Bible Study: August 30, 2023

Last week we looked at chapters 47 and 48 in Isaiah. As I mentioned before, we're in this section of Isaiah that is quite interesting and quite hopeful. It's a very upbeat section of Isaiah. It's talking primarily about the time that Jesus Christ is on earth, has returned. We're learning how God is going to present himself to the people that are there at that time, the type of ways that he will help people to understand he is God and the only Savior. We talked about the first two commandments that he repeats over and over again through chapters 43-47 about, I am the Lord your God, you will have no other gods before me, and you shall make no carved images.

You'll have no other gods, and don't bow down to those idols. Last week he began to talk about his name and taking his name in vain. Chapter 49, that we're going to talk about tonight, is an interesting chapter because it is identifying Jesus Christ, but it is like the Father is speaking of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is speaking of the Father. So we have, especially in the first eight verses of chapter 49, Christ saying, the Father said this to me, I said this to the Father, and he's laying out who Jesus Christ is and what he was going to do on earth.

And it's very interesting, and I think I use the word unusual in one of the places that I posted this, Scripture as you see God talking about God the Father and Jesus Christ talking about what the plan for him was when he came to earth. So we're going to take the first eight verses a little slow so that we know we can kind of look at what is being said here. We're going to look at some verses because there are identifying phrases in here that identify Jesus Christ in the New Testament as well so that we can kind of see exactly who God is talking about here.

So chapter 49 starts with, Listen O Coastlands. And I'll refer you back to probably a month or so ago now where we had a chapter that was talking about the coastlands and the islands and things like that. And we identified those primarily as the people of Israel. Remember we talked about how England, the Great Britain, is pretty much an island surrounded by water.

Australia, well, you know, Britain overflowed their banks, right? They were so prosperous. And we'll talk a little bit about that as we go in this chapter again because God talks about it in chapter 49. So prosperous and so fruitful that they overflowed their banks. And so people came over to America, North America, surrounded by water, Australia, New Zealand. So these coastlands that God is talking about are primarily talking to His people Israel where they have been scattered in this end time.

So chapter 49, He says, Listen, Listen O Coastlands to me and take heed, you peoples, from afar. Well, they are far from Jerusalem and God's people have been scattered all over the earth. So He's talking about, Listen, Listen O you people, the Lord, and that's YHWH, and your Bible is all capitals, the Lord has called me, and your Bible probably has a capital M. So it's Christ as if Christ is talking, the Lord has called me from the womb.

Jesus Christ, we know, was born of Mary. He was in the womb like every human being. And this is saying God, the Father spoke to Him. The Lord has called me from the womb. Might make you remember Jeremiah, for instance. The same thing was said of Jeremiah, that God knew Him from the womb. And same thing, John the Baptist. But the Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix. That's, you know, it's a kind of like 20th century word there, but the matrix of my mother, her inward parts.

He was there born like any other human being. From the matrix of my mother, He has made mention of my name. So just like John the Baptist, Jesus, or God the Father said that the name of the baby that would be born is Jesus. Yeshua is what they say in the Jewish language. He gave them the name of the child it should be.

He called Him by name. He gave Mary and Joseph the name that He should be. From the matrix of my mother, He has made mention of my name. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He. So you can see Christ talking, He, He's got a capital H there. He, the Father, has made my mouth like a sharp sword. And there we have the first place that we can kind of really identify that this is talking of Jesus Christ.

We could go to Revelation, and it talks of the His mouth being like a sword. So if we go to the book of Revelation, you can keep your finger there in Isaiah 49. And we see that reference in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 19. So in chapter 1 and verse 16. Yeah, he made verse 16. He had in His right hand, this is speaking of Jesus Christ, He had in His right hand seven stars. Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in His strength.

So out of His mouth was like was a sharp two-edged sword. In my Bible, I've got Hebrews 4, 12 marked there too, because that talks about the sharp two-edged sword in Ephesians 6, verse 17. So then one chapter over, in chapter 2 of Revelation, and verse 12, as Christ is speaking to the seven churches, to the church in Ephesus, I guess this is to the second church actually, to the angel of the church of Pergamos, right.

These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword. So again, we have the sharp two-edged sword associated with Christ. And then finally in Revelation 19 and verse 15, it says there, now out of His mouth, people here, now out of His mouth goes a sharp, sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron, etc.

So you have, you know, the identifying characteristics of Jesus Christ. Out of His mouth goes a short sword. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. So we have this identifying sign that it is Christ speaking of how God the Father made Him.

