Bible Study: August 24, 2022

Okay. Tonight we're going to be in Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9 is a really interesting chapter. It's another prophetic chapter in this series that we have that Isaiah is speaking of as God inspires him during the reign of King Ahaz. You remember King Ahaz from back early on in Isaiah when we talked about the four kings during which lives Isaiah lived. Ahaz was the one who was just thoroughly resistant and thoroughly wicked. He was not going to yield to God. He had no intention of listening to God. No matter what God tried to do to show him the sign, Ahaz just turned his back against God. And then God gives him a series of prophecies that are going to come. You'll remember that he asks Ahaz at one time in chapter seven. Just any sign at all. He has any sign at all I will give you to show you that I am with you and that that Israel is my people. And Ahaz just simply would not do it. So in chapter seven he talks about here's the sign that's going to come. A virgin will be with child. Of course, it's the messianic prophecy. In chapter eight, as he goes through some more prophecies of what Israel will suffer, or Judah, as a result of Ahaz's disobedience and rebellion against God, he brings up the Messiah again in chapter eight twice when he talks about the land of Emmanuel and down in verse 10 there where it talks about where God is with us. Chapter nine is one of those notable verses where the prophecies that he gives Ahaz, that he is giving Ahaz to show he is God. What he says is going to happen. Again, he brings up the birth of the Messiah here, but in the course of these prophecies we see that he he gives some that happened during Ahaz's lifetime. I know it's been two weeks since we were together the last time, but you'll remember he prophesied that Israel would go into captivity, that Syria under King Rezin and Israel under King Pekka would go into captivity at a certain time. And there was a child born to Isaiah that had the name about Beyer-Shalal Hashbaaz that talked about going into captivity. And when that child was born, before he could say, mom and dad, Israel would go into captivity, and indeed in the 7-7-20 BC, Israel did. So despite all those things that happened during Ahaz's time, he never did turn to God. Chapter 9, the prophecies continue in this series of chapters 7 through 12, where God is speaking of that. And the prophecies we talked about last time are dual. They happened at the time of Israel and Judah then, and they are there for us today as well. Many of them that were prophesied to happen never happened to Israel or Judah, so they are for a time yet ahead of us.

So, let me pause there. Any questions or anything that we want to clarify before we begin in chapter 9?

Okay, chapter 9 opens up interestingly as we end in chapter 8, talked about people who just move further and further and further into darkness. And then chapter 9 begins with a nevertheless. Nevertheless, the gloom that is covering the land won't be upon who is distressed, and when at first God lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. Now, you know, it's an interesting thing that God says that lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. If we go back to 2 Kings, 2 Kings, we see that that land was raided by the Syrian king, and people were taken captive of it back in 2 Kings 15 and verse 29.

And it talks verse 29, the days of Pica, king of Israel, Tiglath, Polizer, king of Assyria, came and took and released all these cities. And then down through the list, he's got Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, Naphtali, and he carried them captive to Assyria. So here they are, they're captive. That wasn't the final thing, but it was, you know, well, well, actually it was when Israel was captured. But that's the first time it was lightly regarded as one it references in here. But if we go back to chapter 9, it talks about this land of Zebulun and Naphtali, Naphtali again. It says, when he first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. I'm going to put up a map here, because you can't really picture or see what God is talking about, unless you have some maps here of where the tribes of Israel were located. I don't think I shared those with you. I think I just pulled them up, so let me go back, share my screen, and pull up this map. Now here you can see, remember back in the book of Numbers, as Israel is populating the land, and God said, here's where Naphtali will be, here's where Zebulun will be, here's where Listicar will be, here's where Manasseh will be, some of them were on the east side of the river, some of them were on the west side of the river. All those things that he outlined back there in the book. And, hello? Okay, and you can see on the left-hand side there of your screen, that's where those tribes were located, exactly where God asked them to be.

The enhanced picture on the right side shows the land of Naphtali and Zebulun, and you can see that the blue sea right there is the Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, right there by the city of Kammot, Kynaret, which became Capernaum later on. And you can see where Zebulun and Naphtali are. And God says those are the lands that are lightly esteemed. They were invaded, people were carried off from those lands, and we know them better as, in this next map that you'll see. Is that showing up on your screen? Galilee? It is or isn't? Okay, you know, so you can see that around the Sea of Galilee, that's the area known as Galilee. It's those tribes where Naphtali and Zebulun were. And God says those are lightly esteemed lands. Now, you know, they were in captivity. Now we can turn to Matthew 4 because Jesus Christ cites Isaiah 9 as He is speaking, as He begins His ministry. And Matthew 4... Galilee was not showing. It's not showing? Okay, let me pull it up then.

Now is it showing?

Just you.

Just me? That's true. That's what's going on here, man.

Is that it?

This Galilee. Yes, we got it. We got it now.

Okay, so that map is there so that you can kind of see what, when we refer to the Gilead of Galilee, it's that Zebulun and Naphtali area, right around the Sea of Galilee. God says that's a lightly esteemed area. So Christ speaks of that in Matthew 4 and verse 13.

Everybody's good.

Everyone's good? Okay, Matthew 4.13. It says, And leaving Nazareth, Christ came and dwelt in Capernaum. You can see Capernaum is right there at the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee.

He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.

Now, at the time, Zebulun and Naphtali were taken captive under Syria. It remained in captivity for the period of time, and when Christ was alive, it was under Roman captivity at that time. So it was never a free land again. It became an error, an area, as it was speaking at the end of chapter 8, that became darker and darker, farther away from God, as that land was just under the yoke of one kingdom after another. And there was Christ just saying, here in the dark land, in this area of Galilee, a light has shown. We'll go back to chapter 9 in a moment, but I want to take you to Luke 1 before we go back there, because while it says lightly a sting, and it means there were times, of course, that the land was conquered, it's interesting as Christ is beginning his ministry, and he's calling disciples to him that Nathaniel, as he's called, has an interesting comment when Philip is telling him to come and see the one who he believes is the Messiah. Luke 1, verse 46. I'm sorry, it's John. John 1, 46.

I hope, since it's not Luke, John 1.

