Bible Study: June 31, 2023

Okay, I'll start over. Okay, so tonight we're going to be in chapter 36, but you'll remember last week that we had completed chapters 34 and 35, which completed a section of Isaiah that was a series of prophecies. Some of those prophecies were very, oh, how can we say, I mean, showed destruction and devastation and punishment upon people, but always following up with that was the hope of God. That God delivers, God saves, and He will be the one to save your world. So as we, you know, sometimes here among us, you know, hope, the hope in God. We always have to remember the hope in God. He is the answer to the problems that we have. It doesn't mean everything is going to be great. And, you know, in 1 John 3 it says, everyone who has this hope in himself does what? He purifies himself, turns to God, does things God's way, and He delivers His people that follow that. So follow that principle. So we finished chapter 35, and for the next four chapters, we're going to be looking at a little bit of the history of one of the kings that Isaiah served under, and that's Hezekiah. You remember the four kings that Isaiah prophesied under? You know, two of them, one of them was very good until the end of his life. His son was pleased God and served God all the way to the end of his life. We have Ahaz, who was Hezekiah's father, who simply resisted God from beginning to end. He never allowed God to, he never gave God any credit and did not want anything to do with God. Completely shut down the temple, completely shut down all worship of God, introduced idols, high places, altars, incense, all those things. And then we have Hezekiah, and in chapter 36, you know, we read a little bit of introduction into Hezekiah, but it breaks into the 14th year of his reign. But God says Hezekiah was a good king. His father was not a good king, and as a result of his resistance to God, you'll remember there were a lot of the prophecies that God gave as a result of that. But if we pick it up in verse 1, I'll give you a highlight of where we'll be the next two, maybe three weeks. In chapters 36 through 39, that's the next section both of them have to do with Hezekiah, and both of them talk about really serious issues that Hezekiah faced in his life. One in 30 chapters 36 and 37, he's facing the king of Assyria, who was, from a physical standpoint, impossible to beat from human standpoint. And 38 and 39, he faces a disease that will bring upon his death. In both cases, the view we see Hezekiah's faith, and we learn a lot of lessons about faith in God, and can compare these or use these examples of Hezekiah in our lives as we face some daunting things maybe in years ahead. But let's pick it up in verse 1 here of 36. I think I'm going to approach this a little bit differently tonight.

I'm going to read through, because we've read through this account before. When we were talking about Assyria and their assault on Judah, you'll remember that God said that Assyria, they would conquer some of the cities of Judah, but they would never enter Jerusalem. And so we read that back in Kings and Chronicles, and we read this chapter or some of this chapter back in that time. But I want to read through 36 here, because it'll remind you of what we did. But then I want to go back, since this picks it up in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, and look a little bit at Hezekiah before this 14th year of this trial. Because these four chapters in Isaiah deal just with the trial of war and trial of sickness. But let's then we go back and we learn something about Hezekiah. And as I say, anytime we read about these kings, we should learn something about ourselves as well. So 36, verse 1 says, it came to pass in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, the Sennacher of King of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And then the King of Assyria sent the Rav Sheikah, I'm going to just say governor from here on to put it in more common language of what he is, the King of Assyria sent the governor with a great army from Leshish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the opera pool and the highway to the Fuller's field. And Eliakim, you'll remember Eliakim. Back in Isaiah 22, we have God replacing Shevna who was... let's go back to Isaiah 22 so just remember because I don't remember his steward, that's right, Isaiah 22. If you turn back there in verse 15, you'll see that Shevna, the steward at that point, wasn't the man that God wanted to be serving with Hezekiah. So he put Eliakim in his place and had very good things to say alike.

God always provides the team that he wants to accomplish the will that he has. So in verse 15, it says, go proceed to this steward, to Shevna who is over the house, and say, what have you here? And whom have you here? That you have Euniceplica here, and he who hues himself assepical are in high. So basically, Shevna was just all about himself. How could he glorify himself? Then in verse 20, then it says, God says in verse 19, I'm going to drive you out of your office, and from your position, he will pull you down.

In verse 20, he's going to put someone in that will match the good king that Hezekiah has become because God is because that's what God does. He does provide the teams we work to accomplish what he wants. It says, shall be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe, Shevna. He'll take your position, and I will strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility into his hand.

He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Remember, he said, I'm going to give him the key of the house of David. I will lay on his shoulder. This was a very high commendation from God as he placed Eliakim there to work with Hezekiah. I will put the key of house of David on his shoulder, so he shall open, and no one will shut. He shall shut, and no one shall open.

I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father's house, because he would serve God with the right attitude. And along with Hezekiah, who's learned and is developing and exhibiting complete faith in God and doing what God wants, you have a very powerful example in Judah at this time with the king and his steward, chief steward, who are completely aligned with each other and with God. And so we go back to chapter 36.

We have Eliakim. Hezekiah feels very comfortable in sending Eliakim because they are seeing eye to eye, and so he sends Eliakim to meet this rabshika or the governor from Assyria sent by that king. That king had faith in his governor, that he would deliver the message that that's an accurate one to deliver. So in verse 4, it says, then, the governor from Assyria said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?

Like, what are you doing? What are you about here? What are you trusting in? I say you speak of having plans and power for war, but they're mere words. Now, in whom do you trust that you rebel against me? You have some strong words that he's saying here, and he's trying to cast fear into Eliakim. Satan works in casting fear into us. We are powerful, and of course, Assyria was the most powerful and cruel nation on earth at that time.

Verse 6, Look, You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leads, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. So Assyria thinks, Oh, Judah must be trusting in Egypt as an ally.

We don't see that when we go back and look at Hezekiah as the early years of Hezekiah. Maybe in the early, early years, Hezekiah learned that from his father, who looked to everyone except God to have faith in them. It failed him every single time.

