Bible Study: November 1, 2023

Okay, so tonight we're going to be looking at Isaiah 59. We're coming to the close of the completion of the book of Isaiah here. Before we get into chapter 59, I kind of want to just draw your attention again, because, as you know, when the Bible was written, it wasn't all divided into chapters and verses. It was one big scroll, and when Jesus Christ picked up that school in Luke 4, he turned to Isaiah 61, which we're coming up to, and he read it, but he didn't say it's Isaiah 61. He just knew where he was going to read. So we're here in this area of Isaiah that's really hopeful and looking forward to the future. If I go back just a few chapters and kind of recount where we were, because if we were just reading the book from verse 1 all the way to the end, we would get the continuity of what God has written here. In chapter 55, I mentioned that during the Feast of Tabernacles, you may have tarred to that scripture when you were reading John 7, 37. And Christ says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and I will give him life everlasting. And chapter 55 talks about everyone who comes to the water or everyone who thirsts come to the water. You don't have to buy, you just have to yield yourself to God. In chapter 56, then, for people that would follow that up, he talked about not defiling the Sabbath, keep the Sabbath holy. And he talked about how important that was to him. And even through the, or made the comments that even the eunuchs and the sons of the foreigners would be part of, when they didn't defile the Sabbath, they would be part of the house of God's prayer. And that's certainly pictures of the time of the millennium and the New Testament time when God is working with the people that he calls, Gentiles, as well as native Israelites, free slave, man, woman, every ethnicity, every background, whoever he chooses to call. And so in 56, he says, but don't defile my Sabbath, keep what I'm saying. Keep what I'm saying.

In chapter 57, he talks about spiritual adultery, those who are called and they turn from God. And he paints the picture of a wife who basically cheats on her husband and how awful that is. But at the end of chapter 57, he says, even then, I haven't forgotten you. I still love you. I will bring myself back. I'll bring you back to me. And there will be the righteousness again in chapter 58, which we read last week. He says, go and tell my people. And he makes the statement in verse 1 of chapter 58 there, tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. So he is speaking to the house of Jacob, the native Israelites, those who are born through that lineage, but also the people that he called today because you and I are part of the people that God has called. And so he says, go out, tell them. Tell them what their sin is. Tell them what their transgression is. Tell them what their iniquity is. We'll talk about that in a little bit again tonight.

Also that they would come back and he gives them a way to come back. He talks about fasting, that the people will say, well, God, we've done all these things. We've called on your name. We've kept your Sabbath. We've done these things. We've even fasted before you. How come you don't hear? How come you don't hear us? What's wrong with you, in essence, is what the people are saying.

And in chapter 58, God begins to answer that question. He goes, well, that's because in the day that you fast, you're not fasting for what I would have you fast for. You're not fasting to see what's wrong with me. You're looking to fast and ask me to make these other people change, make them become the way that you want them to become.

But really, he says, the reason for a fast is that you ask me, examine my heart, show me my sins, show me my faults, help me to overcome those so that I become who you like. And God says, when we fast that way, when our heart is with him, our entire heart, then the light will come. Then it will be as light in the morning.

And there will be that newness of light that we feel. And God says, when you're working that way and when you're talking that way and being that way and loving me with all your heart, mind and soul, then when you call, I will answer. Well, you ask, I will give. But we can't be coming to God and just demanding him to do things. We have to give ourself to him. So last week we didn't read verses 13 and 14 of chapter 58. So let me go ahead and do that as we get into chapter 59. Again, in chapter 56, we talked about the Sabbath day and not defiling the Sabbath day. 58, he talks about fasting, the proper way to fast.

And then at the tail end, or right after he talks about that, again, he talks about the Sabbath day. It goes back to not just keep the Sabbath day as in, don't go to my physical place of work, but what do we do with the Sabbath day? How do we keep from defiling it as God defines it? In 13 then, he says that if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, don't do the things that you do the other six days of the week. Do the things and be close to God on that day. Do the things that he wants you to do. Praise, be with people of like mind. Go to church. Go to that commanded assembly that he has, that holy convocation. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, give me that 24-hour period, God is saying, from doing your pleasure on my holy day. And you call the Sabbath a delight, not a burden, not something like, oh no, we've got a Sabbath day, the next 24 hours.

I can't do what I want to do, and I'm just going to kind of sit and wait for the Sabbath to be over, as it says in Psalm, I think back in Amos, you just kind of wait for the holy day to be over. That isn't the proper way to keep the holy day. Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.

Give the time to God. Do the time, do what he wants you to do, be immersed with him. It connects us to God. And he says that Sabbath is a sign between him and his people when we keep it holy. He said, if you do these things, keep the Sabbath holy the way he said. He makes the same comment in verse 14 that he does about when we properly fast. And we ask him to break the yoke that finds us.

Then you will delight yourself in the Lord. And God says, I will cause you to ride on the high heels of the earth, and I'll feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

When we do things, God's way. He says, that's what happens. And he concludes there in that verse with, The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Do it the way God says. And then going right in to chapter 59, in the first thing, the next eight verses, He pretty much is, in a way, answering the question from chapter 58 verse 3 again, when the people said, well, why have we done this? And you haven't responded. Why have we fasted? And you haven't seen? Why have we afflicted our souls?

