Isaiah 46 -- 48

So, good evening, once again, brothers and sisters, and we're glad to have you with us here tonight. And we're going to be beginning in Isaiah 46. In Isaiah 46, it starts off talking about pagan gods. And once again, Isaiah was on the same warning Judah about the coming desolations, and we're going to come upon them. And we always remember the duality concept in prophecy as well.

To a large degree, Isaiah 46 repeats many of the things that are in preceding chapters, past three or four chapters, but there are some new materialities as well. So, Isaiah 46, 1, bell bows down. Bell was the principal god of the Babylonians, was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon. And so, many of the rulers of Babylon, and even Daniel, his name was changed.

The people that were taken captive, especially those of the intelligentsia, the young, bright ones like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, that's their Babylonian name. And bell Shazar was Daniel's Babylonian name. It means the treasure field. And so, one of the rulers was bell Teshad, Shazar.

And so, it is a derivation of Mardoch. And Mardoch became bell, and then in Rome, and during the time of the heyday of Rome, the principal god was Jupiter. But all of these gods are principally the same. The Greek and Roman writers compare bell with Jupiter, and the common name which to give to their idol is Jupiter. So, you have quite a number of the rulers who are, their first three letters of their name would begin with the principal god of that time, like bell Teshazar, and bell Zebab, and literally means Lord. So, they worship and bow to false god, whom they viewed as Lord. Bell bows down Nebo. Now, Nebo also was a prefix for some of the rulers named like Nebuchadnezzar. It is a derivation of Nebo. Nebo was like the scribe or the principal spokesman for bell. So, Nebo was second to bell, but bell bows down, Nebo stops, stops as their idols were upon the beast, and upon cattle, your carriages were very heavy, they are burdened to the weary beast. So, they are bowing down, and the reason they're bowing down is God is beginning to judge them. In verse 2, they stoop, they bow down together.

They cannot deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. So, we know the story of how the Medes and the Persians came upon the Babylonians at night, and we refer the famous verse in Daniel where it says, your kingdom has been weighed and found one and is counted in the balances, and this very night you're going to go into captivity, you're going to be taken captive.

And so, the handwriting on the wall in which Daniel was called to interpret.

Verse 3, hearken unto me, O house of Jacob. Once again Jacob is used here for all twelve tribes, and shall all the remnant of the house of Israel remember the parallelism that is present in the poetic form that Isaiah writes in. Jacob and Israel both denoting, in this case, all twelve tribes which are born from the belly which are carried from the womb. So, once again, we mentioned Ezekiel 16 where God came along and chose the least of the nations. At that time, you remember that initially they were the tribes of Jacob. Jacob's twelve sons became the twelve tribes which became the nation of Israel. And from the time that they were born, God had selected them, he cleaned them up, and he made a covenant with them. And, of course, they broke the covenant and went astray. Now, verse 4, and even to your old age, I am he, and even to the whore hairs, the very hair and standing hair, will I carry you I have made, and I will bear even I will carry, and will deliver you. Now, we're reminded here of Exodus 19 verse 4 where it says, you have seen, this is Exodus 19.4, you have seen what I have done to the Egyptians. God delivered Israel from Egypt, and he bore him on eagle's wings, bearing on eagle's wings is symbolic of God carrying them. As I've said, often that God dragged them into the promise of land. And once again, in Isaiah 40 in verse 31, it talks about, we might turn back there to Isaiah 40 verse 41, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. And of course, that is talking spiritually. And no matter what your physical condition might be, and no matter what, whether you are in prison or whether you are free as a bird, as they might say, you may be in the deepest darkest dungeon that humanity can conceive. We're seeing now that some of the hostages released by Allahs, and beginning to hear their stories of how poorly they were treated. They were virtually starved, and they really lost a lot of weight because of starvation and because of thirst and lack of the essential elements needed for vitality. We're hearing all those stories at the present time.

But God has taken care of Israel through the centuries, and to this very day, you can rest your God's eye upon Israel and upon all of his people.

