Bible Study: May 24, 2023

Okay, so as I mentioned, we should be able to cover Isaiah 34 and 35 tonight. It's the last two chapters in this section that we have been going through since chapter 23. I believe it is 23 or 24. And in those chapters, remember what we've been talking about is that we see God, we see destruction that's coming on the earth because of the sin of mankind, because of the rejection of God's way of life, because of even nations that don't know God, of how they respond when God uses them, and the ferocity and the pride that is among everyone.

And then immediately following that, we see God involved. We see Him and pouring His blessings out on the earth. And so there is that hope through it all. And no matter how bad things get, we know that God is ultimately in charge. He will bring peace. He will bring hope. He will bring everything good to this earth when He sends Jesus Christ to return to earth.

I know there's been some talk about hope, and the world needs hope, and the world does need hope. And that hope is in God, and only in God. There is no hope in any of the things that go on in the world, or any of the powers in the world today, or any of the governments of the world today.

It's in God. But to have that hope, we have to choose God and show that we choose Him by the way we live our lives, deny self, deny the world, and cling to Him.

So with that in mind, let's begin chapter 34. Chapter 34 is all about the destruction, the time of trouble that's going to come on the whole world and the time immediately preceding Christ's return. You know, as we will be celebrating Pentecost this Sunday, and it has deep meaning as you'll hear it's Abba services, but the next holy day after that is the Feast of Trumpets that comes up the first day of the seventh month in God's calendar. And leading up to that time, and all that the Feast of Trumpets means, is this trouble, you know, that's kind of capsulized again here in chapter 34 of Ezekiel.

So let's start there. There is not Ezekiel, Isaiah 34, and verse 1. Here God is talking to the nations of the world, right? Come near you nations to hear and heed you people. Let the earth hear and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. I mean, this is going to be worldwide. Jesus Christ is coming, He's returning to earth to take all the kingdoms, to take all the nationalities, it will be one world under Him, and the world will suffer the things as a result of their rejection of God throughout history as that time comes.

Let the earth hear and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Eternal is against all nations and His fury against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them.

He has given them over to the slaughter. Now, this is talking as if it has already happened. Of course, we could, and I want to take the time to fast forward to Revelation 19, where Christ returns, and we have Him completely decimating the world's armies at that time. And this is what it's talking about, the great slaughter.

He has utterly destroyed them. All those forces that are gathered against Him at the time of His return, all the weaponry, all the technology, all the 200 million men assembled there to fight Him, He completely overwhelms them, and they're all destroyed. He has given them over to the slaughter. Also, their slain shall be thrown out. Their stench shall rise. It's actually connected. Their stench shall rise. Hold on. Okay. Their stench shall rise. Also, their slain shall be thrown out. Their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

It's a very graphic picture. My Bible references Joel to verse 20. You could mark that down and look at that, but again, these prophecies in the Old Testament all point to the same type thing. You know, despite more than one witness that these end-time events that are prophesied by God are here in the Old Testament, but clearly also in Christ's prophecy, the Olivet prophecy, and in Revelation as well.

Verse 4, all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved. The heaven shall be rolled up like a scroll, and their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine and as fruit falling from a big tree.

Now we will turn back because that verbiage probably struck some of you that you recognize the words that are there and the picture that's being painted for us, and that is actually back there in the book of Revelation. So let's go back there and talk about one of those trumpets that uses that exact same verbiage here, and as the Apostle John is in a vision of the trumpets that will be blown and the catastrophes or the trouble on the tumult that comes upon the world sent by God at that time. So in Revelation 6, I've got my notes here, Revelation 6 and verse 12, and it talks about the sixth seal. I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. Okay, I said sixth trumpet before. This is the sixth seal, though. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it's shaken by a mighty wind, and the sky, verse 14, receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. So before the trumpet blasts begin, you have this sixth seal that follows the fifth seal. That is the great tribulation. And you have these heavenly signs coming that no man can validate. This is something that's never happened to the world before. They can't point back and say, back in 1392, this happened as well. It'll happen again in, you know, 2919 or whatever. This is something that's never happened before. It's clearly from God. And you see the response from the people of the earth, how hard-hearted toward God they are. It says, the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand. Later on, as the trumpet plagues begin, you know, I think it's in chapter 9 that it says, despite all those things, mankind simply would not repent. They would not return to God. Despite the fact that it's clear all this is coming from God as a punishment, they are so, their hearts are so hardened against him, they won't even enter. Well, they know it's God, but they won't entertain the thought of repentance and yielding and surrendering to him. So we have this very, very clear picture in Revelation 6 verse 12. If we go back to the Old Testament in the book of Haggai, which is, I think, it's like the third book from the end of the Old Testament. Yeah, Haggai 2.

And verse 6, you know, Haggai speaks of this as well. He talks about God shaking the earth, as he will at the end time. Verse 6 of Haggai 2, thus says the Lord of Hosts, Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. Well, he's going to shake that and shake the earth, and he's going to shake it very, very soundly at the time before Christ's return, as we read here in Isaiah 34 and verse 4.

