Bible Study: August 2, 2023

Okay, so yeah, for the last couple weeks we have been over spent a week in the British Isles.

Let's call it over there. I learned that what the British Isles are versus Britain is versus what England is versus what United Kingdom is. So you call the entire area over there the British Isles.

And it was a good time. The main reason we went over there is, you know, the first year that I was in this role, assessing what was going on at the home office, what we had, what the work of God was. Well, I didn't plan for this trip. It came up as a result of something that came up in Italy and then in England. And so I knew we needed to go over there, but it was a good opportunity to meet people over there. We have a very good group of ministers in Britain. You know, we need to be doing some more preaching of the Gospel. We talked about that and some of the things that they can do.

But it was a very beneficial time over there. We were able to, I mentioned my letter last week, go to church in Bricketwood. And I don't know how many of you have had the opportunity to ever visit Bricketwood in your life, but you could tell even from today, that was a beautiful, a beautiful campus that was over there in England. As you drive into where the old campus was today, it's just a very exclusive housing development. But you can see, based on the surrounding area, which is beautiful, just the difference in that area. And then the stately main building from the Bricketwood campus is still there. And it's just very, it's very interesting to be in a part of where church history is and realize what went over, went on over there. And what I believe God is going to work again, work in Britain. That day that I was there, I spoke about Ephraim and who the people were there, reminding them of their Israel, their Ephraim. They live in a land that's different than Manasseh, but, you know, Manasseh came, you know, people came over from Britain into this land in Australia and Canada. And they have the crown right there. So it's a unique place. They are a unique people that God calls them. And, you know, we all have to remember that we are God's people, and we have work to do that He has to do. So it's just, I don't know, it's very encouraging. We're there.

We had a ministerial conference on the Sunday that we were there. Just a very solid group of elders over there. So, you know, after we were there, we went over to Italy. Italy is a fine group of people, too, if we had Sabbath services in Milan. And they had their, they say their biggest crowd in a while, almost 50 people in Milan that were there on Sabbath services this past week. Only two ministers in Italy. All those of you have been to the feast in Italy. Angelo, I keep wanting to call him Devita, but Angelo Devita is the main minister over there. He's been there for a number of, well, decades.

And, and so, Alfiere was just ordained about six months ago as an elder there. He lives in Milan, as well. You know, I, in all my life, I've never felt a language barrier like I did in Italy. It's just there's very few people that speak English in the church. But I will have to hand it to the Italian office, you know, they said they wanted to hire a translator for the week I was there that would just follow me around wherever I was. So, as we had meetings with the office and the staff, and saw some of the really, really great things they're doing with some of their website stuff and their YouTube channel over there. It was just very, very good to have this interpreter who would, I would say something, she would give it to them and take it back. She was there with me during Sir Ava services. She was there during our all-day meeting on Sunday. She's not in the church, which at first I had, I had some doubts about, but it turned out to be the best thing because she was completely unbiased and everything that she interpreted. She had no idea what was going on in the conversations other than repeating the words because she didn't know any of the background.

So it really was a, it was a, it was a, it was a, I say it's going to be one of the growth periods for Italy because they've seen themselves as kind of an isolated church over there and it's time for them and many of the members want them, you know, to be able to expand, understand more of what's going on on the website, the main website, since we have nothing on our main website that's translated into Italian.

They're kind of in the dark, so we're working on some of that with them, but it was just a very encouraging, a very encouraging week and you know, you find, as you have the opportunity to go from church to church, you just find that you, you, you are, you have this affinity with people.

So, you know, as we left England, Debbie and I, it was like, this is our family, just like our family in every place that we've lived in Florida and Cincinnati, Indiana and everywhere. Same thing in Italy, even though we couldn't, we couldn't communicate without a translator there, it just felt like family and we hardly wanted to leave to come back home. One of the things, it's interesting when you go from place to place, you think about things in the Bible, and when we were in Italy, I couldn't help but think as we began Sabbath services and, and I was talking and the interpreters, they had to do it through a, they had to do it through online, so it wasn't too confusing to have all these voices going at one time that in Acts 2, when God was calling after, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples went out there and they spoke to all these people of all these different languages, and the miracle that occurred that day that as the apostles spoke, they could hear in their own language.

And I found myself just asking God, you know, if you would perform this miracle today that they could just hear, we could all hear each other in their own language, but we know in Zephaniah, either Zephaniah 2 or 3, when it says, you know, we look forward to the time when all people speak the same language. It is certainly a, it is certainly a blessing, and I have to say being in Italy, just in the area there and whatever, and seeing the language barrier, how wise God was at the Tower of Babel when he confused the languages, because it really does interrupt.

It really does interrupt and slow things down. So anyway, you see the wisdom of God in many ways, and you see the blessings that will be when Christ returns, and some of these barriers that are here between us will be, you know, will be taken away. But I think that's, you know, an unusual thing. All of our planes left on time, and all of our planes arrived on time, and that was kind of an amazing thing when you're traveling that far.

So, but overall, it was very, it was very good. So now we're home, we're home for a few weeks, well for until Trump will be down. I don't know if we have anyone online with us from Missouri, we'll be down in central Missouri for the day of, for the Feast of Trumpets, but, and then, and then the Feast. So I don't know if you have any specific questions or anything you want to ask about anything that's going on at all in the work. You certainly feel afraid to ask me anything. I'm more than happy to answer any question that anyone has, so. Okay, are they, Rick, are they suffering the persecution over in Italy like we are here in the United States and Canada?

