Bible Study: November 2, 2022

So, just tonight we'll look at Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14 is a very interesting chapter, and it's very interesting when you combine it with Isaiah 13. Of course, we know in the original Bible and the original manuscripts there was no chapter breaks like we had today. So, when God was giving the prophecies and everything to Isaiah, it was just one long continuous scroll. And so, you know, with the background of Isaiah 13 that we talked about last week, we move into Isaiah 14. We know that with the background of Isaiah 13, we move into a chapter of Isaiah 14 that many of you recognize, you know, talks about Satan and his, you know, what his sin was, what led him to become the adversary of God. So, we'll look at that in a little while. But, you know, as we begin that, I want to just remind you of some of the verses that about Satan's just sort of set the tone for what we will be talking about tonight. We know that, you know, in Ephesians 2, and I'm not going to turn to these verses because I think you remember them, but in Ephesians 2, verses 1 and 2, it talks about the spirit of Satan, the prince of the power of the air. And he influences people and it says, it is the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. So, as we look at society around us, it's not just today. It's ever since Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan as opposed to God, that that spirit has worked in the universe. But even today, in this world, in this society, but today, we see that even magnified as we look at everything and we see just the heinous things that goes on today and the morality, the endless wars, the violence, the things that are increasing, just the blatant lies that we hear, the division that is more pronounced at any time in our lives, even in this country, and the hate that goes along with that. That's just not at all of anything of God, but certainly of Satan, because that's what he's all about. Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. Romans 8-7 talks about our mind. We've all been influenced by that mind. The carnal mind is enmity against God, not subject to the laws of God, neither indeed can be. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 talks about the heart being desperately wicked. Who can know it? When it says who can know it, that means even us. We don't even really know what we're capable for. If we were just allowed to allow ourselves to just go our natural way, we didn't exercise any self-control or any of the power of the Holy Spirit on us. Our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That includes us. Who can know it?

We see the evil in some people that are just evil and wicked. Two different things in a way. Christ said in John 844, when he was talking to the Pharisees who were always allied against him, always looking for something to nail him with. He said, you are of your father. You are of your father who's the father of lies. He's the father of murderers. He just laid it out for them. What he said certainly was exactly what those Pharisees, the Jews, did to Christ. They lied about him and they murdered him. That's what happens with people that are led by Satan that just continue to allow. Then in Revelation, we can turn to Revelation 12 and 9. First, it says, evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. As we look at the world around us, we think, wow, it's so different than it was two, three, four, five years ago. From now, we would be saying, wow, it seems so much different than so much better in 2022 than it did in these years. It will continue to go down as God allows Satan to increase his influence in the world. People respond to that. Revelation 12 and Revelation 12, 9, of course, talks about Satan deceiving the whole world. We see that more and more. The things that people do, they're just kind of completely led astray by things that aren't even natural.

Then in Revelation 13, verse 2, talking about the beast power that will arise, that will mark the world at that time, it tells us exactly where that power is. Revelation 13, verse 2 says, the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet like the feet of a bear, mouth like the mouth of a lion, the dragon, that Satan, gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. Second Corinthians 4, 4 says that Satan is the god of this age.

He is the one. He's the one. It's that spirit that works in the world. When we talk about these prophecies against these nations that surrounded Judah and Israel, when we're in Isaiah 13 for these 11 chapters that we'll be talking about, we see that spirit.

Last week we talked about the prophecies against Babylon. You remember we talked about actual Babylon falling back in 5, I think it's 512 BC, and how those prophecies were fulfilled in that. But then there's that future fall of the system called Babylon, in the book of Revelation, the one that you had ahead of us.

We show that what happens and what God says about that future Babylon is not at all what happened to ancient Babylon. We have this duality of prophecy that we're going to see throughout these prophecies. Babylon was one. We saw in those kings, if you remember, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, the kings before that, Sennacherab of Assyria, we see these people who knew who God was, but they just rejected him.

They forgot about him. They became evil. The Assyrian king just cruel and evil, and he's going to show up in Isaiah 14 or reference to him. We saw Nebuchadnezzar. He was quite the tyrant as well. Even though he was kind to Daniel, there was, you know, he would go off on the God of Israel and demand that people would worship him. And so we have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into the furnace.

God delivered them. We have Daniel, who, because he refused to not pray to God, that he resisted, he rejected the edict of that time, he was thrown into the lion's den. God protected him. So, you know, we see these men who just absolutely will, you know, they're all about themselves and the pride how it overtakes them. So as we move into Isaiah 14, you know, with all that in the backdrop, and looking at the last two verses there of Isaiah 13, where God pronounces these prophecies against Babylon and talks about the wild beasts that will be dwelling there, the ostriches that will be dwelling there, and that she will exist no more, we're going to see a kind of continuation of this prophecy against Babylon in chapter 14.

But then God's going to take the spirit that's in Babylon and the kings, the evil kings of the world, the tyrants, and tie that spirit that's in them directly to Satan as we get in chapter 14. So let's pick it up in 14 verse 1.

As God ends the prophecy of Isaiah 13, it says, for the eternal, we'll have mercy on Jacob. Now you'll remember Babylon conquered Judah, carried them off into captivity. Assyria conquered Israel, carried them off into captivity.

Babylon continued. They even inhabited Israel's thing, but it was always these gentile powers that have the animosity against God's people. So we have God's people as in physical Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He calls them his people, specifically the descendants of Jacob, those 12 tribes. He talks about that in Deuteronomy 7. These are my holy special people. They rejected God. They're scattered. But then we have the people of the New Testament that God calls from all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, everyone that he calls who are his children.