Yeah, John 1. We'll pick it up in verse 45 there in John 1.

It says, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And you see Nazareth there in the area of Galilee. And Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, come and see. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? That land of Galilee, people thought nothing good could come out of Galilee. So the land of darkness and whatever reputation it had at that time, even Nathaniel, as he was like, really, you say the Messiah is coming out of Nazareth?

That's coming out of Galilee? That's where he's from? So there is this prophecy in Isaiah 9 that talks about a light coming out of an area that is held in very light esteem. And this area of Galilee, the ancient where the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon were established, was that region in Israel, which is now Judah that was Judea, or was Judea, that we're talking about here. So in chapter 9, we're coming upon a Messianic prophecy.

Here it is, a very dark land, but God is going to shine a light in that dark land. Of course, that light will be the coming of the Messiah. So let's go back to Isaiah 9 and just reread verse 1 again. And 2, Jesus Christ, we read his words. We have a picture of the geography that's there. We see the history of that area captured by the Assyria or by Assyria under Roman rule, lightly regarded and lightly esteemed in the land of Judea. So the first one again, nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who was distressed at when first he, lightly esteemed, put into captivity the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her.

Under Roman rule, it was a severely oppressed area, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness, that's Gentile rule, have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

And so we have in this dark area, Jesus Christ, or the one Jesus Christ, a light to the world as he would become. So we have, again, God letting eye has no, here's a prophecy, Isaiah's recording it. We see that that has, you know, we know that that prophecy has come about well known to just about everyone in the world. No one denies that Jesus Christ was alive, and that, you know, most know him, or I should say, a good number know him as Savior. Many others recognize him only the Jews as a great prophet. So verse 3, then he talks about the joy that has come to that nation.

You've multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you. Now we almost are moving into another time period. We've got this oppressed nation, Jesus Christ has come, he's brought light to this nation, and now we have the nation multiplying in joy. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. And then he uses some words in here that take us back to the time where people did rejoice, you know, before God, a time that we're coming up upon as we look forward to the Feast of Tabernacles.

He says, they rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest. So if we pause there for just a minute, you know, as we go back and look at Deuteronomy 12, we see that when people rejoice at these times of harvest, and they do it before God, they go to the place that he chooses, and they rejoice before him.

In Deuteronomy 12, I'm going to pick it up in verse five of chapter 12. It's talking of rejoicing before God. You're going to see the same thing in chapter 14, around verse 20, yeah, 22 through 28 there in verse 4, chapter 14. I won't read that, though, but in chapter 12 verse 5, it says, you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses out of all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling place.

There you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your bowed offerings, your free will offerings of the firstborn of your courage and flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God. And you see that throughout the time when you are bringing glory to God, where you're going before him to rejoice, you go to the place where he says that you eat it before him.

And that's what it's talking about there in Isaiah 9. The people, the joy will be multiplied, and they will rejoice before God. Well, we rejoice. Part of our rejoicing is where we are, where God wants us to be, and we go to that place. There you shall take your burnt offerings, verse 6, and there you shall eat before, verse 7, and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your household in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

So when Isaiah wrote these words and spoke these words, if he did in Isaiah 9, verse 3, they would have known exactly what Isaiah was talking about. Yeah, that's what we do. We go before God. We bring our offerings to him. We go to the place he says, and we rejoice before him. The same thing that you and I will be doing at the Feast of Tabernacles when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, and we rejoice before God.

Before God, we have prepared for it. We are going to it, and that will be a time of rejoicing because he has multiplied our joy. He will multiply joy on the earth and peace on the earth. You've multiplied the nation. You've increased this joy. They rejoice before you, according to the joy of harvest. Now, we today don't really appreciate harvest as much as they did in ancient times.

That was their livelihood. The harvest, the fall harvest came in. It was what they ate the rest of the time, so they were quite thankful to God for a plentiful harvest. Today, we have supermarkets we go to. We lost some of that joy of what goes on in the fall.

You know, the last couple of times in the last three weeks, I've been out in the South Dakota area with the churches there. It is a thoroughly agricultural area in eastern South Dakota. It's a beautiful land, and they're beautiful people. Many of them are farmers. But how dependent they are on the rain and how thankful they are to God for what he provides for them, because you know, as they've been having a little bit of drought, they realize they need God in order to provide what they need, and they provide a good portion of the food that this nation supplies.

Many of them have some pretty large farms that they're dealing with. They have a different mindset toward the fall harvest than you and I do, but they rejoice when it comes in and they're able to reap of it. Those who have any farming backgrounds or agricultural backgrounds would understand what they're saying, according to the joy of harvest. Then it talks about the harvest. That's a time of joy. God provides that, and then it talks about a time when God provides the victory in the very next sentence. As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Well, at a time of battle, when God provides the victory and to the victor goes the spoils, that's the time God has provided the victory. So here we have this dark land, dreveled by the Gentiles. A light shines on it. Out of that dark land emerges light, emerges joy, emerges blessings, emerges victory. For you, verse 4, you, capital Y, God, you have broken the yoke of his burden. Now the commentaries will say, when you look at the Hebrew word there, yoke of his burden, it often refers to tyranny.

And tyranny marked the time that Christ was under Roman law. Tyranny certainly under the Assyria when Israel was carried off captive. Judah, when they were captured by the Babylonians, endured under tyranny. And we know that tyranny, when we look at Revelation 13, lies ahead for the world in the time that we live in now. It was Christ. It was Christ who broke the yoke, that tyranny from them. You have broken the yoke of his burden, the staff at his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. Anyone remember what the day of Midian might be referring to?

