Bible Study: November 29, 2023

Okay, so last time, a couple weeks ago, we began chapter 63. We were in a very... these last chapters of Isaiah are all very inspiring. The chapters we're going to look at tonight really should give us, I'd say, a greater appreciation for Jesus Christ, the love that God has for all of mankind, the love that He has for Israel. It should help us understand it more. They are beautiful chapters. There are some things that are interspersed in there that aren't so great, but it's the not-so-great of man rejecting God or just not even paying attention to Him. And we never want to be people who discount God or take Him for granted, but always be appreciative of everything that He does and His plan.

Even though there's rough times coming in the world ahead of us, His plan of salvation for all mankind just shows His great love. So last time, we began chapter 63, and I think we got down to about chapter 7. But I want to go back through and begin at verse 1 again, just because these two chapters, 63 and 64, are very inspiring.

They give us a very good picture of God, the wording, the verbiage, the way God presents it here. I think it's just inspiring. And it also pounce us to in these early verses of chapter 63 to Revelation. Again, it ties the Bible together. There's this continuity from Old Testament to New Testament, and what Isaiah is talking about here in Christ returning to earth. And there's blood involved in it, of course. But there's the beauty after His return for all of mankind.

So in chapter 63, verse 1, I'm not going to go back and reference everything we did last time, but I'll give you some Scripture references to just jog your memory of what we talked about. And chapter 63, beginning there in verse 1, it says, Who is this who comes from Eden? With dyed garments from Basra. And we went back and we read Isaiah 34 last time, Isaiah 34, verse 6, and there's verses surrounding it. And we see this very same thing talked about in Isaiah 34. Again, in Isaiah, we come back to concepts that God keeps showing us.

They are the certainty of His Word. Early on, we'll read something. Later on in the middle of the book, we read the same thing. Here in the latter chapters, we could go back, as we will later on, to earlier chapters in Isaiah and seeing God repeating the same things.

It's the certainty of His Word, the certainty of what is going to happen. And in these verses, it points us to Revelation. A little bit will turn to Revelation, and you'll see, again, the direct comparison between the two. Who is this who comes from Zetim? With dyed garments from Basra. This one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I, who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. This is speaking of Christ. These dyed garments are ones who, you know, what he is wearing, who he is. In verse 2, we read about the red dye that's in those garments.

Why is your apparel red? And your garment's like one who treads in the winepress. I have trodden the winepress alone. And, of course, you know, again, we'll turn to Revelation in a bit. But these are Revelation verses he's talking about here. Revelation 19, when Christ returns, and it talks about the day of vengeance. It talks about his return to earth. It talks about him trotting the winepress. It talks about him being stained with the blood of the people as he comes and conquers the masses that are gathered before him to fight him.

I have trodden the winepress alone. Alone. He alone is the one who is going to—he is our Savior. He alone does it. There will be armies with him, but it is him. It is him. And when you read Revelation 19, it's him who conquers. I have trodden the winepress alone.

And from the peoples no one was with me. For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes. Last time we turned to Revelation 19 and read those verses. You could do that later, too, if you want to. But going on in verse 4, it says, For the day of vengeance is in my heart.

This is the day of the Lord. Let's go ahead and do turn to Revelation on this one. Let's turn to Revelation 6. Again, just to show the direct correlation here. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

In Revelation 6, we see this day of vengeance. Let's begin in verse 15. This is the sixth seal that's opened. It's the heavenly signs. Let me just begin in verse 14. The sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up. Every mountain and every mountain of the Lord is a scroll. In Revelation 6, the sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up.

Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. You can only imagine what that will be like when those heavenly signs occur. All these dramatic things occur on earth. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men. Everyone will know. Everyone will experience this. Everyone will be exempt from the terror that will be among those who don't know God.

What is happening is they see the world that they counted on, and in some cases just worshiped, falling apart before their eyes. This is not anything that could be predicted. This is clearly a sign of God. It says, everyone, everyone on earth, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, We remember the day when we read this in these prophetic situations, and it correlates to year, for the great day of his wrath has come and who was able to stand?

No one. No one can stand against God. Without Christ's intervention, everyone, everyone, would perish. The great day of his wrath, and that's exactly what we want to see during the day of our day, is the next day. The day of vengeance is in my heart, comma, and the year of my redeemed has come. The day of my vengeance is the year of my redeemed. The ones I'm going to redeem from the earth. We know of that redemption.

We know the people that he has redeemed. We're part of that group of people that God has redeemed when we respond to his call and live his life and become the people he wants us to become. Verse 5, he then points to—it's him alone. Actually, I should have told you to keep your fingers there in Revelation 5. We're going to go back there in just a minute. But in verse 5 of Isaiah 63 here, it says, I looked, but there was no one to help. Who's going to save man from this day of vengeance?

We just read that in chapter 6 and verse 17 of Revelation. Who can stand against God? No one can. I looked, but there was no one to help. I wondered, there is no man. There's no one qualified to do that. That there was no one to uphold. Therefore, my own arm—this is Christ—my own arm brought salvation for me. Now, I have Isaiah 59 marked in my Bible. Let me see what that verse says here.

No, yeah, I need—not 59 verse 16. We go back there. It's the same type of thing that Christ has said, inspired back here in 59-16. Again, keeping the same type of verbiage so that we know what he's speaking of.

