Bible Study: November 16, 2022

Okay, hold on just a second. Okay, so tonight we're going to continue the prophecy of Moab. And you'll remember last week we began the prophecy of Moab, and it was a prophecy where Moab was going to eventually just be cut off, like all the other nations of the Mideast.

And as we ended chapter 15, you know, I'll just read verse 9 of chapter 9, or verse 9 of chapter 15 here. It talks about the waters of diamond will be full of blood, and you'll remember that when we talked about the waters full of blood, that it hearkened back to a prophecy or an actual occurrence that occurred back in 2 Kings 3, where the people of Moab thought the water was full of blood, and they ended up being defeated by Israel. And then it says, I will bring more upon diamond, and then the last part of verse 9 says, lions upon him who escaped from Moab and on the remnant of the land. It talked about the demise of Moab, if you will. But as we come into chapter 16, we see that it's the end of Moab before the ultimate end of Moab. There is something that that land is destined to provide. So keep your finger there in Isaiah 16. Let's go back to where we ended last week. We ended in Daniel 11. I want to read that again.

Daniel 11, and at the end of the chapter there in verse 40, it talks about, and you remember in Daniel 11, it's talking about the time of the end, the king of the north, which is the end of the European nations north of the Mediterranean. You have the king of the south, which are the Arab nations south of the Mediterranean. You have the news from the east. It calls it the kings of the east. That would be the Russians, China, North Korea, all India's, Pakistan's, all those nations out that way. So in verse 40, those are the three powers that are on earth at the time of the end. No one in the west, right? They've all fallen. Time of Jacob, you know, the things that we've talked about that befall the modern day nations of Israel because they have departed from God. In verse 40, then, of Daniel 11, it says, at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack the king of the north, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.

He'll also enter the glorious land. That would be Jerusalem, that area there. That's God promised to Israel. He will enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.

And so, at the time of the end, as all the other nations are being passed through, and everyone is being defeated, those three, for a reason, you know, God, God allows to exist for a while, exist for a while, and they are not, they are not conquered at that time. So, with that in mind, let's go back to chapter 16. In a minute, I'm going to put up a map here.

Remember last week, when we were going through chapter 15, it would say, you know, woe, woe to Moab, and it named all these cities. Ar, Daivan, Zohar, you know, in a minute I'll put that map, or a different map, up this week on that, because again, these cities come into being. Verse 1 of chapter 16 then, continuing on with that and realizing there is an end to Moab, but something significant goes on in that land of Moab and Edom, before its ultimate destruction. The rest are, but not those three nations. In verse 1, it says, send the lamb to the ruler of the land. Now, as you look at, you know, send the lamb to the ruler of the land, you know, we can go back to 2 Kings 3 again and see that in times past, as Moab was in, oh, servitude or submission to Israel, their king would pay kind of an homage of lambs each year. In 2 Kings 3 verse 4, it says, Misha, king of Moab, was a sheep reader, and he regularly paid the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. And then it goes on and it talks about these, you know, that he rebelled, etc., etc., you know, and then they were eventually defeated by Jehoshaphat again. But in history, there was this tribute of lambs that they were paying to the king. So some of the commentaries, and we don't know exactly what this means, send the lamb to the ruler of the land. So does that mean, okay, Moab, you need to be paying homage, you know, to God here? Who's the ruler of the land? Why have you escaped? Why have you not been destroyed along with all our other countries of the king of the south's domain there, if you will?

Is it referred to Jesus Christ? You know, send He. Will you be sending the lamb? Some commentaries will say that. I think it's probably more likely talking about Moab should be pretty thankful to God for the fact that God has allowed them to continue to exist and that this king of the north has passed over them and that they still exist. Because God's got something that He's going to talk about here in the ensuing verses about what He wants Moab to do and that Moab doesn't do it.

So it says, send the lamb to the ruler of the land. Be grateful. Pay your tribute. You did that all the time to stay in the good graces of Israel in the past. Now do it again. You have something to be thankful for. Send it from Selah. And Selah is... I'll put up the map now just so that you can see it here.

So you have... you have... okay, let me get some people in here. Okay, so you have Selah. Now down at the... you see Selah right at the bottom there of the map, right above Baa's, which is another notable city in Israel. We won't have time to talk about that tonight, but you see... you see along the east there you have Edom, Moab, and then north of Moab, you have the Ammonites. So there you have those Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites that God says he does... the king of the north doesn't pass through those. Those are spared for a little while. They all eventually are destroyed.

There's plenty of prophecies of against Edom. There's the prophecies against Moab, the prophecies against the Ammonites, but down at the bottom you see Selah. It's down... you'll probably recognize some of the cities that we talked about last week. Nimrim, where there was the water, up in the middle of the map, right where it says R in the middle of the Dead Sea. You see the Arnon. In a minute we're going to see the Arnon. That's the river that's there.

It's kind of like the dividing land there. Daibon was one of those holy cities. We talked about that last week when the people are in peril and they're being pursued. They're running. They go up to the high places and dive on. You see further north of that, Nebo. That's where Moses looked over the plains that God said he would give to all of Israel.

So you have all these cities right there in that area and a lot of things that happened in that. Down at the bottom there you have Selah. Now in a modern day map, Selah is right there in the vicinity of Petra. Petra, everyone's heard of Petra. It is the most popular tourist place in Jordan today. I don't know how many thousands of people go there every year, but it's a fascinating place in the mountains. I'll show you a few pictures of it, but when the Bible talks about Selah, it's right there in that area. It's a very mountainous region. It's where people would have fled in old times.

In fact, I'll put up something later on where even in modern day, some of the people that are in modern day, that little nation of Israel that's over there on the Mediterranean Sea, have talked about, well, when they're in peril, they could flee to Petra because it's a very protected, interesting place, unique on the earth. So here in chapter 16, right off the bat, we see Selah come there.

Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Selah to the wilderness. And so you've got Selah, and then back on out there, he's talking about the whole expanse of the land to the Mounts of the Daughter of Zion. For it shall be as a wandering bird, verse 2 in chapter 16, thrown out of the nest.

And there's a few places where we'll talk about wandering nests. If you want to... let me leave that map up for a while if you're looking at it. Let's go back to Proverbs 27, verse 8. Sometimes we have these, you know, these Satan's, if you will, or these things that are there. And the Bible explains them in other places, or we have to go back and look what the language says at that day. But in Proverbs 27 and verse 8, Proverbs 27 and verse 8, you know, we see the similar, similar verbiage this year.

It shall be in verse 2 of chapter 16, it shall be as a wandering bird, thrown out of the nest. Talking about Moab. In verse 8 of chapter 27 of Proverbs, it says, like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place. So you have... what God is describing here is Moab. It's had to flee. The continuation of what we talked about in chapter 15. Everyone is fleeing. Everyone is moving from their land. They're all having to move. They're all having to move further and further south down toward this Arnon River. And so it says, show shall the daughters, so shall be in verse 2 of chapter 16.

If we go back to Isaiah, so shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. So you got all these people in motion because their city, their country is under attack. Their country, they are having to flee. They're having to go, well, everywhere. Everyone is having to leave home. And you got all this movement that's there. People away from home. You got a very confused state in Moab at this point. But then in verse 3, then in verse 3, it says something very interesting. It's still talking to Moab. It says, take counsel as in, listen. Listen to me. Let me go ahead and stop this for a moment.