So we have two who we now know is God the Father and Jesus Christ. These two God beings, you know, that are talking kind of like to each other, if you will. He says then, going back to chapter 49 and verse 2, it says, in the shadow of His hand, He has hidden me. So it's like, you know, He's protecting Him. So when Christ was born as a human, He knew what His mission was, what His commission was, and what His goal was to die for mankind, to pay for our sins.

We all know that. But as He went around in His ministry, He became hated for the things that He said. The Jews hated Him, the Pharisees hated Him, and there were times before the final time when they arrested Him and crucified Him that He was close to death. Every single time that that happens, you can probably recall some instances where God hid Him, if you will, because it wasn't yet time for Him to die.

One of those places is in Luke 4. So if we go back to Luke 4, we'll see one of those things that probably Christ is referring to there when He says God has hidden Him. In Luke 4, in verse 28, let me see, He's angered the Samaritans again, and the Pharisees, they want to kill Him. And so verse 28 says, So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath. They rose up, they thrust Christ out of the city, they led Him to the brow of the hill, in which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

How was He going to get out of that? With a whole group of people there throwing Him over. But then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

In verse 30, God sort of hid Him and let Him go through the crowd. It wasn't time for Him to die. He had complete faith in God that when it was time to die, God would give Him the strength to get through it. But also that when people would be ready to kill Him, God would protect Him. He does the same thing for us. We may find ourselves in serious situations.

But God, what will happen to us is only what God allows to happen to us. So I think when He says there, in the shadow of His hand, He has hidden me. Christ is saying, this is what the Father has done. And remember, this whole section of Scripture here is talking about when Christ has returned to earth. So it's like He is speaking to the coastlands, right? Like it says in verse 1, listen to me. I'm going to tell you what happened. I'm going to tell you who I am. I'm going to tell you how things were. The Father did this. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of His hand. He has made me a polished shaft as I go in in verse 2.

And in His quiver, He has hidden me twice. He talks about hiding Him. So He's saying, this is what's happened. This is my life. This is what was ordained before from the foundation of the earth. This is what God has done for me when I was on earth.

And then in verse 3, you have to think about this verse a little bit. Again, it's Christ speaking, and He, God the Father, said to me, you and the word are there is an added word. The original is just, you my servant, O Israel. And He said to me, you my servant, O Israel. Now remember, Israel is God's people. Physical Israel, God knows exactly where they are.

We've talked about in Revelation 7, the twelve tribes, well, eleven of the twelve tribes, and Ephraim and Manasseh says, too, are there listening to Revelation 7 as 144,000. And God says, you are my servants when He says to that group that's there, you my servant, O Israel. So it's like He's speaking, He said to me, you, Israel, you're my servant in whom I will be glorified.

And as we've read through these scriptures, and as we'll see more tonight, when God, when Jesus Christ returns, Israel will flow to Him. Israel will flock to Him. Israel will listen to God. Israel will be a people that is loved and sought after in that time.

Before that, before that time of Christ's return, all the indications in the Bible is that the lands of Israel will be much hated, much hated. They will be oppressed. They will be looked down on. They will be in captivity. They will be miserable.

Christ will come and He will deliver them from the oppression and the misery that has been part of their, I guess, not legacy, but part of their future.

And when Christ comes, He will release them. And we see, remember that we see those praises in these verses. When Christ has returned, He has released us from our bonds. He has set us free.

And the praise that's there. We're going to see another one of those praise verses here in chapter 29. So, you my servant, or you my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified, the nations will know that those were God's people, and they will know that He is the God, and they will know that the God of Israel is the true God.

Then verse 4. Again, you still have Christ speaking. He's saying, I, then I said, I have labored in vain. I have labored in vain.

Well, we know He didn't. He completely accomplished everything that He didn't do. He paid the price for our sins. He made eternal life possible. But it says, I've labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and in vain.

And you wonder, well, what is that talking about? And I, you know, when one of the commentaries, well, more than one of the commentaries that I looked at, talked about, you know, when you look at it from a physical perspective, and Jesus Christ, with everything that He did, all the people that He healed, all the messages that He gave, He had thousands and thousands following Him, listening to Him. He healed everyone who was brought to Him. He was known throughout Judea. He was famous, if you will. His message wasn't hidden. People hated Him because of His message. And yet, yet at the end, there were only 120 people who followed Him. And so if that is indeed what He's talking about here, it's like, the whole time I was here, it didn't...there aren't hundreds...there aren't thousands of people that are following me. There aren't even hundreds of people. There's 120 on the Day of Pentecost who were gathered together. So if you look at it from physical terms, and I'm not sure that is what He is saying, but I...if someone else has heard of an interpretation or a meaning of this verse, you know, feel free to speak up. But that would indicate, you know, they all turned against me. They all hated me. Everything I did from a physical perspective didn't matter, if you will, because He died. Looking at it from that vein. And that makes sense only with the rest of verse 4, because He says, you know, I've done this, it doesn't look like I accomplished anything, people weren't following me, yet surely my just reward is with the Eternal, YHWH, and my work with my God.