In 59-16, it says, he—again referring to Christ—he saw that there was no man and wondered why there was no intercessor. Therefore, his own arm brought salvation for him, and his own righteousness. It sustained him. There was no man. There was no man on earth that was qualified that could stand and stand. It took Jesus Christ—Jesus Christ coming to earth, living as a human, dying, being resurrected, and living the perfect life. Only he is qualified to be our Savior. That's exactly what it says in Revelation 5 if we go back there.

Revelation 5. I'm going to read the first 10 verses because they're beautiful verses. Again, it speaks of Christ, and it speaks. He is the only one. He is our Savior in every single sense of the word. Revelation 5 and verse 1.

This is a vision John was in.

Jesus.

That us really should be them, if you look back in the original translation. It redeemed them—speaking of the first British—redeemed them to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made them kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. It's a beautiful set of verses, but even the hosts in heaven, you can see how important the return of Jesus Christ to this earth is. That they've been waiting, and He is the one. He is the only one who is worthy to open those scrolls so that the rest of the plan of God can continue. He's the only one who could have paid the price for our sins and opened the opportunity for eternal life if we find Him. Only Him. Everything hinged on Him. It's no wonder when you get in the New Testament that God the Father says, I give Him all authority in heaven and earth. He did it. He fulfilled His commission, and He is clearly the Savior in every sense of the Word. Not that God the Father doesn't have a part in it. He's key in the whole thing as well, but Jesus Christ is the one who was on earth and sacrificed His life in the way that He did, with the power of the Holy Spirit that came from, of course, God the Father. So we see this tremendous thing here, and we see in Isaiah 63 as we go back there. Again, Christ painting the picture that there is no one else. The only name through which salvation comes is Jesus Christ, as it says in Acts 4, 12. So if we go back to 64, and we see this. It was all on Jesus Christ's shoulders. He did it. He succeeded in His mission and did it out of the love that He had, the agape love that He has for us and for God the Father and the plan of God to complete the mission that He had, as difficult as it was. So we were in verse 5. Let's look at Isaiah 63 verse 6 as we continue. I have trodden down the peoples in my anger. I've made them drunk in my fury, and I brought down their strength to the earth. Well, you know, God has a right to be angry with mankind. He has blessed mankind. He could have given up on mankind long ago and said it's not worth it. When He flooded the earth back in the time of Noah, He could have said, just wipe them all out. We'll just start all over. We don't need these people. But He didn't. He continued with the plan. And mankind has rejected Him, has resisted Him. And so in His fury, He has the right to be angry because everything He's given, mankind hasn't given Him anything back, really.

We yield ourselves to God as part of the love that we have for Him and appreciation and gratitude for what He's done for us. But He's got this anchor, and He brought down their strength to the earth. When you look at the return of Jesus Christ, when you look at Revelation 19 and see how the armies of the world are just destroyed in an instant.

I mean, it isn't a battle. It is just Him coming down there, and they're just wiped out. They're just there. And all the world, they're completely afflicted, but they're completely humbled. Everything that they counted on has just been completely in an instant taken away. No more infrastructure. The city that they look to has been destroyed. The world has been decimated by the trumpet bowls that have been poured out on them.

They recognize the power of God, and they stand before God, a humble people, much like the people of Israel in Ezekiel 20, when they stood at the Mount Sinai and just tearing the thundering of God. They trembled. Just think what the people then will be trembling. And, you know, mankind has to be brought to a very humble state before we can ever accept God.

And this is what happens in verse 6. He brought down their strength to the earth, completely, completely humbled. They realize they are no match for God. Verse 7, you know, that's not the greatest picture, but verse 7 shows again the love of God. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord. I'll mention it. Because even though this is not a great thing that we would, you know, hope to have happen, it is in love that God has this happen.

I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that He has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which is bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses. He loved all mankind. His will was that none would perish. And even though how many, who knows how many, will die in that time that Jesus Christ returns of those multitude of armies, that multitude of armies is destroyed, they will all have a chance to live again.

And in God's plan of salvation, they'll have an opportunity to yield to God, repent of what they've done, accept Him as their Savior, and have their heart turned to Him, not just lip service and not just rope compliance with the law, but actually heart turned to God, which is what God is looking for in us as well.

They'll have that opportunity. God's not willing that any will perish, but sadly some will. They simply will not yield to God. But we have the loving-kindness of God, as it talks about here in verse 7. And again, He talks about His people, the people of Israel.

He says that in verse 8, He says, for He said, Surely they are my people. You know, again, God does have a special love for Israel. It doesn't mean that He doesn't love all of mankind. He does. Jesus Christ died for all of mankind, not just for Israel. But remember when it says, My people, and it talks about My people, that God says earlier in Isaiah, He created Israel. And we've talked about that several times, but it's key to remember it.

They are the children of promise. Abraham, father of the faithful, Sarah, his wife, Baron, only by faith in God, and only by God's intervention, was Isaac born. Isaac, you have the twins, you have Jacob, you have Joseph, you know, children of promise. You see the barrenness in those families. But then God gives that child of love through whom His line and the faith in Him continues. And so Israel, the people of Israel, you know, God has a special love for them, even though they turn against Him, and He does pour out His fury on them, as it says.

