Bible Study: March 1, 2023

Tonight we will be in Isaiah 27. As I mentioned in my email, if you are on the email list for these links, or if you get it through the Home Office, Home Office of the Congregation website that we have set up for these Bible studies. Every chapter we get into in Isaiah has something really interesting and unique to talk about. One thing as we go through the book of Isaiah, we also see how many times we go back to other parts of the Bible.

As we go from chapter to chapter, we see where God is just validating in Isaiah things that were written before in the Old Testament. Tonight we'll go into a little bit of the New Testament, where Isaiah is validated in some of the New Testament scriptures as God talks about his people. It's a fascinating study. Isaiah is a fascinating book. As you go through the book of Genesis, you will say, if you understand the book of Genesis, you can understand the rest of the Bible.

You'll see that if you understand and go through the book of Isaiah, verse by verse, you begin to understand the rest of the Bible and have a hard time refuting what the law of God is, and what his purpose for all of us on earth is, and how he wants us to live. As we begin chapter 27, we're in this midst of four chapters, 24, 25, 26, and 27, that are millennial in view. In a way, they talk about Christ coming, they talk about some of the punishment of the nations before Christ returns, but they're more millennial in nature, as we saw last week.

Chapter 27 is in that guise as well. Once we get past chapter 27, I said 24, 25, 26, 27, beginning in chapter 28, it shifts gears again. It talks about Israel, it talks about Judah, it talks about their looking toward Egypt, how Assyria punishes them, and then God coming in to reclaim them again and forgive them for what they have done. As we get into a few more prophecies of the following five chapters after this, we see God's hands alive.

I think as we get into the next five chapters, we'll see some of the things that are certainly yet ahead of us for Israel and Judah. Let's pick it up in chapter 27 here, because this is very interesting in its own right as well. It summarizes some of the stuff that we have seen before again. But in chapter 27 and verse 1, there's recorded a name in there that I think fascinates a lot of people when they read it. Chapter 27, verse 1 says, in that day, it's talking about a time ahead of us.

So in that day, the Eternal, with his severe sword, great and strong, we think ahead to Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ returns to earth, and he's followed by those armies, and he says he has his sword with a severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. So here we have his name, Leviathan, and it conjured up imaginations of people for who knows how long, probably ever since it was written in the Bible.

And there's speculation as you look through the commentaries of the world. There's all sorts of speculation on what exactly is Leviathan. One of the things that just surprised me as I looked through some of those commentaries, that none of them really have an idea about what this verse is talking about. And that Leviathan is anything more than this physical sea monster. Many of them will say it's this Egyptian crocodile that has scales and a thin skin so thick that you just can't penetrate it.

And that that's what God is talking about here, this great sea creature that men just simply cannot overcome, kill. The only soft part is on its belly, it says, and whatever. And it's amazing how many will say that. Others will say, no, it's not, but they have no idea what Leviathan is. It says in verse 1 here that he's the fleeing serpent. So when it talks about Christ or the Lord that's there with a severe sword, you have the vision of Leviathan running from him.

He knows what his fate is. He knows what's going to happen to him. So Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan, that twisted serpent, and he, the eternal, will slay the reptile that is in the sea. There's an awfully loud in that verse, but let's talk about Leviathan for a moment and what is Leviathan?

You know, it's mentioned four or five times in the Bible by name. If you look up the Hebrew, it's very much the English word or name there is very much like the Hebrew word that it is translated from. And as we often say, the Bible interprets itself. If you go to other parts of the Bible, you can learn what God is talking about with this serpent, that the returning Jesus Christ with his sword is going to have to slay. That's in the sea, which is another clue to who or what this Leviathan is.

But let's go back to the book of Job. We'll be going back to the book of Job a few times tonight. There is one chapter in Job that is completely dedicated to this Leviathan creature. As we read through Job 41, this is just one of the really nice things about Isaiah as we go back into other parts of the Bible. We've gone forward into some prophecies before, into some of the minor prophets that we may not often look into, as we've looked at some of the contemporaries of Isaiah.

Tonight we're going to look back at Job. Sometimes we don't pay attention to some of the detail that's in the book of Job, because we just know the story of Job and we know what the outcome of that story is. But let's look at Job 41.

We're going to read through this chapter, but I want you to think about what God is saying here, because there's an awful lot about Leviathan, the Leviathan that we're reading about in Isaiah 27, that's identified in Job 41. He talks about it as it begins, kind of like a physical creature that lives in the sea.

That seems to be the common theme with Leviathan. In chapter 41 and verse 1, it says, Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook? Well, you can kind of get the vision, right? Can you draw him out, drop a fishing line into the lake, and can you just draw him out? Is he that small that you can just catch him like a regular fish? Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?

So God is painting a picture here. The answer, of course, is no, we're going to see. Can you put a reed through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Those of you who just joined were in Isaiah 41 verse 2. Can you put a reed through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Kind of a being, is he? Is he going to just attack you? Is he going to be subtle, maybe, in nature? Is he going to speak kindly to you to kind of draw you in? Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever?

Would you trust him? Would you make him part of your life and make him part of your household and your being? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you leash him for your maidens?

Are you going to keep him as a pet? Something that you have around the house that you are endeared to? Will your companions make a banquet of him? Or is he this animal that you kill and you prepare and you eat? Will they make a banquet of him? Will they apportion him among the merchants or just sell him out so that the meat can be sold someplace else? Is that what his purpose is? Is that what Leviathan is for? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

Is he that type that you can be out on one of those big ships like Moby Dick the Whale and just harpoon him and you can capture him that way? Is that how he's going to be conquered? Can you lay your hand on him, verse 8?

No, lay your hand on him. Just try to grab him. Remember the battle and you'll never do it again. He's a fierce, fierce, fierce competitor, this Leviathan. You may try to wrestle with him, but you won't win. You won't win and you won't overcome him. Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false, verse 9. Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? He's a ferocious-looking creature, this Leviathan. Scary and puts you off just by the presence of him. Verse 10, no one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand, God says, against me?