Take counsel. Listen to me. Execute judgment. Pay attention. Make the right decision. Decide what you're going to do here. There's a decision coming your way. Listen to me. Make a decision. Execute judgment. Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day. And again, there's one of those things like, what does that mean, right? What does that mean? Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day. So in Isaiah 25 and verse 4, if you came to your finger there in Isaiah 16, it gives us a hint of what that means. You know, it's a very hot place on earth. And in verse 4 of Isaiah 25, it says, you have been a strength God to the poor. You've been a strength to the needy and his distress. You've been a refuge from the storm. You've been a shade from the heat. And we know that, right? Because as Israel came out of Egypt, he was the cloud that covered, kept them from the heat. A shade from the blast of the terrible ones is for the blast of the terrible ones, is as a storm against the wall. So when we read, if we go back to chapter 16, that's what he's talking about. Take counsel. Execute judgment. Be in the shade of God. Take heed is what he's saying there. He is saying something, and it's an important something that he's saying, if we go back to verse 3 in chapter 16, he says, Listen, hide the outcasts. Hide the outcasts. Don't betray him who escapes. There's outcasts in your country. You're fleeing and you're running all over the place, but there's these outcasts that are there. Hide them. Don't betray him who escapes. Don't go running and telling, you know, the powers that be, Oh, we've got these people running over here. Go chase them. Go find them. Right? Mr. Shaby, could you adjust your camera?

Did I do that again? Yeah, my camera. Well, you don't need to see me anyway, so that's I should put the map up there. Okay, is that no, that's not better. Hold on. We must have lost a fitting on my camera because it's moving everywhere tonight. So is that better? Yeah, that's better, I guess. Okay.

Okay, if I disappear again, I haven't really disappeared. So okay, so hide the outcast. Don't betray him who escapes. And then in verse four, God defines who these outcasts are. He says, let my outcast dwell with you, O Moab. Let my outcasts be in Moab. Let my outcasts be there with you. So the question is, so the question is, who are these outcasts that God is talking about? When he says, my outcasts, who are these people that are in Moab that he says, you let them dwell there? Now remember, I think I said, if I didn't say it, Moab. Moab is today's modern Jordan. That's where Selah is. That's where Petra is. That's the area of the world that we're talking about there. And in prior verses, we've talked about people hiding in the rocks and all these things. That's kind of the area that we're talking about because that's a perfect area of the world to be hiding in the rocks. Now, outcasts could be a few different people, right? But let's go back to Matthew 24. We might find something about when God says, these are my outcasts. They're not just any outcasts. He says, my outcasts be there among you, O Moab. So, Matthew 24, we're just going to put pieces together here. I'm not going to make any hard and fast, definitive statements. Just put some scriptures together. Matthew 24, of course, we have the Olivet Prophecy where Christ is talking about the things. That will be at the end time. Most of us online are very familiar with these verses, but let's read them anyway.

In verse 15 in Matthew 24, or in verse 14 too, verse 14 says, because it precedes what happens in verse 15, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. So, you know, today is the, you know, many times in history people were probably thinking that they really were preaching the gospel in all the world. In all the world, today we really do. You know, through the internet we can reach just about anyone. Anyone can click on something. Well, most everyone can click on anything, and no matter what nations of the earth we're in, the gospel can be preached. So then in verse 15 it says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken up by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, we, you probably remember what the abomination of desolation is. A little bit later we're going to go back to Daniel and read some of that. So hold, hold your thoughts on that. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken up by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand, let those who are in Judea flee where? Flee to the mountains. So where are they fleeing? What mountains are they fleeing to? Where are these people that God said those who are in Judea, you know, leave. Flee to the mountains. Get out of there. Get out of there. Go, go to where these mountains are. And he's very specific. He says, let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of this house. Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days.

It's going to be a tough time. The abomination of desolation, the world is closing in. It's the time of the end. God says it's time. The great tribulation, you know, is in force. And here he says, get out of there. Flee to the mountains. And we know Selah Petra is a very mountainous area. Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, known or ever shall be. Get out of there. The times that are coming are really, really rough. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

So as we look at my outcasts, you know, who are those outcasts?

Could well be these people that Christ is talking about in Matthew 24.

When you look at some of the other literature out there, people who don't know the truth, don't understand Revelation, don't understand who modern-day Israel is, they will say it could be the people of Israel, little Israel, right over there, that are remnant to them. God will take and put over there to save them alive from the face of what is going to befall them. I don't know if that's the case or not. God does say in many places that we've read that he will preserve a remnant of physical, a remnant of physical Israel. But he also promises spiritual Israel, that you and me, the people that he calls, the people that the people that he calls, the people that repent, come to him, baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, that he will protect them too. If we go back to Revelation 12, we see at the end time, as God's talking about the time when the time of the end comes and Satan is cast down to earth, if we pick it up in verse 10, just for those who maybe knew we're on there to read what is here, these verses leading up to verse the rest of the chapter here, it says, Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, that's Satan, right? One thing Satan does, and you can mark, you know, we have to watch what we're doing, just it's not my fault. He did it. He did it. He did. Everyone else is wrong except me. I never accept blame. I always accuse someone else. The accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they, that's the saints, have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. They realize that even if they die in this life, there is eternal life for them beyond this life. God sees our lives now as physical, a training period that we're in, but what he wants for us is repentance. Turn to him, become like him, use this time to become like him, so that we have eternal life to serve him for eternity. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. For the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. And the short time, you know, we read over and over in Revelation some, you know, time, times, half a time, all these, all these things. You know, maybe his time is exactly the time, maybe a little bit more than that. He has a short time. When the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Okay, it's the, it's the true church. Satan is always against the truth. He's always against the people of God. But the woman, the true church, was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. Remember, we read about Selah and the wilderness, all that area in what was the kingdom or the area of Moab and Edom, today the area of Jordan, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, that's three and a half years, from the, New King James says, presence, but the old King James and the appropriate translation should be, she's nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face, from the face of the serpent. Now, from the face of the serpent. So, we have this corresponding time in Revelation, where God says the woman, his church, is going to be taken some place to be nourished for three and a half years, from the face of the serpent. Now, let's go back to Isaiah 16.

Now, look at verse four again. I only read the first part of verse four in chapter 16.

Let my outcasts, whoever those outcasts are, let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab. They're going to be in your land. Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler. Better translated, as it probably says in your margin, from the face of the Devastator. Who's the Devastator? Satan, right? That's what he's about. He's the one who would destroy the earth. So, you have very similar verbiage between these two accounts here. Be a shelter to them from the face of the Devastator.

As God says, he will have his people in the end in a place that is from the face to shield them from the face of the serpent. Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end. Devastation ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. So, let me just pause there for a moment. Let me look at some verses I have written down here. I think for now, I want to leave that. We can come back, and we will come back, to verses three and four and their meaning at the end of the Bible study. But you have this, and then in verse five as well, we can see this is a time for the future. This isn't something that happened before, right? We've got, let my ab cast well with you, O, now ab. And then in verse five, clearly talking about Jesus Christ, in mercy, the throne will be established, and one will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness. So, you have clearly there that these verses three, four, and five, when you put them together, they're all about the future. They're all about the time before the return of Jesus Christ. Now, we have some things that we're not 100% sure of. We can put verses together. We can, you know, let God lead us, and I don't know that He's led us yet to exactly what He's going to do in the end time. We'll talk more about that at the end. But just so you see some of these verses and some others, some others we'll talk about as well that have a similar theme here in the book of Isaiah and other places that talk about this time of shelter, that talk about this time of hiding His people. But let's go on from there and come back to that at the end of the study because we have those verses where God says that, hide my outcasts. Remember He said in verse 3, hey Moab, take counsel. Listen. Don't betray the outcast. Don't be turning them in. Pay attention. Host them here. But what does Moab do? Well, we find out what Moab does in verses 6 and 3, the rest of the chapter, and they pay dearly for what they do. They simply do not follow what God asks them to do in verse 3. They aren't executing proper judgment. They aren't paying attention. They don't apparently hide the outcasts. Their pride won't let them do that. Remember there's a long history between Moab and Israel and Judah. Not a good one. So Moab isn't thrilled with this and them. So in verse 6, we talk about, all of a sudden, we're talking about the pride of Moab. When pride comes in, things fall apart.

Pride doesn't lead to what God's will is. He's pleading with them in a way. Don't do that, Moab. But Moab does it anyway. They do what's in their heart rather than listen to God. In verse 6, it says, we've heard of the pride of Moab. All nations are pride. Satan. We read that back in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. He's the most proud of all. That's what led to his demise. He thought that he was even better than God, better than the one who created him. We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so. A better translation of that is his lies. I'm not going to take the time to read the corresponding account of the burden against Moab, but you can write down in your notes.

