Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - Full Service

[Music] good evening everybody and welcome to Wednesday night Bible study we're glad to have you with us tonight and I was hoping we could sing through a little a little bit of the Psalms this evening and this one comes from Psalm 134 and it's that admonition in the scriptures behold bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord lift up your hands and the sanctuary and bless the Lord I know when I was growing up in as a kid we went to a church once where you just didn't lift up your hands that was with them Pentecostals did and if you lifted up your hands you're going straight to hell because you're being a weirdo but you know unfortunately that was just people being legalistic and not really reading their Bibles you know it's it's an expression we get to do not only do we get to sing with our voices but we can lift our hands to the Lord and and that's why we like to sing this song is an oldie but a goodie and it's real simple you can sing this with us and you'll memorize almost this whole chapter Psalm 134 is one of the smallest chapters in the Bible and it kind of goes like this [Music] fleshie Lou [Music] sermons lift up your hands in the sanctuary and blessing that again with the Koreans [Music] fleshie [Music] say [Music] bless she [Music] servants of Allah your voice [Music] a voice in the weary let's see [Music] the same [Music] or voice in the say [Music] yes lift up your hands in the same fresh Lord we're so thankful to be able to come into your presence Lord we pray that you would prepare us to be a sanctuary in our hearts Lord and and tonight that you'd find a congregation Lord wherever we might be in our houses in our cars worshiping you lifting up our hands and just singing these praise songs from your scriptures Lord I pray you be honor to this time tonight in Jesus name this one comes from Psalm chapter 46 and the second verse in this particularly deals with when Christ returns and you might not recognize it if you're not really familiar with what's gonna happen when Jesus returns but see if you can recognize that second verse of this Psalm chapter 46 and what's going to be happening [Music] God is our refuge and strength a very present Oh [Music] God is our refuge chance [Music] the varies press and town therefore will not we fear though the earth be rim the sea [Music] still [Music] we will be Stern [Music] verse [Music] we're glad the city nonsense he is [Music] therefore will not fear though the earth be grim though the mountains be care it's time to see beast still and [Music] yes [Music] East [Music] yes [Music] [Music] guy Sileo those ladies think we will be spilled [Music] ladies singers guys we will be stilled still and [Music] sky [Music] still in [Music] we will be still still and know that nobody is gone [Music] we will bestow still and know that [Music] this one comes from Psalm chapter 18 [Music] my god as mine in my take Rafi is my shield oh my god [Music] and I say [Music] my god is mine yes my my salvation I called you [Music] [Applause] [Music] and I [Music] and I am saying [Music] this one comes from Psalm chapter 63 [Music] and your loving-kindness is better than life my lips shall praise you I see conflicts my soul thirsts for you met my deepest me [Applause] bless you [Music] days [Music] hands up to you now three the days of my this is better and my lips ow [Music] seek your face [Music] you're [Music] bless you the days [Music] I will lift my hands up to you now give you brain all the days is [Music] days of mine [Music] Psalm chapter one [Music] day and night and then like a tree firmly planted all the grounded in your PLAs yes five the way is [Music] then like a tree firmly planted all be grounded glass [Music] follows the way is [Music] the Lord tonight though you want to open up our scriptures and let your word take seed into the soil of our hearts and bring forth good fruit Lord and be like that tree that's firmly planted by the river Lord we don't want to be letting our the word fall by the wayside we plucked up by the fowls of the air choked out by the thorns Lord we want it to be received in our hearts Lord and that that there'd be good things that would come from tonight Sonny not just another Bible study that we can check the box of Isaiah chapter 29 and 30 but instead Lord that we would be people who let this just really run through our lives and and clean out the dark places and shine light in the areas we need to know more about and Lord that your word would do its work so bless this evening we offer it now in Jesus name Amen amen all right thanks Deb this is my lovely wife Debbie if you didn't know that she's the she's the one that's for sure so thank you so much it's nice to have you singing with me well Bible and turn with me to the Book of Isaiah chapter 29 for this evening study Isaiah chapter 29 I love how these stories in Isaiah and what we've been studying in Isaiah has been really so pertinent to today and we'll see that even tonight and I would say if you missed Sunday study it had to do there with the people of Israel taking Council of men but not of God and doing stuff on their own thinking they were being really smart but they were actually being really dumb and rather than listening to God's Word they went to the world and went with the world system in the world's ways and because of that man they were headed for a heap of trouble and we're gonna see that tonight we're gonna kind of dive into that more in detail that was chapter 30 but we we need to pick up chapter 29 as we left off their last week so Isaiah 29 verse 1 it says there whoa unto Ariel - Ariel the city where David dwelt ad G year-to-year let them kill sacrifices I will distress Ariel and there shall be heaviness and sorrow and it shall be unto me as Ariel okay so what we're doing here is we've we've been seeing Isaiah the prophet handout pass out the woes right we've seen him you know saying well we saw last week whoa and ephraim there in chapter 28 now he's moved on to a place called Ariel and do you think oh poor Ariel are we talking about the mermaid you know I mean what's going on with Ariel Ariel as it turns out is another name for the city of - can anybody guess I mean if you look at the context of the verse that we just read you probably already know it says whoa - Ariel - Ariel the city where David dwelt now that starts narrowing down the cities could be Bethlem because David was from Bethlem but there was a city that was called the City of David that was also called Jerusalem and that's the city we're talking about this is the Lord using sort of a name of that's not the most common name but it is a name nonetheless and it's an interesting name Ariel and the Hebrew means lion-like or as some of your Hebrew dictionaries will say the Lion of God and that's interesting because the Lion of the tribe of Judah will rule and reign in Ariel the Lion of God is going to be there so in some ways there's a little bit of a perhaps signaling to us or time on Jerusalem but there's also that near and far prophecy that we're gonna have to be careful about tonight the near prophecy of course the Assyrians gonna come along and besieged Jerusalem and it's gonna they're gonna be hanging by a thread and we're gonna see that they'll be protected by the Lord but it's gonna be touch and go and in the same way that's gonna happen even in the future still where the the end is gonna happen and we're at we did that Psalm chapter 46 tonight where it said there is a river the streams whereof shall make the city glad we sang that and the Bible says when Christ comes to rule in Jerusalem he'll put his foot down in the same place he put his foot up do you remember where he ascended into heaven there on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and that's where he's going to return and put his foot back down in the same exact place the Bible says and there's going to be an earthquake and the earth is going to split and water is gonna gush forth from the mountains of Jerusalem there's no water source you know there's the springs here and there but you know it's up on way up you know 3,000 feet above sea level Jerusalem is way up high in the mountains of Israel and suddenly this river is gonna gush forth and go all the way to the Mediterranean Sea to the west and all the way to the Dead Sea to the east and the Bible says when Christ comes and rules and reigns it's gonna just bring everything to life the river of the stream where I shall makes the city glad that we sang there from psalm 46 all that's talking about when Christ comes and the idea of Jerusalem being called areal is really us foreshadowing when the Lion of the tribe of Judah comes and rules and reigns but that's just a little bit of a hint given to us and we're gonna see both the near and the far prophecies of this but it's gonna starting off pretty rough for the Jews woe unto Ariel Jerusalem yeah ad year-to-year let them kill sacrifices again that's Jerusalem that's where they would do sacrifice there at the altar on the temple so it's very sure to be Jerusalem but he's gonna call it Ariel now it goes on to say in verse 2 yet I will distress Ariel and there shall be heaviness and sorrow and it shall be unto me as Ariel and I will camp against the roundabout and I will lay siege against thee with a mount and I will raise forts against thee and thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit or a demonic spirit his idea there and out of the ground and I thy speech shall whisper out of the dust moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away yay it shall be at an instant suddenly wow this is a very creepy description of what's going to happen in Jerusalem you know this this language again I say as the Prophet that uses some pretty heavy-duty imagery and and you know uses all the literary devices to make this scary and he's trying to make a point he's trying to shock the Jews in to say man we know any part of that you hear these voices trying to mutter out of the dust of the ground and they sound like demonic spirits crying out that's a pretty scary deal we're talking thriller here with the Jews in Jerusalem and the Lord is trying to get their attention because they've lived in such rebellion against God and he's saying man you guys have done this to yourselves it's coming distress is coming heaviness and sorrow and you're you're gonna end up underground which means death this image of speaking from the dust is talking about from the grave and it's just a real dark and heavy-duty sort of imagery here and in Jerusalem interestingly enough has had plenty of its share of death and destruction isn't it interesting the city in the world that's called the city of peace Yahoo Salem is or Shalom is the idea there Shalom means peace the city of peace and yet is Jerusalem the city of peace as it turns out the city of peace is pretty much that's like the least thing that it is did you know in Jerusalem during its long history Jerusalem has been totally leveled and destroyed twice it's been besieged that is surrounded to where they were trying to starve the Jews out or other people that were in the city deceives 23 times in history it's been attacked by large armies more than 52 times it's been captured and recaptured 44 different times in known history I mean I don't think Dundee has that record nope nobody's fighting for dundee at least I don't think but Jerusalem what an amazing city that's just the epicenter of all this trouble and all these massive armies that have come and gone whether you're talking about the Romans or the Ottoman Turks or the British even you know I mean it's it's an amazing thing to see the Assyrians and and the Babylonians like pretty much anybody who has anybody had to get their you know claws into Jerusalem so I'm out now the thing that's amazing about that is the question I often ask when I'm sitting in Jerusalem and that is why why is Jerusalem such a controversial place and why are there so many battles and people that want to sink their claws into Jerusalem and call it their own well I'll tell you you know it's funny because the city doesn't have anything that great like I said it's up in the mountain there's no you know massive resources or beautiful water beaches or like why do people like Jerusalem technically there's not a great reason now don't get me wrong when you're sitting there in Jerusalem at nighttime as the sun's going down seeing the Sun hit the Jerusalem limestone not limestone on the sides of the hillsides there it is it is beautiful it's called the Golden City because of that bicode now one of the reasons when you look at a picture of Jerusalem all the exterior buildings are made of the same Jerusalem you know lime limestone there it's that's the code you can't build anything else they wanted to all look sort of uniform in it and it really is quite beautiful even the fancy buildings in Jerusalem they're just made of this same Jerusalem lies only this only it's polished same color but very fancy looking and and and so Jerusalem does have a certain beauty to it just even in the buildings and then you say well the history there's a lot of history there but the reason the history is there is because it's an important city but this still doesn't really answer why it's an important city well bred its it's the holy holy city of three world religions you know if you would basically you know the Muslims claim it as their third most holy site did you know that Christians Catholics Jews we all claim it to be the holy city of Jerusalem now who said that it was holy first well that would be perhaps the Jews because the Jews there were given Jerusalem during the reign of David that's why it's called the city of David David City here in our text and it became the City of David and then and then Solomon David's son the next king built the Temple in Jerusalem and that's what made it the holy city of Jerusalem where God would dwell and the people would worship God there on the Temple Mount so the Jews had it first then the Jew Jesus I heard a thing on the news today there was an interview of some somebody talking about how Jesus was an african-american or like a black guy and you know the newscaster didn't know what to say to that she said well I think he's from the Middle East you know and I just thinking oh my goodness people forget and and you know the black lives matter guy was saying you know Jesus no doubt was was you know black skinned and and the interesting thing is who cares what color skinny is the truth is he was a Jew who died for the sins of red brown yellow black and white they're all precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world all the children it's it's it's so sad that everyone stuff up the fact is a Jew someone who is hated and despised by the world and despised by the Romans and and was minimalized Jesus a Jew went to the cross for the sins of humanity men that's just powerful so Jesus being a Jew was fulfilling Jewish religion when Jesus came to die on the cross it wasn't the doing away with Judaism and Christianity replacing Judaism I would make the argument that Christianity unbeknownst to some Christians and that definitely unbeknownst to some Jews Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism Jesus is the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world he was a Jew who died a brutal death for the sins of the whole world and that's why when Abraham was given the promise by all all nations of the earth will be blessed by you Abraham how would the world be blessed by the Jews I could number the many reasons why we're blessed because of Jews but the greatest reason is that by a Jew came salvation to the whole world so now the city of Jerusalem has become the most holy site for Jews and for Christians because Jesus a Jew died on the cross for the sins of the world in Jerusalem about six hundred years after that Mohammed came along and and there and Mecca and Medina was doing his thing and and basically was coming out of sort of more of a polytheistic sort of world where there were many sort of gods and what-have-you but the question is why did suddenly Mohammed circle around the one God the crescent moon God of Allah and there you know he chose this kind of black stone from Modena it's kind of a it's kind of a long story but many people believe he was just trying to rally troops around that single cause of one god the that's when Islam was started six hundred years after Christ and you know of course Muhammad borrowed a lot of things from Christianity and Judaism frankly but just kind of twisted the stories a little bit to make it sort of fit his narrative six hundred years later don't forget Islam was the johnny-come-lately religion that sort of was mimicking Christianity and Judaism it's just the truth study it historically don't get mad at me just read history but all that to say you say well when did Jerusalem become the third most holy city of course there was Mecca number one Medina number two jerusalem number three when did that happen fairly recently in history do you remember Yasser Arafat the Palestinian PLO guy back in the munich killings of the jewish olympics athletes back in munich he was responsible for that but he was this you know the PLO guy that got the Palestinian Liberation Organization sort of up and running back in the 60s 70s and 80s he was big but interestingly enough it was his great uncle his great uncle the Grand Mufti who decided to declare Jerusalem this is in fairly modern history modern-day history where the Grand Mufti said oh by the way Jerusalem's the third most holy site why because he ascended from the Temple Mount there which they wouldn't call the Temple Mount they called Aqsa the Axio mosque which was built later after the temple was destroyed they built the ox come us and and there's the Dome of the rock shrine everybody thinks that's the big Muslim thing and it is a Muslim thing right now the gold dome thing but next to it's a smaller dark colored dome that's their most holy site is a LOX laksa and them and that's where Mohammed apparent apparently according to the Grand Mufti ascended and went to heaven so it's a fairly new thing and the reason I point that out is Jerusalem never was really a Muslim thing until modern history and the Muslims that are there the Palestinians that are there trying to erase the history of the Jews and say no no no Jerusalem's always been ours and there's no juice if there was never a temple ever hear of Jews there they're dead they're rewriting history and it's it's quite sad because a lot of people are buying it and now they're teaching it in colleges and universities saying that yeah the Jews just you know never we're really in Israel and all this stuff crazy crazy they're trying to erase history and so Jerusalem has become this hotbed of controversy and guess who controls the Temple Mount today well it's the Muslim the Jews control Jerusalem but when Moshe Dayan took over the city back you know back when he you know they stormed there on the and took back the Temple Mount motion ions the guy with the patch remember