No, you know, one thing that was interesting is, I mean, there are, they're not suffering persecution per se, but what has happened in it, Britain is even more far advanced in censorship and these, these banking situations than we are. It was not unusual over there. They said, in order, if you want to take cash out, the banks ask you what are you going to use it for? If you want to take like several thousand dollars out or pounds, I guess, in Britain, they even ask for an invoice because they want to see what you're using that money for, but they're not letting people just take cash out.

They're trying to go to a cashless society is, is, is kind of what the norm is over there. As far as persecution? No, you know, Italy, Italy is interesting. The Seventh-day Adventists are adding people regularly, I have learned when I was over there. So, you know, and they elected a prime minister who's more conservative within the last year or two. And since then, I know the Seventh-day Adventists, because they do some advertising over there, we're talking about doing some things through Instagram and, of all things, TikTok, because find out how popular TikTok is with some of these ads that we could just drop on there and see what's going on.

But you know, Italy did do something with their YouTube channel, and they've gotten over a million views on some of their sermons.

So what they've done is really, really something, you know, that I told them, we're going to learn from you because we've been talking about some of this stuff and we haven't been able to make it happen. But, but they, they, they used some outside firms to do these things. So we're going to look at some of our people and the church that know how to do these things on some of the marketing thing because we know YouTube is, is, is golden right now. It's, it is a way to really reach a lot of people. So, but no, as far as persecution, though, there are Sabbath problems in Italy.

I was told a lot of places just require now that you work on the Sabbath. I think that's the harbinger of things to come as, as the state over there in the continent begins to, you know, kind of like outlaw or require Sunday observance, you know, but, but it's not totally widespread yet. So I did, I did hear though because I did a Bible study last week. No, the week before in England.

Now we had people from across the United Kingdom on and some of the English-speaking people in Germany and the Netherlands on and they were saying that in Germany it has become much worse.

They, it has become much worse. Not that they're in pain, but they are watched more closely based on their religion and things like that and what they believe as well. So Germany is, Germany is where you see more things happening according to the few that were on at that time.

So where in central Missouri are you going? Let me see. It is the Cape Girardeau Church, Paducah, Kentucky. I want to call, I think it's Saichsten. Is there a Saichsten, Missouri? I think that's the same I was given. Okay. Little ways from St. Louis. Is it a little ways from St. Louis?

I think so. Yeah, before we left, but I don't.

Okay. Let me, again, for this Bible study, you know, let's, you know, any questions you got about anything, feel free to just hop in. We're going to look at chapter 44 tonight. And you know, as we, we're in this section of Isaiah that I think is just really, I don't know, I think it's just a really It's just a really, you still have the index. Let me mute everyone. There we go. Okay. So we're in this section of Isaiah that I think is just a really uplifting series of chapters that we're in right now. I mean, you, it's picturing the time when Christ has returned. It talks about the hope that's there. We have all these things going on in there, but it also is prophetic and kind of showing what will be happening between now and the return of Jesus Christ. So as we're in chapter 44 tonight, I thought we might just go ahead and just go back to chapter 40 where this section started and just highlight a couple of the things that we have seen along the way, because there are some interesting, very interesting things in some of these chapters for us to just, just look at, to just look at. In verse 9 of chapter 40, you know, we have this praise, this praise verse, this praising God verse that's just there in the middle of the chapter. We're going to see that again in the middle of chapter 44. We saw it in chapter 43, I think, as well, where it just says in verse 9, "'O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.'" So the verse is saying, praise Him loudly and boldly when Jesus Christ returns. And it's just this verse that's in the middle of the chapter there that we see throughout these things, as we should all be praising God. And in that day, people will be praising God. The last verse of chapter 40 there is one that's very encouraging as well. Verse 31 says, "'Those who wait on the Lord.'" And that word, wait, I don't know, I gave a sermon, actually a version of the sermon in Orlando and then also in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago before we left. And that word, wait, that's there in verse 31, is an expectation. When you're waiting, you know what God is going to do. You know Jesus Christ is going to return. And so first for all of us to remember as we go through the good times of life and as we look at every day, we are here waiting in expectation of the return of Jesus Christ. We know it's certain, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And that's the strength that comes from God and those who trust in Him and look to Him for the deliverance that He and He alone gives you.

In chapter 41 then, we have verse 14 where it says, fear not. Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you, says the Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

And if you remember, if you were on the Bible study last night, that's not the typical word from the Hebrew that's translated worm. I forget what the actual Hebrew word is here, but it's the one that crimson worm. Remember we talked about that crimson worm? It's unique in, well, it's common in the areas of Israel. But when you look at what this crimson worm is, it's this bright red color. Remember it climbs up on a tree, it lays its eggs, their crimson in color, and it's only if it dies on the tree. And then three days later, you remember, it emerges and it's this white color. And so it really is a picture of what happened with Jesus Christ. He died on the tree.

Three days later, he was resurrected, you know, clothed in white, if you will. One thing I was reading as I was recalling what the crimson worm was again, some of the statistics even said that that crimson worm, when it turns that white flaky color, it has a very fragrant smell.

And it referred to a couple of verses in the New Testament to talk about the fragrance of Christ.

