Isaiah (Session 15) Chapter 45

well we are we're entering session 15 in which we're going to explore chapter 45 there's some overlap from last weeks of study but there's some issues here two important I didn't want to do to crowd it with other distractions and it does bring up an issue that's very controversial called the gap theory and we'll be getting into that and so again though as you probably have noticed there's a huge change in style as well as themes since we cross the border into chapter 40 and Beyond and of course we are leaning very heavily on the proprietary translation of the great scroll of Isaiah by dr. Peter Flint himself and that is is the primary document behind the International Standard Version Bible and so our style here has been to take a look at the ISV rendering and then we'll and recognizing the is V uses the Dead Sea Scrolls is the primary reference relegating the Masoretic and the Septuagint texts as just variants a very dramatic difference and it makes it a very very provocative translation and so we will confine most of our comments though on the as we look at the King James rendering because that's probably more familiar to most of us but the design of this whole second unit from chapter 40 to the end is quite different and our three major points to it the purpose of piece from chapters 40 or 48 the Prince of Peace will be the focus of 49 to 57 and then the rest of the book will be the program piece the purpose the prince and the program of peace three major sections the Prince of Peace is bracketed by verse 48 22 and 57 to 1 there is no peace they have Yoda Vevey to the wicked but the other observation I want to just alerts to alert you to in advance is the higher the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament and the minds of many is chapter 53 and the Holy of Holies as we call it the the its various its it we're going to really have a focus there it's interesting that it happens to be in the exact center of the second unit there's 13 chapters leading up to it there's 13 chapters that follow it but meanwhile we will move on here last last session we were in chapter 44 and it closed with a couple of verses that really belong in tonight's study in the end of Isaiah 44 30 verse 27 he says that saith to the deep be dry and I will dry up thy rivers that saith of Cyrus he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid an incredible couple of verses there that introduce this peculiar guy by the name of Cyrus in fact that first verse is really the very method that Cyrus uses to conquer Babylon there was no battle they took it over but by drying up the the Euphrates River and slipping in under the gates in fact some of the residents there didn't know they've been taking over for three days is a very very subtle very important historical event for a lot of reasons it's going to impact our future too and I'll get to that but in the verse 28 it mentions Cyrus by name he was hinted at earlier you may recall and so this isn't the first time Josiah had his name mentioned 300 years before his birth and of course Daniel 11 300 years before its events but he says it says that Cyrus god this is God speaking through Isaiah that saith of Cyrus he is my shepherd what a strange thing for the god of the universe to to put what kind of a label we put that on Cyrus and shall perform all my pleasure boy that's quite a statement even saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built now what makes this prophecy so provocative that's a prophecy that gets fulfilled at the end of the Babylonian captivity which hasn't happened yet in fact that captivity went on for 70 years and even babylons rise to power hasn't happened yet it will happen in the in it'll start to show up in the rise of Hezekiah even saying to Jerusalem shall be built and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid and so it's even predicting the destruction of the the the the implicit destruction of the the temple which happens of course in the Babylonian attack so it's a very strange prophecy because it repairs something that hasn't been damaged yet so to speak and so cyrus the greatest quite a guy he's more than just a great man that founded an empire from the Aegean Sea by the way all the way to the Indies River he is also seen by many observers as the epitome of a great leader he's quite a model to follow considered very brave very daring tolerant very magnanimous he conquered most of his conquests without a battle and through skill and phenomenal actually in fact the 1971 Iran celebrated the 2500 2500 anniversary of his monarchy by the way but move on here Cyrus the second technically but everyone knows him as Cyrus the Great and he was that he founded the documented Arab Empire in biblical terms are usually called the medo-persian Empire because it really was a union of two ethnic groups and his father was cambia sister the first king of and Shan which is Alam and his mother was man Dane the daughter was di he's the king of media and so in 550 BC he attacks his father-in-law of the corrupt sto geez and he captured eCPAT down of the capital without a battle which becomes his pattern later on the other things he does and he welded the Medes and the Persians today as the Kurds very much in the news because there's Kurds are split among three other countries in Turkey Iraq and Iran have Kurdish segments and it's it's sort of an ethnic group without a country but we know them from the biblical references of the Medes Medes and the Persians to a unified Empire that Empire survives for 200 years and a very very powerful powerful entity and it stood off the Roman Empire for centuries so now on October 12th of 539 BC the Persians conquer Babylon this turns out to be a big deal in Jewish history of course because they by them had been conquered by Babylon taken into captivity but October 12th of 539 Cyrus's general have actually ran the troops captures battle babylon and the way they did that it's important for us to understand the persians diverted the river Euphrates into a canal upriver so the water level