Book of Isaiah Bible Study - Part 27

Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to our 27th part of the study of the Book of Isaiah. We're going to begin with chapter 40. Chapter 40 is one of the richest chapters in all of the Bible because it covers so much of what God and Christ are going to be doing after when Christ comes again and sets up the kingdom of God. And once again, the difficulty in studying the Book of Isaiah has to do with ferreting out what applies to historical, which applies to the present, and what applies to the future. Most of this seems to be futuristic, so we had leaped off with verse 6. So we'll start in verse 7 here this evening in Isaiah 40 and verse 7.

And once again, I encourage you, if you haven't listened to the Messiah, and especially these arias that are taken from Isaiah 40, I encourage you to do it. Comfort you, my people. Every valley shall be exalted. He shall feed his sheep like a shepherd. Behold, he comes, which is take off from Ezekiel and other major prophets and minor prophets, or as that goes. And also, the last verse has to do with mounting up on eagles' wings. I hope you'll listen to all those songs that are taken from Isaiah 40. So we'll begin in Isaiah 40, verse 7. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath... Here this word for spirit is ruach, and ruach can be translated as wind or breath or the spirit of God. But the spirit of God doesn't blow upon the grass, so this is the breath of the eternal blows upon it. Surely the people is grass. So the metaphor here is that people are like grass, that when God blows upon it, it can wither away, as it says in verse 8. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand for ever. The word of our God shall stand for ever. There's a verse sort of similar to this. Ecclesiastes 1.3, I believe it is, it says, the earth abides for ever. Of course, the earth and the heavenlies are going to be purified, and there's going to be new rulership over the heavenlies. It's going to be the spirit of God, and knowledge of God will cover the whole earth, and sand covers the seashore.

Now verse 9, O Zion, that brings good tidings. Well, Zion is a geographical place in the environs of Jerusalem, but Zion as a physical place doesn't speak, so Zion is symbolic of the church. His words shall go forth out of Zion, and the law shall go forth from Jerusalem. And remember that in Hebrews 12 and verse 23, the church is symbolized by Zion, so it will be those who are converted. Remember that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, so in the kingdom of God we shall be firstfruits. We will be working with those who are in the flesh, who have been converted, and they will be working with the physical people. Remember, the overall goal of God in Christ is to bring all peoples, all nations, all kindreds, tongues, the ethnic groups, everything you can say about that into the Israel of God. O Zion, that brings good tidings, getting you up into the high mountain. So when a great announcement was to be made, you go up to the high mountain and you shout because you can be heard better from a high place. And O Jerusalem, so a parallelism here that Zion represents the church. Jerusalem represents the church. Remember Galatians 4.26, Jerusalem above the mother of us all. So O Zion, O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength. Lift up. Be not afraid. Stay under the cities of Judah. Behold your God. And I love that song, Behold your God. We shall be, one song is titled, We Shall Behold Him. Behold the Lord your God will come with strong hands. And his arm shall rule for him. Behold his reward is with him and his work before him. So let's talk about the reward. Oftentimes people get the notion that, and especially this was popular with regard to the church back in the 50s and 60s with regard to church eras were strongly emphasized, not emphasized so much anymore. But if we go to Revelation chapter 2, we want to point out some things here from Revelation chapter 2. In Revelation chapter 2, we'll begin there with showing that the rewards that are given at the end of each message to each of the churches is actually given to everyone who makes it into the kingdom of God, to everyone that overcomes. Some people have the idea that the reward will be just for that particular era of the church. And some eras have, some spans of time have dominated more than others. But I want us to notice the rewards that are given in Revelation 2 and 3.

Remember what we've read from Isaiah. He's coming, behold he comes, and his reward is with him.

So in Revelation 2.7 to the church in Ephesus, he that hath it here let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. For him that overcomes, and great servants can be given about overcoming, and overcoming is one of the key words in the book of Revelation. To him that overcomes will give to eat of the tree of life. Everyone eats to the tree of life, because we're all going to have be given eternal life in the kingdom of God. And the tree of life is once again going to be restored, and whosoever will, as it says in Revelation 22, let him come and partake of that tree. The tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now to Smyrna. Notice the reward for Smyrna in Revelation 2 and verse 10. Fear none of those things which you shall suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you be tried, and you shall have tribulation. Ten days. Be you faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. Everyone that makes it in the kingdom, of course, is given a crown of life.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. He that overcome shall not be hurt of the second death. Here's one of the places where there's not only any places in the Bible that speaks of the second death, and oftentimes we go to Revelation chapter 20, where it says, death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. And here you see that everybody that makes it in the kingdom, of course, will not experience the second death. Now we go to Pergamos, and look at verse 17, the reward for Pergamos.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. To him that overcomes will a gift, eat of the hidden manna, the hidden manna. You know that God rained down manna from heaven for the Israelites to eat when they murmured and complained about not having enough to eat. And then in John 6, it says that Jesus Christ is the true manna. He is the bread of life.