And Israel has a special place in his heart, not because they were greater than any other nation or greater than any other nation now, but because as the same goes, he had to start somewhere, and he started with Israel. Numbers 4, even to your old age, I am he, and even to whore hairs will I carry, and I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you, and he delivered them on eagle's wings in the past, and we will continue to take care of them. We don't know what the future holds, because the future, if you read Bible prophecy, you know that there is a lot and a lot of suffering that is to take place in the future. To whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be like? So what false God, what pagan God, what false God, what pagan God, what any entity that you want to name in the universe, who is like God, who is like Him, there's no one like God.

Bear upon Him, verse 7, the shoulder they carry Him, that is the idol, set Him in His place, and He stands from His place. Shall He not remove them? I mean, wherever you place them there He stays, and cannot walk, cannot speak, cannot do anything, but yet they bow down and worship Him. Yes, one shall cry unto Him, yet He cannot answer nor save Him out of His trouble. There's no way that this inhumane idol can deliver them anyway. Someone needs to mute their sound at the present time, their microphone. Remember this and show yourselves. Bring again to mind all you transgressors. So keep in mind what you're really dealing with, with whom you are dealing. You're dealing with the God of the universe, the one who has delivered you and taken care of you, who swaddled you and cleaned you up and placed you where He has placed you, and you are very special to Him. Verse 9, Remember the former things of old, for I am God. There is none else I am God, and there is none like me. Often quoted in Isaiah in this form or other forms, but essentially the message is the same, that God wants His people to know and everyone to know that there is no God like Him. And what He does, He doesn't necessarily do it for the sake of Israel or any other nation. He does it for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. He makes me to lie down in green pay and passures. He leadeth me by the steel waters for His name's sake. In so many places you'll find for His name's sake, for God's reputation and for who He is, what He is, and what He is all about.

He delivers Israel and each one of us in so many different situations.

Often times the angels will intervene and we don't even know about it. We're not even aware of how God watches over us in so many different ways that God is continually aware of us. It says in the Psalms that His thoughts are ever toward us. The very hairs on our head are numbered as it says in Matthew chapter 10. We're much more valued than a sparrow. He's aware of the sparrows that fall to the ground and yet the hairs on our head are numbered. His thoughts are ever toward us. He's ever mindful of us.

God in verse 10 declared the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. So we have Bible prophecy. We have a schematic of what is going to happen through the ages. It wasn't so long ago. I don't remember exactly when.

It's been a year or more, I think. It could have been two years ago, but I gave a sermon on the appointed time. It's quite amazing if you look at the appointed time that God does things on time. Yes, He does cut time short and no one knows the date or the hour according to Jesus Christ, but God Himself when He is going to send Christ back to this earth. Look at Acts 17.

I believe it's verse 31.

Acts 17, where Paul is on Mars Hill and he is having the great controversy with the intelligentsia of the city at that time. In Acts 17, verse 31, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man, and that man, of course, is Jesus Christ, whom He hath ordained. You know, it says in the Gospels that all judgment is given unto Jesus Christ, wherefore He has given assurance unto all men in that He has raised Him that is Christ from the dead. Time after time, you'll read in the Gospels and Acts and in the New Testament that God is the one. God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 11 says by the same spirit that He raised Jesus from the dead, He is going to raise our bodies from the dead by the spirit that dwells in us. We are all of one spirit, as it says in Hebrews 2, that we are all of one. Therefore, Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. He is the firstborn among many brethren, as it says in Acts, not Acts, but in Romans 8 and verse 29, the firstborn among many brethren.

So once again, we read this last clause here in Isaiah 46, 10. My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. God is going to make sure that everything that He's prophesied is going to come to pass. There is no question about it, and we should never doubt that He is going to bring pass everything that He has purpose to do. And maybe we'll look at that, look at Isaiah 7 and verse 9, I believe it is. And it's not verse 9, but we'll get back to Isaiah and the chapters 7, one of the great messianic prophecies of all time. In Isaiah 7, Jesus, who is believing, you are truly my God. For thee, behold, the Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall call his name Emmanuel. If that same thing is repeated in Matthew chapter 1, his name is Emmanuel, meaning God with us. But in honey, she that he may know to refuse evil and choose the good. For before the child should know to refuse evil and choose the good, and choose the good, the land that they abhor shall be forsaken for both para and the things. Now we go to chapter 9. In chapter 9, in verse 7, of the increase of his government and peace there should be no end. Upon the house of David and upon his kingdom, order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. From henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So God is going to perform what he has promised.