But He still loves them. Doesn't mean He doesn't love the rest of the world. Doesn't mean the rest of the people are going to, you know, be less by that. But they are His people. They were the line, if you will, through the time of the earth. It talks about the line of God back in Genesis and, you know, Abraham and that line is there. So God is aware of who they are. Verse 8, Surely they are my people. We've spoken about Deuteronomy 7 verses 6 and 7 there, where God in the Old Testament says, you know, you are my special treasure on the earth, physical Israel.

1 Peter 2.9, He says it about spiritual Israel in the New Testament times. Everyone who He calls and who repents, genuinely repents, is baptized and has the Holy Spirit in Him, that God puts the Holy Spirit in Him. Those are His people now. And we see that in Revelation. We see that in Isaiah as well. Physical Israel, and then also spiritual Israel as well. For He said, Surely they are my people, children who will not lie. So He became their Savior.

Verse 8 is an interesting thing. Children who will not lie. Remember, this is talking of the time after Jesus Christ returns. And as you look at what the original Hebrew words are there, and some of the other translations, including the Young's Literal Translation, a better word says not lie, it means untrue. So if we're untrue, it means we're lying, right? If I give you an untruth, I've lied. But it really should be translated children who will not be untrue, or people who will not betray God.

And He knows this. He knows this. He knows this of His people. Jesus Christ returns. Israel becomes His people. We've talked about how they will follow His way. He will put His law in their minds and in their hearts. And they will be the model nation He always wanted them to become. Children who will not be untrue. I want to go back to Ezekiel 20. Because in Ezekiel 20, or not back, I guess forward to Ezekiel 20, He talks about that and how God will come to know about you and me. That we will be people that are not untrue. Children who will not be untrue, right? Or will not be loyal to Him. He comes to know this as we go through a process of turning our hearts to Him. In Ezekiel 20, begin in verse 30. I'm going to read down to verse 44, probably intermittently, so that we get the story here. Again, He's talking about His people in Israel. And in verse 30, He says to Ezekiel, therefore say to the house of Israel. Remember, at this point in time, Ezekiel, the house of Israel has already gone into captivity. They're in the process of the Jews being exiled into Babylon. Ezekiel's in that group. So when God says, say to the house of Israel, this is for the latter days. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers and committing harlotry according to their abominations? Are you sitting against me? Are you looking at the ways of the world and allowing those into your way again? For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? Do you expect me to listen to prayers when you're doing things that are contrary to my way of life? So should I listen to you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

I will yield to me. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. I will rescue you. I will bring you out. I will redeem you and bring you back to your land. Well, that's what it says in Matthew 35. I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead my case with you face to face. In the chapters of Isaiah, we've seen God pleading his case face to face. Remember those chapters where it was like, okay, look at this. Look at this. Who is the one who is able to predict the end from the beginning? It was God. It wasn't any of these idols. It wasn't any of these diviners or people. It was God. As he goes over and over, as those examples that we read in Isaiah 40s and 50s there, I pleaded my case with your fathers. He's talking about in the wilderness back there, but he's going to do it again in the land of Egypt. So I will plead my case with you. I will make you pass under the rod. I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge the rebels from among you. Remember God as always. He is looking to purify us individually, but he is continually looking to purify his church, the temple that Christ will return to.

We all need to be about purifying ourselves and becoming the people individually and collectively God wants us to be. I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me, I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they will not enter the land of Israel. He says, then you will know that I am the eternal. For those of you who just joined, we are in Ezekiel 20, beginning in verse 39 now.

He says, the Lord God. He says, the Lord God. Let me see. Verse 44.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised my hand in an oath to give to your fathers, and there you will remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled.

You will see the goodness of God. He will bring back, and you will remember how you dishonored Him, disrespected Him, sinned against Him, did the opposite of what He did. We're not willing to just completely yield to Him. There you will remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled, and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. They will repent wholeheartedly. When we loathe ourselves, when we look at our lives and loathe ourselves for what we do, that's the repentance, the godly repentance, the deep life-changing, heart-changing repentance that God is looking for. When you and I do that, we're committed to God. We have to continue the repentance and let God mold us and direct us as we go through our lives. But when physical Israel does that and they see the mercy of God, when they see Him bring them back and they see and understand what they have done and how they have disrespected God and they loathe themselves, that word is a strong hating of self. That they just... it's the repentance and God knows when we go through that repentance, when we're ready to bury the old self and we see the wickedness of the evil in our hearts and our ways and we feel the joy and the love and the purpose and the meaning and the zeal from having God's Spirit live in us, God knows. God knows we won't turn back. Well, with this Holy Spirit, we better not turn back. He knows Israel won't turn back. You will loathe yourselves in your own sight because of the evils that you have committed. Then you will know that I am the Lord. When we know God is God, when we accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice and we know God is God, that's the life-changing, heart-changing, mind-changing, altering in life that we can't... that we would never go back to because we know. And there's that deep knowing. Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel. I will give you life. I will forgive you and forgive your sins. And that's what he's talking about here when he says, children who will not be untrue. When there's that deep conversion that comes from knowing God, they won't be untrue. They will live their lives. They will be grateful, supremely grateful. And that's an understatement that God has been merciful to them in the same way that you and I should have that same gratitude, like Paul said in Romans 12. It is our reasonable service to offer our lives as a living sacrifice if we really appreciate what God has done for us and we live our lives with that gratitude. So, you know, in Isaiah 63 here, we again, we see we know the sins of Israel. We know what's going to happen between now and then. We see the countries that we live in, all our countries of those who are on this line tonight. You know, we see the sins that the nations that God has blessed, how they're moving in that direction, but God will bring them back and forgive them. Verse 8, if we continue on in verse 8, well, we read that, but he said, surely they are my people, children who will not be untrue, so he became their Savior.

