Bible Study: March 29, 2023

Okay, so last week we got through the bulk of chapter 29. My notes say that we stopped at verse 22, so we're going to pick it up there tonight in Isaiah 29 verse 22. And we'll get through much of chapter 30. Chapter 30 is just a really interesting and hopeful and very, well just a very interesting chapter when you see the prophecies that are in there and some of the images of what the millennium will be like and what you and I will be doing if we continue to follow God and yield to Him, let Him develop us into who He wants us to become. But let's pick it up in chapter 29 verse 22. You remember that this chapter is about Ariel. Remember from Ariel is the Jerusalem it's talking about. We talked last week about, you know, Ariel. There's a couple meanings for it. It can be Lion of God, or it can be the hearth, the altar hearth. And last week we talked about some of the fire and the imagery that's here and looking ahead to Jerusalem's future and looked at not only Isaiah but other prophecies that tell that as well. So we came down to the verses that lead up to verse 22 that are very millennial verses that sound a lot like Isaiah 35. The deserts will bloom. Everything will be restored. The deaf will hear. The blind will see.

The humble will increase. The terrible ones, the mighty strong ones of the earth, the Assyrias, the enemies, the adversaries, they will all be cast down. And then we come down to verse 22.

And with all this proceeding, it says, therefore, therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale. So again, it's talking about the limit millennial time. Of course, Israel, because they have turned from God, they sinned against God, you know, he does allow them to be conquered. He does allow them to be punished. The prophecies show they do turn to God and he will bring them back to their promised land. And in the millennium, God says, well, now Jacob won't be ashamed. Now Jacob, his face won't grow pale when he's restored, when he turns to God, when he recognizes his fault and his sin. And while he is straight from God, actually, this is a very good time of year for us to be looking at this, because this is what we're doing, turning back to God, allowing God to show us where our faults are and, you know, repenting of those and determining to live our lives the way he wants us to now. So Jacob won't be ashamed, will not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale. But when he sees his children, the work God says of my hands in his midst, they will hallow my name. They will hallow the Holy One of Jacob and fear the God of Israel. That'll be a beautiful time when the world and God's people actually do respect him, do hallow his name, you know, and pay the respect that is due to God. Those also who erred in spirit will come to understanding.

You know, we live in a time where people have erred in spirit, certainly. We look at the world around us that departs further and further from God. Those who erred in spirit will come to understanding. You know, we've read the millennial verses where God will open people's minds, they will understand the truth, just like the gift that he's given us today to understand, they too will come to understanding. And those who complained will learn doctrine, just like you and I learn the doctrine, the truth of the Bible. You know, over and over we've seen the word truth show up in Isaiah. Truth is one of those convicting agents. The God's Spirit is a convicting agent in us.

God says, worship him in spirit and truth. Truth is always one of the things that we must abide by, we must look to the Bible for doctrine. And God says, in those days, those who complained had all these things against God, they will learn doctrine, the same doctrine that you and I learned from God today. So chapter 29 ends on a very hopeful note. It's an upbeat note, right? We see the pattern in the Bible, you know, where God will allow destruction to come, but there's always restoration. Destruction is always for the good of his people so that they will turn back to him. They suffer the consequences of their actions, but they turn back and then they're restored. So there's this pattern, and we're going to see a continue in chapter 30 and into 31 as we go, as well, as we're in these verses that precede or that are to speak of the end time and then the millennial time as well. Here in chapter 30, you know, after we conclude chapter 29 with these hopeful verses, God goes back to a woe. You know, this is what will be when Israel figures out, or when Israel comes back to me, and when people come back to me, and all people come back to God. But verse 1 says woe to the rebellious children, right? Those who just won't listen to God, they won't pay any attention to Him. You know, we all have a little bit of that spirit of rebellion and resistance in our hearts, something that God will continue, you know, removing from us as we allow His Holy Spirit to be in us, but we always have to be aware of what attitudes we might have when we hear something. We know, I don't want to do that. I don't want to believe that. Woe to the rebellious children, says the Eternal. And then these next few verses don't really need much explanation, right? Who take counsel, but not of me. They're looking for people to help them understand, right? They'll go to other people for advice, but God says they don't come to me. They devise plans, but not of my spirit. They're not letting me lead them, God says. They're devising their own plans, and we know man's plans come to nothing. It's God's plans that come to fruition. They devise plans, but not of my spirit. And what happens? That they may add sin to sin. And when we do things our own way, when we lean on our own understanding, we sin. And then when we try to fix it, not by turning back to God and doing things His way, when we try to fix it our way, then we add sin to sin to sin, right? Keep adding sin to sin. We have the example of Ahaz. We've talked about him so much during this Isaiah Bible study. No matter what happened to him, no matter what trial, no matter what tribulation, he just would not turn to God. And he always looked to fix things himself, and it just got worse and worse and worse, and he never did turn to God. And God was talking about that here, too. These people will go everywhere to look, but they won't turn to him. We see that in the world today. You see so many things that are going wrong. It's almost like people have buried their heads, almost, as to the things that are going awry in our world.

And yet, they look to fix it this way. That causes another problem. When they do a fix on that, that causes another problem. And you don't find out about it right away, but this whole economic mess that we're in now. It's like, we'll try to fix this by doing this, and then, oh, we find out that when we made this fix, we caused these problems with these banks, and when we fixed this.