We go back to Isaiah 34 then. We continue with God's very descriptive language. I mean, he doesn't mince any words in the trouble that's coming on and what it's going to be like at that time. Verse 5, he says, My sword shall be bathed in heaven, and it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse for judgment. The sword of the Lord, verse 6, is filled with blood.

It keeps showing the death that's going to be on earth because it's fighting against God, and how when Christ returns and that sword is there, the humanity that's going to suffer because of their rebellion against God. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, and then it says, For the Lord has a sacrifice in Basra. So we get the sense that as humanity is being killed by the sword of God, and his sword is bathed in blood, there's this sacrifice that must be.

And Basra, I'm going to turn to a few scriptures here in looking at verses 5 and 6. Basra was a well-known city in Edom. But if you look at verse 5, you know, in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 46, the same language is used there. And remember, Jeremiah prophesied some, oh, I guess about 150 years after Isaiah. Isaiah was the prophet to Israel during their fall, and Jeremiah was the prophet to Judah until they fell to Babylon in 586 BC. Jeremiah, what is it? Jeremiah 46. And verse 10. Jeremiah 46 verse 10. Yeah, verse 10. This is the day of the Lord, a God of hosts. You know, the day of the Lord, you know, Feast of Trumpets, we talk about the day of his vengeance. This is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries. The sword shall devour, it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood. For the Lord God of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. These are the people that will be there as a sacrifice. They will give their lives as they rebel against God. It is his day of vengeance on an earth, on a world of that has just completely turned their back on God. Back in Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 32, it's the song of Moses. And it's a prophetic song, and it has to do with the end time nation of Israel, not the one who probably has a dual prophecy, but certainly applies to the end time. In Deuteronomy 32, verse 41, let me see. Let's begin with verse 39 in Deuteronomy 32. God speaking through Moses, who recorded this song, now see that I, even I am he, there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. See the punishment and then the hope that comes after it. Nor is there any who can deliver from my hand, for I raise my hand to heaven and say, as I live forever, if I wet my glittering sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy. So God's prophecies are sure. We're here in Deuteronomy. We read about them in Isaiah. You can go through the Old Testament prophets. You can see it in the book of Revelation from one end of the Bible to the other. You see the same prophecies. And as God says, and he'll say it later on in Isaiah 34, when his word goes out, it stands. It will surely come to pass.

So God has opened our minds to see these things so that we can be aware and not taken by surprise. We also know the reason why, and we know that there's hope at the end of this, and Christ will return and usher in a time of peace like the world has never seen before. So we have this, you know, the sword of the Lamb. We have this sacrifice. We have the Lord has a sacrifice in Basra. Now, in just Basra, you know, God specifically talks about Edom here. He's talking to all nations, but Edom is in his sights here in these verses that we're looking at in Isaiah. And we'll go forward with Isaiah 63 for just a minute, just so we can see that just so we can see that Basra is tied to Edom. Isaiah 63 and verse 1.

Yeah, Isaiah 63 verse 1. Who is this who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This one who is glorious in his apparel, etc. You can also mark down Amos 1-12. It ties Edom and Basra together in that verse. While we're here in the back of Isaiah, let's flip over a few more chapters to the last chapter. Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. I'm going to read verses 15 and 16 here. Again, this is the end time prophecy. Before Christ returns, we see Isaiah ending on a high note as people, you know, follow God, worship him at the end of this chapter. But here in verses 15 and 16, he draws a couple of the similar themes that we've seen. In verse 15, it says, Just remember that because a few verses from now in Isaiah 34, we're going to read about this quiet fire that can't be quenched. Verse 16, For by fire and by his sword, the Lord will judge all flesh, and the slain of the eternal shall be many. It will be very notable how many die in the day of God's vengeance.

So with those verses in mind, well, you know what, I got one more here. As long as we've got a little bit of time, let's go to Ezekiel 39 as well. Ezekiel 39 and verse 17.

Again, you see the consistent message of what it will be like in that time preceding Christ's return. Ezekiel 39, we've been in Ezekiel 39 before we go. In the next chapter, we begin talking about the millennial temple, but here in Ezekiel 39, verse 17, it says, For you, Son of man, thus says the Lord God, speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves in common, gather together from all sides to my sacrificial meal. We've been talking about the sacrifice of man, which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of asian. You will eat fat till you are full and drink blood till you are drunk at my sacrificial meal, which I am sacrificing for you. You will be filled at my table with horses and riders, with mighty men, and with all the men of war, says the Lord God. In that description, you can go to Revelation 19 and look at the last verses in Revelation 19 and see the very same picture that God gives John the apostle in a vision of what will be coming at the time preceding Christ's return. Similarity and the total symmetry of the Bible from one end of it to from Genesis to Revelation. Let's go back to Isaiah 34. We read verse 6. I read, For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bazar, but I didn't read, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. We do need to talk about Edom for a minute here, too. Edom seems to be the focus of God's anger. It's the whole world. The whole world has turned against God. The little book of Obadiah talks about this as well. Obadiah comes right after the book of Amos. It's Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah.

And the book of Obadiah is about Edom and how God was going to do. Now, you'll remember back in Isaiah 16, I think it was, when we were talking about Moab and God's cast out ones.