It's a very pleasing smell. I know one of those verses is in 2 Corinthians because I think years ago I gave a sermon called The Fragrance of Christ and what that meant. But there's also a verse in Ephesians that uses that Christ is a sweet-smelling fragrance. It all relates back to this crimson worm that typifies Christ. When you think about the creation that God gave and that He took the time to develop and to create this crimson worm that was so perfectly be a symbol of what Christ's sacrifice would be, it's pretty encouraging. You find that here in Isaiah 41 in these very uplifting chapters that we're in right now. Chapter 42, in verses 1-4, it's talking about Jesus Christ, His first coming, how He would be. In verse 2, it says, He won't cry out, He won't raise His voice, He won't cause His voice to be heard in the street. And it talks about a bruised reed. Remember the bruised reed is smoking flax. He didn't come to crush the weak. He didn't crush. You know, if there's a bruised reed, it has its weak and it's losing its strength, but He didn't come to destroy it. He came that people might have life, that they might be strengthened, that they would find that strength in Him. Smoking flax, you know, when a smoking flax, the fire's about to go earn. He doesn't extinguish it. He's there to ignite it again. So if we're smoking flax and we need to be reignited, we go to Jesus Christ and He is the one who will energize us in that regard. Later in chapter 42, we see more of the Jesus Christ, the second coming of His. As you talked about that, then, and in contrast, He was a soft voice not one who is causing His voice to be heard in the street, but one who is coming with power and might to reclaim His people and deliver them from the bondage they're in. And then, and also in 42, we talked about coastlands and we talked about, oh, those are the people of Israel and how they've been scattered. And when you look at where the modern-day nations of Israel are, when you look at where the modern-day nations of Israel are, they're marked by coastlands. America, Canada, you know, has the oceans on both sides of them. You have Australia that's down there. You have England that's completely surrounded by water. New Zealand completely surrounded by water.

And as we go through chapters coming up, we'll see coastlands again and again and again as God talks to them, talks to the people there. In chapter 43, I think, you know, one of the very encouraging verses there is verse two. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flames scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior. And those are, you know, those are things as we go through problems that we, you know, we can remember those verses. The Holy Spirit will cause us to remember those things and to focus on those and know that God is with us all the time. And I think in a verse I used a lot in Europe as I talked about who Jesus Christ, who Jesus Christ is and how we have to develop our trust and look in Him, look to Him, only He has the answers to the world, the problems that are showing up ever more clearly and more definitely in the world. And it's 43 in verse 11. I, even I, Christ says, I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. So we see these things and in these chapters God is encouraging us. We learn about the proofs of God. We see aspects of these chapters where God goes through the process and says, you know, go ahead, ask anyone. Have they ever predicted anything like I have? Have they ever said anything that came through every single thing that has been said? Anyone. And we're going to say that a little bit in chapter 44 as well.

So let's go to chapter 44. It's a very straightforward chapter in many ways. I mean, don't have to do a lot of the ciphering of the words and the way the sentences are put together.

It's pretty straightforward but very encouraging. Chapter 44 is really a continuation of chapter 43 as all these chapters are. And as we progress from there in chapter 1-25 of Isaiah 43, I, even I, he says, I'm he who blots out your transgressions for my sake and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us contend together. State your case that you may be acquitted.

And so he says, you know, prove, prove who I am. Go out and prove it. Then God's intent is that everyone will know that he is God. In chapter 44 verse 1 it says, yet hear now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen, thus says the eternal who made you and formed you from the womb who will help you. I want to pause there for just a moment because, you know, those are very important verses when you look back at the history of who Israel is and you see where God was working with Abraham, the man of faith. And, you know, Abraham, I don't think we have to turn back to Genesis. I think probably everyone on here remembers the stories in Genesis. Back in Genesis 12, Abraham, when God told him, leave your country, go to a land that I show you, Abraham didn't bargain, Abraham didn't say, can it wait a while? Abraham just left and he went to where God asked him to be. And God stated that blessing, that you, all nations of the world, will be blessed. And, of course, those are physical blessings and spiritual blessings as well. And there was a trial. God was going to give Abraham the promised land, you know, that land of Canaan that he promised them. But Abraham was 75 years old when he came to that land of Canaan. And he didn't have a son. And he waited, and he waited, and he waited for God. You know, he, Sarah, you know, and he had this childish meal thinking, well, maybe that's what God intended since Sarah wasn't getting pregnant. It isn't what God had intended. And so when Sarah was past childbearing age, when it was physically impossible for her to have a child, she had a child. And in Galatians 3, it talks, or maybe it's Galatians 4, talks about Isaac being the child of promise. When God says, I formed you, you know, Isaac was a, or yes, Isaac was a miracle child. He certainly was a son of Abraham and Isaac, born as a human, conceived as two, with two humans. But he was a miracle given to Abraham, given to Abraham. And from him, then came the descendants of Esau and Jacob, and finally Joseph. But when you look at each of those, when you look at each of those descendants of Abraham, Isaac was certainly a miracle child. But then he had Isaac, and he married Rebecca, and she was barren. She couldn't have any children. So Isaac kept asking God, give us a child, give us a child, give us a child, asking God to do that. And God did. Now, when she conceived, there were twins, if you remember, there. And those twins, she were struggling inside of her. And God gave a promise, gave a prophecy at that time. Yes, indeed, there are two nations inside of you. One will be a company of nations, and the other one will be a great nation as well. But there was this struggle between who was born as Esau and Jacob. So you had Esau who was the first born, you had Jacob. Here's two miracle babies gifts from God because they weren't conceiving, except God gave them that child. And God said who these young men were going to be. He created them from the womb. He knew who they were. And then the younger Jacob, who wasn't, you know, he wasn't, he wasn't like the perfect child. He tricked Esau out of the birthright, tricked him out of the blessing as well, and had to be sent away. But that was God's will. But as Jacob was sent away over to his uncle Laban's house, he became a man of God. He learned to trust God. And God richly blessed him there in that land.