Remember later, go back and look at Jeremiah 48. Jeremiah 48 is very similar to Isaiah 15 and 16.

Remember, Jeremiah prophesied much later than Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied and Jeremiah prophesied later. What he's prophesying is about the same thing that Isaiah did here about the end time. But we're talking he'll use the same terms. We've heard of the pride of Moab. I think it's actually in verse 5 there when it talks about his lies, Moab's lies. His lies won't be established. He just lies. He's got his pride. He's got his pride, so he just lies. Satan is the father of pride. Satan is the father of lies. Satan is the father of murder. Satan is the father of all this sin. Moab, as he doesn't yield to God but yields to Satan, proud lies and his lies will not be established or not be firm as it says there in Jeremiah 48. I think it's in verse 5 but somewhere there in that chapter. Because he doesn't do what God says. Apparently, apparently, and I'm going to say only apparently because it doesn't specifically say that because we'll look at something back in Revelation 12 in a few minutes, the people, the outcasts have to flee. They're running. We're going to see that. They're running from Satan. Moab is punished because they don't know what God says. Verse 7, therefore Moab shall wail for Moab. What that kind of means is there's people. Look what these people have done to us. It could be like if America, if half of the country leads us into war, you know, man you're tearing the whole thing apart. Look what you did. You brought this woe upon all of us. Why did you do that? And that's what you see here in Moab. Moab shall wail for Moab. What have you done? Why didn't you just do what God said? Why didn't you just leave things the way that he wanted them? Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab. Everyone shall wail. For the foundations of Ker, Hyraseth, you shall mourn. Surely they are stricken. Again, if I put that map up here, you know, we're going to see here some of these cities that are brought there again.

Brought there again that we're going to see, and you'll see them there on the map. So you've got, you know, you've got these cities. All these cities is going to talk about again. Everyone shall wail for the foundations of Ker, Hyraseth. They're stricken. Everything about us is just kind of falling, falling apart here. Verse 8, the fields of Heshban, language. Now, is Heshban on that map? I think I saw it the other day. Yeah, Heshban's up there in the north, right? Heshban must have been a very fertile area, someplace where they look to, and that it was, you know, but here drought has covered them. For the fields of Heshban, language, it was once a rich fertile land, and now all of a sudden it's just a mess, right? It's drought-stricken. It's famine. It's turning into just dry time. The vine of Sibma. Sibma is up there just west of Heshban, and as he talks about the vine of Heshban, it looks like it was a very fertile area. Vineyards. You know, we talked about earlier about vineyards in Israel and how productive they were. Remember how everyone worked together in the vineyards, and they all had their place, and when they all worked together, the vineyard was very successful. The fields of Heshban, language, and the vine of Sibma. Obviously a very fertile area before, where the wine right there, you know, at the north of the Red Sea there. The lords of the nations, some nations, but it's talking about heathens there, right? These people that have come in, foreigners that have come into their lands. The lords of the nations have broken down these choice plants. Now you've got war. You know, we've got Moab in a state of war, and war never builds things up. We see that in Ukraine as war goes on more and more of that country. You know, we see right before our very eyes just destroyed, you know, and so this is what's happening in Moab at that time. The lords of these nations, everyone else has come in. They've broken down all these choice plants, which was once a fertile field and lush and providing all these things just gone.

These choice plants which have reached to Jezer, you can kind of see the difference up there when you look the distance there between Sivna and Jezer right there at the very top of the map, the very north, it indicates that these vines, that whole area was just very lush, very luxuriant in what it was producing, which have reached to Jezer and wandered through the wilderness. You know, they didn't have anything in their path. It was just like they were just wandering, wandering.

They just continue to expand. Her branches are stretched out. They've gone, they are gone over the sea. It's just growing and productive. So verse 9, as they look at what's happened, as they look at what has happened to them, yeah, see, I forgot the first few verses. I'm gonna, I'll finish verse 9, then we're gonna go back here in a minute. Therefore, I will bewail the vine of Sibma. I mourn for that. I wail for it. You know, what has happened? I will bewail the vine of Sibma with the weeping of Jezer or Yezer. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshban and Eliela. You know, these areas up here that apparently were the very rich, fertile areas of Moab and Ammon.

O Hesh, for battle cries or shouting, has fallen over your summer fruits and your harvest. And everything just kind of, everything just kind of disappears. Nothing is, it was before. And of course, with war, often comes famine, as well as the rest of the negative effects of war. Now, let me go, let me go back. Let me go back, because I had a couple verses written down here that I wanted to turn to you, because many of the prophecies, major, and I mentioned Jeremiah 48, but Ezekiel also talks about this time of Moab.

Seth and I, a little book that we've looked into the last two weeks about Moab and some other things, and something we'll look in a little later as well. You know, we have, we have these, these prophecies. Again, when God, when God makes a prophecy, oftentimes it's repeated two, three, four times by different people. It's sure. And, you know, he says by the mouth of two or three witnesses, something will be established.

And so his prophecies, when we read these things repeated over and over again, we know they're sure, we know they're sure, we know they're going to happen. God says at least twice in Isaiah 45, my word's not going to return to be empty.

It's going to be exactly what I said. So if we look back at verse six, remember we talked about the pride, the pride of Moab, and the pride of Moab would bring them low. So if we look at Zephaniah, let's go to Zephaniah, that was the fourth book from the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah two, and verse eight. And remember on the map, we had the people or the, I guess, nation or territory of Ammon north of Moab, then you have Moab, then you have Edom, and actually see lower Petra is down in Edom today, which is modern Jordan, that whole area.

And verse eight here of Zephaniah two, it says, I've heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the people of Ammon. That's that same area, Ammon, Moab, Moab, and Edom, with which they have reproached my people, God says, and they've made arrogant threats against their borders. So we see, you know, here's Moab, we got him, this is kind of what they do to the people of God.

Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be like Sodom. We know what happened to Sodom, right? Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon, like Gomorrah, overrun with weeds and salt pits, a perpetual desolation. The residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remnants of my people shall possess them. So that hasn't happened to Moab and Ammon and Edom yet. It won't happen while God's outcasts are there, but it will happen, it will happen, that it will become a perpetual desolation.

Verse 10, God says, the reason this is, they shall have where they're pried.

So, you know, if when God puts his outcasts in that area, whoever his outcasts are, if Moab had just said, you know what, yeah, I'm gonna protect them. If anyone asks where they are, I'm not gonna say, but apparently they just went out and they decided, you know, we will just kind of betray the people. We'll just do exactly the opposite of what we've been asked to do.

This they shall have for their pride, God says in verse 10, because they've reproached and made arrogant threats against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Verse 11, the eternal will be awesome to them. It's not awesome in a good way, right? They will, they will know, they will know who God is. The eternal will be awesome to them, for he will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth. Now remember, the god of Moab we read last week was K'Mosh. They worshiped, they worshiped Moab, they worshiped K'Mosh, sacrificed children to him, all those things God detests. God will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth. People will worship God, each one from his place, indeed all the shores of the nations. So when we read about Moab, we can look at these other prophecies where God gives a little more information when you put the pieces together in these common prophecies. Kind of reminds me, remember when we were in the book of Acts, and Paul would recount his story, the story of his calling. You know, he was stopped on the way to Damascus, and he would recount that story. The next time he gave it, he gave a little bit more information. The next time he gave it, he gave it a little more information so you could see the whole picture of what God was doing, or what he was leading Paul to do. Same thing with these prophecies. You know, when we get into Damascus, you know, after Thanksgiving, we'll see the same thing. Damascus shows up in a number of the books there, and God is going to show what will happen to Syria in that area of the world. So that's Zephaniah. He talks about that. We go back to the book of Ezekiel, which is right after the book of Lamentations. Ezekiel 25? Nope, Ezekiel 35.

Ezekiel 35.

Yeah, verses 14 and 15.