And he has an issue with the people of the land there. He cautions them, Don't harm my people. Don't be in their way. Don't try to impede them at all.

And it won't take the time, but you can go back and you can look back in the book of Exodus and another place in the Bible talks about how God will punish Moab and Edom. Well, actually, I guess it's probably right here in Obadiah because they hindered Israel as they were exiting from Egypt. And so they will hinder the people of God or these cast out ones that Isaiah 16 talks about at the end time.

So here in Obadiah, it's just one chapter along. Verse 2, it says, Behold, I will make you Edom. Verse 1 says, Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom, Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You will be greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high. For you say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground. So we have this pride that is among all these nations. You know, it's God who gives them their power, God who gives them the ability to do whatever He has them do, but they always take pride in themselves.

We drop down to verse 14 then in Obadiah. Verse 13, He says, You shouldn't have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you shouldn't have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Now we may be referring back, but think about those verses we read about in Isaiah 16. Don't hinder my people. Don't be an impediment to them. Treat my cast out ones well.

You should not, verse 14, have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped, nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of this distress. For the day of the Lord—there's the day of the Lord again—it's that day of vengeance of God. For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near.

As you have done, it will be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. Verse 17, um, if on Mount Zion there will be deliverance. There's a time coming, that's woe, but on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and there shall be holiness. You should remind us of Isaiah 2, and that day they'll say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. The law shall go forth from Jerusalem. On Mount Zion there will be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame. But the house of Esau, another name for Edom, shall be stubble. They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. It's quite, quite an edict that God puts on, on Edom. You know, he says, not a survivor will be there. And as you think back to Isaiah 16, we did see at the end of that chapter, after all the other, after all the other talk about God's cast out ones, and where he will hide them in the rocks, and whatever.

Whatever that means, as God will allow us to know more about what he means in the days and months ahead before Christ returned, the end of that chapter spelled, it talked about complete devastation for Moab in that area of the earth, just as it does here in Isaiah 34. So there's this great slaughter, if I go back to Isaiah 34, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

I'm going to give you one more verse there, too. You can write down Zephaniah 1 verse 7 also speaks about this great slaughter in the end of, in the end time, Zephaniah, a fourth book from the end of the Old Testament. And then verse 7 in Isaiah 34, we have this picture of there's this just devastated land.

There's just nothing happening there, a picture of a land that just isn't going to be inhabited again. Verse 7, The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls, their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

So when we see the word day here, I mean here in verse 8, it equates a day in biblical terms equals a year, right? For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. God's people have been wrong. The people of Israel were wrong. They were hated. God's people now, his called out ones, the first fruits, the church, they will be hated.

Christ said, they hated me, they will hate you. And so God will avenge his people who will go into captivity, who will suffer greatly the physical nations of modern-day Israel because of their rejection of God and their complete turning of their back on him. Verse 9, It streams shall be turned into pitch. Now we have this picture of pitch. The fire is going to come into play here as we read about in Isaiah 66, 15.

It streams will be turned into pitch. It's dust into brimstone. Its land shall become burning pitch. So you have this devastated land. People have died, this land that God has exacted his vengeance on. And now it's just become kind of a fire pit. Nothing is living. There is just this uninhabitable area that's there. It shall not be quenched night or day. Verse 10, Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation, it shall lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.

You know, a couple Bible studies ago, we were in Isaiah 32. Was it? I guess it was 30. 31. No, it was 30. Isaiah 30, where we're talking about Tophet and equating it to the lake of fire and how the UCG Bible commentary says that that fire may continue burning through the entire millennium as a witness to people of what it means to reject God and what your faith is. If you reject God, if you don't yield to him, if you don't completely surrender to him.

And what people will learn is the same thing that you and I are learning in this life. The more we yield to God, the more joy there is in life. The more the love of God is in us, the more zeal for God's way is, the more desire for his kingdom to come because we know how good it will be for everyone. The more we yield to God, the better life is, even in the time of trouble because we know what's coming and we feel that in our hearts.

And so, you know, God is saying that here, this fire, people will know it forever and ever. Mankind will have suffered greatly because of their rejection against God. And this will be a witness that will be there. This is what happens when you turn from God. Yield to him and life is better than you can ever imagine. Reject him, resist him, try to put him out of your life and wish that he wasn't there. Eternal death in the most shameful way that it can happen. Verse 11. You know, back in chapter 14, we talked about Babylon and God's edict on Babylon.

And where he talked about how it would never be inhabited again, it would be kind of covered by water. All these animals would be there to be a habitation for every unclean animal, if I can use that term. And you can mark down Isaiah 14 and go back and compare the verses there to what we're just going to read here in verse 11.

It says, The pelican and the porcupine shall possess that land. The owl and the raven shall dwell in it, and he shall stretch out over it. And I like the way God puts this, and he shall stretch out over that land. It was marked by resistance to God, the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. When you reject God, when you choose Satan, when you do those things that we were hearing the world talk about, you know, Satan and totally misrepresenting him and all this craziness that's going on in the world around us, he will put on it the line of confusion.