They're God's people, too, as we read in 1 Peter 2.9. We have two groups of God's people. Satan is always against God's people. We have Babylon, we have Assyria who conquered God's people back then. Verse 1 says, the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. That's the 12 tribes of Israel and will still choose Israel and settle them in their own land. While they've been scattered, they've been conquered. They disobeyed God. They rejected God. They adopted the ways of the world around them. And as a result, they lost their kingdoms.

They lost their land. And they're scattered. And in the end time, they will be scattered. Ezekiel tells us that. The prophecies of the Bible tells us that. They will lose their land.

But here it says, but God still has mercy on Jacob. He will still choose them and he will settle them in their own land. And probably at the face, and before the face, you heard sermons about how God will bring Israel back from its exile, bring them back to the Promised Land. That's all in Isaiah 35 and throughout there, that God will restore the land to the people.

And so we see this. The God will bring them back. He will settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them and they will cling to the house of Jacob.

Now, we'll put our finger there and just turn back to Zechariah for a moment.

Because there's the verses that talk about how Jerusalem will be and the Jews will be.

It's been interesting to me as I've watched just a few things.

Anti-Semitism seems to be on the rise as you look at it. You hear about things, and I know there was some report this week about some, actually Jacksonville, Florida of all places, where someone flashed on a laser the thing about everything Kanye said about the Jews is true.

I don't know exactly what Kanye was out there saying these days, but obviously not a good thing for them to do that because the newscast talked about the anti-Semitism that was increasing and whatever. And so we see that in these days. People against the Jews, right? And in the world, there's clearly the descendants. No hiding who Judah is. But in verse 23, when we see after Christ returns, the Jew is going to be in favor. It says the Lord of hosts. In those days, that's the time that Jesus Christ returns. Peace is on earth. The knowledge of God covers the world, covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. In those days, 10 men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And so a completely different thing. And as we see the world march forward toward the time of Jesus Christ, likely we're going to see an increase in anti-Semitism.

But when Christ returns, people will understand, oh, this is God. These are God's people, and then they will appreciate the people who are God. So they'll have an understanding of it. And they'll also have an understanding of why they were so resistant and everything.

Sherry, do you have a question or comment? Yeah, I just didn't catch what verse you said it was. Oh, Zechariah 8, 23. Thank you.

But yeah, throughout the prophecies, you see this. But let's go back to Isaiah 14 then.

And we see, God is talking about everything that's going on in Babylon. He's going to bring His people back, bringing His people back to the land that He promised them. In verse 2, Jacob is, Israel is scattered. And so when He brings them back, the prophecies indicate that of course the people who oppressed Israel and held them captive, God's going to free them from Israel, just like He freed ancient Israel from Egypt. So in verse 2 it says, then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them. That's their captors.

Kind of the situation is reversed. The cards are reversed here. People will take them and bring them to their place, bring Israel back to where they, you know, what the land God promised them. And the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Eternal.

And how that will be, we know God's not a cruel God or anything like that. It won't be servanthood like Israel has endured. It's not going to be, you know, that slave, that type slavery.

But Israel will be held in respect, is what the Bible says here. Servants, they'll be, they'll possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Eternal. They will take them captive, whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors. Merciful God, has it all worked out? There's no reason to even speculate on that because, you know, because it will all, it will all be, it will be all fine. Just remember that for everything we do, you know, there's a consequence, and for what other people do, there's a consequence as well. Yeah, Bill, do you have a comment?

Bill? Okay, if you're trying to say something.

I am muted, I'm sorry. Can we read Numbers 29, 12, and 13? We can. Do you want to read it or? I have my Bible open. Okay, go ahead.

This is for the Feast of Tabernacles, the first day of the Holy Day, verse 12, and on the 50th day of the seven months, you should have a holy convocation. You should, you know, serve our work. We know that. Keep the Feast. Verse 13, then you shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, sweet savor in the Lord, 13 young bullocks. And it's very easy to show that a bullock represents a nation or a tribe. There's 13 of them. Two rams and 14 lambs, they're the first year, a large number of lambs. The lambs are individuals, and that what we just read in Isaiah 14 to start about the strangers. The 14 lambs of the first year, lambs are individuals, and the 13 young bullocks appear to be the two sticks come together. Okay. That's part of the article that I'd sent you there. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. That ties into Isaiah 14. Okay. Oh, very much so. I've not seen Isaiah 14 until just now. Okay. Okay. I'll have to look at that in that light. So, okay. Well, what it's showing here is, you know, when Isaiah 14, God will bring Israel back. They will no longer be the captives. They will be seen as the people of God, however God, you know, works these verses out here. We go back to verse 3 in Isaiah 14, then it says, it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord gives you, speaking to Israel, it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve. So, you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say. So, let's see. Let's get a picture of what it will be like when Israel has taken—how it was when they were taken captive by Babylon back at the time of Jeremiah. Let's look at Lamentations. Lamentations 1.

Before we go to Lamentations, let's look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah 39. Jeremiah 39. Again in verse 1, and we'll go down to verses 4 to 9. Jeremiah 39 verse 1.

It says, In the ninth year of Setakiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his armies came against Jerusalem and besieged it.

Down to verse 4. So it was when Setakiah, the king of Judah, and all the men of war, saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls, and he went out by way of the plain. So they knew what was happening. They ran from Babylon. This is the kingdom from the north that Jeremiah had been warning them about if they didn't turn back to God. But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Setakiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Ribla in the land of Hamith, where he pronounced judgment on him.