He had many sons. The wife he loved, Rachel, couldn't conceive. She couldn't have any children.

Meanwhile, Leah and the two concubines were giving him sons. And finally, after a while, you know, God gave Rachel and Jacob Joseph. And Joseph became the loved son. He was a miracle child as well. When you see these men through whom God passed that blessing, from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, and then to Joseph, and then in Joseph as he was in there in Egypt and showed himself to be completely loyal to God, Isaac or Jacob who became Israel in his last days laid his hands in Genesis 48 and said, let my name be on them. And then you look at the blessings for the latter days in Genesis 49. And when you look at the blessings to Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh, you know, as I challenged them in England, I said, if you can find two nations on earth, anywhere in human history, if you can find any two nations anywhere on earth that match those prophecies, then you let me know. Because the only two nations in the history of the earth who perfectly fit everything of those prophecies in Genesis 49 is Great Britain, who became a company of nations, who spilled over from so so fruitful that they spilled over from their banks into Canada, the United States, Australia. They were pushed, they pushed people to the ends of the earth and became the greatest empire, the world known, and America, the greatest, you know, nation that's ever been as well. So when God, who looks at these descendants, because he made these promises to Abraham and passed that blessing down through these children of promise, when he says in chapter 44, in Christ Returns, you know, and he says, I'm going to gather my people, I'm going to gather my people and bring them back to the Promised Land because I gave them that Promised Land for eternity, you know, as long as they, as long as there's a heaven and earth, you know, God is saying something here when he says that. Thus says the Lord, who made you, who formed you from the womb, who will help you, and he says in verse 2 there of chapter 44, don't fear Jacob. Of course, Jacob, Israel, you know, they they transgressed against God. They forgot who he was, when he gave them blessings, they forgot God, and of course, the nations of Israel are doing the same thing today.

They'll go through the punishment, but God will be there to save them from ultimate destruction and bring them back to their Promised Land. So he says, don't fear, oh Jacob, and you, my servant, and you, Jesherin, whom I have chosen. And this word Jesherin here, it's only four times in the Bible, and it's kind of like a, if I can use the term, kind of a name of affection for Israel, a nickname, if you will. It literally means upright one. It's only used four times in the Bible. One of them is here in Isaiah 44. The other three times are in Deuteronomy 32 and 33. And if you look at Deuteronomy 32 and 33, they're talking about the end times, Israel in the latter days, what was going to befall them. So when you look at where it's used, three times are those chapters of 32 and 33 in Deuteronomy, and then see God using the term again here in Isaiah 44. It takes us into those end days, at the end of the time of Israel and the affection that God has for them.

So in verse 3 then, he talks about the blessings. I will pour water on him who is thirsty.

I won't thirst anymore when God returns. I'll put floods on the dry ground. The earth will be fertile. You'll have the rain that you need. And then he gives the spiritual. He gives the physical and says, and I will pour my spirit on your descendants. Now we know that God gives his spirit to those who he calls today after there's the repentance and the baptism and the laying on of hands, but he says, I'll pour my spirit on your descendants. And we've read Joel 2.28 where he says, in that day I'll pour my spirit out on their people. But let's look at Ezekiel 37.

We'll see another place that God talks about pouring his spirit out on all of Israel because it didn't happen before. It will happen at the time of Christ's return when Jesus Christ is there.

Today there are people in God calls out of the modern day nations of Israel, but not all of the modern day of nations of Israel have the spirit poured out on them. Just those who are the first fruits. So in chapter 37 of Ezekiel, you know, we have for those who've been at the church a long time, you'll remember this is the chapter of the dry bones, and the dry bones are coming back to life.

I picture it's the time of Christ's return. Well, the resurrection. Israel is resurrected. They're brought back to life again. And then in verse 11, we'll pick it up there.

In verse 11, he says, he said to me, me being Ezekiel, then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people. Just, you know, over and over God calls physical Israel his people, just like he calls spiritual Israel his people as well. But thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the eternal when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put my spirit in you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the eternal, have spoken it, and performed it, he says. So again we see God saying, I speak it, it happens, and I want you to know, he says, to Israel and to all of mankind, you will know that I am God, and there is only one God. And so we see this repeated over and over again because when Christ returns and the Kingdom is set up, people will know who is God. God will put to shame or put away all the gods of this birth. You know, we talked about Isaiah 4311, I believe it was. Yeah, 4311. But also remember Zephaniah 2, 11, a verse for the future where God says, I'm just going to read it so I'm not paraphrasing, where he's going to put away all the other gods. There will be no God except him.

Zephaniah 2, and verse 11, the Lord will be awesome to them. Oh yeah, he will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth. Small g. He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth, just like he did with ancient Egypt. He will do as the return of Christ approaches all the gods of this earth that we have put our trust in and that the world puts its trust in. God will judge them. People will know there is only one God and you and I, and you and I will know that too. That's where trust has to lie. Okay, so let's go back to Isaiah 44. Again, feel free to interrupt me anywhere along the way. Isaiah 43, no, 44, I'm sorry, verse 3, I will pour out my spirit, is what we just read, I will pour my spirit out on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.