So the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows, saving he that receives it. And I don't know anyone that knows for sure what the white stone is, and of course it's given to everyone that makes it into the kingdom. A new name is written. No man knows it's saving he that receives that white stone with the name written in it. Now we go to Revelation 2 and verse 26. The reward of Thyatira, even overcomes and keeps my work, my work, shall he? My works and to the end to him will I give power over the nations. So we're going to rule and reign with God and Christ. Remember in Revelation 20 it says, and thrones were cast and they sat upon them. We're going to be given rulership in the kingdom of God. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of potter shall he be broken to shivers even as we received of my father. And I will give him the morning star. Now the morning star is identified as Jesus Christ. Now we continue in. So everyone, of course, is given that that makes it into the kingdom. Now we go to chapter 3 and we talk so much about Sardis in Philadelphia. Here in chapter 3 verse 5 we see the reward of Sardis and everybody gets that. He that overcomes the same shall be clothed with white raiment. Well, everybody's going to have white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. Now that's a very interesting expression. I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. In the Jewish marriage ceremony, the groom would present the bride to be to the father for his approval and also the receipt of the dowry that was given to the bride, the bride's father. And so it appears that Jesus Christ is going to present us to the father before his angels. That would be quite a time to be presented before. And remember, Christ says in the Gospels, if you deny me, I will deny you before the father.

Then we go to Philadelphia and talk so much, especially in the 50s and 60s and into the 70s and somewhat into the 80s about the Philadelphia era of the church. Him that overcomes, this is Revelation 3.12, him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God.

So the temple of my God, the the heavenly Jerusalem, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. Which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name. And then, amazingly, it seems like the highest reward of all, if you were to say, well, this era gets this and that era gets something else, look at Revelation 3.21, the reward of the Laodiceans.

The him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne. So once again, the Scriptures say very clearly here, as we have read from Isaiah 40, he comes and his reward is with him.

Take a little bit of time for me to get back to chapter 40. So back to chapter 40, he comes, behold, he comes, and his reward is with him. And we see here the seven specific things that are given to those that overcome in the book of Revelation.

So we continue now in Isaiah 40 in verse 10. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule with him.

Behold, his reward is with him. So his strong arm represents strength, power, and his work before him. See, when God in Christ comes again, that's when much of the work really begins, because those who make it into the kingdom of God, his first fruits, is going to be called the little flock. Fear not little flock, as it says in Luke 1232. Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom. So the work before him, we go here now to Isaiah 66. If you'll turn to Isaiah 66, and you see what's going to happen when he comes again, that emissaries are going to be set out in today's world. They might call them missionaries, and they are going to go out to the nations. So in Isaiah 66, verse 18, where I know their works and their thoughts, and it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. Of course, they're going to have to come up at least representatives to the Feast of Tabernacles, and if they don't come to the Feast of Tabernacles, then they get no rain, as it says in Zechariah 14. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape with them into the nations of Tarshish. A lot of people have said that Tarshish is in Spain. Pull and lud and draw the bow into Tubal and Jabin. A lot of people say, well, Jabin is Japan to the isles afar off, that have not heard of my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations. So the great work, once again, the overall goal, is to bring all nations, kindreds, nations, tongues, ethnic groups, everyone into the Israel God. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the eternal, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem says the Lord, as the children of Israel, bring an offering and a clean vessel in the house of the eternal. So the work of God will continue forever, really, because every person that is to be born will be given an opportunity to be in the kingdom of God. In Isaiah 40, now continuing, we have read verse 10. I have to get back there.