would drop to the height of the middle of a man's thigh as they say a rotor disc records all that which thus rendered the flood useless and enabled the invaders to march through the riverbed to enter it at night so they just took it over I mention this because many people when they read history superficially feel that Babylon was conquered by the Persians they assumed it was destroyed no it wasn't destroyed it becomes a secondary capital for the Persian Empire several centuries later when Alexander the Great conquered Babylon he to makes it as capital the reason is so important for you and I let me come in on this a little bit because it has an impact for us in the future Babylon fell to the Persians here they fell to the Greeks under Alexander the great but they gradually atrophy when Alexander dies as generals divide up the empire other cities are built to take most of the caravan trade so babblin tends to drift into irrelevance II as late as 75 AD the merchants are still trying to make a go of it why am I making this bit there's this big effort because as you study the issue of Babylon it's a very important topic for you to get very well briefed on in isaiah 13 and 14 and in Jeremiah 50 and 51 there's great details on the final at the end time and destruction of Babylon and they both detail that destruction with great specification in fact both of them both Isaiah and Jeremiah used the expression that will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah what they mean by that it was done at one hour and once it was done it was permanent never again to rise up Salma Gomorrah never has shown up and it's gone forever for good Babylon will have the same destiny in fact they both mentioned that even the building materials will never be reused now the reason I mention all of that there's a lot of confusion among academics about babylons history and their future but Babylon has never suffered the destruction of the Bible details in both Isaiah and Jeremiah now what does that mean if you dismiss the Bible it's not a problem but if you take the Bible seriously as we obviously do that tells us that Babylon is destined to be destroyed as both Jeremiah and Isaiah detail in great detail in fact even revelation has some allusions but that gets a little more complicated but the real point I'm making here is is Saddam Hussein undertook the reconstruction of Babylon he had he spent millions on getting the best archeologists to certify the foundations and so forth and he partially has rebuilt the city of Babylon as a tourist attraction or whatever it's now under guard by the Marines but to you if you have a poll you can go there and take a tour we have a film tour that we show when we study the Babylon thing the point is though if we understand the Bible correctly Babylon and I'm not talking about a symbolic thing I'm talking about a literal city on the banks the afraid ease is destined to rise again into prominence on the world scene if for no other reason than to sustain the judgment that God has in store for them now the reason that's so important is right now today there's no it's not like we're trying to twist the Bible to fit current events and quite the contrary you can't find any evidence that Babylon is going to be about anything other than a you know an archaeological tourist thing but if we understand the Bible correctly somewhere along the way it could be next month it could be next year it might be several years away but somewhere along the way the geopolitical horizon on the planet Earth is going to shift in some ways too so as to make babblin re-emerge as some kind of primary power center and when that starts to happen I want you to remember you heard it here first okay but suddenly a lot of people that we've been saying this for some years now are gonna suddenly wake up and realize that that's what the Bible is predicted all along and that'll also give rise see this all sort of had its echo back in the 40s I can remember as a kid that during the war years many of the people thought that Hitler was the Antichrist and there's a lot of that kind of talk and so forth but there were a couple of guys on the radio got my name in side and MRD Hahn you were on the radio and they pointed out that Hitler could not be the Antichrist because Israel is not on the land it was clear that that guy rises to power when Israel is in the land and of course in the 40 row there was a big debate among Bible scholars that whether Israel would ever remarry most of them thought no because they have this replacement theology nonsense that was going around but on May 14th of 1948 that debate should have ended because David ben-gurion using Ezekiel as as a thority declared the new Jewish homeland Israel and so the very thing that these guys in the radio were predicting happened and that that change that could change the landscape if you will well we've got another thing like another potential like that somewhere along the way there's going to be a move some people suspect that maybe the UN will move there and there's some loose talk like that nothing serious so far but somewhere along the way something is going to happen to make babbling relevant in the world scene and when it does that's going to be a huge wake-up call to those that know their Bible and so that's why that's why this issue to understand the fall of Babylon but under Cyrus was not a battle he just took it over that's very key point in fact he brags about that in the cylinder of Syrus that wave on display here and a replica of it now what's interesting as I say his general took captured Babylon ten days later he Cyrus himself comes to make his grand entrance and it's really quite interesting because and Josephus records what happened when he made his entrance because as he makes his entrance he's greeted by Daniel and Daniel has a copy this ancient scroll of Isaiah and he reads to Cyrus a letter that God wrote to him Cyrus calling him by name that was written 150 years earlier and Cyrus isn't skeptical he's profoundly impressed and it acts upon it that's what he himself records