ez3728

Once again – these are class notes from which I teach – subject to some changes or mods before the class, vulnerable to typos.
Some of the highlighting or italicizing might get weird, as I often have personal commentary within a verse of scripture, so the comments may on occasion get ambushed by italics.

We left off last week w Isaiah confessing, and bemoaning, the fact that Israel had failed in its “pregnant calling” to bring salvation to earth – to model divine living under the canopy of God’s protection. He then made a giant (for the OT) proclamation about RESURRECTION LIFE – as a promise and also as an encouragement, since he was looking ahead to tough times – both during HIS LIFETIME, and yet also to tough times at the end of the age:

Isa 26:19-21
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.

God has seen, and continues to see, all of the sin of mankind.
The crucifixion of our Lord, as we looked at in earlier weeks, was so that the condemnation that was ALREADY UPON THE EARTH FOR ITS WICKEDNESS, might be paid for.

Jesus made it clear that those who refused Him were condemned already. That remains in place. And we know by the word of God that most people, sadly, by their own choice, will not come to Christ.

John 3:16-19
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

BACK TO ISRAEL – God, and the prophet Isaiah, knew all too well of the sins of Israel – and those sins were going to be addressed by God.

Though I believe much has YET TO OCCUR, we can learn by looking back at the recorded history of the Jewish nation and reflect on countless times of trouble and judgment as God continues to deal strongly with His covenant people.

Here is a word to His covenant people – the ones He had paid for and redeemed, and therefore called HIS OWN:

Amos 3:1-3
1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

It is notable that the Lord points to the redemptive deliverance out of Egypt. That EXODUS was something God never wanted ANYONE to EVER FORGET – so He told us what we are to do to not forget, and also to pass it down to other generations so they would not forget:

Exod 12:12-14
12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

The past several years my family has kept the Passover observance, because verse 14 stating: “THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS” and “EVERLASTING ORDINANCE” appear to inarguably confirm the Passover observance was NEVER INTENDED to fade away in the light of the New Covenant season.

It is an enlightening study to go back into the OT and see that much is NOT in the NT (although it is in the OLD), and then to note the admonitions and commandments that ought to go forward into NT living, in that they appear to be marked by God w NO DATE OF EXPIRATION – by words like:
FOREVER
ALL GENERATIONS
FROM THIS TIME FORTH AND FOREVERMORE

We know Jesus was not a “quick-fix” emergency plan sent as a blow-out patch on a fallen world. We’re told the following (HERE’S 1 PETER 1 again):

1 Pet 1:17-21
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.

So if God’s plan BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD included Jesus dying on a cross for mankind, God anointing prophets of old to say “FOREVER” or “ALL GENERATIONS” seems to imply those matters have a “FOREVER” and “FOR ALL GENERATIONS” pertinence.

The challenge for us as NT saints is to find our way, under the blood of Christ and in the freedom of the NT covenant, to not get wrapped around the axle of Judaic legalism. Many have done that. That is not the answer, and in fact Rabbi Paul spoke against that in Galatians and elsewhere.

So w the blood of THE LAMB OF GOD covering us, our family observes Passover – all the while appreciating the prophetic pointers to a striped and pierced Savior – as well as countless other prophetic markers within the Seder service. BTW – Passover is NEXT month – which points to a crucifixion and resurrection on PASSOVER, and not two days after Purim. But I won’t go there…

We love that we are not bound by the traditions that rabbis and talmudim have written in their zeal to add to the religious duties of observance.

ONE EXAMPLE OF OUR FREEDOM: We see in scripture that part of the sacred observance is abstinence from leavened bread – so we do that for that one week. Thank You Lord for tortillas as well as matzoh…..

AMOS 3 again:
Amos 3:1-3
(God declares His ownership of the people He purchased. HE doesn’t forget it, and doesn’t want US to ever forget it – hence the Passover remembrance is for all generations)
1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

The specialness of the covenant position of being a child of God:
2A. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;

The accountability of that intimacy:
2B. …therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

And a kind explanation of WHY He will judge His people proactively, even on earth – so that they and He might walk together in harmony and one accord:
3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US? – 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 GENTILE church in Asia Minor, tells them this (this was NOT written in the book of Hebrews – which might have been taken as only a CONTINUED Warning to only JEWISH believers in Jesus).

1 Cor 10:1-15
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers (W Paul telling the Gentile church that it was THEIR FATHERS in the OT, he is confirming his conviction and position re the Gentiles complete adoption into 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.
SO FAR – the Corinthians (or any NT reader could consider verses 1-5 as simply as “admonition to remember what happened to those Jews” – until verse 6 shows up:
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.

VERY GOOD NEWS – but we would do well to remember where this is positioned in context of scripture:
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.

These clear verses say what they say – in opposition to what man might want to teach as a “new grace” – under which the NT believer is no longer accountable for their sin, because of what was done on the cross. That same kind of “grace’ brought judgment on prophets, priests, and the people who bought into those falsehoods, in the OT.

Spending a little 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 for the NT church:

AFTER WRITING THAT THE OT had been written for the NT saint (1 Peter 1:10-12 – we read during week one) – PETER SAYS this ought to be our response:
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 I believe it will 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 logic would have to include – the praying Church.

What we are currently seeing in other parts of the world, on at very least a weekly basis, points to increased warfare against all that is of God. Brussels. Paris. Pakistan. And even here in San Bernardino and New York City. What would make us think this will end by itself?

We see the moral fabric of our society eroding. We see man passing legislation in direct defiance to the laws of God, even though this covenant nation of ours came into solemn agreement w God that they would live according to His laws – and we were blessed by that – even in our imperfections. But we continue to decay. I believe 9/11 was a shot across the bow of our nation.