Now we go back to Isaiah 46 and verse 11, and he gives an example of what he is doing with regard to calling things before they happen. Calling a ravenous bird, and that is Cyrus the Great from the Persian Empire to conquer the Babylonians. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country.

Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will also do it.

So the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon, and then Cyrus issued the decree that the Judah could return to the Palestine to the promised land and build the second temple. Verse 12, Harken unto me, you stout hearted that are far from righteousness.

I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait.

And I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory. And oftentimes we have talked about, and we want to turn there to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, and verse 19 will start. Remember in Hebrews what the Apostle Paul does. He compares and contrast elements of the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. In Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 19, talking about Mount Sinai and the sound of a trumpet in the voice of the words, which voice they heard and entreated that the words should not be spoken unto them anymore, as when he was given the temple in Exodus 20.

And they said, don't have God speak to us, let Moses speak to us, for they cannot endure that which was commanded them. So much as the beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with the dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. So that was the Old Covenant. But that was the old time. But you are come unto Mount Zion.

See, salvation is in Zion. But you are come unto Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable company of angels, general and assembly, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. And we are the first begotten, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. So we are of the Israel of God. Remember what it says in Galatians chapter three that if you are in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. And so Zion is symbolic of the church.

And here it says, I bring near my righteousness and shall not be far off and my salvation shall not wait. And I will place salvation Zion for Israel, my glory. And we are of the Israel of God. What a blessing it is. God has called us out of this evil world of salvation that it talks about in the book of Peter that even the angels have dared to have desired to look into. Now we go to Isaiah 47.

And Isaiah 47 is sort of like reading the newspaper or the Financial Times of the dame. And by Financial Times, I use it in generic terms in the sense of all of the people that are the prognosticators and people that are prognosticating what is going to happen with regard to the economy. And we know that we're living on borrowed time because we have a national debt of 33-34 trillion dollars, which no one can imagine or count. And we have just credited that money. And it is fiat money. And as long as people have confidence in it, it will sustain and will be the medium of exchange for goods and services.

But how long will it last? Who knows? And many people have prophesied. I started reading financial newsletters back in the early 70s, began to speak about it in church and that kind of thing. And here we are in 2023, 40-something years after that, or really about 50 years after that. And we're still going with the same old economy. And it's getting worse and worse. But anyhow, let's look at this in Isaiah 47 in verse 1.

Come now and sit in the dust. Of course, dust is a place of a low degree when something terrible had happened to you. You would sit in the dust and you would throw dust over your head, your body, and dust and ashes. Oh, virgin daughter of Babylon. Now, the word virgin is oftentimes used to refer to a nation, a daughter of Babylon, that is used in other ways as well. It doesn't mean virgin in the sense that a virgin that is pure and not been corrupted, but it means one that has not been conquered, who has had the best of things and has lived a good life.

And now it has suddenly changed. Oh, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground in the dust. There is no throw daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. So the time of judgment has come. Remember the duality. Some of this is somewhat like reading Revelation 18, where Babylon comes into judgment of God. And the people of God are told to get out of her, my people, that you be not protectors from her plagues. I believe that's Revelation 18 verse 4.

Take the millstone and grind meal. Well, slave girls were the ones who would grind the meal. And so that it is a symbolic of a place of low degree.

Uncover the locks. So no more well said hair or whatever. Make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. So all of the things that have to do with becoming very common, and very poor, and having nothing is being revealed. You are going to be revealed like verse 3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. And nakedness is a symbolic of sin.

I'll say that again. Nakedness is symbolic of sin, Adam and Eve. After they sin, they try to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. But of course, no amount of clothing of any kind, fig leaves or whatever else, from the best woven, spun garments you can think of, can cover sin. Only one thing that is the blood of Christ can take away sin. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Yes, your shame shall be seen.

And I will take vengeance. And I will not meet you as a man. So, he is going to meet them as God, as the one who has the ultimate power of judgment.