So, it's another thing. If we would turn back to God and do things this way, we all learn life is so much easier and so much more joyful.

In verse 2, he talks again, where do we go? Because they try it. They take counsel without of me, plans without of my spirit. They walk to go down to Egypt, and they haven't asked my advice.

Well, Egypt, you know, in the Bible is a type of the world. I guess if you put your finger there, just for those who may not remember, or maybe newer among us, if we turn to Revelation 11 and verse 8, you know, we see Egypt and Sodom mentioned here in Revelation 11, verse 8, of course, end time prophecies. Talking about the two witnesses in chapter 11, you know the story about them. Eventually, God allows them to be killed, and they lay in the streets there. It says in verse 8, and their dead bodies will lie in the street at the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Well, we know that's Jerusalem, right? So that's where the two witnesses lie. But spiritually, it's Egypt. So when we see Egypt in the Bible in prophetic terms, we can look at the world around us. It's the spirit of Egypt, the spirit of rebellion against God, just as he says in verse 1. It's the spirit of rebellion, it's the spirit of resisting God, it's the spirit of doing things our own way and not doing things God's way at all. So he's talking about the rebellious children against him. They will walk to go down to Egypt. They'll look to the world. They'll look to the world for the answers to their problems. They will walk to go down to Egypt. They'll look to the world for, you know, their to help their financial woes, to, you know, what weapons can keep us safe, you know, anything that we look to the world. They'll walk to go down to Egypt, but they haven't asked my advice.

You know, they're looking at all these other places, but they never think ask God for protection, ask God to give us direction, ask God and look into His Word and follow His Word. They go everywhere else, but they haven't asked my advice to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh.

You know, Ahaz, again, we look at Ahaz in the prior chapters there and back at Second Kings and Second Chronicles. He was always looking for alliances. Where was the strong, where was the strong king? And I would make an alliance with them and they'll protect. And God wanted him to just turn to me. I'll protect you. I'll protect you. There is no better ally than God to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and the trust in the shadow of Egypt. You know, just one chapter over.

Next time we meet, we'll be in chapter 31. And chapter 31, God starts that chapter the same way. It just shows how He feels and how He warns you and me. Don't be looking to Egypt. Don't be looking to the world for all the answers. Learn to trust in God is what these chapters are telling us. Chapter 31, for instance, says the same, has the same beginning virtually as chapter 30. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. I'm in chapter 31 of Isaiah verse 1. Woe to those who rely on horses, who trust in chariots, because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don't look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord.

That's if there's one thing that God says, it's turn to me. Trust in me. And so He says the next chapter, we'll be talking about some of these things as well. But if we go back to chapter 30, you know, we'll continue there in verse 3 of chapter 30 and says, well, you're looking to Egypt. You're looking to Pharaoh. You're looking for strength in the world rather than relying on me. Therefore, verse 3, the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame. It's gonna, it's gonna be, you're gonna regret what you're doing is what He says. The strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt will be your humiliation. It will not turn out well. It will be, you will be sorry is what He's saying, that you put your trust there instead of Him. For His princes, His princes were at Zoan, Zoan. Now, here he is talking about Egypt, and we're gonna go back and look at Zoan a little bit. And His ambassadors came to Haines. I don't know, does anyone remember? We've talked about Zoan in Egypt before. Anyone remember anything about Zoan in Egypt, the city?

Well, keep your finger there in Isaiah 30. Let's go back to Psalm 78.

We could go back into Exodus and see where Zoan was actually built, but in Psalm 78, you know, we see a story here of Israel in the wilderness. And in verse 12, Zoan is mentioned. It says, marvelous things. Psalm 78 verse 12, marvelous things God did in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and He made the water stand up like a heap. In the daytime, He led them with the cloud, all the night with a light of fire, split the rocks in the wilderness, He gave them drink in abundance like the depths, He brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. So Zoan, the commentaries say, that is where the princes of Egypt lived. Many of those miracles that Moses performed during that time happened in Zoan. So when God says, you know, Egypt's princes were there at Zoan, they weren't able to counter God. They weren't able to stop Him. God showed He was far more powerful than the most powerful nation on earth at that time who thought they were God and had all their array of gods lined up that they worshipped. But God says, everything they threw at God, He completely humiliated that country, right? Completely brought them low. Pharaoh and Pharaoh just could not stop rebelling against God. Even when it was clear, and all of the people around Him said, don't fight against their God anymore, don't fight against Israel's God, it will be the complete destruction of us. He just could not stop. So they lost it all because of their stubbornness and rebellion to God. Let me just—there have been a few lessons, a few Bible studies since we've had a map up here. So let me put a map up here.

This is the northern part of Egypt. You will see the red kind of red dot up there by Tophenes. That actually is the city of Hades—H.A. ennius—that we just read about in verse 4. But you'll see just to the left of Tophenes is Zoan. It's that area there right there by the Nile River, not far from the Mediterranean Sea. You see some of the names there. Ramses, you know that name. You've seen Succoth before. If you go down, just straight south of that red dot, you see the Red Sea. So when Israel left Egypt, they went straight south, and there you had the Red Sea that they would encounter. That's where God brought them through the Red Sea.

A week's journey there from the land of Zoan and where these things apparently occurred, where God delivered them from Egypt. I'll just give you a little visual there in the things.