Happily and in faith I also believe that God will honor the prayers and petitions of His saints – which is why I pray for our nation often. Ps 125 – the scepter of wickedness not resting on the land allotted to the righteous. Remind God of that. He loves to get reminded of His promises. It means we know them, and we believe them.

Here’s words of Jesus – calling us to both
A. Hear and also to
B. Respond in obedience, for our own salvation to be successful and complete:
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.

ONCE MORE – because we want to pick up ISA 27 as a continuum of ISA 26:
Isa 26:20-21
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 (not simply Israel) for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain.

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)

AND MEANWHILE THE UNDERSTANDING SAINTS ARE CALLED TO WORSHIP-WARFARE
2 In that day sing to her, “A vineyard of red wine!

(This is clearly pointing the God’s ORIGINAL GOOD PLANS for His people – and how well He had set this place up for us).

AS IF WE NEEDED MORE PROOF OF THE VINEYARD:
Isa 5:7
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

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 (jealous zeal) 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 that which is worthless), 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)

How clear…..

ISA 28 – a truly wonderful chapter of Scripture.
Let’s read it through with little or no comment and then go back to start getting into it. We may or may not finish this chapter this evening.

WHAT WE WILL BE SEEING ARE ETERNAL KINGDOM PRINCIPLES – applicable to ALL PEOPLE, and ALL THE TIME, regarding ORDER, REST, OBEDIENCE, LIFE and SUCCESS.

We will see that:
COMPLIANCE = SUCCESS AND LIFE, and
DEFIANCE = FAILURE AND JUDGMENT.

We’ll see
• Religious hypocrisy in much of the religious leadership – them wanting to deny the ways of God;
• The salvation of the remnant of obedient ones who walk in the ways of the Lord;
• The invitation to stand for righteousness
• The PROCEDURES of heaven that are in place, whether we choose to obey them or ignore them:
• The cost of ignoring the ways of God;
• Then at 24 we will see something very cool – the revelation of God wanting to purposely marry the SUPERNATURAL WITH THE NATURAL – so that both might function together in harmony – which looks almost heavenly – and we will see how God uses the natural to teach His ways.

We’ll go deeper into this chapter after we read it through once, in its totality.

Isa 28:1-29
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot;
4 And the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand.
5 In that day the LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people,
6 For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filth; no place is clean.
9 “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people,
12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.
19 As often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, he will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon– that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act.
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
26 For He instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him.
27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread flour must be ground; therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

BREAKING IT DOWN:
Isa 28:1-8 – we see things starting off w a severe warning – that He is sovereign and that He Himself will be sending in trouble to judge the sinful people.
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one ( A FOREIGN NATION that He has purposely ordained – we read about Cyrus before and also discussed Nebuchadnezzar who was before Cyrus – rulers of cruel empires who were being used by God), like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them (the disobedient covenant people) down to the earth with His hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot;

(That which was looking pretty OK at the time of the prophecy wasn’t going to be OK)
4 And the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand.

(Meanwhile in the midst of the judgment-trouble, God knows those who are His. The ones who would in faith stand for righteousness – and remember our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places – Eph 4:12).
5 In that day the LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people,
6 For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

(Back to failed leadership – these graphic verses could easily be literal – because drunkenness is a sign of debauchery and even fatalism looking ahead to trouble – and at the same time these verse could also be prophetic imagery of a drunken religious attitude – drunk w pride and religiosity and excess)
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filth; no place is clean.

NOW SOME SOLID REVELATION OF HOW THE KINGDOM OPERATES

(A question is presented, that God Himself will immediately answer):
9 “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? (ANS: Of course not. The infant, the naturally immature cannot receive the instruction that is intended for the older ones, the ones who would/should be more capable, and at the same time therefore become more accountable)

KINGDOM PRINCIPLES – in place either for our success or our failure – order, progression, structure of God’s purposes and plans:
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

ISA 28: 11 is A WILD VERSE – pulled down by Paul to explain speaking in tongues)

1 Cor 14:20-22
20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.
21 In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord.
22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

THIS VERSE in its original context here in Isa, is about ONE NATION ordained by God to be invading ANOTHER NATION. That is why Paul spoke of tongues as being a sign to unbelievers.
And Isaiah is speaking of the Babylonians being called into Jerusalem, by God, to judge a nation.
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people,

Here’s why the people of God were being invaded by enemies: They had heard God’s word – His offering of REST (SHABBAT) in His COVENANT (taking Covenant – taking Oath or Making Vow – SHABA) of PEACE (SHALOM) and yet they had refused it, being more determined to do it THEIR way than HIS way.
12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear.

THE RESULT was the same Kingdom Principle of Line upon Line now becoming a methodical breakdown of their rebellious ways, to the point of death, destruction, and captivity.
The “METHOD OF GOD”, meant for their prosperity, was to be their method of judgment

13 But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.

SAD – that which was created to be their blessing was to be their unraveling.

JUDGMENT ON RULERS
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

GOD HEARD THEIR SECRET WORDS, AND THEIR HEARTS
15A. Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement.

THEY EVEN SAW THE TROUBLE COMING, BUT WERE SO DECEIVED BY THEIR SIN THEY WERE CONVINCED OF A FALSE AND WORTHLESS “SAFETY” – a little bit of a “peace peace when there is no peace”
15B. – When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

GOD’S SET-UP FOR THEM TO TRIP, BUT ALSO FOR WHOSOEVER WILL, TO BE SAVED
16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

THE PROMISE OF PERFECTION AFTER CLEANSING JUDGMENT
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

GOD, IN STILL DEALING W HIS PEOPLE, WILL MAKE THEM UNCOMFORTABLE.
INSTEAD OF A COMFORTER, THEY’D BE EXPERIENCING A “DISCOMFORTER” – to try to get them to repentance.
19 As often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, he will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon– that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act.