As for our Redeemer, the eternal host is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Now, we have addressed that several times, that whatever you can say of the Father can also be said of the Son, whatever you say of the Son can be said of the Father. And you have to get it from, have to try to ferret it out from the context of which one it is talking about.

God has appointed all judgment unto Christ. Isaiah 47.5, Sit you silent and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans.

For you shall no more be called a Lady of Kingdoms.

You were number one on the face of the earth. You thought you were it.

The hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world in ancient times.

Babylon the Great, the Babylonian system.

Isaiah 47.6, I was mad with my people. In other words, I, God became angry like in the pre-flood world. He was so troubled with their sins that he said, I'm just going to start over and do it again. He was so angry with Israel one time that he told Moses. This was after the spies came back from spying out the promised land.

Ten of them brought an evil report and said, oh, we can't do it. They're giants in the land and they have chariots of iron and all of the things like that. And so God says, I was I was broth or mad or angry with my people. I have polluted their mind inheritance. In other words, I have let them go into captivity and given them into your hand. You did show them no mercy upon the ancient. Have you very heavily laid your yoke? And so we see a lot of that taking place of the elderly all over the world are really suffering. People are living longer, enjoying it less. They're struggling to stay alive into their 80s and 90s and 200.

We just saw the Memorial Service of Rosalind Carter yesterday. She lived to be 96 and former President Carter is 99. And they said he cannot speak anymore. And so his days are certainly numbered. And you said I shall be a lady forever. So she thought, no, we got it made. We will never be conquered. We will never be taken into captivity. We will never be destroyed by another foreign power, any power, so that you did lay yourself, for you did not lay these things to your heart. In other words, the warnings of the prophets, like it says in Matthew that God said to them, prophets, time after time, and they stole the prophets, they killed the prophets, they didn't listen to the prophets. You remember what they did to Jeremiah, because we we covered Jeremiah before we did this, they put him in prison, they did all put him in a dungeon kind of thing. Neither did you remember the latter end of it.

Therefore, here now this you are given to pleasures. And of course, if we look at the world today, that's the whole thing. That the disc jockeys on the stations begin to talk about the weekend is coming on Monday morning. And by the time you get to Wednesday or Thursday, it's all about the weekend. It's about here. We can do all of our pleasures. And then on Saturday and Sunday morning, the parking lots of all the night lows and Home Depot and those places and filled with the shoppers there. You that dwell carelessly that say in your heart, I am and none else besides me. I shall not sit as it would have neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day. And of course, we've just seen a, I guess you would say a microcosm of a mini picture of this with a Hamas striking Israel. Suddenly, they had totally unaware of it didn't know where it was going, that it was coming. And in one day in a matter of a few hours, anywhere from 1200 to 1400 Israelis were killed, including women, children, women, rape children, even infants placed in ovens, the loss of children, widowhood. They shall come up upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries. Now, sorceries, once again, and that's one of the main things because of your sorceries, it says in Revelation 18, you're being judged. And sorceries here means the Hebrew word is keshev, it means magic, sorcery, witchcraft. Oh, yes, there is a lot of witchcraft. There is a lot of demonology that is being involved in what has taken place, whether we believe it or not. It's what the Bible says. We can either believe the Bible or we can believe something else. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits, evil spirits in high places and heavenly places. You know, even when Daniel was trying to understand the 70-year prophecy of Jeremiah, which when the angel Gabriel came and revealed things to him and became the 70-weeks prophecy, that they just thought the time would go on, that they would never know the loss of children or anything else. But these two things shall come up on you in a moment, and one day, the loss of children and what a good! They shall come up on you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries and for the great abundance of your enchantments. Again, this means enchantments here, means charm, company. It's just the all of the various pleasures that are available. Like if you look at the you watch some of the news channels today, like Good Morning America, that kind of thing, it's like nothing is happening in this world until they have a little three or four minute break to bring you the news. And you might say, well, Israel continues its bombardment of the mosque in northern Gaza or that kind of thing. But the news doesn't really tell you. It basically focuses on the entertainment world and what you can look forward to with regard to having pleasure. First hand, for you have trusted in your wickedness, you have said, non-seize me.