Now we are to verse 11. Isaiah 40 and verse 11. He shall feed his flock, like a shepherd. There is a tremendous scolding of the elders, the ministry of those who are supposed to be shepherding the flock, apparently toward the end of the age, or maybe throughout the ages, that God has given in Ezekiel 34. We'll go there in just a moment. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. Of course, that's one of the areas, one of the compositions, I call it compositions, in the Messiah. He shall gather the lands with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. So that's going to be a wonderful time when we're going to be in one place in the scripture, it says, every man shall be taught our God. And what a wonderful time that it's going to be when we are actually taught by God. Now we go to Ezekiel 34, and all of us who are teachers and everyone who takes the Word of God into their mouth should be aware of this. Ezekiel 34 verse 1, when the Word of the Eternal came unto me saved, Son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

Now God sent prophets, as he talks about in Matthew 23, I sent them prophets and they killed the prophets and stoned them, would not listen to them.

And there have been voices that have cried out through the ages, but overall, and this is the Word of God, it is not my words per se, I did not write this and I did not prophesy this. So, Son of man, think up a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus says the Lord God unto the shepherds, woe be to the shepherds of Israel, that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the fox. Well, remember in 1 Peter chapter 5, I think it's verse 3, 4, along in there where Peter commands the elders to feed the flock of God, that we are to feed the flock of God. We are to, what do we feed them? Of course, there is the element of physical food when somebody is hungry, but what God is talking about more is feeding the flock with the Word of God. Continuing now in Ezekiel 34.3, you eat the fat and you clothe you with the wool. You kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. The disease have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick. Did you have you bound up that which was broken? Neither have you brought again that which was driven away. Neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And of course, that is not the way that God rules and the elders and every one of us is admonished not to rule in such a manner. Then it says in verse 5, and they were scattered because there is no shepherd and they became food to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. And of course, that can be meant in a literal sense of scattering and hungry and that kind of thing, but more in the spiritual sense, when people are scattered, when they have no shepherd, then they are easy prey for the enemy.

One of the things that God says he's going to do is to feed the sheep.

So verse 6, my sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth and non did search or seek after them. So this is quite a challenge to all of us to remember this. You know, it says in Daniel chapter 12, when he, that is Satan and the beast power, shall accomplish the scattered holy people, then the end time is drawing very near. And of course, we see now the scattering of the people of God and a lack of a hungering and thirsting, on the other hand, for the food that the shepherds might have to offer. Of course, there is a two-way street with regard to this because the sheep have to come to be fed and the shepherds have to feed the sheep. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the eternal. Verse 8, as I live says the eternal God, surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat to everyone, food to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherd search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the eternal. Of course, we don't very often read these verses, and don't very often think about them, but it's quite a scathing indictment of all of us with regard to what we need to be doing, what we should be doing, and hopefully we are doing. Of course, this doesn't apply to everybody, but in general, this is what is written in the Bible. Thus says the eternal God, behold, I'm against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall they shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat or food for them. There are videos on YouTube with regard to how the mega churches of the land and the leaders of those mega churches live in luxury and splendor and million-dollar homes with private jets and with different homes and different places and fancy clothes, and it goes on and on, and the prosperity gospel catches on to a lot of people. All of this chapter deals with this. I'm going to leave off here with regard to this, but you should read the whole chapter, or God takes all of us to task in it, and we can ask ourselves, are we even remotely fulfilling what God says to do here in feeding the flock of God, as He would have us to feed the flock of God? Now we continue in verse 12, I believe it is, and I will get back there to verse 12. So we'll read 11 again. He shall feed the flock like his shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall leave those that are with young, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand. I mean, God can scoop up all the waters of all the universe, if he desires, and met it out heaven with its fan, and it's like the heavens are infinity as they're discovering more and more, and it seems that space is endless, and it goes on forever. And we talk about the expanding universe. On the one hand, there's talk about the expanding universe, and on the other hand, there's talk about the second law of thermodynamics, that the universe is running down and will eventually run down. But it says in Hebrews chapter 1 that the universe is upheld with the might of His power. So I don't think God is going to allow the universe to run down anytime soon.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven in its fan, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure? Can you imagine the various specks of dust that are upon the earth, and God has measured the dust of the earth? It's incomprehensible, and weighed the mountains and scales, and the hills in a balance.

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord? Who has done this? And once again, I bring to your attention that the Holy Spirit is not a person. The Holy Spirit is not freelancing on its own.

The Holy Spirit is always under the direction of God and Christ.

The second verse of the Bible says, and He sends forth His Spirit. God sent forth His Spirit. And it says in Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6, it says, Not by might, not by power, but through my Spirit says the eternal host, God's Spirit. God's Spirit does great works of power. God is Spirit. That is the essence of God. John 4.24, God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

So who has directed the Spirit of the Eternal? No one but the Eternal. God and Christ are the only ones that direct the Holy Spirit, or being His counselor, had taught Him. How many of us, has any human taught God anything? No, they haven't.