And you take no notice? Well, he answers the question about fasting. And in a way, he says that again. The reason I'm not answering you, the reason that we're not in communication is because, not because there's a problem with God, He says in verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it can't hear. There's nothing wrong with God, never anything wrong with God. The problem is with us if we feel that God isn't listening or if he isn't listening.

And he says, it's your iniquities. It's your sin that has separated you from your God. Not God, he's perfect. He's always there. He always loves us. He always wants us to come to him. But in the way that we should be approaching him, your iniquities have separated you from your God. And your sins have hidden his face from you so that he won't hear. Because he tells us what we need to do.

And he says, in Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, he said, if you follow me, if you do my will, if you give me your heart, I will what you ask, I will give you. So when we feel that God isn't paying attention to us, we need to look at ourselves and make sure that we are yielding ourselves completely to him and not deceiving ourselves thinking that maybe we are when maybe we really aren't. But really, going down for the next several verses, it kind of gives us a chance.

Mr. Shaby? Yeah, Debbie. So, you know, God is not only talking to Old Testament and not only talking to the people coming back from tribulation. He is also talking to this present age now because lots of examples. Matthew 24, when Jesus talks about the end time events, the very next chapter, he talks about the ten virgins. And five are wise and five are unwise. So, of the unwise, he says, I know you not. I don't know you. So that's 50 percent, and the ten virgins represent those that are called now that have the Holy Spirit now. So 50, you would have to say 50 percent of the church is not pleasing God because he says to the unwise, I know you not.

So wouldn't it be better to err on the side of caution than to hear God say, I never knew you? And what I'm referring to, of course, is eating out on the Sabbath. It's just one thing. The Sabbath is so important. Yeah, I hear you. Absolutely. As we've been talking through Isaiah, this is speaking to us now.

When we get done with the book of Isaiah, I think we're going to have a Bible study on eating out. I know we've had a lot of comments on that and a lot of things, but I don't want to take that Bible study up with that because there's many things we can discuss. But let's reserve that. When we get done with Isaiah, I think we're going to do that, but I'm going to ask everyone to read the paper. And then we're going to come back and we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about what work is. We're going to talk about some things I know you threw out a verse last week too that we'll talk about as well and get everything in context rather than bringing that up all the time.

Because we're not going to, we're not on this kind of Bible study, going to do something that we can't do and say, this is the right way.

Because God has kept us here for us and we will do what our, because there's arguments on both sides, but we will do what God leads our conscience to do. So let's just leave it at that for now if we can. So, okay. Okay. So yes, but certainly I want, I hope everyone knows what we're talking about when we talk about these things. These verses are written for us now. Isaiah is a book for this time, the end time. I mean, God has opened up a lot of understanding in this. And as we go through chapter 59, if we get over to chapter 60 today, you're going to see certainly the next several verses here in 59 is speaking of the time that we live in now here in America, Canada, Australia, all the English-speaking nations, and probably everyone around everywhere around the world. We just don't know the areas that we live, don't live in as well as we know what we live in here. So we go back to chapter 59. He says, your iniquities have separated you from God. And so, and then he says, and then he begins to outline what those are. Your hands are defiled with blood, or bloodshed might be a better way to put that, the word and so it shows. Your hands are defiled with bloodshed. Your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue has murdered perversity. Now that's a picture. That's a picture of America today, right? Verse four, no one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. We now live in an age where we hear the term my truth, right? My truth is supposed to be, you're supposed to honor my truth. It's no longer the truth, the absolute truth of the Bible. It's my truth. If I want to believe it, it is definitely the time of lawlessness that in Matthew 24, Christ talks about. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They're not really seeking for truth, just trying to force their ideas on it. And of course, we can remember the verse in Proverbs that says, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. I think that's Proverbs 14, 12. No one pleads for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies.

I mean, you know, I have recently, well, not recently, a few months ago, they asked me to get on Twitter, and Twitter can be a tremendous time waster, is what I've learned. And you can find every opinion on Earth, right? And it's almost like you could siphon that I make no comments on Twitter. I just read to get familiar with it. But you have people who are absolutely dead set in one thing, and it's their idea, and others are dead set in the other idea.

And it's a bunch of talk and whatever. And never the twain shall meet, it seems. And it seems that's the way of the world. You're not going to, if you don't change people's mind, they aren't seeking the truth. Hey, Brandon, how are you doing today? Hey, Shaver, I'm doing pretty good. How about yourself? Okay. Yes, I was just quick, as you mentioned, Twitter, just very briefly, I legitimately, because I use it for mostly just streaming to let some of my followers know that, you know, that I'm going live and everything.

But I literally set like a timer for myself and say, hey, only two minutes. I can't, I literally literally can't scroll Twitter for more than that, because it's just like you said, it's every opinion under the sun. And everybody's at each other. Everything is, you know, even just I noticed across social media, it's always like this person destroys this person in an argument. It's never like, hey, let's have a meeting of the minds to, you know, to reach a solution to help everyone out. It's always somebody has to destroy this one, or watch as this person demolishes this person's argument.

And it's just, you know, you see that that, like you said, just the way that seems right to them. That's all they're worried about. That's all they want to do and get an echo chamber behind it. Nobody's truly like, oh, hey, I was wrong on that. Even if they're shown that it's something opposite than what they thought, just like with the Johnny Depp situation, you know, it's like nobody ever, I never really saw anybody who accused them go back and apologize and say, hey, we're sorry.