I remember Gideon, right? Gideon in Midian. If you remember the story, I'm not going to go back and reconst the story, but it's there in Judges 7 and 8. And if you don't remember, you might go back and look and see how God delivered Israel from the oppression and the tyranny of Midian. And it was just a little army. Remember Gideon? He doubted and God gave him the signs of one day the fleece was what with do. The next day the fleece had no do on it, no wetness at all. And there was an army, and God kept resusing that army, reducing that army, reducing that army until it was down to 300, only 300 men to fight this oppressive nation of Midian. And when you read the account of what God had Midian or Gideon do, and the people did, they obeyed him completely. They had absolute faith in him, and all they had to do was blow their trumpets and light their lanterns. And it so took the people of Midian by surprise that they turned on each other. They so were afraid and defeated themselves. And God delivered a great victory to Israel through just 300 people with the faith that they had, just a complete miracle. And so it says that in that in that day you've broken the birth through, you've broken the yoke of his burden. You've taken away the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. What does God have in mind for his people at the time that that oppression is going to be broken? And that that will come upon, that will again come upon the modern day nations of Israel, people that he had blessed, because they too just rejected God, will listen to him and move further and further and further away from him.

So you can take the time to go back and look at that and contemplate that verse. But that God is showing what happened before. He says, don't despise the day of small things. He does talk about his church will be a small flock. It won't be the giant churches of the earth. It will be a small flock. So we can contemplate that. God says this is what's going to happen in the times ahead.

Verse five is a confusing verse. And as you look in the commentaries, you have to kind of unwind, unwind what the Hebrew words are there. It's something that we're not familiar with today, but when you look at the Hebrew words, it says, for every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle.

And remember when we were doing Ephesians 6, the weapons of our warfare, and we talked about the feet, the shoes, the greaves that we would wear. You know, our feet are shot with the Gospel of Peace. And it talked about these greaves, and they weren't just shoes. They were things that covered the ankles and the legs. And so what it's talking about there in verse five, as we go into that, again, it's talking about God's deliverance during these verses. For every warrior's sandal, these greaves that he was wearing, these shoes of battle, these things you would only wear during a wartime, every warrior's greaves, those leg guards, those shoes that God says to equip ourselves with spiritually, but they were very physical things that the men of war wore. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, you know, battles are noisy. I mean, today they're even noisy, right? I mean, back then they were noisy as well. And garments rolled in blood. It's being very graphic here. We've got the blood, we've got these weapons, this armament that people have on, we have garments rolled in blood, and he says all those things will be used for burning and fuel of fire. So he's moved to a time that is more prophetic in nature. All those weapons of war, all those garments rolled in blood, all the things of war, he says are going to be used for burning and fuel of fire. Anyone think of somewhere in the Bible where it talks about those weapons of war being burned in fire and used as firewood? Is that right? Right now, Isaiah, now the stairs into pruning hooks. And yeah, Isaiah, well, yeah, that's right. These plowshares in the pruning hooks. But there's a place, a couple places actually, that talk about those weapons just being burned in fire and used as fuel for fire. But one of them is in Isaiah, very last chapter. Let's go there, Isaiah 66. In Cincinnati a couple weeks ago, I thought it was a very good sermonette. And he was talking about in the face of two or three witnesses and how several times in the Bible you see the very same thing repeated. And we talk about that often. Here in Isaiah, God will talk about one thing. Ezekiel talks about it as well. And oftentimes you see multiple prophets saying very the same, the very same thing. So we know it's God who's doing that, giving us the witnesses. Isaiah 66 and verse 15. It says, Behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword he will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord will be many.

Well, that harpens back to Zechariah 14 when you read about the 200 million man army, as well. It brings up conjure's thoughts about that. But here we have fire, and God's doing things with fire. But also in Ezekiel 38, another prophet, a later prophet of God, who wasn't prophesying at the same time, as Isaiah, Ezekiel 38, and Ezekiel 39. Ezekiel 39 and verse 8.

Yeah, this is talking of a time when all those weapons are going to be done. It's a time when there's peace on the land. Gog and Magog will come and come and try to invade Israel with their weapons and whatever. But in verse 8 it says, Surely it's coming and it will be done, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I've spoken.

Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, and they will set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years. They will not take wood from the field, nor cut down any from the forest, because they will make fires with the weapons, and they will plunder those who plundered them and pillage those who pillaged them, says the Lord God.

So when Isaiah talks about this time that these warriors' garments and everything will be used as fire, Ezekiel repeats the same thing. Ezekiel was there as a prophet to Judah, but many of the things that he talked about to Judah, he referenced Israel. He lived later than Isaiah. But here we have that type of prophetic thing that hasn't happened yet. So again we see in Isaiah things that happened, Zebulun and Naftali lightly esteemed. Later on when Christ is born, he's brought into a region that is lightly esteemed in Judea. We've got this prophecy that is yet ahead of us. God has talked about it later with the prophet Isaiah. And here we have it in Isaiah 9. And then we move right to the prophecy again for the third chapter in a row, the prophecy of the coming Messiah. The thing that he told Ahadus back in chapter 7, when Ahadus refused to ask for any sign, God said, well let me give you the sign. A virgin will be with child and his name shall be Emmanuel. So again for the third chapter now is God sends these signs to Israel in Judah. Verse 6, he says a verse that very well known that all of us could just quote by memory. He talks about the first coming of Jesus Christ, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now all those things, his second coming then is there. We talk about it in verse 7. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward. Now Israel, remember, the Jews of Jesus Christ's time, they believed that that was all going to happen the first time the Messiah appeared on earth.

They kept waiting for Christ. When will you take over the kingdom? When will you establish your kingdom on earth? They didn't understand like we do that Jesus Christ would come again, and the second coming he would be establishing his government that God is talking about. It's that millennial time that lies ahead of us that we picture at the Feast of Tabernacles. That he will establish it and it says from that time forward it will exist for even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. That word zeal, of course, conjures up thoughts of immense. Just a minute, James, let me finish this thought. Immense, energy, and whatever says perhaps a better rendition or better translation of it would be, it's the ardent desire of the Lord of hosts that will perform this. God is so eager and the whole heavenly creation we know is waiting for that time that Jesus Christ will return to earth and the kingdom will be established. Yes, James.

James, do you have your hand up? You've got to unmute if you do.

Okay, can you hear me? We can hear you, yes.

In chapter nine verse six, I read the Lamb's translation a lot, which is from Aramaic. The title of the chapter, the chapter nine, is the Prince of Four Names.

Okay, and there are basically four names there.