THE WARNING TO ALL – don’t ever mock, or try to discount, dilute, or deny, the plans of God
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

NOW COMES A REVELATION ON NUMEROUS LEVELS – God speaking to an agrarian society, and speaking their natural language to reveal the supernatural aspects of this revelation.
First, we are shown God uses ALL THINGS to teach us ALL THINGS.
God marries the supernatural to the natural.
In some ways I think the supernatural Jerusalem eventually coming down to the natural Jerusalem will prove this out eternally.
I believe He’s also telling us that we are not to separate the natural world from the supernatural world. It is ALL HIS.

The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness.
Remember Psalm 24:
Ps 24:1-10
1 The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah

SO GOD BEING GOD OVER CREATION AND ALL ITS COMPONENTS – I also believe this later section of Isa 28 is warning us to not fail in seeing how God works on earth for His supernatural purposes.

Lots of people act religious in a religious environment – a church service, a wedding, something like that. But then they live their lives worldly. That is a dismal failure.

The success of our own ECHAD (being one, whole, complete, holy) is our remaining in God at all times (all our heart, soul, mind and strength), and even not missing what He is doing in our fields, our gardens, w our cummin and vegetables. The work of our hands is His.
Our breath is His. And when we continue taking thoughts captive and doing all things to the glory of God, we begin to understand the depth and glory of Him saying “I will never leave you nor forsake you” – He wants to be OUR GOD ALL OF THE TIME.
And in that place will be our
Accountability
Protection
Anointing
Awareness of His presence and purposes
Our Spirit-leading (Romans 8, etc.)

BACK TO ISA 28
23 Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
26 For He instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him.
27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread flour must be ground; therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

all scripture NKJV

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

WELCOME TO WEEK TWO.

Thanks for the great feedback to WEEK ONE. We are covering some great portions of scripture, and I believe the Lord is breathing upon this class. As you can see, what runs over (in my notes) as unfinished during any session will be where we pick up the following week (w modifications and additions as I review and press in).

ANNOUNCEMENT RE Thursday evening at Jesus Center – Rick Wienecke prophetic Israeli sculptor involved in a powerful project ministering mostly to the Jewish people and nation, but also to us all, will be making a presentation at the Maple facility at 6:30PM.

TONIGHT – our focus will be on the Isaiah Apocalypse, and we will continue to be supporting our investigation into this prophecy by considering additional scripture in the bible. ONCE AGAIN – the scriptures are best INTERPRETED and UNDERSTOOD by the Scriptures. There is an alignment and revelation of biblical PLAN as well as biblical PERSONALITY (God’s consistent personality) that is clearly in line with itself – so the BUNNY TRAILS, I believe, have divine purpose.

Some of the components we will be looking at briefly – (ex: Gog and Magog and who they might be) – could likely take weeks of study – and we would still end up CONCLUDING that our CONCLUSIONS re those components were still INCONCLUSIVE – there’s simply too much mystery and strange writings about these subjects, as well as things yet to be revealed.

But instead of avoiding them completely – we will touch on them lightly as they are spoken of in some pivotal scriptures that pertain to our efforts to attain an OVERVIEW PERSPECTIVE of what the Word tells us about the apocalyptic prophecy.

So though we definitely will not come away with all the answers to the mysteries of everything touched upon, my hopes are that we will walk away with a clearer OVERVIEW of what God is telling us, and reassuring us about, in the Isaiah writings. OK?

LOTS OF TRAILS tonight. Hang on. I do believe they will all tie together in your spirit and in your mind, and you will come away with a revealed overview of what is happening, and what has to happen, and why. AND THAT is true PREPARATION.

BACK TO ISAIAH:
Last week we looked into some of the background spiritual and geo-political climate around Isaiah’s time of prophecy. These scriptures in chapter 24 – WHICH WE WILL GET TO TONIGHT! – speak to both

1. Israel/the people of God, and also
2. To the nations.

The nations and the people of God are inextricably entwined. God uses one to address the other.
The people of God are called to a light TO the world.
When they were in obedience their testimony is evangelistic. When they were in disobedience (and necessarily under correction by God), their testimony lent and continues to lend to worldwide confusion. AND THAT IS THE ALSO THE CONDITION AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE CHURCH TODAY.
The world has seen a sorry testimony of the people of God, and the world often mistakes their “success” in battling the people of God as evidence of either the weakness of God, the fallacy of God, or the failure of God – when in fact, God has told us over and over again that He would use the nations to discipline and direct His chosen people back into line with His purposes.

SOME SUPPORTIVE TEXTS FROM THE OT:
2 Sam 7:14
14              “I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
 
Judg 6:1
1                Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
 
 
Ezek 39:21-23
21              “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.
WHAT ISRAEL FINALLY KNOWS:
22              “So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward.
WHAT THE NATIONS FINALLY KNOW:
23              “The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

 
Ezek 36:20
20              “When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name– when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’
 

This should speak TO US about the HIGH-LEVEL NATURE OF THE CHURCH TESTIMONY – when the world sees a dysfunctional and in fact corrected-by-God people our testimony does great damage to the evangelism of the world. But when we are in obedience to God, our testimony of anointing and blessing does wonders to lead the world to THEIR Messiah.
READ ps 67 if you like.

 
POINT TO NOTE: JEHOVAH-EFFICIENT is NEVER NOT dealing with everyone.
He personally is redeeming the time, because that is the right thing to do.
God Almighty is always redeeming the time.
 