Hezekiah learned that lesson that you can only trust in God. But here's Assyria assuming you're trusting in Pharaoh, you're trusting in Egypt, you're misplacing your trust. Verse 7, he goes on, if you say to me, we trust in, and I'm going to use YHWH here, because you remember that all the lands at this time had their own gods, and all their gods had names. You had Molech, you had Baal, you had all these gods of name, and Israel's god had a name as well, YHWH. We can call it Yahweh, Yaveh, whatever we want.

I'll just use the letters there. So in Assyria's name, this YHWH, he's just your god, no different than our god, no different than Shema, Khemosh, no different than Molech, no different than these other gods he's going to mention. Who are you to stand up against us? He's equating the god of Israel with all these pagan false gods. So in verse 7, he says, if you say to me, we trust in YHWH our god, isn't it he whose high places and whose halters Hezekiah has taken away and said to Judah and Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar? Well, he didn't even really understand what was going on.

Hezekiah did tear down all those false altars to all these other gods, and he said, it's this altar you will worship on in this temple.

And then they misunderstood completely what it was that Hezekiah was doing and saying, he's torn down all those altars. We've heard what's going on. Why would that god even pay attention to you? So again, misrepresenting and not understanding the facts, and I guess probably intentionally, misrepresenting them. Verse 8, now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge. Ah, here's what it's about. Give a pledge. Give some money to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses, if you're able on your part to put riders on them. It's a little cut there. Do you even have a man enough army that if I give you 2,000 horses, you can man an army that would be able to sit on those things? How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Give me your money. Pay your tribute to me. Kind of sounds like Satan, right? When Satan and the Great Temptation—if you just bow down to me, I'll give you everything you need. You don't have to trust in Egypt. You don't have to trust in anyone. Just trust in me, and I'll give you all you want. Verse 10, have I now come up without YHWH against this land to destroy it? Then he lies to them. YHWH said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. Now, he's lying to them because he's putting some doubt in them. I know who your God is. Now, remember that Assyria has taken many cities of Judah at this point, but God's going to say they're not going to take Jerusalem. They're not going to take Jerusalem. You have this group of people here facing this really tough enemy, and he's barking out these lies. Your God told me, go take this land. So you've got Satan doing what Satan does best. He infuses fear. He infuses doubt, but he's up against Eliakim, a man of God who isn't going to be led astray by doubt and fear. Then Eliakim, Shebna the scribe, probably a different Shebna than what we read about in Isaiah 22. Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rapshika the governor, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. And don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.

So it's like, you know, all the people of the land are hearing this and they're afraid, okay, you know, while they weren't going to be moved by this man's speech, the people of the land might be. They might be compelled to, let's just give him what he wants. Let's just get these horses. Let's just do the things that they need us to do. Just keep them away from us at any cost.

But the governor said, because he knew exactly what he was doing, and he was looking to inflict fear and infuse fear wherever he could. But the Rapshika said, As my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words and not to those men who sit on the wall who will eat and drink their own waste with you, it's like, here we have that veiled threat. Famine, you'll be eating your own waste by the time we're done with you if you don't listen to me and bow to us. And then he stood up, verse 13, and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria, thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. And you can imagine that was a pretty powerful message that he was giving. Don't let him deceive you. Now we can put ourselves in this situation. Between now and the return of Jesus Christ, we could find ourselves in the very same situation where someone was barking out orders to us, threatening us with all sorts of things, including our lives, and saying, Don't put your trust in that. What has your God ever done for you? What God, whatever doubt they can use and whatever. We, like Eliakim, Shevna, and Joah, need to be strong people who have faith in God and who are committed to His purpose and are ready, if it is, if it's required of us to even lose our life because we know the very next second, if we lose our life, there will be the resurrection and eternal life that God gives us. We have to know that when these challenges come our way.

Verse 16, Don't listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, Make peace with me by a present and come out to me. And every one of you eat from his own vine and everyone from his own fig tree. Sounds like the very promises that God has given Israel, right? In that day, man will sit under his own fig tree. He'll sit under his own vine. There will be peace. And here's the king of Assyria saying, Hey, if you just bow to me, if you just bow to me, you'll have the peace and everything you're looking for, counterfeiting what God says to his people, if we yield to him.

Every one of you will drink the waters of his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Your future with me is glorious. It will have a wonderful future if you just bow down to me. Beware, lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, YHWH will deliver us. And there he goes into comparing God to all these other gods. Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephravaeum? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand that your God, YHWH, should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? You can see what he's doing here. You can imagine God's reaction as he compares the true God with all these false gods. But look at what the people did. You know, these were some tough words. They were faced with torture, starvation, a miserable life, and some of them could have defected. Some of them could have said they could have whatever done any kind of rebellion. But they held their peace and answered him not a word. Not a word. For the king's commandment was, do not answer him. They were well prepared. Hezekiah knew what was coming, and Hezekiah said, do not answer him. Listen to his threats. Let him say whatever he wants. Don't engage with him. It's the principle. In Proverbs 26 it says, if you answer a fool, you become a fool. And the way Hezekiah was saying, you're not going to win this argument. It is absolutely nothing. You're not going to convince him. Just don't say a word. Kind of remind you when Jesus Christ was being accused left and right as he was arrested that night of Passover, and they accused him of everything under the sun. And yet he didn't say a word.