Because God is not the author of confusion. Satan is. Now we live in a world that is more confused than has ever been, possibly in the history of man that we live in right now. The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. Total futility. Absolutely nothing you can glean from it. It is going nowhere. It's totally empty. He shall stretch out over that land that's marked by resistance and rejection to God. The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

All those leaders of the world, you know, where are you? Where are you? They're nothing. They've been completely decimated, as we've read a few times in Isaiah already. It won't be the elite to the world who think they may be setting something up where they're above everyone and they've got complete power over everyone. Everyone will suffer. Everyone will participate in this day of vengeance that God is setting up. All the people who reject God and all the elite and all the kings, presidents, leaders of the world, you know, they will suffer right along with everyone else.

Verse 13, thorns shall come up in its palaces. It'll just be a wasteland, whatever the nice, wonderful houses. Thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses. It will be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleed to its companion, and the night creature shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest.

It isn't the land that will be inhabited again. They're the arrow snake. I think the old, I think the old King James says the owl or something like that, but somehow when I was reading they think that that word is more like this little arrow snake that just darts in and out, snatches something, and runs back away. They're the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch and gather them under her shadow.

They're also the hawks will be gathered, everyone with her mate. So you have these scavengers of earth that are all there.

Now we should just for a second go back to Revelation 18.

And we have this, what the Bible calls Babylon. It's not a city, but it is the system that is in place on the earth at that time, hearkening back to ancient Babylon, which God judged. And in the end time, you know, there's this system, the world is wealthy, you know, they reject God. It's an evil, it's an evil empire. The end of chapter 18 talks about, and it is the blood of the saints. They are dedicated to putting to putting to death people who believe in God, the people who have the truth. So it's not a kingdom of God, as we clearly see in the preceding verses here in chapters 13 to 17. But in verse 8 or chapter 18, God talks about this system of Babylon. It's going to be thrown down at the end time before Jesus Christ returns. Verse 2, He cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen. You know, we talked about that. There was a preceding fall of Babylon. This is the second fall of Babylon, and it has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. Exclamation point. All evil dwells there. Everything against God dwells there. And then in verse 3, all the nations have drunk of the wine.

Oh, I'm in Revelation 18. Revelation 18, I'm in verse 3. All the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of the poor and occasion. You know, so again, it talks about the whole world being involved in this. So, okay, now that you've found Revelation 18, as I failed to say that, let's go back to Isaiah 34. Okay.

So, Isaiah 34. So again, we have this chapter 34 is very graphic. It matches every other prophecy that you read about the end time in the Bible. In verse 16, God sums up this prophecy of what will happen as He's detailed it again in chapter 34, as we've been reading in, you know, several occasions here in the past 11-12 chapters of Isaiah. In verse 16, He says, search from the book of the Lord and read. Look in the Bible, take all the words into account, search from the book of the Lord and read, Not one of these shall fail, not one shall lacquer for my mouth has commanded it, and his Spirit has gathered them. He has cast a lot for them, and his hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They, these beasts, the undesirable beasts of the earth, will possess it forever from generation to generation, they shall dwell in it. And as long as we're in Isaiah, let's go forward to 45 again, just to repeat, because God mentions this a few times in the book of Isaiah when you to highlight and to accentuate what He's saying. In Isaiah 45 verse 23, He says, I've sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. Think in Isaiah 55, He says, my words will not return to me empty. Why is God doing that? He wants mankind to yield to Him. He wants mankind, all of mankind. Those, you know, those of us firstfruits called now to understand His, the benefits and the goodness of His way of life, those who live in the kingdom to experiencing it as it's the way of life that's taught and lived during those thousand years, that you and I will be working with the people and teaching them that way. And then all the rest of humanity, when they are resurrected in the Second Resurrection and books are open, then they have the opportunity to know God and live and live that way of life. So chapter 34, you know, we have the last in this series of the devastation that's going to come upon the earth. And then in chapter 35, you know, we have this very hopeful, very hopeful chapter. It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful picture of the the kingdom, the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and how the world will be transformed from the devastation that it is at the time of Jesus Christ's return, all brought about by mankind's behavior, all brought about by his behavior and choosing death, choosing a way of life apart from God.

That results in that. And here, chapter 35, when Christ returns, we see over the time, as His way of life is taught, lived, as it becomes part of man's way of life, it's not going to be that on the day that Christ returns, that He's going to snap His fingers and everything comes, becomes beautiful. There's going to be a way of life that's taught and people will see the benefit of that way of life. It talks, you know, in Isaiah 16, 61 later on about cities being rebuilt and things being rebuilt and people learning God's way of life. But here in chapter 35, it gives a vision of what will be. It says, "...the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them. The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." I'm sure this has been the subject of any number of artists' surrendering, right? Desert desolation, devastation, and all of a sudden you have a desert that's blooming as the rose. You know, we have deserts here in this country that are like that. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy in singing.

Again, help it read those verses and think about what it says in Romans 8 when it talks about the world and waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. So even though you all know the verse, let's go back there and tie it to Isaiah here in Romans 8.