MEANWHILE, LOOKING AT THE PLANS FOR THE NATIONS RAGING AGAINST GOD AND HOW THAT WILL GO – look at what the psalmist wrote, centuries before Isaiah – he asks a question, then answers it, and then foresees WHAT and HOW the Lord will respond, when it is time to respond – we left off here last week:

Ps 2:1-12
QUES:
1          Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?

HOW ARE THEY RAGING:
2          The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3          “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”

GOD’S REACTION:
4          He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision.
5          Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure:

GOD’S RESPONSE – A HEAVENLY PROPHETIC DECLARATION:
6          “Yet (“NONETHELESS, I HAVE MY PLANS”) I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”

INTERESTING HERE – WHO MIGHT BE TALKING? Remember, earlier in the psalm it spoke of a rebellion against a PLURALITY:
2          The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3          “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”

THEN WE HAVE “SOMEONE” in heaven (Messiah?) speaking of what was said TO HIM:
7          “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.
(notably – the PLURAL is also in the Jewish scriptures – THE TANAKH)
TANAKH says:
1 Why do nations assemble, and people plot vain things;
2 kings of the earth take their stand,
And regents intrigue together
Against the Lord and against His anointed?
3 let us break the cords of their yoke,
And shake off their ropes from us!”
FOR US NT READERS – these scriptures are written, during the days of the Mosaic covenant, as eternal truths for the Jewish people. That WERE and REMAIN, yet to be fulfilled both for them and for us. The promise of MESSIAH is timeless, and the FULFILLMENT at the end of the age remains intact, and in place – once again confirming the doctrines of complete textual prophecy – a violent and complete end of world rebellion at the appearance of Messiah.
ONCE AGAIN – what properly comes into question are the current popular doctrines that God is NOT going to judge the rebellious when He returns, and that His judgments will NOT involve the destruction of many.
BACK TO PSALM 2
8          Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9          You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.'”

THE ADVICE TO THE NATIONS:
10        Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11        Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

THE IMAGERY OF WHO IS COMING BACK – AND MANKIND’S/OUR APPROPRIATE RESPONSE:
12        Kiss the Son – (prophecy of Messiah), lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

SUPPORTING THAT – and confirming the sovereignty of God in the-end-of-times plans:
 

Zech 14:1-4
1          Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2          For I will gather all the nations (we will see more of this when we get to Isaiah 30) to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3          Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
4          And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.
EXTREME BUNNY TRIAL:
Ezek to Genesis to Zechariah, back to Ezekiel, then EVENTUALLY to Isaiah:
 
Ezek 38:7-16 (don’t get hung up on the “who’s Gog?” thing. It is unclear, although it is a without doubt a prophetic title TO DESCRIBE THE OPPOSITION TO THE PLANS OF GOD utilized:

1. In Ezekiel to describe the warring nations at the end of THIS AGE, and
2. AGAIN in Revelation to describe the final battle characters after Satan is released after doing time for 1,000 years.

ONE CLEAR POINT: these are the nations raging against God.
THAT is probably the best common-ground explanation of Gog and Magog.

In fact even the Quran mentions a Gog and Magog – as forces allied against THEIR OWN CORRUPT AND ERRONEOUS VISION of end-times victory for the forces of Allah.

Ezek 38:1-3
1          Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2          “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, (IN REVELATION, Gog OF Magog – a place – becomes morphed into Gog AND Magog, implying an alliance as opposed to a people from a place called “Gog” – it gets more complicated as you dig deeper, into Josephus, into a book called the Book of Jubilees, the book of Enoch and even in Quran writings).

3          “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

HERE’S WHAT WE DO KNOW – the opposition – called GOG, is told this:
7          “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.
8          “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
9          “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10        ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
11        “You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’–
12        “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
13        “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?'”‘
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE – Gen 10:6 mentions the following:
Gen 10:6-10 (btw the Jews came from SHEM, the son of Noah. Shem = SEMITES)
6          The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7          The sons of Cush (settled in South Arabia) were Seba (upper Egypt), Havilah (“sand-land” likely northern and Eastern Arabia on the Persian Gulf), Sabtah (upper Egypt), Raamah, and Sabtechah (southern Arabia); and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan (northern Arabia).

NATIONS IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA:
Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, southern Iraq and Jordan.

It is interesting that these same nations even today are figuring prominently in the violent opposition to Israel.

8          Cush (ALSO) begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
9          He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.”
10        And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
SHINAR (modern day Iraq) – some feel is prophetically portrayed as a harbor for wickedness – awaiting end-of-age release:

Zech 5:5-11 – the vision of young Zechariah re the woman in the basket:
5          Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.”
6          So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth:
7          “Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”;
8          then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.
9          Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
10        So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
11        And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
BACK TO EZEKIEL 38:
14        “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
15        “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16        “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
So what we are seeing, beginning in Chapter 24 of Isaiah, is an INTERNATIONAL, WORLDWIDE PROCLAMATION of JUDGMENT that aligns with the prophetic imagery of Revelation and with other books of the bible that point to God doing a thorough work throughout all nations of the world – at the end of this age.

The work involves warfare, natural calamity, financial collapse, desperate people becoming more and more desperate, and God shaking everything that can be shaken.

In Isaiah you will also see the admonition to the saints – to the ones who fortunately and by His grace have access to hear the Lord – a capability for which we are accountable….

Heb 12:25-29
25        See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
26        whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27        Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
The SHAKING PROMISE OF HEBREWS refers back to scripture in the book of Haggai, which not only speaks of worldwide shaking, but tells the REASON and INTENT for the shaking work (which actually presents God as merciful in that His severe troubling (tribulating) of earth is a massive attempt to bring all men to repentance):
Hag 2:6-9
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 shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
8          ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts.
9          ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
OK – really – HERE WE GO – ISAIAH 24!

Isa 24:1-23
1          Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants.