We didn't realize that we made a mistake there. But, you know, that just doesn't happen. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, John, how are you tonight? Just want to do a do a technical thing. Your camera had gone up and you're recording, so you caught it, though. I guess I have to look over in that direction every once in a while.

See what's going on. So, okay. Okay, so let's go on in verse. Yeah, they trust in empty words. We're in verse four. They trust in empty words and speak lies. I mean, there's all sorts of things out there and people believe they don't even check facts anymore. That's facts don't matter anymore. It's just what they want to believe. And then I mentioned this in the sermon not too long ago.

They conceive evil and bring forth an iniquity and they hatch the new King James says vipers, vipers eggs, but the old King James says cockatrice eggs and we have the spiders wild. And whether it's a viper, an extremely poisonous snake or a cockatrice, which was a kind of a legendary creature that, like a fiery serpent that could fly that would be caught from that, a very dangerous, dangerous thing.

But it's a legendary thing that I don't know if I looked at what these cockatrice were. Sure looks like it's something of Satan and you go back to the dragon where it talks about that and things like that. But we have this evil, evil thing there.

They hatch vipers eggs. Now anyone, even if it's a viper, right, but if it's a cockatrice, you would never willingly hatch that egg. You would want to destroy it. You don't want vipers around. You don't want these things that can kill you and poison you and these things. But they hatch them. They want to find out what's in them. They hatch vipers eggs and weave the spiders web. He who eats of their eggs dies. They die. Why would you hatch an egg that's going to lead to death? And yet we live in a world that continually is hatching those eggs in a symbolic way.

Let's go down this path. Let's, you know, let's go down this path. It's abortion, and then it's same-sex marriage, and then it's transgender, and let's champion these things, and let's make them heroes, and let's teach it to our children, and let's change society. Let's turn everything upside down and discount everything we've ever done before and become an abnormal people that has no idea who their history is and has lost all focus and all the center of what it means to be even a human being. A moral human being of everything that works. And so they continually hatch this evil, and sometimes you wonder, what's the next thing? How much lower can it get? He who eats of those eggs dies, and from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. So there's something, and once you break an egg, you can never put that viper, you can never put that cockatrice back in it again. Once this hatched, it's done. It's there. You have to deal with it. The only way it can ever be eliminated from human minds and history is with the purity that comes from God. When people are demented and, you know, it's just such a crime, what is going on with children. You know, children today, and what they're doing in some communities is they expose them to these things that even adults don't even talk about.

And you hear some of these things. Again, on Twitter, they read some of those things, and it's just kind of mind-boggling that any school system would allow that to be anywhere near their schools, and yet they're poisoning children's minds, and they can never go back to the way they before, destroying their innocence, and they become people who just, they're going to be limited and hurt.

That's why it's so important for parents to just know what's going on in schools. Protect your children and protect what they're hearing, because we live in, indeed, an evil, evil generation. So, he who eats of their eggs dies. He wouldn't eat to that egg, and yet we see a world around us that does those things. And from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out.

Their webs. Their webs, verse 6, going back to these people who hatch the viper's eggs, who weave the spider's web, their webs won't become garments. They're not going to cover their sins. They're not going to become garments like you and I are supposed to be, becoming the pure people that God wants, putting on those white garments that he will, that God wants to clothe us in. Their webs won't become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. They don't do good works. Their works are evil. The things they do are awful. They won't cover themselves with their works. There's no accounting. There's no covering that they can do. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

We have the violence, as we've seen in Canada, seen in America, in Australia, New Zealand, over in Europe. We see, of course, the Israeli War, the misery and the violence all over the world.

Even what we do to ourselves, what we do to the children, that's violence. That is destroying. That's destroying someone. People destroying their mentality, and they just can't get it back without God's Spirit. We can just be very thankful that with God's Spirit, things can be overcome. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Verse 7, their fate runs evil.

We see this pattern. That's what goes on. The next idea is, there's one idea upon another. Their fate runs evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. When we get into the book of Revelation, it talks about the beast power that's there, the blood that he's drunk on.

It's not his comrades, it's the blood of the saints. That's the blood that he's in. They make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. I recently read Romans 1. It's not bad to remind ourselves of what happens with a mind that departs from God where it goes.

Romans 1 is a very good picture of the Gentile environment of the Old Testament, or not the Old Testament times. The New Testament times, when Paul walked the earth, when he was in Corinth, and the type of society he was in during that time, and the type of society that we're in now.

Their feet run to evil. They make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they haven't known. There is only one way to peace. That is through Jesus Christ, that's through following him, that's through God's Spirit leading us and bringing about the harmony. Even in the world when they say they have peace, peace really is just the absence of war. There's this tension. I hear people talk about, you know, three, four, five years ago we had peace on earth. When we didn't have peace, there was still a lot of tension that was going on. There was tension between, even within nations, even with our nation, there was the battle always. There was not peace. There may not have been bombs flying and artillery firing, but there was a lot of consternation that was going on during that time. And COVID brought out a lot, a lot of unpeaceful times, even in a time where there wasn't an actual war going on. The way of peace they haven't known, and there's no justice in their ways. They've made themselves crooked paths. They haven't followed God. They wanted to throw everything away that God says. This is the way they walk in it. They ignore that. They make themselves their own paths. They've made themselves crooked paths, and whoever takes that way won't know peace. You walk with the world, you will never have that peace of mind that Paul talks about in Philippians, the peace that surpasses all understanding.