In the Aramaic, because I know that Christ said that if you had seen Him, you've seen the Father, and they are of one accord and of one spirit.

But in fact, there's only one Father. There is a Son, but there's a Father. That's what He brought to tell us. And in the Aramaic, I think it's just a better translation.

For us, to us, a child is born, to us, the Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name is called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty One, the Everlasting God, the Prince of Peace. I think that's somewhat of a... it's less confusing to me, because, you know, Everlasting Father, it just... I don't know. That just doesn't ring right. Yeah, actually, I just looked up the word Father there, but I'm not sure. Maybe someone else has, but he is the one now.

Yeah, okay. I understand what you're saying.

Is that it then, James? Okay. Hold on, hold on. Brother Shaby, the word there is actually out. It's Father. It is Father? Is that actually Father? Yes, and we just have to remember, we're in one of the prophets, maybe the same one, he said, Abraham doesn't know us. So, Christ, even then, He had a title of Father, but when He came, He revealed the one who's the greatest in authority as His Father, who begot Him. So, there's no... it's all about context. Yeah, yeah. Because even when He comes with His wife, those who... some people surmise that maybe in the millennium, those who are begotten are His children. They become our Father's grandchildren. You know, we try to put human terms to it. I'll point that, yeah. Yeah, I have no issue. I mean, Christ is the one who brought... He was the one who was watching over Israel. He is the one who came to brought the Father and Son are united. They are perfectly one in purpose. So, I have no issue... no issue with calling Him the Everlasting Father. That Father we know He introduced Jesus Christ, introduced us to God the Father, or revealed Him in the New Testament. So, yeah. And, Pastor Shaby, in the parent's notes commentary said that the word that Xavier mentioned in the Hebrew, one of the meanings could be ancestor, like the Jews, who was in maybe three or four different ways to describe the word.

And one of them was ancestor, they said.

I think we all know who Jesus Christ is, right? So, I mean, whether... yeah, I mean, so, yes.

He has those four names, you know, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Ancestor, the one who goes before us, our forerunner, the whole things that we talk about that Jesus Christ did that has made everything possible, everything possible for us. Okay, so, and okay, more discussion on that?

Okay, in verse seven, I want to go back just a little bit because it says that Jesus Christ is going to return to the throne of David and that He's going to... He's going, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order and establish it with just the judgment and justice. I want to spend just a few minutes on that throne of David because that's significant in the history of mankind as well. So let's go back or maybe someone can just give me a couple of chapters here what that's talking about. The first one I'll turn to is Psalm 132.

Psalm 132. So, Dave? Yeah, James?

I'm okay. I'm okay.

Yeah, did you have a question or comment?

No, I'm sorry.

Okay, Psalm 132. You know, the throne of David is one of those things that, you know, if it was a man after God's own heart, God made some promises to David because David was so loyal to him. One of them we find here in Psalm 132, but we're going to go back to 2 Samuel and see it as well. 132 verse 11 says, the eternal has sworn in truth to David. He will not turn from it. I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. If your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I shall teach them, their sons shall sit upon your throne forevermore. So what God is saying is that throne, David, that you established, a man after my own heart, that's going to exist. When Jesus Christ returns, that's the throne he's going to take over the throne of David. He says it's going to last forever. Now there's a whole... we could talk about that where that throne is and how that throne has existed, and the twists and turns is taken through history, but that would be the time for another one. And you can go online, even at the YouTube Orlando site, and see some sermons on David's throne and other places as well at ucg.org. Let's go back to 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel 9, I believe. I think of 2 Samuel 12, as I think about it now.

I know it's right now.

Well, you know what? Hold on. I know where I wrote it down. I wrote it down in my Bible. Brother Shaby, as you look for that, I found the verse that I would reference. It's Isaiah 63 verse 16.

63 verse 16? Yes. Okay, we'll go there in a minute. 2 Samuel 7. 2 Samuel 7 verse 12. 7 and 12. God, speaking to David, says, When your days are fulfilled, and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name.

God did not allow David to build that temple. Solomon did. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. The throne of David is somewhere on earth today. It's the throne that Christ will take when he returns to earth. You can do some investigation or talking among yourselves about that. We won't take the time right now to do that, but you can find the information online in sermons or even in the Bible commentary, I think, probably for Isaiah.

It repeats that on verse 16. It's the same promise very clearly.

Down through there. And also in 1 Kings. No, you know what? A New Testament thing as well. Acts 2. Let's go to Acts 2 as well.

Acts 2 and verse 30.

This is Peter's sermon after that day of Pentecost when God put the Holy Spirit in them and they're out speaking to the people who are gathered there in Jerusalem to observe the day of Pentecost.

Peter says, You know what? Let's just read 29 too because it's an important verse to 29.

So there you have it in the Old Testament, you have it in the New Testament, you have it in the Psalms, and God is talking about it here in Isaiah as well. Christ, when he returns, will take that throne of David where it exists today. Okay. So we have, again, the prophecy of the Messiah.

This time God adds a little more detail to the prophecy of the Messiah. We know that Jesus Christ was born. He was born in the dark region of Galilee out of which people would ask, what good has ever come out of Nazareth? What good has ever come out of Galilee, fulfilling that prophecy? And then we have the prophecy of his return to earth and what he will do with the government that he will establish. So in verse 8 then, as we move forward, God has set the vision, he set this prophecy, but now he's going to give a warning to Israel. Israel, who turns against him continually, and Judah, who turns against him continually. In verse 8, it says, the eternal sent a word against Jacob. This is a warning, right? He set a warning, or he set a word against Jacob. Against means, watch what you're doing. If you follow down this path, here's the consequences you're going to endure. The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel.

All the people will know it won't be something hidden. It'll be something that everyone is aware of. Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria. You remember Samaria was the capital of Israel, who say, in pride and arrogance of heart. And as you go through the next few verses down here, through verse 12, you see this series of things that God says is going to happen in this order. He says the nation's going to be there in pride and arrogance of heart. That always befalls the nation, where they become pride and arrogant to think who can conquer us, and we will always stand.