Didn't say a word until he was asked a question, you know, are you the son of God? And then he answered it affirmatively. Don't answer him. And then, Eliakim, the son of Hezekiah, who was over the household, Shevna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rav Sheikah or the governor from Assyria. So they stood their ground. They stood their ground. And that's a very fine example and a lot of lessons we can learn, you know, from this as we look at, you know, our time between now and the return of Jesus Christ. But this is in the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign. It isn't in the first year of his reign. Remember, he was coming out of a reign, an evil, evil reign of Ahaz that spelled resistance to God, reliance on physical forces, reliance on self, do whatever it takes to ally yourself with the people around you. So Hezekiah has had 14 years to turn the nation Judah back to God in the opposite way that what his father has done. So let's go back to 2 Chronicles and let's look at Hezekiah in the years before this and see what was going on with him back then. So turn with me back to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 29.

And we'll read about the early days of Hezekiah. What he did do during those 14 years before he was faced with two severe trials. Won this war and then what we'll read about next week in chapters 38 and 39 this illness with which he was faced with death. Chapter 29 of 2 Chronicles verse 1. It says, Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem, verse 2. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. According to all that his father David had done.

That's high commendation from God. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, here's what he did is he took over a reign from his father Ahaz. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Now you can, you know, if you read back in the second Chronicles 28, you can see it was Ahaz, his father, who closed all the doors. He shut up the temple. No one could go in. It was just kind of put in mothballs, if you will. He didn't want anyone dealing with the temple or God in any way, shape, or form. But here's Hezekiah.

He, you know, wisdom. Certainly God was with him, but he realized, you know, everything that my dad did wasn't good. We need to turn back to God. God has been displeased with us, and we need to turn back to God. So in his very first month, he begins to open up the temple again. Verse 4. He brought in the priests and the Levites. He gathered them in the east square, and he said to them, Here, Levites, sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. Get rid of the trash that has accumulated. Now that was in the temple of God. Remember, that's the physical temple. You and I are at the spiritual temple of God. And so, you know, just as they had to carry the rubbish in the trash out, we need to be carrying, and when we identify the trash in our lives, to get rid of it. Clean up the temple. Make it ready. Make it ready for God. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They forsaken him. They turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the eternal and turned their backs on him. They've shut up the doors of the vestibule. They've put out the lamps. They haven't burned incense or burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel. That's why, verse 8, therefore, the wrath of the eternal fell upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. We got all these troubles around us because we, the nation, have turned from God.

The only answer to our troubles, the only answer to a life of peace, and is turned back to God. The same answer for the world today. The only answer is turning back to God. The world doesn't have the answers. Verse 9, for indeed, because of this, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. And there's a key verse there in verse 10. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. You know, sometimes we think we can appease God by just saying what he wants us to say. But always remember, God looks on the heart. He hears our words, but he also knows what's in our heart. And here it was in Hezekiah's heart. He really wanted to turn God. He wasn't just using God like, okay, if we do what God says, we'll get what we want out of it. No, his heart was turned back to God. Our hearts need to be with God, not just our words, not just our words, but our hearts as well. And so in verse 11, you know, a verse for us today, my sons, don't be negligent now.

Don't neglect it. Don't take it for granted. Don't do it half-heartedly. Do it with all your heart. And we'll see that later on said about Hezekiah. My sons, don't be negligent now, for God has chosen you to stand before him. You know, this verse can apply to us just as much as it did to them, because God has called you and me. Don't be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that you should minister to him, and burn incense. And so we see what the heart of Hezekiah was back then. There was a lot that had to be cleaned up as he took the throne there, but he did it. We drop down now to verse 16. You know, you can see the priests are going about that. They're doing exactly what the king ordered. They're cleaning up the house. They're getting the trash out. They're going to restore it. So it's a place of worship. Verse 16 says, the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Eternal. It's kind of like going into ourselves, examining ourselves, right? Went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and brought out all the debris that they found in the temple to the court of the house, to the court of the house of the Eternal. And the Levites took it out and where did they carry it to? We talked about the brookhedron back a few weeks ago, that ever burning fire where all the trash, all the refuse, even the corpses of the criminals, prisoners, and that type of stuff were went to kind of a place of ill-repute. So they didn't put it away to be used later. It's like burn it. Burn it and put it in a place of refuse where we can't recall it anymore. It is absolutely useless. The same thing that we do when we put things out of our lives because, as you probably read about firstfruits in Revelation 14, this past penny cost, and I hope everyone had a good penny cost, you know, the firstfruits are not defiled with women. They don't have any of those false ideals anymore. And that false religion, that trash that's in our lives, it has been cleared out during the course of our life, needs to be carried out to the brookhedron and just stay there. So we have the priests going about these things and what's going on here. If we move down the chapter there, let me see what I've got here. You know, as they're doing God's work, as you go down through chapter 29, you see in verse 28, all the assembly worshiped. They were all doing God's will, and when they were doing God's will, it brought them together. It unified them. They were determined, get this house clean, get it ready. They sang praises, verse 30, the last part of verse 30, they sang praises with gladness. Gladness. Because when we're doing God's will, it brings rejoicing, it brings the songs of the heart, it brings the people who are together. When there's discord, when there's laxity, when there's apathy, when there's all these other things, something's not right. We're not doing the will of God. The eagerness and the zeal comes when we are doing things in concert with God. And then in verse 31, Hesees what the people are doing, and He says, yes, look what you've done. You have consecrated yourselves to God. And then it says, as many as were willing of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And in verse 36, they rejoiced.

In chapter 30, I'm not going to go through a lot of chapter 30 here, because not too long ago, it's around the days of Unleavened Bread, I gave a sermon on the kings of Israel. And I think I had called it the heart of Passover. And in that, I used 2 Chronicles 30 here, a lot of that sermon. So if you're interested in that, you can go back and listen to that. But let's just look at a couple verses in chapter 30 here, because they are keys to our development, just like they were keys to Hezekiah's development and the spiritual development, I guess if I can put it that way, of Israel. In verse 6, well, as they're preparing for Passover, Hezekiah sends out messengers everywhere. Come and keep Passover with us. Return to God. Verse 6, it says, you know, here's what he said, the middle part there. Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Then he will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hands of the kings of Assyria. Come back to God. He will be with you. Verse 8, don't be stiff-necked. Don't be resistant.