Yes, as you can see in the beginning of chapter 35 there, it says, Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir. Mount Seir is in that area, and prophesy against it and say to it, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you. I will stretch out my hands against you and make you most desolate. I will lay your city's waste, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord, because you have had an ancient hatred and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end. We'll drop down to verse 14. Thus says the Lord God, the whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. Isn't that interesting? The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate, as you rejoice, because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you. You shall be desolate, Mount Seir, as well as all of Eden. All of it! Exclamation point. All that area that's down there that we saw on the east side of that map. All of it. Then they shall know that I am the Eternal. Too often, too often, we have to feel the wrath of God and the power of God before we humble ourselves to Him. That's what the nations of the earth will do. God will punish them, not because He just wants to completely destroy them and never have them live again, but He does that. They need to be humble. They need to know who He is. He has the answers to all the problems in life. He is the only way to joy, peace, and everything good that every man should want. Man doesn't have the answers. No president, no nation does. It's only God. But they have to be humble. The pride has to be out of them. It's the pride, it's the lies, it's the murder, it's the sin that has to go before people can ever be together. Satan is the one who brought division, death, all the misery into the world. God didn't. He created the world to be full of joy, peace, everything good. It was Satan who brought all the misery on earth. And he'll have to be banished. And all that human nature, that carnal nature in us, has to be wiped out. So that the joy and peace that will mark the kingdom will be there. Same for the nations of the earth who have been so steeped in foreign gods, and who have worshipped so many different things and done so many heinous things in the name of their religion and thought they were doing good. So God has that that's what he will do. So Moab, who doesn't pay attention to him, apparently betrays these outcasts of God that are in his area. God says he will pay for that, and they will eventually become desolate. They will, I'm thinking of a verse here. You know what? Yeah, let's go to Jeremiah 48 too. Jeremiah 48.

That'd be a good place to use this verse. I actually was going to use it later, but as we're talking about here, Jeremiah 48.

Jeremiah, of course, is the next book up from Isaiah. In verse 44, I'm going to be in verse 40. I always write down one verse, but then I think it's always good to read the context so you can see what we're talking about. But that says the eternal verse 40 of Jeremiah 48. Behold, one shall fly like an eagle and spread his wings over Moab. Carry off, that's one of the cities has taken, the strongholds are surprised, the mighty men's hearts in Moab on that day. Usually when we see on that day, it's talking about that future time.

The mighty men's hearts in Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pains.

Remember, I mean, several months ago now I gave a sermon on birth pains. Maybe you have the time of Jacob's trouble. It says there's birth pains. Jesus Christ, when he talks about this is the beginning of sorrows, that really is more appropriately translated. This is the beginning of birth pains. Every woman on here who's had a child knows what those birth pains are. And so he has these birth pains that he's talking about. Mighty men's hearts on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pains. And Moab shall be destroyed as a people because he exalted himself against the Eternal. I know better than you, I'll do it my way. Fear in the pit and the snare shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Eternal. He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit. Basically what he's going to say in this verse is, you can't run from God. You can run, but you can hide. He who flees from the fear will fall into the pit. He who gets out of the pit will be caught in the snare. Upon Moab, upon it I will bring the year of their punishment, says the Lord. The year of their punishment. Now hold that thought on January 48, 44 as we come to a close here in Isaiah 16 because we'll talk about that year and this time we're talking about here as we as we wrap up chapter 16.

Okay, let's go back to Isaiah 16. I think we had finished verse 9.

We had finished verse 9 talking about how all the fertility, all the fruitful fields and everything of Moab has vanished. And as the country has gone into this time of famine and drought and they're running all over the place, the land is just in chaos because of all these invaders and what they're going through. In verse 10 it says, gladness is taken away and joy from the plentiful field. You can imagine the scene there. In the vineyard there will be no singing. When the vineyard is working right, everyone is working together, everyone doing their job, everyone happy to be there. There was joy and the finished product of what was going on there. In the vineyards there will be no singing. There will be no shouting. No treaders will tread out wine in the presses. All those things that God described in Isaiah 5 that makes up a winery and a vineyard. All those things that brought joy and showed success. All those things are gone. No treaders will tread out wine in the presses. I've made their shouting cease. It's just all gone. All the joy has left the land as it's now reaping the reward or reaping what it sowed and disobeying God and disregarding him. Therefore, my heart, you know, whenever we read the heart, we know that's kind of the seat of human affections and emotions, right? That's what God says. Give me your whole heart. I want all of your heart to be with me. Therefore, my heart, you know, God says when he says that, it's like, this is me. It's deep down in me. It's who I am. Therefore, my heart shall resound like a harp from Moab and my inner being for care, here is. No, God doesn't, he doesn't revel in the, he doesn't revel in the pain of mankind. He doesn't revel in the things that we bring upon ourselves.

It's just, it has to happen. You know, the pain has to go through so that we can be humble and afflicted. Some things that we talk about on the day of atonement have to be afflicted so that we can come to God and realize the answer is him, not us. We have to be brought low. We have to yield to him. We have to let him live through us and not think we have all the answer and that pride of life, you know, just has to, has to leave us and be placed in God. Verse 12, it shall come to pass.

We wanted to see that Moab is weary on the high place. He's just tired of running. What do we do?

Shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he will come to his sanctuary to pray. Remember where his sanctuary is? It was that place, remember, that we read in chapter 15, Daibon, when it talked about they were going up to the high places, right? Daibon on that map, we were showing that that Daibon, that Daibon that's there. Daibon that's there, that's where they were going up to pray to their God to pray, but he will not prevail. Moab, you know, his God is not going to answer him. His God is meaningless, you know, futile, not even, not even a God, just a thing. So, verse 13, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time, but now he has spoken saying, within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be small and feeble. Within three years, within three years, you know, Moab escapes the king of the north, Moab, Edom, and Adam, Ammon, you know, they escape the king of the north as he comes through, but then within three years, he'll be despised.

So three years is kind of what we're talking about here. So let's go back then and revisit verses 3, 4, and 5 here, and talk about that for a little bit. In Revelation, let's go back to Revelation 12.

Thinking here, yeah, Revelation 12. Let's go there first. Revelation 12. And we read about Satan being cast down to earth. He goes to war with the saints of God.

God takes the woman to a place where he nurtures her in verse 14 of Revelation 12 for a time, times, and half a time. That's three and a half years, right? We read about that for three and a half years from the face of the serpent. Xavier, did you want to make a comment before we go on here?

Sure. Brother Shelby, from Scripture, is God showing us that there's a differentiation between both set of people? Because in the Gospel, Christ tells us that one will flee, as we just read, under their own power. But in Revelation here, he tells us that one is taken in a miraculous way.

Yeah, and it says, let him flee to the mountains, right? But remember, it says in the next verse, when there will be two, well, is that in Luke or is that in the beginning? One will be taken and one the other left, right? So, however we get there, God will give the ability to get wherever he wants us to be. Even if nations are shut down, somehow God will get the people to where he wants them to be. Remember, Christ, when they were ready to come after him, and he was in that crowd, but his time wasn't yet, and he was just able to just kind of maneuver through the crowd, and they didn't even pay attention to who it is. Whatever God does, he can get us to wherever he wants to be, and I think that's what he's referring to in these verses. He'll get us where we need to be. So, okay, so nurtures us for three and a half years from the face of the serpent. Now, this is where I probably should have gone back when we were talking about Israel, right? Or the outcast, my outcast that God says, because here we have all of a sudden in verse 15, Satan. He's coming after the people. Now, Satan is wily. He's clever. He knows where God's people are. So, the serpent, in verse 15, spewed water out of his mouth like a flood. Well, that would indicate, sometimes in the Bible, flood indicates army. So, whether that's an army or whether it's water, a literal thing, we don't know for sure. But somehow, the people, as they are in that area, Satan is there, and there he spews out of his mouth like a flood, an army, or whatever it is, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. They're not going to be protected. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to get these people, is what, you know, what Satan is. Sort of like he, at Israel, I got him backed up against the Red Sea. They'll all drown in the Red, or not, they won't drown in the Red Sea, but Sharo's army would come and destroy them all. So, he's got him backed up, and it looks hopeless, like the people of Israel with their backs at the Red Sea. This is what, but the earth, see how God protects, but the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon gets spewed out of his mouth. Whether it's little water, whether it's literal water that's coming, that there is like there's no turning it back, or whether it's an army of people that, that Moab has said, hey, there's the people, they're hiding over there, and they, you know, an army comes, comes to capture, you know, God's outcasts, whoever they are.