He knows. He knows what's in our hearts. He knows who we are. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, and all their affliction, he was afflicted. Now, we could turn to Hebrews 4 and Hebrews 5 here. And all their affliction, he was afflicted. Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews, let me see what I wrote down here. There's another verse in Hebrews there that says, verse 8. Oh yeah, Hebrews 5, 8, and 9. He was perfect through sufferings. Christ was already perfect, but he became who he needed to be as he suffered, and he yielded himself to God and trusted in God to see him through all those times. And so when we go through our trials and tribulations and setbacks and whatever, you know, Paul says in Romans again, I don't count the suffering that I have to even be anywhere commensurate to the joy that will be revealed in us. We always have to keep our eyes on what God is doing. Excuse me. In all the affliction, verse 9, he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them. Now, this is, you know, you got the capital A there. You got the messenger. You got a picture of Christ there. And again, he is the Savior, the angel of his presence.

The angel of Christ, the angel of God, the Father, the angel of his presence saved them. He is the Savior is what it's saving there in his love. If this was the New Testament, that would be the word agape. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. He always loves us. Even in our sin, he never gives up on us until we completely give up on him and show him there's no chance we're going to yield to you. There's no chance we're going to do what you say. In his love and in his pity, he has mercy. God is a God of mercy. You and I are here because he has mercy on us. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. And he bore them and carried them all the days of old. You know, there's a poem. I probably should have downloaded that poem, right? Talking about how God carries us through our tough times. It's a really nice little poem that someone did there, but God does carry us. He uses that same analogy back in Exodus 19 when he's talking about ancient Israel as he's bringing them out of Egypt and through the wilderness all those years. Back in Exodus 19 and verse 4, God, you know, he'll carry us, right? Exodus 19 verse 4. And he says there, Brandon, I'll be with you in just a minute. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. It wasn't literal eagles' wings, but God was there with them. He was the one guiding them. He was there that carried them through the wilderness and provided for them, just like a bird is the Psalm 93 that talks about how he takes. The birds take their little birds and under their wings to protect and feed and see that they get where they need to be going. So you have this beautiful picture again of God working with us, protecting us, carrying us through life to get us where he wants us to be and where he desires us to be. Yeah, Brandon. Yes, I am, Mr. Shabrie. How are you, sir? Pretty good. How about you? I believe the poem you're talking about is Footprints. Yeah. I'll just give the condensed version, but essentially it talks about how they were walking along, there were two set of footprints, and then the person asked God, it seemed like when the hardest times of my life were there, I only saw one set of footprints, and then God basically responded and said, those were my footprints. I was carrying you. Yeah, it's a very... Footprints in the sand. That footprints in the sand, that's what it's called? Yeah. It's just a very nice little poem, and we realize God does carry us, right? It's not by our strength or by it. He's the one who sees us through the things that we go through, so... Okay, back in Isaiah. So we were... Let's, I guess we're in verse 10. Isaiah 63, verse 10. God did all these things for him. He's always there to provide. He carried Israel through the wilderness. He'll carry us, he says. Verse 10, while he's talking about ancient Israel here, but in verse 10, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. They rebelled against him. It's like they didn't appreciate what he did. They didn't take it into consideration. They took it for granted. They forgot about it, and they grieved his Holy Spirit.

You know, it tells us in the New Testament, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we act against our conscience, when we do the things that we know we shouldn't be doing, and we do it anyway. We completely yield to God, use his Holy Spirit, and let that Holy Spirit grow in you. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So what did he do? He turned himself against them as an enemy, and he fought against them. They had to reap the consequences of their actions. And he told them, if you turn against me, if you don't follow my ways, all will be well with you if you do. But if you don't, this is what's going to happen. And indeed, it happened exactly as he said it would. Verse 11. Then he remembered the days of old. You know, God never forgets us. He never forgets who we are. He never, you know, he never forgets who we are. We can turn back to him unless we harden our hearts against him. And that's such a sign that we don't ever want to do, that we keep sinning against God and eventually just grieve his Holy Spirit that he takes it from us. He remembered the days of old, and Moses and his people saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea? Well, where is that God? He took them through the Red Sea. He took them out of Israel. Where is he?

Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his heart? Speaking of Moses there. Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within them? I'll come back to that in a minute. Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within them? Well, that is the end of the verse. I'll just stop right there. There it says, Holy Spirit within them. That might lead people to say, Well, wait a minute. God didn't put his Holy Spirit into all of Israel. He did put his Holy Spirit to select people in ancient Israel. We have the account of God saying to Saul, His Holy Spirit will be in him and lead him. He would be turned into another man. And we know David had the Holy Spirit. He said, Please don't take it from me. But here, this within is the key word there. The Holy Spirit was among them. It was within them. It was within their midst. It was God who was leading them by the pillar of fire by day and the pillar of fire by night. The Holy Spirit was there, but wasn't in each individual person in Israel. That's why they could not resist Satan or could not resist the temptations of the world, as we have said so many times. But his Holy Spirit was there with that nation guiding and directing them. Xavier, hi. Yeah, Brother Shabir, I was about to say the same thing. The word means in the midst of, and as you stated, in certain individuals as well as among them to help them if God would call them, they could turn or do at least the letter of the law. And also, this reminds me of Deuteronomy chapter 4, in regards to Israel, God was His accent. Acts from the creation, since God made man and woman, has God ever done any of this stuff for one specific nature. Yep. You never did it except for them. You never did it. Very good. Very good. Okay, let's go on then. Remembering the questions, where is He? Verse 12, who led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make for himself an everlasting name? A miracle that no one saw coming. Not a man on earth could have imagined, oh, the way we're going to get out of this quandary that we're in with Pharaoh's army is that water is going to open up and let us walk through it on dry land. To make for himself an everlasting name who led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness that they might not stumble. Where is this God? Where is He, we might ask, as we're going through these troubles and whatever. Verse 14, it says, as a beast goes down into the valley and the Spirit of the Lord causes him to rest. Rest is a beautiful thing, right? The Spirit of the Lord causes him to rest. So you lead your people to make yourself a glorious name. You can mark down Matthew 11, 28 to tell you know what it means. Jesus Christ said, Come unto me. Come unto me, you who are weary and I will give you rest. When you yield to me, when you follow me, when you do the things I say, you will have rest. You will have peace.

Just as the beasts of the field, when the Holy Spirit leads them, they have rest. May well remind you of Isaiah 26, a key verse, you know, probably a many verse for many of us, Isaiah 26 and verse 3. It says, You will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind has stayed on you? Because he trusts in you. When we trust in God, you know, the waters may be churning, the storms may be brewing, they may look like it's going to overtake us. But when we keep our eyes on God, and we've trained ourselves through life to keep our eyes on God through whatever trial we're going through and to keep him fixed on him and know he can deliver us through anything.

He can heal any illness. He can see us through any rough times. His will will be done and not worry ourselves, be anxious about it, but learn to trust in God. You will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on you? Because he trusts in you.

And verse 14 of Isaiah 63 has that same, same sentiment that's there. Yes, Mr. Glasgow.

Hate to be a pest again, but you just, right before the Isaiah 26th street, you quoted another scripture, and I only got a part of it. I got verses 28 to 30.

And I missed the book and chapter.

It's Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verses 28 to 30.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, so 63, Isaiah 63 verse 15.

Here's, um, you look down from heaven. They're, they're calling on God. Look down from heaven and see from your habitation, holy and glorious.

Where are your zeal and your strength? They're yearning of your heart and your mercies toward me.

Look down and Israel will be like, where, where, what are you doing? What about the mercies that you should have for, for me?

Will you show us your mercy again? Will you show us your love again, the love that you have shown for us in the days of old?

We've seen, we've seen your kindness. We've seen your mercy.

We recognize that we probably don't deserve it, but show us that. Are they restrained? Are you withholding those from us? And why are you withholding them from us? Because God's will is to always give those.

But when we feel that God isn't doing that, we have to look at ourselves. What are we doing? What are we doing?

Again, and another good verse, you know, in Isaiah 54 to remember, it's 54 verse 7.

For a mere moment, I have forsaken you. For a mere moment, just a little time, you'll feel like you've been abandoned.

It was necessary that you feel that way so that you turn back to me. God doesn't abandon us.

What his will is when he does turn his back for a little while, for a mere moment, I forsaken you.

It's because he wants us to turn back to him.

And the conclusion of verse 7 there in Isaiah 54 is, So when we feel that God is distant, when we feel that he's not there, we feel apart from him, like the refrain here in verse 15, look to ourselves. Don't blame God. He's there. He's ready, but we need to turn to him.

And when we turn to him, he will show his mercy. Verse 16. Doubtless, you are our Father. Though Abraham was ignorant of us, Abraham wasn't alive during this time, right?

Though Abraham doesn't know us personally, he's dead and waiting for the resurrection.

Though Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel doesn't acknowledge us, you, O LORD, are our Father.

We are your children. We are your people. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.

O LORD, verse 17, why have you made us another very poor translation? God doesn't make us stray from himself.

We do that to ourselves. The better translation of it, when you look at the words and the newer translations have this correct.

O LORD, why have you allowed us to stray from your ways? Why did you let us stray from your ways?

You know, we are weak. Really, with verse 17, it's like, we're weak. Why didn't you just stop us?

Why didn't you just slap us and say, no? But remember, God says, and I wrote the verse down here.

I think it's in Deuteronomy 32. Put your finger there. It's a key verse, I think, to remember when we're going through things as well.

We see the world around us and what it does, and we might say, why does God allow that to go on forever and ever and ever?

You know, and why doesn't he just intervene quickly and take care of these wicked things that go on?

And as Israel would depart from them, remember, Deuteronomy 32 is kind of Israel in the latter days.

In Deuteronomy 32, verse 20, it says, and he said, I will hide my face from them.

They're headed in the wrong direction. They're going away from God, but I will hide my face from them.

I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.