Or he pronounced judgment on him. And then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Setakiah before his eyes in Ribla. You can kind of see just that's what happened in ancient times. Killed the sons, and then the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah. Just wipe out all the hierarchy so there is no chance in their mind of that kingdom being resurrected. Moreover, he put out Setakiah's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. And Nebuchadne, the captain of the guard, carried away captive to Babylon, the remnant. Remnant means just a small group of the people were left, the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and those who defected to him with the rest of the people who remained. So they kind of lost everything as a result of their disobedience. And Babylon came in. They just killed them. They destroyed them, destroyed the temple. Of course, I've got to turn to those verses, but you know that God said in 70 years that we go back and rebuild that temple. But if we go over to the book of Lamentations, right after the book of Jeremiah, we see the wailing of the people and how miserable they were, especially as they realized what they had done and what they had given up, and if they had just listened to God. Kind of the same thing when we read in the New Testament about the weeping and gnashing of teeth that people will have when they have to go through the Great Tribulation and realize, ah, if we had just followed what God said, if we had just paid attention to it, even in detail to become more and more the way he wanted us to be. Lamentations 1. We'll just read the first few verses here to get the feel of what Judah is feeling as they lost everything. He says, How lonely sits the city that was full of people? How like a widow is she who is great among the nations? The princess among the provinces has become a slave.

She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. You can kind of just get this feeling of despair and treachery and how awful that feels. Judah has gone into captivity, under affliction and hard servitude. She dwells among the nations. She finds no rest, and her persecutors overtake her in dire straits. The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries have become the master. Her enemies prosper, for the Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. And from the daughter of Zion, all her splendor has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture, that flee without strength before the pursuer. In the days of her affliction and roaming, Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy with no one to help her, the adversaries saw her and mocked at her downfall. So just get this picture of just what an awful situation it was. And you can picture if you were blessed by God and had all those blessings, and then just rejected God and were warned all those years, a miserable time is coming if you don't turn back to God, and then it happens. And you can just feel the pain in Judah, the pain they were literally feeling, but also just the pain of knowing we did this to ourselves because we just wouldn't pay attention. We just didn't do what God wanted us to do.

And so when God talks about consoling Israel and gives them the hope that he will bring them back to Israel, that's hope, right? That's hope. And that's not just physical Israel, but that's hope for all of us because we are God's people. The Bible says there will be persecution. You know, if and when God determines to take whoever to this place that's talked about in Revelation 12, there will be persecution, there will be tribulation, there will be times that we will show our faith to God by standing up for Him and not giving in to the pressures of the world around us. And there will be a relief. And the hope that we'll have is that God's with us. God's with us. He will. He will see us through. We just have to have complete faith in Him and the strength to do that. But our time is now. Like it was Judah's time back in the time of Jeremiah prophesying, our time is now to become the people that God wants us to become and turn to Him. We have the Holy Spirit that the people, the ancient people of Judah did not. So God says, if we go back to Isaiah 14, now here's the prophecy, the proverb you're going to take against the paid king of Babylon. He's brought all this misery on you. He was never your friend.

He made your life miserable. All those kings, you read back through the ages, you look at Assyrian, they still say of all the nations on earth, Assyria was just cruel, cruel to a false, right?

Cruel to a false. Babylon wasn't a kind nation. All these conquering nations that don't have that spirit in them of hate, of conquering, of pride, those things we've talked about. And God is going to show that that spirit doesn't come from Him where that spirit comes from because their God, the God of this age, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, that's His characteristics. So in verse 4, these are talking about the human kings here that will oppress God's people.

And you remember from Revelation 18 where it talks about future Babylon, the system called Babylon at the time of Christ's returns that goes on, that Christ decimates upon His return, that it is drunk with the blood of the saints, always the enemy of God's people. And so they take this proverb up and say, how the oppressor, how these, how these, this end time Babylon, how Nebuchadnezzar, how Sennacherib, how these kings who oppress, how the presser has ceased, how the golden city or how the insolent city has ceased, it's gone. The kingdom, the kingdom is gone. God has allowed it to be conquered. The Lord, the eternal, has broken the staff of the wicked. He's broken the scepter of the rulers. Remember back a few chapters ago, we talked about Assyria. They were all full of pride. Look what we did. All the gods of this city could stand up against us.

The god, the kings of this city couldn't stand up against us, and they were boasting against Jejudah. What makes you think your God can stand up against us? What was God who destroyed them? We read, we read that for, for their insolence and for their pride. The Lord has broken the staff. The Lord has broken the scepter. Verse 6, he who struck the people in wrath, these kings, with a continual stroke, no mercy, just, just a continual, continual assault on them. He who ruled the nations in anger is persecuted, and no one hinders. The whole earth is at rest and quiet.

Now that shows, in that verse alone, shows this is a future fulfillment, because the whole rest, the whole world is only at rest and quiet at one time, and that's when Jesus Christ returns, when peace comes on earth. Let's, keep your finger there, and let's go back to Proverbs 11.

So it's showing that, you know, while these kings died, we got a future fulfillment that God is talking about, because there will be evil kings, just like the kings of old, that will be on the earth. Again, these tyrants. Proverbs 11 and verse, where did I write that down? Proverbs 11 and verse 10.