in a cylinder that's on display on the London Museum and we have a replica here if you want to take a look at it so he this ancient scroll addresses him by name we're going to take a look at that letter but all of this is recorded in Josephus and Antiquities eleventh chapter eleven smally I mean Isaiah had died 150 years before Cyrus was born so this is this really shook Cyrus up what was his response to this he obviously was very impressed wouldn't you be if you you're big Conqueror you come you take over you discover that one of their ancient prophets has written you a letter where God says I'm calling you by name so that you'll know that I'm the God of Israel and so what does he do he Fried's that he frees the captives he lets the Jews that are slave and enslaved them for seven years go home in fact he gives them donations to build their temple he gives them financial incentives to go home and-and-and pursue the God that they they worship and only fifty less than fifty thousand take advantage of that by the way which is another interesting comment but so the legal but they go back to Jerusalem under zaraba Vohland and that leads to the book of Ezra and Nehemiah in your Bible so and so you can look that up in your references are there in the notes but in the 19th century or I got numerous on found the the cylinder and it's presently in the London Museum and a good friend gave us a replica of it you can take a look at it if you like later and it'll be on display here in the executive briefing room in a display case outside later and basically is where Cyrus iris brags that he captured Babylon without a battle and they really relieves him to go home in effect and so this is recorded in Ezra chapter one - in Ezra chapter one the verse two three says thus saith Cyrus king of Persia quote the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah who was there among you of all his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel when he is the God which is in Jerusalem interesting comment very interesting coming by Cyrus okay so that's the background we hit last time let's just jump into chapter 45 starting at verse 1 and it will start as is our style we'll take a look at how the eye is V renders it it has a flow that's quite comfortable by the way this is what the Lord says to his anointed cyrus whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and I stripped kings of their armor I opened doors before him and gates that cannot keep closed I myself will go before you and he will make the mountains level I'll shatter bronze doors and cut through iron bars I'll give you concealed treasures and riches hidden in secret places so that you'll know that it is I the Lord the God of Israel who called you by name it goes on for the sake of Jacob my servant in Israel my chosen I've called you and he has established you with a name although you have not acknowledged me I am the Lord and there is no other besides me there are no gods I'm strengthening you although you have not acknowledged me so that from the sun's rising to the west people may know that there is none besides me I am the Lord and there is no other so that's the caius fee flows pretty well the King James is this not materially different but we'll take a look at it thus saith the lord is anointed to Cyrus his right hand I have Holden to subdue nations before him and I will loose the loins of Kings now see this is one place that the King James picks up something the ISV didn't tag in it says I will loose the loins of Kings now if you may recall last time he went through Daniel 5 where Belshazzar is confronted he's throwing this big parties confronted with a handwriting on the wall and and everybody's terrified because they see this handwriting this coded message on the wall and it says that his knees smote one against the other and his loins were loosed and of course when you see that in the King James it may not register what's happening here but he obviously what's interesting is not only was it a public embarrassment for the King to have that happen it was a fulfillment of prophecy because long before that in this letter that God wrote to Cyrus it mentions that and I will loose the loins of Kings that's not the kind of expression you'd normally include in some kind of summary that's a very very embarrassing but apparently very public item because it was it's in Daniel chapter 5 as an event that happened there and here we discover it's prophesied that that's exactly what would happen and to open before him the two leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut and that all has to do with the way they were able to slip in and capture Babylon and that gets into a whole discussion of the double walls and all laughs they had chariot races six abreast around the wall it was a nontrivial of defense it was considered impregnable which it obviously wasn't but then God continues here I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron now it says here it says that the subdued nations before him by the way those nations were making guess how many would you believe 46 the Medes the Babylonians the Lydians the Koreans the Concannon's the Alessi ins the bactrian 's the Sakae the Parthian 's the hurricane Ian's Korra's millions the sogdians and a bunch of others I can't pronounce properly but the point is it they literally the they've listed 46 countries that he took over and so forth and and the gates not shut is that that was the key to their victory without having a battle and the tule gates were the double gates of Babel and so were so that's all recorded in this letter to Cyrus written 150 years before he was born and he's also another thing that highlight here there's a strange term in the Bible used of a Gentile King he's called his anointed that's nowhere used of it anything but manat used in the Gentile the only place it is and many scholars sort of see Cyrus in a certain sense as a type of the of the coming Prince are coming Prince the Lord Jesus and loosed the lords of Kings again I think I repeat that one to death we move on I will give you