It only comes from yielding to God, denying self, doing the things, following His Spirit, and making the conscious choices, not by the natural way, not the way of the world, the way God says, and let that become the pattern for our lives.

God says, this is what they do, verses 3-8. This is what the world does. This is what the people apart from God does, and they don't know peace. They never can find that satisfaction in that spot where they just feel established, settled, and able to face whatever comes their way.

God says in verse 9, because they don't follow Him, therefore, justice is far from us. Righteousness does, nor does righteousness overtake us. You can't find it in the world. You're not going to find justice. And I'll speak for America and Canada. That we see more and more. Justice is just departed from the land. It's all about—it's just very politically motivated, it seems. Even as you hear it reported on the news, you hear them talk about that. This one's disappointing. This one's disappointing, and you can almost tell from who's appointee this judge is, which way things are going to be. Justice is far from us. Righteousness doesn't overtake us. And we grope like blind men, right? We look for light, but there's darkness. Where is the light in this world? If we look to the world for hope, if we look to the world for salvation, where are we going to look? There's nothing there. People are looking. They're searching. We've got college kids who are all confused, and they're unsettled. They don't know what's going on. So they find themselves, or we marvel at the fact that they can sit there and wave their banners for pro-Hamas and everything like that.

They just had no idea. They're searching for something that they don't know what, but there's nothing but darkness. And they don't realize yet that that's even darker than what they're protesting against. We look for light, but there's darkness. We look for brightness, but we walk in blackness. There's no hope in the world. It has disappeared. The only hope is in Jesus Christ's return. It's the message that the church must be preaching to the world. This is where hope is. The world won't want to listen, but they need to hear it. So when it comes, it'll be, that's what we were told. We just didn't pay attention to it. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope it as if we had no eyes.

We stumble at noonday as at twilight. There are dead men in desolate places. That's a pretty good picture of where we are today. We are as dead men in desolate places. We have no idea what we are doing. We have no spiritual vision whatsoever in the nation. The only spiritual vision comes from God's Word and us being close to God and being in His Word and looking to that for hope and knowing it and growing closer to Him. Verse 11.

Verse 11 is we talk about these people who are just completely blind, the world being blind. We growl like bears. We make noises. We want it to happen. We moan like, sadly, like doves. Where's the hope? Where is this? We look for justice, but there is none. And we look for salvation, but it's far from us.

Now, I'm talking about the world, but there may be some who even have been called, who know who God is, that still haven't yielded themselves to what God says is going to happen and are still putting some hope that the world can turn around, that the world can somehow correct itself.

And I guess the end result of that would be to delay Christ's return because He is going to return. And we do live in a time where Matthew 24 and everything that Christ says in Matthew 24 is looking clearer and clearer as we go through here.

And as we look at the Israeli war and how these other terrorist groups now continue to join the fight against Israel to continue to exacerbate what is going on over there.

In verse 12, last week we talked about transgressions and sins and iniquities. In verse 12, it talks about all of those. Our transgressions are multiplied before you, you being God. And our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us. And as for our iniquities, we know them, God says. Do we remember what the difference between transgressions and iniquities? Do you remember what the distinction between those are when we see those three terms in the Bible?

Transgressions. Remember we talked about kind of like revolt, we're kind of like rebelling. Go ahead, Xavier. Yeah, go ahead.

Oh, yeah, I think I heard your question. You were talking about the differences. Yeah, for me, the place where I see them highlighted, I think I said it last time, was in Psalms, granted David repentance, and he laid them out right there. Yep. We have the three terms again here, though, and just kind of to remember because God uses the three terms.

Transgressions are kind of like we're rebelling against God, right? We know what the law says, but we just we kind of do it anyway, right? So it's kind of rebelling against him. We're going to do our own way. We fall prey to that as God continues to perfect us. Sins are missing the mark when you look in strongs.

And then the iniquities are the more premeditated. We're going to go ahead and do it. I think last week, I think the real good example there is in my college is read Mike it to you. It's the stuff that we do that we we plan out sin, right?

We allow ourselves to get angry with someone or we allow ourselves to get bitter about something. And then we find ourselves, if I could do this and if I can make that happen to them, if I could do this and all these things that we've all been through the time of our lives. It's a waste of time and sometimes we lay awake and think about those things. But in Malachi 2, the first one says, woe to those who devise iniquity, who plan it, right?

And work out evil on their beds. At morning light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, houses and seize them. So they oppress a man in his house, a man and his inheritance. And then God says in verse 3, Behold, against this family, I am devising disaster from which you cannot remove your neck.

So there's these things. They're all sin. They all lead to death. All things that we need to overcome and be aware of as we examine ourselves. And like, what are we doing? Why am I doing this? Is this what God would, is this the way God would have me to do? Go. Someone had a comment? Yeah, the irony of that word, I just looked up, avon. It sounds like a product that was sold to the masses.

