Book of Isaiah Bible Study - Part 15

I'd like to welcome you to the Bible study here this evening. We will continue our study of the book of Isaiah. A brief overview of some of the things that we've talked about. I went back and reviewed the notes. I was absolutely amazed at all the material that we had covered in the few months that we had been studying the book of Isaiah in the first 18 chapters. Isaiah has been often referred to as the fifth gospel because it contains so many prophecies about Jesus Christ and Messiah. Now, this overview information is very important. For those of you who are taking notes, it would be wise to take these notes. One of the great purposes that we have for doing these Bible studies is to try to teach you to be able to teach others. We've just come from the feast in which sermons were given in which people said, well, you are being prepared to be teachers in the world tomorrow. And so you have to master the material in order to be able to be teachers in the world tomorrow. Isaiah contains so many scriptures that relate to the end of this age and emerging into a new age into the millennium, probably more than any other book in the Bible. I've emphasized in recent years, no matter how much Bible you might obtain, it profits you much unless you are becoming as God is, and God is love. So no matter how much you study the Bible, no matter how well you know the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, 1, is ever before us. Though I understand all mysteries, have all faith that I can remove mountains, understand all prophecy if I'm not becoming love as God is love, it profits me nothing. So there's so much material in the book of Isaiah. Scholars have spent years and years in various aspects of the book of Isaiah, and yet there's so much more to be discovered. Isaiah contains a great deal of historical information about Gentile realers and battles that Israel was involved in during that time period. The historical information, in some cases, presents the duality concept and a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. That is, if it happened at that time, it's going to happen again, a dual purpose, a dual promise. I doubt that many of us will remember the names of Assyrian and Babylonian kings. Probably everybody knows that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. I don't know if everybody could name the one of the kings of Assyria, and Israel was oftentimes battling with Assyria, and so was Judah. Isaiah devotes a lot of time, especially in these first 20 chapters or so, to the battle of Gentile kings and the punishment that they're going to receive.

The Bible focuses on two main entities. Two main entities. What are the two main entities that the Bible focuses on? The Bible focuses on Israel, the nation of Israel, and the church of God. There have been five dispensations in which God has dealt with...

I should have said there have been seven dispensations in which God has dealt with man. We are in the sixth, the seventh one, is yet to go. The first one is the age of innocence. When Adam and Eve were created, they were created in a state of innocence.

They had not sinned. They had not done good or evil, but were given a simple choice to obey God or to disobey Him. They disobeyed. They were cast out of the garden, cut off from the tree of life. Then man was given over to what's called the age of conscience, or the age of choosing for yourself what is right and what is wrong. That continues to this day. Of course, God's plan has moved forward, and He's moving inexorably toward all of us becoming the Israel of God.

All of humanity, for that matter, is becoming the Israel of God. After the age of innocence, was that of the patriarchs, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were given the promises of what was going to come through the seed of Abraham in which all nations would be blessed. Then there was the law covenant in which Israel entered into the old covenant. God dealt with them in a specific way. Then there, we're currently in the age of grace, or the church age, Ephesians 3.1.

You can look at Ephesians 3.1 and see very clearly that Ephesians 3.1, that's what it says. Actually, it's verse 2 that states that you have heard of the age of grace, or the administration of grace. What is to come is the fulfillment of times. That's in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 10. That's the period of time that we're looking for, is that time in which all things are gathered together under God and Christ.

Christ renders that the kingdom to God. Christ is over everything but over God. God the Father. God the Father, of course, is over all. I'm going to read now Ephesians 1.10. That in the dispensation or the administration, a period of time in which God dealt with his people in a particular way, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together and one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Now, we are in the church age, which Paul mentions here in Ephesians 3 verses 1 and 2.

For this cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given to me, to me, to you, Paul was, of course, the apostle to the Gentiles, and Peter was the apostle to the circumcision to the deers, to those of Israelite-ish descent. But once again, the dispensations, you may not have gotten that third one.

That is, innocence, then the period of conscience. Let your conscience be your guide. Of course, you can't let your conscience be your guide. Your conscience is going to be shaped by the environment that you grow up in. For example, in Africa with the pygmies, they have been taught that their spiritual power could be enhanced through cannibalism by eating other human beings.

And they don't believe that there's anything wrong with that. So the conscience has to be guided by the Word of God. And then God vested in human beings after the flood the ability to take human life, which was that of human government, in which man is still exercising human government. Then he called out Abraham, and Abraham passed the promises on to Isaac.