the traces of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I the LORD which call thee by thy name am the God of Israel get this next verse for Jacob my servants a conditional mine elect I have even called thee by thy name I have surnamed thee though thou has not known me boy he the Lord really underscores that he makes it quite clear this isn't a coincidence it isn't that haven't written to somebody else's name is true no he's it specifically addressed to this person and that's what grabs him when he sees it of course he's obviously duly impressed and so and he of course responds to then God contains I'm the Lord there's none else there is no God beside me i girded thee though thou it's not on me that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me I am the Lord and there is none else well okay so the is PT now parse is this a little differently going on from verse seven on that says God continues about talking about there's a very interesting passage because here again God is talking about himself he doesn't do that i form the light and create darkness I make goodness and create disaster I am the lord who does all these things shout you skies above and you clouds and let righteousness stream down I am the one who says to the earth let salvation blossom and let righteousness sprout forth woe to the one who quarrels with his makers and a mere putz heard with putz ERDs and of the earth woe to the one who says to the one forming him what are you making and your work has no human hands or sarcasm and there really woe to the one who says to his father what are you beginning or - a woman - what are you giving birth this is what the Lord says the creator of the signs questioned me about my children or give me orders about the work of my hands I myself have made the earth and personally created humankind upon it mine own hand stretched out the skies i marshaled all their starry hosts Wow okay well the King James picks up a couple of things here let's see the same passage in that handling i form the light and create darkness i make peace and create evil now that's a phrase that bothers a lot of people that that's the way it's translated by the King James translators but the that were try reading can mean adversity or calamity it never means sin God didn't create sin but of course asurs the consequence of sin and those back up notes are the verses are in your notes I the LORD do all these things drop down the heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation that the righteousness bring up together I the LORD have created it there's one the place even the King James flow is every bit as good as a V I think here what would a ham that striveth with his maker let the pot suit strive with the Potters of the earth shall the clay say to him that fashioned it what make us doubt or thy work he hath no hands won't a ham that sayeth unto his father what begins now or to the woman what has thought brought forth and we're not supposed to question our maker are we very interesting issue here thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel and his maker ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me I have made the earth and created man upon it I even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded know the stretching out the heavens it's like a curtain that's a very strange phrase isn't it I've stretched out the heavens that phrase is not just a figure of speech stretching the heavens that's dealing with the fabric of space you and I tend to jump to the conclusion that space is empty it's empty space that's our misunderstanding this is more than a metaphor the scripture says who alone stretches out the heavens and job stretching out the heaven like a tent curtain psalm 104 who stretched up hymns like curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in in Isaiah 40 he has stretched out the heavens in Jeremiah 10 the lord who stretches out the heavens dr. right well I could go on here with a lot more of these the point being the scripture the Lord continually speaks of stretching space now space you see we now know by the way if you're really sophisticated physics is not an empty vacuum it can be torn according to Isaiah 64 it can be worn out like a garment according to Psalm 102 it can be shaken according to Hebrews Haggai in Isaiah it can be burnt up Peter warns us in second Peter 3 it can be rolled up like a mantle in Hebrews 1 or like a scroll in Isaiah 34 split apart like a scroll in the book of Revelation strangely enough in fact let's take a look at that as the stars of heaven fell to the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs in Revelation there when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and Island were moved out of their places you know that there's a lesson here many people see this will lectures poetic language describing a vision or something like that I don't believe that for a minute I believe that every detail there is designed deliberately to communicate something to us and so let's take a look at this a little bit departed as a scroll for something to be rolled up there must be some dimension in which it must be thin in order to be rolled and it also needs a dimension towards which it can be bent if you can roll something up it means it's not only thin but it also is another in other words that's telling you that there's more dimensions to space than the three we know about interestingly enough there is a direction that it can be bent toward and there must be additional spatial dimensions and the current estimate by the experts in this area is ten that we live in a 10 dimensional universe four of those dimensions we can directly perceive length width and height the three dimensions that make up Euclidean geometry were taught in school and time is a fourth dimension that's the only four but we know from a number of indications that there's actually six more that we can't get at a 10 dimensional universe if you read the string theorist and so forth you if they're all into this thing there is a sis and that's what the scripture also suspects