So, Satan does that, but God opens up the earth, and the dragon was enraged with the woman. He's really ticked off. He really wanted that woman who was going into this place where they were going to be nourished for time, times, and a half a time. But he's so mad, because not all of the woman is there at that place. There's a, there are some of them that are back in society. They're there, they haven't, they haven't been taken away. They haven't left at the time they should. They're there, and they're the ones who will go through the great tribulation and have to face all of those, what all that the great tribulation has to be. The dragon was enraged with the woman. He went back to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. You know, we could talk about Matthew 25, or it talks about the five wise versions of the five foolish versions. We could go through all that. You can put all that together in your mind. We don't have, you know, that much time tonight to talk about those things. But you, know those things and whatever. But here we have a three and a half year period.

But God says there is a year period where Moab is going to be punished. And then in that other verse, He says, you know, that's going to be finished. Or what was that? Jeremiah 48 44? Let me go back. I've got myself a little confused now because of all the things in my mind where I'm going to be. Yeah, Jeremiah 48 44 is the year of her punishment. I guess it was Isaiah 16, where it talks about in the third year. Oh yeah, Isaiah 16 14. Yeah, the very rest. Within three years. Well, three and a half years isn't within three years, right? That's before three years is up. So we got a three and a half year period we're talking about. We've got a year of Moab's punishment that God talks about. And He says at the end of chapter 16, within three years, Moab will be destroyed. So how do we how do we reconcile all of that? Let's go to let's go to I got a number of verses there. I'm just kind of in my mind thinking which one would fit better here. Hold on. Let me look at this one. Yeah, let's go to Isaiah 26. Isaiah 26. Talking about these outcasts and where they are and everything in Isaiah 26 in verse 20. It says, Come, my people, right? We know who God's people are. Come, my people, enter your chambers. Shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, a short time, until the indignation is passed. For behold, the eternal comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will also disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain. Just be hidden. Come into your place. Close your doors behind you for a little bit until the indignation is passed. So it kind of is in the same vein that we read about in Revelation 12. We can go over to Zephaniah 2.

A little book of Zephaniah, four books from the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah 2.3.

Zephaniah 2.3.

It says, seek the Lord. Seek the Lord all-yumica the earth. That would, I hope, be all of us, right? Seek the Lord all-yumica the earth, who upheld His justice. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. So it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. Now we know the day of the Lord's anger. That's the day of the Lord that we talked about during the fall holy days. God's vengeance on mankind when Babylon will be destroyed at the end of which those seven vials report out the seventh drum at the end of which Christ returns to earth and claims the kingdoms of earth for His own.

So God has all these references to what these outcasts will be doing, whether it's spiritual Israel or physical Israel. We don't know. God hasn't said exactly what everything is happening, but there's these verses that are tucked away. So we have 1260 days. We're going to go back to Daniel. Daniel 12. We're going to go forward to Daniel, I guess, if we're in Isaiah. So we have this three and a half year period that we read about in Revelation. You know, in Isaiah at the end of Isaiah 16, we have, you know, within three years, Moab is going to be destroyed. We know that in the day of the Lord's wrath and the day of the Lord, Moab is going to be destroyed. All the nations, everything, all that pride is going to be there because at the end of it, Jesus Christ returns. Destruction and God's wrath is taken out during that year of His vengeance. So, you know, in Zephaniah we said, you know, you'll be hidden during that time. You'll be hidden during that time for that year. And here in chapter 12 of Daniel, as we read through some of the verses that are here, if we begin in verse 6.

Daniel 12, 6. One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, how long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be? You know what Daniel is talking about here.

In Daniel 11, we talked about the time of the end, the king of the north, the king of the south, the news from the east, the troublesome that he goes back and everything. We talk about in the early part of Daniel 12 that there will be a time of great tribulation unlike, well, that's actually coming up in verse 7. How long will the fulfillment of these wonders be before the people of God are resurrected? Verse 7. I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever, that it will be for a time, times, and half a time. Same thing that says revolutions. It will be for three and a half years. And when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. When the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Again, it's talking about the power of the physical Israel. When their power, when everything is completely shattered, it's talking about the physical power of the church at that point. I mean, we are told that the beast's power is drunk with the blood of the saints. God's power is his will. What happens? Okay, the holy people is completely shattered. All these things will be finished. Although I heard Daniel says, I didn't understand that. I said, well, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. They couldn't understand right then. Many shall be purified. We know, you know, as we look at 1 John 3, 3, what does it say? Anyone who has this hope in him will purify himself. Many will be purified. In the Old Testament times, there weren't many that were being purified. The ones that God selected during that time were. But today, God calls many more people comparatively than in the Old Testament. He pours out his spirit on his church. Many will be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked will do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand. But the wise will understand. They'll get it. They know the truth of God. They know what he is doing. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, remember we talked about the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24. It says, when the abomination of desolation occurs, flee to the mountains. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away indicates that not necessarily there's a temple, a full temple built in Jerusalem, because as you read in Ezra, they didn't have to have the full temple at that time. I'll get to you in a minute, Bill. They didn't have to have a full temple built, but they had the altar built, and they were sacrificing. All it says here is from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken our way, or the daily sacrifices is there, they don't need a full temple. And all the reports that you've read, well, I don't know if you read or not, but we have these reports, and altar is ready. All the instruments are ready. Everything is ready. They just don't have a temple. They can't build a temple on the Mount, but they could begin sacrifices when they wanted.

From the time that the daily is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, that's defiling God's area, right? There will be 1,290 days. That means 1,290 days until the return of Jesus Christ. That's 30 days more than the 1,260 days.

So what happens during that 30 days? You know, between the 1,260 that God talks about in Revelation and the 1,290 days that are here, and then it talks about the 1,260 days here. Is this the time that God's people, His outcasts are fleeing? Are they moving over to where God wants them to be as He leads them to be? You know, there's something that happens in that 30 days, so that they are where God wants them to be. And so in verse 12, He says, blessed is He who waits and comes to the 1,335 days, even 45 days earlier than that.

What's happening during that time? What is it that God seals or whatever He does at 1,335 days before before the return of Jesus Christ? 45 days before the 1,290 days, 75 days before the 1,260 days.

Something's happening as God marks the days. We don't know exactly when those days are, but we know that every day that we have is important as God looks at us and we prepare for Him, and as we draw closer and closer to Him. He's looking at those days. Only He knows when those days are. We don't. They could be at any, at any time, literally, when you look at these things, with the world the way it is today and the way it's set up. I mean, we could find ourselves in situations very, very, very, very quickly. So Daniel here lays out some time frames here. 1,335 days. Blessed is he who waits. It comes to 1,335 days.

From the time that the abomination of desolation is set up, 1,290 days. Those who are in Judea, when the abomination of desolation is set up, flee. Then he says then, he finishes, but you go your way till the end. You'll rest, Daniel, and you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. Talking about the first resurrection that God is saying, you know, Daniel, when all this is done, when Jesus Christ returns at the time, at the end of this age, you'll be resurrected. Then you'll know the rest of the story. Bill, you got a comment? Yes, I do.