With whom He took counsel, who did He consult, and who instructed Him and taught Him the path of judgment and taught Him knowledge and showed to Him the way of understanding? Well, of course, none of us have. We go to Him for wisdom. We go to Him for knowledge. We go to Him for understanding. Behold the nations. If you want to now compare God with the nations, what is the strongest nation on the face of the earth? Well, most people say that the United States is the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, and others say that China is the second most powerful nation on the face of the earth, and some say that the European Union is stronger than both the United States and China, but that remains to be seen. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as small dust of the balance. Behold, He takes up the isle and is a very little thing. I mean, He can hold an island in His hand, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. Lebanon at once, as we have noted, was once called the Riviera of the East. It was a beautiful place, the cedars of Lebanon. You remember that Hiram, that David, you got from King Hiram of Lebanon, the cedars in which he made up the wood and building the temple of God, Solomon's temple. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, or the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. There's no animal on the face of the planet, or no human being on the face of the planet, sufficient as a burnt offering unto God. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. And yet, people are so concerned about nations of this and that and the other, and we should be concerned about that to a certain degree, because we have been given the responsibility, as we talked about, of feeding the sheep of God, of leading people to the truth of God, leading people to understanding what it means to be a member of the family of God. And of all the things that the church understands, that no one else understands, we understand what we shall be in resurrection. We shall be as Him. We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, as it says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 17. The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold and casts over chains. So it turns now to the metaphors in which people create various symbols and idols, the worship which have no life at all in them. Why would anyone do that? Well, they can say, well, it represents one of the heavenlies. I notice in the latest article of Beyond Today, Beyond Today arrived at our house today, one of the things that it says, have the ancient gods returned. And a lot of people are talking about the demon activity that is now extant upon the face of the earth, in which people are doing things that are not natural. As you remember in Romans chapter 1, Paul says, because they did not like to retain God and not in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind that they would do the things that are with you, the things that are not convenient. And it goes on to talk about homosexuality and various vices that human beings have in today's world, because the demons have been let loose once again. And the demons are preying upon the people. There's now what is called people who claim that they are handicapped. And they, some people are even, one person tried to put out their eyes because it's like, I understand that I should be blind. Others have put themselves in wheelchairs. And there is a term that is now being used for this, for those who are doing such things. Now we read verse 22. It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth.

And it's only in recent times with the circumnavigation of the earth by some of the navigators back in the 15th, 14th, 15th century, navigating, I think Magellan is credited with being the first to circumnavigate the earth. It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth. And we still have the flat earth society in which some people blame that the earth is flat, even despite the fact that people have gone into space and viewed the earth and surely see that it is round. And of course, we know that it is round. That's why we have the seasons. That's why we have sunrise and sunset. It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth. So dating back to the time in which the first humans were created, and Moses wrote this thousands of years ago, Moses probably wrote this some 3,000 years ago. Well, Isaiah wrote it 700 years ago. I'm saying it wrong. 700 BC, circa. So it would be like 3,700 years ago. I said it wrong again. 2,700 years ago that it was written. It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth and then having us thereof as grasshoppers that stretch out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in, just like you would go out and you would go camping and you would set up a tent or you would spread curtains to cover a window.

God has covered the whole earth with his heavenly bodies and his tent and his way of doing things that brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth as vanity. The word vanity in this case means so often in the Bible, the word vanity. In this case, this Hebrew word is tohu, and it means a confusion, an empty place without form, who makes the earth as vanity.

Continuing now in verse 25, to whom then shall you liken me or shall I be equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who has created these things that brings out the host by number. He calls them all by names and by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one fails. So that's an incredible thing to even contemplate that God created the stars. He has them numbered and he calls them by names. Of course, some of the stars have been named by various astronomers and people through the ages. When God says, I have numbered the stars, I've called them by names, who is even remotely comparable to that. Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel?

Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is hid from the Eternal. Do you think that you can hide from God? He sits on the circle of the earth. He holds everything in his hands. You remember the whole song? It was on the hit parade for years. I don't recall. I think it was in the 50s. He has the whole world. He holds the whole world in his hands. God has the whole world in his hands. O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord. Why would anyone even consider that they have hidden their ways from God? And my judgment is passed over from my God. Have you not known, have you not heard, that the Everlasting God, the Eternal and the Creator of the ends of the earth, fates not, neither is weary. He is eternal. He has lived in eternity. He had no beginning. He has no end. We shall inherit eternity in the sense that we shall live in eternity. We don't live in the past. At one time, only two beings existed.