normalities in ancient hebrew sage concluded that the universe has ten dimensions from his study of Genesis the Hebrew of Genesis the book of Genesis and yet he knows that only four are knowable six are not knowable and we suspect that when the Adam fell and God curses the creation that it fraction it was it was fractured the four dimensions that we experience obviously are available to us and we call that the physical the physical universe there are six beyond our reach in a sense that we can call the spiritual universe a more common term is consider at the meta Casa the microcosm are things smaller than man the macrocosm is things larger than man but both are finite and digital that's a major discovery in science and that's a whole nother discussion and we'll leave for another day but the area that we know that the physical universe that we're in is a subset of a lot reality Scientific American June of 2005 had an article on that and because the constants the physics are changing that implies the physic that the physical reality we think we feel is a subset of a larger reality it's said in the larger context which for lack of another term they call the meta Casas so we'll move on here is this possibly the effects of the fall that's the speculation in our part but there's a number of us that suspect that entropy which in the paulin's epistle Romans called the bunt the creation is subject to the bondage of decay that sounds to us like the entropy laws that are much studied and that maybe that's when they started was at Mandir the curse of God was the universe then fractured to this four vs. six breakdown this is speculation and is that's when we had a separation of what we can what we experiences the physical universe versus the total picture which would include the spiritual universe you can't prove to me that Adam and Eve lived in only three dimensions prior to the fall and that's something we just jump to conclusions that you see this funny little coloring books and stuff but that's a naive and by the way you also need to understand when you read your Bible that redemption is not just man both Isaiah and revelation speaks of new heavens and a new earth heaven not only earth but heaven it's going to be restored or replaced if you will okay let's take the next segment here in the is V it says I aroused him in righteousness and I'll make all his pathways smooth is he who will build my city and set my exile free but not for a price nor reward says the lord of the heavenly armies this is what the lord says the wealth of egypt the merchandise of ethiopia those sabians men of great heights they'll come over to you and will be yours they'll trudge behind you coming over and change they'll bow down to you they'll plead with you surely God is in you and there is no Oh God at all that's as Isaiah prophesied here the King James says pretty much the same thing he says I've raised him up righteous I will direct his ways he will build my city he will go he will let go my captives not for price a reward saith the Lord of hosts that's enigmatic but that's exactly it he did that because he was oppressed with a letter that God had written dude thus saith the Lord the labor of Egypt and the merchants of Ethiopia and the Sabian's Sabian's is a southwest of Arabia by the way but anyway men of it stature shall come over to thee and they shall be vine they shall come after thee in change they shall come over and they shall fall down unto thee they shall make a supplication unto thee saying surely God is in thee and there is none else there is no God so let's take the next segment we're get we're heading to another interesting challenge forthcoming here verse 15 and it is V is truly you our God and who hides himself o God of Israel the Savior all of them will be put to shame indeed disgraced the makers of idols will go off in disgrace together but Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation you won't be put to shame or disgraced ever again we're going to hear a lot about idols in the next chapter that's going to be an emerging theme here but let's go on to verse 18 year for this is what the Lord says who created the heavens he is God and the one who formed the earth and made it he is the one who established it he didn't create it for chaos but formed it to be inhabited I am the Lord and there is no other I didn't speak in secret from somewhere in the land of darkness I didn't say to Jacobs descendants seek me in chaos I the Lord speak truth declaring what is right this is the is V and I'm impressed with it in general this is one place where they miss something that the the is that the King James really nailed so we'll come back to that here in a minute gather together and come draw near and enter you've you're fugitives from the nation's those who carry around their wooden idols know nothing nor do those who keep praying to a god that cannot save explain and present a case yes let them take counsel together who announced this long ago who declared it from the distant past was it not I the Lord and there is no other God besides me a righteous God and Savior and there is none besides me turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other notice by the way some God does something here and he does it frequently in the Book of Isaiah he points to his ability to write history before it happens as an authentication of who he is not to give you a divination the purpose of prophecy isn't to tell you what the future is purpose of prophecy is to authenticate him when it happens so it's very precise but its purpose isn't to teach you the future the purpose is for you to magnify his name when things happen but the precision is astonishing and God frequently makes reference to that who announced this long ago who declared for this myth was that not I the Lord he's pointing out that's a gift that only God has the Angels don't have that he's outside eternity is not having lots of time it's being outside the dimensionality of time altogether he alone can see the end from the beginning and it's a attribute of his that he leans on to prove