It means perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt. Yeah. And I just thought about that product, avon. I'm like, different word, but maybe. Who knows where those words come from sometimes, right? Or just by chance, maybe. Yeah. So in chapter 59, it's like, you know, our sins, they're just multiplied. God looks down and he sees what the intent of our heart is. We have to stop sometimes and think, what is the intent of our heart? Why am I doing this? Is this of God? Verse 13, he says, in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from him, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

We're just kind of like painting the picture we want to paint, right? And just our thing, lying, going against God, doing the things that we do or that we see in the world around us. When we do all these things, justice is turned back. This is, I mean, yeah, a good memory verse, right?

Justice is turned back. Righteousness stands afar off. Truth is fallen in the street. And that, boy, that defines the world today. Truth is fallen in the street. And equity probably should be given the word how equity is used in today's world. Integrity is a better word to put in there. Truth is fallen in the street, and integrity can't enter. People don't really care about people who have morals, who are honest. I think the world likes them, but we see more and more. Those are going to be the people that they're against.

They don't want to hear what the truth is. They don't want to hear those things. They want everyone to be like them. Very interesting in the United States, you know, the recent speaker of the House who was selected that he's certainly not in the Church of God, but he speaks openly about the Bible and claims that he follows the Bible. And it's kind of just amazing that the Republicans just kind of unanimously selected him. And I know as we've talked about, it's like all of a sudden the Bible is God is almost like allowing the Bible to become back into vogue a little bit because we have people, you know, we have him now that's talking about the Bible.

We've got a couple of celebrities who are, you know, have been talking about their reading the Bible. We've got the Israeli war, and that certainly ties back to the Bible. And all of a sudden we have these opportunities to catch the world's attention on the Bible and to what does the Bible really, really say. And so, you know, working on that and how do we capture this time where the Bible has entered the public discourse again, at least a little bit.

So we live in this time, though, where, you know, there's going to be people who don't like him. I think we're going to probably learn how people are going to respond to us as they as they ally against him, I guess. Verse 15, truth fails. Truth fails. And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. No, people don't want people who stand up for what's right. They want, you know, with all the things going on in the world, what they really want is people to join in with them and to approve of what they do.

It's not enough to just let them live and do what they want. They want your active approval. And when you depart from that, you become an enemy.

So verse 15, you know, God looks down on these things. He sees what's going on in our land, maybe in our, you know, in our, well, our lands and our hearts, maybe even the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice, because God stands for justice and righteousness and things that are right. It displeased him there was no justice. He thought there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. I think a better word when you look under the concordance, maybe it was he was appalled. Really? Is this what the world has come through, that there's no one that stands up for what's right? There's no one who stands for righteousness. No one is building with that. Kind of goes back to the time before the flood when the when God says there was the whole world was just enveloped in darkness and there was no one except Noah. No one except Noah who was following God. We see a world that departs more and more from God. So he wonders that there was no intercessor. He was appalled that this was happening. And so he brought it. Therefore, his own arm, his power, his arm, he was going to bring that salvation. God, it doesn't come through man. It doesn't come through us. It comes through God. Therefore, his own arm brought salvation and his own righteousness. It sustained him. He couldn't look here for that. It's God's righteousness. It's God's salvation. Everything is about him. Everything we owe to him to have any salvation or any hope of salvation. It is his way. As he says in Acts 4, 12, there is no way to salvation except through Jesus Christ. Not the way the world says that all all gods lead to the same thing. No, only through Jesus Christ and only through doing the things that Jesus Christ taught and that we follow and obey and pattern our lives more and more closely as we understand the truth and exactly the way the Bible says by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Verse 17, here's God. He's bringing salvation. He's going to bring righteousness. And then he gives us these weapons of warfare, the first two of which we find in Ephesians 6 when he talks about the weapons of warfare we put on because we don't fight.

Our battle is a spiritual battle and we put on these Ephesians 6, this armor every day as we go out into the world as we live this life. He put on righteousness as a breastplate. He put that on him and a helmet of salvation on his head. Same thing it says in Ephesians 6. But then the next two things aren't in Ephesians 6. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing.

That's something we don't put on. We don't put on the garments of vengeance. Vengeance isn't something that God gives us the right to take. Anyone know a verse somewhere that talks about vengeance belonging to God?

I'll give you the verse. Romans 12. Turn back there for a moment. Christ puts on that that garment of vengeance. But it's not a garment that's given to us in Romans 12, verse 19.

Paul writes, he says, So when we're talking here in Isaiah 59, verse 17, that garment of vengeance belongs to God, belongs to Jesus Christ, not to you and me. He will take it. Don't avenge yourselves. Rather give place to wrath, or it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, verse 20, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink.

For in so doing, you will heat pools of fire on his head. Something for us to remember, you know, it's like we have to be patient, and we can see the things that are being done wrong to us, and we naturally want to seek revenge, do things, do whatever it is that we can do, a whole sort of things, right? But let God, let God, let God have the vengeance. Through the Psalms, you see David, who had all these enemies, who spoke evil things against him, and he always waited for God. God, you take care, you take care of it. Yeah, Betsy?