When it goes well, yeah, Proverbs 11 10. When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. We know that, right? When a righteous man rules, the peace and joy comes to the city. When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation. That's exactly what Isaiah 14 is saying there. When those kings are imposed, there will be, there will be jubilation. By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. So let's go back. You know, we see, as we go through these verses, we see these other things, just these principles of life that are there. So we go back to verse 7. It says, the whole world in Isaiah 14, the whole earth is at rest and quiet. They break forth into singing. They're happy. There's joy on the earth. These oppressors are gone. This ancient Babylon that was drunk with the blood of the saints, it's gone. Christ has delivered his people. Christ has delivered the world from this age of oppression and wickedness and evil and installed, you know, he's been installed as the king of kings and lord of lords. So they break forth into singing. Verse 8, Indeed, the cypress trees rejoice over you and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you were cut down, no woodsmen has come up against us. There's peace. We can live in peace. We don't have to live in fear of you anymore. God is our refuge. He's our strength.

Verse 9 uses the word hell just to remind us when we see that word hell, it's the Hebrew word sheol, literally means grave, or if you look it up, it'll say where the dead go. Well, we know where the dead go, the dead go into the grave. So later on in this chapter, it actually it doesn't translate. It just keeps using the word sheol. But for some reason here, the translators use the word hell, but it means the grave. And we can see what it's all these kings die, right? Nebuchadnezzar died, Sennacherab died, Belshazzar died, Hitler died, Stalin died, these tyrants of earth who made lives miserable, who killed people, and it was all about themselves, and all they cared about was them. They had no regard for the people underneath them. The grave from beneath is excited about you. Glad to see you die. Welcome you into the grave.

The grave from beneath is excited about you, you evil kings, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you. All the chief ones, when you read about the chief ones, these are all the great ones of earth. All these men that were so full of themselves have brought so much pain and misery, and you can go down through history and name that one by one.

I named a couple of them, but there's many more. We see those tyrants on earth beginning today. We can talk about Russia and what's going on over there. We can talk about what's developing in China as that president now has his third term, and we see him tightening his grip on what's there and the threats that are coming out of there. To meet you at your coming, all the chief ones of the earth, the big mighty men who are proud and who have brought destruction and misery and death to their subjects, all the chief ones of the earth, it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

All these men, they lived a time, now they're in their graves. They all shall speak and say to you, have you become as weak as we? Isn't that kind of a poetic verse in a way? Look, look Nebuchadnezzar. Look, Sennacherib. Have you become as weak as us? There's nothing about you anymore. All you did in life was make thing, and now you're dead. There's absolutely nothing that you did. All the other kingdoms who suffered, they will all suffer the same fate.

Have you become as weak as us? Have you become like us? Your pomp, your pride, how great you thought you were, is brought down to Sheol. It's nothing in the grave. You're dead. You're dead. There was nothing lasting about it. Your legacy is awful. Later on in chapter 14 it says, you won't even be remembered anymore because of the evil that you brought on.

Your pomp is brought down to Sheol and the sound of your strange instruments. The maggot is spread under you and worms cover you. That's what your fate has been, right? You're nothing more than dust. Look how you spent your life. And then as you go down to earth, people were rejoicing, rejoicing over your death. They feel free. They feel glad to be away from you. And you are just dust and have left a legacy that's awful, right? So verse 12, we see this talking about these physical kings in whom the spirit of disobedience is. And then God goes in and starts talking about Satan, about Satan himself and the characteristics that he has.

We'll read through this, but you remember, you know, Satan was created. We'll go back to Ezekiel 28 as well. It appears the most splendid creature that God had ever created. He was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. Apparently, he was not only beautiful, the most beautiful. He was bright like the morning star that it talks about here. He must have had creative abilities. And when you look at the one who became Satan's, and Michael and Lucifer, not Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel, the other archangels, they had their gifts God gave them.

But the one the Bible calls Lucifer, that's not actually his name, it literally means just a morning star or bright light or whatever, but they just called him that, you know, even though the Greek, the Hebrew isn't an actual name there. But we'll just read what the Bible says here. How you are fallen from heaven. Well, clearly, now we're talking about a man here. We're talking about Satan because no man has arisen into heaven. John 3 13, I think it is, it says no man has arisen as has gone to heaven except Christ.

You know, Peter also repeats that in his sermon in Acts 2. How you are fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground. That's the earth. God has cast you down to the earth. That's where he that you've been cut down to, you've been thrown out of heaven. Remind you of two of the set of Satan being cast down to earth that we read about in Revelation 12.

This one precedes that. You who weakened the nations. Well, he's the god of this earth, right? He's the god of this age, it says. Did he strengthen? No. All those nations that became so full of themselves and cried, they all lost everything because of the continuing and growing iniquity in them. You know, they lost everything. Satan is never about making people stronger, never about, you know, making life better. He's always about luring you in, and then, you know, when we yield to him, he's all about destruction.

And so all these kingdoms just ended up in nothing. You who weakened the nations as they responded to his deception, to his lies, to his wickedness, and allow that spirit to live in them, it weakened the nations, you know, much like we see going on around us today as this country and the world becomes farther and farther away from any of even the natural morality that people should have and the kindness for each other. Verse 13, for you have said in your heart, I, and of course, you know, I'm sure you've heard, we've got the four I or five I's there in verses 13 and 14.

Whenever we start talking about I, I, I, I, I might want to just stop and think, what am I doing? Who am I talking about here? You have said in your heart, one who became Satan, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, or the angels of God. I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the hikes of the clouds.

I will be like the most high. I'm good enough to be God. And, you know, who's going to stop me from doing that? Satan, his pride had so welled up in him, he wasn't even seeing. He wasn't even seeing clearly, just like you and I could become that as well. And so God says in verse 15, yet you shall be brought down to Sheol to the lowest depths of the pit. Well, let's go, let's go forward to the book of Ezekiel and just see the other accounts here. But again, you know, notice that God talks about the spirit of those kings that he's talking about.