that his message is really from him and not a contrivance or a fraud very fundamental issue there well let's look at the King James here because there's something else we're going to encounter here King James says very that word of God that hide us herself well God Israel God of Israel the Savior they shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation he shall not be ashamed or confounded world without him for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens get this pay attention here God Himself that formed the earth and made it he hath established it key phrase coming up he created it not in vain he formed it to be inhabited I am the Lord and there is none else I've not spoken in secret in the dark place of the earth I said not unto the seat of Jacob seek me in vain I the Lord speak righteousness I declare things that are right there's a phrase here that I'm gonna table for the moment to finish some other thoughts and then we're going to take a look at the strange contradiction that this seems to introduce says he created it not in vain just remember that we'll come back to that there's a there's a speculative possibility that we're going to explore it's very controversial let's finish this passage though assemble yourselves and come draw your new together ye that are escaped of the nations they have no knowledge that set up the wood and the graven image and pray to a god that cannot save it's amazing how many people pray to a god that cannot save Mohammed can't save anybody tell you and bring them near yeh let them take counsel together who have declared this from ancient time who have told it from that time have not I the Lord and there is no God else beside me I just God and the savior there is none beside me by the way did you notice there's two there just God and a Savior I think that's interesting look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else and then the ayah three continues just to finish they were phrase the chapter and come back to some other issues verse 20 by myself I have sworn from my mouth has gone out integrity a promise that won't be revoked to me every knee will bow and every tongue will sounds like the Paul's epistle to the Philippians doesn't and one will say of me only in the Lord our victories might all who raged against him will come to him and will be put to shame in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will triumph and make their boast well in the King James I've sworn by myself the word is going out from my mouth and righteousness and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess and that's not like Philippians 2:10 for those of you that what's called the canosa's that's another anyway surely shall one say in the lord have i righteousness strength even to him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed okay in the lord shall all the seed of israel be justified and glory okay so we've done faithfulness to the passage I want to double back on an issue that comes out of the text which is widely known as the gap theory there are people that don't believe in it don't like it there are also people that think they know what they applied to the wrong things so it's a very touchy area we're going to explore a very controversial speculation I want you to be aware of it I don't want to oversell it because it is controversial but I want you to be just aware of it and understand what it says in back there in verse 18 God says that he got himself that formed the earth and made it he hath established it he created not in vain see the reason that catches our eye if you're a diligent student is because of the second verse in Genesis here it says he created it not in vain okay let's go back to the Bible starts in Genesis chapter 1 starting at verse 1 in the beginning God created they have in the earth period no argument big deal great but then the next verses and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light that was the first court of God the Bible and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from darkness and God called the light day and the darkness he called night in the evening the morning were day 1 ok it's this second verse that creates all the discussion and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face the deep let's take a little more closer look at this ok the word order here in the Hebrew is rather strange it implies that the verse is a pluperfect form the earth not was was can just mean existence no it's a transitive verb requiring action in Genesis 19 when Lot's wife became a pillar of salt the word became same word used the same way the earth became without form and void okay big deal and there's about 20 examples of that by the way in this chapter but we're going here okay the earth became without form and void now the word form and void is Toho Bobo the very word that in Isaiah verse 45 verse 18 I did not create it in vain or in void you see so it seems like those two verses contradict each other God didn't create it that way but in verse 2 it doesn't say he did it says it became that way well how it also implies sometime between verse 1 and 2 in the beginning God created heaven the earth period good time passes and the earth became without form or void is the thought okay so the word was there is a hiya which means had become in the blue porphyrin form the without form and void a form is toho without former confused and void is boohoo Touhou hobo who is that pay is the phrase empty or waste and now what's interesting here the word and there used the way it's used is actually an adversative conjunction it should be translated but not ant but the earth became and that when you when you get the top Jewish experts three centuries before Christ's birth who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek those experts press later that way but the earth became had become but the earth had become you with me so this isn't a contrived analysis that's what the experts concluded back when and it's adversity the it's adversative let me rephrase it the way that people would argue it should be