I accomplished my purpose. He knows that I was successful. He knows that I came and did. He will...I will be...He will glorify me. He will make me King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My name will be honored. So it may not look from a physical standpoint that I had any effect in that time, but God knows exactly what went on.

And we see the effect of Jesus Christ down through the ages. He had a...no man has had a greater effect on the world than Jesus Christ, even for people who...even for people who don't know what we know. He has had a tremendous, tremendous effect.

So that might be what verse 4 is talking about. That seems to be the thing that Christ is saying as we look at how He is defining His life and as He's speaking to the people who live over into the Millennial period.

Okay, verse 5 then. And now the Eternal, by H.W.H. He is speaking of who we know is God the Father. Now the Eternal says, He certainly was a servant to everyone. He formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to reconcile, to reconcile the people of God, Israel, Jacob, back to God.

And Jesus Christ does say, He came to reconcile the people back to God. He was sent to Judah, He was sent to Israel, He was not sent to the Gentiles in His first coming. He was sent to make possible the reconciliation of Jacob back to Him.

We know who those people are. We've talked about them enough. So that Israel, the other name for Jacob, so that Israel is gathered to Him, God the Father. And indeed, remember this is Christ speaking to the Millennial people, to bring Jacob back to Him. He's bringing the people back to the Promised Land. He's gathering them from far, from all over the world.

Come back to the Promised Land, Israel. Come back to the Land that God gave you that He said would be yours forever and ever. So He commissioned me. I was formed from the womb to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him, for I will be glorious in the eyes of the Eternal, and my God shall be my strength.

So again, you see what He's kind of explaining. This is what's happened. This is who I am. This is what was formed. God the Father is in heaven. God the Father has done this. This is Jesus Christ did all this, and Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords is there now, telling the people, here's what happened.

I came so that Jacob could be brought back to Him.

And verse 6 is a beautiful verse. It shows that Jesus Christ did die for all mankind.

Perhaps His first purpose, go to Israel. Tell Israel the truth. That's what Jesus Christ in His first coming.

But then God the Father says, indeed, it's too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the traips of Jacob.

Your life is too important. It's too small that you're going to sacrifice yourself, that you're going to live the life you did for just one group of people on earth.

Because God loves all mankind, not just Israel. He loves Israel because they are His people. We talked about that, you know, a few Bible studies back before.

The line went from Abraham to Isaac, to Abraham to Isaac.

Is that right? Yeah, Abraham to Isaac. Yeah, that's right. Not Ishmael, but Abraham to Isaac, to, through Jacob, through Joseph, and then Ephraim and Manasseh.

So God created those people, He said. They were all children of promise that were born. They all, as you recall, had births that were miraculous, if you will.

That's what the line of God went through. So it's too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles. All mankind, every single man, woman, and child who was ever born, you'll be a light to them as well, God says, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

And that's a beautiful verse. You know, when Christ was born in Luke 2, and Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple, and you'll recall Simeon was there who had been waiting for the Messiah to be born.

And you'll recall that when he saw the Christ child, he said, now I can die in peace. God has granted me my prayer that I would live to see the Messiah born.

And in Luke 2 and verse 32, let's just read this whole statement here from verses 29 to 32.

In verse 29, Simeon says, The two groups of people that the Bible identifies, Israel and the Gentiles. This child will bring light to the Gentiles and the glory of your people to Israel.

And that's exactly what was said here in chapter 49 of Isaiah.

It's too small a thing. It's too small a thing, Christ, for you to be to do what you're going to do for just Israel, but you'll do it for all of mankind.

All of mankind will receive salvation through you, through you, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth for all of mankind.

In verse, back in chapter 49 then, in verse 7, there it says, The Redeemer of Israel, their holy one, their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thus says the eternal, the Redeemer of Israel, their holy one, to him whom man despises.

Well, if there's any doubt in our minds who Christ, who God is talking about here, and who Him is, it's identified for us in Isaiah 53, just a few chapters forward.