Nobody's aware of this. I mean, it is so obvious, as they say, your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. And you have said in your heart, I am and none else beside me. I am the greatest. And of course, all of me, and even the nations are counted as grasshoppers in the drop in bucket compared to God, much less human beings. As far as, you know, if we want to look at it just from a physical point of view, we're like a grain of sand upon the seashore. We are absolutely nothing but like Israel was called out among the many nations, we have been called out of this world and what we have just read in the preceding 10 verses. We've been called out of this world and given the opportunity to live the life that God has revealed in his holy scripture, the life of righteousness. Righteousness begins with God and salvation is a Zion. It is in God's church and in his word and in his people. Therefore shall evil come upon you. You shall know from where it rises. You shall not know from where it rises. Just all of a sudden it's there and misuse shall fall upon you. You shall not be able to put it put it off. There's no escaping and desolations shall come upon you suddenly and you shall not know. Stand now with your enchantments. Okay, stand with your pleasures, with your good times, and with a multitude of your sorcerers, with your witchcraft, with your witchcraft and magic and thinking that you know and thinking that you can predict the future and thinking that you can bold and shape the future. Whereas what you're doing is surely bringing about your demise and with a multitude of your sorcerers. Once again, the multitude of your sorcerers is witchcraft wherein you have labored from your youth. If so be, you shall be able to profit. If so be, you shall prevail. You are wearying the multitude of your counsel. So we have all the counselors. There are so many people that are counseling.

I don't know how many junk mail, pieces of mail from financial advisors, from people and astrologers. Your horoscope today speaks good things for you. And you may have four or five of those any one day of your horoscope. This is what your horoscope has for you today. And thinking that the heavenly bodies, just like the pagan stuff, that the heavenly bodies control the affairs of men and women upon the face of the earth, where the heavenly bodies do not control the affairs of men upon the earth. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly pranosicators, which we have so many, stand up and save you, for these things shall come upon you.

Now, of course, you can take anything to the extreme. Obviously, you should heed and read the signs of the times. The signs of the times are dire. The signs of the times are unbelievably dark. And you need to prepare as much as you can, but you do not place your trust and your confidence in any kind of deliverance by man. But yet, God expects us to do the best we can with what we have to do with. You know, you read in Revelation 6, where when God begins to really intervene and the sixth seal is open, and the rich and men, they throw their gold and silver into the streets, and they call for the rocks and whatever and fall upon them like they're ready to commit suicide, because there's nothing that will save them.

And it says, Hide us from the wrath of He that sits upon the throne, so the wrath of God and from the Lamb. The wrath of God and from the Lamb of God. Maybe we should read those last few verses there where the sixth seal is open. In Revelation 6, beginning in verse 12, I think we read this last time. I know I read it in the sermon I recently gave.

In Revelation chapter 6 verse 12, when I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became His blood.

Of course, when you have talked about how the blood moons of recent times in which Jonathan Cahn and Kenneth Hagin and others made much over blood moons, a natural occurring phenomenon, when the stars of heaven fell under the ground, under the earth, the demons were cast down, even as a fig tree cast around timely figs, when shaken by a mighty man that the heaven deployed as His role, when His role together that every mountain and island was moved out of their place, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every by men, every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks and in the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from Him, the face of Him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? Only those who love the truth, who know the truth, who love the truth, who do the truth, only those will be able to stand during that time.

Now verse 14, back in Isaiah 47.

All they shall be is stubble, the fire shall burn them, that shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame, and shall not be a cold to warm at, nor fire to set before it. Thus shall they be unto you with whom you have labored your merchants from your youth.

And of course, in Revelation 18, it talks about the merchants, how the nations of the world have gotten rich from the merchants. They shall wonder every one to his quarter, and none shall save you.

So there is no salvation apart from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the Israel of God. There is no other salvation from any other source. Now we go to Isaiah 48, chapter 48.

Hear you this, O house of Jacob. So often in Isaiah starts off with this house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, once again the parallelism, that are come out of the waters of Judah. This is like the end times prophecy. You see, you come out of the waters of Judah, who says they come out of the nation of Israel at the present time, says, we have come out of the waters of Judah, and swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. And we have so many fundamentalist preachers who are preaching today about the Jews and about Israel, and about how that all the nations shall be blessed by the promises made to Abraham. But we know those promises are only those who are in Christ, and the Jews as a nation rejected Christ. Of course, we get that conundrum of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, where one is coming who will sit in the temple of God, and the daily sacrifice is going to be taken away. And so, there is a temple going to be built according to the Scripture, and sacrifices are going to be offered once again. So, that physical part seems to be necessary for the greater spiritual part to be fulfilled in the end times.