In Isaiah 30, God is talking about the city. That was the premier city of the earth. That was the New York City of that day, or the London of that day, or whatever city you want to put in today. God said they couldn't stand against him. There wasn't anything that they could do to withstand God. So first of all, if we go back there, well, actually, you know what? Before we go back there, let's look at Jeremiah 43. We'll see this city Tophenes, which is the same the commentary says as the city of Hanif. Jeremiah 43 and verse 7.

43 and verse 7.

Okay, yeah, this is when Babylon is conquering Judah. There's a group of people that want to flee to Egypt. God tells them to Jeremiah, don't go to Egypt. They go to Egypt anyway. And verse 7, it says, so they went to the land of Egypt, for they didn't obey the voice of the eternal. And they went as far as Tophenes, or however you say that, right? That city that we had there. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in that city to where they fled against God's advice. Take large stones in your hand, hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, verse 10, Thus says the Lord of house, behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar.

Well, we could read through all that, but I think if we just move over, you see the ultimate result here of them not obeying God in chapter 44 and verse 12.

Against God's advice, they go to Egypt anyway because they want to flee Jerusalem. And Nebuchadnezzar in verse 12, then of chapter 44, says, I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They will die from the least to the greatest by the sword and by famine, and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach. All those things. Why would they? Because they, you know, God said, don't go.

We rebelled. We went anyway. And then they ended up dying in that land. And being, as God would say, they became a humiliation. They became ashamed. They were ashamed to people because they rejected God. It didn't turn out. They trusted in their own ideas and their own will, and it didn't work out well. So here in verse 4, then, if we go back to Isaiah 30, in verse 4, you know, God is saying, don't trust. Don't trust in these other places. Don't trust in Egypt. Don't trust in, I'm going to be protected by the world, verse 4, because Egypt's princes were there at Zoan. They all fell. They were all brought low. His ambassadors came to Honeys, or Tophenes, that city, and everyone that went there against God's will, they, you know, they fell. They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, or be of help or benefit, but they were ashamed and also reproached. So God is saying, well, they became ashamed of them. They trusted in something they shouldn't have trusted in. Even though Egypt might have been a peer to be a place of safety, even though they appear to have answers, even though the world may appear to have an answer to this or an answer to that, God says it's not going to be a help or a benefit to you. If we are God's called people, if we are working with us and we are yielding to Him, more and more He wants us to rely on Him and to trust in Him. And when we fall backwards and begin to trust in the world, then, you know, it's going to be a shame for us. The world will not be a benefit to us, because God wants us to learn to follow Him and to build that faith in Him that will see us through. Let me look at my notes here for a second. I want to make sure I'm not missing a verse here that I wanted to turn to.

Let me see, a 30.

No, okay, so let's go on in verse 6 then. Verse 6 of chapter 30. The burden, and we know that's a prophecy against the beasts of the South. You know, beasts can be powers. God talks about some lions and fiery serpents and things that we've seen before in Isaiah here, but those are kind of symbols of people and powers and whatever. We'll see that here in a minute. The burden against the beasts of the South. Now, the South, you know, often refers to Egypt. You know, in Daniel 11, it talks about a king of the South that is the South of the Mediterranean and those powers that we know from there. But here in verse 6, God talks about the burden against the beasts of the South, the powers of the South, these things that would destroy us from the South, through a land of trouble in English. We know from ancient Israel's history that land of the South, their time of trouble in English, where was it? It was as they were fleeing Egypt, as they were going out of Egypt, as they saw you saw the map South toward the Red Sea, and then over to where Sinai is where he gave them the Ten Commandments. So, you know, the burden against the beasts of the South through a land of trouble in English, from which came the lioness and the lion.

So we have a lioness and a lion here. You'll remember last week, when we were in chapter 29, we had Ariel, the name of Jerusalem, it defined for us that Ariel is the city where David dwelled.

And Ariel, one of the names that we talked about, or one of the meanings of it, is lion, you know, the lion of God. And so, you know, that verse could be talking about that through a land of trouble in English, from which came the lioness and lion. But of course, the Bible also has other references to lions. So let's go, we're talking about a time of trouble, let's go forward to Ezekiel, prophecy of Ezekiel, in chapter 32.

Chapter 32.

And we'll just begin it in verse 1, just 1. 1 and 2, verses 1 and 2, chapter 32 of Ezekiel, verse 1.

And so, God goes on to talk about that. But here we have Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God is talking about Egypt. A land of trouble, a land of anguish, here in verse 6, from which came the lioness and the lion.

So, you know, Pharaoh was a vicious enemy against Israel, vicious throughout Scripture. He's seen as almost like a type of Satan, right, because he has such a stern rebellion against God, and he's always against God's people, from which came the lioness and the lion.

I don't know, did I, I thought I put a verse down here. Let me look here about, you know, I didn't put anything down for lioness. So, hmm, I thought I'd look something up. Let me think about it here. So, they did look up something on lioness, but they didn't write anything down.

Anyway, let me think about that for a minute. Yeah, there's a chapter that talks about, actually, the princes of Israel being like a lioness or the mother. It talks about the young princes of Israel, and their mother was like a lioness. She trained them to go down, and then the kings of the other nations captured them and took them captive.

Ezekiel 19? Yeah, that sounds familiar. Yeah, let's go to Ezekiel 19.