Just yield to God. And it's our natural human nature. When we're stiff-necked and stubborn and we resist God, that's the human nature that has to be broken down by the Spirit of God, that we just yield to Him because we have the trust. Whatever He says, even if it may not make sense in our weak little human minds here, we still do it because God knows what's best. He always knows what's best and He has our best interests at heart. Don't be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the eternal and enter His sanctuary. Come and do His will.

Verse 9, middle of the verse, or near the end of the verse, the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. He won't turn His face from you if you return to Him. Again, God is always there for us if we return to Him. It reminds you in the message of the church of Laodicea. They're sitting there lukewarm, as it says in Revelation 3 there, and it's pictures of Jesus Christ knocking, open up, I'll come in. If you'll just open the door and let me in, I'll be here. But they don't open the door because they're too wrapped up in themselves and everything that they're doing, that they've forgotten God. They're just going about the routine of life rather than really committing to God. In verse 10, as you see, some as they invited them to pass over, they just laughed at them. Pass over. We don't need that. Why will we turn back to God? But in verse 12, something for you and you and me to focus on says, the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart. This is the unity that we talk about. One body, one spirit, one God, one baptism, one truth.

God gives us that when we're yielded to Him. Singleness of heart. When we look at how are we going to be in unity with one another at what one with one another at one with God? It's that singleness of heart that God will give us when we are yielded to Him. Verse 14, after they go through all this, again, they're taking stuff out to the brook, the brook Kidron. Verse 19, I'm just going to give you these key things. You've heard these concepts before. Everyone who prepares his heart to seek the Lord your God, we have to get ready. I hear some people say, I don't want to dwell. I don't want to dwell on what's coming. I don't want to dwell on this. We have to prepare our hearts. We have to be ready for what God says. If we haven't prepared our hearts, if we're not developing it, then we're just kind of like ignoring what's going on and pretending it's never going to happen and thinking we're going to be able to muster up the faith and the proper response. Whatever it is, when we get, you know, a sickness or a threat or whatever, we're fooling ourselves. We prepare our hearts. God will prepare our hearts so that we're ready to do what He needs us to do, the strength that He will give us. And so you see this great joy that's there. In chapter 31, then we see after they keep the days of Unleavened Bread and they keep it another seven days because they are so rejoicing in God. And then in chapter 31, they restore tithing. Oh, God blesses us. Let's tithe, right? In verse 4, chapter 31, verse 4. Now these are the early years of Hezekiah. All this is being done before his 14th year. Moreover, Hezekiah commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. That was their job. They would provide the tithes for the work of God to go on. The Levites were the ones charged with that. Kind of reminds you of Acts 6 in the New Testament when the first deacons in the New Testament church were appointed so that the ministers could devote themselves to what? To prayer, to study, to dealing with the spiritual things rather than the distribution to the widows and the poor, the fatherless and the orphans. So same thing here, right?

Verse 6, the children of Israel and Judah who dwelt in the cities of Judah brought the tithe of oxen and sheep, the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and they laid them in heaps. If you read through the chapter, you see it was a monumental amount that was given at them as people did what God's will was, and they had enough for everyone.

Hezekiah appointed the people who would distribute it to make sure it was all distributed in accordance with God's will as it was given for his work and for those who needed it. And in verse 20, as again these early years of Hezekiah, thus Hezekiah did throughout all of Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. It took time, but he built this habit and this pattern that by will obey God. We will seek him. We will with all our heart. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. He did it exactly the way that God said to do it. And so he prospered. When we do things God's way, he will prosper us.

Then you come to chapter 32, which is exactly almost verbatim what Isaiah 36 is. So leading up to the 14th year, we see the pattern of Hezekiah. What all of us need to go through the pattern of obeying God, yielding to him. When we see something not right, changing what we do and go to God, always seeking him and making sure our heart is in it. We're not doing it for an ulterior purpose, but we're doing it specifically to please God because that's the thing to do.

Now before we go back to Isaiah 36, let's look at 2 Kings because we learn a little bit there as well about Hezekiah that we don't read in 2 Chronicles 29 to 32 there. So 2 Kings verse chapter 18. In chapter 18, it introduces, here's where he becomes king, verse 4 of 2 Kings 18. He removed the high places, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the woven image.

When the Rav Shaka came in and said, hey, he's cut down all the altars, removed all those things, they looked at that. Look, he's changing gods, but they didn't realize he's turning to the true God. Verse 5, he trusted in the eternal God of Israel so that after him, what a high commendation is this, so that after him was none like him among the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. I mean, the nation of Judah had some good kings. Here's a high commendation for Hezekiah. He trusted in God, for he held fast to the eternal. He didn't depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. Let's drop that. Well, let's read. You can see he had to go into battle here. The Lord was with him, verse 7. He prospered wherever he went, whatever he put his hand to. God was with him. It turned out well for him. Whatever he put his hand to, God prospered him wherever he went, and he rebelled. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He wasn't going to bow down to this evil force on the earth. He subdued the Philistines, and it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah.

That Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria. That's Israel, and they seized it. At the end of three years, they took it, and in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of the king, Hoshai, of Israel, Samaria was taken. And then the king of Assyria carried Israel away, captive, and put them in halib by the habeur. So Hezekiah was living during this time, and he saw Israel fall. They were always apart from God, and he saw what the result of being standing against God was. You get led into captivity. You lose your land. You lose everything God had promised.

