMMEDIATELY (EUTHEOS – as in Matt 24) experience the GLORY of the Lord, because it will experience the RETURN of the Lord.

WHEN WILL the LORD OF HOSTS reign on Mount Zion? The alignment of what we just read, compared to what we will now read in Zechariah, is startling. No wonder Satan doesn’t want you reading the OT.

(abbreviated from last week)
Zech 14:6-7
6 It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day which is known to the LORD– neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light.

(Also abbreviated from last week):
Matt 24:29-30
29 “Immediately (EUTHEOS) after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

OK – going forward in ISAIAH – just like David, in Psalm 36 – where he receives a heavy oracle re wickedness and immediately steps out of a rather dark revelation and purposely turns to praise, Isaiah is so moved upon by the impression of worldwide judgment of the wicked, that he takes a breather, and turns to the place of JOY – the place of praise.

FIRST – Ps 36 (our example of the weightiest of revelation, and a godly recipient’s turning to praise subsequent to the revelation):

Ps 36:1-6
1 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.
3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.
5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

THESE EXAMPLES – btw, of WEIGHTY REVELATION OF HEAVY STUFF and then PURPOSEFULLY WRITTEN INCLUSIONS/INTERLUDES of PROMISE and THE GOODNESS OF GOD – function in part as a TRAINING GROUND (not only for our own experiences of weighty revelation, but also as a KEY OF UNDERSTANDING – as we study the book of Revelation – where Mike Bickle (and many others) read the scriptures and interpret the revelation-format as HEAVY ANGELIC REVELATION and then often PAUSES to allow John to catch his SPIRITUAL BREATH – during which times things are explained to him.

I believe God, in His mercy, and beyond the MESSAGE of the MESSAGE, is also TEACHING us to be TAUGHT the ways of His TEACHING INSTRUCTION.

GOT THAT? THAT is God Himself redeeming the time.

ONE MORE TIME – WEIGHTY ISA 24 ends this way:
21 It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. (Not applicable to the Babylonian captivity. Applicable to Psalm 2 and to Psalm 110 and to Ezekiel 38 – which we have already read).

22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed (eclipsed? – as if covering its own face?); for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.

ISA 25 – after the weighty revelation of destruction and trouble in Isa 24…
1 O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin (ISAIAH LOOKING FORWARD & UNDERSTANDING HIS PROPHECY WOULD OCCUR WITHOUT MAN BEING ABLE TO ANNUL IT – see Isaiah 14:27. In heaven although it had not yet occurred, it was functionally a done-deal because the Lord had proclaimed it as happening): a fortified city a ruin, a palace of foreigners to be a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You; the city of the terrible nations will fear You.

(THIS IS NOT JERUSALEM – “city of the terrible nations” – it is never called that – so this could NOT have been fulfilled in either the upcoming Babylonian captivity, OR first or second century AD invasions of Jerusalem)

A PROMISE OF SAFETY TO HIS PEOPLE
4 For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens (profane ones, as if ones from adultery), as heat in a dry place; as heat in the shadow of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones will be diminished.
6 And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all people (the surviving remnant of all people) a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy (WHERE? WHERE IS HE EVENTUALLY GOING TO CALL THE HEADS OF THE NATIONS FOR JUDGMENT?) on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil (OF WICKEDNESS initiated by man’s violent covetous greed – that is spread over all nations.

BIG THEOLOGICAL QUES – which many in the church stumble over: Is a loving God involved in war and destruction?

TWO OF A MULTITUDE OF EXEMPLARY SCRIPTURES:

Isa 45:5-7
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’

Jer 9:7-26
7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; for how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”
12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
13 And the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it,
14 “but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,”
16 “I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
17 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful wailing women, that they may come.