When He talks about to whom Him whom man despises, they decided to despise their Savior when He was on earth. And Isaiah 53, verse 3, says, He is despised. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we didn't esteem Him.

So, again, as we read through the book of Isaiah, there are phrases that we come across for the first time, and then they're repeated a few chapters later in many cases as God is building the case. And when we get to chapter 43 or 53, we'll see more of those type things. We'll actually even see that a little bit more in this chapter.

We see the phrases that God uses in one part repeated later on. So we're crystal clear who He is talking about as we go through these passages. So, back to verse 7, in chapter 49.

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their holy one, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhors, they hated Him. They hated Him. They wanted to put Him to death. That's what they did. To the servant of rulers.

You know, I have marked in my Bible there Mark 10, 42 to 45. You know what those verses mean. We don't have to turn there. It talks about Jesus Christ was... it talks about the greatest leader among you is the greatest servant, and that Jesus Christ came to serve and not to be served.

He is the servant of rulers. He's the greatest man who ever lived. He came to serve them by giving His life and all the other things that He did as He was a physical human being, as He served, as He healed, as He preached the truth. You know, He was a servant to literally everyone. The servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise. This is, again, you know, as He's installed as King of kings and Lord of lords.

As He's installed of King and King, King of kings and Lord of lords. It's the kings. Kings will bow to Him. Kings shall see and arise.

You know, again, we'll go forward to Isaiah 60, and we see this same...

Well, you know, before we turn there, let me read the rest of...

Kings shall see and arise. Princes shall also worship. But let's just read chapter 60, verse 1, or verses 1 through 3, I think, here.

Chapter 60 says, arise and shine. You know, kings shall see and arise. Arise and shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord or the eternal will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Kings, kings of this time, you know, arise. They will see who Christ is. They will arise. They will come to His light.

Princes, if I go back to chapter 49, I apologize for going back and forth here, but just to kind of tie some of these verses together that we'll be coming up on later, we'll refer back to chapter 49 back then as well.

But kings shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel. And He, God the Father, has chosen you, Jesus Christ.

So again, we see the two God beings, God the Father and Jesus Christ, as Christ is teaching the nations, teaching the people of that time what God the Father has done, what He has done, what the plan of God has done, how salvation has come from Him, building on all the times that it has been said, there is no other God besides me. You cannot compare any other God that man has ever devised to the eternal God. No other idol, nothing. It is 100% who God is. And here in chapter 49, He's describing, if you will, relationship and how it all fits together.

So verse 8, Thus says the Lord, in an acceptable time, or favorable time, or the appointed time, in an acceptable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation, I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritage.

Again, God the Father, talking about Jesus Christ, in the appropriate or favorable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation, I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant or a promise to the people. Jesus Christ promised, I will come again. I will return.

God the Father promised He would come again. That's a promise that we have, that we know Jesus Christ will return. He will establish His kingdom. He will save His people. A kingdom of righteousness and joy and peace will be established that will never be defeated by anyone again. He will give us a covenant to the people to restore the earth.

We're here just a month away from the Feast of Tabernacles, so let's look at Acts 3. Outless, wherever you go to the Feast this year, I would dare say every Feast site, someone will read these verses here in Acts 3, 18-21, about restoring the earth and the time of the restoration of all things when Jesus Christ returns.

Verses 18-21 speak of the time when He was on earth, He went back up to heaven, He is there until the time that God the Father sends Him back down to end this age and to begin the age of the millennial rule of Christ. Chapter 3, verse 18. Those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of His prophets, one of those prophets is Isaiah that we've been reading, all these prophecies about what will come, those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has not fulfilled. Repent, therefore, turn to God, repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He, God the Father, may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, Jesus Christ was here, He ascended back into heaven, He is there waiting for the time God the Father says, it's time, return to earth, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all of His holy prophets since the world began. Prophets like Isaiah, prophets like Jeremiah, prophets like Ezekiel, Micah, Joel, Nahum, all of these prophets, all these things that have been prophesied, many of which we've been reading here through the first 49 chapters of Isaiah and the next 17 that follow, those prophecies will be fulfilled. Many have already been fulfilled, not all of them yet, but that's what He's saying here in verse 8. I'll send you back to chapter 9 and verse 48. I'll send you back to earth, and you will, it's a promise, a promise I make, and you will restore the earth to cause them, physical Israel, to inherit the desolate heritages, that they will inherit the land that has been preserved for them. They will be restored. The world will be restored. It will be a new creation, if you will, as the people of the time apply and live by the laws of God, both the physical laws as well as the spiritual laws. And the earth, the earth, we've read those chapters in Isaiah 35, 34, the earth becomes a new place as God blesses it and as people use and apply the laws that He has for all of us. So verse 9, you're coming back, right? You're going to return Jesus Christ. Verse 9, that you may say to the prisoners, go forth, and to those who are in darkness, show yourselves. He will come to release Israel for the bondage that they have, wherever they are captive, whatever they're being oppressed, He will free them. Go forth. I think Isaiah 61 actually says that same thing. Yeah, Isaiah 61, something that Jesus Christ quoted in Luke 4 when He was on earth. He was handed the scroll of Isaiah, and he read these verses. At that time, prophesying that He would be the one who would do this. Isaiah 61, verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. You are set free. You're free to go. You have your freedom. What He's saying in verse 9. Go forth. Show yourselves. Come out of your hiding places, the darkness where you've been dwelling. Come out into the sun, the sun that the light has returned to the earth. Go forth and inhabit the places that God has prepared for you.