Yeah, there it is. Okay, very good. Moreover, chapter 19, verse 1, moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel and say, What is your mother? A lioness. She lay down among the lions, among the young lions. She nourished her cubs. She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. He learned to catch prey. He devoured men. The nations heard of him. He was trapped in their pit, and they brought him with change to the land of Egypt. And the next series of verses talk about the same thing. The next one was even more destructive, and then he compares the mother to a vine in their bloodline. So, if that is God, is what we're talking about, from which came the lioness and lion, you know, a lioness.

But you can see what he's talking about. This is burden against the beasts that come up from the land of the South. This is part of the woe to the rebellious children of Israel. And then later on, we'll see the restoration that God has. There will be destruction because of this, but God will restore. Let's go back to verse 6, unless someone has another reference to a lioness somewhere they want to talk about. Okay, let's go back to chapter 30, chapter 30 then of Isaiah.

So, we're in the land of the South, through which a land of trouble and anguish.

The lion and lioness come from there, and the viper and the fiery flying serpent. Kind of like that just kind of boggles your mind. The viper and the fiery flying serpent. Nothing you want to come across in your backyard or when you're gardening or anything like that, right? So, we've talked about a fiery flying serpent before in Isaiah. We talked about that back in 14, chapter 14, and verse 29. And there we kind of liken that fiery flying serpent to Assyria, which was just a, just a, well, as we've said so many times, just an awful, awful, awful foe. Cruel, cruel, cruel foe. In verse 14, it says, don't rejoice. I'm sorry, chapter verse 29 of Isaiah 14 says, don't rejoice. And this, of course, is the prophecy in the year the king Ahaz died, the one who resisted God the entire time of his life. Don't rejoice, Phalicia, because the rod that struck you is broken, for out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent. I think at that time we, we likened that fiery flying serpent to, again, serpents usually do, they don't mean, they don't mean something that God has given them their power, but of Satan, Assyria, that it was going to be worse. Whatever the foes were then, as Ahaz was a foe of Phalicia, so there would be worse foes at that, at that time.

So chapter 30 talks about this again. Actually, there's a verse in Deuteronomy, I think, as well. Deuteronomy 8. Yeah, Deuteronomy 8 and verse 15. And verse 14, you know, in the verse part of chapter 8, God is saying, you know, I'll provide all these things for you, but when your belly is full and everything is going well, don't forget me. Verse, right, verse 14. When your heart is lifted up and you forget that the Lord your God, who, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the plenty rock. And he says, you know, here's a wilderness. Wilderness itself couldn't feed them. They couldn't provide water. There were serpents. There were scorpions. It was God who saw them through their wildernesses. It's God who provided for them. It's God who kept them from those things that would have brought them down. And that's what he's talking about here in Isaiah 30.

You know, he says, this land of trouble got the lion. You got the viper. You got the fiery flying serpent. It's a dangerous world, a dangerous wilderness that they were wandering through, right? We can compare the wilderness that we're in today that's becoming ever and ever more dangerous, more against the people of God or initially any people who have any kind of morals who won't accept the depravity that is becoming part of what seems to be everyday life in America.

A terrible, a terrible place. They will carry their riches. I'm back in verse 6 of Isaiah 30 here.

They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels. You know, they'll have them there. They'll be available to them to a people who shall not profit. You know, here they'll be looking again, the context of this is they'll be looking for, they'll be looking to make alliances. We're willing to pay for your protection. We're willing to do whatever it can. We'll, what can? We're willing to give you our treasures. We're willing to give you our profits, whatever we need to do. But God says, you're not going to be able to buy what you're looking for. Only He can provide. There is nothing that ancient Israel on that wilderness that was fraught with so much danger. No amount of money was going to protect them from all the dangers in that wilderness. Only God could see them through. So God compares us and His people to that same time. We have riches. We have money, but we might carry them, but to whoever we give them is not going to profit us. You've got to keep that in mind. For the Egyptians, verse 7, shall help in vain and to no purpose. Remember, Egyptians spiritually is the world, right? For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. They can't do anything. The lesson is trust in God. Only He can deliver. The Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore, I have called her Rahab Hymn Shebat. Literally means Rahab sits idle. She can do nothing.

You can give her all the money in the world. She may promise you everything. She may promise you health, safety, wealth, well-being, peace, whatever she promises. She can't do it.

She can't do it. She can't do it if it's against God's will. So, going on in verse 8 of chapter 30 here.

It's always very dramatic, I think, when God tells His prophets, go down and write this down, right? Jeremiah 2 to describe there. Go and write this down. Tells Isaiah, go write it before them on a tablet, note it on a scroll, that it may be for a time or for time to come forever and ever. Now, we know this is for a time still ahead of us. Happened in the past because people are people. Human nature is human people. Human nature. People were rebellious then. People are rebellious now. People are were lying then. We know the world is full of lies around us today. Note it on a scroll that it may be for time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children. Children who will not hear the law of the eternal. Now, as we look at this today, and you look at these words, we could write this, and we could put it up there. You and I and everyone who ever hears this and many more, if we broadcast it around the world, would have to say, yeah, this is a world that doesn't want to hear anything about God. You just say the word God, and many people just immediately turn you off.

You don't want to hear what you have to say. This is a rebellious people, lying children. Children who will not hear the law of the Lord don't tell us what God says. It's our own ideas. The morality we said is so much better and so much fairer and all these other words they'll use to try to convince that their way is so much better. The only way to peace, the only way to joy, the only way to happiness, the only way to fulfill life is through God's way.