Isaac the Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons and became the nation of Israel. Israel entered into the Old Covenant, and the Old Covenant was added, as we talked about in a sermon recently, from Galatians 3, came alongside the spiritual law of God because of their sins. It is served as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. Now those offerings that were offered under the Old Covenant are no longer incumbent upon the Israel of God. And then, after the law of covenant, is the church age, which we're now in. And then we're looking forward to the fullness of times.

But once again, the Bible focuses on two main entities, physical Israel and the Church of God. And really, the history of the Church of God began somewhat with Abraham.

After the flood, of course, Noah had three sons, Shim, Ham, and Japis. And according to legend and according to secular history, God worked through the sons, in particular, the son of Noah named Shim. And the Shimites, through Shim, came Abraham.

That record thereof, Jim, that Abraham came through Shim, is given in Genesis chapter 10. We'll look briefly at that. I wrote that down somewhere. I got, as I said, just from Bob, you'll see this one. I couldn't get the sound going on the computer.

So my eye doesn't fall on that right now, but we want to go to Genesis chapter 10.

Genesis chapter 10, you'll see that it is through the Shimites. And of course, there's from the Shim comes the word, Semites. And you heard about it recently with Kanye West and all of that with regard to the anti-Semitism that is now being demonstrated all over the nation. If we get to Genesis chapter 10 and verse 1, now these are the generations and sons of Noah, Tim, Ham, and Jesus, and unto them were sons born after the flood. And we come down to verse 21, unto Shem also the father of all the children of Eber. Now, Eber is the father of the Hebrews and also of Abraham in the distant sense, and so is Shim. So you have Noah, Shim, Eber, and Eber was the brother of Japheth, the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shim were Elam and Asher, and our fact said, and it is through our fact said, that Abraham came, and the children of Aram, Ashel, and so on. So we want to look at 24.

Our fact said, we get Salah and Salah begets Eber, and that's where we get the word Hebrew from. And the Hebrew language eventually came from the Hebrews, of course. And unto Eber were born two sons. The name of one was Peleg, and Peleg means that which is divided. And it was in the days of Peleg that the earth was divided. There was additional geologic work that took place during that period of time after the flood. And much of the material that you read in the Bible, if you read at the ancient historical sources, a lot of them cover that. Some of this, that is mythological, and some of it legend, and sometimes legend is truth, and sometimes it's not. Then it inserts there of Joktan, and whom all the Joktan begets. Then we come down to Genesis chapter 11, and we see for sure the genealogy of Shim. This is Genesis chapter 11 and verse 10. These are the generations of Shim. Shim was 100 years old and begat our factshead two years after the flood.

And Shim lived after he begat our factshead 500 years and begat sons and daughters. Shim lived long after Abraham was dead, and Shim and one of his sons developed what we would call today a college for the training of people of God. You'll note that in the Bible, the Bible is silent on that period of time between the flood of the people who really did the work of God during that period of time, between the flood and the calling out of Abraham. But God still had people on earth who were doing his work and being faithful to him and his calling and to his promises. And Shim was one of the main ones. And so we continue here.

He lived 500 years. Verse 12, and our factshead lived 530 years and begat Salah. And our factshead lived after he had begat Salah 403 years and begat sons and daughters. Salah lived 35 years and begat Heber. And Salah lived after he begat Heber 403 years. He got sons and daughters. And Heber lived 4 and 30 years and begat Peleg when the earth was divided. And Heber divided, and Heber lived after he begat Peleg 430 years and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived 30 years and begat Rue. And Peleg lived after he begat Rue 209 years and begat sons and daughters. And Rue lived 2 and 3 years and begat Saerong. And Saerong lived after he begat Saerong 207 years and begat sons and daughters. Saerong lived 30 years after he begat Nahor. And Saerong lived after he begat Nahor 200 years. He begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived 9 and 20 years and begat Teherah. You see this long line of genealogy, you may say why you're reading that, is to show that there was a long period of time in here between the flood and the calling out of Abraham in which there were people who continued to be faithful to God. It is recorded in secular history and I don't know what all the sources are that eventually, him killed Nimrod, cut his body up into little pieces, and sent it over all the earth and said, this is what is going to happen to you if you try to reenact what Nimrod did in trying to build a tower under God and unify all the nations into a one-world order.