translated but the earth became without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and so the the thing that and incidentally this total boho for these words are used Isaiah 34 and night and several play including Jeremiah four I'm going to show you a strange passage see the real issue that works behind all of this is a question when did Satan fall when you read your Bible you get to chapter 3 he shows up to lead Adam and Eve into trouble there's no background you have to infer that background from other passages well the question is we know that he led a rebellion that's all described in wrote in Revelation 12 and elsewhere he led a rebellion but when did he fall and the suggestion that comes out of this text is that he see he fell some time prior to Genesis 3 but after Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 obviously because he was clear as a created thing somehow between Genesis 1 verse 2 there was a rebellion and a judgment and that's when he fell and it would all occur in this apparent interval between the first two verses and that's what makes this thing so provocative but obviously very very controversial and so the and darkness is on the face of the deep and that word in the Hebrew is an unnatural darkness of course and in the face of the deep and that the home is they not just deep in the sense of deep water it's the domain if us the abussos it's the home of the demons and evil spirits so there's a there's a dark casting on this whole passage anyway by the way and the whole idea of the these words confusion emptiness are used elsewhere and Isaiah meaning just those things and but the one that really triggered all this is that in verse 18 of Isaiah 45 that he created not in vain when Genesis verse 1 verse 2 says it became vain which implies there's something there's something hinted at and not detailed when you get to Jeremiah there's a passage there no one's quite sure what it means Jeremiah talks by says I beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void that catches our phrase right there that is that same word it was I beheld the earth and it was without form and void and the heavens and they had no light and again they've got the same two words toboe who write their thee without form and ft and waist and so on I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled in all the hills lately I beheld and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens were fled and I beheld and lo the fruitful place was a wilderness and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord and by his fierce anger it describes a judgment a very serious judgment some people speculate that maybe a judgment associate with the fall of Satan that may have occurred before the second verse of Genesis 1 that's a speculation and this this Touhou phrase appears elsewhere but always as a result of a judgment is the point they make and that maybe what happened maybe it was a judgment of Lucifer between in first two and so in no way does this if anything would with dinosaurs and fossils they all dinosaurs died which means they were after Adam they're all after all this but this gap theory that I've just sort of touched on here was originally suggested by a Scotsman Thomas Chalmers in 1814 it's supported by the way in writings by gh Pember which is very worth reading he's quite a writer one of my favorite commentators on the Bible all my life has been Donald Grey Barnhouse and he wrote a very key book called the invisible war we'll just built on this whole issue by the way so here's a very profound scholar evangelical and and he's very much good at this G Campbell Morgan and they constants these are all people that have embraced the so called gap theory I mentioned that because most commentators today put it on the shelf they don't they don't take it event and that's why the is V doesn't touch on either because the principles there didn't want to inflame that whole discussion again it is highly speculative very controversial but it does seem to link to other passages that's why I think it's very provocative even though many people miss apply it and see the angels were well created well see the earth is aware the earth is in place in Chapter in verse 1 in the beginning God created heaven the earth the angels were created before that because they cheered when God created the earth the Sun and all that comes in day for nothing it's already there in day one many people miss that and so for further study if you want to get into this we do have some briefing packages to beyond time and space cynicism and some others GH Pember is a very worth one of the greatest books is Earth's earliest ages back in 1887 it's very readable available very widely available dollar grade barn houses book The Invisible War is one of my favorites in fact his commentary on River I have probably five or six feet of books on Revelation alone my favorite of the bunch though is down a grave our houses sanity of Revelation by the way a good he's a good guy but there's some basic issues here is there gap in verse one and two well if the dissipate how old is the universe some people the scientists try to tell us is 15 billion years old our problem is God tells us in the in Exodus chapter 20 verse 11 that he did it in six days and he does it in the context he expects us to understand those those days and so there's a big debate there both may be true by the way it may be very young it may also look like 16 years because it's being light changes and there's a whole study that's a whole nother discussion sometimes so is it less than ten thousand years old or is it more than fifteen billion and when we're the Angels created well before the earth is the key point and that's that's when Satan was created well when did Satan fall that's the debate that's the debate and people say you don't have any proof that it was then that's true can you give me an alternative when might he have fallen and you think that through you've got some interesting problems that emerge I'll leave that with you then and I got shorter challenges job on these table