Verse 13. Here we come up to the—oh, and he says in verse 12, this is the reason they went into captivity, because they did not obey the voice of their Lord, their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses had commanded, and they would neither hear. Huh. They wouldn't even listen. You know, how sad it is when you have someone, and you're trying to talk to them and say, here's what the law of God—they won't even listen to you. Just they close their ears. It's like, I'm not even going to listen to it. How sad is that? That person is—they're pretty much writing their own script here of what they do when we shut God out like that. But here we come then in verse 13 to the 14th year of King Hezekiah, the very same year we were looking at in chapter 36 of Isaiah. And the 14th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, came up against all—I'm sorry, looking ahead here—of the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah, King of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria, saying, I've done wrong. Turn away from me. Whatever you impose on me, I will pay.

And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So here we have Assyria, and we see this little inset here. The first time, you know, okay, I'll just pay it. You know, I'll just pay it. The money is not worth as much as the piece that we have. I don't think that Hezekiah trusted in Assyria.

It was just, okay, I'll just do what you say, and I'll trust that you're going to do what you say if I pay you this money. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. At that time, Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the eternal and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.

So this is an interesting, interesting thing, but you know, here's Hezekiah, still a young king, maybe thinking that was the thing to do. God is like, okay, he hasn't taken Jerusalem yet. Let me just go ahead and pay him what it is, you know, and he'll just go away. Then the king of Assyria sent the tartan, the rabbis, the rabbis, the rabbis, with a great army against Jerusalem to Hezekiah, and they went up and came to Jerusalem.

And when they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller's field. That's where we pick it up in Isaiah 36. That's where they're standing. Hezekiah has done this. He's paid it, but it isn't going to have the effect he thought. Now they're coming back for more. I think maybe what Hezekiah learned or what they saw was, aha, Hezekiah is weakening. Hezekiah is looking like he's going to yield to us. Let's go in and conquer him. Let's go in and do that because we sense this weakness just like his father Ahaz.

He'll give us whatever we want. And they sensed weakness by him giving that tribute, right? And so they come in, they go by the upper pool, and what they call to the king, Eliachim, who was over the household, Shebna, all went out to them.

And then we have, from verse 19, on the exact words again that we find in Isaiah 36. Hezekiah might have learned a very valuable lesson there. You cannot trust man. You cannot trust man. Your trust can only be in God.

Man will only be there, and if he senses weakness, you're cooked. You have to be strong in God. Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna, let's be turning back to Isaiah 36 because that's where we're going. We read chapter 36, but that's kind of a prelude to Isaiah 36. But on your way there, you will remember in chapter 33 that we talked about people dealing treacherously with those who haven't dealt treacherously with them.

And here we have here we have Assyria dealing treacherously with Israel, or Judah. And Judah hasn't dealt treacherously with them at all. Okay, you said it. Well, we'll do it. Any of us, what might have done exactly the same thing, that's fine. If it, you know, but as Hezekiah learned, you don't trust man, just like the Bible tells us, you can only trust in God.

And God chides Assyria for that. You dealt treacherously with those who have not dealt treacherously with you. He says it twice in the chapters that we've led up to Isaiah 36 here. And so then we read everything we've already read in chapter 36 as of Isaiah. Then we see that, and we see this strong team of Eliakim, Eliakim, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, and Hezekiah, who prepared his people, don't listen to what he has to say. Don't answer him.

Just stand strong against him. And so in the face of all that, a Hezekiah who is now completely relying on God, not looking at allies, not thinking, this nation will deliver me. I can run over here and get this help. Only God, the only one who's going to do it. I don't trust anyone but God. Let's pick it up, Jenna, in chapter 37 and continue with the story. So it was when King Hezekiah heard it. Remember, Eliakim comes back and he says, this is what Assyria is saying. And there it's like he's a pretty powerful message. He's challenging God and he's saying, you know, we're basically going to starve.

We're going to be killed. We're going to be eating our own waste if we don't do what he says. Hezekiah has heard this before, but they're not going to yield this time. When Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Eternal. He didn't turn to Egypt. He didn't turn to the Philistines.

He didn't turn anywhere else. He went right to God when he had this threat to his life and the nation's well-being that he went right to God. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shevna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth. We're seeking God. It's a simple right? To Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos.

Go to Isaiah. He's a man of God. Find out what he says about this. We are seeking the Lord. That's where we're going to take. We're not going to lean on our own understanding anymore. We're going to lean or we're going to rely on God. And they said to him, to Isaiah, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke and blasphemy. For the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. It's time. We're faced with a battle here. This is a time, and we don't have the strength. What do we do? We can't defeat this huge army of Assyria. We can't possibly stand against them physically. It is hopeless. We are doomed. We don't have the strength to do it on our own. What do we do? God, you get this sense of helplessness. We have nowhere to turn. Now, sometimes I've told people when you have nowhere to turn and someone has told you it is hopeless, you turn to God. That's where the answer always is. It may be, verse four, that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rav Sheikah, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the eternal your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that's left. Isaiah, will you pray to God on our behalf? So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah answered, Thus you shall say to your master, Thus says the eternal, Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Don't listen to them, and don't be afraid. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. You're not going to have to fight these guys. I will do it for you. I can do anything and deliver you from whatever comes your way. Then the Rav Sheka returned. He found the king of Assyria warring against Lybna, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. And the king heard concerning Turaka, king of Ethiopia. He's come out to make war with you. Okay, we got we got trouble on another frontier, right, for Assyria. He's come out to make war with you. So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, like, okay, fine, we got this little version. I got to deal with this king of Ethiopia, but don't you think that you're off the hook, Judah? Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them, and shall you be delivered? Like, what's so special about you?