him he gave this the the Temple Mount back has sort of a gesture of peace kind of a land for peace sort of attempt to make the Muslims happy and one thing that's never worked is land for peace with the Muslim they went all the land or there'll be no peace and and so Jerusalem because of this issue the Palestinians claim it is their city their own the Arabs say it's their city of the Jews since their city the Christians say it's their City but the Erb Israeli conflict is very much largely around this issue of Jerusalem and the reason this is good for you to know this as a Bible student on a Wednesday night like this is you have to understand the reason Jerusalem is such an important city is not because it's beautiful it is two-degree not because it's amazing it's because God says in his word Jerusalem is mine that's that's the whole deal right there God says my name is on Jerusalem I think that's interesting that it here it's called Ariel or the Lion of the Lord or the lion because in a way that sort of speaks to the name of the Lord the Lion of the tribe of Judah but we know that the Lord says Jerusalem is mine this is mine he puts his name on Jerusalem so anybody that claims that Jerusalem is there is the wrong it's God's and that's why Jerusalem has been the epicentre of battle of conquest of besieging the city for centuries for millennia it's just because God says that's my city and and here's the thing I gotta say and we're we're planning hopefully to take another journey with Athey creatures to Israel in 2021 November that's our goal so we have people already kind of pre signing up so don't let us don't don't forget to let us know when sign ups happen you do that kind of thing but one of the things I just love to do is bring people to Jerusalem because you can't really know until you're there you can sense that it's God's city and it's it's noisy and it's crazy and it's mayhem and there's there's just it's just kind of this surreal experience but when you're standing in Jerusalem you definitely sense there's something about the city that's just God he's got his name on it and that's why there's tension that's why there's anger and that's why there's trouble now interesting by the way people say well Brett I can't believe you guys take a group over to Jerusalem that's scary is it don't you have to go from bunker to bunker and dodge those missiles and everything the answer's no Jerusalem is safer and more peaceful right now than Portland by far Portland is way more crazy especially the last three or four months but I'm all that to say when we go to Jerusalem people do Marvel say this truly is God's city and you can't really put your finger on why other than God chose it and he chose that during the time of Abraham when Abraham took Isaac up to sacrifice him on Mount Moriah that was Jerusalem before Jerusalem was there as it was God's when David took it that which was called the city of GEB use at the time and then it became God's city when the City of David all about to say Jerusalem is the epicenter of Bible prophecy it's where everything is gonna come down it's where Jesus is gonna set up his throne to rule and reign during the Millennial Kingdom and it's gonna be a whole new place at that time now you say Brett why are you going into all this because this prophecy and talking about the Jews being wiped out in Jerusalem and people crying out from the earth on this very creepy scary imagery it's not just what's gonna happen with the Assyrians and the Babylonians but it's also going to be fulfilled these prophecies at the very end and the day of the Lord during the Tribulation Period these same kind of things are going to happen to Jerusalem and Zachariah the Prophet actually deals with this can I point you to that why'd you keep your finger here and go with me to Zechariah chapter 12 Zacharias toward the end of the Old Testament there zechariah chapter 12 and there is a cariah's describing the the the day of the Lord and what's gonna you know signs of the times kind of thing and Zechariah says something that is fascinating to me in Chapter 12 of Zechariah starting in verse 2 he says in Zechariah 12 to behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling you might notice your margin says slumber or poison it'll put you to sleep death wise like it'll knock you out or be like drinking poison anybody that tries to handle it he says I'll make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege or besieged both against Judah and against Jerusalem and in that day that's a key phrase your Bible students though we're talking about in that day or time of the day Lord when Christ comes rules and reigns in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it you know what's interesting is when zechariah wrote this all the people in the earth could care less about jerusalem there was a few people groups you know once in a while the Assyrians the Babylonians Romans the British whenever but isn't it interesting that the whole world right now is keeping their eye on Jerusalem there's you know was such a big deal when Donald Trump said Jerusalem's the Jews and that's their capital city and and everybody thought everyone's gonna freak out but the truth is now that's what it was so he was just stating the obvious and and when America put its stamp on that the Jews were celebrating because the world says no it's not those pesky Jews their occupiers they say even though that's a total false narrative so what does the UN say the UN has been fighting for you know decades now saying the Jews are occupiers or the West Bank they need to get out of there they need to be driven out they've voted all these resolutions against Israel and against the Jews you know and it's amazing you know they've only got a tiny handful of resolutions they've said against North Korea or against Iran but they got dozens and dozens of resolutions they've charged against those Jews in Jerusalem it's ridiculous yeah you know the Jews are the only people who could say God gave us this city in our land no but anybody else on the earth can say that not only that but the world gave them Jerusalem when they felt guilty because the Holocaust back when the League of Nations which led up to the United Nations kind of said okay by one vote our president finally he said yes let's let Israel be a nation so may 14th 1948 Israel becomes a nation and Jerusalem is you know part of it given to the Jews but all that to say you say Brett okay so what's the problem then if the world gave the city to them if the Jews were given that city by God and everything should be fine but here's the thing there's a spiritual event people try to make this a political thing the arab-israeli conflict or they try to make in a you know an ethnic issue of Jews hating Palestinians it's not that they they try to make it this that and the other thing but what it is it's a spiritual conflict that we're we're wrestling not against flesh and blood but as principalities powers spiritual wickedness Jerusalem's got that and that's why it's a hotbed of controversy so it says here in Zechariah 12 it says listen it says I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and anybody who tries to burden themselves verse 3 I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone all that burden themselves shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered to get against turn the page to Zechariah 14 just just a couple chapters forward and check this out this is even more about this in chapter 14 verse 1 behold the day of the law comes and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the women ravished and half the city shall go forth into captivity and the residue of the people shall be not cut off from the city then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as he fought in the day of battle and his feet shall stand that day on the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives there shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west and there should be a very great valley and half the mountain remove toward the north and half toward the south and you shall flee to the valley of the mountains and shall reach to us all which is Petra what's this all about and it talks about the Living Waters in verse 8 going from Jerusalem like we talked about earlier tonight what's a karai's saying he's saying they're gonna try in the last days to divide Jerusalem in half now if you know anything about today's politics if you watch you know CNN MSNBC Fox News those bastions of truth I say that jokingly but you'll hear them all say you know about Jerusalem they need to there needs to be a two-state solution it's interesting that Donald Trump and his what did he call it the deal of the century I think or something like that he's made this deal of a century to try to solve the arab-israeli conflict and all these presidents whether you're talking Jimmy Carter you know Clinton Obama you know George Bush Senior George Bush dear they've all tried to solve these Arab arab-israeli conflict they they foolishly thought that they can somehow leave their legacy by solving this you know century old millennia old problem stupid because here's the thing it's not going to be solved ultimately until Jesus comes that's what it says here they're gonna try to divide Jerusalem and what's interesting do you member when Obama when he was president and he said we need to get Jerusalem back to the 1967 borders now that border used to chop Jerusalem in half and you know when Moshe Dayan led his soldiers up to they took that other half of Jerusalem