20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children– no longer to be outside! And the young men– no longer on the streets!
22 Speak, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them.’ “

23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he (A) understands and (B) knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised–
26 “Egypt, Judah, (ALONG W THE WICKED NATIONS, are the people of God) Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”

JEREMIAH 9:7-26
Notably – written by Jeremiah in the same chapter that begins w:
“Oh that my eyes were a FOUNTAIN OF TEARS – the name of the 70 foot prophetic sculpture created in Arad and now being duplicated between Auschwitz and Birkenau, correlating the Holocaust to the Crucifixion. GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE, both Jew and Gentile, to understand HIM and HIS WAYS. It is critical to end-of-age “attitude success” – so that we are:
1. NOT OFFENDED BY WHAT GOD HAS DONE or WILL BE DOING; and
2. WE CAN PRAY AND LIVE IN ALIGNMENT W HIS PLANS as He concludes this age, ACCORDING TO WHAT IS WRITTEN IN HIS WORD – which is often in opposition to what is being taught from many pulpits.

RE: FOUNTAIN OF TEARS:
ISRAEL: www.fountainoftearsdocumentary.com (Christy Peters video)www.castingseeds.com

POLAND: www.fot-fountain.org

ONE MORE THING about WHAT IS IN THE WORD and WHAT IS OFTEN TAUGHT (“victorious Eschatology” and Dominionism) – I believe the JEOPARDY will be the failure of the hearts of the saints:

Luke 21:25-27
25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
26 “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.

(Non-believers pretty much have no grid re the return of the Lord. It is church-goers that do).

I think Luke 21:26 MAY WELL be speaking to the eventual failure of the hearts of the SAINTS who have been taught that the tough times of scripture have all already occurred, and that it will pretty much be “smooth sailing” – w only a few bumps – between NOW and our Lord’s return)
27 “Then (AT THE TIME OF THE THINGS JESUS JUST MENTIONED) they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Back to Isaiah 25:8
ABSOLUTE TIMING-MARKER for these verses – once again it is impossible to wedge their fulfillment into the Babylonian captivity or Titus’ destruction of the temple in 70AD or the (Simon) Bar Kokhba rebellion of 132-136 AD.

“death will be swallowed up forever” – that is only WHEN our Lord returns.
8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people he will take away from (NOT JUST JERUSALEM but in) all the earth; for the LORD has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
10 For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest, and Moab shall be trampled down under Him, as straw is trampled down for the refuse heap. (HHY)
11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst as a swimmer reaches out to swim, and He will bring down their pride together with the trickery of their hands.
12 The fortress of the high fort of your walls he will bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, down to the dust.

THE WORSHIP-SYMPHONY RESPONSE OF THE REDEEMED – this is critical – for us to see the WHAT and the WHEN of this worship service – it is RIGHT THERE, in the midst of the judgment and destruction of the wicked.
These are saints who understand what their God is doing – what He had told them in scripture, time and again, that He was going to do:

Isa 26:1-21
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.

SUPPORTING VERSES RE: The SINGING RESPONSE OF THE REDEEMED – which we plan to get to:
Isa 30:27-29
(we’ll be spending time here in a week or three)
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with His anger, and His burden is heavy; his lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire.
28 His breath is like an overflowing stream, which reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of futility; and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel.

Zeph 3:8-17
8 “Therefore wait for Me,” says the LORD, “Until the day I rise up for plunder; my determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all my fierce anger; all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.
9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one accord.


US SINGING:

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!

GOD SINGING:
17 The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

BACK TO Isa 26:1-21
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open the gates (because it is NOW truly a safe place!), that the righteous nation (THE RIGHTEOUS GOYIM) which keeps the truth may enter in.

This is a huge prophetic promise of full citizenship salvation to the peoples of all nations.

(NEXT VERSE: A PROMISE THAT NT SAINTS PULL DOWN NOW – although it is firmly established in a future time by virtue of its position within this chapter)
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.
5 For He brings down those who dwell on high, the lofty city; he lays it low, he lays it low to the ground, he brings it down to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down– the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”
7 The way of the just is uprightness; O Most Upright, you weigh the path of the just.
8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You.
9 With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early (life model of Jeremiah – just like David); for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

V10 – A TRUTH THAT DEFIES THE HUMANISTIC CONCEPTS OF DEALING WITH EVIL
10 Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

Important of course is that these verses – pointing CLEARLY to the NT end of age, still have to be embraced and understood, by us, within the context of our Lord telling us to turn the other cheek. That DOES NOT MEAN we don’t fight and defend. Yet at the same time, we are required by God to know when to turn the cheek and when and how to actively resist evil. By way of example, what did Jesus do?