God, who became the Father, and the Word, who became Jesus Christ. Now verse 29, He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.

There's no one that is in the faitigable. Everyone gets fatigued from time to time. There's no one in the faitigable, and there's no one that doesn't get exhausted, whether they be young or old, but God never tires. He never wanes in strength. He is always strong and mighty. God and Christ are always there to help. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Of course, you have that song that has been sung in various churches of God and special music, and it's sung in various other platforms and venues as well. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and shall not faint. So those who depend on God for their sustenance, for their strength, can claim those promises. What a tremendous God we serve! His ways are past, finding out His strength, His greatness is beyond human comprehension. Here we get a glance of it in Isaiah 40. Now to chapter 41.

Isaiah 41 and verse 1. Keep silence before me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength, and let them come near, and let them speak. Let us come near together to judgment. So when the kingdom of God comes upon the earth, there will be a time for judgment.

Who raised up the righteous man from the east, this is a veiled acknowledgement of Cyrus the Great, who authorized the Jews to go back and rebuild the Second Temple. And that authorization, and he was called by name in Isaiah 45, and also he is discussed at length in Ezra chapter 1. But we're not going to do that right now. We will do that when we come to that name of Cyrus in Isaiah. But that's who he's referring to, who raised up the righteous man from the east. That is Cyrus. And Cyrus was a type of Christ, even though he was a Gentile king, and probably unconverted. He did serve God's people in many different ways, and in a sense served as a type of Christ in that. The ultimate fulfillment of righteousness, of course, is God in Christ, our God in Christ, who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nation before him, and made him rule over kings. He gave them as the dust to his sword, and his driven stubble to his bow. So the Medo-Persian Empire, of course, conquered Babylon and ruled for a long time.

He pursued them and passed safely, even by the way that he is not gone with his feet.

Who is wrought and had done, yet calling the generations from the beginning? So you see the play in and out between that which is physical and that which is spiritual. Who is wrought and done in calling the generations from the beginning? The Lord the first and with the last? I am he. So the ultimate fulfillment of these verses, Cyrus was a type, and we'll talk more about Cyrus when we come to his name that is actually used in Isaiah, but price came and fulfilled, and he is coming again to fulfill more than Cyrus ever thought about fulfilling. The isles saw him in fear. The ends of the earth were afraid.

Drew near and came. They heft everyone, his neighbor, and everyone said to his brother, be of good courage. Oh, if that were true today, that everyone would say to his brother, be of good courage. See, that is what God told Moses to tell Joshua. So tell Joshua, this is repeated, I know twice, I think it's three or four times in the book of Joshua, and also where God chose Joshua to succeed Moses, where Moses bunishes Joshua to be of good courage, because God was with him. When you Israel are my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. Now Abraham is the father of the Jews. Abraham might be the one who he came from, Eber, and the Hebrew language sprang from the Jews. But more importantly, the seed of Abraham eventually resulted in the birth of Jesus Christ. Abraham was given precious and exceeding promises. In Genesis 12, verse 3, it says that through Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And of course, now the fundamentalist Christians believe that the restoration of Israel is the fulfillment of that promise to Abraham. But the ultimate fulfillment of that promise to Israel comes when the kingdom is restored and the millennium begins and the Israel of God begins to reign over the earth. The promises were given to Abraham, passed on to Isaac. Isaac promised them to Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, which became the nation of Israel. And sometimes Jacob is used for the 12 tribes. So, Abraham was called a friend of God. Why was Abraham called a friend of God?

Look at Genesis 18, verse 17, and we'll see why Abraham was called a friend of God. It says in Genesis 18, verse 17, I know him that he will command his servants after him and his household, and he should be called a friend of God. And then James, in writing his epistle, refers to Abraham in quoting this from Genesis 18, verses 17 and 18, where Abraham is called a friend of God. Through the seed of Abraham, as we know from Galatians chapter 3, verses 15, 16, 17, that in your seed, that is, in Christ, all the nations of the earth are blessed.

Now, verse 9, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called you from the chief men thereof and said unto you, you are not our servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away. And not cast you away. So God has drafted us from all nations, tendrons, tongues, into the Israel of God. Fear you not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you. I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all that work in sense against you shall be ashamed.

It talks about in Revelation how that they will come and worship before your feet. They shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing, and they shall strive with you. They that strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and shall not find them, even them that contend with you.