and took it back because they were being threatened by these Arab nations they defended themselves and gained half of Jerusalem back and and so now Jerusalem is Israel since 1967 but the UN and the various you know groups want to see Jerusalem divided back into that 67 border and what's interesting is here the Bible says in the last days they will seek to divide Jerusalem in half and that's what they're doing right now they're trying to do that even Trump's deal of a century or whatever that he's come up with that President the Prime Minister Netanyahu signed off on makes provision to have a two-state solution Palestinians and Jews and two states and and one of the things I want to do is divide Jerusalem and give part of it over to the Palestinians now don't get me wrong I do care deeply for the Palestinian people and and they're they're in a tough spot because the Arab nations are pressuring them to occupy and take over that region and the Jews are saying you guys can't take over this is Israel it's not Palestine it's Israel and so there's this huge tension over there and I believe the Palestinians are largely a pawn that are being played by the world and it's really sad to me by the way there's a real revival happening within Palestinian people coming to know Christ and it's kind of a cool sideline deal that I think if the Lord is doing there but but all that to say Jerusalem is the epicenter of all things pertaining to Christ's return and those things that Sakurai says about them dividing Jerusalem they're gonna they're gonna divide Jerusalem in half and it's gonna be bloody in the Battle of Armageddon toward the end before Jesus returns it's gonna be horrible and Israel will be hanging by a thread that's the bad news and if you're a Jew in Israel and you're listening to this I'm really sorry people say well I don't like that story but I would just humbly submit it doesn't matter if you like it or not God's Word the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament says that's what's gonna happen in the last days and it's beat because largely the Jews today have rejected the Messiah Jesus now that's the bad news the good news is when Jesus comes the Bible says in all of Israel will be saved God is not done with the Jews he's got a beautiful plan for the Jews and when all the nations of the world come against Israel which they're posturing right now for that all the nations except for the United States strangely enough we're like the one nation that's sticking with the Jews in Israel the rest of them pretty much Forsaken and I've gathered themselves against Israel but once the United States is taken out of the way and boy they don't get me started on that how could that be how could the United States you know United needs to be taken out of the picture well there's there's a lot of stuff we go there maybe we'll talk about that in our next prophecy update but all that to say it's coming down exactly the Bible says and and the reason I point this out is because this scripture tonight and back to Isaiah boy we're just cutting along here tonight but you know he's saying the Jerusalem's gonna be in total distress there's gonna be heaviness and sorrow sorrow and God's gonna do what he's gonna do and the Jews are gonna be in trouble and it's largely because of their rebellion against the Lord well verse six thou shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire scary stuff imagery of destruction of Jerusalem and this earthquake might just be part of that earthquake when Christ puts his foot down on the Mount of Olives verse seven and the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel even all that fight against her and her munition and that de-stresser shall be as a dream in the night vision so basically it's gonna be like a nightmare as what's being said there and it goes in verse eight it shall even be as when an hungry man dream a--the and behold if he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreama 'the and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his soul hath appetite so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against mount zion there's gonna be no satisfaction there's gonna be frustration it's like eating cotton candy you're starving but you're you're not getting any substance and those that try to take Jerusalem are gonna find emptiness there and the reason because God is gonna take it God is the one and this is where Zechariah says those who handle this it's like a couple trembling a burdensome stone no one can handle it so he goes on there Isaiah talking to the Jews he says in verse 9 stay yourselves and wonder cry ye out and cry they are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with strong drink for the Lord that poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and have closed your eyes the prophets and your rulers the seers have he covered and the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is sealed and the book is delivered to him that has not learned saying read this I pray thee and he says I'm not learned I can't read it I can't learn it now there's some language here if you're familiar with the Bible you're going oh I know what this is talking about verse 10 the Lord hath poured you a spirit of deep sleep on you and has closed your eyes the prophets and the rulers the seers you're not hearing you're not seeing you're not connecting the dots and this is the condition of the nation Israel as we speak isn't it interesting that the Jews just totally don't believe in Jesus Christ now I know there's a few around the world choose the Jews for Jesus and people who believes I have a good friend in Jerusalem as a Christian but he's rare man it's it's it's like it's really hard to find a true Christ believing Christ's loving worshiping Christian in Jerusalem because the Jews there the Bible says their eyes have been blinded it says right here in Isaiah he says your eyes have been blinded now Paul the Apostle jumps on this in Romans chapter 11 let me read it to you in Romans 11 it says in verse 7 what then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeks for that's that cotton-candy thing but the election hath obtained it who's the elect that's the Gentiles that we've obtained what we've been looking for in Jesus were the elect and at this point it says the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded according as it is written God has given them a spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see ears that they should not hear unto this day see Paul's quoting quoting in Romans 11 Isaiah 29 you know verse verse 10 there that we were just reading and then he says and David saith let their table be made a snare their trap a stumbling block and recompense unto them let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back alway the Jews right now because of their rejection of the Messiah of B of they're going with the world and with idolatry and all the Old Testament stories we realize the Jew they have been blinded and it's happened to Israel now because of that we as Gentiles have been warned about something because we're the ones that are knowing Jesus were the ones that have been saved and so listen to this he goes on and says let me go to verse 13 of Romans 11 for I speak to you Gentiles and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine office if by any means I provoke to emulation them which are my flesh the Jews and might save some of them for if the casting away of them be reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead in other words I'm preaching to you Gentiles thankful Lord for us and hopefully you and will provoke the Jews to say it man we wish we could have what they have they have peace through Jesus forgiveness of sin and this grace and Paul saying I just hope that they're provoked to want to know Jesus is the idea there for if the first-fruit be holy that's the Jews the lump of it also is holy and if the root be holy so are the branches and if some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild olive tree weren't grafted in among them and with them partakers of the root of an fatness of the olive tree boast not against the branches but if thou boast thou bear'st not the root but the root thee what's he saying it's a mouthful but basically saying you Gentiles you're the broken-off wild olive tree branch it's just broken and you were dead but the the tree is of the Jews salvation is of the Jews Jesus's of the Jews and guess what you and I we got to be crafted in that's what he's saying that wild olive branch gets grafted on to the the tree and if you've ever seen the grafting process it's kind of cool I got to do this when I was a kid we had an orchard and you could do that and it would actually grow into the branch and become it would life sustained on that branch because of the tree would nourish the branch and bring it back to life and that's the imagery Paul's saying you Gentiles have luckily been grafted in that's why it's not so bright when churches say God's done with the Jews the Jews are evil because they've rejected Jesus and God has cut them down no you better hope not because you're grafted into that tree and that that tree if it's dead you're dead and that's what Paul's saying and so he says don't be arrogant Gentiles and meanwhile the church has been just that the church largely says oh yeah God's done with the Jews it's called replacement theology where the Jews have been replaced by the church that's what people teach and it's a wrong teaching read Romans 9 10 and 11 if you give a careful read to this