Babylon, Assyria, you know, these kings who die. And then he takes it right to where they're, where, where they, that those tendencies come from is from Satan. That's the power that works in the sons of disobedience. That's the power that will be in the beast that arises in Revelation 13.

So Ezekiel 28, let's pick it up in verse 12. You'll probably remember when we were in the book of Acts, now we were talking about Tyre, I think we came back to here and compare the king of Tyre, who was evil there, that spirit that was in him. And that's what God's talking about here in verse 12. Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre. He was an evil king. Take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection. You were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Well, that puts us right in. We know exactly where Satan was. He didn't just appear in Eden, where Adam and Eve was by accident. God knew where he was, and Adam and Eve were tested. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, topaz, diamond, barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turk, eyes, emerald with gold. You look at what God says about his people, the ones who, you know, the first fruits, and he compares us to those living stones and how we'll be adorned. This is what he did to Satan. He adorned him with all those stones, all those beautiful stones. God created him to be perfect, and yes, Satan turned into this ugly, a hideous being because he turned from God. Mr. Glasgow, do you have a comment? Yes, sir. I heard a wonderful talk by a gentleman that was a jeweler, and all of these stones mentioned are stones that refract and reflect light. So, you know, we, my thought is that he was perhaps created to reflect the master, the God Almighty's light, and that is now our job.

There you go. That is our job, to reflect the light that's in us, and that's what Satan has created to do, and all that light went out as sin was found in him. Very, very good.

Okay, let's continue then. So, yeah, we talked about the workmanship down in the middle of verse 13. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You know, it's pretty audacious for someone to think that they would be better than the one who created them, right? I mean, it's just kind of bizarre when you think about Satan and how he allowed his pride to just get away from him, that he actually thought he was better than the one who created him that way. And boy, whenever we get full of ourselves, all we have to do is stop and think who created us, who created us. And we realize that nothing we have is of us. It's all because of what God has given us. And we turn that pride right into the humility that God wants and the thanks to him that we should always continually be giving him. You were, verse 14, you were the anointed sheriff who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the days you were created till iniquity was found in you. Wow. You know, as we yield to God, and I see we allow him to change us into the people he wants us to be, you know, as Mr. Glasgow said, you know, the light that reflects from us, you know, the joy that's there, but how quickly that light can turn to darkness if we give into our own thoughts, our own ideas, and begin to think how great I am, as opposed to how great you God are. And then, and then I won't go down into verses 16 and on, but then he talks about, you know, he talks and compares it to a physical king there in verse 17. He says, I cast you to the ground. I laid you in four kings that they might gaze at you. And so, you know, the world will, when they understand what's going on, the God that they worship that was only dedicated to their destruction, their misery, their suffering, and their death, they will rule the day that they followed Satan instead.

Okay, let's go back to Isaiah. I want to say, Brother Shavey. Yes, sir. Just as a scripture that complements what Brother Glasgow, did I get that right, said earlier? It's in Malachi chapter 3, where God says in verse 14, you have said it is vain to serve God, and what prophets visit that you have kept this charge, that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we are calling arrogant blessed, gay. They that were wickedness are built up, they even tempat and are delivered. Then those who fear and the Lord spoke together, each man to his neighbor, and the Lord listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared him, and for those who thought upon his name. Verse 17, God says, and they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, and that day when I will make up my own special jewels. So, you know, quick and stone now to be made jewels. Yep, that's another another beautiful verse. And verse 16, of course, those who feared the Lord, a book of remembrance made, so they spoke, they spoke to one another. You know, that's, that's, yeah, yeah, very good. God continually has come back to those jewels. There's, there is meaning in that, as I think we've even understood a little bit more here in the last few minutes, so.

Matthew 5, 14 is where it says you are the light of the world.

Yes. Yep. In the same way, let your light shine before men.

And that light, that light, yeah, that light is so important. Yeah, exactly.

And it's a different light, a different light than anything people have seen before they recognize that light, they don't know where it comes from, but they, they know there's something different and special about that light when they see it. So we've been doing something really interesting. Mind you, this is kindergarten, but we're talking about Christ being the light of the world and us being reflecting that light using fun and the moon. It's sort of nice to think about how, as Christ, as our light, as the sun, and if we think of ourselves reflecting that light, like really without Him, we're just darkness. There's nothing there to shine. Yeah, yeah. And when that light goes out, remember the verse that says, how dark is that darkness? When the light goes out, it's, it's, it's, it's pitch black, so nothing left. Okay, if we go back to, let me say, go back to Isaiah 14. We'll continue there. So we, we see God paints the picture of Satan. This is the spirit of disobedience. This is the spirit of murder. This is the spirit of lies. And also, this is the spirit of, of a mixture of truth in there, right? We talked about that last week too. Satan is very good at mixing food for prayer and, and deceiving, you know, deceiving many, you know, we got to look for the pure truth and be dedicated and committed to seeking the pure truth. So Isaiah 14 verse 16.

I say, yep. Okay, those who see you, verse 16, those who see you will gaze at you and consider you saying, is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms? You look like just an insignificant person, just like these kings, right? When they die, there's nothing left. It's like, you know, you're very short, you're nothing, you don't look like the giant that you presented yourself on earth. And consider you're saying, is this the one who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms? When Christ comes and Satan is bound and put away, it's like, this is you, you did this to the, you did this to the world. We allowed you to do this by our own choice and became like you and allowed your spirit to dwell in us, who made the world as wilderness and destroyed its cities.