If you will look at Daniel 12 verse 11, from the time that the daily sacrifice, the word sacrifice is in italics, not there in the Hebrew. If you look over in Daniel 11 verse 31, again, the word sacrifice is in italics. It's not there. Many years ago, I thought about this, and Wilson's Old Testament word study talks about the daily, and the word means perpetual time as moving on continually without interruption. There's not enough time to discuss this right now, but we in worldwide, we're looking for a certain thing to happen in the end, and something totally different happened. Basically, a big part of the world is looking for to be these sacrifices established and taken away, not just us in the church. So anyway, there's a whole lot there. We don't have time to go in right now, but that word sacrifice is not there. Yep, that's in italics. Yep, so you see it, it's there to kind of...

The word for taken away is changed, and even my King James says the abomination which astonishes us. Are we still there? Yeah, we're here. Okay, and then when Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation, the Greek there is actually the change that stupefies.

So anyway, there's a lot more. We'd have to go in and discuss this, but we may be looking at the wrong thing about they're going to be... You know what? Yeah, you know, there are things that we don't know yet. God will lead us to what that is, the closer and closer we get. So, you know, we can have our ideas of what it is, but I have no doubt. We get to that time, whatever the daily means, the people of God will know. He doesn't do anything without warning his people. We'll know what this is. That's for sure, and we have from Roman history and even from the 1700s French history. Anyway, another time. Mr. Chabie? Yes, Rosalinda? There's some news that some excess red heifers arrived to Israel in September. What? Those red heifers? Five of them? Did I read that somewhere? Yeah, five of them arrived in Israel in September, and they they want them for the temple. Yeah, and that's an unusual thing, right? That's what they say. If that hasn't happened in forever and ever, they've got five of them. They've got five of them, so they're kind of... Don't they watch them for a year or something like that? Did I read or hear something like that to make sure there's no other color affair because the Jews need this red heifer in order to do whatever they do? So, yeah. That's very interesting times we live in as these things happen, you know, and everything.

Now, I want to... I kind of want to leave everyone. I mean, some of the things we talked about today are very interesting, right? We talk about, oh, you know what I never did? Wow, okay. Bear with me here for a second. I did have some things I was gonna... Whoops, did I share that? Didn't mean to share that. Yeah, I was gonna show you some pictures of Petra, right? You know, as you look, you know, that's one probably... Probably several have been to Petra over there in the little nation of Jordan. It's been around forever. They say that in Petra. I mean, it's kind of like a rock city, right? It's just like everything is there. You can see kind of a building that's carved out there. They said Petra could actually house up to a million people, and that's how big it is, and it's just kind of like this fortress in this area that's there in that part of the world. And so it's a fascinating place. No other place like it. Now, where we have it, you see all the people wandering in there, but it would have been a fortress that would have been just about impenetrable back in the day, you know, back in those days. Today, you could still have aircraft and everything, but if indeed God is going to use that place, he can shelter anyone. Mr. Shaby? Yes.

Are you sharing the picture? Did I? Is it not up there? No. I don't have it. Okay, let me see what I've done here. I was wondering what you were talking about. Do you see that picture now?

Yeah, now it's there. Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. Yeah, so you can kind of see what it is.

It's a fantastic place to visit. I mean, we were, Debbie and I were there, like, almost 30, yeah, 30, 35 years ago. It's just amazing, and it's been there for centuries and centuries and centuries and centuries dating back to Old Testament time. I was saying that, you know, books say that you could, a million people could live in Petra. You could have that many people. There's that many caves and rocks and places like that carved out that people could live. So if, you know, if there are a people that God indicates someone is going to be somewhere for time, times, and a half a time, there is this unique place on earth. You can see why the church used to put more, the church used to talk in about more, a more certain tone than we do today, you know, about why this would be a place right there in Jordan with the King of the North passing over and God sparing that area for those three years. It isn't until the day of the Lord that Moab and Jordan and those areas are destroyed why that would be. Let me show you another picture here. Mr. Shavee, this is Candace. But if it's going to be a secret place, and this is a place that is known and people visit, do you think? I know, I know this is all speculation, right? The Bible talks about Selah, it talks about rock places. You can see kind of the little narrow entrance into Patrick, right? So when you just kind of visually, again, we don't know anything. Right. This is why there's been so much speculation on this place. It is in Jordan. It isn't that area of Moab. It is in the mountains. But you can picture, you know, like even when we're reading Revelation 12 about the flood that comes and kind of comes there, but God opens up the earth and swallows the flood. So you can kind of see. So where it is, you know, what God has in mind, we don't know. I don't want anyone to go away saying, you know, hey, we're talking about this place of safety. You know what? God has something in mind, but only He today is what that is. We don't know. We don't know yet. God will fill in the place as we get closer and closer. Our job today is just to be, you know, our real place of safety is with God, right? He's the one who protects. He's the one who that we have to... He's our rock. He's the one that we have to hide behind. He's the one that we have to, you know, make sure that we are behind. Let me see what I else was going to put here.

Hey, it's Becky Bingman. With Moab and the prophecies we've been reading about how desolate they'll be, it does make me wonder if... I mean, Petra could be that place because the surrounding areas would be so desolate, and it talks about how nobody can inhabit them anymore ever. So maybe, like, there's nobody else around at that time in the surrounding countries or nations, areas.

And Mr. Shaby, can you hear me? I can, yes. And two, wouldn't it... like, it could be visible, but then God can make it invisible, correct? He can hide, right? He says it's our hiding place. He can keep people from seeing us, even if we're standing in the middle of the street with everyone around us, right? I mean, he can protect us there. So again, this is just interesting. No one goes from here and says, I heard on a Bible study Petra is the place that we're all going. If I hear it, I will deny it. All right, now I got the take to prove it.

So, but here, this is what I mean. What I was trying to say is if Petra may be the place, right, but God could hide it, you know, so it's not that, you know, as us as humans, we're saying, oh, it can't be that because it's not hidden. Everybody knows about it. But if God wanted us to be there, he could hide us from it. Right? And yeah, exactly. And in ancient times, right, I mean, a social hall, no one so high those walls, you couldn't penetrate it. Today you have aircraft. If God wants to hide that from aircraft or whatever it is there, he can do whatever he wants. Now, I'll just draw your attention. I mean, in our Bible commentary, when you look at Isaiah 16, you will see that we do have that bottom sentence there, you know, talks about this. It says, some sites see Isaiah 16 as an indication that Petra is the location of a prophesied place of future protection for God's church or a faithful remnant of Israel. Right? There are, we don't know exactly who his outcasts are. There's many scriptures you can look at there, some of which we've looked at. However, there are too many variables and unclear elements to be sure. First of all, there is no certainty that the specific place is even meant in Isaiah 16. And if it is, there's no way to be sure that the place is Petra as opposed to some other location designated as a rock. However, it does seem likely that Petra is meant if, remember in chapter 15, we looked at Brook of the Willows, the people flow to that. However, it does seem likely that Petra is meant if Brook of the Willows is alternately understood to mean, as mentioned above, the Wadi Al Araba, which would put it in the right vicinity. But the commentary also, you know, goes on to say, I think, well, no, I guess it doesn't. But, you know, again, the rock that protects us is Jesus Christ. No one should, part of the problem in the Church of Old is too many people were looking to the place of safety, as they called it, as opposed to living God's way of life. The place of safety is with God, giving our lives to Him, committing to Him, learning the truth, living the truth, doing all those things that God wants us to do. That's the place of safety, whatever happens. It could be anywhere. It could be anywhere. The Bible indicates some things, but we don't know.

But we will know. We will know when God is ready to let us know for sure.

I've heard many people say over the years, you know, and unite it, that, oh, well, we're going to be in a place of safety, like with all the stuff that's going on now, even. They didn't think they would be around for that. Oh, we'll be in the place of safety. It's no big deal. But that's not guaranteed unless He chooses us to be there and we're doing what His will is. So, it's not, I mean, there's no guarantee that there won't be things happening to this, right? But before, even if God does take us someplace, there will be tribulations, there will be persecution. There will be things where we... There's people right now that didn't even think we'd be going through what we're going to be going through shortly here, even, you know, it's that things are getting harder. And so, it's very real. It's very real and very mild right now, right? I mean, nothing compares, but it will be. So, our faith has to be. Right. Let me say I got hands here. I think, Bill, your hand is probably just left up, but how about you, Xavier? Yeah, um, for the Shabbi, again, in regards to the two groups of people, and what I... what I stated earlier from the scripture, again, there is a differentiation because one is nourished over times, time times, and half a time. The other one is betrayed after they fled, which angers God's righteousness in the nation, and that makes perfect sense. So, again, it comes to that there's a differentiation, though both are both fleeing. So, I'm asking you, what do you think of that differentiation as shown here? One flees under their own power, one is taken miraculously, in a sense, and as well as one is betrayed, and one is nourished. That's another differentiation.