you cannot be arrogant and say God has done with the Jew and you better hope that he's not done with you because if God says you know what I'm kind of tired of the Jews and I'm done with them what keeps them from saying that about you I'm tired of the gen they're also losers so I'm gonna chop them both down that's not God God made an everlasting covenant with the Jews and he's gonna keep that covenant praise the Lord for that because God is faithful and and just like that he's going to be faithful to us the Gentiles as well so that's why he says boast not against the branches Gentiles but if thou boast thou bear'st not the root you're not connected to the real tree and then you know he says in verse 21 for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he spare thee not that's what I just said if God gave up on the Jews why he's not gonna give up on the Gentiles that's Paul's argument and then he says later on in verse 25 for I would not brethren that you be ignorant of the mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel until so so Isaiah said you're blinded right now how long are they gonna be blind wideness has happened in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so all of Israel shall be saved Romans chapter 11 verse 25 and 26 what's the timing on this right now gee the Jews have been blinded really largely from Isaiah's time all the way to the present and they only see like a shadow of what God is doing but there's coming a time without blindness will be lifted from their eyes when is that when the fullness of the Gentiles come in and that is the church age the Gentile church when Jesus died on the cross that's when the church age began and man we've been blessed we grafted in to that vine that's gone sort of dormant but it's coming back and we're sustaining life through the Jews do you understand that I hope you see that that's why it's so goofy to say God's done with the Jews you haven't really read your Bible if you think that I believe that's huge and important so it's the church age and when's the fullness of the Gentiles I believe that that's the rapture of the church when God finally says okay the day of the Lord is upon us rapture the church happens that's the Gentile church along with some of the Jews remember Ephesians 2 says it's Jew and Gentile made into one new man and the church and when that rapture happens all of them there'll be us we will be taken away to be with the Lord forever and then during the Tribulation Period well the the blindness that has happened to Israel be lifted from their eyes and they'll see Jesus as the Messiah I'm trying to fill in some of those blanks for you and sorry we tend to belabor this point but I hope you're seeing the bigger picture here back to Isaiah chapter 29 their eyes have been you know closed it says there in verse 10 verse 11 and the vision of all is becoming to you as the words of a book that is sealed that ringabel remember Daniel wrote his book is that okay Daniel seal up the words of this book but in the end of book of Revelation when John the Apostle was still alive he said now do not seal up the words of this book that's why the Gentiles we get to see Bible prophecy and we understand what God is doing to his people the Jews and us the Gentiles we have an understanding because the words have been not sealed for us but they were sealed for the Jews blindness and it goes on and they said you know they couldn't learn it they couldn't receive it verse 12 like we read earlier because they're blind that's the problem verse 13 wherefore the Lord said for as much as this people draw near me with their mouths and there was their lips to honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear toward me as taught by the precept of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work among those people even a marvelous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark and they say who sees us and who knoweth us they think little kid little preschooler covers their eyes and says you can't see me that's what the Jews are doing Lord we're hiding from you and you can't find us the Lord's like I know where you are I can see you and the Jews are in that place right now we're who can see us who can know us but the Lord saying I can verse sixteen surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay for the work for shall the work say of him that made it he made me not or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it he has no understanding isn't it interesting that so much of the world has rejected God as creator he's the one who created all things and here you know Isaiah says you can the vessel that the Potter's making reply against the Potters say you know why have you made me like this and and you know can you say you actually didn't make me I just made myself this is Isaiah basically saying God was creator the Jews were giving him credit for that just like so many today don't give God credit for creation we believe in this fantasy called evolutionary theory that's all it is by the way as a theory far from proven and if somebody tells you it's proven they are not being honest nor are they being scientific science requires a real process for proof proof and and it falls short interesting because I was reading this guy Lecompton nuit or de nous as he's called a French mathematician and philosopher and he did a whole lot of work on surface tension there was kind of famous for that particularly learning all kinds of crazy Brainiac type stuff but not a believer in God but also he came to the conclusion that evolution was impossible not a Christian says evolution is fantasy and here's why all this so he he was into math so he was doing the work with probability for a single molecule of hide dissymmetry to be formed by the action of my chance deny that on the average the time needed to form one such molecule of our terrestrial globe would be about 10 - 253 power billions of years did you hear what I just said you math people are starting to short-circuit if you know what this number means the idea of one molecule on our globe forming would take the amount of time that would be equal to 10 to the 253 power billions of years but continued annoy ironically said let's admit that no matter how small the chance it could happen one molecule could be created by such astronomical odds of chance however he said one molecule is of no use hundreds of millions of identical ones are also necessary thus we either admit the miracle or doubt the absolute truth of science nobody's going to teach to that or be honest with you about that in your colleges or high schools with all these evolutionary people trying to prove gods in existence that's the thing they start with that presupposition that there's no way that God could have created the heavens in there so we're gonna believe in evolution and what's even more sad is these Christians who are saying well Brett I believe in theistic evolution I believe it could have been through involution Airy processes that's that's not what the Bible says you're just not being honest about what the Bible actually says in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth the earth was without form and void and he spoke the worlds into existence and he created the world in six days and on the seventh day he rested well Brett there's problems with that listen I understand that our brains can't get around that and it's it's a little bit hard but how absurd is it really G K Chesterton in the quotable Chesterton said this it's absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything see at least the Christian has a presupposition of God and his exist that we believe God always was always has been always will be he's eternal in nature and at least we have that you know but the evolutionist has nothing so you have to start with nothing and then something of something if it's like this frog plus princess equals handsome prince that's called a fairytale but if you have frog plus ten billion years equals handsome prince that's called science see that's that's the problem science is worse than a fairy tale like way worse and I just don't have that much faith you have to have like a Looney tune goofy weird faith to believe that even with billions and billions of years that things evolved from goo to you the prebiotic soup and some shock of electricity of some kind coming from nowhere out of nothing just suddenly breathe life into something and cells and suddenly this little squirmy thing started to grow and then it grew a pimple but that pimple started to reproduce as a mutation in the cell and that pimple became more of a pimple and pretty soon that pimple became sensitive to light and after millions and millions of years of the pimple growing and replicating in the cell suddenly that little bump became sort of an eyeball and started to actually see stuff oh yeah and then you have these little sexual organs on creation and creatures and and you know for millions of years these little organs we're starting to form I mean well how how's everything reproducing before those sexual organs are actually formed hmm that's something we have a little bit of a gap there but you know evolution is just have to kind of ignore all kinds of fantasy and problems that they have and I know there's some of you that think you're really smart and scientific and you're a mad mad at me right now I would just give you the challenge to honestly ask some of the real questions that I've noticed a lot of times the so-called academia ignores and there are very scientific people you know if