You know, God says pride comes before the fall. So Israel would become proud and arrogant. And they say these things, the bricks have fallen down. And we're going to take it in the ancient context for right now, because the old homes in that day, if they were built with bricks, or structures, or built with bricks, I mean, we remember we read about the Israelites in Egypt, and they had to make all the bricks and everything like that. They used bricks, they were very solid, they were very strong, they could endure. The bricks have fallen down. So something has happened. Something has happened. Some calamity has come about that the bricks, these brick structures, have fallen down. They don't fall down easily, right? They don't fall down easily. God is saying, and he says, I've sent the word against Jerusalem. The bricks have fallen down. When the bricks fall down, the people's response, we will rebuild with hooting stones. But we'll build back better.

We'll build back stronger, right? The bricks have fallen down, but we'll rebuild. We'll rebuild. God is leading to a conclusion here that will come down to in verse 13. The sycamores are cut down. Now, I don't know, you know, sycamores. I'm not sure I would know a sycamore tree if I saw it, but when you look at sycamore trees, they were not considered the best trees in Israel or any land, kind of, you know, run-of-the-mill trees like you have everywhere. You drained out the highway, but sycamore trees were not seen as anything that was that special in Israel. The sycamores are cut down, but we'll replace them with cedars. We'll replace them with better. You remember the biblical talk about the cedars of Lebanon and how this wood was used, and special wood. It was great for building. Well, the sycamores are going fine. You know what? God took the sycamores away. We'll replace them with cedar. We'll build back better. We'll plant better things than what were there naturally. So they have this attitude, and you can see whatever God does, because he's speaking this word against Israel, if he knocks it down as a warning, we'll rebuild in defiance against him, but we'll make it even stronger.

Kind of reminds you of the of the attitude that Nimradd had when he was building the tower of Babel. We'll build a tower so tall and so high that God cannot flood the earth again. We'll be able to save ourselves from any flood that God may ever send on earth again. A foolish, foolish, you know, thought on Nimradd's part, but the people followed him, and they built this uh built this tower until God stopped it. And the same attitude is here. God may do something to us. He may send a warning, but we'll do something. We're going to go back, and we're going to build it stronger than it was before. Yeah, Xavier? In modern history, we have had that quote used right after 9-11 by Rosadam Tom Daschoff. Yep, I said his last name correct. I remember that, and I wasn't in the way then, but I remember afterwards during the sermons by the brethren that this was used. Well, it wasn't the way it was. No, it wasn't one. So when God says, yeah, 2001-9-11, yeah. I wasn't scared. So it was, you know, yeah. And so when you read those words, there was a book out at that time, and yes, that talked about all these things that happened around 9-11, exactly in the way and exactly in the order that it says here. I won't dwell on that. You can go back and look at it. Some people pan it. Of course, some people just don't want to see things clearly, but when you look at when you look at what was in that book called the harbinger, but don't worry about the I guess the fiction that goes around it. If you're going to look at it, look and see what the actual biblical thing is that this man, Jonathan Cahn, put together and the graphics that he has with it.

It looks like it fell exactly down even to the sycamore trees that were replaced by something better than a sycamore tree, a hewn stone that became a tower to replace the towers that had been fallen. I don't want to get into all that. Again, that's something that you can look at, but here's God speaking a word against Israel for that time, but in modern day, modern day, we have these series of events that are exactly the same way. Like Xavier said, there is on record, you know, I think what was Tom Daschle? Was he the speaker? No, he wasn't speaking the house. He wasn't saying that or from some point.

Reading these words as if it was something to do in defiance of God. Again, remember, this is a warning to Israel that has departed from him of this, and God is talking about the defiance in them.

It says, therefore, in verse 11, it talks about adversaries that will come. The Lord shall set up the adversaries of resin against him and spur his enemies on. Remember, we read a couple weeks ago about how it's like God, there's a whistle. Bring that nation over to punish my people, get their attention. Therefore, the Lord will set up the adversaries of resin against him, spur his enemies on. The Syrians before and the Philistines behind. So, you got this onslaught of terrorism. The nation is being torn apart by these things. You look at the Syrians, you look at the Philistines. Interesting, and I would have to put as I was putting this together, I saw a little thing that said the Philistines. Today, we have the word Palestine. It comes from the word Philistines. And you know, from the Bible, the Philistines were always against Israel, always against Judah. And so, we have the Philistines, the Syrians before, the Philistines behind. It reminds you of the vision that you have in Joel 1 and 2, where it talks about all this mayhem, the mighty armies that are coming in to invade the land. And the people's faces are just drained of all color because of what is going on around them. There's terror that fills the land. So God says, you know, here's this attitude of defiance. We'll do better than what we had before. And he will send these enemies in. The Syrians before and the Philistines behind shall devour Israel with an open mouth. You look at the Hebrew there, it says, they will devour Israel as a raging beast. You know, when you see a beast just ripping things apart when they're hungry and they're ravenous. That's what they will do. Dave Pramar, yes?

Yes, I was just going to say, I noticed about those verses for ancient Israel and modern Israel, like you said, they just had defiance and there was absolutely no repentance. They didn't stop and say, why did this happen? What did we do to bring this upon ourselves? They just was openly defiant and saying, oh, we'll just build it stronger. Instead of what do we need to do to change?

There was no introspection or looking inside their hearts to say, what do we do? What did we do to bring this upon ourselves? And how have we sinned? There was just absolutely no repentance at all.

None. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And that's the defiance that God looks at. He sends the warning, right? 2022? So 21 years ago, that warning message was there when all of a sudden in a land that God had protected that had not had any kind of attack in our land, all of a sudden this happens. Some of the blessings have been taken away. We'll see that here in a little bit. In this chapter, we see twice or is it three times? Three times that God says there at the end of verse 12, for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. We saw that back in chapter five of Isaiah two. For all this, his anger is not turned away. There is a warning, but doesn't mean that it's all over. There's more to come. God will give warnings. What will the people's response be? And if they don't turn back to him, the consequences of not turning to God continue to ramp up. Verse 13, he makes that very clear. Verse 13, for the people do not turn to him who strikes them. Who is striking Israel in these verses in eight through twelve? It is God. Why is he striking Israel? They have turned from him. They reject him. They will not listen to him. The people do not turn to him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. They're not listening. They're moving further and further away from him and pride and arrogance. And so he begins to remove the blessings. Exactly as he said back in Deuteronomy 28, back in Leviticus 26, where he says, if you don't obey me, if you turn away from me, here's what's going to happen to your land. And he gives this progression of things that happen, several of which have not yet happened, several of which have occurred in the history of Israel, but many of which, and some will see here, has not yet happened ever in the history of ancient Israel or the peoples of Israel today. Now verse 14, therefore they're not seeking God. They're not listening to the warning. Therefore, the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel.