If you understand Leviathan, if you've ever come face-to-face with him, you would never—you want to keep him in a distance, you don't want to go to battle with him. You're not going to overcome him.

And then God says, well, who then is able to stand against me? If you wouldn't dare stir up this Leviathan that I created, because he's a created being, why would you even—who's able to stand against God who created this fierce being that none of us on our own could overcome or prevail against? Who has preceded me? Verse 11, that I should pay him. Everything under heaven, God says, is mine. I created it all. You know, back last week or the week before, we read in Isaiah 45, and we went back to—remember Tohu and Bohu—back to creation. And God says it all was of him. He's the one who created it all. Verse 12, I won't conceal his limbs, his mighty power, or his graceful proportion.

I'm not going to keep it secret from you. He is—he's got power. He's got graceful proportions. He was an attractive—maybe—graceful proportions. He can move pretty quickly. He's a pretty—I guess—athletic creature here. Who can remove his outer coat? Can you skin him like a—I don't know. What do you skin? I don't even know, right? So can you shave him like a sheep? Can you skin him? Can you remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle? You're going to ride him and you're going to tame him like a horse and put two bridles on him and think that you're going to domesticate this beast? Who can open the doors of his face with his terrible teeth all around? Kind of get the vision as God paints a picture of what this beast is like. His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal. Now, these series of verses right here that some of the commentaries will quote and say, this is that Egyptian crocodile that has these scales that are so overlaid with each other that it's impossible to kill him from above. No arrow, no harpoon can pierce him and things like that. So you can kind of see what they're talking about. God is showing that here's this other created creature that really difficult, really difficult to kill. His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal. One is so near another that no air can come between them. They're joined one to another. They stick together and cannot be parted. His sneezings flash forth light. Whatever he does, you know, when he makes this noise, we have this brightness that occurs from him, right? Later on, we'll talk about or we'll see that there's this fire that emanates. His sneezings flash forth light and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Bright, bright, yellow, right? To me, if you've seen crocodiles, they've got those eyes that just look like sun. Verse 19, here's the burning. Out of his mouth go burning lights. Sparks of fire shoot out.

So, you know, as we go through this and we read about all the scales, we read about this very large, fierce, scary creature, if you will, now we have out of his mouth going burning lights and sparks of fire shoot out. So you've all seen, you know, we've all seen in movies dragons and comic books and whatever else like that. They get their genesis, you know, from some of these descriptions that are in the Bible, you know, these dragons that are covered with scales, and then they've got this fire-breathing dragon that's there.

Out of his mouth go burning lights. Sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils. It's from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals. You've seen that in the movies, right? I mean, you could kind of just... they breathe and everything just burns up in front of them. You want to get a fire lid? If you had a pet dragon, you don't have to worry about the little matches or the little sticks.

You just get your dragon out and he can get it going really quickly. His breath kindles coals and a flame goes out of his mouth. Strength dwells in his neck. It's not his weak point.

Strength dwells in his neck and sorrow dances before him. Wherever he goes, he brings woe and destruction. The folds of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him and can't be moved. He's got like he's wearing an armor all the time.

It's a natural armor that's on him that just can't be moved. And he has no heart, right? He has no mercy. Verse 24, his heart is as hard as stone, even as hard as the lower millstone. When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. Because of his crashings, they are beside themselves. He comes up out of the sea. You can picture it as this massive creature. I don't know how many of you remember hearing stories about the Loch Ness Monster. And every once in a while there'd be a sighting of them over in Scotland, I guess.

And people would just be, whoa, this monster coming up out of the sea, right? Whether it exists in reality or not, no one knows. But here you have this beast, this beast, if you will, coming out. And when he comes out, people are like, whoa, it's in one way a marvelous sight, but it's a very awesome and frightening sight as well. When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. Because of his crashings, they are beside themselves.

They're panicked. Who can stand against this beast? Look how powerful this dragon is that's coming up out of the sea that we see, and then when he lowers himself. Though the sword reaches him, it can't avail. You can spend all day long shooting the AK-47's at him or whatever, but nothing's going to kill this beast, nothing of man is going to kill him. Though the sword reaches him, it can't avail.

Nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. Sling stones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw. He laughs at the threat of javelins. Go ahead and do anything you want to try to discontinue me. It's not going to work. He's got that pride. He's invincible. Nothing's going to reach him. His undersides are like sharp potchards. He spreads pointed marks in the mire. And, you know, his undersides, that's the weak part of a crocodile, right? But I guess as some of the commentaries will say, see, he spreads pointed marks in the mire.

When he comes up on land, he's got these little prints, whatever they look like. He makes the deep boil like a pot. Well, if he's full of fire and fire comes out of him, wherever he goes, you see the bubbling up, he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. He leaves a shining wake behind him. He swims out. He swims out. He's got, you know, just like a motorboat, right? You see the wake behind him? It's kind of like a shining wake behind him.

He's quick moving as well. When he slides through the water, he leaves a shining wake behind him. One would think the deep had white hair. Kind of descriptive, right? Exactly right. He's got the white all around it as it flows through the sea. On Earth, there's nothing like him, which is made without fear. He has no fear of anything on Earth. Nothing can topple him. He beholds every high thing. He is king over all the children of pride.