They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses. They will be fruitful.

You know, God promises the blessings of the womb. One will say, I am the Lord's. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write with his hand, the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel. I think of this verse, you know, what we see is God, there's two people we talked about that God calls his people. There's physical Israel, the descendants of Abraham, the physical lineage that God says, I formed you, I created you, you are mine. And God loves those people because of who they are and because of what Abraham did and the faith that they did show during the time from the descendants of Abraham. There's the physical people, but then, and that's in Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, where God says, if you remember, you are a special people, a treasure in all of the earth.

He says that to physical Israel. But then there's the first fruits of the New Testament, you and me, that may or may not be from physical Israel, but whoever we are, whether it's whether, no matter what our background is, no matter whether our ethnicity is, God calls us his special people too. They're his people of the New Testament upon who he calls and who responded to him and who received the Holy Spirit and who God calls first fruits. That will, if we follow God the rest of our lives, be born into the kingdom of God when Christ returns. If we look at, and I think in verse 5 there, you're seeing these two people that God is talking about. One will say, I'm the Lord's.

We would say, we're God's people. It doesn't make any difference where I came from, what nationality I am, what my background is. God called me. He may be part of his family. I am the Lord's.

But then there's another group, the nations of physical nations of Israel. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. They're the physical people. Another will write with his hand, the Lord's. They've got the covenant on his hand, the covenant of baptism, also the covenant of the circumcision in Old Testament times, but the covenant of the baptism and the name himself by the name of Israel. They will identify who they are. Let's just turn to Galatians 3 while we're talking about these two types of people, because Galatians 3 just ties all that together for us.

In Galatians 3, and verse 20, yeah, let's start at verse 26. Galatians 3, 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seeds and heirs according to the promise. God's people. And he sees us as his people. You know, 1 Peter 2.9, you can turn there later. You are my special people. You were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. We are not all from the same background or the same, you know, ancestry.

We are from different places and different DNA. One people. Unlike physical Israel, that is a people that is bound together by blood. We're bound together by the Spirit, which I say is stronger than blood, actually. So, okay. So, again, we can kind of see where the setting for this chapter is. It is upon Christ's return. If we go back to chapter 44 in Isaiah and verse 6, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.

I am the first, and I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. So, here we go. I was, am, and always will be. I was the first, and I am the last. I am there. He says that plainly here in chapter 44 and twice in the book of Revelation. So, we tie chapter 44 right to the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, where God says the same thing twice. You don't have to turn there.

I'll just read Revelation 1 verse 8, where he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty. That's chapter 1. And then he says it again in chapter 22, the last chapter of the Bible, chapter verse 13 of Revelation 22, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So, again, we see the setting. We have the prophecy, the end time prophecy. We have first chapter 44, where we know where we are in mankind's timeline here. We are at the time of Christ's return. I am the first. I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. Again and again, says the world will know that.

Besides me, there is no God. I'm in verse now going to verse 7 of chapter 44. And here he talks again about who he is. No other God, no other thing that people have ever worshipped can do what God has done. He asks the question, who can proclaim as I do? Let him declare it and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people. He's talking about the things that he did and the things that are coming and shall come. Let them show these to them. Go ahead. You want to match me up with anyone? Go ahead and talk about Nostradamus. Talk about all these other prophets you had. Talk about any religion you have. Talk about Muhammad. Talk about anyone on earth, Buddha, whatever your teachings were. Bring them to me. Bring them to me and we'll see and compare what I've done to what all your gods have done. Verse 8, don't fear. Don't be afraid. Haven't I told you from that time and declared it? Haven't I told you what would come? Don't fear. Just trust me. God said, go through the process and I will lead you through it. You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one. God is crystal clear in this and He challenges people. Bring anything to me. Bring any case. State your case. Because He wants us to know absolutely and the world to know absolutely. He is God. And then in the six in the assuming several verses here, again, He goes through what is really tantamount to just this is the silliness of those who worship idols. Anything that man created, why would why would man worship anything that man created? I mean, God kind of puts this all together. We've seen this a few other times in Isaiah. The first few verses here, verses 9, 10, and 11, He even talks about what a shame it is. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we are trusting in gods that aren't God. Verse 90 says, those who make an image, all of them are useless and their precious things shall not profit.

They're their own witnesses. They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. One day, mankind will wake up and think, I can't believe we ever put our trust in that or ever worship that.

They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. Verse 10, who would form a god or mold an image?

The prophet's him nothing. It can't do anything, God says. Of itself, it can't do anything.

Everything comes from him. Surely all his companions would be ashamed. And the workmen, they're mere men. Let them be gathered together. Let them stand up. Yet they shall fear, and they will be ashamed together. They will be embarrassed when they see the things that they've done and the things that they realize, I was trusting in this, this faulty thing. Of course, in ancient times, it was the wooden idols, the idols made of stone, the idols made of whatever they were. Verse 12, he talks about those things. The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he's hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint. So it's like, what has his god provided for him? That little idol that he made. In my margin there, it has Jeremiah 10 as a reference as a place to look at there. So we should just go ahead and look at Jeremiah 10. That's talking about the tree that people will decorate and bow down to and dance around and everything as an idol in Jeremiah 10.