And my window open and the wind is blowing my nose. Okay, Romans 8, because 18.

And in Romans 8, verse 19, the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

When is the revealing of the sons of God? At that seventh trump, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4, at the seventh trump Jesus Christ returns during that time of the seventh trump as well. I've heard some people recently say the day of trumpets is just one day. The day of trumpets is more than one day in duration. There's seven trumpets with seven vials and that seventh trumpet. But when are the revealing of the sons of God? That's the first resurrection. The better resurrection is, it says in Revelation 20, the bride of Christ. The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

That's what they're waiting for. Jesus Christ to return. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. God is putting a personification on the earth here. It's waiting. It has potential that you and I haven't seen. We don't even know what the Garden of Eden was like. We might imagine it in our minds, but what it is is so spectacular that we can't even imagine it. But the earth has been subjected because of mankind's rejection of God to the state that it's in today. Yet it's still a beautiful world. We still look out our windows and we have lawns and trees and flowers, whether we're in America, whether we're in Canada, whether we're in Nigeria or Costa Rica or wherever we are. It is a beautiful world we live in. Not every single part of it is beautiful, but it is still a beautiful world. But God says it's been subjected to futility. It isn't what it will be, not willingly, but because of Him who objected it in hope—the same hope that He has subjected you and me to, waiting for the return of Jesus Christ so that we can achieve the potential with which He created mankind for. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So even as the firstfruits receive their new bodies that are no longer corruptible, that can no longer decay, so the world will be delivered from the bondage it's been under, subject to corruption until God's reason. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Groans and labors with birth pangs together until now, waiting to be delivered at the time of Jesus Christ's return. And of course, in groaning, in groans and labors, we know that that delivery is near.

It's near, just like when a woman is about to deliver a child. Not only that—God inspires Paul to write—not only that, but we also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption should be sonship, the redemption of our body, because God sees us as children. We are His children. We follow Him when we repent, baptize, receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, live our lives in complete submission to Him. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what is not to see? So anyway, we know. We wait for God for that time when He will return. And so when we read in Isaiah 35, the land, as God puts this personification on it, the land will rejoice. It will be there with joy and singing because it's been released. Now it can become what God created it to be, a land where the deserts blossom as the rose abundantly and rejoice. The glory of Lebanon, growing on in Isaiah 35 verse 2, the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the eternal, the excellency of our God. As God inspired these verses, this is a direct contrast to what we read last week in Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33 and verse 9. As we were talking about coming times of devastation, destruction, trouble. In Isaiah 33 verse 9, in the midst of that, we read, the earth mourns and languishes. That's before the return of Jesus Christ. The earth mourns and languishes. Lebanon is shamed and shriveled. Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bation and Carmel shake off their fruits. They've lost all their splendor. Everything is just kind of like wilting, oppressed, dead. But here in chapter 35, then, we see just the opposite. When Christ returns, and that time of restoration comes upon all the world. We see the excellence of Carmel, we see the excellence of Sharon, we see the glory of Lebanon. It will all be restored.

In every every feast of tabernacles, we read Acts 3 verses 18 to 21. And that time talks about the time of the restoration. The restoration of all times. Jesus Christ will go to heaven until the time of restoration of all things. So I think, since we're in these millennial verses here, go back and let's look at that again. So that in our minds, we tie these things together, and we can see exactly what God's plan is, exactly what he proposes to do, or what will actually happen that proposes. It will happen. So in verse 18 of Acts 3 again, remembering that we're sitting here in the Old Testament, reading from Old Testament prophets, you know, Jesus Christ said he didn't come, that the law and prophets would be done away. He came to fill up the meaning of them, right? So as he says in Matthew 5, verse 18, it says, but these things, I'm sorry, Acts 3 verse 18, Acts 3, 18, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, like Isaiah, that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. We know that's done. Repent. See, God says you're going to accept it. If you're going to accept Christ, do that. That's the right thing to do. That's where hope, that's where salvation, that's where joy, peace, everything good comes from. Repent, that means turn from your way to his way. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who has preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things. That's when he returns to earth, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, like Isaiah, since the world began. We're reading of that and the effect of his rule on earth here in Isaiah 35.

We see the earth. We see everything being restored. We see the excellency of our God.

Even you and I, when we are spirit beings, when God has judged us and made us first fruits and judged that we are worthy and have shown in our lifetime, we will follow him and we're yielded to him his way. I think even we will marvel at what the world is like and how beautiful it is, because we have only seen this earth that we live in. There will be a time for us to be learning and excited and to just be in awe of God when we see all that he is, all that he has, and that's only a small part of everything that he is. So verse 3, I'm back in Isaiah 35.