I also think Isaiah 63, verse 3, shows God's vengeance. Okay. Yeah, very good. 63, verse 3 says, I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me, for I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Yep. It's God who did it. Their blood has sprinkled upon my garments, and I have samed my robes. It's God who does it. It's God who delivers Israel, right? In the end, it's they don't free themselves. It's God who comes and exacts vengeance on those who have oppressed and persecuted his people.

Very good. Yeah, Xavier?

Your camera is going upwards, and just to echo what's wrong with you. Your sister just said she referred it forward to where our Lord treats the winepress, and it says the blood came up to the bridle of the horse in Revelation. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's quite a verse.

Let me see another. Okay.

So, vengeance is mine, says God. And the end, he was clad with zeal as a cloak. Well, we certainly need to have zeal, but, you know, probably when you think of zeal and Christ putting on the cloak of zeal there when he was in the temple and he was overturning the marketplace, the money changers that were there, and it says the zeal of the Lord of hosts has eaten this up.

In fact, that is in...

I thought I wrote that down, but let me see what's first run here. That's another... Oh, Psalm 65 verse 9. I wrote it in my Bible. John 2, 15 and 17 talks about the zeal that he had when he was overturning the marketplace in the temple, that he said, My father's house will not become a den of thieves. Right? And Psalm 65, 69 verse 9 also talks about him having that cloak of zeal. We need to have zeal, too. It's not one of the things that we clothe ourselves with, but as we let God's Spirit work through us, we'll have that zeal and that energy to do God's will.

Mercy 18. According to their deeds... Right? There's always a consequence for our actions. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. What happens to us when we sin, we deserve. What happens to the world when they have done these things, they deserve. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, and the coastlands he will fully repay.

You know, the coastlands we talked about in prior chapters of Isaiah appear to be the areas, the nations that have these huge coastal lines. The America, England, Canada, Australia, all these nations that are English-speaking that have these huge coastlines that God says is quite a blessing.

And yet all those areas that he has so richly blessed, in the end time they just turn completely away from him, as we see happening today. So even the coastlands, he will fully repay. They will pay the price for turning from God. When we turn from God, there is a consequence that we will receive. God says for Israel, he will not completely destroy them. But there is that time of Jacob's trouble and those other things that we talked about coming as recompense for turning from God and not following him. In verse 19, then, he says, So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. So he will be returning. He will come back with vengeance. We know that he is going to bring Israel back, but verse 19 says, They will fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. So from east to west, the whole world will fear God. We can turn to Psalm 102 and it tells us that. Psalm 102 and verse 15.

So, yeah, so you can read through Psalm 112. You can see this is the future time when Jesus Christ returns. So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth, your glory. For the Lord will build up Zion. He will appear in glory and regard the prayer of the destitute. So in the future, all nations will fear God. When we talk about the fear of God, when Jesus Christ returns and the nations are taught, they will learn to fear God. We talked about last week in Cincinnati and they will learn to glorify God. Go to Psalm 86. I think it is. I remember correctly. Psalm 86. Yeah, Psalm 86 and verse 9 says, All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. So in the millennium, everyone will be taught, fear God. The fear the Lord leads to wisdom. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of the knowledge. It is something that needs to be at our foundation. Giving glory to God needs to be at our foundation as well, recognizing everything we have and everything we're about. And our future is all of them.

So we go back to 59.

59. Let me read it again. So shall they fear the name of the eternal from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

You know, this may be a reference to Revelation 12.

If you want to turn to Revelation 12, you can. Or it can just be talking about when the enemy comes at us, God says he will protect. He will put up that banner, right? In Revelation 12.15, I'll be with you in just a minute, Fred.

We read about when God is taking the woman into the wilderness to her place for a time where she's nourished for a time, times and half a time. And in Revelation 12, it says, So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, the earth opened his mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. God is there. His banner can protect us from those enemies when they come at us. Yeah, Fred. Yeah, Rick, a while back, I think I even asked you this question about God's verity of punishment upon the people. But amazingly, I found out that my wife pointed out to me that I was saying in my heart that God wasn't fair. So I had to repent of that. And I have. Whatever God does is totally fair. That's all that I wanted to say.

That's very good. I think that isn't that Ezekiel 18, too, right, where I think the people, why do they say I'm not fair, right? And God is always fair. You're exactly right. Okay, Ezekiel 59 verse 20, a statement of fact, the Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob. Always turn back to God. It always is about turning back to God. When God brings Israel back, they will turn back to him with their heart.

The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord. Actually, Paul quotes that verse in Romans 11. Let's go to Romans 11. Let's make one comment on something in Romans 11 there. Verse 25, it quotes Isaiah 59-20 there. Romans 11. Yeah, verse 26 says, So all Israel will be saved as it is written. And then it quotes Isaiah 59 and verse 26 and Isaiah 27 and verse 27.