So verse 9, going along in the second half there, it says, as God is bringing them back, they will feed along the roads, and their pastors shall be on all desolate heights.

And I have marked down there. I don't know that we need to turn to Isaiah 43 verse 20. You can mark that down there. You'll remember that as we talked about God bringing Israel back to the Promised Land, that as they come from lands far away, there would be water along the way. There would be food along the way.

There will be all these things that God provides them so they will have no need for anything. He will provide everything they need along the way. Even though the land may be desolate, God will make sure that there's water there for them and food.

So when it says, they shall feed along the roads and their pastors shall be on all desolate heights, it's again saying, it may look desolate, but you go. I'll provide everything that you need.

And he's saying that here in Revelation 10 as well.

That kind of sounds like Psalm 23, doesn't it?

The shepherd who leads you by the still waters and into green pastures. Verse 10 has that same element. God will provide. He'll lead his people to the springs of clean water and he will feed them as well.

Verse 10 also is quoted, if you will, in Revelation 7.

We see that same Isaiah 49.10 spoken about these people, these 144,000 where God names the tribes of Israel in chapter 7. In chapter 7 of Revelation, let me see here. Let's begin in verse 13. I'm going to read down to verse 15. Revelation 7.13.

Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in the temple, and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. Actually, chapter 16 is where I'm going.

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. You know, the beautiful set of verses also repeated in Revelation 21 where God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Yeah, Tim?

Mr. Shavey, I wanted to reference back to verses 4 through 7.

Before we mention, he labored in vain, spent my strength for nothing and in vain.

We'll look at our UCG Bible commentary, and it references a note from the Bible reader's companion. Verse 4, his first efforts were unrewarded. He is destined to bring Israel back to God.

Verse 5, bring salvation to all peoples. Verse 6, although despised, he will ultimately be honored by all. Verse 7. Very good. Very good. That's in the UCG Bible commentary? Yes, sir. Okay. I even looked at that, but I didn't pick up on that, so that's very good. I needed to read closer, so I think that's a very good explanation of it. So very good. Thank you. Okay. So that was... if we go back, any other comments before I go forward? Okay. How about verse... we'll go back to chapter 49 and verse 10. So we see here in Isaiah... remember, Isaiah is prophesying this. This is what Christ will be talking about when he returns to earth. We just read in Revelation 7, it ties directly back to Isaiah 49 verse 10, which God inspired Isaiah to write here. They won't hunger or thirst. They will... the sun will not strike them. He will lead them by pools of water and feed them in green pastures. Verse 11, I will make... I will make each of my mountains a road, and my highways shall be elevated. We write in Isaiah 35 and other places about the highways that God will form so that the people can come back to the Promised Land. And that's what he's talking about in verse 12. Surely these shall come from afar. All these people that he'll be bringing back to the Promised Land, surely these shall come from afar. Look, those from the north, those from the west, and those from the land of Sinom.

So you have the north and the west. You know, northwest of Jerusalem would be, you know, Europe. Those were some of the nations of Israel are certainly Great Britain. Other places, the north and west, where they've been... they have been captive. And Sinom is an interesting word there. Some places, well, they say Sinom refers to the east.

But actually in the Vulgate Bible and other places, the word that there is for Sinom that is used is A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I, Austral I. And no stretch as to what Austral I sounds like in our world today, Australia. So it could be that God is even referring, you know, these from the north and the west, and all these down south, where they have wandered and His people have gone from England all the way down to Australia on the other side of the southern hemisphere. They will all come back, all His people from all over the world, to His promised land.