What he's going to say here is, you know, if you got the head and tail, he's talking about everyone. The Lord will cut off. When he says cut off, the blessings of God cease.

Therefore, the eternal will cut off head and tail from Israel.

But in verse 15, he says, who the head is, the elder and honorable, right, the leaders of the land, the older people of the world, the so-called cream of the crop in a nation, the elder and honorable, he is the head. He will cut off the tail from Israel. The prophet who teaches lies, verse 15, he's the tail. Whether you're rich, whether you're poor, whether you have this tremendous office, or whether you're just the lowest person of the totem pole anywhere in America, the entire nation feels it.

No one is exempt. Leaders may want to try to put to set themselves apart. They may want to lay up something for themselves. God says head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush. You have a palm branch. You know, a lot of you live in Florida, we live in Florida palm trees, they go straight up and all, you know, they're very, very, very top of that palm tree. 10, 15, 20, however, feet they grow. You see that, that, that palm branch up there, or the bulrush that's there with leaves just right at the water. Well, no matter how high you are, no matter how low you are, they will be cut off in one day.

In one day. Now that could be a year, but again, we have that prophetic thing that God talks about where he says suddenly, suddenly it happens. It doesn't take, it's not, you know, a century in the making. In one day they will be cut off. This is Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30. It means within a short period of time. In one day, very, very quickly, right? People are sleeping, like how did that, how did that happen?

All the warning signs are there, but no one pays attention to them. And I have Isaiah 30 verse 12. He talks about this same kind of malady of people just not paying attention to what's going on around them, and then it's like this suddenly happens. Isaiah 30 verse 12. Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel. Because you despise this word, because you trust in oppression and perversity and rely on them.

Now, when we look at oppression, when we look at the word perversity, we can look at the world around us today. We see that happening because you trust in oppression and perversity and rely on them. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. It's there. You're relying on this.

You see all the cracks in the wall, and you see that bulging wall, that pipe is ready to burst, but you still trust in it. It just can't happen to this country.

It just can't happen in my life, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. And he shall break it like the breaking of the potter's vessel, which is broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so there shall not be found among its fragments, a shard to take fire from the hearth or to take water from the cistern. Over and over in prophecy in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, you know, you see this word suddenly appear.

God gives warnings. God is patient, but there comes a time when he says, that's it. That's it. And here he says in verses 14 and 15 of Isaiah 9, they're going to be cut off in one day. Verse 16, if we go back to Isaiah 9, verse 16, for the leaders of this people caused them to err. Now the people, the leaders, I mean, as you read through the books of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles, you see, people would follow, you know, the wicked leaders, they would follow them.

And people tend to follow the leaders of their lands, and the wicked kings would often lead the people into wicked practices, even killing their children. And God says the leaders of this people caused them to err. We can bring that into the 21st century. There are things going on in America today, and things that people want to espouse, that if someone had said 20, 30 years ago, this is going to be what is promoted in America, this is going to be the way we teach our children, this is the type of stuff we're going to teach them is okay, you know, we'll leave them if they believe when they're nine or ten years old, if they're a boy, they want to be a girl, we'll give them we'll give them chemicals, we'll do any kind of operations on them they want, we can destroy their lives when they're very young, and parents aren't going to have the, you know, right to protect them, you would say you don't even know what you're talking about yet.

In America, we see this type of stuff that's happening, and stuff that's happening in school, and things that we have, you know, trying to be forced down our throats. The leaders, yes, sir, cause them to hear. Recently, here in Florida, there was a case with a teacher and a seminar, and she brought it to the news to try and shame a local authority, as if what they were promoting was indoctrination, but in truth, all they were saying was, these things from the Bible will be good for your class, for your society, and even for you, but they weren't saying go and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of the sins, and change your ways, and you're just saying these laws would be good, and that that wrote them all the wrong way.

Everybody went crazy. Yep, don't want to hear that, right? Don't want to hear that. We want to hear the answer. That's right, yeah. That's crazy, yeah. Crazy times we live in. The leaders of this people cause them to hear, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Did you miss verse 15? Did I miss verse 15? Oh yeah, I incorporated into verse 14. The elder and honorable, he's the prophet who teaches lies. That would be, you know, the lowest of the low is what the Bible is saying. The leaders of this people cause them to hear, those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore, again, when you ever see the word therefore, look at the words behind it.

What God says is going on, therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men. You know, when you look at the vitality of a nation, you look at its young men, right? That's what the armies are made of. That's, you know, you look at, that's the hope of a country continuing, right? I mean, today we have a nation like China, for instance, realizing, well, our birth rate is too low. Where's, how does our nation continue down the road? We have had this policy of only one child per couple, and now we've got ourselves a problem.

The strength and the vitality and the hope of a nation are in its young men. God says, I'll have no joy in their young men. I'm not going to protect them. I'm not going to watch over them because they're not doing anything I say. The nation has completely gone away from me. The blessings have been removed. I won't have any mercy on their fatherless and widows. And we know God is a merciful God, but he says, no longer the nation has to stray from me. They don't take any stock in what I'm saying. Everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

We have a warning. We have blessings being cut off. We have all these things happening to everyone, not just a select few in a nation. It happens to rich and poor, young and old alike. For all this, his anger is not turned away.

Now keep your finger there and see what time I've got here. You've got just a few more verses. Let's go back to all Hosea. Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea.

Hosea, Daniel, Hosea. Hosea 4. You remember that Hosea is a contemporary of Isaiah.