They that war against you shall be as nothing and as a thing of nothing. So those converted ones who live over into the millennium are going to have God with them, and they're going to of course have the saints helping and bringing all the nations of the world, as we've already noted, into the Israel of God.

For the eternal your God will hold your right hand saying unto you, Fear not! I will help you. Fear not, you worm Jacob and you men of Israel. See, as a physical being, Jacob was as a worm, and we as physical beings are less than a worm. And God says even the nations are counted as a drop in the bucket as grasshoppers.

But I will help you and the eternal and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make you a new, sharp, threshing instrument. Having teeth, you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small and make the hills as chow. Yes, the word of God is going to come out and go out as we have read from Isaiah 66 that God is going to send out His emissaries into all the nations.

And you shall fan them. Because this is taking off from the fire that when you fan the coals and the fire, sometimes it will blaze up. You shall fan them and the wind shall carry them away. The embers and the whirlwind shall scatter them using that as a metaphor. And you shall rejoice in the eternal and glory in the Holy One of Israel. When the poor and needy seek the water, and there is no more, there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear.

I the Lord God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open the rivers. It's going to be wonderful in the millennium. I will open the rivers. I will hear them. I will in the high places and fountains and the midst of the valleys, and I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. Of course, you read about here about the awful things that are happening in Sudan today. The desert there and the awful suffering of the people as they flee from the civil war that is taking place where the insurgent army is trying to unseat the standing army of the nation and gain power.

In verse 19, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar. So remember the cedars of Lebanon? Once again, the acacia is a better translation of the shittak tree, the acacia. You should read about the acacia tree. It's very interesting. In the myrtle and the oil tree, of course the olive tree is the oil tree, I will set in the desert the bird tree and the pine and the box tree together.

Wouldn't that be wonderful when you see Sudan freed like other nations are in North America? That they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the eternal have done this and the only one of Israel has created it. Produce your cause, says the attorney, bring forth your strong reasons, says the king of Jacob.

Let them bring forth and show us what shall happen. Let them show the former things. Let them what they shall be. We may consider them. Bring them forth and we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare us things for to come. Of course, they can't show us anything that is to come and they can't show us anything that will stand. Verse 23, show the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are gods.

Of course, they can't predict the future. There are people who make a living today saying they can tell your future, they can tell your fortune, but they cannot. Of course, one of the main things that Satan wants to know and those who are with him is, sell me insight into the future and therefore they really are drawn to futuristic things. Do good or do evil that we may be dismayed and behold it together.

See, none of these false gods, none of the false ministry, none of the false prophets can do any of that. Behold, you are of nothing and your work of nothing and abomination to see that chooses you. As Ray I have raised up one from the north and he shall come from the rising of the sun and he shall call upon my name and he shall come upon princes upon border and as the potter treads the clay. Who has declared from the beginning that we may know before time, that we may say he is righteous, yes, there is none that shows, yes, there is none that declares, yes, there is none that hears your words.

So there is no one that can predict the future, no one that can tell you what is going to come for sure, what the final outcome will be. However, we are admonished to study the prophets. We are admonished to discern the signs of the times.

You remember the parable and what Jesus does, how is it you can discern the signs of the weather, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. And we're admonished in Luke 21.36, watch you therefore pray that you may be counted, or that you escape all the things that come to try, to come upon the sons of men to try them on the face of the earth.

So we are to be aware, we are to understand, but we cannot really predict what the future is going to be. And those people who profess to know really can't predict. Only God, even Jesus Christ, says, the day and hour knows no man except my Father in heaven. Some people say, well, don't you think Christ knows now? Well, I don't know for sure, but I know what the Bible says. But first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them, and I will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings. Once again, the church, Zion and Jerusalem are symbolic of the church, and they are going to bring good tidings to the whole earth in that day. And all nations are going to flow to Zion and to Jerusalem and be taught of God. Where I beheld, and there was no man even among them, and there was no counselor that when I asked them could answer a word.

Behold, they are vanity. They are confusion. They are nothing. Their works are nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion. And so we come to the end of Isaiah 41. As we said earlier, and you spread the word, that our next study of Isaiah will begin in chapter 42. Such exciting chapters lie ahead of us as these chapters were so exciting to me today, tonight.

Those chapters that remain in Isaiah, we will resume on October the 18th, the second Wednesday after the Feast of Tabernacles in the eighth day. So we will see you then.