I think that last line gives us a very good clue as to what God is talking and who he's talking about when he talks about Leviathan. All the earmarks and all the descriptions are there. There is nothing man can do to overcome him or to slay him. Yeah, Becky? I just wanted to mention that last line. It makes me think that there is something there. There's a comparison there. There's also a mention of Leviathan in Isaiah 27.1. Leviathan, I think, is seven-headed. I'm not certain. I have to look. I think that you can go to the seven-headed beast that comes out of the sea in Revelation 11 maybe? 13. I'm sorry. I just wanted to throw all those in there before you moved on from that chapter. I'm moving on from that chapter, but I'm moving in the exact same direction that you are. Okay, good. We have all these descriptions here in chapter 41 of this invincible beast, if you will. Nothing on earth can harm him. He comes up out of the sea when he rises out of the sea, people of Marvel, Adam. He is king over all the children of pride. He is king. Only God, only God, only the Creator, can destroy this created being. So let's do exactly what you said. Let's go back to Revelation 13. We have Leviathan that's mentioned there. Revelation 13, as we look at the descriptors there, we can see where the ancient people, as you look up, what is the origin of a dragon? How did this mythical creature ever come into being in literature and whatever? It'll talk about Chinese, all these ancient cultures, and how they had these dragons. Of course, dragons are pronounced in the Chinese culture, even today. They have a year of the dragon and everything. But really, probably, if we got down to it, it's in Job 41 that some of those, as people put together the caricatures of what is pictured there, and we have what people, this mythical creature of the dragon and all of its powers. In Revelation 13, we have this beast that's talked about. We've talked about this many times. As we went through first by verse in Revelation, we were in Revelation 13 and talked about the beast arising out of the sea. So let's look at this. It'll conjure up just what we read in Job 41. John writes, Satan's got the power that God allows him to use. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw, well, let's drop, well, no, let's go ahead and read through. I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled. As they saw this beast arising up out of the sea. Wow! Look at this fantastic creature! Probably scary, probably scary as we read down a little bit. I'm kind of in awe. Who can stand against this beast? He incites fear in me. All the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. The dragon, of course, clearly Satan. And it says that there in Revelation 12. Nine, just one chapter back, the great dragon was cast out. That serpent of old refers us back to Genesis 3, where the serpent appears in the Garden of Eden and deceives Eve. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. So here we have, it's that Satan who's giving this beast its power. And they say, well, who's like the beast? Who's able to make war with him?

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. He's against God, of course, for the three and a half years. So you have this tremendous beast with the same descriptors as Job 41, this Leviathan. The same Leviathan that we read about in Isaiah 27. And we see this beast arising. So in one sense, it's a literal creature because Satan is alive. And another way, it's a symbol of what Satan does, because it's Satan living in this or giving his power to this beast power that God like gives us to. So we can kind of understand where God says, look at this beast arising out of the sea. He's cruel. He's heartless, right? We read that about the beast. He doesn't care about men, women. He doesn't care what our sad stories are. It's his way or the highway. Daniel 11, you remember, as it talked about that beast power as well at the end of chapter 11, they would talk about it. He had no regard for anyone, exactly what God said in Job 41 about this Leviathan.

So we see this, but let's go back knowing that and seeing what God has said about this Leviathan and seeing him at the end of the Bible as well. Let's go back to Job again, because Leviathan is mentioned there another time in Job 3.

Job 3 in verse 8.

Let me see. Here, Job is bemoaning. He, of course, has this trial that he's going through. He's in misery. Let's just read through down to verse 8, so we can kind of see the agony that he's in and kind of the state of mind that he's in. In verse 3, Look at the attitude. Look at this misery that Job is in.

Wow! Those are ready to go to battle with this beast power. Why would you do that unless you were bringing death upon yourself? No one would rouse Satan. No one would go to battle with him. No one would bring that curse upon themselves or that misery. But when you're in a state of mind, that's what he's saying. There are some who are just ready to go to battle with Satan or just ready to rouse him up and allow them into his life.

He will bring nothing, nothing but misery, darkness, despair, everything associated with nothing that will happen. He will be part of his Leviathan. David talks about Leviathan as well in Psalm 74. He compares them to one of the well-known rulers of the Bible who was not a ruler of God in Psalm 74. I'm going to go to verse 14. Let's just read verse 13. It'll draw our attention to who God is talking about. He doesn't name him by name, but he says, You divided the sea by your strength.

While we're in the time coming up to pass over the days of Unleavened Bread, there's the great division of the sea, the parting of the Red Sea. So we kind of know what God is referring to here. You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. So we know that God delivered Israel through the sea, but the Egyptians, seeking to pursue the Israelites, they were drowned in that sea. You broke the heads of, verse 14, Leviathan in pieces and gave him his food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

You, God, you broke the head of Leviathan in that sea. So what is God saying there? The actual Satan? The actual dragon? Or is he showing that Pharaoh, who was standing against God? Remember we read in Psalm 41? Why would you think you could stand against me? You can't stand against Leviathan. Why would you think if you can't stand against a created being, that you could stand against me? Pharaoh did. He resisted God. He hardened his heart against God.

He went to war with God. He had the spirit of Leviathan in him. God broke him. He breaks Satan. He breaks the spirit of Satan. The only way it can be broken when it's so thoroughly ingested in a person is by God. In Isaiah 14, you'll remember we talked about the king of Babylon and how God likened Satan to the king of Babylon. He talked as he moved from the king of Babylon into talking about Lucifer and his traits, the enormous pride that Satan had.

God compared him to the king of Babylon because that spirit was in him. In Ezekiel 28, it was the prince of Tyre, the king of Tyre, that God compared him to Satan as well. In here, he compares Pharaoh to Leviathan. In Psalm 104, we see another place here. Psalm 104 verse 26 is where I'm going. Let's begin in verse 24.

This whole chapter is talking about God's creation, how he provides for the beasts of the field. In verse 24, it says, There is that Leviathan which you have made to play there. In one sense, when God is talking about this great and wide sea, this earth that we live in that is full of all sorts of teeming things of life, of all sorts of men, women, good men, evil men, beasts of the field, living things, both small and great, their ships go about, and that is Leviathan's plaything.