Well, when you have God on your side, that's the most important thing that you can possibly have on your side. Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Riza and the people of Eden who were in Telesar? Where's the king of Hamith, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephrava, Amhina and Aivah? And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Eternal and spread it before the Lord. Look what I've been given! What do I do, God? And Hezekiah prayed to the Eternal, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth.

Incline your ear, O Eternal, and hear. Open your eyes, O Eternal, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, eternal, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations in their lands. They're telling us the truth. They are powerful. We can't stand against them. And they've cast their gods into the fire, for they weren't gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them. Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save us from His hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord, you alone.

And you know, so many times you hear God saying, I'm going to do this, that they may know that I am God. I remember in all the earth at that time, every nation had their own gods that they claimed would protect them, delivered them, provide for them, and whatever. But God was showing through these things that happened. And like what He'll show here is the God of Israel was the true God. All those other gods of the nations were absolutely false, powerless, meaningless, wood and stone. Time and again, God would be the one who was glorified because He was the true God, and He would show that.

So when He says, you know, in Hezekiah, show them that you are the true God, you alone. And Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah saying, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against the nacareb king of Assyria, this is the word which the eternal has spoken concerning him. Because you turned to me, because you trusted in me, you came to me first, and you didn't come to me second, or have other messages of mine, you had complete faith in me. This is where you turn, and he heard Hezekiah's heart. Remember, he is a man of heart.

He has turned to God, and he has yielded to him, and wants to do his will with all of his heart. The virgin, verse 22, the daughter of Zion, has despised you. This is what God said concerning Assyria. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back. How dare they stand up against Assyria? We're not afraid of Assyria. Whom have you reproached and blasphemed Assyria?

Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? You lifted them against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants you have reproached the Lord, and said, By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the heights of the mountains, to the limits of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees.

I will enter its furthest height to its fruitful forest. I, I, I, Assyria, the pride of Assyria, sounds much like Satan in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. I have dug and drunk water, and with the soles of my feet I have dried up all the brooks of defense. Who can stand against me? Did you not hear long ago, God said, how I made it? Kind of reminds me of Job 40 and those last chapters there, you know?

Did you, did you, did you not hear long ago how I, God, made it from ancient times that I formed it? Now I brought it to pass, that you should be, that you should be for crushing fortified cities in the heaps of ruins. Remember we read earlier in Isaiah, you know, it was God who gave Assyria the power to do all these things to punish nations and even to punish Israel.

But Assyria took it and said, look how great I am, look how wonderful I am. But God says, I'm the one who gave you the power, you did it because I gave it to you for a purpose. Therefore, their impair, therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, and the green herb, as the grass on the housetops and grain blighted before it's grown.

But I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in, and I know your rage against me. I know that you absolutely despise me, Assyria. You give me absolutely no credit whatsoever, because your rage against me and your tumult have come up to my ears. Therefore, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came.

God is ready to move against Assyria to fight Judah's battle for for them. This shall be a sign to you. You shall eat this year, such as grows of itself, and the second year, what springs from the same, also in the third year, also in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. And the remnant who have escaped the house of Judah shall again take root downward.

So, Judah will be established in its land again, is what God is saying. I'm going to establish them, and they shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. They will be established, and they will grow. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So, Jerusalem is going to be established. They will again take root in the land that they have been this, and the remnant will stay there and grow. Therefore, thus says the Lord, concerning the king of Assyria, he will not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it, all the things that they threatened to do. It won't happen, God said. By the way that he came, by the same he the king of Assyria shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. For I, I will defend the city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Powerful, powerful words from God. He will not come into the city. He will not take it. There will be no siege against it.

Even though that looks almost impossible, God might say, it's not going to happen. And yet, you know, Hezekiah, no hearing these things, Hezekiah had complete faith in that. He didn't waffle. He didn't think, what can I do to bring that about? God will work it in exactly the way that God works things. So in verse 36, we see that it happened exactly the way Hezekiah, Judah didn't have to lift a finger. God took care of it all. It's a powerful, it's a powerful lesson of what faith in God can do when it's complete, when it's complete. Out of the absolute, most impossible situation, God can deliver, God can build, God can do the things. You know, Philippians read that with God, all things are impossible. The impossible are possible with God. In verse 36, we read it in a way that Judah or no man could have ever predicted, but it's because it came from God. The angel of the Lord went out, killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000, and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of his God that he would have claimed, it's our God, it's this Nisrock that has delivered us and made us powerful, and God showed him, no, it is God, it is the true God, the God you and I worship. It came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisrock, his God, that his son's a Dremelek, and Shorizr struck him down with a sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And then Ezerhed and Ezerhed and his son reigned in his place.

So it's interesting as I was looking at some of the commentaries, I was looking at the open Bible to see what they said about these four chapters we're in. And they called them, you know, the two salvations, the two salvations of Hezekiah. That's where I got the Hezekiah's salvations, because God saved him twice in these four chapters. When we see the faith of Hezekiah, it's a powerful lesson what belief in God and turning to God with all our heart can do.

Again, what God has in store for us, only he knows. But I know that, you know, as long as we completely yield to him, and whatever it faces, we all are going to face a moment where it's like, who do we choose? Do we choose self? Do we choose allies? Do we choose the world? Or do we choose God? Hezekiah's example here is, choose God. Choose God. It's a lesson for us. So, I guess, an impossible foe, a foe that's impossible physically to beat. We see that. And next week, when we're in chapters 38 and 39, we see that Hezekiah is faced with death, and a disease is impossible to heal, and how he responds to God in that. And then we learned a little bit of something about Hezekiah at the end of chapter 39 next week as well. So, let's just, we'll stop it there and open it up for any questions, comments, anything that you want to talk about at all. So, either that was very clear or I've put you all soundly asleep. I do see some open eyes, so that's a good thing. Okay, thank you for having your cameras on. Okay, so it's a powerful thing to read the words of God. You know, next week we'll see that as well, and Hezekiah's response is quite powerful as well. I did mention last week, I think we'll wait until we get past the next two chapters before we do some review questions. Because then we begin chapter 40, it's a whole new series there, but we'll just look at these four chapters and then have the quiz the week after.