Nahor lived just 25 after he begat Teherah 119 years and begat sons and daughters. And Teherah lived 70 years and begat Abrah, Nahor, and Haran. Haran, of course, was a father of Lot. And you know the story of Abraham and Lot. Lot was his nephew and there came a dispute between their herdsmen and Abraham said, will Lot you cheers which of the way you want to go? And he chose the greenest bashers and he pitched his tent toward Sodom and Gomorrah. And he wound up in Sodom and Gomorrah. And Sodom and Gomorrah became a byword and a watchword among all the nations through all generations for all times. And God rained down pale fire and brimstone upon it and destroyed that beautiful land. And that is now the area called the Dead Sea. And they say the the Dead Sea is drying up because of because of drought and because of evaporation because they're getting no water into it. Then God called out Abraham. And you should know the the rest of the story from Abraham on. You've heard the story so many times. I remember the funeral of Mr. Herbert Armstrong. It was a graveside funeral in the foothills of there in the environs of Pasadena.

Dr. Hay gave the sermon and he said the story of the Church of God begins with the calling out of Abraham. And those great promises that through the seed of Abraham all nations would be blessed. And that seed is Christ as we read in Genesis 3, 15, and 16. So why should we study the Book of Isaiah? Why should we study the auxiliary material? Because we want to know. We want to be able to trace the history of the Church of God from its beginning origin to the very last bit of what we might be able to glean from the Scriptures that Isaiah helps us along the way. I give several keys as to what is important along the way and very often people just don't get it. We need to be able to search the Scriptures as to whether anything that anyone says is true. No matter who says it, when it comes to Bible study there are topics that we don't completely understand. And we explain something based on best knowledge available. And we try to stay away from that kind of exegesis, that is explanation, as much as possible. So in other words, there are things we don't fully understand and we are hindered in some cases by previous understandings. And we then, when we don't understand a concept, we say something like, I have always heard it with such and such, but what we want to do, we want to take the Scripture for what it says. The Scripture is the final authority.

We have, through the years, emphasized that Scripture interprets Scripture. The Bible interprets the Bible. I'm amazed at times the efforts that some will put forth to justify what they thought Scripture says, and then talk about symbolism, figures of speech, etc., to justify their understanding, instead of accepting what the Bible plainly teaches. Truth is always going to win out in the end. It says in the Psalms that all of God's works are done in truth.

So I hope you will seriously consider what I've just said. So I went back and reviewed the notes and handouts from our study of the first 18 chapters of Isaiah and was amazed at what all we covered.

So with that in mind, let's rehearse a few things here right quickly. Isaiah lived in the 700s and 600s BC. He was on the scene as a prophet for about 65 years, and he overlapped several kings of both Israel and Judah. In fact, Isaiah 1-1 starts off with in the years and the days of the kings, and it lists those kings that he prophesied during their reign.

So Isaiah was on the scene for a long, long time, well down into about 650 or so, and some put it as late as 640 or maybe 635. And according to legend, that Isaiah was so in asunder, as it talks about in Hebrews 11, as a men and women of faith, there were some were so in asunder in search of the better resurrection. And Isaiah, according to legend, Isaiah was one that was so in asunder by Manasseh, one of the kings of Israel, which is not mentioned during the time of his reign, but Manasseh succeeded one of the kings. So let's go to Isaiah 19.

There are other things that I wanted to mention this evening, but as I said, the apple cart got upset when I could not get the sound going. Let's look at verse by verse here in Isaiah 19. Isaiah deals with a great deal with the gentile kingdoms and historical information, especially with Assyria and with Babylon. The Bible centers on what happens to God's people. The Bible centers on physical Israel and the Israel of God. Physical Israel was given the law covenant and the offerings and all of that to bring them to Christ. So the ultimate goal of being begotten by the Spirit of God could be realized in our time in the church age, in the age of grace.

So a lot of gentiles, rulers are mentioned, and kings and happenings and battles and events, which are to some degree germane in some ways, and we will try to pinpoint those that might be relevant to the end times. But for the most part, we will focus on the what's in the future and the here and now. In Isaiah 19.1, the burden of Egypt. Now Egypt, the ancient name of Egypt was Mitsriam. Mitsriam was the son of Ham and grandson of Noah. So for a long time, Egypt was known as Mitsriam.