Well, I mean, he's talking about in Revelation 12, he's talking about the woman, right? The woman is nourished for time, times, and a half away from the face of the serpent. It uses that same that same word and same analogy from the face of the desolator in Isaiah 16. I don't know, I don't know that it's two groups of people. It might be, it might, you know, there is that, again, there's two groups of people. You know, God says He'll protect the remnant of physical Israel. He will destroy them. So, they're over there. But the scene, the Christ said the grave will never triumph over his body. There will always be people who are alive in the body. It was an interesting thing. I look, I happened to come across a book at the ABC library today. I was on a phone call and I had, I took it in there, there on the shelf was a book on Petra. So, I looked at it, right? And I thought, oh, well, this is timely to see this. And the author was, he had a number of Bible verses in there and everything, but he was talking. He was more that Petra and the place would be, you know, the people of Israel that are living in Israel right now, when he talked about in your, if you're in Judea. And he pointed out, and I didn't have time to look at this, but he made the comment that Petra could hold a million people. And then he said, you know, today, when I don't even know what year he wrote it, today the nation of Israel has three million people. So, if there's a remnant, you know, a million could be there in Petra. So, I don't know. We don't know. All we know is that God has those verses in the Bible. Again, he will let us know the closer we get to the end time. So, let me say, Bill, let's go to Rebecca before, Rebecca, you got a comment?

If you're talking, Becky, you're muted.

Did I have my hand out? I'm sorry, I don't know what I did here. I know. That's actually Rebecca Bartholomew. Oh, okay. Okay.

I think she's muted. She's, yeah, she's muted. She'll figure it out in a minute. Will her glass go? Do you want to make a comment? Yes, sir. I have a two-fold comment. They go together. I think that a lot of people are very fearful that they won't go to the place of safety. If you will look at Revelation 21, verses 7 and 8, especially verse 8, you will see what category God puts the fearful in. It is a rather egregious sin. And the thing is, my thoughts are God will choose who goes. God will also choose who stays to face. You know, there's a great multitude saved out of the tribulation, and they're going to have to be led, guided, and taught by someone. I personally think it would be a great, great honor to be chosen to be one of those who remain and be able to carry out his work during the tribulation period. He talks about those who love not their life, but to death.

It would just be a tremendous honor to be chosen to be amongst those, in my opinion. Thank you.

No, you're a good point. In fact, I want to read 21a, because it's one of the verses I think we all need to keep looking, because God kind of outlines in that verse the things we need to be working on. If we fit into these categories, he says they're not going to be in the kingdom. He says, but the cowardly, right? That would be exactly what Mr. Glasgow said. I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid of that. You know, we've got to develop. It's not our power. It's not our mind. We're not going to stand against whatever forces or whatever persecution comes in. It'll be the power of God in us. That gives us the faith to look to Him no matter what happens to us. But the cowardly, and it happens to be the very first thing he mentions, right? He doesn't mention liars first or diadolators first. So at the end time, you've got cowardly people there who are afraid of what's going to happen. When you look at the mark of the beast, that's a pretty fearful thing, right? Because, you know, if you've got someone saying, if you don't take the mark of the beast, you're not going to eat. You will starve. I may take your head. I may take your child's head. I may take whatever it is. Those are pretty fearful things. God says stand up against them.

Don't yield to the mark of the beast. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, and the things going on in morality today certainly fall into the abominable when you go back and look at what God calls abominations. Murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, an interesting word comes from the Greek pharmacia. Idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and burn stone, which is the second death. So, you know, in a reverse sort of way, God says that these, if you look like any of these, you know, these are the sins that need to be put out of our lives. We have to develop the faith and the trust in Him, the trust and reliance on Him. Okay, Bill?

Yeah, I heard your message online two weeks ago, and I appreciated your basic SPS there about getting rid of politics in the church. And I thought it was very interesting that you said the Pharisees and the scribes had their politics, but they got together in hatred against Christ.

And so I hope we can all take some comps, wisdom from that, and I appreciated that approach you had. Okay. People will be united against us, right? They're going to want to just, Satan will lead them to God's word, truth, get rid of it. Quelch these people no matter what.

That's what happens at the end time. Edgardo or Rosalinda?

Yeah, in talking about the subject of the place of safety and all that, it just brings into mind the scripture in Isaiah 57 about the righteous parishion to take them away from evil. Because for many people, the place of safety will be the grave, because once you're there, you're just waiting asleep. So probably no safer place than that in that sense. Wherever God has us, He can protect us, right? There will be those tests of faith, just like those people in Revelation 12, 17, right? When the water, when the flood comes, yeah, there will always be the faith and trust in Him. So, okay, Sean. Yes, I don't... how many people do we have in United? Oh, I average it... well, feast attendance was somewhere just a little under 13,000, but there's more than that on the books. That's just how many attended. Right. Yeah. So if it says 144 will be the ones that will escape either to Petra or wherever the house is, who are the others? Well, we have a whole list of them in Hebrews 11, right? We have people who lived down through the ages who, you know, if you read back through the Middle Ages, you go back through some of church history, you see that people were martyred because they believed in the Bible, I mean the Waldensians, you name it. So we don't know how many people were martyred during that time, but those were saints who died, you know, died during those times. We don't know how many people have died in the faith, you know, even to this modern era of the church, because, you know, began with Mr Armstrong back in 19, I guess 30, well 1927, I guess he came in. Well, we don't know how many people, so you know, some people say 144,000, that has to be a very low number. Some people would say it seems like a very high number, right? When you think about all the people who are faithful to the end, we don't know what it is. We know that God knows where his people are and who it is, but we don't know.

So, if you know, he's the only church.

So the 144 isn't like at the end, you know, the, the, no, no, it's 144,000 redeemed from the earth, right? That's from the beginning to, to, yeah, to that time. So for the whole history of the earth, yeah.

Oh, Mr. Shaley.

Let, let, let Sean finish.

No, it doesn't, we don't know how many will be able to escape at the, the critical time in the, before the three, the abomination thing, right? Oh, you're saying so we don't know that it's 144,000, right? That's what your, would the 144,000 will escape? I would say, let's let, you know, let's look at Revelation 14 where that 114,000, 144,000 is and just, no, we don't know. It won't be, it's not likely going to be 144,000. You look at Revelation 14 where he talks about that. It says, verse one, I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Sinai, right? Christ has returned. And with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads. So those are the ones who are resurrected in first resurrection. So that wouldn't be 144,000 today. That would be fleeing to wherever God wants. That's 144,000, if you will. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Yep. Sherry. Isn't that over all the churches of God? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Someone asked us this. Yeah, I mean, there are United Church of God. We speak the truth. We live the truth. There are people in the church, but again, there are other people besides those in the United Church of God who are Church of God, right? So, you know, we're not, we're not the only, we're not claiming that you, we're not claiming, you got to live by God's way of life, right? You got to live by it. Your church should be teaching the truth. You should be together with them, allowing God to grow you in the churches that he is in the body that he's placed you in. But you need to be in the body and you need to be in the body that is teaching the truth of God. No, it would have to be a church, a church of God. Yeah, it used to be a church of God, yes. That teaches all the Bible. It's all the Bible. Yes. Mr. Shaby. Yeah, okay. Go ahead, Frank. Good to you in a minute, Becky. All right. In Revelation 3, when it talks about the Philadelphia era and the later Sihan era, Philadelphia era is promised that we're going to be, you know, that era, that group, it's going to be protected from everything that's coming. And the late of the Sihans are the ones that are shown in the fire. So that could be also, Revelation 20, New York, just to guess, Revelation 25, where fiber shows up in the fire of the Sihans. I don't know how to look at that, but that is telling us that some are going to go through the tribulation. Some are going through the tribulation. Yeah, when you look at the Philadelphia and later Sihan churches appear to be the end-time churches, right? So you're right. In Revelation 3, verse 10, God says, Because you have kept my command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour of trial, which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. And then to the related Sihan church, he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich. They have not given, they have not, they have, they have the truth of God, but they haven't lived their lives in the way that God wants us to, to kind of to completely yield our hearts, minds, and souls to Him. So they'll, you know, they'll have that opportunity in the tribulation. Yeah. Becky? Yes, I just thought in regards to the 144,000, I was looking for the part where it's at, but it's important. I've always understood that that doesn't include those in the, those who come from the tribulation.