Or the land He promised Abraham. So in verse 13, you have a praise verse again.

God has done this. He has freed His people. They have been in misery. They have been in agony. They have been oppressed for these years from the Great Tribulation and the cruelty of the Beast Empire, the Beast power that has been on the earth. But Christ returns. He frees them from that. He brings them back to their land. So you have this praise verse in the middle here of chapter 49.

You can see the mercy on His afflicted.

Praise verses. Read the last several Psalms. Psalm 146, 7, 8, 9, 50. You see these songs of ascent that the people of ancient times sang as they went up to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. All glorifying God, all praising God, all looking forward to the time of what that Feast of Tabernacles represented. You know at that time about the Kingdom of God, the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. But they praised. Here we have these praise verses again as Jesus Christ returns. He is King of Kings and brings freedom, joy, peace, harmony, abundance to all of the earth. He teaches the people who He is and teaches the people who God the Father is as the Millennium begins. Verse 14, we have these praises that are there that they're going to be singing. But here it says, but Zion has said, God has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. And you think, say, where is God? And at the time of the Great Tribulation is the time of the nations are captive or whatever. And at times of Zion's history, where is God? Well, they should know that God said, as long as you continue to obey me, I will provide everything you need. You will be free. You will have blessings that you can't even imagine. But if you depart from me, He makes it very clear in Deuteronomy 28 what will come upon them in Leviticus 26, what will come upon them. It came upon ancient Israel. It came upon ancient Judah. It will happen to modern Israel again as they continue to go further and further away from God. And so they say, God, where is you? Where are you? And, you know, it's a refrain.

Well, God never forgets His people. They will ask, why have you forsaken me? Or that He has, and that He's forgotten me? Well, He hasn't. In chapter 54 of Isaiah, there's a little verse that has, you know, I think, so much meaning for us. Jesus Christ, or God promises, I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never leave you or forsake you. It says it in the Old Testament. It says it in the New Testament. And yet people go into captivity when they disobey God. In verse 7 of Isaiah 54, it says, for a mere moment, God says, for a mere moment I have forsaken you.

For just a moment. But with great mercies I will gather you. You departed from me. You sinned. You didn't do anything I said. You forgot me. You forsook me. For a mere moment I have forsaken you. I have let you be on your own. But with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid my face from you. For a moment, for a little bit, you had to understand the blessings that you have of God. With a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment.

But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. And so as Zion and as Israel goes into these trials and persecution and tribulation and the oppression and all the things that they will suffer, they're reaping the just reward of what they have sown. And it'll look, it may feel like God has forsaken them, us, but he hasn't. He's always there and he does promise deliverance in the end. Verse 15, he talks about the love, the love that he has for Israel. Like a parent a mother has for her children.

Can a woman forget her nursing child? In chapter 49, verse 15, can a woman forget her nursing child? Could she just abandon her? No. There's that natural love that there. God loves his people. Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they will forget. Because we hear those horrid stories, right? Sometimes. Surely they may forget.

But God says, I won't forget you. You may suffer for a while, but I haven't forgotten you. See, I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands. You're so important. It's right here. Right here, the palm of my hands. One of the most important parts of my being. You're inscribed on the palms of my hand. I love you. You're part of me. You are my children. As God said in other parts of Isaiah that we've read, I created you. And so he loves us. I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are continually before me. I know everything that's going on with you. I know what is happening with you every single minute of every single day. It's one of the things that we can always be thankful for. God's attention is always on us. He always knows what's going on, and there should be comfort in that. He knows what's going on. We are having all sorts of problems. We may need to examine ourselves.

Is it because we've departed from God? Or is it something that we need to learn through the trial or the test that we're going through right then, so that we can become stronger for the next test and build our trust in God? Because we do need to be building our trust in God so that as time goes on, we become more and more committed and completely trusting in Him.

Your sons, verse 17, your son shall make haste. Your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go away from you. The people that destroyed you, the people that conquered you, your oppressors, the people that subjected you to the miserable life that you had, they laid you waste. They're going to go away from you. Yes, you're going to suffer for a time. God never doesn't say, you're not going to suffer everything, but I will always be with you. Verse 18, lift up your eyes. Look around and see. All these gather together and come to you. He's talking to Israel, and he's talking about the Gentiles who Christ also died for, who in the New Testament Paul preached to, and God called and gave the Holy Spirit to when they repented, who will be part of those firstfruits that God makes His sons at the time of Christ's return.