He was prophesying under the same four kings that Isaiah was. In Isaiah 4, in verses 1-3, God gives Hosea this warning, which is very similar again to what the one that he is giving, delivering to Israel and to us today through Isaiah. Hosea 4 verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land. There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore, the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

People turn away from God. They multiply their sins. They multiply iniquity, and God says the blessings will disappear, and the people will suffer. The land will suffer. They will suffer the consequences of their actions. That's what he's telling us here in Isaiah 9. Right? Isaiah 9. We go back there. And then as we begin, so we have God saying, you know, after he sends a warning to the nation, for all this his anger is not turned away, his hand is stretched out still, he cuts off the blessings. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. And then in verse 18, we see that the land becomes pretty much completely destroyed. Wickedness burns as the fire. It will devour the briars and the thorns. Those are the, kind of, you have to even use the word, but the lowest, right? The lowest things. It's going to burn them up. Wickedness is going to devour the land. Wickedness is going to destroy the land. Wickedness burns as the fire. It will devour the briars and thorns. It will kindle in the thickets of the forest. It will rise up, or they shall rise up, mount up like rising smoke. It's going to completely devastate the land. It will burn it up, the iniquity of the land.

Happens to poor and rich, young and old, male and female. Everyone living in that land will suffer the consequences for what they have done because sin always destroys. And the father of sin, the father of lies, the father of all this stuff that we is there, and his only and his his goal is death for all of mankind and misery. God's goal, God's will, if you remember, is for all men to repent, turn away from, turn away from our own way and the world's ways, and turn to him. That's the consistent message. God isn't willing that any should perish, but that all should receive eternal, that all should come to repentance and through the process then receive eternal life if they continue in that way. Verse 19, through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is burned up through his anger. Now, we can, you know, if you look through Revelation, the trumpets, you know, they were here just six weeks away from the Feast of Trumpets, right?

Now seven weeks away, two months, I guess. Trumpets will talk about that. All the things that come upon the land, as God says, I will bring this upon you because you've turned from me, his wrath, the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is burned up. The people shall be as fuel for the fire.

No man shall spare his brother. Now, when you look at the words coming up, they are tough words. They're tough words to look at, and you know, you can look at Ezekiel 5, and you can see some words in Ezekiel 5 that will make you think that that could never happen in the world we live in.

And it hasn't in your in my lifetime. And when you see this devastation that never did occur in Israel, who he's talking about a time yet ahead of us, all these prophecies happen, and God says his word is sure, right? The people shall be as fuel for the fire. They'll be consumed along with it. No man shall spare his brother. Every man for himself. I don't care who you are, any loyalty I have for you, it's me above everything. Whatever I have to do to you to survive, I will do. No man will spare his brother. He will snatch, he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry. And you see in Ezekiel 5, this people, the hunger and the famine that grips the land, they eat things that we can't imagine that we'll see around us. He shall snatch on the right hand or slice off or tear the right hand and be hungry. It's not going to satisfy him. He will devour on the left hand and not be satisfied. Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

What a devastating thing to happen to a land that was at once at one time was so blessed, was so bountiful, that had food to spare, that could feed so many people in the world, but because they simply wouldn't yield to God, has come to this. And you have this devastating thing that is there. Yes. So, don't translations actively say that they will even eat their own children? Yeah, I mean that's kind of where it is. That hasn't happened, right? But that is something that is there. You see the land being burned up. That's talking about total devastation, the land totally wasted. You know, if we go back just a couple chapters to Isaiah 6, when God was calling Isaiah to be his prophet, he talks about those things that we read back in verse 11 and in chapter 6. Isaiah said, I'll go. I'll go. I'll warn the people. And how long do I have to warn them? How long do I have to say these things? In verse 11, Isaiah asked for how long God answered, until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. That hasn't happened.

So today, the warning message still goes out. It still must be preached by his church until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. The houses are without a man and the land is utterly desolate. You can put down in your notes or, you know, look later at Ezekiel 6 verses 1 through 8. You see similar things again in the prophet Isaiah, though God says here in Isaiah 6, the land will be laced, the cities will be laid waste, it will come to nothing. But he keeps a remnant. He doesn't completely destroy Israel. Right? And in verse 13 of Isaiah 6, he says, but there will be a remnant will remain. Israel will not be completely. The people can completely destroy. The land will be completely destroyed. But then he will bring them back when Christ returns to the lands he promised. The same promise he makes here in Isaiah.

But let's finish up here in a minute here in chapter 9. So we have this thing. Ezekiel 5, I said, talks about the same type thing that's going to happen. And then you see in verse 21, you again, you see the entire... you can see the same things. Every man for himself. I don't care what the friendship is. I don't care what the kinship is. It's every man for himself. Manasseh shall devour Ephraim. You know, we know Manasseh and Ephraim, I mean, they were the sons of Joseph, right? They've been brothers. We know who they are today or who the Bible indicates they are today. They're close. Manasseh shall devour Ephraim and Ephraim and Manasseh. Together they shall be against Judah. Hey, whatever is my alliance, whatever it is to say to, I will turn against you if it'll protect me. I don't care what the relationship is. I don't care what we said in the past. It is every man for himself. An awful, awful world goes ahead. And God says at the end of verse 21, he ends this chapter, mankind has. For all this, his anchor is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Even more, even more to come. Through all that, people don't turn back to God. So we'll stop there on chapter 9. We'll pick it up in chapter 10 next week. So I will open it up for any questions, comments, or anything that anyone wants to talk about. This chapter 9, I think, is just quite an exciting chapter when you look at it. When you see what God has done and how even that land of Galilee lightly esteemed, Christ comes out of it. That prophecy being fulfilled here three times, three chapters in a row. Now we have Christ mention the promise of the Messiah. We'll see it again in chapter 11 and in through 12 as we go through these things. During the reign of King Ahaz, who has turned against God. Yeah, Xavier?

Just to compliment what God said, which he did do with Galilee and Natalia and that area with Christ coming out of it. He did the same thing with Bethlehem. Michael took five verse two. He says, though you were small. Yeah, he does those things.