But in verse 25, let me go back to what that is and read what Paul is saying here. He goes, I don't desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant to this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. So it's like, you know, the Jews, that God has opened up salvation to the Gentiles. They will be called. They will become part of that special people that Paul talks about or Peter talks about in 1 Peter 2.9, that special people that you and I are part of that God puts together. I desire, brethren, that you shouldn't be ignorant to this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. That blindness, in part, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so you have, you know, God saying, He is going to bring Israel back. And Israel, when they come back into the land, they're going to become the model nation He always wanted them to become. They will follow God. And we're going to read here in the next chapter that nations will come to Israel. Not to serve, but because Israel is God's model nation. That's what He created them to be. Remember, He says, and I say, I created you. And we talked about how the miraculous births have led to this people that is known as Israel. But He says that their blindness, in part, has happened to Israel because when Christ returns, that blindness will be taken away. Israel will understand that at that time until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And we have this fullness of the time of the Gentiles. And I know sometimes people wonder what that is, but we do know what the time of the Gentiles is like. Christ talks about, you know, the Gentiles lorded over them, right? Remember when the apostles are wondering who's going to be the greatest among them? And Christ says, it's the Gentiles lorded over them. But you, whoever is your leader, He needs to be your chief servant. So the Gentiles lorded over them. We look at the time of the Gentiles, the time before the modern nations, the British Empire and the American democracy that we've had. You always had these autocratic societies. You had kings that were telling you, this is what you're going to do. This is where you're going to live. This is what you're going to be. This is who you're going to worship. And we see ahead of us that time coming in. Again, that's the way of the Gentiles, the dictatorial, tyrannical type things where they tell you what you were going to believe. You're going to follow their truth or pay a penalty if not. So that's one aspect of the time of the Gentiles. We see that ahead of us. Very clear in Revelation 13.

And then when you look at Romans 1, as Paul is talking to the Roman Church that's comprised of Jews and Gentiles in Romans 1 and 2, he's showing obviously the Gentiles, they were a simple people. They have all this depravity among them. They had all this sexual immorality. They had all this violence. They were an evil society, if I can put it that way.

Corinth was just an amazingly bad place to live because there just was no morals at all. Romans 1 is a very picture of a Gentile society, the type of society that we see our world that we live in headed toward. So we know some of the hallmarks of Gentile societies, and that's what we're headed to. That's where we see the world going today.

And God says blindness will come in, but we'll be there until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled, until all that has come in. And indeed, that is coming. But when Christ returns, the way the Gentiles ends. Then it becomes the way of Christ living his way of life. And the way the Gentiles is gone and Israel at that time, the veil will be listed off of all man. All man will receive God's Holy Spirit, he says. And so that they can understand God's way. So back in Isaiah, when he's talking about these things, and he's talking in the last part of 59 there, he's talking of a millennial thing, the Redeemer. Verse 20, I'm back in Isaiah 59, the Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob. And then he gives this very millennial verse in verse 21.

Now, when I first read that verse a while back, I thought, well, he's talking to Isaiah there, because remember in Isaiah 6, God gives him the words that he's going to speak. And Isaiah asked the question, well, how long do these words have to be spoken? And God says, they're going to be spoken until the cities are desolate and whatever. That means these words are the words you're going to speak, and your descendants are going to speak until the time that Jesus Christ returns. I would bet that could well be. Could be him talking about his people, Israel. Could be him talking about the church. These are the words you're going to speak. These words, I put my spirit in you, and I put my words in your mouth, and these words won't depart from your mouth through all your generations, from this time and forevermore. And of course, in the millennium, they will know the truth, and there will never be a turning back from God's way once his kingdom is established. It will last forever and ever. Let's pause there for a moment if there are any questions. We still have five to ten minutes. I'd like to get into chapter 60 a little bit here as well because it's a natural continuation from chapter 59 with the verse that we just read. Yeah, Mark? You know, I think a lot of the texts that we go through, we kind of make assumptions that God is talking about, quote unquote, the world. Because if Satan deceives the whole world, we kind of expect them to act differently as if they know the Bible. So there, the world is deceived. I think the church has a lot of growing up it needs to do because we have a lot in the church that don't get along with each other. Different church groups in the church of God don't get along with each other while we have so many splits. But we have to be careful that if we're going to be so-called light of the world that we have to grow up because they're only doing what they're expected to be doing if they are deceived. So we look at the religion. All of these religious people would not welcome us with open arms because the things that we believe they think we're a cult. So when they put people in office, they talk about the Bible. Religious people persecute other religious people. So we have to be careful that we don't champion them just because they talk about God in the Bible because they would turn us over to the authorities because they say, Oh, these people are kind of weird. They keep certain things and they believe certain things. So we just have to be careful that these religious people may not be as friendly to us as we think they are. Totally agree with you, Mark. You are absolutely right. It will persecute and we will see the world's religions, if I can put it, the world's Christianity is going to turn from God. We already see that. When I talk about the Bible, I guess Vogue maybe isn't the right word, but it's in the news now just because of some doesn't mean that we agree with them. It's just the Bible is there and people, there's the Bible. So I don't mean to imply at all that we are like them or whatever. We are separate. John 1717 says God says, He sets us apart by truth. Your word is truth. We follow every word. We will see that the world's Christianity, we already have seen it, does not follow God's word. They just claim Christ as the Savior and they know that level of understanding, but they don't do what He says. So totally agree with you. And as we read these verses, we'll often talk about the world we live in, but we have to make sure it's not us too and not just lulling ourselves to sleep like God talks about here.

You think that you're in line with me, you think you're following me, but you're not. We have to examine ourselves and make sure that we're following God with our hearts as well as our words. So totally agree with you.

Okay, let's just go through a few verses here. I've kind of got a timeline looking at my schedule coming up and I'd like to get through Isaiah if we can.