All these gather together and come to you. They hated you before, but now they're going to seek you out. As I live, says the Lord, you will surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament and bind them on you as a bride does. They're going to be part of you. They're going to look up to you. They're no longer going to hate you.

We read Isaiah 60. 60 and verse 4 speaks of this as well. God almost repeats Isaiah 49 verse 18 as we go further into the prophecy that goes right until the time of the end of the physical earth and the dawning of the new heaven and new earth on earth. Isaiah 60 verse 4 says, lift up your eyes, Israel, lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your son shall come from afar, just as we read, and your daughter shall be nursed at your side, and you will see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you.

The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. They'll be looking to you. They're going to be following you. They're going to look up to you. Your God is the great God.

You knew this God. You know who He is. You understand His principles, and they're going to be seeking that knowledge, as it says. Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, for there the law will go forth from Jerusalem. Zechariah 8. Another one of those verses that is so foreign to our ears today, when you look at how hated the little Jewish nation of Israel is over there. As we see increasing instances in the news of antisemitism, that just seems to be on the rise in the world today.

In chapter 8 of Zechariah 23, it says, In that day it will turn around and people say, let's bind ourselves to them. Their God is the God of God. These are His people. We want to be with them. They know the truth.

Let's look at them. Let's go back to verse 49. Verse 19. For your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction will even now be too small for the inhabitants. So God is saying, where you are now, it's going to be too small for how you're going to multiply in my kingdom. Your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, those would be the places that we inhabit today, right?

The land of our destructions, the Englands, the Australia's, the Canada's, the Americas, and the land of your destruction will even now be too small for the inhabitants. And those who swallowed you up will be far away. It'll be your land. I promised it to you, right? This is really, I guess, the land of the Promised Land, too. The children you will have after you have lost the others? Remember, the Bible says 90%. Remember in Isaiah 6? Only 10%. A remnant will remain.

God will not allow Israel to be wiped out. Many will die. But God says, the children you have lost, after you've lost the others, will say again in your ears, This place is too small for me. Give me a place where I may dwell. Really? You're going to restore all that? 90%? And then 10% is left? And pretty soon it's going to be, we need more space.

We need more space. And it's kind of reminiscent of Genesis 49, right? When he said that about Ephraim. You're going over the borders. You're fruitful and your bowels extend over the borders. You have to spread out into the earth because the land is too small for you. And God is saying that again. Israel will multiply in that time. The place is too small. And you'll say in your heart, Well, who has begotten these for me since I have lost my children and I'm desolate, a captive, and wandering to and fro?

Who has brought these up? There I was, left alone. But these? Where were they? So we see this time where God says, I'm going to bless and multiply you. It's going to be a tremendous time of a tremendous time.

You know, keep your finger there in Isaiah. Let's go back to Job 42. Job went through a tremendous time of trial. He lost literally everything except his wife, lost his health for a time. And after that trial was over, and Job learned his lesson.

And after God appeared to him, I'll get to you in just a minute, Xavier. You know, God said, I'm going to restore to you what you have lost. In chapter 42 and verse 10, it says, The Lord and the eternal restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends.

Oh, there's forgiveness, right? It's not going to be in the time that Israel, God delivers Israel, that they're going to look down. There will be forgiveness for what has gone on with the Gentiles and how they were treated, just like God had Job pray for forgiveness and pray for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. All his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been as acquaintances before came to him and ate food with him in his house.

And they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each one a ring of gold. And it talks about how many, you know, flocks he had in verse 13. He also had seven sons and three daughters.

So God restored to him twice what he had before. God says when Israel comes back, going to restore to them, their borders will overflow as well. Yeah, Xavier? Yeah, to see the difference between our Father, our Lord, and carnal men. Men still carnal in my life. A recent King of England who went to sleep, he said if he were to reincarnate, he would rather be a virus than deal with the population.

Very evil. Isn't that evil? Yeah, I read that too. And I actually played on some show I was watching the other day and I thought, yeah, I just so I could reduce the population.

How could you ever wish that right? And even say that. Yeah, yeah, interesting. Let me put up something, and this is from the UCG Bible commentary here, that talks about this verse as well. I think you can see that okay. This is what they say about verses 20 and 21 there in Isaiah 49. It says, Many of the Israelites settled, the British Isles, became too cramped for their growing numbers, making it necessary to expand and colonize abroad. British historian Colin Cross states, One of the unexplained mysteries of social history is the explosion in the size of the population of Great Britain between 1750 and 1850.