But we have now the nation of Israel, which we hear so much about in the news right now, that have come out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, may make men of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. They don't really know what righteousness is. Of course, our past sins are forgiven through repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the mission of sins that are passed, as it says in Romans chapter 3. For they shall be of themselves, for they call themselves the holy city.

Well, you hear so much about Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

And stay themselves upon the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts, is his name. And you're going to hear more and more as time goes on. I don't know when that time will come.

Many of us may be in our graves when that time will come.

In Isaiah 483, I have declared the former things from the beginning, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did see the late that they came to pass. So we have seen so many things that have come to pass that God uttered before it did come to pass, and he's given certain examples of that. And yet, most of prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. And we're going to be amazed when it does begin to be fulfilled, how suddenly it does come to pass, and how suddenly it is fulfilled. That's one of the things that I think I'm beginning to see more and more, how suddenly it is going to come to pass. Because I knew that you are obsessed, and your neck is as an iron sinew and your brow brass. In other words, you can't be taught anything. You think you know it all. You think that you are the greatest on the face of the earth, but you are not the greatest on the face of the earth. God is the greatest.

Jesus Christ is the greatest. His people are the greatest, and yet they are humble people.

They have in many cases, in so many cases, they are poor people. They are hurting people, but yet they are rich in faith, even though they may not have a lot of worldly goods.

Verse 5, I have even from the beginning declared it to you before it came to pass. I showed you, unless you should say, my idol had done them. No, no idol is going to bring it to pass. And my graven image and my molded image have commanded them. No, those idols cannot command what lies before the sons of men in the age in which we live. You have heard, you have seen all this and will not. You declare it. I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things. And you did not know them. But we're getting into some of the most nitty-gritty things in the entire Bible in this chapter. Yes, you heard not. Yes, you knew not. Yes, from that time, your ear was not open. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously.

And you were called a transgressor from the womb. God knew when he called Israel out. Of course, he knew that Adam and Eve was going to sin, was going to sin. That is why he promised in Genesis 3.15 a Redeemer, one that would bruise Satan's head, would put him away. For my name's sake, will I defer my anger? So once again, you see this phrase, for my name's sake. Time after time, God says he does what he does for his name's sake. His name's sake. His name is at stake. All of the words of God are at stake with what is going on in the world today and in the hereafter. For my name's sake, will I defer my anger? And for my praise, will I refrain for you that I cut you not off? Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. And so we are going to go through much affliction, much suffering. Those who would live in Jesus Christ will suffer much affliction, is what Paul wrote to Timothy.

For mine own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it. Once again, hearken unto this, listen to this, for mine own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? God is not going to stand for His name to be polluted and say, oh, you started out with this grand deals plan. You talked about salvation for all the nations. You talked about this. You talked about that. Well, why don't you do something? I will not give my glory unto another. So one of the things, of course, is written in Luke's account of the Olivette prophecy. There's a verse that says, in your patience, possess you your souls or your life essence, in your patience. Blessed are they that wait upon the Lord. And so we may be waiting when we are called away, when we die, when we are placed in the grave. We may still be waiting, but today is sure to come. If the day is not to come, then no one has any hope in this world whatsoever. And I choose to believe that which is common sense and rationality teaches us that God is going to keep His Word and nothing else makes sense. Hark it unto me, O Jacob, and Israel, once again, in parallelism, my called, and I am He, I am the first, I am also am the last. My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth. In several places you will read this. Of course, we know that the foundation of the earth as far as the literal physical creation that God created all things through Jesus Christ, as it says in John 1. And my right hand has spanned the heavens. When I call unto them, they stand up together. All you assemble yourselves and hear, which among them have declared these things. The Eternal has loved Him. He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arms are beyond the Chaldeans. And of course, we talk about the duality of prophecy. That what did happen to them, and something is going to happen to us that is even more dramatic. I, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called Him, I have brought Him, and He shall make His way prosperous. Of course, once again, probably referring to Cyrus there, when the Medes and the Persians did conquer Babylon that existed at that time. Come, you near unto me, hear you this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that He was there.