And I think it's actually from verse 1 we would read Jeremiah 10.

We'll be back in Jeremiah 10 a little bit later in this chapter 44 as we go through as well.

Jeremiah 10. Let's just read it at verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord. Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. All of God's people, thus says the Eternal, do not learn the way of the Gentiles. Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile, meaning they're worthless. For one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. They decorate it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not topple. They are upright like a palm tree and they can't speak. They must be carried because they can't go by themselves. Don't be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good. And he's talking about how this tree would be worshipped. And we know exactly what he's talking about because there's still that tree that people put up that they put so much hope into and idolize in a way. So this is, you know, if we go back to chapter 44, it's not just in Isaiah, it's not just in Justin, Jeremiah, it's also in Ezekiel and the prophets, that God just, he just lays out how the silliness of idols. Verse 13 of chapter 44.

Let me look at my notes here for a moment.

Yeah, okay, verse 13. The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks the one out with chalk, he fashions it with a plane, he marks it out with a compass, he makes it like the figure of a man according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself, he takes the cypress and the oak, he secures it for himself among the trees of the forest, he plants the pine and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be, as wood is, for a man to burn.

He'll take some of it and warm himself, yeah, he kindles it and bakes bread, indeed he makes a god and worships it. So, the same thing that he burns to warm his house and heats up an oven to bake his food, he's making a god out of the same substance that burns. Indeed, he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a carved image and falls down to it, he burns half of it in the fire, the wood, with this half he eats meat, he roasts a rotus, then is satisfied, he even warms himself and says, ah, I'm warm, I've seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image, he falls down before it and worships it, crays to it and says, deliver me for you are my god. So, God, you know, when he puts it in pretty plain language, how silly is all of this? And then in verse 18, he says, they don't know or understand, for God has shut their eyes so they can't see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. You know, we would be the same way if God had an open our eyes to understand the truth. We would be exactly like the people of the world, we would be exactly like the people of the Old Testament. If we lived in that time, we would do the same thing, but God has opened our eyes to see. When I read chapter 18, you know, I think of Matthew 13, a verse that, you know, that talks about the special calling that God has given us and the fact that he has opened our eyes. And in Matthew 13, verse 16, you know, he talks about the seed that falls, you know, on stony places and the rocks and the seed that is sown that springs up to life. But in verse 16, he says something that is should be very encouraging to everyone who's on this Bible study tonight and all who will be listening to it. He says in verse 16, blessed are your eyes for they see. What a blessing it is to know the truth of God. What a blessing it is that he has opened our minds to know what these words in the Bible mean, that these are his words, that these are his instructions, that these are his prophecies, that we know, you know, that there's expectation in the world that God, that Christ is going to return. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see. Some would love to know what we have. They may see Christ, but he has not opened their eyes to understand. Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and they didn't see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

So indeed it's a blessing that we should never, we should never, you know, look down on people and say, how silly can you be? God is saying that, but even in verse 18 he says, but they don't know or understand. They're just doing what, you know, the spirit of man in them without the spirit of God does. Because man is always looking for a higher power. He's always looking for someone greater than him. The ancient world was always inventing gods because they knew that the world, they weren't holding the world together, they weren't providing the things, they needed some other power. You and I know who that God is, the true God is. They searched for it. Mankind today believes in himself more than they believe in any god, and mankind has become his own god, if you will, and replaced the true god with that. But they will, they will learn one day too when God shows he is God. So verse 18 is, you know, a very, you know, God showing, you know, that it's not their time. Everyone in God's plan of salvation will have their time where God opens their eyes and they will see what the truth is and understand what you and I stand and they'll have the or understand and they'll have the opportunity then to choose God the way you and I have. So going on in verse 19 then in Isaiah 44, it says, no one considers, no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, again, he's going back to this image of the tree where half of it is used for fire, half of it is used for baking, or a third of it and other parts of coal, no one considers it in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, hey, I burned half of it in the fire. I baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and eaten it, and really shall I make the rest of it? An abomination shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes. It's a silly thing, but they just don't know any better. He feeds on ashes, verse 20, a deceived heart has turned him aside and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand. He can't deliver his soul. Salvation only comes from Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying here. We cannot work out our own salvation. In 5 Philippians it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Yes, someone's got their hands up there. Yes, that's me, Dan. This is putting me in the mind of Isaiah 25.7 where it says, you know, the surface of the covering shall be cast over all the people.

You know, their eyes are bled, they're deceived, and they can't see. They can't see? Exactly. Okay.

Very good. So we have this picture that God says, and again, it reminds us, salvation only comes from God. The whole world, Acts 4, 12 says, salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.

In verse 21 then of Isaiah 41, it says, remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant.

And remember, we were in Revelation 7, two, three weeks ago when we last met, and it talks about where in it talks about the 144,000 names, 12 of the tribes of Israel, and it talks about them being his servants. Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant. There's a difference between the servants of God and the first fruits of God. You and I, God has called to be first fruits as defined in the Bible. I have formed you, God reminds them, I have formed you, Israel, you are my servant. O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

May look like when they go into captivity that there's going to God has forgotten them.