(EVERYONE targeted for God’s judgment – no distinction re office, calling, capacity, status.
It can be seen, later, that the SAFE PLACE is not POSITION IN THE WORLD, but instead only POSITION IN RELATION WITH GOD HIMSELF)
2          And it shall be: as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3          The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.

VERSE TELLS US THIS HAS TO HAPPEN. God has spoken it.

Isaiah, in fact, tells us earlier that this is a plan and a prophecy that is non-negotiable – this is a pre-emptive strike, by God, against all that would want to come against His declared purposes – both from:
A. OUTSIDE the church (who even might be falsely speaking of a DIFFERENT OUTCOME to the declarations of scripture – another religion (Islam – whose Quran mentions Israel as a GOG, and describes a return of Jesus who reveals Himself as a follower of Allah) and also from

1. INSIDE the church – ones preaching a smoother, easier “gospel” that would seek to change things.

Isa 14:24-27
24        The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
25        That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.
26        This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27        For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”

(It is interesting to note that SOME of this challenge goes out to the nations who think they can rage against God and succeed. And SOME of this challenge goes out to the church that does not want to address the FULL-fillment of all the counsel of scripture, and think that somehow, because they get a roomful of people to say AMEN – that God will count the votes and change His mind and all that HASN’T HAPPENED YET won’t happen. THAT is a silly gospel).
BACK TO ISAIAH 24
(the pointer to who suffers most – the haughty)
4          The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish.

(the reason for the suffering – BECAUSE….)
5          The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6          Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

Jesus mentioned in the curse ALREADY UPON THE EARTH when He spoke the famous words of John 3:
John 3:17-19
17        “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18        “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19        “And this is the condemnation (already in place at the time of Christ – which is why Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it. It was already condemned by its own breaking of the laws of God), that the light has come into the world, and men loved (PAST as well as ONGOING tense) darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

OF NOTE FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD are the examples, in scripture, of God offering to relent when His people are in place – AT LEAST relenting towards His people. HE alone is and will be our only safe place.

(REFERENCES)
Ezek 14:14
14        “Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord GOD.
Gen 18:26
26        So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

 
ISA 24
(the pleasures disappear, and don’t work)
7          The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
8          The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases.
9          They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10        The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11        There is a cry for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12        In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction.
13        When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.

MEANWHILE – the response of the righteous, the SAVED….
14        They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the LORD they shall cry aloud from the sea.
(the proper response of the people of God, who understand who is sovereign, and what He is doing)
15        Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light, the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. – THIS COULD NOT apply to the forthcoming Babylonian invasion and captivity. The “coastlands of the sea” is wording biblically applied to far off places, remote regions of the earth. AND THE NEXT VERSE confirms this globally sweeping perspective…
16        From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: “Glory to the righteous!” – a WORSHIP CRY OF JOY.
MEANWHILE, ISAIAH gets personal….
But I said, “I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
17        Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18        And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

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 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; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously. SURELY: HHY.

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.

Zech 14:6-9
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.
8          And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur.
9          And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be–” The LORD is one,” and His name one. (ECHAD – numero uno, unique, complete, incomparable, indivisible, foremost, pre-eminent)
Meanwhile, are the astronomical signs (no lights, lights diminishing, “sun ashamed” – blushing – etc.) mentioned in any NT prophecy?
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.
Mark 13:23-26
23        “But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.
24        “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
25        “the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in heaven will be shaken.
26        “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
BACK TO ISAIAH – just like David, in Psalm 36 – where he receives a heavy oracle re wickedness and immediately turns to praise a perfect God, 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.

Isa 25:1-12
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 ANNULLING IT), 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.
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, 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 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 on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
 

ABSOLUTE TIMING-MARKER – death will be swallowed up forever – 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 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:

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, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.

(A PROMISE THE NT SAINTS PULL DOWN NOW – although firmly established in a future time)
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; 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.
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 Your enemies shall devour them.

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.
16        LORD, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
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.
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.
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 the upcoming judgment on Judah, and also of the end-of-age judgment on the 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 accountability.

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 – 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 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 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.

The words of Jesus:

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.
OK – 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.
2          In that day sing to her, “A vineyard of red wine!
3          I, the LORD, keep it, I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day.
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.
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?
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, 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 (if we got this far, this week)– Isaiah 28 – one of my most favorite chapters in all of scripture.

 

 

ISAIAH APOCALYPSE

Welcome to an amazing adventure in God.
This class is intended to cover about ten chapters of one of the most powerful prophetic books of the Old Testament. It was written somewhere around 700 BC by the man Isaiah son of Amoz.

I do want to lay out some groundwork for this class, and I also want to explain a little about how I plan to address this topic. I’d like you to know my thoughts re scripture, and also my thoughts re what God is doing ON EARTH in ALL SEASONS.

I personally love love love the NKJV bible. I’ve spent years in the KJV, then the New American Standard. A little in the NIV. Read whatever version works for you.

NOTES: Because my notes are my speaking notes, the bolding of scripture – which has been modified a little in the online postings, of lines of capitalization are not necessarily intended to say something is more important than something else, but rather it is for my speaking/teaching, so that I personally do not miss it.

Also – PLEASE pardon typos and run-ons. Because lots of words that I use (personal weird ones, or sometimes Hebrew words that want to auto-correct into something funky) I’ve shut off the auto-correct-while-typing option on the computer I use. The result is that stuff sometimes simply shows up weird.

www.EZ3728.com – I will try to post the notes there. If you are reading this, you’ve found your way there.

Questions during class – ask IF IT pertains SPECIFICALLY to what we are discussing. I am not the Bible Answer Man (thank God) and we want to remain on course. But let’s talk a little.