Verse 3, strengthen the weak hands. Now we see the restoration of the world. We're going to see the restoration of man, man who has suffered afflictions, there's sickness, there's disease, there's all sorts of unrest on earth and all sorts of problems. Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong. Don't fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. There are those, and when we look and see what the Bible says and what God says will happen between now and the return of Jesus Christ, it can be daunting when we look at it. But what God tells us and what we need to encourage each other, look to God. Use his Holy Spirit. Put our faith in him. He is returning, and he will provide the strength we need, and he will see us through everything, because his will is that we will be in that kingdom. That's what he wants, and he will give us everything we need to be there. When we yield to him and look to him and learn to trust him with all of our hearts, behold your God will come with vengeance. Verse 4, with the recompense of God, he will come and save you. No doubt. No doubt. We can't have doubt. Always have our faith in him. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. Now, these verses are kind of dual well. They have a physical application as well as a spiritual application. When Christ comes, there will be healing. There is healing in his wings. We're told in Malachi. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.

But also the eyes of the blind will be opened to the truth of God. Right now, the world is blind. They don't know the truth of God. You and I know the truth of God because he's opened our eyes, but then the world will know the books of the Bible. Their eyes will be opened. They too will be able to worship God and repent of the way they live their life. As it says in Ezekiel, they'll loathe themselves for the way they lived before. Not an ignorance of God and willfully just resisting him. The eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Today, people don't want to hear the Word of God. Yet in Romans 10 and 17, it tells us, how does faith come? Faith comes by hearing of the Word. There is this preaching that has to happen. People have to be taught the Word of God. In Ephesians 4, he tells them how in this lifetime people are taught. What he does and how he has ordered his church, the body in which we all grow, as he's developing us and nourishing us until the time that we're born into his kingdom, in different bodies than we have now, that hearing has to happen. Today, so many people, they hear the Word of God. They even hear about the Bible. They stop their ears up. They don't want to hear anything about it. It's not going to be that way in the kingdom. Those that are physically deaf will be able to hear again, but they're not going to close their ears to God's Word anymore. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. They will marvel at the truth that God has. They'll marvel at his plan like you and I do and be excited about it. They'll just be in awe of what God has done, and the zeal will be there to follow him. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The lame shall leap like a deer. They'll walk with God, but there's going to be a pep in their step. They're going to be excited about life again. The lame shall leap like a deer. The tongue of the dumb shall sing. God will give those words. He's the one who puts the words in our mouths. I talked recently about God giving us words. Jesus Christ said, the words I speak, they come from the Father. We will get to the point he tells us when we're all before the council and the leaders of the land. Don't worry about what we need to say. Remember that verse. It's in Luke. I think it's Luke 21. Don't worry about it. It'll be an opportunity to testify of God. He'll give us the words to speak at that time. The tongue of the dumb will sing. People will have words. They will speak again, and they will sing true praise to God. Waters shall birthed forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. All these dry places where the earth is just kind of laying there dormant, just waiting, as we read in Romans 18, waiting for the deliverance of God for him to remove this oppression that has kept it in a futile state.

It will be removed, and so waters will be first forth in the wilderness. Streams in the desert, the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of jackals where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A lush fertile land will be there. Let me look at my notes here for a moment. I wanted to mention too, you know, that in Habakkuk 2.14 where it says, the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the water is covered the sea. That's what will be preached. That is what will be taught. That is what will be heard in the millennium. In verse 8, we talk about this highway, right? This road, if you will. Now Jesus Christ said, he's the way, the truth, the life. If we follow the way, we follow his way, we follow the truth, we follow him, we find our way to this millennial setting, to the kingdom, to eternity. A highway shall be there in a road and it shall be called the highway of holiness. Now, the beautiful name, the people that walk on it, the people that walk on it will be knowing God's way, living God's way. They know the way. They will be following the way, just like you and I know the way today. It shall be called the highway of holiness. The unclean thing shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, will not go astray. That's a message for us today, too, right? If we just follow what God says, just follow what God says. You won't lose your way. Let him lead you. Let him take you to where he wants to go. Verse 9, no lion will be there. The danger is going to be gone. You know in Isaiah 11, it says, nothing will hurt or destroy in my holy mountain. No lion will be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. It won't be found there. Not to worry about it. When you're on God's highway, he keeps everything at bay. The danger is gone. There isn't anything there. He's watching over you. He is our refuge, our strength, our aid, and in time of trouble. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. The redeemed shall walk there. Now, that's a New Testament word, isn't it? The redeemed shall walk there. So let's just spend a minute on redeemed and tie that to the New Testament where we know who the redeemed are, but we take the tie. Let's go back to 1 Peter 5. No, I'm sorry. 1 Peter 1. We'll begin in verse 17 where the sentence begins here. 1 Peter 1 and verse 17.

If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, right? Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, foreordained before the foundation of the world. Redeemed. He paid the price. He gave us the opportunity for life. The redeemed will walk on that highway. Revelation 5.