Am I? And now the eternal God and His Spirit has sent me.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go. But profit, it doesn't necessarily mean profit in the monetary sense, but it is, teaches you to be benefited, to do good. I've taught you to do good. The Hebrew word is yah-ah-ah-y-a-a-l. Y-a-a-l. The primitive root probably to ascend figuratively to be valuable, objective, useful, subjective, benefited. So you have benefited, you have prospered in my hand, which leads you by the way that you should go.

Prospered doesn't necessarily mean in material wealth, as the world looks at it, but in righteousness, in the way of God. Verse 18, Oh, that you had listened, that you would hearken to my commandments. Then had your peace been as a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea. Your seed also has been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof. His name should not have been cut off or destroyed from before me.

One of the things that so many of the organizations are trying to do today is cut off the name of God and Christ from anything that smacks of true religion. Oh, it's okay to talk about vaults religion. It's all okay to talk about witchcraft and magic. It's all right to talk about in Eastern mysticism. It's all right to talk about Islam. It's all right to talk about Judaism, but don't talk about true Christianity. Go forth of Babylon. Once again, I didn't hearken back to Revelation 18.4, where we're told to get out of Babylon. Go you forth of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, for the voice of singing, declare you, tell this, uttered even to the end of the earth, say you, the eternal has redeemed his servant, Jacob. How does he redeem us? He redeems us through the blood of Jesus Christ. And they thirsted not when he led them through the desert. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock, for he he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He claimed the rock also, and the water's gushed out. There is no peace, says the Lord, unto the wicked. So we have covered three of the most important chapters, and especially this last chapter, which to me it speaks so much while chapters 47 and 48 speak so much of the present day. And I hope that we will take heed from this.

These chapters should be studied over and over.

Okay, we come to the end of the Bible study this evening, so if we have any question or comment from any of you.

Any question or comment that you would like to make?

Hello, Dr. Ward. Thank you for your study. I would like to comment on Isaiah 48 verse 16.

Because it's one of my new favorite chapters I've come across, it's kind of like one of those aha moments that you read something and read something for years, and then you read it again, and it's like the aha moment. Because you know of all of the stuff that has gone in the Spokane area for the last few years, Isaiah 48 verse 16 was just really astounding to me because it's another spot where starting in verse 12 it says, I am the first and I am the last. You know, my hand has laid the foundations of the earth, so obviously it's the Lord who is speaking. But in verse 16, it says, you know, I've not spoken in secret from the beginning from the time that it was. There I am, and now the Lord Yahweh and his spirit have sent me. So it's, I believe it's the one who was the word speaking. And then he says the Lord Yahweh sent him. Yes, actually that word there, I misread it when I read it, is Adonai. But Adonai God and his spirit has sent me. Yes, definitely. The hand, like I mentioned when we read this, that John 1 makes it very clear that God created all things through Jesus Christ.

And that word that's being is a precious verse. Come, you near unto me, hear you this.

I have not spoken in secret. Of course, today, compared to the religions of this world, and one of the things that, of course, the politicians will grab hold of religious freedom. And one of the things that in this temple that if you read from the sources, there are a lot of Israeli news sources. If you go to drudge.com, I believe it's not drudge.com, it's to depkah.com. Maybe it's just depkah.com. D-E-B-K-A. Then it has all the various Israeli news sources, and a lot of them talk about the temple that is to come. And one of the things I've mentioned this in the past, a house of prayer for all nations. So there's coming a religious kind of revival kind of thing in which the religions are going to be amalgamated. You know, George Bush, president said, oh well, the Muslims worship the same God that we do. No, they don't. They don't worship the same God. No, but thank you.

Anybody else question or comment?

Okay, it's very good to see all of you, and we'll be seeing you next time. And thank you for joining us. We had a good attendance tonight, and I hope you profited by it. And you can review this. Hopefully it'll be posted as soon as possible, and you can review it as well.