He never forgets. He's always there, but we sometimes have lessons that we have to learn the hard way. Verse 22, very big, encouraging promise I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to me, return to me, for I have redeemed you. You know, that phrase, return to me, for I have redeemed you. I mean, just like God has redeemed us from the earth, but he was going to redeem physical Israel from this, where they've been scattered throughout all the world. I was reading a commentary. I think it was Barnes, but it might have been Adam Clark, where it talks about that return to me. They said, implicit in return to me is accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and returning to him in all the things that he taught in the Old Testament. Not just saying, I believe God, but returning to the faith and the example within the Bible and turning back to that. I thought it was very good on that one, the way they reared it, and reminded people, when you return to God, when you turn to him, you're turning to everything in the Bible. You're turning to his Word and living his way of life. When God says, I blotted out your transgressions, I blotted out your sins, it doesn't mean you continue in those sins. It means you turn to him and live the way of life he prescribed, and that will be what all of mankind has taught in the kingdom. God's blotted out your sins when you accept Jesus Christ, the same he's done for us, but now you don't continue in that way. You go back and you do the things the way God said to do them, live by his Word. In verse 23, we have this praise verse I was talking about. We saw one in chapter 40 verse 9. We have Christ, he's come. He's saved the people from themselves. He's blotted out their sins. They now have salvation if they turn to him. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shout, you lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. You just feel the praise that's there. He has this, like, look what he's done. Look what he's brought him through. He hasn't forgotten them, and he's done this marvelous thing of redeeming them and giving them the opportunity and eternal life that they will just turn to him. Verse 24, thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb. Remember Israel, it was me who formed you. You're here because God specifically created you, just like he specifically called you and me.

He who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers.

And verse 25 is very interesting. Who frustrates the signs of the babblers. People who do these things, God shows you're not my prophet, you're not the one who can predict anything, and does the things, and sometimes the opposite of what they say. Frustrates the signs of the babblers, drives diviners mad, who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolishness. If true wisdom comes from God, you know, and those who follow God and who yield to him, and God will frustrate the people of the earth who think, you know, everything they do doesn't work. I have Jeremiah 50 marked down here. Let's see what Jeremiah 50 has to say. I think it's quite a parallel verse to this one here. Yeah, Jeremiah 50, again, Jeremiah 50 is an end-time prophecy. In verse 36, he said, The sword is against the soothsayers, and they'll be fools. They may think they're wise, but God is against them. They'll be fools. The sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. They may think they have all the power in the earth. They will learn there's no match against God. They'll be dismayed when it happens. The sword is against their horses, against their chariots, and against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst, and they will become like women.

A sword is against her treasurers, and they will be robbed. A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For as though it is the land of carved images, and they are insane. Isn't that an interesting word that God used? They are insane with their idols. So he's showing he will be against them. Again, the whole world will know that I am the Lord, God says. So in verse 25 and in Isaiah 44, he shows they will come to nothing. Whatever they have, God will show these are not my people. They do not have my blessings, my wisdom, or prophecies, if you will. In verse 26, on the counter side of that, he says, my servants, my people, I'll confirm their word. Who confirms the word of the servant? He said it. He followed my lead. He spoke the words that I gave him to give.

I'll confirm it. I'll confirm it. It will happen. Who performs the counsel of his messengers?

They called on me. They knew the Bible. They sought my counsel and wisdom. They gave the people counsel. I will perform the counsel of his messengers. I will honor what they say because it came from me. Who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited. And here you have Jerusalem, which has fallen. And old times, as he's referring to that old time when Babylon conquered Judah. I'll stop there. Xavier, did you have a comment?

Yeah, bro, Shavuq. To compliment that is Jeremiah 23 verse 21 through 23, where our Lord says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied.

Yet, if they stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my word, then they would have turned them from their evil way and their evil doing. And God would have confirmed that even though these guys were not often, but if they had just spoke only his word, verb, and people, he would have prophetied here.

Yep, yeah, very good. Very example. God makes things happen. Yep, exactly what he's saying here. Very good. So in verse 26, he says, I'll confirm the word, I'll perform the counsel, and then he's going to talk about Jerusalem. He's going to give a sign here of what happened with Jerusalem, who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited. Now remember, this is a prophecy. It was given in Isaiah's time. Israel fell during Isaiah's lifetime.

Judah did not, who says to the cities of Judah, you shall be built, and I will raise up her waste places. Who says to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up your rivers. I'm not going to go through, you know, all the history. We talked about how Babylon was defeated by Cyrus, and there was a time when the rivers were diverted and everything. And then in verse 28, God specifically names the king of the man who would defeat Babylon of the Medes and Persians, and who would enable the people of Judah to go back and inhabit Jerusalem again and rebuild the temple.

So here's a prophecy for the people of that time. Spoken 100, let me see, 722 by 8, 140 years before Jerusalem fell, and then 70 years after, you know, Jerusalem fell. So 200 years ahead of time, God is saying to Jerusalem, you will be inhabited. You will be inhabited. You will, your cities will be, I will raise up her waste places. The rivers, you know, with Cyrus and that whole story. Daniel 5, you can look at.

Verse 28, who says to Cyrus, he names him, he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple your foundation shall be laid. So one of the prophecies of the Bible is that God named by name the man who would, the king who would allow that to happen. History proves that, you know, on our side of history, we know that's exactly the way God said it. There are people who try to say that the name Cyrus was inserted in there.

They've never been proven right. Let's go on in verse chapter 45 and finish this account through the first, though, I guess five, the first seven verses here. He talks about Cyrus, the king who will allow, who will have the Jews go back to Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him. He was sent by God Babylon, who conquered Judah, would be conquered, to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.