I don't want to rush through it because it's such an important book and there's so much in here that we want to not overlook any of it, but have a good picture of what God has said in this book as we go.

But as we move from Isaiah 59 into 60 and we see these hopeful words that God says, the Redeemer will come to Zion.

You will these words I'm going to put in your mouth. You're my Spirit, I'm going to put in you.

And in verse 60, instead of the darkness that we see in chapter 9 that they broke for the wall like blind men, they searched for light, but they only can find darkness.

He says, as you're following my words, as I put my Spirit in you, arise and shine for your light has come.

You no longer are going to grope around in darkness. You're not going to be like you're living in blackness. Your light has come.

One of the things that I'm very pleased to see that's going to be in the camp program next year is Acts 2 in verse 38, where the teens will be told, you are called.

Sometimes we hear people say, oh, they're not being called yet. No, no, no. God does call our children. They are given that opportunity.

They have that light, right? And they have that light and God has seen that. But God has given us that light, the fact that He's given us the Spirit. We see the hope.

We see what the reality of between now and the return of Jesus Christ is, but we see that light.

And that's what guides us and leads us and gives us hope and a surety of Christ's return.

Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

For behold, darkness will cover the earth. We know that. When you look at times ahead, you know that those times are coming in that are so different.

That the times that you and I have lived in for all of our lives. Behold, the darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness, the people.

They will go further and further from God and they will just be living in complete and utter blackness.

But the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you.

When Jesus Christ returns, when the world is set alight, the Gentiles will come to your light.

They will see the light of God too. They will see the error of their way and they will look to Israel.

Israel will be that model nation, that special people that God talked about in Deuteronomy 7 to the physical Israelites nation back then that He wanted them to be and what He intends for you and me to become.

Of course, if we follow God, if we give our hearts to Him, if we become who He wants us to be, we will be spirit beings that are, you know, God will be born into His kingdom at this time.

But there will be the physical people that live over. The Gentiles will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.

We can turn back to Isaiah 49. It's been more than a month since we were in Isaiah 49, but you see these continual themes that God has in Isaiah.

And it's good to go back and see that He talked about that and He keeps coming back to again. It is what's going to happen.

Isaiah 49 and verse 5, and it says Isaiah 49 verse 5, the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him. God will bring Israel back. He still loves physical Israel and He still loves spirits and He loves us.

Of course, we know that, spiritual Israel, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel is gathered to Him.

For I will be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength.

Indeed, He says, it's too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I will give you as a light to the Gentiles.

Same thing if you recall in Luke 2 when Christ was brought to Simeon. He says those words over Jesus Christ as He's brought to Him.

He says, He's destined to be a light to the Gentiles.

You remember Mary, as she's listening to these things, she doesn't understand fully, but she just keeps them in her heart to see what it will be.

The same type thing we do. We keep the words in our hearts and we see the fulfillment of God. I will give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

We see that then in Isaiah 60. We see this beauty as everyone that the veil is taken off and everyone begins to know God.

I'm back in chapter 60 now, verse 4.

Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you.

Yeah, Mr. Tovs?

Yes, going back to verse 1 there in Isaiah 60.

In the Amplified, it gives a real good translation of a rise from the depression and the prostation in which your circumstances have kept you rise to a new life.

It adds that in the idea that we're supposed to be a shining light out there.

Instead of just living our lives in a rote obedience, we're supposed to be out there shining and showing other people how to do this now because we can't teach what we don't know.

Very good. So important. So important. What you said at the end there is that we learn it. We learn it. We live it. We apply it.

And it becomes us so that we can be there to see all this and be part of all this life that will come to the world. So, very good.

Let me go down to verse 7, and then we'll stop there if that's okay. Just to read it because it's so encouraging and it's so uplifting.

We were in verse 4. Let me read verse 4 again.

Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your son shall come from afar and your daughter shall be nursed at your side.

You shall see and become radiant and your heart shall swell with joy because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you.

And then he says something in verse 5 that some people might take issue with. The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. It doesn't mean that they're going to be all poor and everything is going to be in Israel, but they're going to bring gifts to Israel because they see the wisdom of God.

They see the way the people are living. It reminds you of when Cleansheba came to visit Solomon, and she brought all those gifts you remembered.

1 Kings 10. She brought all this wealth because she said, surely your God is God. The wisdom that he's given you, the way that your people live, it has been so obvious that God has blessed you.

And so they bring gifts to Israel. They're really bringing gifts to God because Israel is leading the way and the way to live.

The way that you and I should be doing now that people see our example. And we are a witness and a light to the world by the way we live, a light in the darkness that is happening in the world around us.

Verse 6, he says, the multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dramadaries of Midian and Ipho, all those from Sheba shall come. They will bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.

People will be praising God. They will recognize him and it will be a wonderful time to be alive and to see that happening. And God receive the glory, get the glory from mankind that he deserves.

And in verse 7 he says that, all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you, the rams of Nivea shall minister to you, they shall ascend with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

God will be very pleased. We will be very pleased. The whole world will be in harmony, and there will be that eagerness and that energy and that zeal for God at that time that should motivate us, that we all want to be there.

Let's end there at 60 verse 7. We'll begin at 60 verse 8 next Wednesday. But let me open it up to any comments or anything that anyone wants to talk about.