Yes, Debbie, did you have a question or a comment?

I just wanted to say that this chapter is a very strong and good chapter to reinforce the answered prayer, and during these times that we live in, it's going to get rough. We know it is. We have to just buckle up and go for it, and that's why we need to really fortify our prayer life with scriptures like this that strengthens answered prayer.

Totally agree. These are very good inspirational places to go back when you're based with trouble. Just read what it is and see what God can do and will do in our lives too when we trust in Him.

Mr. Jaby? Hey, Fred.

How are you?

Good.

Yeah. For quite a while now, whatever sermon that I watch online from UCG, we seem to be getting a lot of warnings about preparing ourselves.

I get the feeling like I've been in the church for a long time, and Mr. Armstrong used to always say, oh, we're in the gun lab. When things were built up, they said we were in the gun lab, and then they would calm down again. Since I've been hearing sermons from various ministers, and they seem to mention this a lot. I'm beginning to think, well, have we been dulled to sleep in a way? Because we've heard this before, right?

But I'm beginning to think that we are very close to very troublesome times for the church.

So do you have a comment on that?

Yeah, I do. I think we are in times that are unlike any time in our lives, certainly. When you see, and you there in Canada have seen it even more than us here in America, right? During this COVID, we've seen governments take powers and take freedoms away and do the things that we read about in Revelation 13. That's the thing that's changed, right? There have been disasters in the world before. There have been wars before. There was 20, 9-11 before. But this is different. We have all that. We have the war against disinformation, which really means you don't agree with me, therefore you're wrong, right? Which is all of us in the church are going to be on the wrong side of that equation. We're going to be accused of being spreaders of disinformation as they try to shut down the truth of the Bible. We see a society that is so depraved in so many ways that we can't couldn't even imagine what it was. I mean, actually, same-sex seems mild compared to the stuff that we're doing now with this transgenderism and what they're doing to kids and everything. When you look back in history, some of this transgender stuff is exactly what some of the pagans did way back when. This is apparently nothing new. This is what Satan does, right? When the nation's getting so depraved that it goes into this stuff, it just shows us how far away. Once there is a line that you cross, I always think back to Genesis, I think it's in verse chapter 15, when God tells Abraham, you're going to have this, I'm going to give you this land, but the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Remember that verse? And I look at it, there's a time when the iniquity is full where God says there's no turning back. They are completely wicked and they will not turn back to me, and so He'll take the land away. We are perilously close to that because the sexualization of everyone in America, the attitudes, the government controls that are there, I could do a list, not to mention even the economy, how it's moving to digital currencies, you know, that's where the thing is. That's revelation and beast power in it. So we are close, only God knows how close we are, but yeah, I mean, all of us need to wake up and realize the time we're counting is very dangerous times.

Mr. Shambi? Yes, let me look. Go ahead. Daniel, can I just hand first and then Gloria? Okay. And then Brandon.

And my next? You are next, sir.

Good evening. Hi.

Yeah, it just reminds me of the Titanic when God will not be mocked. Remember the Titanic that said even God couldn't sink this ship. And, you know, just a very powerful sobering reminder that God won't be mocked. Of course, a lot of times He does endure mankind, very merciful, but there are times He just shows I am God. I think it's done out of love. It's not done out of pride. It's done out of love. You know?

And it's a global phenomenon, too. It's not just a country one, right? I was talking to someone. We were out in Maryland for the Pentecost weekend, and someone was there that's worked says, you know, he travels, that it's a global phenomenon. Everything we hear, it's the same thing happening all over the world. That has never happened before. That is the same type message that's out there. Do this, do that. Government control. You know, a lot of this stuff about the COVID and what they've learned from... I could go on and on and on, and we're going to have to go on and on and on on some of these things so people get the message of what the time that we're living in. So, yeah. Okay, yeah. Gloria?

Yes. During all this, my favorite part was of the whole Bible study and what we've been learning is if we love God with all our heart, that is so important. And if we're there, you know, we're...

we can take Hezekiah's example and just run with it. That has to be us. That has to become us, yes. We develop that over time, right? This doesn't happen day one. We have to grow in that faith. Exactly. What a beautiful example that is. It is. Can I have an insert?

Bud has something to say. Oh, hey, Bud. It's amazing to me when you have a commander that loses 185,000 of his men overnight, that his reaction is not recorded in the Bible.

I mean, that should be devastating, Dan, and it should have been. What have I done to deserve this? I went against the God of Israel, and what happened? I lost 185,000 of my men, and it was probably His army. So what do you think about that? Yeah, that's interesting. I'm just looking at verse 38, and where did it happen? He was worshiping in the house of His God.

So, I mean, His God failed Him, right? And yet He was there worshiping, and that's where He lost His life. So yeah, that's quite a statement there. Thank you. Hey, Brandon. Hey, Mr. Jibby, how are you doing? Pretty good. How about you? Oh, doing well. Glad to be here. It was just interesting when you mentioned the whole transgender movement. What I find just wild about that whole situation is how, for the first time in just that far, by my life that I can remember, where people as a mass or as a whole have legitimately traded subjective feeling for objective truth. You know, what they're doing is not new, in that sense. They've been living that way for a very long time, in general, but I've never heard them say things like, oh, well, yes, I am a biological woman. I am an actual woman.