They need to see what the result of their way of life is, what it brings on them.

And when they see the misery, the strife, the agony that they bring upon themselves, they should turn to God, where there is life, peace, joy, abundance, and the blessings of God and the relationship with God.

He will see and let people reap what they sow.

So that's why, you know, so verse 17 is, Oh, Lord, why did you let us stray from your ways? Well, he did because you had to learn your lesson. That way, the way of the world, the way of our own way, doesn't lead to things that are good. It always leads to way. It always leads to death. Why have you let us stray from your ways and hardened our heart from your fear? Return, God, is the plea here. Return for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance. Give us back. Restore us. Your holy people have possessed it but a little while. You gave it to us.

Yeah, but that is because of their actions that they lost it. Your holy people's possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.

We have become like those of old, over whom you never ruled, those who never were called by your name. We've become that way. And, you know, I won't take the time to look at Daniel 9 and chapter 64. Where are we? We're going to get into chapter 64. When I get to verse 5, I'm going to mention Daniel 9 again. It would be helpful to review Daniel's prayer. You know, God never says anything negative about Daniel, but in that prayer, Daniel keeps saying, We have sinned against you. We are a sinful nation.

Forgive our sins. He sees them as part and he's praying for the people. And this is what is going on here in 63. We've become like those of old, over whom you never ruled, those who were never called by your name. Not my people. Not my people. Does that trigger a thought of another? Book in another chapter. Let's start in for just a minute to Hosea right after the book of Daniel.

And chapter 1. You might read all of chapter 1 later if you're so disposed. But in Hosea 1, Hosea, remember, was a contemporary of Isaiah. Right there in the first verse, it talks about the same kings that Hosea prophesied during their reigns as Isaiah did. And then he tells Hosea, Go, go wed yourself to this harlot. Right? I mean, kind of picturing what Israel, Israel, you know, cheated on God, was a harlot God.

We've talked about that before. They were a harlot to God, weren't faithful to him. And he says in verse 2, Take a wife, and then they have two children. The first one here is verse 6, Call her name, Lo-ruhama, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel. Well, they sinned against him. They completely turned against him, and he did take away his mercy. They did go into captivity. Yet I will. I will have mercy on the house of Judah. So here he's talking about, yeah, Israel is going to go into captivity.

Judah, you'll continue for a while, but Judah didn't learn their lesson. They went into captivity under the Babylonians eventually. And then in verse 8, when his wife Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhama, she conceived and bore a son. And God said, Call his name, Lo-ami, for you are not my people. And Lo-ami means not my people, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

So here in chapter 63 of Isaiah, well, we've become like these people who are over whom you never ruled. We wouldn't allow you to rule over us and those who never were called by your name, not my people. And you see the parallel of the prophecies and in a Hosea to Isaiah and what he is prophesying, these words that we're hearing in these chapters. So 63, even though it's got some tough things in it, overall a very helpful and inspiring chapter.

Jesus Christ is Savior. His love for us trumps all. What we go through is for our own good so that we become completely loyal and never untrue to him. Chapter 64 continues in that vein. Oh, the answer is Christ. The answer is God. He is the Savior. Do we need to yield to him? The whole world needs to yield to him. Verse 1, Oh, that you would rend the heavens. Well, he will. We read in Revelation 6, that sixth seal, when it opens, the whole earth moves. The heavenly signs rattle the kings of the earth and the rich men.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake in your presence. Revelation 6 again, as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, reveal yourself to them, let them know your God. Revelation 6, all the men on earth knew it was God.

They didn't repent. Through all those signs, they had their hearts so hardened, but they knew it was him. They knew it was him who was shaking the earth. Make your name known to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence. It's just too bad that early on, when God was doing those things, they just don't repent and acknowledge you are the God of the universe. There is no power that can stand against you, but they have to keep pushing and pushing and pushing until that day when the armies are gathered and Christ comes and decimates them.

And the whole world is in a mess because they simply wouldn't yield to God. So they brought all that upon themselves. That the nations may tremble at your presence. And we read, they will be there, a humble people, when Christ returns and he conquers the nations before them. Make your name known to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence. When you did awesome things for which we didn't look. Now referring back to ancient Israel. You came down. The mountain shook at your presence. Back in Exodus 20, when all Israel feared what was going on as God shook that time and told, they learned the fear of God and said to Moses, don't even let God talk to us.

You talk to him and bring his message back to us. You did awesome things for which we didn't look. We didn't weren't expecting it. You came down. The mountain shook at your presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides you. There is no other God who has done the things that God has done. None of the idols, none of the Greek gods of mythology, none of them did anything.

They were all just stories. They were all just blocks of wood. There is no God who has ever performed except you. All the gods of all the nations are nothing. In the 40s and 50s of Isaiah and those chapters, God continually showed that. None of them could do anything that God did. Only one God. Nor has I seen any God beside you who acts for the one who waits for him. There's another part of our faith who acts for the one who waits for him.

Looking at the time, I'm going to give you Psalm 37 and 27 to look at later. Over and over in those Psalms, it says, wait. Wait for him. Wait patiently. Have faith in him. You know what the truth is. You know he is returning. Don't get anxious and make choices to choose the world or any part of it. Wait for him. What he says will absolutely happen.