The world will learn that, and certainly in the millennium, and you and I will be teaching that because we're living that and proving that to ourselves as we yield to God during this time. Children who won't hear the law of the God, won't hear the law of the Lord. These are verses here, or verses 10 anyway. One of those things you hear and just kind of sticks with you. Who say to the seers, don't see. We don't want you to tell us what's going on. We don't want to hear. We want to kind of bury our heads. We don't want to see the reality of what's going on. Now that would be many of the people in the world today, right?

And maybe even some of us. We just don't want to hear. What? I mean, really, has that gone on? Is the world headed toward tyranny, totalitarianism? Is the world, is our economic system really crumbling? Or I just want to kind of believe that those three banks were just isolated instances and everything's going to go back to the way it was. And there's absolutely no reason to think anything is going to happen. Don't want to hear it.

And some of our media is that way today. Say to the seers, don't see. And to the prophets, don't prophesy to us right things. Don't tell us what the Bible says. Don't tell us what God says is going to happen. Don't take the picture of what you see happening around you exactly mirrors what God said thousands of years ago.

This is the way the world will be before the return of Jesus Christ. It'll be a time of trouble. It'll be a time of woe. It'll be a time of global catastrophe. It'll be a time where you know, it'll be a time where, you know, the economies of the world fall. It'll be a time where people can't even do commerce, even if they have money, right? Because the beast power eventually can say you don't buy or you don't sell it.

As you look at the world around and watch the economies of what's going on in the world today, you know, some of the banking things and you read some of the economists and you think, you know, that's exactly where it's going. You have these small banks that are failing. You know, they say there's been a monumental shift of money from the small regional banks to the four major banks because they look at them as, you know, if they fail, well, they won't fail, right?

They're too big to fail is what it is. Even the government has indicated, yeah, the money of these big banks, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna ensure 100% of what you have there. But if you're in these smaller banks, you got this FDIC limit. Mr. Shavey? Yes, sir. You got about three hands raised, not mine, but other people.

Am I on my wrong screen, then? I don't see any hands. Let me, oh, I am on the wrong screen. Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Let me finish my thought and then I'll go back. I need to keep my face on screen one, I guess, or keep my eyes on screen one. Yeah, anyways, but, you know, you read about this, these CBDCs, and you can see this digital currency and what it can mean where literally, if the world goes in that direction with one stroke, they can freeze everything we have.

Okay, Fred, you had a comment, I'm sorry. Thank you, Wayne, for letting me know, so. Yes, I'd just like to say how times have changed.

Like, during the Second World War, that the early part of the war, even though they didn't have perfect knowledge of God, they still recognized God. And King George VI was making a speech, and he said, with God's help, we will. And President Roosevelt did the same thing. Now, I think it was last week, maybe two weeks ago, President Biden addressed the House of Parliament here in Canada, and him and Prime Minister Choo-Woo-Do both spoke what they were going to do, and by us coming to gather, we'll be able to solve these problems. They talked about many problems. But the point is, God was not mentioned, except the last few statements, and President Biden just said, God bless us. And it's just changed, and we're, our countries are relying on our own strengths.

That's exactly right. Now, when the President mentions it, it's just to keep some people in favor, because he recognizes there are still people who believe in God. So, yeah, very good. Dale? Yeah, good evening, Mr. Shaby. Hi. Yeah, the theme seems to be that, you know, trusting in other nations, making liaisons with other nations, who don't profit us, and, you know, trusting in our riches to help us and save us, but it's just not going to work.

And I just wanted your thoughts on a particular scripture here. It relates to Ephraim, but I want to be thinking, but also relate that the Ephraim is maybe basically Israel as well, you know, in the end times. I just like to read the scripture and get your thoughts on it. It talks about, you know, going to other nations, which are not going to profit us.

I'll read the scripture here. Ezekiel 23. And I guess I'll go to no, I'm sorry, Hosea 7 verse 11. I should read Hosea 7 verse 11. Ephraim is also like a silly dove without heart. Like the doves, I guess, are known to be kind of birds that don't have maybe a lot of intelligence.

As much as others, they're maybe a little naive. It says, Ephraim is also like a silly dog without heart. They call to Egypt and they go to Syria. So it seems like they go to other nations, which they think are going to benefit them economically and, you know, maybe convert them to their way of thinking and so on. And it kind of reminds me a little bit of the US and China now. I just wonder what your thoughts were on that particular verse.

Yeah, I mean, I think Ephraim is Israel. God sometimes uses Ephraim when he means all of Israel, right? And so, yeah, you could say Israel. Yeah, I think it is. They call to Egypt. I mean, yeah, I mean, you can replace Egypt with China there, right? They go to the world. They're always looking for alliances with the other powers. Well, we should be fearing them in a way, right? We'll ally with them. Oh boy, when you follow the history, right? Who's going to get betrayed here? Who's going to get betrayed here?

As we sit and try to make alliances with Iran, Assyria, China, all these, it's not going to end up well in the end. Yeah, that's true. All those lovers, thoughts lovers. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, thank you. Hey, Jeff. Hey, I was also thinking about how this speaks to us individually also as putting a responsibility to us to remember from where we've been delivered and whom we make our alliances with as everything's hitting the fan and whose hands we need to hold and not with the world so much.