because where was thou and I laid the foundations of the earth des clarifies understanding who has the measures of their oven who knowest or who stretched hit the line upon it where upon the foundations there are fastened and who laid the cornerstone there when the morning stars sang together in all the sons of God shouted for joy sons of God there bara helium is a term for angels the old testament that was the morning stars and and the sons of God are cheering when the creation was done so they were created earlier they were created but even before all this so the issue really becomes what about Satan and his origin and agenda and and his destiny we've already talked about that somewhat in our study back in Isaiah 14 probably the most revealing thing here is equal twenty eight where again God is speaking to the king of Tyrus at first but he's really his his heretic was far beyond that it goes into the power behind the throne as you see there in verse thirteen thou was always been in Eden the garden of God he's talking about Satan here and we pressed the stone and it's interesting the way he describes Eden it isn't in terms of agricultural things it's in terms of colors of light every precious stone was like covering the sardius into AB as a diamond the parallel the Onyx those were all these these ways of expressing light the workmanship of that tablets and pipes was prepared the day that was created he was a great singer Steven was that was been in the Eden the garden of God and thou art the anointed cherub that covered the strange quaint wording there the cherub is a super angel The Anointed One this is the one in a that covereth is the one in charge Satan was in charge of the other angels and I have set thee so and that was upon the holy mountain of God and I was walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire that was perfect in the days from the day that thou wast created he's a created being until iniquity was found in thee that's where sin began in the heart of Satan that you know epoch of Earth and till iniquity was found in thee key passage we won't take more time of it here by the multitudes I merchandize they have filled a bit study with violence that was sinned therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God I will destroy the old covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty thou has corrupted by wisdom by reason of my brightness I will cast thee to the ground I will lay thee before Kings that they may behold thee thou has defiled the sanctuaries by the mole to thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy traffic therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee it shall devour thee and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee and all they that know the among the people shall be astonished at thee thou shalt be a terror and never shall thou be anymore how are known they know the Isaiah passage which is parallel to that we studied back in Isaiah 14 but just to refresh your memory how art thou fallen from heaven o Lucifer son of morning how ours are cut down to the ground which did weakens the nations for thou has said in thy heart I will sit in heaven I will exalt my throne upon the stars of God I will sit upon the Mount of the congregation in the sides of the north I will ascend upon the heights of the clouds I will be like the Most High the famous five I wills that was his ambition God says thou shalt be brought down to Hades to the sides of the pit they must see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider the saying is this the man that made the earth to tremble and did shake the kingdoms that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof then open not the house of his prisoners see here's an allusion to something we don't know much about when did he make the world a wilderness well it just in terms of current history of wars maybe and destroyed the cities thereof and opened not the house of his prisoners what's that talking about we don't know some scholars suspect that this may refer to events that occurred prior to the second verse of Genesis and it was all judged and destroyed and that's what the earth Peak it'd become without form and void and millions of years may have gone by and Satan unable to repair any of that until the Spirit of God brooded about waters and we see the creation occur that we have recorded in verse 2 and following the earth became without form and void and darkness upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved or brooded on the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light and then it goes on from there and so we go through and all of that but his is what we familiar with in Genesis what we might label as a recreation following a judgment eons may have continued without Satan able to replace what was once his was once his domain until the Spirit of God moved over the expanse and we see the creation as we know it take place that's that's the that's the thing that Donald Oh Donald ray Barnhouse is a book so skillfully and we have a whole briefing on the origin of evil if you want to get into that and so forth so well anyway we spent the whole time really on Isaiah 45 because Cyrus deserves the focus so it's critical both for history but also because there are future to really understand because that background will be fundamental in understanding where weenies going to happen to Babylon but then also I didn't want to to not deal with the gap theory I'm among those that I'd want to oversell it but I'd lean that way myself I'm among those that you know I think that's that's worth more study I really do but for your next session I'll give you three chapters to study they're not long ones so 46 47 48 God is going to take after the idols and and reassure Israel and it's a we're moving our way up to the climax which is 53 so we're getting there so with that let's have a closing word of Prayer and we'll have some question answer time

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Length: 54min 9sec (3249 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020