The burden of Egypt, behold the Lord rides upon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. So there's a duality to this that Egypt was defeated by Assyria. Now one of the interesting things about...

let's look briefly at the main nations that warred back into Palestine. The land of Judea was in the pathway. If you wanted to go to Egypt, you would travel through Judea or through, sometimes called Samaria, Israel, Palestine, various names. So Assyria and Syria. There's a difference between Assyria and Syria, and then the Babylonians.

Then Israel itself and Egypt. The three main nations that God deals with are Assyria, Israel, and Egypt. Assyria, Israel, and Egypt. But as we shall see at the end of this chapter, that they become a threesome in the world tomorrow, and work hand and love together. It's so interesting in that Israel was going to be destroyed because of the famine that came on the land if Jacob's sons had not sold their brother Joseph into slavery. He went down into Egypt, became second in command, and the land interpreted the dream of Pharaoh.

And it was revealed to him that drought was coming. They saved up the grain for seven years, and then seven years of drought. And he said for his family. And so Israel was saved by the providence of God. What is the providence of God deal with? The providence of God deals with having our best interest at heart years in advance. Having our best interest at heart, we could say, present and future. The providence of God. But providence generally has to do with that which lies ahead, the great providence of God.

He knows the beginning, and he knows the end. And he controls what is going to happen. And he gives a lot of leeway for people, as it were, to hang themselves. In verse 2, and I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians, Egypt was divided into two lands. It seems contradictory, and at times hard to wrap your mind around it. But, Lord Egypt was that part to the north. It was that part where the Nile emptied into the Mediterranean.

There were seven main tributaries that emptied into the Mediterranean. That was Lord Egypt. That was the lowland. It was the farmland. It was the breadbasket. It was the breadbasket of Egypt. It's sort of like, compared to the Mississippi Delta today, which begins south of Memphis, ends at Vicksburg, and resumes again from Baton Rouge down through New Orleans. So, then there was Upper Egypt, which was the southern part of Egypt. In your mind, you want to turn it around and make the north the lower and the south, the upper, the south lower, but that's not the way it was. The lower was the northern part of Egypt. The upper was the southern part of Egypt, and there were two kingdoms until it was united.

And there was a Pharaoh that eventually united Egypt. Egypt was the nation of the world for centuries. Verse 2, And I will set the Egyptian against the Egyptians. They shall fight everyone against his brother, everyone against his neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. So, you had for a while a lower Egypt and an upper Egypt, the lower Egypt being in the north, and upper Egypt being to the south. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof, and I will destroy the council thereof, and they shall seek to the idols and the charmers.

Now, you talk about a land that was filled with idolatry. Egypt was a land filled with false gods and idols. It was unbelievable. Ra, r-a, spelled r-a, was the chief god of Egypt. And then there were other gods, Isis, Isis, and Horus, and many others along the way.

But it was a land of charmers and idols, those with familiar spirits, as you read thereon in the verse.

And they shall seek to the idols, to the charmers, and those that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

So, they're going to seek out these fortune tellers, these wizards. Now, we tend to forget, I think, at times that Egypt is a part of Africa. And to, at some times, there was a black pharaoh who ruled Africa. At one time, Ethiopia was the leading nation in Africa. And so, I watched on YouTube recently why, as in Africa, prospered like the other nations.

And they gave all kind of different reasons. And some of them valid. One of the things, it is a very harsh environment. Jungles and animals perose wild animals and snakes, poisonous snakes, and wild animals, carnivores, that will eat you up. A harsh environment. In addition to that, it was colonized by the Europeans. They wanted a colony. Africa is very rich in minerals. Very rich in minerals. And some of them, the minerals that are necessary for computer chips and other things are abundant supply in Africa. Gold and diamonds. Africa is known for diamonds. And so, Europe colonized and treated the people awfully and made them subjects, in essence, made them into slaves. But the one thing that the Egyptians held on to, and one of the main things, and one of the main reasons they have not prospered is because the witch doctor still plays a prominent role in much of Africa. And those false spirits and false idols, and those who are converted today and live there, have to contend with those evil spirits. And with the witch doctors in the soothsayers and everything that goes with it.