And that's the faith as we wait in patience for him, no matter how tough times may be. Who acts for the one who waits for him. You meet him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness. Who remembers you in your ways. God does. He looks to the one who is humble, who trembles at his words, who does the things that he says. You meet him, verse 5, you meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers you in your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned in these ways we continue and we need to be saved. We are not perfect.

This is the Daniel 9 prayer again. We still are sinners and we need to repent. When we see it and God reveals that to us, we need to turn to Him. In those ways we continue, but as time goes on, as led by God's Spirit, we become more and more like Him.

So less and less. In these ways we continue and we need to be saved. We need you. Over and over we are reminded without you, our lives are worthless, meaningless, going nowhere. Verse 6, we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. We may think we're something special, we may think it, but in your eyes we are still stained.

We are still not wearing the white garments that God will put on us at the time of the marriage supper that's pictured in Revelation 19. Then all our sins will be washed away. Then we will have pure hearts and whatever when we continue through this life to continue to yield to Him and resist self, deny self, and choose Him. All our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. We need God's mercy. Not one of us can sit here and say, Hey, I'm there.

We need God's mercy. We need His presence in our lives. We need His Spirit. There is no one. It is interesting here in 7. There's no one who calls on your name. No one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you. There is no one in the world who does that. Romans 3 verses 10 through 18. I'll just paraphrase those verses because we've read them recently at the feast as well.

And those verses start off, there's none. There's none that call on you. There is none righteous. No, not one. And Paul is quoting from these verses here. And not one. Then it comes down to the way of peace they haven't known. Remember that? There is no peace because the way of peace they haven't known, there is no fear of God before their eyes. And so we have the same thing here. There's no one who calls on your name. It takes the fear of God to call on God's name.

To have that at the base of who we are, to have the reverence, the trust, the awe in Him, and the appreciation for Him at a deep, soul, heart-changing level to follow Him. There is no one who calls on your name who stirs himself up to take hold of you. I'm going to give you 2 Timothy 1, verse 6.

1 Timothy 4, 14. 2 Timothy 1, 6. It says, Stir up the gift that God has given you. Stir it up. Make it alive. Use it. Think about it. Pray about it. Stir up the Holy Spirit. That's what he's saying here. There's none who stirs himself up to take hold of you. Get the zeal back. Remember who God is. Show the gratitude. Look at these verses. See He is the Savior. See what He's done for us and will do for us and what the future holds. That should get your blood flowing. Stir the Spirit up and commit to follow Him. There is none who stirs himself up to take hold of you.

We can't be those people. We need to stir up the Holy Spirit, and we know how to do it. Get down on our knees. Read the Bible. Fast if we need to. Get close to God. Stir up that Spirit. Let it motivate us to do what God wants us to do. There's none who this happens to, he says in verse 7, for you've hidden your face from us. They were sinning. God hides His face from us when we aren't doing His will.

For you have hidden your face from us, and you have consumed us. Why? Because of our iniquities. God forgives. God forgives. But we have to acknowledge, and we have to turn from that way. Verse 8, I mean, in the time of the end, you know, the concluding verse of the Old Testament is, I will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to the father, children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with the curse or utter destruction, as it could be. God's heart is with us. There are times he says, no, I'm not going to honor what you do. You have to learn your lesson. Now, O Lord, you are our Father. You're merciful, you're kind, you provide, you love us unlike anyone or any other being on earth. You are our Father. We're the clay. We're the clay. We're to be moldable. Hearts that can be shaped in the way God wants it to, not hardened hearts, not ears that are dull of hearing. We are the clay, and you are our Potter. Mold us into who you want us to become. Ephesians 4, become who God wants you to become. Grow up into the one who likes to be like Jesus Christ. We are the clay. You're our Potter. And if we're wise, we'll let God mold us into who he wants us to be. And all we are the work of your hand. And then he says in verse 9, don't be furious, O Lord. Don't remember iniquity forever. Indeed, please look, we all are your people. Remember that. Don't be mad forever. You don't have to turn back, but I'll turn back to Isaiah 43 verse 25. It tells us that it's God who blocks out our sins. He wants to forgive. We have to be people who can be forgiven. We have to repent. We have to do the godly sorrow, not the worldly sorrow of just saying, I'm sorry, but the godly sorrow of true repentance. Verse 25 of Isaiah 43, I, even I, God says, am he who blocks out your transgressions for my own sake. I want to do it. I want to forgive you. I want you to have eternal life. But you have to repent and turn to me. I blot out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins. So here in chapter 64, we see the same thing. He's our Savior. He's our provider. He forgives our sins because he doesn't want us to perish. Indeed, in verse 9, don't be furious. Don't remember iniquity forever. Well, God won't when we repent. Indeed, please look. We are your people, but we have to remember what that means if we say we're God's people. If we're going to take his name, then we need to be the people and become like him to bring honor to that name.

And then in verse 10 and 11, he talks about the cities are all at waste. The holy cities are a wilderness. Zion's a wilderness. Jerusalem a desolation. We've done our own way. And here everything has become a mess and a desolation because of we did things our way rather than your way. Our holy and beautiful temple where our fathers praised you is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste. We have wasted it all. We have destroyed it all. It's been our fault that this has happened. Will you restrain yourself because of these things, O Lord? Will you? Will you keep your eyes hidden from us? Will you restrain yourself?