THIS EVENING THERE WILL BE A LITTLE MORE FOUNDATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT – so that we can set our course with a general understanding of the times of Isaiah, WHY he was prophesying what he was prophesying – both for the times ahead of him, and also for ALL TIMES in this age.

TWO FOUNDATIONAL SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS:
Our assurance that God does not change – it is why mankind is still alive!
Mal 3:6
6 “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

HIS WORD IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
1 Pet 1:25
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

If you’ve sat in any of my teaching classes over the decades, you know I believe strongly in the
INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE – I believe the word of God is perfect in its intent and purpose. There are some questions I have when I get to stand before the Lord – things that don’t seem to comply jive – but I can say that overall, the more you press into the word of God, the more it makes perfect sense to you, and the more you begin to gain a prophetic overview of what God is doing. It is amazing.

I am convinced the word of God is ALIVE and activated by the Spirit of God. I believe the word of God is not like any other book. There are verses to back all those opinions up. I will leave those to you.

IMPORTANTLY I BELIEVE THE BEST WAY TO INTERPRET THE BIBLE is BY THE BIBLE. It testifies of itself. That is not myopic circular thinking. It is a mindset based upon the belief that Jesus IS the word of God, that the word is alive, and that man’s opinion of that word, important as it might be, is still only man’s opinion.

I will be presenting MY opinion of the word. I will back it with scripture. That is the only thing that really matters – that the specifics of scripture can be reconciled to the fullness of the entire word.

I BELIEVE GOD requires and demands and deserves that we His people study the word of God diligently – and because He is so jealous over us, there are things in scripture RESERVED FOR PERSONAL REVELATION as one would personally press in to the word of God. So as much as I appreciate being called to study and teach the word, I strongly urge you to pore into it yourself, personally, on your own, in faith that the Holy Spirit will meet you there.

2 Tim 2:15
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

BETTER WORDING IN KJV – POINTING TO PERSONAL STUDY – KJV
2 Tim 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE CATCH-22 BLESSING – as you love the things of God, you will find even more pleasure in them:
Ps 111:2
2 The works of the LORD are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them.

REGARDING OT/NT – I adamantly believe that the OT was written FOR the NT saint, and in that truth lies a KEY to unlocking an understanding of ALL scripture. FIRST – the proof text (which I quote all the time):

1 Pet 1:10-12
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven– things which angels desire to look into.

The significance of that revelation is immeasurable – because what it does is point us BACK into the eternal word of God to discover what God INTENDED THE BELIEVERS OF OUR AGE TO DISCOVER:
How he has always worked.
How He reveals prophetic plans
What He plans to do throughout the ages
And SOME of WHEN He plans to accomplish all of His purposes.

Those plans are MOSTLY in the OT – positioned there to draw us back there, so that we might walk FORWARD in Christ.

The NT was always and in all NT writings VALIDATED by the NT players – from Jesus to Paul to Peter, James, John, etc. NO PLACE in scripture are we told to shut the OT and walk away from its truths.

OF COURSE the righteous requirements of the Mosaic Law have been fulfilled in Christ – but there is much in the OT that is NOT the Mosaic Law – and our Lord went out of His way to tell us that EVERYTHING will be FULFILLED. FULLY FILLED.
And then He even goes ahead and warns us not to fall into the trap that we are seeing much of the Church fall into – declaring things FULLY FILLED that have only been PARTIALLY FILLED.

Here’s our Lord speaking at the Sermon On The Mount – speaking about PERSECUTION and times of trouble for His people. He is making a PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE against a lie He knew would be propagated in those times (I believe these are times in which we live. I further believe these verses confirm that the saints will be ON EARTH in the midst of troubling times – to be the salt and the light):

Matt 5:14-19
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
HERE’S THE DO NOT THINK VERSES – the Pre-Emptive Strike against doctrines that are flourishing in our lifetime:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
(the word LAW here is NOMOS – it is what is used by Paul in 1 Cor 9:9 when he quotes Isaiah 28. THIS IS A KEY to our understanding that Jesus is not limiting the total fulfillment to the Mosaic LAW)
19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is saying DON’T DARE THINK that the NT “way” is an eradication of the OT writings and law.

Jesus tells us that EVERY TEENY WEENY little punctuation mark and point of info of the OT will be fulfilled, and then warns us all – especially the teacher – if you teach otherwise, you will diminish your reward. Stern warning. Jesus valued and values the OT writings.

Interestingly, in Luke there is another verse about all the law being fulfilled – and it is positioned IMMEDIATELY after Jesus has told His followers that there was a NEW WAY – that NEW WAY is not invalidating the NOMOS and the PROPHETS – all that will be fulfilled:
Luke 16:16-17
16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
17 “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

Jesus was saying there is DEFINITELY a NEW WAY ushered in by His crucifixion and covenant of His blood, and that the door opened by the work of the cross is a FLOODGATE both for Jew and Gentile. YEA GOD!
But then verse 17 tells us AGAIN that even within the NEW WAY we need to understand the ongoing validity and potency of every TITTLE of the LAW.

Powerful stuff.

It is from this place of understanding that I will be teaching the Isaiah Apocalypse.
If it HASN’T HAPPENED YET, then it HASN’T HAPPENED YET. H.H.Y.
And we can look forward to its ACCOMPLISHMENT, exactly.

When you embrace that truth, many of the mysteries of prophetic writing become a little less mysterious.

I believe that too is the plan of God.
By faith we are called to press in to the word of God, and to COMPLY WITH ITS INTENT and PURPOSE.
When we get to that place, it opens up like a flower for us.