Verse 4, and the Egyptians will I give into the hand of a cruel lord and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the lord, the lord of hosts. So, Assyria did invade Egypt. Now, at times, this is important to note, at times, Judah and Israel, the northern kingdom, at times the southern kingdom, Judah, the northern kingdom, Israel, the ten tribes, were at war. At times, the northern kingdom was in league allied with Assyria. At other times, it was not. At times, Judah was allied with Assyria. And at times, it was not.

During the days of Hezekiah, they were allied, at one point, with Assyria. In the days of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was paying tribute to them, right? Hezekiah, who restored temple worship and what would be called true worship in the temple sense at that time.

But the Assyrians did come. Of course, Judah couldn't stop them. They were allied with them. They really didn't play much of a hand. And they conquered and the Assyrian king ruled over Egypt. And the water shall fall from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up, and they shall turn the rivers far away. And the brooks of the fish shall be emptied and dried up. The reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reads by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks. The paper reads, that's the papyrus. And of course, the paper reads the papyrus is one of the things that they would write on. By the mouth of the brooks and everything sown by the brooks shall wither and be driven away and be no more. So even the Nile and the tributaries would not benefit them, because they're going to be dried up. The fishers also shall mourn. They that cast the angle into the brooks shall lament that they spread nets upon the waters and shall anguish. Because the lakes, the rivers, are dried up, or there's just a trickle going as it is in some parts of Africa today. Ethiopia is, and so is Somalia, facing a humanitarian crisis along with Somalia and other places on the face of the earth are facing severe drought. The western United States, some of the reservoirs there, giant reservoirs, have fallen like Lake Mead and others have fallen. The Colorado River is practically an all-time low. I lost my place there for a moment. We'll get back. So the fishers are not going to have any luck. They that work and find flax. Of course, Egypt was known for its cotton, and still people talk about the Egyptian cotton that's grown in a certain place.

Certain sheets are made out of it, and flax is complex. You make linen. The process of making linen is quite an interesting one, where this linen is separated from the stalks and beaten and woven into fine material. Of course, it's done by machine today. They shall be broken, and the purpose is thereof. All that makes luces and ponds for fish. Look at all the crawdad holes between Lafayette, Louisiana. Well, beginning with Lake Charles and all the way across to New Orleans, you see all those luces and fish ponds, crawdad holes. Clearly, the Prince of Zoan are fools. Now, Zoan is another word for the city of Tanis. Tanis was on the at the mouth of the Nile River. It was one of the principal cities of Egypt because of this location. So, one of the great cities, the people in it are made fools. The Councilors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How say you, under Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise and the son of ancient kings. Well, you got quite a history and quite a reputation, but when God deals with you because of your sins, there's no way out. Where are they? Where are the wise men? Let them tell you now, let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Tanis or Zoan, the northern part of Egypt, the upper, the lower kingdom, northern Nile, flows into the Egyptian. The princes of Knopf was the capital of the upper Egypt, the southern part of Egypt, the upper kingdom. They have also seduced Egypt, and even they are the say of the tribe. So the principal people in the principal cities, they can't offer any help. And if we're looking for Washington and New York to deliver us in this hour, we will be sadly disappointed. A lot of people are apparently looking for New York and Washington to deliver them from Wall Street to the halls of Congress, but it ain't going to happen. The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt to err in every work. So the truth-sayers and the diviners, those of divination, those that are working in the spirit world, are not being successful. Therefore, as a drunken man, staggers in his vomit. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail branch or rush may do. Now this happened the Assyrian invasion, but it's going to happen again. Assyria was good. Egypt is going to be brought below. In that day shall Egypt be taken like unto women, and shall be afraid, and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord or the host when he shakes over it. Now we look at that expression. I have pointed this out to you. I pointed out to the ministry. I pointed out again. In that day is a prophetic utterance. It is a prophetic utterance. That means a prophecy is about to follow. And that prophecy generally deals with the beginning of the millennium. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women, and shall be afraid, and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord or the host when he shakes over it. He did it once. He'll do it again. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt. Everyone that makes mention there of shall be afraid because of the counsel of the Lord or the host which he has determined against it. Yeah, at one time Egypt saved Israel during the drought, during the days of Jacob and Joseph in Egypt.

And then in that day, prophetic utterance, introducing a prophecy, a great prophecy. It's an ironic prophecy. They were not seen that this would be the case that Egypt and Assyria did so much damage over the years to Israel. But here's the prophecy. This is the Word of God. In that day, prophetic utterance, introducing what's going to be beginning in the millennium shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan. Now that verse is in dispute whether it's Hebrew or a ceremonially pure language. Let's just say it's Hebrew.