Satan always dedicated to destruction, who didn't open the house of his prisoners. When you read what that kind of means, it means they were just cruel, cruel and oppressive. They didn't have, you know, and I think of 2 Timothy 3 talks about men who are without natural affection. They don't care how much people are suffering. They don't care about it. And that this verse kind of tells.

This is you, this is you who didn't open the house of his prisoners. You just had no natural affection at all. You were just dedicated to people's misery. All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory. Now, what he's talking about here in these verses is how, you know, you know that when the kings died and all, they would build these great, these great temples to them, these mausoleums to them. In Egypt, we have each one of those pharaohs who had his own little pyramid or whatever. So it talks about all the kings of the nations, all the great ones, right? They all sleep in glory. You know, they rected all of these buildings to them, everyone in his own house. But you, you are so evil, you are so evil that you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch. This is an evil king. This is not someone that they want to spend time building this tremendous tribute to or, or this tomb to that people will go and visit and remember them. You're one we want to forget you even exist, right? You're cast out of your grave like an abominable branch. He's a detested, he's a detested, detested one, like the garment of those who are slain. I mean, what that's talking about is like, it's a bloodstain garment, not anything that you would, that you would covet, you know, or anything that you would want to take home. You're like the garment of those who are slain thrust through with the sword, you go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. Not even worth burying. They don't even want to take the time to bury. It's, it's one of those, it's just an ugly picture of a life that there is absolutely no tribute. No one wants to remember. No one wants to honor that person in any way, shape, or form. That's the picture of what we have here, these evil kings who brought such destruction and misery on people. Verse 20, you will not be joined with them in burial. You're not going to be honored. There's not going to be a pyramid erected to you. There's not going to be even a gravestone honoring your, they don't even, people don't want to even remember you were there. You won't be joined with them in burial because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The brood of evil doo-doo-doo-doo-ers shall never be named. Shall never be named. What it means is there's not going to be a remembrance of you. You know, we're not going to name our next highway after you. We're not going to name a city after you. We don't want to remember you. You will never be remembered. We would like to forget that you exist. So let's, I mean, there's a couple of verses here and you know that we can go back and look at because the book of Psalms will talk about that as well. Let's go back to Psalm 21.

Psalm 21 and verse 19. Well, there are some things that are not at verse 19. Psalm 21. Oh, I guess that's a 10. Looks like a 9. Psalm 21. Yeah. Their offspring you shall destroy from the earth and there's descendants from among the sons of men. This is the type of people that, you know, you read about it in the Bible sometimes. Achan comes to mind. Achan comes to mind in that city of A.I. when Israel was coming, they were beginning to conquer the land of Jericho and he hid that. He hid the things that God said, destroy everything. Don't take anything out of Jericho. He decided he would hide it and God destroyed the entire, again, destroy that entire family because it's like I don't even want that spirit that's now been written in the hearts of those people to even exist that needs to be wiped out. Same thing with Korah and the rebellion. Their entire family suffered because of what the man did because God didn't want any of the memory of that happening. I'll be with you in just a minute, Bill. We were on Psalm 21.10 and let's see what I got here. Psalm 109. Well, while we're on the way, let's go to stop Psalm 37 and look at that. Psalm 37 and verse 7. Yeah, again, it's talking about the evil, the evil people, evil people of the world. It says, Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way. You know, these kings of old. I mean, patience. God will deliver. We're going to be faced with that. Evil people, we just have to kind of trust in God and that he will bring us through. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anchor, forsake wrath, don't fret. It only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the eternal, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more. Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it will be no more. No remembrance, no tomb, but the meek. Same thing that Jesus Christ said, the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Okay, Bill?

Yes, and you mentioned, without natural affection, I just wanted to bring in an interesting thing about the Greek. The word is astorgos. Astorgos is a fourth word for love in the Greek. It has to do with family love, and then you put an A in front of it. It means without. So astorgos means, instead of without natural affection, it means without family love, which is kind of like prophetic of now. Yeah, and that, and pathetic, right? Going off more prophetic, that you don't even care enough about your own family. You just allow them to suffer along with it. Yeah, very good. So, okay, okay. Isaiah, let's go back to Isaiah 14. I also had Isaiah, or Psalm 109 13, I think. We won't bother turning there, talking the same thing about the evil people, and that they will come, they will come to nothing. So, okay, we were in verse 20, so we will go down to 21.

Now, here's, yeah, actually, I should have written, read verse 21 before I went to those other verses.

It says, prepare slaughter for his children. Prepare slaughter for his children. You're so evil, you know, you're so evil, your children shouldn't even leave. Prepare slaughter for his children, because of the iniquity of their fathers, lest they rise up and possess the land, and fill the face of the world with cities. What it means is cities like Babylon, cities like the cities of Assyria, like kingdoms like those who are there. Bill, did you have another, another comment?

No, your mic's off. I didn't take my thing down. The person that wanted to know about Darius, when you get, whenever you want, I would like to show that, I don't know if you can see it, or maybe, maybe, we'll do that, we'll do that, we'll do that at the end. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Let's go back to the chapter here. So, so here, God is showing, and the reason he would do that, wipe out that, because if children are exposed to something, that's why it's important we teach our children well, and we keep them, we keep them focused on God's Word. That's one of the things when you read the news today, and when you listen to the news, this whole thing about CRT, and all this, all this stuff about sexualizing children, exposure to drag queens, and all this, you know, if you don't want to be a boy, you don't have to be a boy, if you don't want to be a girl, just putting things in, it's immense kids in ways that no one knows how, that can never be natural people. So it's important, it's important as parents that we, even more so than ever in our lives, teach our children the way of God, keep them focused on what reality is, and what the real way of life is, because they will learn nothing in the world, except things that can destroy them, destroy them mentally, and destroy their ability to have any kind of good life at all. So very important for children too, our parents, keep your children focused on God, always, just like it says in Deuteronomy 6, warning noon and night, focus on God, give them the gift of knowing God, knowing the way of life, and give them the way to peace and joy that they will never find in the world, if they listen to what's going on out there. Savior, did you have a comment?