I mean, to be as wise as serpents, but to kind of stay away from the obligations of being obligated to those who cannot help. We have no strength in anything in the world. Yep, good observation. Jim? Brother Shaby, I had a thought, go back a little bit on verse 9. These rebellious people and the children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction, that's our time. And they say to the seers, I always figure the seers or the pastors, don't tell us anything more out of the Bible, and to the prophets, which are elders, and they also preach at the altar, and give us no more visions.

But they'll go to different churches now to go to a pastor, say, oh, everything's cool, everything's all right, and pat them on the back and give the Lord a good sermon. Basically, that's today. That is today. Yeah, you can't read verse 10 of Isaiah 30 without thinking that, right? And the speak to us smooth things, that's what everyone wants to hear. Just tell us what we want to hear. Tell us everything is okay.

And that's why people get caught asleep, right? Again, they've got to sleep, so. Okay, let's go on then. Yeah, so verse 10, absolutely right, whatever everyone has said. It's a verse for today because it's exactly what's going on. Going on from verse 10, then, speak to us smooth things, prophesy to siege. That's what we want. Just tell us what we want to hear. Tell us everything is okay. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

We don't want to hear what God has to say. We don't want to hear what His Word has to say. We don't want to hear about prophecy. We don't want to hear about any of it. Just take it away from us. Let us bury our heads in the sands. And because people are this way, God says in verse 12, therefore He says, because you despise this Word, you don't want to hear God's Word, because you despise this Word, because you trust in oppression and perversity, and it isn't perversity, a description of our world today.

Because you trust in oppression and perversity and rely on them, therefore this iniquity, this sin, trusting in the wrong thing, trusting in the world, therefore this iniquity shall be to you. Another one of the images that are just so vivid when you see what God is saying. Therefore, this iniquity, because you don't want to hear it, because you say to us, preach smooth things. We don't want to hear anything about God. Therefore, this will be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.

You know, it's kind of like, I guess the modern-day thing would be if you have a, you know, look at my wall here, if I see a bulging, it's like, okay, it didn't break yet, and I guess kind of put it off and put it off and put it out of my mind because it's still standing. But then one day the pipes burst and there's water everywhere, and it's like, whoa, how did that happen?

Well, I wasn't paying attention to what was going on. I should have dealt with it early on, and that's what God is showing here. A bulge in a high wall, the breaking comes suddenly in an instant. And it says, and God, God will break it, like the breaking of the potter's vessel. You know, take one of those, take one of those vases that you have. Just take it and put it on the concrete or a tile floor and smash it to smithereens. If you've ever had that happen, I know when we lived in Florida, we had these tile floors. It's like, if a glass just kind of, just even fell a little bit off of the counter, it just broke into pieces and scattered everywhere.

This is what he's saying, and the pieces were just so, so small. Yeah, Sherry, did you have something?

You have those two sermons from Orlando that you did that both talk about the bulge in the wall, and because I just listened to them recently. So yeah.

It's very vivid what God is saying here, right? That he will break it, you know, like the potter's vessel, which is broken in pieces. You know, you're not going to salvage anything from it at all, is what he's saying as he goes on. He shall not spare. There will not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the earth. There's not even going to be a piece big enough that you can use for anything. You can't even take a piece of the vessel and say, okay, I'll take this, I'll take this shard from the fire and put it on it to save my hand. There's nothing big enough. It's completely shattered. It is irretrievable and unfixable. There won't be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth or to take water from the cistern. Completely useless. It is completely shattered. God says that's what's going to happen. That's what it's going to be like because you just wouldn't listen. You didn't want to hear it. You ignored what was going on. And to those who ignore what's going on, that's what it's going to be like. Now, we could turn over to 2 Thessalonians, and we could read about how destruction comes suddenly. Peace and safety. Remember those verses in 2 Thessalonians? They say, when they cry, peace and safety, sudden destruction comes. When we kind of live in a world that way now, if you just listen to the news, oh, oh, will that happen? Oh, peace and safety. It's okay. It's okay. Don't worry about it. We'll take care of everything. Don't get yourself, you know, in a frenzy over anything. Peace and safety, peace and safety. It's the same thing he's talking about here in Isaiah 30. And then sudden destruction comes. Well, it's not sudden. It's been building all that time if you've been paying attention. But to the world that has fallen asleep, or God's people who have fallen asleep become suddenly like, where did that come from? I didn't see that coming. Well, that's because our eyes weren't open. And that can be partly because of ministers who won't talk about those things, or people who shut their mind off when they hear it, as some people do. But God says it's going to be completely broken. And we know the world, you know, at the end of, at the before Christ's return, or actually before the rise of the beast power is completely shattered, the economy gone, the world is in complete disarray when that beast arises out of the out of the great sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the world is captivated by it. And the world also has to completely bow to it in order to have the riches that they seek and everything. So, Mr. Shaby. Yes, sir. Yeah, on verse 11. One of the things that you can look at today is the rise of our debt. The debt, I keep watching it, and it just goes straight up. And if anything can fall subtly in an instant, it's our financial system. Yeah. And that's where we're going. Everybody that I'm following is looking for that to happen very soon. Yep. It'll happen when God is ready, right? He'll give us the time to do the work that he wants us to do, and then it'll be during his time. Hey, Gardo. Oh, yeah. I just wanted to mention that that dynamic between Israel and Egypt, it's interesting to look at because when God took ancient Israel out of Egypt, basically that country was obliterated. Basically, the plagues destroyed most of the country. They lost their firstborn. They lost their army on the Red Sea.