And in verse 9, we're talking about when Christ takes that scroll and loosens the seals on it, the twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb and said, each having a harp, golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, verse 9, Revelation 5, You, Christ, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed, and that word shouldn't be there. The original is them. You have redeemed them. It's talking about us, right? First verse. You have redeemed them. But it's the angel saying, you redeemed them, the people who will follow you. You have redeemed them to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made them kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth. You have redeemed them. And here's the purpose for which you've redeemed them. You've redeemed them from all, every tribe and nation in the world, you know, Pentecost. You know, as we look forward to that time, it was ancient Israel, physical Israel, and Old Testament, but Gentile and Israelite as well, in the all people that God is calling people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all ethnicities to be part of his family in this day and time. And one more time. I'm going to go ahead and read Revelation 14. What time do we have? It's not eight o'clock yet. Revelation 14. Doubtless. You'll be hearing this verse this weekend at Pentecost or this company Sabbath, but let's read it anyway. You can't read verses of the Bible too much, okay? Let's talk about those firstfruits, the redeemed, that you and I, if we follow God, has remained loyal to him during, you know, our time on this earth. I'm talking about the firstfruits, as it says there in chapter 14. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women. That means all the other religious, it talks about sexual purity as well, but all the religious ideas of the past they have put out. They live by every word of God, and that's who they worship. The old religious traditions and whatever that they learned from their former religious lives gone. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. They are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth was found no deceit or no guile, I think it says in the old King James, and their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Through their lives they've become spiritually mature. God sees their heart and He knows they are completely dedicated to Me. Whatever I say they will do, they're not perfect. They're not perfect like Jesus Christ is perfect, but they have the character that that's what they want to become. They, there's nothing they're withholding from Me.

And so you have this picture of who's going to be walking on this highway of holiness, where there is no danger. The ones who are walking, walking toward God, who accept Him, who accept Him completely and yield to Him completely like you and I walking on the way today. And finally in verse 10, we have another New Testament word, the ransomed, the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come designed with singing with everlasting joy on their heads. They will obtain joy in sire, they will obtain joy in gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Now those ransomed, that is talking about, you know, when God, we talked about it several times, will bring Israel back to the land that they were that they were promised. So in Isaiah 51, because Isaiah uses this word again, ransomed, so let's go forward to there. Verse 10. Isaiah 51 verse 10.

Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over? He's talking about Israel passing through the Red Sea.

Aren't you the one who dried up the waters for the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing with everlasting joy on their heads. They will obtain joy in gladness, sorrow and sighing shall flee away. So crossing the Red Sea, as God let his redeemed, that he redeemed from slavery and a life of futility in Egypt, took them to the Promised Land. So he will bring his people back in that way as well. You can mark down Jeremiah 31. I won't turn to Jeremiah 31. 11. That talks about the same thing, but Christ talks about the ransomed as well. So let's look at Matthew 20. Matthew 20 and verse 28.

Let's pick it up in... I always like to read the whole contest. Let's pick it up in verse 25 and read Christ's entire quote. Verse 25, Matthew 20. Jesus called them to Hisself and says, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. Remember it said about Jesus Christ, He didn't come to lorded over people. He came to serve. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. You are, and I, among the ransom that He gave His life for.

And so we come to this section of Isaiah 35. It's a beautiful end to this section.

I'm going to put together some review questions, but it's going to be over the next two weeks.

We're going to be in Maryland for Pentecost weekend, so I'm not going to have time to do much there about that. But next week we'll have a Bible study. We'll begin in chapter 36, but by the following week I'll have some review questions on these last 12 chapters that we've been in. So anyway, beautiful end and we'll enter this section. Xavier, you have a comment.

Hi, I'm Roshavi. Oh yeah, in chapter 20, verse 25, recently God showed that word for the great ones are philanthropists.

If you look at the Greek, the word literally also means philanthropists. Does it really? In verse 25 or something? Yes. Wow. Let me work that out. Let's emphasize authority over the philanthropists. Interesting. Surprise it, right? Yeah, that is. That's why it's so interesting to go back and look at what those words mean. So you just think, how can they mean anything different than they do? Yeah, very interesting. Okay.

Okay, anything, any questions about anything? Any comments about anything?

It's Shaggy. Oh yes, Reggie. How are you today?

I'm always amazed the way God brings things around. You know, when He calls us and everything, we repent and we're baptized. And that's why covenant with God right there. That's the start of our covenant. And God always comes through it. We come through it. We follow through what He says and He'll support us. But we have to obey God and follow Him in probably His direction.

He always does what He says, and we need to be people who do what we say, right? Then follow through on what we began with Him. So He'll feel good for us. But Dale.

Yes, good evening. Hi. Yeah, I follow the third verse in Isaiah 35.

It really talks about so much hope, I think. Another word in the hope in the Greek relates to confidence, you know? And we can have great confidence. Isaiah is the most quoted book, I think, in the New Testament. I think so. I was going to look at it. I think it is. Even better, Deuteronomy, one of the two. Yeah, yeah. And the Apostle Paul quoted the same thing. He said, in Hebrews 12, 11, God chases those He loves, including the whole world, but He's referring to the church here. I think He's talking about the church here, mainly. He says, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless afterward, it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness, and the then which are exercised thereby. So, they have to lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. You know, very encouraging. Adam Clark says, the words are in address to persons almost worn out with sickness and fatigue, like the world's going to be in that stage before God intervenes and eventually, like it said, sets up His kingdom.

Their hands hang down, their knees shake, and they're almost totally discouraged.

So, they're exhorted to exert themselves and take courage.

And that's very encouraging hope, I think, for us in the church and eventually for everybody.