you if you don't like Christians and if you hate me I understand but check out how many secular non believing scientists are saying no we we can't believe in evolution is too far-fetched like Lokhande Noah he was right he was honest and sadly we don't have too many honest people out there anymore well all that to say this is what the Jews mindset is you know God didn't make us there's no intelligent design the pots telling the potter i made myself and you don't know how you made me that's that's basically the jews so all that to say he's indicted them for that kind of a worldview well quickly verse 17 is it not yet a very little while and lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest right now it's a minefield of her in lebanon it used to be a beautiful forest now it's a mess because of hezbollah up in the north over israel but it has gone through its seasons of beauty and glory and then now it's in war-torn ugliness but i believe it's possible the lebanon will become beautiful again someday in the Far version of this prophecy its verse eighteen and in that day shall the Deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel for the terrible one is brought to nought or interprets of nothing or the terrible is the idea of intimidating the intimidating one will be brought to nothing and thus corner is consumed and all that watch for iniquity are cut off that make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of nothing you know all things will be made right in the Millennial Kingdom the poor will be blessed the intimidating will be put down you know the idea is you know there's gonna be joy for the meek like Jesus talked about blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth that's going to happen the meek are gonna be inheritors of the earth right now it's the loud and the boisterous and the strong but that's going to be turned upside down in the Millennial Kingdom first one is you therefore thus saith the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of jacob jacob shall not now be ashamed neither shall his face now wax pale this is all talking about now when israel will be saved romans chapter 11 verse 25 through 27 so he's saying that won't be ashamed at that point verse 23 but when he seeth his children the work of mine hands in the midst of him they shall sanctify my name and glorify the Holy One of Jacob and shall fear the God of Israel they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmured shall learn doctrine chapter 30 we looked at on Sunday quite a bit let's let's take kind of try to get through this in verse 1 it says woe to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with the covering but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh to trust in the shadow of Egypt therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion we saw how today Christians in the church are sliding down a slippery slope to trust in the world Egypt's the type of the world Pharaoh's a type of Satan and they were putting their trust in Egypt and in the in Pharaoh to save them from the Assyrian army by the way this is also that time if you recall where Hezekiah tried to appease the Assyrians you remember this he did it by going to them before he made an alliance with Egypt he took the counsel of men and said what do we need to do to make you happy and they said well if you give us lots of gold do you remember where Hezekiah the king during the time of Isaiah prophesied this do you remember what he did he went and got all the gold in the temple in Jerusalem and he piled it up and gave it to this areas in here and he tried to pay him off but that never works by the way you know you can maybe bind some time a little bit but the Syrian still came ready to trounce so Hezekiah did this a couple times this taking counsel of the world but not of God he goes on in verse 4 for his princes were at zou an and his ambassadors came to Haney's those are Egyptian cities by the way that wouldn't be able to help them verse 5 they were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them nor be a help nor profit but shame and also reproach so the Egyptians they thought they'll save us what will align ourselves with the Egyptians that was a second harebrained idea has a kind the guys had but on the Lord's he's coming down on them for making that peace treaty and alliance with the Egyptians he's in man they're gonna be your shame verse 6 the burden of the Beast of the south into the land of trouble and anguish from whence come the young and the old lion the Viper the fiery flying serpent they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses and their treasures upon bunches of camels to a people that shall not profit them for the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose therefore have I cried concerning this their strength is to sit still now this last phrase some of your new translations make up some really kind of funny lines you'll see the word Rahab in some of your newer translations and I believe it's the new American Standard Standard says Rahab have become exterminated or something like that and I forgot what the NIV says but it's just kind of this funny thing and you think what is it brother says their strength is to sit still the reason that it's translated so weird is we don't know what some of these words are they're like they're so ancient these Hebrew words that Isaiah is using it's hard to translate but upon close inspection all of these translations do kind of fit a certain narrative and it's like this idea the Egyptians are not going to help you but they're gonna they're gonna either be sitting still twiddling their thumbs when they should be helping you or the idea is you will be sitting still because you won't be able to do anything but it's just the ideas the Egyptians are gonna be in vain they're gonna not be able to help you and you're gonna be toast trusting in the Egyptians so they're basically the word Rahab can also be pride or strength you know you're proud that you're linked to these Egyptians but you're gonna be sitting still verse 8 now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come and forever and ever that's what we're reading right here we're reading what they wrote in a book about this time thank the Lord we have this thousands of years later to read in a book that's the Lord told him now go write in a book first nine that this is a rebellious people lying children children that will not hear the law of the Lord which say to the seers see not and to the prophets prophesy not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesy deceits get you out of the way turn aside of your path cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us who would do this who would say we only want to hear stuff we want to hear we don't want to hear what the prophets really have to say we don't want to know what the seers are really seeing that's depressing the truth hurts so we'd rather just listen to what we want to hear who would do that well as it turns out the Bible says in the last days Amos chapter 8 verse 11 behold the days come saith Lord that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor of thirst for water but of the hearing of the words of the Lord and they shall wander from sea to sea and from North even to east and they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it there's a day coming where people will not have ears to hear the word of the Lord and I think we're there that's the way it was back then when Isaiah's coming against these these children of Israel say man you guys tell your prophets we don't wanna hear prophecy the seers are the ones who were like wise men who saw with wisdom what was coming then we don't want to see we don't just see anymore no prophecy no singing just be quiet here TED talks we only want to hear what Freud has to say or psychology or we only want to hear the stuff that makes us happy or things that we think are correct but the Word of God we don't want to hear it see I'm concerned and man I can go off on this one for a long time one of the greatest problems that we're having is these last days that I believe we're living in is people don't want to hear the word anymore the idea of a church going verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book he used to be kind of a common thing in America or around the church around the world but now we're the exception there's very few churches still taking up book my book some people do it you know a book of the Bible here in that which is step in the right direction but I think the book by book going through the whole scripture and talking about what the Bible says not my opinion on how to balance your checkbook or having experts come in on marriage and and TED talks on certain things that sound so impressive and it's like we want to just take in we've got all this information but we're not doing well as a people and we're just plugging our ears saying we don't want to hear the truth you might say well Brett you know you're teaching the Bible and you've got quite a group of people you know we get like 30,000 people on a weekend watching our Harlow online service that's great but do you realize how tiny that is like compared to the world you know it's it's interesting to me is you know when you look at social media and your you know effectiveness and all this I find it interesting because there there's people that I know that are into fashion and they have you know Instagram on fashion and they have you know 30 40 times more followers than your pastor or you know people that are Bible