There is that Leviathan which you have made to play there. He's the one who plays around with the earth as God allows him to. The whole world is under the sway of Satan. God tells those of us who he calls, resist him. Resist Satan. Don't play with him. Don't be part of the game of this world. He is the one who will destroy Leviathan, as we'll read back here in Isaiah 27. I want to show you one more thing I should have gone to. Let's go back to Numbers 21 for just a second. God uses all the way through the Bible as we've seen.

Serpents, dragons, fire, fiery serpents. I'm going to read about that in Numbers 21. That serpent that approached Eve in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden, and smoked the smooth things too, or the cunning things, the things that made her disregard and turn against God and choose him, cunning, clever, whatever he said to Eve that made her turn against her creator. They saw his wonders as well, and they turned against him too. They complained when they didn't have what they wanted. They got discouraged.

They never learned. Just trust God. He can bring water out of a rock. Yesterday, we got Terris McDewitt who's going to be doing an interview with Tim Mahoney. Many of you may have heard of him. He's the one who does the Patterns of Evidence movies. I think one of the series was about the Red Sea. Where was the crossing of the Red Sea? The recent series is on where actually is Mount Sinai.

Since he's coming in, we previewed that movie that's coming out in May. There's a picture. It's a very well-done movie. He proves where Sinai is. As you go into that area, there's this rock that is very visible and unique. The rock is split right in two. As they look down the mountain, you can see where the water would have come right through it. It's perfectly cut in half.

It's unique. There's nothing else like it. One of the things that they say is a sign that that is the mount Sinai that God brought the water through the rock. Anyway, that's an aside. Here in verse 4 of Numbers 21, it says, They journeyed from Mount Sinai by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

It's the story of Israel. The people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food. There is no water. Our soul loathes this worthless bread. Even though it was feeding them, we hate this man. We want what we used to eat in Egypt. So the Lord, what did He do? He was tired of hearing him. What did He do? And He was very worried about the world. They were acting like spoiled children. They had the attitude of Satan, and I'm not grateful for what God had done for them, but I'm not complaining about what they wanted as they look back at the world.

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. So you have these fiery serpents. When you look at fiery, it doesn't mean that these serpents had fire coming out of their mouth, but they were poisonous. They came and they bit the people. They played right into their hands. The poison of that serpent, that fire that it would spew out, would slay the people. And so God had to put up a thing of reminder.

Don't pay attention. Don't yield to the fiery serpents. Don't bring them upon you. So with all that background, let's go back to Isaiah 27. And we see, in that day, ahead of us, even, at the time that Jesus Christ will return, that Revelation 19 picture, when He comes out of heaven with His sword drawn to battle the nations, in that day, the Lord with His, I mean, verse 1, in that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, He will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent.

Leviathan doesn't ever flee from you and me, right? The Bible does say, when we resist Him, He will flee. We use the power of God, right? Then He'll flee. But here's Christ, the returning Christ with the sword, He will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. Leviathan, that twisted serpent. And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea, that beast power that comes up that the world marvels about. So, we have this picture, and we know exactly the time that God is prophesying of through Isaiah here, another indication of that time when Christ returns, and Leviathan who, you know, pollutes the people of the earth, who scares the people of the earth, who worship Him out of fear, and who have them pretty much just in His grips.

They can't escape Him, because the only way the Bible tells us that we can escape Him is through the power of Jesus Christ. Remember, it tells us that in Revelation 12, it says, they escaped Him by the power of the Spirit in us. That's the only way we can escape that servant. So then, let's go on to Isaiah 27, unless someone's got a question or comment they want to make before we move into verse 2 here.

Okay, in verse 2, we have another, In that day, well, in that day, Leviathan's going to be put away, right? He's running from Christ. He says he will slay that dragon. In verse 2, it says, In that day, sing to her. Well, the question is, who her? Sing to the Leviathan? No, Leviathan's not a her. In that day, sing to her a vineyard of red wine.

I the Lord will keep it, or I the Lord keep it. I water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I keep it night and day. So what is God talking about here? Well, he gives us a clue. We talked about it before, right? Isaiah builds upon itself as we go through the All 66 chapters of Isaiah.

We'll think, oh, that's right. God talked about that in chapters past. So we can go back. We know exactly what he's talking about. So we go back to Isaiah 5. You'll remember the conversation that we had and the study that we had on chapter 5, where God likens his people to a vineyard. So in Isaiah 5, let's go back there and just kind of rehearse again. You know what we read in Isaiah 5 verse 1. Here we have the word sing.

Isaiah is 27, too. In that day, sing to her, Isaiah 5, 1, let me sing, God says, to my well beloved, a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. And then remember, we talked about all the things that you do as you have a vineyard, how you take care of it, how God perfectly took care of that vineyard. And it should have produced great grapes, but it produced sour grapes. And in verse 7, he tells us who the vineyard is. For the vineyard of the eternal of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. So, you know, we can go back and Isaiah interprets itself. We don't have to guess who is God singing to when he talks about a vineyard. And in, you know, chapter 5, he talks about how he keeps it, how he waters it, how he takes care of it. He's got a hedge around it. He's got watchtowers, so no one will hurt it. He watches over it night and day. So we know what he's talking about.

In that day, I will sing to my people is what he is saying. So in verse 4, fury is not in me. That's past, right? God does get angry. We've read that. He does punish the nations. He does punish Israel.