There'll be another great multitude that comes out. Those are the first fruits, the saints. 144,000 first fruits, right? Yes. There's another group. Yeah. Yeah. That there's another group of people who they come in white robes.

Right. That's the new verbal multitude, right? That it talks about, is that Revelation 7?

I couldn't, I was looking for it. I didn't find it in time, but I think it's important to remember that there will be so, so many more. Yes. Yes.

Exactly. No, it's in Revelation 7 and around verses nine through the rest of the chapter there. Yeah. There's a great multitude that come out. They're not the first fruits, though. They're, they're also, they also will receive eternal life, but what God has in mind for them appears to be something different. There's, you know, the bride of Christ that the first fruits are in. God calls the first resurrection the better resurrection, but they still have eternal life. Just not, not the same as the first fruits. Still, but yes, that's, that's the subject for another time. So. And just a quick second comment where you read in Isaiah 2620, come my people, enter your chambers, shut your doors behind you, hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation has passed. And it just reminded me of what God did with Noah when they shut the door on the ark, and he just protected them and sheltered them until the indignation was passed. And I think that it's important to remember always that that's what he'll do with us to not be afraid if we don't make it to the place of safety, because he'll provide that place for us to shut our door and protect us, I believe, no matter what. That's exactly the attitude to have. And even that's what he does. Yep, that's exactly the attitude. But, but for God to do that, we have to be now today, right, yielding to him and overcoming and becoming who he wants us to be, not just counting on that. Just going to Sabbath services, just doing the physical things, isn't enough. It's the ark that God is looking for. So we have to ask. We can't forget to ask.

Correct. Bill, another comment? Yes, one of the things that's common among us in not full understanding is that filio means brotherly love. But filio is really likeness. Philadelphia, Adelphi is the brotherly part. Filio is a likeness, and there's 20 different compounds. If you look at 5368 and Strong's, there's 20 different compounds with like, where you mentioned diatrophies in your online couple weeks ago. Diatrophies loves to have the preeminence, and I decided to look that up. It's filio proton, the love to be first. But what's really we lost you, Bill. Yes, I know. I know. The thing we have to work on is agape, right? Agape is where we that's that's the thing. This by this moment, though, that you are my disciples. If you have a one for another, we will grow, we will like each other, we will do all those emotional things with each other, but agape is what God wants. Friendly. Well, it starts out in verse 9, let agape be without a dissimulation. But in verse 10, have friendly family love to one another with Philadelphia, with brotherly love. You grow into that, though, right? I mean, because you got to have agape, even if you don't like the person, you do what's right. Right? Yeah. Good Samaritan. He didn't even know it, but he did the agape. So I hear what you're saying, but don't lose sight of agape. We yes, to grow in and like and love for each other. So.

Becky, another comment? Just one quick one. I'm sorry, I forgot to say this earlier. Petra, interestingly, was hidden for hundreds of years, maybe longer, and it wasn't really rediscovered until year 1812. It's just something to think about how it could have been lost for that long. And I know we have modern advances, and you can see it from the air and things like that. But it's neat that it's designed in a way that it could be hidden. Just something that could be out. It's a fascinating thing. Go online and look at some of it. There's a lot of pictures on it. It is a fascinating place, right? And the fact that people can live there in caves and rocks and whatever. Hey, Ali, Ali Smith, did you have something to say? I think I might have interrupted you a couple times. Okay, well, well, yeah, Ali, if you want, you're muted if you wanted to say something. Andrew, Andrew, do you have something you want to say? Okay, how about Papa Shug? Hello, everyone. This is Brandon Shugger. Oh, hey, how you doing? I'm doing just fine. So, how are you? Now I know what Papa Shug is. Brandon had a baby not too long ago. Well, his wife did. Yes, I just wanted to briefly mention that. So, Dave Pramar gave a sermon, I think it was about two or three weeks ago, in Jacksonville, where he talked about not being afraid. But he came, he approached it from the stance of as an actual command, because that same do not is the same do not that is in the commandments. So, when you really look at it, and in that light and that perspective, it definitely should empower us to be a lot bolder about these situations. I'll put it in this this way, and I'll so I can be mindful of time.

If you were playing poker, for those who are playing, and you had the best hand possible, if you had a royal flush, you pretty much set your mind at ease. You don't worry about it. You know you can't be beat. And if we look at our situation, God is the royal flush. There's nothing, there's absolutely nothing in this universe, nothing in this world, back and top that or beat that. So, we really should take comfort in that. Now, of course, we got to be cautious, and we have to pay attention and be careful of what we're doing. But seriously, the God, the Almighty God of the universe has our backs. He is supporting us. He is helping us. He is giving us exactly what we need. And we really need to remember that and take that into consideration as we move forward. And I'm speaking just as much to myself as I am anybody here. So, anytime we have pain, anytime we start to have thoughts about what may happen, whether we're going through that, standing up, whether we have to stand up in the end time, whether we're taken to the place, regardless of what category we fall, we just need to remember that we have the Almighty with us.

That is the most important thing. Very good. Very good. Yeah. Amen. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And you know, I certainly haven't gone into count on them, but don't they say the most frequent command of the Bible is do not be afraid in whatever form it is. So, Christ said it a lot too. Don't be afraid, you know. So, don't be dismayed. All those things he said. So, that's something for us to remember.

I think last week, didn't we? Yeah, we read that last week, I think it was too. Somewhere in Isaiah here, the same thing that Moses was told. Okay. Or Moses told Israel. Okay. Andrew, Andrew or Ellie Smith, I know your lights were on. I don't know if you had something you wanted to say or not. Okay. Then with that, then we are, I think it's, it's, well, we've gone, we've gone long. So, hopefully it's, hopefully it's been productive and interesting. So, let me see, where are we? Next Wednesday is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in America.

So, probably everyone has plans. So, we're not going to do a Bible study next Wednesday. Okay.

So, the next one, today's the 16th. The next Bible study will be November 30th.

So, that is where we are. So, I'll leave it at that.

Can I ask something, Mr. Shabian? Yes. I'm in Oregon. So, I got into this. I was checking it out. Someone sent me a link saying that it was at seven o'clock. What time does it, would it start here?

Well, it was in Oregon it would be 4 p.m. 4 p.m., right? You're three hours. Okay.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Shabian, are you speaking anytime soon again?

I, you got it, Shabian. I'm speaking this week in Cincinnati.

Yes. So, you know, you can see, you can see the Cincinnati schedule. If you go to ucg.org slash webcast, click on that. Steve Myers has the whole schedule for the quarter up there. So, if you click on each week, you can kind of see us giving the sermon that week. So, thank you.

Okay. Okay. I am going to sign off, everyone. So, have a very good rest of the week, a very good Sabbath. We won't see those. Well, no matter where you are, whether you're in Nigeria, Canada, or America, have a very good Thanksgiving Day and everything. And we will look forward to some of you are from Cincinnati tonight. So, I look forward to seeing some of you from Cincinnati and the rest of you in a couple weeks. Okay. Okay. Bye, Haï Kel moment.