Oh, from this verse, wouldn't it be proper to glean that God is saying here that children of these men are also practicing the same works, because God says, and Charles shall not suffer for their father's sins, but each soul for their sin, each person, even person for their own sin. So like you said, those children, if they're programmed like societies down to children, and they continue that work of their fathers, God said that the children of third and fourth generation of those who hate him. So this is not just indicating that he's just killing children, because they were relatives of these men, he's killing them because they're continuing their father's works. No, I don't know. Verse 20 says, lest they rise up and possess the land, right? Achan's children were killed along with Achan. They didn't do it. Achan did. Cora's family was killed along with him. It was Cora who commented that rebellion against Moses, and God said, and over and over in the Old Testament, he says that, so evil will depart from Israel, be cut off from Israel. Just get that spirit away. Don't allow that spirit to develop in people and everything. So sounds tough, but yeah. So Lomond said that if you raise a child in a certain way, even when he's old, he shall not depart from it. So it's basically that they learn the ways of their ancestors, and it's very difficult to overcome that. Someone has to basically start the path to righteousness, and the reverse is also true. The children and the descendants benefit from the righteousness of their parents as long as they stay on it. Yep. Good point. Teach them well, but if you teach them bad by example, they're going to follow in that bad example too. Yeah, good observation. Okay, verse 22, Isaiah 14. God says, as he says, all this is for I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. Okay, I will rise up against these evil people, these cities, these rulers, and whatever. I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant and offspring and posterity. It is a society and it's a system that is just completely immersed in evil, and so sometimes it can become so demented that God has no choice. You know, of course, we have the second resurrection. God is merciful. He's not willing that any should perish, that everyone should repent. Keyword repent. Repent comes before eternal life and accept God's way. When they, we could pray and hope that people, when they're faced and those books are opened, as pictured on the eighth day, that they will receive. They will receive the truth and repent and turn to God. Okay, you know, verse 23. Verse 23 then is this prophecy against Babylon. I think we might have read that right at the end of last week.

It says, I will also make it Babylon, a position for the porcupine and marshes of muddy water. I will sweep it with the room of destructions as the Lord of hosts. This is a prophecy that talks about the Babylon being destroyed and never inhabited again. So let me, I think I put this up last week, but let me put it up again. And this is from Barnes' commentary that talks about the Babylon, the city of Babylon. So since we're here reading about that ancient Babylon, this could also have implications for the future Babylon of Revelation 18 when it is, when it is completely destroyed.

And remember the verse we read last week in Revelation 18 about it being cast into the water, etc., etc. But here's what some of the history is about that ancient Babylon. It says, interestingly, after its fall, ancient Babylon did become an abandoned place of marshes as the Euphrates River gradually changed course and moved farther away from the city, a process which was begun when Babylon's conquer Cyrus of Persia. Remember Cyrus, God actually said Cyrus and named him by name before he was ever born, but when Babylon's conquer Cyrus of Persia removed dikes that kept the river in a particular course. So he did change that, and you know, history shows that.

And as that happened, where Babylon was, when it was eventually destroyed, did become marshes, is what he's saying here. Isaiah referred to it before the fact, we'll get to this in Isaiah 21, as the wilderness of the sea, talking about Babylon that was covered by water. In fact, this is part of the reason that Alexander the Great's successor, Seleucus, moved his capital from Babylon shortly after establishing it there.

That was kind of a case in that time, like, oh, the water is rising, Babylon will be no more. Today we hear that, you know, in conjunction with some of the things that people say, oh, you know, the sea will rise, and everything within 30 miles of the of the coast will be underwater.

Well, that really did happen to Babylon, so it is, you know, covered by marshes. And then, actually, this isn't from Barnes, this is from our our Ucg Bible commentary. I know that because the last period, yes, there will probably be a greater fulfillment of this prophecy when in time Babylon is cast down. Perhaps such a fate will be for the modern capital of Babylon, apparently the city of Rome. And you'll remember last week we showed how the migration of the actual Babylonians, after they were conquered, continued north to where, you know, they became slaves in Italy, eventually freed in Italy.

So the modern-day descendants of ancient Babylon, you know, is documented by secular sources. Say they are in Italy, Italy, and in the area of Italy today. So, okay, so that's, we go back, we are already in Isaiah 14.

So we have this, this prophecy. And so we were talking about Babylon. Okay, Babylon conquered Judah, right? And then Babylon, Babylon, in Revelation, we see drunk with the blood of the saints. Future Babylon hates the people of God. Ancient Babylon took the people of God and carried a path to modern or future Babylon. That system that's there at the time of Christ's return, it stands on the earth, hates the people of God, drunk with the blood of saints. But then in verses 24 and 25, you know, Assyria is brought into this prophecy against Babylon.

And we have to wonder, wonder why, but let's read it and then, and then see what God is saying here. We've got all this events, Babylon says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so it will come to pass. And we see that in Isaiah later on, verses, I think it's chapters 45 and 55. My word won't return to me void.

If I said it, it will come to pass, right? Surely as I have thought, so it will come to pass. And as I have purposed, so it shall stand. God is saying these prophecies are sure.