teachers like the stuff that people love to follow it's kind of not the Bible people but they'll follow just about anything else it's amazing you know people talking about health and essential oils millions of followers people that want to talk about the Bible not so much it just kind of shows our culture and what we're really interested in and the things that we think are important now I'm not saying all those other things are and I'm just saying what does our culture want to hear as it turns out largely they don't want to hear a guy like me saying here's what the Bible says and there's a lot of pushback on that that's just the truth of the matter I'm blessed because I have a bunch of you that are saying Brett we're on board and we're really glad we have a chance to get in the scriptures tonight and go into Bible and I'm so thankful for this congregation that's willing but you guys are kind of the rare I know that's a lot of people that are tuning in tonight and that's I'm so happy about that but the one thing the Lord's put on my art these last couple of years is we need to reach as many people as we can as we're living and I believed these last days and some of you may have seen our attempts and efforts to reach more people and some people have not liked it but we like the old days that Creek where we didn't have any online stuff and it was just us sitting in the little room getting in the scriptures those were the good old days those were fun times but why wouldn't we want to see more and more people saved to come to know Christ there's so many people deceived by false religious systems and people's ideas of what a Christian is or there's so many goofy ideas out there that look people listen to all this goofy stuff on YouTube and stuff I just think we have a unique opportunity in these days to reach as many people as we can and so if you do see us doing stuff like that at a that Creek it's not because we want to say well let's let's try to get pastor Brett to be you know more out there that's that's not our goal at all I'm if you know me personally that's the last thing in the world I want but what I do want is to have Jesus known and I want his word to be heard and if somebody will hear that from me great that's the goal the Lord uses the weak and the foolish things like me to confound the wise and and you to guess what we all qualify to be used mightily in these days where people are saying I don't want to hear it and they want they'd much rather hear black lives matter and their philosophy than actually hearing what the Bible really says that's just the truth of the matter we're living in the days the Bible long ago said would be here or there'd be a famine in the land where people would not be really wanting to hear it anymore that's what happens here verse 12 of chapter 31 or 30 pardon me 30 verse 12 wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel because you despised this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and stay there on therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breech ready to fall swelling out in a high wall who's breaking cometh suddenly and an instant and he shall break it as the breaking of a Potter's vessel that is broken in pieces he shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it as shred or shard to take fire from hearth or to take water out of the pit in other words you're like a pot your wall of protection that you think you're in it's going to shatter like a pot there's not I'm gonna be a any semblance of a pot left it's gonna be worthless and that's the thing the Lord is telling us you know if you if you're really into this and that that's not something Lords into it's just gonna shatter someday and ski you're gonna be there left with nothing but shards that are gonna just be a waste for verse 15 thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel in returning and rest shall you be saved in quietness and confidence shall your strength shall be your strength and you would not but you said no for we will flee upon horses therefore you shall flee and we will ride upon the Swift therefore they that pursue you will be Swift 1,000 she'll flee at the rebuke of one and the Ryoka 5 shall you flee till you be left as the beacon upon the top of a mountain as the ensign on a hill in the book of Deuteronomy there in chapter 17 it talks about how the children of Israel would when they were walking the floor if they were keeping his commandments attitudes and judgments that you know five of them would chase a hundred and a hundred of them would chase ten thousand if they were obedient to God but here in this passage 1,000 are gonna be running at the rebuke of one Assyrian like how the table has turned because they had not walked with and the promises of God some of them are nullified by the behaviors of the of the people so now they're just running for their lives and we looked at verses 15 16 17 and 18 on Sunday when we talked about you know hurry worry scurry and do we listen to the world are we aligned with the world are we listening to the Word of God and so he goes on in verse 18 says therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment blessed are all they that wait for him there's two things there there's people that wait on the Lord wait for the Lord and there's the people of God's waiting for and it seems the rebellious children of Israel he's just waiting so he's put blindness in their eyes and now for centuries they've been kind of walking around blind but the Lord's waiting for that time where he's gonna lift the blindness and the Lord is patient long-suffering toward people so he's gonna keep his covenant and promise with the Jews and he does with us but the question is who's waiting on whom is it you waiting upon the Lord is Lord waiting on you that's the question is he waiting you for you to repent and stop listening to the world more than the word to stop you know thinking things are true that are actually false and in the Lord say man I'll wait on you you can be stressed and anxious and weird and all that stuff if you want to all wait the Lord says but I'd rather be the one waiting on the Lord just Lord moving your time in your way with me have your way with us that's what happens well verse 19 for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem thou shalt weep no more he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee and though the Lord give you the bread of adversity the water of affliction yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore but then I shall see thy teachers so the you know the Jews are not listening to those would speak the truth they put them off in the corner but that's not going to have forever verse 21 and ninety years shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the way walk e in it when you turn to the right hand and when you to the left the person that's seeking the Lord the person is looking to the Word of God they're gonna have that still small voice whispering turn right turn left don't you want that direction in your life that comes from just being linked up with the Lord tuned into the Lord in his word verse 22 you shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold thou shall cast them away as a minced rest's cloth thou shalt say unto it get thee hints then shall he give the reign of thy seed that thou shall sow the ground with all and bread of the increase of the earth and it shall be fat and plenteous in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures the oxen likewise and the young asses that year the ground shall eat clean provender which have been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan and there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill rivers and streams of water in the great day of the great slaughter when the towers fall moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be as Sevenfold as the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bind us up the breech of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound this is talking about the kingdom when Christ comes and rules it's gonna be very different people think the kingdom is gonna be just like today only Jesus is gonna be off in Jerusalem ruin a true ruling and reigning and you and I are gonna be sitting here in Portland doing the same thing we're doing today it's not gonna be like that it's gonna be radical the moon's gonna give off light like daytime the sun's gonna be seven times brighter well Brett will all die then well not necessarily we're given new bodies who knows what we can take who knows what this is gonna look like but it's gonna be great and there's gonna be increase in plenteous in the earth that's what's being said here verse 27 behold the name of the Lord cometh from far burning with his anger and the they're of his heavy his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire his breath as an overflowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity and there shall be a people heard me a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to error this is all talking about Christ's return the Battle of Armageddon the blood flowing the horse's mane some of this imagery for some of you is familiar but the idea is he can do what he wants to with humanity causing people like with a bridle he'll be able to cause them to go whatever direction he wants them to go verse 29 but you the believers the people that are following the Lord the Jews and I believe also the raptured church you shava song as in the night when the holy song solemnity is kept and gladness of heart