Probably Pharaoh himself died there, despite what the Ten Commandments showed. But then God was merciful enough to allow this country to regain at least some of its power because in this verses, it looks like they have enough power for the the dual kingdom Israel to go to them to ask for help. So they probably were, again, a regional power, which is interesting on itself. And then, I guess, like you said, Israel came out of Egypt, but Egypt never came out of Israel.

So they went back to it again and again, which is kind of similar to what's going to happen in the end time. God basically took Israel out of among many nations in Europe and put them here in this continent. But then now Israel is going back to those nations where it came from for help and to some extent for guidance. You put it very well, right? He took Israel out of Egypt, but Israel never took Egypt out of itself. Exactly. Yeah, so, yeah, Zainjir.

In Ezekiel 16.33, God says many gifts to prostitutes, but Israel likes to give gifts to other deliverers and bribe them to come to them from every side. And we see that happen. Whatever happens in Germany when it comes on the morals eventually creeps in over here.

I've even heard they have animal brothels over there. It's gross. In Germany? Really?

Well, okay. All right. Right now, they call it the new name. It was zoology. They're lobbying. Yes. They're lobbying to pay that. I guess that's the next perversion, right? Yes, everything. Wow.

And right now, this nation's leaders are in Africa trying to promote not exchange, not thinking about the services, but something else. Wow. That's what they're doing in Africa rather than trying to make businesses and use their resources, their engineering, ingenuity, and so forth. No, they're already pushing agenda and they're telling them to leave.

It's weird. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of hidden agendas going on all over the world, absolutely, in more ways than we can even imagine, apparently. Wow.

Okay, well, let's go on. What time do we have? Let's go on here.

Very dramatic series of verses there in the very first part of chapter 30.

God describes this destruction that's going to come on. And then in verse 15, he talks about the restoration again, right? For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest, you will be saved. There is a way, right? He says, if you'll wait for God, if you will put your trust in Him, He may not be there exactly when you want Him to be there or your time, but He will be there. In returning and rest, you will be saved. In your quietness and confidence will be your strength. Not confidence itself, but confidence in God, confidence in His strength, knowing that He and He alone can be the one to deliver us. That's what we need to be developing now, that faith in God, so that when those tough, tough times come, when the wall bursts and the vessel gets broken into a billion pieces, we don't panic. We don't run to the world. We don't look to see where it is. We calmly wait for God because we know He knows what's going on, and He's promised us to deliver us through those times. He goes, this is where your strength is, but He goes, you wouldn't, but you wouldn't. You wouldn't? Just trust in Me. You had to take matters in your own hand.

No, we won't wait. We read Jeremiah 43, right? No, no, no, we don't care what you say. We're running to Egypt. That's where safety is, but He uses a different thing. You said, no, we'll flee on horses because therefore you will flee. We will ride on swift horses. Therefore, God says, those who pursue you will be swift. You may think you're going to run away. There's those verses, and I think it's Amos 8 where it talks about you can go down to the pit of the earth, and God will find you there. You're not going to run away from God. Jonah learned that lesson the hard way. He thought he was going to go all the way on the other side of the Mediterranean to Tarshish, but God found him, and he went through quite a trial, but he learned trust in God. Verse 17 says, 1000 will flee at the threat of one. Just one, right? And 1000 of you will flee. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left as a pole on top of a mountain and as a banner on a hill. It's almost comical when you look at it. You will run all the way up to the top, but that's where you're going to be. You're going to be kind of everywhere. You will not escape God.

Now, that's when we put our trust in self. That's when we look to the world, our own resources, to deliver us. The corresponding verses that we should look at are back in Psalm 91 that say just the opposite of that of the person who trusts in God. Psalm 91, I'm sure it's a Psalm you're all very familiar with. We pick it up at the middle of verse 4. It says, his truth—that's God's truth, right? God's truth. That's the banner. That's one of the things we hold true to, or put our stock in, the truth of the Word of God. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night. Remember we read verses last week that talked about the terror would be unending. There would just never be a time of peace. The terror goes back in Deuteronomy 28.

There will be just constant terror. It'll be the same in the morning, same in the night. You will always be terrified, God said. But here he says, you shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Instead of, you know, one will chase a thousand, God says, a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. But it won't come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked, because you have made the Eternal, who is my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. So, you know, as opposed to what he's saying here in Isaiah 30 to those who look to the world, what their life will be, running and running and running, God says, trusted me, and I'll take care of you. Okay, let's go back to Isaiah 30, verse 18. Here we see a patient God, you know, therefore it says, therefore the Lord will wait, that he may be gracious to you. He'll let you work out all those things, you know. He is very patient with us. He watches us as we, you know, we make some progress, but then we fall, and, you know, pass over. We recognize, you know, our sins. We recommit to God. He cleanses us as we take the Passover and have, as we watch each other's, other's feet, but, you know, but he waits for us. He doesn't just, like, the first time we mess up say, okay, I'm done with them, forget them. No, he's patient with us. He is our Father. He loves us. He wants us. You know, it's interesting, because you're probably thinking of 2 Peter 3.9, and actually 2 Peter 3.9 refers to this verse, you know, and it's, you know, again, God, the picture of a patient God who wants us to be in this kingdom, who will be patient as we overcome self, and as we look at ourselves, examine ourselves, and purpose in our minds with God's Holy Spirit that we will not continue in sin. 2 Peter 3 verse 9 says, the Lord isn't slack concerning his promise of some kind of slackness.