He does punish Judah for turning against him. But the time for his fury, and of course, the whole day of the Lord, talks about God's vengeance on the earth for the way they have lived their lives in contrast to him. But now, fury is not in me, right? The time of anger is past. Christ has come. Leviathan has been slain. I'm going to sing to my people. A song to her. I'm going to keep them. We've talked about God bringing Israel back to the Promised Land, the bremedent that he would keep from complete destruction of his people. Fury is not in me. And then he asks, Who has set briars and thorns against me in battle? Again, are you going to battle me, he says? Are you going to put some kind of thing in front of me? Let's go back to Isaiah 5. Looking at my notes here, I wanted to go back to Deuteronomy 32. First, let's go back to Isaiah 5. Because again, some of the words that are here, we've read before. Are you going to set briars and thorns against me in battle? I'll finish verse 4 here. I would go through them and I would burn them together. God says, you're not going to set anything in front of me that I can't destroy. There's nothing you can do that would keep my power from it. If we go back to Isaiah 5 and verses 5 and 6, we see this. Now, please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge and it will be burned, and I will break down its wall and it will be trampled down. I will lay it waste and it won't be pruned to dug. It won't be pruned or dug. I have somewhere in here is briars and thorns. That's what I'm looking for here.

But in those verses, we see where God is in six.

I will lay it waste and it shall not be pruned or dug. Oh, yeah, there it is. But there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. So God takes away the protection from them because it didn't produce the grapes that it was supposed to was supposed to. So in verse 4, he says, look what you did. Are you going to stand against me? I would burn them together. Let me do go back to, though, if you hold your place in Isaiah 27, let me go back for a moment to Deuteronomy 32.

Because in Deuteronomy 32, we have that song of Moses that God gave him as Moses is talking about what will happen to Israel as they go forward into the Promised Land and until time ahead of them. In Deuteronomy 32, much of it is a prophecy that has not yet occurred to Israel. And in verses 10 and 11, it talks about how God takes care of we were talking about taking care of the vineyard. And in verse 10 and 11, it talks about this as well. It says, He found them in a desert land in the wasteland, the howling wilderness. He, God, encircled Israel, His people. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirs up his nest and hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings. So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign guide with him. So, you know, we're going to come back to Deuteronomy 32 in a little bit there as well. But you can see God taking care of His people. Just what it's talking about in Isaiah here, God is inspiring Isaiah to write as well. He will take care of His people. So we go back to Isaiah 27. He says, he says, "'Fury is not in me.' You know, who would set briars? I would burn them together." And verse 5 is, some of the verbiage in here is a little tricky, and you got to take the time to see what God is saying and put the phrases together. And we know what God's plan is. This is where His Holy Spirit helps us to understand what some of these things are. "'Let him take hold of my strength,' He says, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me." What God is saying there is, you know, let Israel take hold of God's strength. It's God's strength that helps us to battle against Leviathan, right? We all know that. We could turn. We spent a whole Bible study on that.

It's only through God's strength that we can battle and overcome Leviathan. And so God says, you know, you take hold of my strength. What? Do you want to be reconciled to God? He might be asking.

Here, take hold of my strength that He may make peace with me. How many times did Jesus Christ say, return to me? How many times in the Old Testament does it say, Israel? Repent and turn to me. How many times does the New Testament say, repent and turn to God?

Take hold of my strength. When the New Testament times we'd say, repent and be baptized, have the strength of God in you, that you may make peace with God, because we need God's Spirit in order to be able to yield Him, to follow Him, to accept His way, to stop resisting and rebelling against Him, and to just make that peace with Him, that He may make peace with me. God says, when you do this, and when you take hold of my strength, that you may make peace with me, you will make peace with me. I will be reconciled to you. Here's the way of reconciliation.

Turn to God. Repent. Be baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit. God accepts, and you're reconciled to God.

Verse 5, in some tough verbiage to understand, is a New Testament verse. Take hold of God's strength so we can be reconciled to God. When you make that your desire, and he sees that's what's in your heart, you will make peace with Him. God is willing. He doesn't want anyone to perish.

In Peter's epistle, verse 6, those who come to Him will cause to take root in Jacob.

Jacob is His people. It's like His land. If you want to take root in Jacob, you are taking root in where God places His name. It's not just about Jacob and the descendants, but it is those who take root in Him. Remember, as they came out of Egypt, and some were strangers who came with them. Over years, people that weren't native Israelites in the Old Testament came in there, and God said, fine. It's the same law for the native-born as well as the stranger. Everyone is under the same law. We even have in Christ's lineage some of the Gentiles, if we want to call them, who chose God. God chose them. They wanted to make peace with God. He made peace with them. They're part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Those who come, He shall cause to take root in Jacob. Israel, His people, those who yield to Him will blossom and bud, and they will fill the face of the world with fruit. Certainly, something that is in this time, when you read the prophecies of the last days in Genesis 48 and 49, where it talks about the bowels of Joseph will run over the wall. He will be a blessing to the earth. We see that today in the modern-day lands of Joseph, the English-speaking nations. They are bound with food. We have plenty of food that God has blessed us with. If we go to the book of the little prophecy of Amos, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, we see in the last chapter of Amos, in that day, the all the day is coming, God says that the land is going to produce plenty of Amos 9. In verse 11, we see, on that day, I'll raise up the tabernacle of David, and verse 13, Behold, the days are coming, says the eternal, when the plowed man shall overtake the reaper. There will be so many crops in the field that before they can get them all in, it'll be time to start plowing again. The days are coming when the plowed man will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed. There will be so much abundance that they can't even get it all in and process it all before it's time to start planting again. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, all the hills will flow with it. I will bring back the captives of my people Israel, and they shall build the way cities and inhabit them. They'll plant vineyards, they will drink wine from them, and they will make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and they won't be pulled up anymore for the land I have given them, says the Lord your God. So when Christ returns, when Israel is gathered up—we've talked about this before—God will bring them back to the places that the promised land that He gave them. The world will be blessed, and He will bless them in what they do because they will be doing it God's way. They will learn the way of God, the way the truth and the life. They will live it. And just like you and I, you and me, when we live it, God blesses us when we do His will. So Isaiah, going to—hold on.