Notice one of the unexplained mysteries of social history. For generations, the British population had been static, or rising only slightly. Then in the space of a century, it almost tripled, from 7.7 million in 1750 to 20.7 million in 1850. Why it happened is unknown. It must just be recorded that human reproduction and vitality follows unpredictable patterns.

Britain was a dynamic country, and one of the marks of its dynamism was the population explosion. Well, we know where that population explosion came from as God multiplied Britain and that they became the greatest empire the world has known. It became so large they had to spread over into other areas of the world that we've talked about. God says the same thing will happen again. He will enlarge their territory. He will enlarge the population. It's a promise, as the world is repopulated in the time of Christ, he will bless it with a tremendously increased population.

Verse 22, then, going on in Isaiah 49, God says, Kings shall be your foster fathers. Kings, other kings of the nations before. Kings shall be your foster fathers. And they're queens, your nursing mothers. They will be looking to serve you. You will be highly esteemed. You will be, you will be, you know, esteemed upon the earth, the redeemed ones of God.

Doesn't mean the others will be living in poverty and look down upon, but Israel will be, Israel will be, glorified for who they are. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick up the dust of your feet. Just they will highly respect you. And then God says what he has said so many times in these chapters we've been looking at. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Then you will know everything I've told you, everything I've been saying, everything that's in these prophecies, you will know I am God. For they shall not be ashamed who wait for me. One of the one of the lessons of life. Just wait for God. Don't take matters into your own hands. Trust that God is working things out. God will do things in his own time. Wait for him. If you remember, if you remember, while I gave a sermon, hope or expectation, that wait there is Hebrews number 6960. Expect it. Look to it.

Look to it and know that it is going to happen. When you know it's going to happen and you're certain that God's word is true, you will wait for him because it is absolutely certain he will provide it. They will not be ashamed. They won't be put to shame. God will not let them down. Who waits for me? Who had that expectation that I am going to do what I say I'm going to do? Verse 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Or the captives of the righteous be delivered? Is that a question? Can that happen?

Can the prey be taken from the mighty? That isn't something that usually happens. But with God, it will. Thus says the eternal. Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away. Captives being Israel, right? The ones who are oppressed, even the captives of the mighty will be taken away. And the prey of the terrible will be delivered. For I will contend with him who contends with you.

I'll fight your battles for you, God said. Wait for me. Trust me. I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you. This is a pretty graphic verse here. But God is saying those who oppress you, they're going to suffer the same things they're going to put you through. And there's those verses that, you know, we don't like to read about eating your own flesh and famine being so great that people will do those things.

But God says those who oppress you, I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh. They will learn you obey God and blessings result. But if you don't obey God, there's going to be the things taken away from you and the blessings. You know, Zachariah 14 talks about, you know, speaking as we're in the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, everyone in that day will go up and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

But if Egypt says, nah, we don't want to go, we're just going to stay home. God says, there won't be any rain on you. You will learn. You do what God says, and you'll have the blessings. If you don't do what God says, very simple.

The blessings will be taken away, and you will learn He is God. Do what He says, and life will be filled with joy. So verse 26, I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh. They will be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine. Pretty gruesome verses, but God, they will turn to God.

They will learn that God is good, that God does bless, and when you obey Him, it's joy that results. All flesh shall know, all flesh shall know, that I the Eternal am your Savior, Israel, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Everyone will know. There will be one God, and it will be crystal clear to them at that time. So let's pause there for tonight, and let me open it up for any comments or questions, observations. Yeah, Betsy? Hi, thank you. Going back to verse 12 in Isaiah 49, I think it was, and we all know that the West is absent in Revelation, but how do you define coming from the North? You said Europe, and then the West, and then Australia. So was that the Western civilization that we're looking at there? Those are the North and West. Actually, later on, it talks about the Northwest. That would be more Britain that we're looking at, I think, at that point than the West, as in where the West is today, the United States. Yeah. Okay. Thank you much. Yeah, I'm looking for that, here. Well. Well. Okay. Yeah. There was one I read about the British Isles. Oh, I guess that was in the Bible commentary. Yeah, Greg. Anyone else? Okay. Next week, I think we should be able, I think we'll probably be able to cover chapters 50 and 51 next week. So if there's nothing else, I'm going to go ahead and sign off. Going once, twice, three times. Okay. Everyone have a very, very good Sabbath. Very good Sabbath. The rest of the way. Bye-bye. We're forward to seeing you all the next Wednesday. Okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. See you here. Bye. Bye-bye. See you. Bye, Lisa.