Will you refuse to come to our aid? Because of these things? Because we've ruined everything? We've really made a mess of everything. Will you restrain yourself? Will you hold your peace and afflict us very severely? How long will this go on? We recognize it in a way you see. You can see we recognize what we've done. We brought this upon ourselves. I'm going to stop there. In chapter 65, God answers. He answers that question. Will you refuse? How long will you refuse us? Next week? Well, not next week, but two weeks from now we'll go into chapter 65 where God answers that question as we draw close to the end of Isaiah here. Let me end there and just invite any questions, comments, or anything else that anyone would like to discuss. Okay. Father Shavie? Yes, sir? The first context where we're talking about our Lord's return and the blood up to the bridle and both miles? Two hundred miles like a big old pool of blood. It reminds me, though not the same scene, where God shows us in Psalm 24 of our Lord's ascension. Who is this, the Lord, glorious in battle, and the gates open for him and so forth? And it's just that you've seen a little bit, but not the same. The Bible ties together, just like you say. You can think of those verses and how it all flows from one to another. Okay. Oh, Tracy?

Yes, I have a question. I don't know if it pertains or not, but you're reading like I've turned my back. I don't hear your prayers because you're sitting. I see a lot of people here that are sick and in need and things like that. I tell them I will pray for them. But then I think, am I supposed to pray for them? If I am, what am I supposed to pray? I don't know what to pray. Well, I mean, you pray for God's healing, right? He is our healer. It's not wrong to even say if they need to learn anything in this, show them so that they can turn to you, right? I mean, sometimes when we're sick, we may have to ask God, teach me through this. Is this something I have my faith in you? But if there's something I've done, I need to know what it is so I can correct that as well. So, yeah, always pray and always believe God will heal. And God will, the people who need healing, God will show them if they're listening to God. And they will learn if there's something that they need to repent of. So, but yeah, always pray. James 5 there is the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So we need to be righteous too as we pray for others and ask God in faith for their healing. Okay, thank you. Not be judgmental at all, right? Not assuming that they did something wrong, but yes. Oh, no, no, no. I just wasn't sure what to pray. Okay, very good. Hey, Jim. Thank you. Hi. Thanks so much for the study here. I haven't got a very good speaker, so I hope you can hear me. I find it just fascinating that God up to this point has taken all of this time to call a bride for his son. And it's referred to as first fruits. And also what is very interesting is that the very first time that the festivals are mentioned is Deuteronomy 23 chapter where three celebrations are designated to be kept as a chag. You know, a chag wobbles to and for celebrations. And, of course, that's unleavened bread, or harvest of first fruits and a harvest of in gathering. So when you go to Leviticus 23 chapter, you find the details on it. And it's interesting that there is a wave offering in the first celebration, unleavened bread. And there's a wave offering in the second celebration, but there is no wave offering in the third celebration. The wave offering is a special thing. It has a special purpose. And when you study it out, you see what it's for. So when Jesus Christ marries his bride, the bride takes on the job of the husband, which is king and priest, which you can reflect back to the other Bible study with the questions on that. That only is for the first fruits. In the harvest of in gathering, where there is no wave offering, they are the children of the kingdom over whom.

And it just seems to me, and I could be wrong about this, that that designation of king and priest would be for eternity. I won't disagree with you. I know what God has in mind, but he does say he has made us kings and priests unto the Lord. He doesn't put a time frame on it. But you do make good points about the wave offerings and what they represent. Christ is the first of the first fruits and the first fruits as well. Mr. Shelby? Yes. It's Gail. I'm from Manitoba. Hey, Gail. How are you? Yeah, I try to be on here every week. I really enjoy these Bible studies. But I was going to tell you, we've had beautiful weather here. Part of any snow today was past seven. You know, it's amazing how nice and beautiful it is. And every once in a while you'll get a snowfall and, you know, it'll stay a little while. And I'm amazed how long it is. It's just gorgeous over here. Especially when you don't have to shovel snow. I appreciate not shoveling snow. That's great to hear. That's great to hear. Maybe you'll, well, I guess we need some snow, right? I mean, they... Yeah, you have to have some snow. And then that didn't melt and then they can have some more snow. Yeah, very good. Anyway, well, you have a good evening. Okay, you too. Thank you. Take me down here. Okay. Okay. Good night. I gotta take my shovel. Anything else anyone? Any other comments? Mr. Shelby? Yes. Mr. Reggie, you wanted... Oh, Reggie. Okay. You're not on the screen. Oh, now I see you. Okay. All right. I was thinking about... I think... Well, person four, it says, from the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor received, i.e. or neither have seen, or God besides it. Anyway, whenever God recreated the earth after the flood, people started turning and taking God again. And it seems I would never learn. We now are the spiritual temple, and we must return to God and draw close to Him more than ever before. You are exactly right. Now, we all need to be remembering that and saying that often and encouraging each other. Turn to God. Yes, exactly. Good point. Okay. Sounds like we are done for this evening. It's been a pleasure to be here with all of you tonight, and we will hope you have a good rest of the week, a good Sabbath. I'll repeat again, no Bible study next week because of council meetings, but we'll be back with you on November... No, it's not November or whatever that... No, December. Yeah, December 13th, it looks like. So we will see you then. Good night. Bye-bye.