THE WARNING AND THE PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD – a separation by God, between the RELIGIOUS and the ones who truly REVERE and TREMBLE at His word:

Isa 66:1-5
1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
2 For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.
THE WORTHLESSNESS OF RELIGIOUS ACTION WITHOUT GOD’S PURPOSE
3 “He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations,
THE JUDGMENT ON THE RELIGIOUS
4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
THE VINDICATION OF THE LORD
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”

BTW – that is HHY – so stay tuned……

OK – THE ISAIAH APOCALYPSE.

“APOCALYPSE” –
RANDOM HOUSE WEBSTER SAYS:
a-poc-a-lypse (uh pok’uh lips) n.
1. (cap.) REVELATION (def. 4).
2. any of a class of Jewish or Christian
writings of c200 B.C. to A.D. 350 that
were assumed to make revelations of the
ultimate divine purpose.
3. a prophetic revelation, esp. concerning a
cataclysm in which the forces of good
triumph over the forces of evil.
4. any revelation or prophecy.
5. any universal or widespread destruction
or disaster.
[1125-75; ME < LL apocalypsis < Gk apokálypsis Our society uses the word APOCALYPSE to describe anything disastrous. We misuse the word, like we misuse many words. EX: AWESOME (Yare) has a dread and fear of God component to it. But we have awesome hotdogs. ARMAGEDDON is a place of end-of-age conflict and death, but we announce CAR-MAGEDDON when a freeway gets closed. APOCALYPSE means REVELATION. The book of REVELATION is actually accurately titled – THE APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST. It is about something coming into sight. Something powerful and profound and of God. ISAIAH, a prophet, was called by God to see into the future and to proclaim things YET TO OCCUR. IMMEDIATELY – the flavor of the book is presented in its very first chapter, very first verses: Isa 1:1-4
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me;
3 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.”
4 Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.

By the time we get to where WE plan to start (chapter 24), the divided nation of Israel is more than half in captivity in Babylon, and Isaiah, writing most likely from Jerusalem (the southern Kingdom) is calling the people to repentance and to restoration back into covenant relationship with their God, so that they might avoid the same fate as the northern Kingdom. Truth is – the southern Kingdom was on its way into captivity after the death of the prophet Isaiah.

Let’s take a side track into 2 Chron to see how it went for the southern Kingdom after the days of Isaiah.

(THERE WILL BE SIDE-TRACKS/BUNNY TRAILS. They will be purposeful for our understanding).
blessed are the flexible.

So we just read in Isa 1 that Isaiah prophesied into the days of Hezekiah. In those writings he mentions the death of Hezekiah – so we can conclude Isaiah outlived Hezekiah. But those first verses DO NOT say Isaiah prophesied during the days of Manasseh, the wicked son of Hezekiah. Isaiah’s ministry might have been silenced. Jewish history tells us that Isaiah was eventually sawn in two by Manasseh.

SO – LOOKING AT JUDAH, starting with the days of Manasseh:
2 Chr 33:1-25
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
7 He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;
8 “and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers– only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.”
9 So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.
11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.
12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.
16 He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
19 Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai.

THEN HIS SON AMON – brief and bad reign.
THEN – chapter 34 – GOOD KING JOSIAH WHO started chasing God at the age of 20 and brought about revival and temple repair – and they discover the book of the LAW.

18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
19 Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes.
20 Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying,
21 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
22 So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke to her to that effect.
23 Then she answered them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me,
24 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah,
25 ‘because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched.'”‘
26 “But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard–
27 “because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD.
28 “Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.”‘” So they brought back word to the king.

AFTER JOSIAH – his son Jehoahaz – not good – he reigned THREE MONTHS.
2 Chr 36:1-23
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
3 Now the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 Then the king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

10 At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon, with the costly articles from the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12 He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.
13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.
14 Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand.

18 And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon.
19 Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions.
20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

AFTER THE PROPHETIC TIMING HAD BEEN FULFILLED:
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus (“he who keeps the furnace” – some things don’t change) king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,
23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!

So here we looked ahead to see what would happen, according to the words and visions of Isaiah who lived and prophesied many years PRIOR to all these events.

Critical to OUR study is our understanding that
• The word of the Lord endures forever.
• The words of a true prophet will come to pass.
• Sin is a reproach to ANY nation.
• God is not mocked.
• Every jot and tittle of the prophecies of Isaiah to this day have not been fulfilled.
• And because of their timing and placement in scripture it is clear to us how much of those prophecies are destined for fulfillment PRIOR TO the appearance of Messiah.

ALL THIS tells us the folks on earth prior the return of Messiah would be wise to anticipate that God will do what He says He is going to do.

ONE MORE THING – I do want to say that chapter 24 starts off pretty bleak – and it is never not (dual negative = positive) the heart of God to simply destroy and lay waste, nor to present His word and His plans without hope.

For TIME SAKE this study is picking up in chapter 24. But there are times earlier in the book of Isaiah, in the midst of judgment, proclaiming profound promises of blessing and glory.

REMEMBER – earlier in 2 Chronicles we read how violently both Egypt from the south and Assyria from the north had assaulted Israel (because God had allowed it)?

Look at the Isa 19 “HIGHWAY” promise of revival and salvation after judgment:

Isa 19:23-25
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria– a blessing in the midst of the land,
25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

Chapter 19 of Isaiah tells us of impending judgment on those two empires, but ends with a great promise of revival and salvation in both of those countries – so PLEASE do not let the judgment of these chapters distract you from the good intentions of God.

As Mike Bickle often says: “GOD is at war against everything that stands in the way of perfect love”. There is purpose to His judgments and plans.

We therefore would do well to read these chapters with an understanding that God’s ultimate plan is NOT to destroy man (although many will be destroyed for intentional lack of repentance). God’s ultimate plan is salvation and restoration and hope.