I will go before you, God says. I will make the crooked places straight. My margin says, you know, that could have been translated. I don't actually see this when I looked up the words, but it says it could be translated. I will trample down the walls. I will go before you. I will make the crooked places straight is really what the original Hebrew says there. I will go before you. I will make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.

Why? That you may know that I, the eternal, who call you by name, Cyrus, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, my elect, I have even called you by your name. Proof. Name me another God that can name 200 years in advance the name of the king who would conquer the one, the nation that conquered you that will send you back into Jerusalem. For Jacob, my servant's sake, that they may know that I am the Lord and Israel, my elect, I have even called you by your name.

I have named you, though you haven't known me. He wasn't an Israelite. He wasn't the man of God. He didn't have the spirit of God. God led him. God gave him the power and the strength to do what he did, though you have not known me. I am the Lord and there is no other. There is no God besides me. I will gird you, though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. See how God keeps repeating that.

I do these things so that you see the prophecies I give you. They come about. No one else, no other God, no other man, no other group of men, could do the things that I do. That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and I create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. Let me just end there for tonight and we'll pick it up. It's going to be in two weeks because we've got council meetings next week, so it's going to be two weeks from tonight that we have the next Bible study. We'll pick it up there in chapter 45 verse 8 next time. Let me open it up for any questions, comments, anything that anyone wants to talk about at all.

Mr. Chabry. Sir.

Yeah, okay. Sometimes you wonder about people like Nebuchadnezzar and then Cyrus, that they basically saw the power of God close by and they should have probably known better and I would say converted or accepted the power of God. So I guess they were missing that element that you were talking about, that it's basically the Spirit of God or the calling of God. But it's interesting that seeing that and being shown things like this, they basically continued in the way of the world. Yeah. Without God's Holy Spirit, you just don't accept Him. That's what we see. You're right. Nebuchadnezzar knew who God was. Cyrus, he was told these prophecies. He knew, but he was kind to Judah exactly as God had had them to do, but he never turned to God. So it makes you wonder about the end time prophet too, when it says in, I think it's Revelation 16, that even though men knew it was God, they would not accept Him. And then at the end time, that false prophet is thrown into the lake of fire. It makes you wonder, does he know and he is specifically and willingly fighting against God? It just makes you wonder what went on there. So much like these kings, these kings of old. So The interesting thing, brother Shaby, our God had Nebuchadnezzar at an Epistle.

In Daniel? Yes. And then after that, we don't hear much about what his life was like, whether he adhered to Daniel's previous admonition. Yeah, he just sort of faded away, but Daniel's legacy lived on, right? Yes. Belchaz or Belchaz or whatever. They remembered him then. Yeah, Nebuchadnezzar never, we know he never converted, but you have to wonder, I mean, he saw those tremendous miracles too, right? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they came through the fire, not even smelling of smoke. I mean, how do you ever get that? How do you count that as anything, you know, other than God? But yeah, seven years you're in the in the bushes and not an enemy coming to kill you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And even maybe for a while, he thought, right? But then he went back to life. I mean, sometimes in the world, we go through these terrible times, like 9-11, and they say people in their own way turn to God, but then life goes on and they just go back to the way they were before. I guess that must be what happened maybe to Nebuchadnezzar as well. Hey, Gloria, Abednego. Hi. Hi. Mr. J.B., on Cyrus, her commentary states of himself, Cyrus himself worshiped pagan gods, yet God was still able to use him to fulfill his will. This demonstrates God's power. Proverbs 21.1 states it well. The king's heart is in the hand of the eternal, like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. So with that, we can understand why some of our leaders seem to be righteous at times. And then it doesn't take long, we say, through.

And I believe that he was righteous in his ways. So I think that's a good commentary on Isaiah.

Very good. That's a good point. God could give us favor in whoever's sight, right? But then the next week they could turn totally against us as well. But whatever advances his will. Good point. Hi, Fred.

Oh, hi. My understanding, I found Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus very interesting, as has been brought up, the miracles that they saw. They knew of God, but there's a scripture in the New Testament that says that God grants repentance. And everything comes from God. Everything.

I'm really beginning to understand that. Even though you might think, oh, I search for God, but not really. So that's my take on it. I agree with you.

Everything we have really does come from God. We really owe him everything.

Okay, let me check the boards here and see if we are...

Okay, anything else? Anyone?

Well, if not, I guess I will let you enjoy the rest of your... Oh, did you have another comment, Laurie or Bud?

Well, I'd see my hand up. Maybe I didn't take it down.

Okay.

Welcome back. Your news about England and Italy is very encouraging.

It is encouraging. I am heartened. One of the things that we have, as we look ahead at the next year, is we realize I do believe God has given us this time that the whole church comes together and united. We've always looked at the United States and we have all these regional conferences planned to get with the ministers, but we're expanding that to around the world to make sure that we're all doing the same things, teaching the same things, and making sure that...

making sure, you know, that... well, just to make sure we are one and you're going to let God unify the body, which is what his will is as he leads us. So...

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and sign off. We will look forward to seeing you in two Wednesdays, and once we get to that Wednesday, I think there's a series of just... up until the Holy Days where we're good. We're good, so it won't be like every other week that we're off and on, but appreciate your patience and always enjoy being here with all of you. So, have a good rest of the week evening. We will see some of you in Cincinnati this week, otherwise we will see the rest of everyone else two weeks from today. Okay?

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