It's always been like, no, this is just how I'm choosing to live my life. And not for me, obviously all I'm saying is sin, but to me, that's the danger of this in particular is that it's actually changing what truth is. You know, they always say, well, this is my truth, or this is what, but that doesn't matter. It's what is the truth, what is God's truth, more importantly. And once we do that, at the point where we start doing that, Pandora's box is open.

This doesn't end here, unfortunately, and we know it's going to get much worse.

They're already changing legislation to say things like birthing persons instead of mothers, all sorts of wild stuff. It's just ridiculous. And I think the most recent thing I saw was they have now gone as far as to have on the country genders of sorts now. That's what they're teaching, that's what official, like, you know, legislative things are saying there's 100 genders. Also, all sorts of ridiculousness. And so it's just, like I said, it's a very dangerous slope, and it's, it would take, you know, us as a whole turn to God.

We know they won't, but that's super scary. Yeah, it defies the imagination, right? I mean, you mentioned 100 things, and you know, and our children are exposed to that. And it's like, how can a mind even absorb any of that, right? I mean, ours is, we can't accept it, but it's so anti everything that it's just, it's, it, I mean, you can't even really talk about it because it's like, I, you can't understand it even, but that's what Satan's mind does when you yield to him. So. Yes, sir. And last thing I'll say is just, it's, it's, it's, I guess it's, it's, it's well where we got to the point where we just I don't know, I guess we, I don't even know how we've, how we've begun to absorb all this nonsense.

It just, it's so far outside of the system, God said, it is mind boggling. Don't, don't try, don't even try to absorb it. Oh, no, not at all. I know, I know you won't, I know you won't, but if we try too hard, we might, we might start understanding it, and then that really is a problem. So, yeah.

Sorry. Okay. Hey, Xavier, how you doing tonight? Even everybody. I'm fine, brother. A few verses came to mind. And in regards to what one sister pointed out from what was in the study is the heart.

And we know that our God tells us that he's the heart knowing God. That's what acts was it acts 15 acts 15 verse eight, and also in Jeremiah 17 verse nine to 10, that he searches the heart, because our heart separate from them is desperately weak and sick. And we're seeing that as Brendan just pointed out, and we went to a play not recently, not too long ago, or two solids ago. My Fear Lady, you think it's my fear lady? I think it's my fear lady. I think it's my fear lady. You think it's my fear lady, old classic.

And sadly, there was a man that came out closer to the end dressed like women. In makeup with all their muscles bulging out in laundry. It's disgusting. You know that is disgusting. You can't even yeah, you're right. You would just think here's a nice little wholesome entertainment and yeah, yeah. You know, regardless of we had to get up and leave. Yeah. And then the next verse is these men, the leaders and the do-gooders, the philanthropists, you'll notice that they walk up close, a tight line. They won't do like this, this king is general where they talk against God. They rather steal the knowledge of God from the people because they know just like you see the fake rainbow, six colors rather than seven.

There's a certain line you can walk it for a while. That is not inattention. He's passing by. He's not passing through yet, but he's passing by. So they walk a tight line. As he says in Psalm 50, he thought it was all together like you ultimately. Each one of us has to respond, has to get an awakening.

And this is what they do. They walk a tight line, but they have the people do it. The people earn curses. But they don't want to be a blaspheme God in person. Yeah, it's a well-orchestrated or orchestrated effort. Yeah. So, Ricardo or Rosalinda? Yes, the comment that you made about this depravity and perversity basically being a worldwide phenomenon. I think also that it's also concentrated on what we call the Western civilization, like the United States, the Anglo-Saxon world, and Western Europe.

Because there are some countries that, because of, I guess, their religion, are basically holding against death. Because Turkey comes to mind, for example, when we were there, I did not see anywhere any indication of support for LGTB, rainbow flags, things like that. And I think it's because of their religion. I mean, they have several doctrinal mistakes and things that are wrong.

But I think that because of that, they may be part of the people that are going to attack this king of the north at the end time. I don't know if they would be... Talking about Turkey specifically, if they would be closer to the king of the south event or kings of the east. But it's interesting because I talked to people actually while we were there in the Bazar and other places, they are not buying any of that LGTB, transgenderism and sexuality. They completely and totally reject that almost officially. Yeah, I would agree with that. When I saw it as a global phenomenon, it wasn't so much the sexuality. You're right. That is a Western civilization thing. It's more the global power, the WHO, that old stuff that's going on there, a move away from democracy to autocracy and that type of stuff. Yeah, I would agree with you that. I think that's going to be one of the things that spelled the division. I think Russia is probably anti-everything we do in that regard in times of morality as well. Okay. Anything else? Anyone? Yeah, I was just about to mention, you might have heard about Target's LGBTQ clothing for children. Yeah, a lot of people boycotted that and they were they were terrorists simply because they boycotted the clothing line. So everybody's got to be backwards, it seems.

Good for people boycotted. I never thought which one boycotted, but in today's age, yeah, there's things you just turn against. It's like, I don't know if I'll ever darken the door of Target again. Not that I get there anyway, but it's just like, yeah, why mess with it if they've got that kind of idea also. Mr. Shavey, is there is the tolerance that has led us to this place? People are tolerating, trying to be tolerant, and that's why we had gotten there. We have to accept everything and throw out. I mean, it is it is truly the age of lawlessness. Everything, everything, every, every norm is just gone. I mean, it's, yeah.

Okay. Okay, I guess we can wrap it up then, everyone. So have a very good week. Those of you, I see some from Cincinnati. We'll see you in Cincinnati this week. The rest of you have a very good rest of the week at Sabbath, and we will look forward to seeing you next Wednesday night. Okay. Good evening, everybody. Good evening, everybody. Good evening, everybody. Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!