2 Pet 3:9 – spoken in the midst of Peter’s discussion re the Lord’s return in judgment – judgment that will be delayed AS HE SHAKES HEAVEN AND EARTH – troubling things – to try to get man’s attention…..
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The issue is that man has been and will continue to be at war against God. The nations are raging. The scriptures tell us nations will increase their rage as we get closer to the end of the age. And our God will respond.

The upcoming judgments will be UPON the NATIONS and also UPON Israel who has been disobedient.

He will surely discipline His own people. The word tells us this:

Amos 3:1-2
1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

God DEALS DIFFERENTLY WITH HIS PEOPLE.
We need to know and understand that truth:
FIRST so that we might know how to pray for Israel and minister to Israel and the Jewish people – because the PEOPLE as well as THE LAND factor so heavily into the end-of-age plans of God; AND
SECOND so that we might understand how GOD deals with US, the predominantly Gentile church.

GOD HAS HIS EYE ON HIS CHILDREN. Being in relationship with God actually places us on a way shorter leash. We should know better. We have access to the ways of God. We are accountable for that access, and that knowledge.

WE WILL LIKELY BE IN THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH several times over the course of the next few weeks, but look here now re Israel:

Zeph 3:1-20
1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice, (ALTHOUGH HIS VOICE IS AVAILABLE TO BE HEARD) she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the LORD, she has not drawn near to her God.

THE CORRUPTION OF JERUSALEM’S LEADERSHIP – with was both judicial as well as religious:
3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning.

4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

Those leaders were still in authority – until it was time for their judgment. In like manner the Pharisees were in office until it was time for their judgment. In like manner the harlot bride will be in authority until it will be time for her judgment.

GOD WILL NEVER ALIGN HIMSELF WITH ANYONE’S WICKED WAYS
5 The LORD is righteous in her midst, he will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; he never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.

GOD SPEAKS OUT
6 “I have cut off nations, their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, with none passing by. Their cities are destroyed; there is no one, no inhabitant.
7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, you will receive instruction’– so that her dwelling would not be cut off, Despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.

THE CALL TO THE ONES WITH EARS TO HEAR, AND A REVELATION OF PLANS
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.

WHEN IS THE RESTORATION WORK GOING TO OCCUR
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. – (this is the antithesis of what occurred at the Tower of Babel. Prophetically, it is when they cry out in Revelation – Babylon is fallen!)
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering.
11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me; for then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in My holy mountain.
12 I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.

FINALLY THE INTENDED PEOPLE OF GOD WILL WALK IN HIS WAYS
13 The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.”
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away your judgments, he has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall see disaster no more.
16 In that day (but not until that day) it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak.
THE JOYOUS SINGING OF GOD OVER THIS BELOVED, FINALLY
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.”
18 “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, who are among you, to whom its reproach is a burden.

ONGOING JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS WHO OPPRESS ISRAEL (GEN 12:3 – fulfilled)
19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, and gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame.
20 At that time I will bring you back, even at the time I gather you; for I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I return your captives before your eyes,” says the LORD.

MEANWHILE, LOOKING AT THE PLANS FOR THE NATIONS RAGING AGAINST GOD AND HOW THAT WILL GO:
Ps 2:1-12
1 Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.'”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son – (prophecy of Messiah), lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. (ENDING WITH A BLESSING TO ALL WHO WOULD TRUST)

Zech 14:1-4
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations (we will see more of this when we get to Isaiah 30) to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.

Ezek 38:7-16 (don’t get hung up on the “who’s Gog?” thing. It is unclear, although many believe it is a prophetic title utilized in Ezekiel to describe the warring nations at the end of THIS AGE, and again in Revelation to describe the final battle after Satan is released after doing time for 1,000 years. The point is, these are the nations against God.
7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.
8 “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
9 “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
11 “You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’–
12 “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?'”‘
14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
15 “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16 “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

So what we are seeing, beginning in Chapter 24 of Isaiah, is an INTERNATIONAL, WORLDWIDE PROCLAMATION that aligns with the prophetic imagery of Revelation and with other books of the bible that point to God doing a thorough work throughout all nations of the world.

The work involves warfare, natural calamity, financial collapse, desperate people becoming more and more desperate, and God shaking everything that can be shaken.

YOU WILL SEE HEAR the admonition to the saints – to the ones who have access to hear the Lord….
Heb 12:25-29
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

The SHAKING PROMISE OF HEBREWS refers back to scripture in the book of Haggai, which not speaks of the worldwide shaking, but tells the REASON and INTENT for the shaking work:

Hag 2:6-9
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 shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts.
9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

OK – ISAIAH 24!
Isa 24:1-23
1 Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants.
(EVERYONE – no distinction re office, calling, capacity, status)
2 And it shall be: as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.
(the pointer to who suffers most – the haughty)
4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish.

(the reason for the suffering – BECAUSE….)
5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

(the pleasures won’t be available, and won’t work)
7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11 There is a cry for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction.
13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the LORD they shall cry aloud from the sea.
(the proper response of the people of God, who understand who is sovereign)
15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light, the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: “Glory to the righteous!” But I said, “I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
17 Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
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.
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; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.

Are the astronomical signs pointing to any NT prophecy?

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.

Mark 13:23-26
23 “But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
25 “the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in heaven will be shaken.
26 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

BACK TO ISAIAH – just like David, in Psalm 36 – where he receives an oracle re wickedness and immediately turns to praise a perfect God, 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.

Isa 25:1-12
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, 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.
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, 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 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 on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
ABSOLUTE TIMING-MARKER – death will be swallowed up forever – 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 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 FOR AND OF THE REDEEMED:
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, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
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; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
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.
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 Your enemies shall devour them.
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.
16 LORD, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.

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.
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.

Follow