MEANWHILE – for our purposes – let’s remember these verses point to His end-of-age plan to be warring against evil.
11 LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people; yes, the fire of (WITHIN) Your enemies shall devour them.

“ENVY OF PEOPLE” is a phrase that deserves our understanding. It is being spoken here in reference to the eventual judgment of the wicked nations – and in understanding this we will gain a better understanding of the workings of wickedness, and also the workings of God.

James tells us this about the worldly motivation for war:

James 4:1-3
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The BURNING DESIRE of EXTREME COVETOUSNESS will eventually escalate to war.
That is a LAW OF NATURE.
And God utilizes that law for His own purposes – even to judge the nations that He earlier used to judge Israel. Remember – last week we read where the nations would align to attack an unwalled Israel, to take their possessions. Same thing.

This TRUTH is another reason why we are commanded to not envy – it will culminate in conflict.

Isaiah once again comes back to the sovereignty of a great God…
12 LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name.
14 They are dead, they will not live; they are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
15 You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have expanded all the borders of the land. (SURELY ISAIAH is seeing prophetically – because in his short-term future he was looking to a destruction and loss of life, property, and freedom)
16 LORD, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.

The above verse is a sad and true commentary about WHEN most people pray.
It explains churches and synagogues full for several weeks after 9/11.
It coordinates w Hosea 5-6:

Hag 2:6-7
6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
7 ‘and I will shake all nations, and they (SOME OF THEM) shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.

THE STUBBORNNESS-COMPONENT IN “WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET MEN TO PRAY?” is clear here:
Ps 78:31-35
31 The wrath of God came against them, and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel.
32 In spite of this they still sinned, AND did not believe in His wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear.
34 When He slew them, then they sought Him; and they returned and sought diligently for God.
35 Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer.

This in large part explains the PURPOSE OF GOD TRIBULATING THE WORLD prior to His return.
Revelation, sadly, then shows us that many STILL WON’T PRAY:
Rev 6:12-17
12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Isaiah is getting all this, and then turns his gaze to the spiritual failure of Israel – equating their CALLING and their “PROPHETIC PREGNANCY” (their calling, BY GOD, to be the nation BIRTHING RIGHTEOUSNESS into the earth) – and the failure to deliver.

And Isaiah proclaims the failure of Israel in bluntly graphic terms:

Jer 26
THE IMAGERY IS WITHOUT QUESTION:
17 As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

ISAIAH LOOKS FORWARD, w a rare OT glimpse towards resurrection of the dead:
19 Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past.
21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain.

The “disclosure of blood” means no one is getting away with anything.
The judgment of man will be thorough.
The redemption of the righteous will be clear and uncontestable.
The substitution of the blood of the guilty for the innocent blood that has been shed upon earth will be redemptive.

It speaks to us as to whose side we want to be on.

BACK TO ISA 26 V 21 for a few minutes – the matter of bloodshed in the final times of the age, and the redemptive plan of God, re WHO and WHERE.

A WORD OF JUDGMENT TOWARDS ISRAEL – because of their abominable religious practices that will incur the wrath of God.
Jer 19:3-6
3 “and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle. (IT WILL BE A FEARFUL REMEMBRANCE)
4 “Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents
5 “they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),
6 “therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

A RELATED PASSAGE – also pointing to the same valley of slaughter, this time looking forward to the end times when the kings of the earth are gathered by God for judgment – in the same place – this speaks of powerful prophetic worship – the “airstrike” initiated in the heavenly realms by the worshipping end-of-age saints.

Isa 30:31-33
31 For through the voice of the LORD Assyria will be beaten down, as He strikes with the rod.
32 And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, which the LORD lays on him, it will be with tambourines and harps; and in battles of brandishing He will fight with it.
33 For Tophet was established of old, yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; its pyre is fire with much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.

AND COORDINATING with Psalm 110 – which speaks clearly of the Messiah and His return.
Ps 110:5-7
5 The Lord is at Your right hand; he shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
6 He shall judge among the nations, he shall fill the places with dead bodies, he shall execute the heads of many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; therefore He shall lift up the head.