No one would. Yeah, nothing good is going to come out of Bethlehem either, right? Too small for you. Yep. Very good.

Rupert, did you have something?

What? He chose foolishness. Okay. Charles, Charles, Charles.

Mr. Shaby, to show you how foolish things can happen. Back in 1989, East and West Germany were separate. And you can travel along amongst the Eastern Bloc without a problem. So East Germans would go down to Hungary, and a bunch of them came down and went to the Austrian border and found the border wide open. So they asked the Hungarian guards going, you know, what's this? And he says, we don't have a problem. Go ahead, do what you want to do.

So Gunther calls Otto, Otto calls Uwe, Uwe calls Gretchen, and they'll go on holiday and go across the Austrian border, and the Austrian border's wide open from, what's it called, to West Germany.

And they all vacated East Germany. And it happened within a year, not a shot was fired. Who would have thought that East and West Germany would be unified that fast, like I said, without a shot being fired? Yeah, you're exactly right. That was kind of a miracle of the times, you're exactly right. So yeah. And Dardo? Yeah, and the way the chapter closes on verse 21 is basically, it seems to emphasize that this prophecy and this warning is specifically for the modern day descendants of ancient Israel, like Ephraim, Manasseh, and even Judah, because it's very, very specific and very direct to them. Yeah. Yeah, there's many verses in those minor prophets that indicate that same thing. We could do a whole Bible study on that and tidying some of these things together and showing how many times the major prophets as well as the minor prophets. Um, Alesa again. Yes, thank you, brother Cheb. Three times in this chapter, we find God saying that the hand of God turned away, but his hand is stretched out still because of the iniquities of the people. I see that even till today, God is always, God is always calling people for not following his principles. It applies to us as God's children. We need to believe in God's principles for living and the things we cannot sow, grapes, grapes, oranges. We always reap what we sow. I think it's a lesson for us.

It is one of the lessons of the Bible. Things may go on for a while, but we will always, you're exactly right, we will always reap what we sow. So there'll always be consequences. Hey, Robert, hi.

Oh, hi, Mr. Cheby. In chapter 9 verse 14, you talked about the palm branch and the bull rush in one day. Over in Hosea 5, 5 through 7, it seems like it indicates that Israel and Ephraim and Judah may all go down at the same time within one month just because of the way it discusses. Now, a new moon occurs in several of our places in our literature. It refers to that scripture. So I was just wondering if we can really pinpoint one day, one month, whatever. Yeah, I think one day could be one year, right? A short period of time. Someone said, I think, I've got it, so a short period of time, right? It happens very quickly. Yeah, and actually, what I was thinking about, Robert, about that verse there where it talks about they'll all be devoured within one new moon. So shows that things happen and change very quickly. And sometimes revelation seems like it refers to one hour. So, you know, it's always quick, but maybe we can't say it's one day, one month, one hour. You know, we don't know. However, however long those periods of times are, they're short. They're shorter, for sure.

Ricardo, did you have another comment?

Oh, okay. Your hand is still up, so.

Okay, anything else? Anyone? Okay. Well, then, I guess, yeah, Bud. Bud, you have something? You want to say something? Good to see you sitting up, Bud.

Your microphone's off.

Hey, Bud. Yeah.

There you go. Okay. The United Church of God has a commentary on the book of Isaiah. Now, I'm not sure all of us know this, and on this particular section, it reads, The Coming Messiah and His Rule, Israel to be Punished. Now, this Bible study, we've had very, very good comments and very good scripture references, but I would like to go and add a little bit to it. At the end of the commentary on this particular section versus, I want to re- I would like to read it. I know I'm taking up a little time, but I'd like to read it.

That's okay. Go ahead. Go ahead.

It's referring to the ancient captivity of Israel came to an end more than 2,000 years ago, but this was not accompanied by the coming of the Messiah or even a return to dwell and remain in the Promised Land. In fact, the descendants of Israel have never returned in Matthew's to the Holy Land. And we know Ephraim, Manasseh, just as we know where the throne of David is today, we know who modern Israel is, the English-speaking nations of the world, and a few of the other non-English-speaking nations. It says, in fact, the descendants of Israel have never returned in Matthew the Holy Land. Thus, a captivity ending with the Messiah's coming and resettlement of the Promised Land must be yet future. If we look at the conditions of this world, Europe is suffering the worst drought they've had in 500 years. China has been devastated by drought. And then we have Russia under Ukraine. This world is in a mess, and it's pointing to the need of having Christ's return. And I think all of us should be praying, thy kingdom come. And we do have literature that we can refer to, and Bible study was real good. Real good Bible study. I'm not down on it anyway. That's my comments. Very good. Very good, bud. Good to see you. I hope, Gloria, is there a right body of your side, but I hope you both are doing very well. We're both injured, you know.

Mr. Shady, can I say something to Bud? Sure. Go ahead.

And Gloria, Tampa's been praying for you guys and wondering how you're doing.

Thank you. We're trying to heal. We're trying to heal.

Good.

Prayers are appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Always.

Okay.

I saw a hand go up and it's gone. Okay.

I was going to say we're less than five weeks for Trumpets. Less than five weeks. Well, that's right. September, yeah, September 26th. Here I am thinking, I mean, the month of August has gone by so quickly. We're near the end of August already.

That's when I was thinking August 1st. Yeah. So.

Doesn't it seem like the time is going faster now? It is.

And profit. Yes. I agree. Yeah, that too. Yes.

Sherry, did you want to say something? No, I just said that it's as though time is speeded up with all this happenings and everything. It's like time is going even faster.

Yes. Okay. It is going faster.

Okay. Sherry, you all anything?

Wonderful. It was great. Yes. Thank you. Okay. I guess that's it. All of you know what time your services are.

This coming Sabbath. So I'll let your pastors let you know where they are, where you are. I'm sure you all know. So okay. Mr. Shaby, when do you speak next? I speak the Sabbath.

Hey. Okay.

You are regards to David, please. Okay. Very good. Okay. Okay. I'll let everyone.

And thank you.

Good Bible. Good. Love you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye, everybody. Bye. Bye.