And swear to the Lord of hosts one shall be called the city of destruction. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt. Today they are known for the speaks, which is in honor of one of the pharaohs. Pharaoh's not going to be honored in that day, neither is any other man. It's going to be God and Christ will be honored. And there shall be a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. Well, instead of the old speaks, there's going to be something else. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors. And he shall send them a savior and a great one, and he shall deliver them. God will intervene. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord. In that day shall do sacrifice and oblation. Yes, they shall devour unto the Lord and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt. He shall smite and heal it. He will get their attention, seek the beast power. When he comes into the land, Egypt is one of the ones that falls. And they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them. In other words, he will hear them. He will have mercy on them. And he shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria. And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria. And the Egyptian shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt.

Apparently the three greatest nations in the millennium will be these three. It doesn't say that specifically. We know that Jerusalem, Israel, will be the capital of the world.

Even a blessing in the midst of the land. Through the Lord of hosts shall bless saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hand, and Israel, my inheritance. How about that? That is absolutely astounding. Now you look at... Oh, let's see. I don't have this written down. I think it's like... Let's look at Isaiah 27. If it's not what I'm thinking about. Because Isaiah 27, the binding of Satan's on the Day of Atonement, we talk about that, on the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was on the Jubilee year. And the Jubilee year is the...

And the Jubilee year is the year in which... I said it wrong. That Atonement was the day on which the Jubilee year was declared, and the great trumpet was blown, the trumpet of freedom, on that day. It will pale into comparison the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when that happens. Yes, it is. Isaiah 27 will start with verse 11.

When the bowels thereof are withered, they shall be broken off, and women will come and set them on fire for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor, and shall kind of pass in that day. What does that say about in that day? That the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river under the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So some will be coming up from Egypt, or some will be coming from Assyria. Some will be coming from all over the world. Verse 13, it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown. So a great trumpet was blown on the day of atonement. See, this chapter starts off with the punishment of Leviathan, who is a type of the devil, as depicted in Job's. Let's read verse 1, Isaiah 27. In that day the Lord with his sword and great sword shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, serpent, that O serpent, Satan the devil, is deceiving the whole world, even Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, seeing you under her, a vineyard of red wine, I the Lord do keep it, and so on. So in that day, the outcasts that were ready to perish into Syria shall come into the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mountain of Jerusalem. So once again, these three are mentioned together. The binding of Satan, the putting way of Satan, and the great jubilee trumpet is sounded.

Now we go to Isaiah 20.

In Isaiah 20, the year that Tartan came unto Ashnod, when Sargon, the king of Syria, sent him and fought against Ashnod and took him. So that marks the time period. Tartan was one of the generals of Sennacherib, and Ashnod, called by the Greeks as Sodas, was a seaport city on the Mediterranean between Nazchulon and Ekron. It's one of the five cities of the Philistines assigned to the tribe of Judah, but never conquered by them. Of course, God was very disappointed. Remember that he told Israel when they come into the land that they are to drive out and to conquer the land. They did not do that. They wound up intermarrying with them. They went after their idols and their strange gods, and we know much of the history.

And so the king of Assyria sent him and fought against Ashnod and took it. At the same time, spoke the Lord by Isaiah, the son of Amos, saying, go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot. And he did, so he walked naked and barefoot. Now, a lot of people talk about was he literally naked?

A general agreement is he had a rolling plot, and his private parts were hidden. But later on in this, the back part of one nation is not hidden. And the Lord said this verse, Like as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for his sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, at one time, as I said, Ethiopia ruled over Egypt, and Ethiopia was the principal nation in Africa. So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians, prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. Apparently, they had a loincloth on the front. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation and of Egypt, their glory. So Judah is going to be ashamed of them because they had allied together with them, thinking that if they allied with them, they would be protected. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, wither away. I added away, We flee, or help to be delivered, from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?

Of course, the only way that they escaped and Judah was preserved was that when Assyria had surrounded Jerusalem, and it looked like for sure that Jerusalem was going to fall, that during that night, it has a chi and I'm sure others praying, that 180 or so thousand Assyrian troops fell dead.

The Judah had to be preserved in order for the Messianic promises and for the Savior to come out of Judah.