So what we’re beginning to formulate is a coordinated image of both:
A. The upcoming judgment on Judah (via the Babylonian invasion of Nebuchadnezzar’s army), AS WELL AS
B. The yet to occur end-of-age judgment on the entire earth.

History clearly shows us that much of the words we’ve looked at have yet to be fulfilled. So we can look to their fulfillment.

Meanwhile, we can also look to the history of the Jewish nation and reflect on countless times of trouble and judgment as God continues to deal strongly with His people. Likewise, we would do well to understand that the NT saint has also come into covenant with God, and that covenant includes OUR accountability to Him and to His statutes.

PAUL, writing to a predominantly, and perhaps even absolutely GENTILE church in Asia Minor, tells them this (this was NOT written in the book of Hebrews – as if it CONTINUED TO APPLY exclusively to the JEWISH believers in Jesus).

1 Cor 10:1-15
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers (THE GENTILE CHURCH’S SPIRITUAL JEWISH FATHERS = complete adoption to sonship!)
were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

There’s no reason to comment on these clear verses. They say what they say, regardless of what man might want to teach as the “new grace”.

Let’s spend some more time in the NT since what we are reading in Isaiah has application to our age, and we want to confirm the words of the apostles – that THEY believed the validity of the OT teachings:

AFTER WRITING THAT THE OT had been written for the NT saint (1 Peter 1:10-12 – we read week one) – PETER SAYS:
1 Pet 1:13-25
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

UNQUESTIONABLY TO THE SAINTS:
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

WE HAVE MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF OUR FAITH, BY ACTIVELY and CONTINUALLY CHOOSING OBEDIENCE:
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
24 because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

THIS “enduring forever” word of the Lord, written by Isaiah 700 years PRIOR to the appearance of Jesus during His first advent, still awaits fulfillment. And as we will see that the ONLY SAFE place during the upcoming Babylonian invasion was IN GOD, so shall it be at the end of the age, when many of the same nations (and more) are prophesied to be coming against Israel, and warring against all that is of God, which include the praying Church.

The words of Jesus – calling us to both hear and to respond:
Matt 7:21-29
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Isa 27.

Isa 27:1-13
1 In that day (YOM YAHWEH) the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.
(Leviathan representing strength, the monstrous self-will of man, and the spirit behind that self-will. That beast-spirit would consider itself unstoppable)
2 In that day sing to her, “A vineyard of red wine!

(I believe this is the reference to God’s ORIGINAL GOOD PLANS for His people – and how well He had set this place up for us):

DO WE SEE THAT VINEYARD-IMAGERY BROUGHT FORWARD FOR US INTO THE NT?

Matt 21:33-41
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
34 “Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.
35 “And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
36 “Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.
37 “Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 “But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 “So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

ISA 27 – God’s QANA over His verse 1 and 2 vineyard:
3 I, the LORD, keep it, I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day.

GOD DECLARES HIS UNSTOPPABLE NATURE – although He is not a raging maniac:
4 Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

…and Merciful God instead offers PEACE and RECONCILIATION to those who would come to Him:
5 Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.”
6 Those who come (FROM THROUGHOUT THE EARTH, as a result of their wise response to the shaking work) He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

Here we are told that God has been dealing heavily with His covenant people – and that He MERCIFULLY SCATTERED them instead of DESTROYING all of them
7 Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him? Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?
ANSWER: NO. God has dealt strongly w Israel, but DIFFERENTLY. They are still in existence.
8 In measure, by sending it away, you contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind in the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered; and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

10 Yet the fortified city (the city that strengthened itself against God) will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; there the calf will feed, and there it will lie down and consume its branches.
11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; the women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will show them no favor.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will thresh (a thorough work of separation of that which is valuable from the useless), from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.

13 So it shall be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (the Isaiah 19 prophetic highway, once again. People from the warring enemy lands shall come to Messiah)

NEXT WEEK – Isaiah 28 – one of my most favorite chapters in all of scripture.

All Scripture NKJV

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About ez3728

I am a believer in Jesus - that He is the One and Only Messiah of the world. I believe the Bible is the perfect and complete Word of God, and that God is absolutely competent and capable of keeping His Word perfect, undefiled, and uncorrupted. Jesus was born Jewish. So was I. He lived a perfect life, and is worshiped. I live an imperfect life, and I worship Him.
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