Like, why hasn't Jesus Christ returned already? Well, the Church isn't ready yet. When the Church is ready, and God sees that we have done his will, and God, and we have, we've done, and he's given us the time, he will return. He will send Jesus Christ back. The Lord isn't slack concerning his promise of some kind of slackness, but he's long suffering toward us. He's patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Repentance, right? That's what God wants from us. Turn to him. That's what these verses are about.

So let's go back to verse 18, and we'll just end it here on verse...

Well, we'll end it on verse 19, but let's look at verse 18. Therefore, the Lord will wait.

Why? That he may be gracious to you. Okay, okay, eventually they will get it. They will run to Egypt. They'll run to the world. They'll suffer the consequences. They will learn. Trust in me. Therefore, the Lord will wait that he may be gracious to you, and therefore he will be exalted that he may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those...

And we will end here. That's a good place to end. Blessed are those who wait for him.

Becky, I'm going to turn to Psalm 27 verse 14, and then I'm going to...

Psalm 27 verse 14 to just finish the thought here. Psalm 27 verse 14, I think we've read this a few times over the last several weeks, but a verse for us to remember when we're in time of trouble, toil, or we're panicked. Wait. Wait on the eternal. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say. Wait on the Lord. So let's just stop there, and we will pick it up in verse 19 the next time we're together. We've been going about an hour here, it looks like. Yeah, Becky. Hi, Mr. Shady. Hi. I just want to share that verse 18 in the NIV. It's one of my versions. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion.

I've shared it before. I just think it really speaks to his care and the capacity of it that we can't even understand. Yeah, you know, absolutely. It's a beautiful verse, and it pass over time very much for us to reflect on, right? How good God is that, and how good Jesus Christ is that he would empty himself and become one of us and suffer the way he did, that we might have the opportunity to repent and receive eternal life as we follow God. Yeah, Reggie?

We can know too that from Abraham to Isaac to Joseph, whenever he was sold in the captivity in Egypt. Each one of them went down to Egypt. Abraham went and he confronted Abimelech on the way down, and also the Pharaoh. And then Isaac did the same thing. He went down into Egypt. So as these generations came along, Egypt was dependent on, you know, they went and started with, I mean, Egypt. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they went into the world, right? And every single one of them was tempted, and Joseph, you know, Joseph withstood that temptation with Potiphar's wife. Yeah, so yeah, good point. Any other any other comments? Mr. Shaby? Hey, Floyd? Hello.

Yes, it says in Revelation 18 verse 4, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and receive her plagues. The fall is certain to come. It's going to be swift. You know, as we heard, you can't take, you could take the children of Israel out of Egypt, but you couldn't take Egypt out of Israelites. Well, Christ told us to remember Lot's wife. You could take Lot's wife out of Sodom and Gomorrah, but you couldn't take Sodom and Gomorrah out of her. So, if you look back, we can't want this world at all. We have to come out of it. Yeah, because it is very bad. And even Lot's sons-in-laws living in that society could not see how bad it was. Yeah. That is what we have to make sure we understand how bad it is. Yeah, even Lot had to be urged to leave, right? He even got a little bit numb to what was going on in that city. So, as we can, if we don't watch it. Yeah.

Yeah. And none of us can overcome it, right? Only with God's Holy Spirit. That's the only way we can come out of this world and develop the strength that God wants us to have. So, okay.

Mr. Shavey. Hey, Wayne. Yeah, just wanted to find out if anyone else is experiencing, my signal has been cutting on and off. More since eight o'clock, it was doing before, but very rarely. And now it's just flashing about every 10 seconds, and the sun cuts off at the same time. I just wonder if it was my problem or if it was the Zoom problem. I don't know. Mine's been steady, so I don't know about everyone else. No problem. Mine's steady.

It's really hard to hear. You tonight was a problem for me. I didn't know if it was just my tablet or if it was anybody else. I've got my settings exactly the same as they always are.

Yeah, no, I had no problem. Okay, it's probably something in my end. Also, earlier on, your camera was out of focus, but when you went to that picture of Egypt or the map, came back, it cleared up. I don't know. Yeah, I have to look at my camera. It's got these blue lights. When the blue lights are on, it's supposed to be in focus. Whether it is or not, I don't know. So the last camera I had was kind of like, I think, falling all over the place most of the time.

Okay, everyone, it was really, really good to see you.

Really good to see you. Raymond, did you have something you wanted to say?

Okay. Okay. Hey, everyone, have a very meaningful Passover.

Have a very meaningful Passover. We won't see you again until after the days of Unleavened Bread.

Have a really meaningful feast, and we will look forward to seeing you after that. Watch your email for that first Wednesday after the feast, because we're going to be out of town. I don't know what exactly we're going to get back into Cincinnati. Watch your email. We may have a vital study on the 19th, or we may not. Just watch it. You'll know by watching that. Okay?

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening, everyone. Have a great day. Happy Passover, everybody. Happy holiday. Bye. See you somewhere in the red. Bye.