Yeah, I'm going to go—I need to look at my notes here. I wrote down some associated verses. I do want to go back to verse 5 for a moment, talking about taking hold of God's strength, make peace with Him, and He'll make peace with us. Let me give you just a couple verses—New Testament verses.

Back to—I'll just read one of them to you. In Romans 5 and verse 1, it has the same sentiment. It says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we—that you and me—we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Right? The same type of peace that God is talking about here in Isaiah 27 verse 5. Same thing, same concept that you read in Ephesians 2 verse 14. Let's go back to Job—Job again. I said that we go back to the book of Job a few times. Let's go back to Job 22 this time, in concert with that verse, about making peace with God. We make peace with Him. We take His strength, accept His strength, and then He makes peace with us. In Job 21, we'll read verses 21 to 28. I just want us to see, again, so much truth in this book of Job that we may just overlook as we understand the story and think, we know the story, we don't need to read Job, but there's an awfully lot of information and wisdom in here. Job 22 and verse 21. This is Eilipaz speaking, and he says, Now acquaint yourself with him, and be at peace.

It's a peace that surpasses all understanding. Paul would write in Philippians, Acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace. Therefore, thereby good will come to you.

Receive, please, instruction from his mouth. The other words that we can take and be saying to ourselves, Receive, please, instruction from God's mouth. Lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up. You will remove iniquity far from your tense.

Then you will lay your gold in the dust and the gold of over among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

That's where the real riches are. Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven and not treasures on earth, where moth and rust do corrupt. For then you will have your delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him. He will hear you.

And you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you. So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down and you say, exaltation will come, then he will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent. Yes, he will be livered by the purity of your hands. You'll be a blessing to other people, is what he's saying. So it's a beautiful set of verses there that we could read to anyone in the church, or anyone who's coming into the church, receive instruction from him. Just listen to what God has to say. And life would be so much easier for all of us, and we would progress so much quicker in joy and peace and all the fruits of the Spirit that God wants us to have. So we see these sentiments, the same sentiments here in Isaiah, as we're reading through this relatively short chapter here. Isaiah 27, we go back there.

And in verse 7, then, God asks a question. Again, the verbiage, you got to take it word by word and see what God is saying here. In verse 7 of Isaiah 27, he says, Has God struck Israel? Has he struck those who struck Israel? Well, no, we have that answer, right? We read the prophecies of chapter 13 to 23. We saw, whoa, God prophesied these nations are going to be completely destroyed, not inhabited again. We read about Babylon. We read about Egypt. We even read about Ammon, Moab, and Edom. And how for a while God protects them, but in the end they're completely destroyed. But not Judah, not Israel. He says, I won't completely destroy you. So has he struck Israel like he struck those who defeated Israel or at war with him? The answer is no. Or has he been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him? No. God wiped them out, right? He said, you know, remember in Obadiah, none of them will remain. Has Israel been dealt with in that way in slain? No. God said there will be. Remember Isaiah 6 verse 10, only 10%, but God will not completely destroy Israel. There will be a lot of death, but there will be this remnant that has been slain. Has God dealt with Israel in the same way as the other nations that rebel against him? Or that take glory in what God has allowed them to do to Israel? In measure, verse 8, in measure by sending it away, you contended with it. Okay, so in measure by sending it away. What did God send away? He's talking about Israel here. He did send it away, right? They rebelled against him. They did not listen to him. They didn't follow him. And so he sent it away. Israel was defeated by Assyria. What happened? Assyria carried Israel away from its promised land, and they had to settle in Assyria. Judah followed suit. They didn't learn the lesson of Israel. Babylon came through, what, 140 years later? Judah fell. They were carried away captive. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The walls were broken down. They didn't learn their lesson. And so God did send them away from the promised land. In measure, by sending it away, you, God, contended with them. He became their enemy. But he became their enemy because they really were with him. You know, God says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And that's true.

It's us who leaves God. And when we leave God, we bring this upon ourselves. Israel left God. And so, yes, sir, brought this upon themselves. Yeah. The translation you have says, as God is taught, it is her because it is feminine. It is her by sending her away.

Yeah, some translation translated properly. Excellent. Okay. And that even more, those who God is showing there, by sending her away. So he did that. He removes it by his rough wind.

There's a novel or something about the winds of war. Remember that? I mean, the winds of war sweep through and it kind of changes civilizations, changes society. And so he removes it by his rough wind. Armies came in, Israel fell, Judah fell, all these nations fall. You know, we see the winds of war, the world around us now. And, you know, eventually we will see the whole world change. It'll become what the picture we see in Revelation 13, the picture that we see in Daniel 11. And all these things change when the winds of war come through. He removes it by his rough wind in the day of the east wind. In the day of the east wind. And so God, you know, he's got these rough winds, but it's actually an east wind. And there's something about this east wind because it shows up in other parts of the Bible. And again, let's go back to Job. Now we see an east wind show up in Job. Job 27. Let's pick it up in verse 19. I'm going down to verse 21 here. The rich man will lie down, but not be gathered up. So we kind of set the context of what's going on here. Not a great picture, right? The rich man will lie down, but he won't be gathered up. He opens his eyes, and he is no more. Terror's overtaken like a flood. A tempest steals him away in the night. The east wind carries him away, and he's gone. It sweeps him out of his place. It hurls against him and doesn't spare. He flees desperately from its power. Men shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss him out of his place. So we have this east wind that brings good good. The east wind carries him away. God talks about how this east wind carried Israel and Judah away. We also find it looks like Job 38 I have written down here. If we go forward to Job 38. Oh yeah, I remember that. This is good. It'll conjure up something that we read in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Prophecy in Job 38 verse 22. Again, God talks about these things that he created. Verse 22, Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail? Look what he says in verse 23. Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble? And then you read in Matthew 24, Pray not that your flight be in the winter, right? All this snow and hail that I reserved for the time of trouble for the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth? This time of trouble associated with an east wind and these things that God has reserved for the day of trouble. Dave. J.B., another verse where it's used is back in Exodus 14 with the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 21. I just looked it up. It talks about the east. God uses the strong east wind to, you know, separate the sea, the red sea. Very good.