as one as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord to the Mighty One of Israel and the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall show the Lightning down on his of his arm with the indignation of his anger with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and Tempest and hailstones these are all images of Christ in his return the Tribulation Period revelation 6 or 19 when God sets up the stage for his second coming now what Christ is gonna come and the hailstones scattering earthquakes storms all that stuff is predicted during that time now remember there's a coming world leader in that time and he's called the Assyrian in the Bible so in the near prophecy of Isaiah we're talking about the Assyrians but at night as gays as he goes past the Assyrian 701 BC to the Assyrian who knows 2021 B ad or whenever that's gonna be I'm not naming a date but look at verse 31 forth as though the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down which smote with a rod that's another name for this coming world leader Antichrist the Assyrian so I think we're talking about future still now this gets really interesting verse 32 and in every place where the ground and staff shall pass which the Lord shall lay upon him it shall be with table right and harps and in battles of shaking will he fight with it so there's gonna be music playing and those that love the Lord or farther they're going to be playing along with music and drums by the way then it says for Toph it is ordained of old yay for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep and large the pile there I was of fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a steam of brimstone doth Kindle it what's this thing of Toph it the word Toph it is an interesting word and boy I wish we had more time for tonight but the word Toph it is is this word that means drums and this is actually a place that Isaiah and the people during Hezekiah time would be familiar with toph it was a valley it was called the Valley of Hinnom or the Hinnom Valley and it's a place that's very unique in the Jewish history because it was during the time of even Solomon when Solomon was walking in his paganism and doing all this crazy stuff do you remember Solomon was worshiping Moloch and ki marched the gods where they would sacrifice live children on these burning arms of Moloch and they did that in the Valley of Hinnom or the Vale of Hinnom outside just on the edge of Jerusalem and when we go to Israel I always like to point out when we're driving our bus around you know the southern steps and then we come around a little further and you come to this pretty little park area in this valley right in the lower side of Jerusalem and you think oh what a lovely place it's called the valley of Gehenna or the Val of hittin them also called toph it why is it called tuffet that the word drums it's because in the Valley of Hinnom or the valley of hell does Gehenna sound familiar that's the word hell all of death and hell is going to be thrown in Gehenna Revelation chapter 20 if you read it it's the final hell that the Bible talks about of outer burning and eternal death horrible place there's a place in Jerusalem called the valley of al-ghanim or toph it where the drums beat you see when Solomon and the people were horribly pagans you know sacrificing children on the Idol of Moloch the mothers would bring their firstborn son and they would give them to the priests of Moloch and they would place these babies on the arms that had been heated up to red-hot incandescent heat and they would see their children literally fry to death and it was a horrifying thing the women were screaming but they would beat the drums of the Valley of Hinnom the tow FET to the drums the valley of drums that's why they called it that they beat these drums so that nobody could hear it so this idea of toph it is another name for this place called Gehenna which is another name for help you see that place in Jerusalem would be sort of a foreshadow of what hell will be and that's why the Apostle John speaks of that eternal place of death and destruction where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth called Gehenna again if you want to read about that it's Revelation chapter 20 talks about how Satan and his demons the false prophet the Endura said I'll be thrown into that final place that'll be the end of them we'll see them no more because they'll be there forever and the Bible says they'll experience eternal torment there you say Brett that's a horrible thing not for Satan and his demons I think that's probably a good place for them because lord knows but will people go there the answer is yes people don't like that but the problem is they need to understand it's what the Bible says is gonna happen anyone who says I don't want God I don't want Jesus I don't want to be saved I can handle it myself I'm a good person the Lord is saying there's no one good and that everyone because of our sinful demeanor you and I have a tendency no my son's not that bad well the one that matters God says it is bad and he says it's so bad that the person that sins which is all of us deserves eternal death and hell well who is he to say that God who created you and that's where Paul in Romans nine echoes what we just read in Isaiah when Paul says who is the clay that reply reply if against the Potter he made us who are we to say I don't know if I like hell doesn't matter he's the Potter he made you but because if you look at the hands of the Potter you'll notice these nail prints stuck in his hands as he's shaping you in your life and he earned the right to shape your life because he loved you so much that he died on the cross instead of you going to hell you got to be saved for your sins from your sins by Jesus the Potter so you know for somebody to go to hell people say I don't think God's gonna send people to hell he doesn't you said yourself there it's just the default direction everyone's going and God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that nobody would have to go to toph it Gehenna or hell and and fry for eternity praise the Lord he's gracious and kind compassionate and he's just lovingly reaching out anybody he'll take the free gift he didn't deserve it you didn't earn it it's just God's loving grace and mercy that he shows to anyone who will receive it that's the message that we're trying to get across to people today because man people are not wanting to hear it and they're gonna be so angry that they'll just reject God all the way to get all the way to hell that's why a ste creeks busy doing what we're doing you know it's interesting the more reach we have the more beautiful things that the Lord's doing through this congregation the more challenges we have honestly and men you know some of you we've been kind of distant because of the cove in thing and I really that's part of the trial I think is that we're all separated and stuff and I'm looking forward to some time being back with you guys here in the room that's part of the trial but there's we've been through a lot of other trials as well and I think it's because of effectiveness it just seems in my lifetime over the years I've noticed that the more effective we tend to be by the grace of God to be reaching into unsaved lives and people here in the gospel the more challenging times we have and Athey Creek just on a behind-the-scenes levels been hit a lot this last year but but I also rejoice that man the Lord is bigger than all those things and we've been able to see really good fruit during this time but then I appreciate your prayers and I appreciate you guys being with me as we study through the Bible and I hope you're pointing people to Christ the one who saves us from all of our sins man that's the glorious truth and we'll pick it up in chapter 31 Lord willing next Wednesday night let's close with a word of Prayer and father we thank you for this scripture that reminds us Lord the the scary part of these chapters is how we recognize our current culture our current attitude with that of the Jews back in Isaiah's time who didn't want to hear it they didn't want to hear the words from the prophets or the seers and they told him to sit down and be quiet they only wanted to hear things that they wanted to hear and had itching ears Lord we realized we're living in those same days and even as they were living in perilous times we're living in perilous times or we just recognized though your word shows these truths layer upon layer and and how these prophecies tend to be near and then far and then even farther still but you give us this you even told Isaiah write this down in the book so the generations that come can hear and read Lord we thank you for doing that giving us your word your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our pathway thank you for that Lord now bless these your people who've taken time to study the word tonight may it bring forth good fruit we pray in Jesus name Amen amen well why don't you close with me on a song the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and the Lord bless you we'll see you this weekend at the services yours best

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 2,459

Rating: 4.9069767 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Athey Creek, Christian, Fellowship, ACCF, Oregon, Portland, Church, Jesus, Service, Bible, Study, God, Salvation, Saved, Isaiah, Micah DePaoli, West Linn, Verse, Chapter, Book

Id: wx4-zuNQ4sk

Length: 95min 10sec (5710 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2020