Then I will break the Assyrian in my land. That I will break the Assyrian in my land.

Now let's think about Assyria. Why would God be bringing Assyria in here at this time?

Likely because it was Assyria who conquered the house of Israel, the ten tribes of the house of Israel. Babylon conquered Judah, but it was Assyria in 727-21 BC that conquered Israel.

We know these prophecies are dual. We talked about those. We know about Assyria. We talked about Assyria in the past and how likely, with the time of Jacob's trouble, Assyria, modern day Assyria, wherever that is. We talked about where the modern day Assyrians may be, where the physical geography of Assyria is in today's world. But they will figure prominently in the downfall of modern day Israel, just like Assyria conquered the Israel of the old time. So God says, okay, Assyria is an oppressor of my people too. Babylon of Judah, Assyria of Israel, I will break the Assyrian in my land. We know where God's promised land is. And on my mountains I will tread him under foot, God says. Then his yoke shall be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulders. Who's the them in there? Israel. I'll take their... they have made my people, their captives, but I will free them. Christ, right? I have come to set at liberty the oppressed. On my mountains I will tread him under foot, and his yoke shall be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth. Against the whole earth. Against. There's that word against. Not for. Against the whole earth. Against Assyria and Babylon. The ones who shake the kingdoms. The ones who shake the world with their might and their power and their destructive ability who bring the world to its knees and eventually have the people allied against God gather together there at Armageddon to fight God. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole world. Assyria and Babylon dominate. Dominate in the end time.

And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations, for the Lord of hosts has purposed. And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out. Maybe we've seen that phrase show up in Isaiah before. His hand is stretched out still. His hand is stretched out. Who will turn it back? Who can go against? Who can go against God? And so let's just stop there and we'll move into a different section here in the last few verses, but we'll cover those next week along with chapter 15. But let me go ahead and pause and, you know, any comments or any questions that anyone might have?

We can take those now. Yes. Hey, Frank. In Obadiah, verse 18, it says, And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph the flame, and the house of Esau were stubbled, and there shall not be any remain of the house of Esau.

So this is fallen. This is Turkey today, I think. So they're going to be wiped out, too. Yeah. Yeah, Obadiah is a pretty clear book, and when God says none, right, he doesn't mean almost, almost everybody, he means none. So he, well, that sounds ominous. We always remember there's a second resurrection. There is, you know, there is Jesus Christ right for all mankind, but God knows where there's thorough evil in this lifetime, without the knowledge of Christ. You know, there's no turning back. What was that, Bernie? What was that, Bernie? Obadiah what?

Obadiah, 18, right, Frank? Yes, that's one job, I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. One thing that is, that evil seems to run in families. I mean, is that what I'm getting here?

Yeah, it certainly can be inherited, right? I mean, you look at, you look at Ishmael, right? Ishmael. Look at that. I mean, there's this, there's this animosity against, um, um, against Isaac that, that has just permeated down through the, down through the ages.

It's just there, you have Amalep, right? Always an enemy of God. So those children are just trained to hate, hate, hate. You see that in the modern world, local world and whatever, you just, people who are trained to hate, kids are who are trained to hate Judah. You can't erase that. Only God's spirit could erase that. It can't be changed by the natural human mind when you raise a child to hate as much as they, as much as they hate. So, good shaving. Yes. Good. I was going to mention something else, but a friend's comment just reminded me of something I read somewhere that psychopaths can actually pass on that trade to their descendants.

She's interested in this context. And the other comment I had is, has the area been mentioned on this area here? I guess this is speculation, but it could be an indication that at the time of the end, the modern-day descendants of Assyria probably will be part of that end-time Biz system, which would be the Babylonian system of the end time. Because again, this reference here, Assyria at this time had been conquered by Babylon. So, God bringing it up here, it's probably more of an indication of what's going to happen at the time of the end. Yeah. Yeah, they certainly have a prior fulfillment, but most of Isaiah really, most of it is talking about a future fulfillment of these things. I shouldn't say really. It's dual, but yeah. Yeah, Xavier? I appreciate the fact that we keep reminding, being reminded that there's a second resurrection, because God says He will have mercy and we will have mercy. And we know, like the Tyre, everybody was going to die. And from the preaching that God caused Jonah to do, we granted them repentance. It saved the whole city. And Christ even referenced the stuff like that with Sodom. He said if what was done here was done in Sodom, they would have repented a long time ago. Everybody would have been alive, but God didn't grant them repentance. Yeah. We always have to remember that, because it would be easy, as some people do, to think God's an evil, cruel God. But He has all of mankind's interest at heart. It's just when. Everyone will have their opportunity. What is it? The kingdom of heaven is like the king who showed mercy on the servant, who owed him a whole bunch of money. That's what it makes me think of. Yeah, very good. He's merciful. He paid the debts. Yes, exactly. Okay, anything else? Anyone? Mr. Shaby? Yes, ma'am. Are you going to be speaking again anytime soon?

I'm speaking in Cincinnati to assess.

I catch it every time. You do catch it every time. I know you do. I want to ask you one more thing. Can I speak with you afterwards? Yes, absolutely. Okay, I hate to ask you this, but can I get your number again? Yeah, 386-986-986-1441. Okay, okay. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Mr. Shaby. Oh, hi. Hi, Lynn.

I listened to a great sermon that a friend had shared with me. It's called Satan's Unseen Kingdom, How It Operates by Ken Martin. It was from 2014. It is an excellent sermon. I remember that. Yeah, that's a good one. It will be on ucg.org. Type in Ken Martin's name and you'll find it.

Yeah, I'm wanting to show that.