All that night. Yeah, very good. Okay. Yep. So east wind, there's something about an east wind. I guess I'm going to have to pay attention to whether when there's an east wind coming. Makes me think of Daniel 11, when it talks about the king of the north, he marches through the king of the south, and none of these nations, you know, will escape his hand. And then news from the east troubles him. There's trouble coming from the east. Now we see, you know, we see some winds of war as this Russia and China, you know, make these little noises out there about a line with each other, A-L-L-Y-I-N-G, with each other, and China maybe joining in with Russia against Ukraine, and we have this stuff that's happening all around us here. So one more on the east wind in Jeremiah. Jeremiah.

Wow, is it that late already? Okay. Jeremiah. Jeremiah 18.

Jeremiah 18 in verse 15. Yeah, verses 15 to 17. Because my people have forgotten me, you know, this is kind of, we could say this about, you know, us, if we forget God, if we turn against him, nations turn against him. Because my people have forgotten me, they've burned incense to worthless idols, they've caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in pathways and not on a highway, to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing.

Everyone who passed by it will be astonished and shake his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity.

God will turn his back on them or us if we fall, you know, into that description of how we respond to God. He'll turn his back on us just the way we turn our backs on him sometimes. You know, we reap, we reap, we reap what we sow. So we have this east wind here. Let's go back to Isaiah 27. We're not going to get all the way through chapter 27 probably tonight. I won't keep you much longer, but let me let's see if we can get through verse 11 anyway and then pick it up, pick it up, and then move into 28 next week.

Okay, so God contends with Israel. He removes it by his rough wind and the day of the east wind, those in the day of the east wind, the continual thing. Yeah, Garto? Did you, yeah, did you have, your hand is raised, Garto. Did you want to say something? Oh, yes, and I wanted to mention that in reading the different references to east wind in various books and verses, it seems to indicate some sort of God's intervention, that east wind, that he's involving that when he operates powerful in certain locations, like Dave mentioned, the parting of the Red Sea, the punishment of Israel, and things like that.

So it's something I wanted to mention. He's the one who brings the east wind, right? Yeah, I guess, yeah. Shows his hands involved in it very good. So, okay, verse nine. Yeah, therefore, right? All these things that go before when we see therefore, God's drawing a conclusion. Therefore, by this, by what? By this, the iniquity of Jacob will be covered by the fact that he was removed. He went into exile. He was taken out of his land. He was conquered by Assyria, conquered by Babylon. Therefore, by this, the iniquity of Jacob will be covered. Again, there are consequences for sin, and this is the punishment that he had to pay for turning against God, just as we read back in Jeremiah 18.

Therefore, by this, the iniquity of Jacob will be covered. Doesn't say forgiven, but there's a price to pay. And this is the fruit. This is all the fruit of taking away his sin. When he turns back to God—remember we had that in talking about making peace with God—this will be the iniquity. This is the fruit of taking away his sin. Got to turn back to God, have to repent, have to make peace with him, and then he'll make peace with us when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalk stones that are beaten to dust.

All these idols that he has set up for himself, you know, the stone and the wood and the carved images of the Old Testament, but the idols that we have today that he talks about in Ezekiel 7, the skull, the silver, you know, the weaponry, all the things that we have as our gods today. This is how you make peace with God, he's saying. When he makes all the stones of the altar like chalk stones, you're going to take them away.

Remember in the books of the kings and Deuteronomy, God says, when you go into that promised land, break down the altars, tear them all down, get away with all the idols, take it all down, take all that, only one God before you. When he then makes all the stones of the altar like chalk stones that are beaten to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand. Clear the land. Many times I'll say we've got to clear the landscape, clear the landscape of our minds, you know, get rid of all those idols and all those things that stand between us and complete trust in God.

It takes a lifetime to do, little by little. Later on, Isaiah will read here a little there, a little line upon line, etc. This is the way you turn back to God, he's saying. So, you know what, looking at verse 10 and 11, let's just stop there for tonight. We'll pick it up in verse 10 next week and then move into chapter 28 because there's some concepts in 10 through 13. You know, we should take a little bit of time and they do have some. There's actually two different ways you can interpret 10 and 11.

I want to talk about those a little bit. Both of them you can find in the Bible and in the New Testament as well what it's talking about. So let's stop there as we've made peace with God tonight because Israel will do that and yet there are things that will still be there that won't be rebuilt. We'll talk about that more next week. Again, this is a prophecy, you know, for God talking about in that day that lies ahead of us.

And then chapter 28, we'll get into some of the prophecies of Ephraim it looks like in that day. That's later on past the prophecies that we read in chapters 13 to 23. So let me end there and just open it up for any discussions, questions, conversations on anything really that you want to talk about. So, hey Reggie.

Well, actually it's Sandy with the question.

I see you both there. So, here, um, with the duo. I just had one question I've often thought about. We're talking about Leviathan and which we know as picturesat. God created him.

Doesn't, I mean, God has the power to totally destroy Satan and the fallen angels.

If he chooses to. I mean, is that something you think he will do when he's planned salvation for man is done? I um, I don't think there's anything based on biblical. I just sort of.

I mean, unless God has another purpose for Satan somewhere down in the plan, right? I mean, of something, if he's got another creation in mind that they have to choose, then yes, he would keep him alive. But that, you know, I, God does have the power. God does have the power to destroy Satan if he, if he wants. It's a matter of when, right? Then when, when he's through with him, when he, because Satan helps us be perfected today so that we choose, you know, we choose God and God knows that character will be perfected as we continually resist Satan. Yeah. Okay. Does he have the power? Yes. Yes, I believe he does. We haven't read that, right? He slays the dragon in Jude, in Jude 41.