I agree. Whenever we're discouraged, we should be thinking about that first, right? Then just put our hope out in God and things turn around. If we rely on ourselves, we're hopeless.

Yeah, hey, Fred.

You got to unmute yourself, Fred.

Okay, that's better. I was just wondering, is there only going to be 144,000 in the first resurrection?

Only God knows for sure.

I would say, based on what those things, when it talks about the first fruits, it appears that way. It appears that way. Yeah, okay. Could it apply to for the physical Israel that comes out of the Great Tribulation? Could it apply to? Yeah, there's that other set of 144,000 that are different. We don't know exactly what that 144,000 was in Revelation 7, I think it is, when it talks about all those tribes. That's a matter of discussion. What does God mean exactly by that? Is that the same group or two different groups?

Okay, on a side note, this is not related to the Bible study, but I've been cheering for the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup.

I don't even know. Are they actually in the Stanley Cup final? But they're close. They just got to win one more game, and they're in the final.

I saw all those scores, and lately I don't even have time to look at the scores anymore.

Hockey anyway, but baseball, I do. Yeah, I know you're very busy.

That's not reason. It's just wild. There's other things that are more important right now than that.

Okay, Xavier.

Yeah, the word is found in Luke 22-25.

That's where philanthropists are?

Yes. Okay. Verse 21-10.

It's, you are gittess, and it means a benefactor, a doer of good, a philanthropist.

That is interesting. Yeah, okay. Okay. Okay.

Sherry?

You have to be unmuted, Sherry.

Sorry about that. I wanted to find out about what the man before Xavier said about the tribes and stuff, but then a nine where it says the great multitude. What is that?

Are you in Revelation? Revelation 7-9. Yeah. I mean, that great multitude appears to be the ones who come through great tribulation. Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. I wasn't sure. Thank you.

Dave Pramar? Yes, sir. So as we've been going through these chapters, and you've been discussing how things are, how they relate to what's going on in this world today, a verse that keeps coming to my mind the last few weeks is Jeremiah 12 verse 5. And it talks about if you've raced with Ben on foot and they've worn you out, how can you compete with the horses? And, you know, it seems more and more that we really, really have to keep our noses in the Bible. We really, really have to make sure we know exactly what we know so we can be ready for the worst things, the horrible things that are coming up. You know, and just that I just wanted to say that it's just this verse has been coming to my mind more and more recently.

Yeah. You know what? Yeah, that's a good draw first to draw attention. Do you have it in front of you? There I have it. You want to read it? If you have it. Yeah, it says, New King James says, if you have run with the footmen and they have wary, then how can you contend with horses? It's true. Okay, keep going.

Okay, did you read it all? I missed part of it. Yeah, let me read it again. It says, if you have run with the footmen and they have wary you, then how can you contend with horses?

And if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wear you, then how will you do in the flood plain of the Jordan? Yeah, I mean, that speaks pretty clearly. Gotta run with God, right? If you let the world weary you by being in it all the time, you will miss out on what God wants. What horses was that? Jeremiah 12-5.

Hey, Becky.

I have to tell Dave that I've been on that verse for two weeks. It's amazing. There you go. See how mine's working on it. I've been stuck on that same verse for two weeks. That's crazy. And I had it right here. I was going to read you the NIV because it's just a little bit different. And I turned the page to look for something else, and now I lost it. Jeremiah 12-5.

I'm sorry, I was there. You're not even Robin's fault. It is.

It is. If you've raised with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Your brothers, your own family, even though they have betrayed you, they have raised a loud cry against you. And I guess I read verse 6 too. But it reminded me of a verse in Job, and I was trying to find it as we were talking. I'm so sorry. He says, how can we accept the good from God and not the bad?

I think it's in 2.10. When he replies to his wife, his wife told him, curse God and die. And I am in an NIV right now. But he replied, you're talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept the good from God and not the trouble? So sort of like, hey, it's going to get hard. You have to accept what God gives you. He's going to be there with you. I can tie the two together. Exactly. And we learn in the good times, and we learn in the tough times too, always with our eyes on God. So, yep. I think that's an amazing statement, given what Job had gone through.

To be able to say that, like we have to take the good with the bad after what he'd gone through, really speaks to his character. It's amazing. Yep, it is. And yet there was something in his character that God revealed through all that. So, you know, in the end, he became even more blameless than he was called before us. Very good, Becky. Hey, Dale. Yes, I wonder, Mr. Shavey, you could just confirm Isaiah 34 and 17. Is that referring to Judah, you know, basically, I could find the land that Edom had into the millennium. Isaiah 34 and 17. He has cast a lot for them. His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. That sure looks like it's Israel being returned to its land. Yeah, that is what I was asking. Yes. Yeah, okay. Thank you. They shall possess it forever, which is exactly what he says when they're brought back. It will be theirs. Okay, thank you.

Okay, anything else anyone?

Okay, okay. Well, have a wonderful Sabbath, a wonderful Pentecost. We will look forward. If there's anyone from Maryland here in Washington, D.C. area, we'll see you this weekend. The rest of you, we will see next Wednesday night. Okay, okay, good night everyone. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good night.