Okay. Thank you. Becky? Oh, by the way, how's your leg doing, Reggie? Never mind.

It's coming along real well. Okay. It's going on six weeks now. Okay.

Excellent. Excellent. Okay. Keep up, keep up the good work. You have to be doing good work for to say that. So Becky? Yes. I wanted to revisit the verse in Psalm 73, 13, and 14, I guess verses.

I've always wondered about that, and I just wanted to clarify and see that you said here you think Pharaoh is compared to Leviathan? Yeah, 74, 74, 14. Yeah. And I'm drawing that because it talks about dividing the sea, right? Dividing the sea by your strength. That's clearly, I think, what God's talking about, about the parting of the Red Sea. And then remember all the Egyptians went in there and God conquered them, and he really broke all the pride of Pharaoh in that Red Sea. He broke them in pieces, and Egypt was never the same again. So I really appreciate that.

And also, I had another question. Well, I wanted to say about Leviathan. I read a really good article on HWA Library at some point, and there were several, I want to say, not scrolls, but tablets that were uncovered in like Syria, Mesopotamia, in that area. And there was actually this ancient monster called Lotom, the Chaos Monster, and he was comparable to Leviathan. It was a separated beep, and like some of his heads had been destroyed. You can search for that on HWA Library if you're interested. That's quite interesting. Very good. I had one more, but I can't think of it right now. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Hey, Dale. Yeah, thank you. In Isaiah 27 verse 1, it talks about Leviathan, and interesting, looking at a commentary in Arabic, it means the twisted animal. And I was kind of thinking, of course, Satan does so many counterfeits, what God does. And you mentioned, I think, in Revelation 13, the seven-headed beast. Yes. And if I could read Revelation 5 and verse 6 here, just for a moment, it says, "...not behold, and in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as if it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth." And it just tells me how you've got to be so careful that Satan doesn't counterfeit, that we're not deceived by things. And he will use that, right? He will use everything you can to make us think, he's that. He's the lamb. So, yeah. Right. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, Dardo? Oh, yes. Comment on that question about the final destiny of Satan.

When you read Ezekiel 28, the section that talks about the king of Tyre, which is basically a symbol for Satan, you go to chapter 28 and, for example, read verse 17, that it gives you a clue that it's talking about Satan because it says, "...your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings, which I think those kings are the saints, that they may gaze at you." And then it says farther down, it says, "...therefore I brought fire from your midst, it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you. You have become a horror and shall be no more forever." That's exactly what it says.

Is that it? You read it? And that's exactly what the Bible says.

Xavier, did you have something you wanted to add?

There's a few comments on that, brother Shady. Our Lord says that, in reference to what the God of Israel read, that the lake of fire is prepared specifically for Satan and the demon.

It's just a men with sadly, part A.W. too. And in regards to the serpent, the fiery serpents, they were shining serpents. Yeah, they stung them, but they made a bronze. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent on a stick, and Israel worships that for hundreds of years. Yeah, yeah. And if you look at the who symbol, they have the stick and a golden serpent around it. And that goes along with what we've always seen in Revelation with a thousand years. But yeah, God knows what the ultimate fate of Satan is. It's just a matter of when, I think. Though some people say maybe he will be in person because it says in the blackness of darkness forever. So it's like, which, how do we, I guess, with God's help we get there, we'll know. God knows, one day we'll know in his time. So, yeah, Dale? Yeah, the Savior mentioned, I think, in Isaiah 27 verse 8. In measure, when it chews forth, he said the it would be the pronoun she. And I can look at a commentary. It used the word adulteress. If that's the case, it would fit in, wouldn't it? It uses the word adulteress. Well, in a commentary, we have to be careful with commentaries, but it did comment on Israel's sins and use the word being an adulteress. Yeah, and God refers to Israel that way in many other places, so that would follow right in line with what he considers. Where's your bro? Delusigan? Hi. Hi. Good evening, Mr. Shaby. How's things over there in Nigeria?

Fine, fine, fine. We give thanks to God. God is in control. Excellent. I just want to say that it's been quite an interesting Bible study, and I've learned so much about the Bible. I'm happy to share many parts of the Bible and many applications to different reasons.

Also, I want to thank you for doing the Bible study running in spite of your busy schedule. I know you're very busy, but for still doing the Bible study running, I'm grateful for that.

Thank you. Oh, my God. This is one of the highlights of my week, is being with you and doing these Bible studies. So it's a pleasure. It's great to see you and everyone. Thank you.

Yeah, Jeff. In the beginning, I think you had a capacity in the room for about 100 people. Is the capacity extended now, and who might we invite? Oh, the capacity is up to 500 now, so. Who might we invite across God? Anyone who wants to is more than welcome.

Thank you very much.

Okay, everyone tired? Okay, okay. This is now streaming from Nashville. Mr. Pettit, one right now for you.

Alternate many things.

Okay, okay. Yeah, Floyd, did you have something?

I didn't know if you ever heard that the medical association, the symbol, is the fiery serpents. Have you heard that before, too? Yes. Okay, yeah, I thought that was interesting.

That explains a lot.

Okay, Reggie or Sandy?

Yeah, I was just wondering when are the next recordings going to be?

Our next what?

Recordings beyond today recordings.

Oh, March.

Okay. Actually, a week from today, March 8th.

March 8th, yeah.

2.30.

I was leaving Satan to put a snake related to health.

The WHO.

World Health Organization logo.

That's it. That's it, yeah. Put it to him to put mixed health with himself. The symbol.

The new one, not the serpent.

They used the symbol from the Bible, but they deny it now. Yeah. Okay, okay. Well, great to be with all of you tonight. Have a great rest of the week. Very good Sabbath. We will look forward to seeing you next Wednesday night, okay? Good night, everyone. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.