Isaiah 58 - 59

So welcome again to the Bible study this evening. We're going to begin in Isaiah 58. So if you would turn to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 in verse 1 is an often quoted verse in the Bible and in the Church of God. Pray aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. The trumpet is oftentimes compared to the human voice in the Bible, as we will note in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10. If you will turn to Revelation 1 and verse 10, we'll see there a vision that John has with regard to Jesus Christ. Revelation 1 and verse 10, where John says that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. On the day of the Lord is a proper translation.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, it was properly translated as the day of the Lord. Revelation 1 and verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, which should read, I was in the Spirit on the day of the Lord. The book of Revelation generally deals with events during the day of the Lord when God directly intervenes in human affairs and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. So a trumpet sounds, the sound of a trumpet will carry a long ways, and it's the kind of sound that even though it is melodious, if you know how to play it, but yet at the same time, it is attention-getting and it travels a long ways and you can hear it. So this verse continues, lift up your voice like a trumpet, show my people their transgression. The only way you can show transgression is to preach the word, and now we want to notice the admonition that Paul gives to the young evangelist Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick that is the living and the dead, notice that, judge the living and the dead, when at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, that word there, reprove, elencho, it has to do with conviction. If you're going to convict people, you have to show them their transgressions. You have to challenge them to the very roots of their belief system. And over the years, of course, I've taken the position basically of the Isaiah 58, one cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Whereas we have those in the church and the ministry who believe that you should go easy, that you should not give them, first of all, the milk of the word and slowly bring them along. And so that battle of how to preach the gospel, how much do you say, how much do you not say, has been debated back into probably as long as the church has existed. But when you read the Bible itself, they don't miss words.

The God in Christ who inspired the Bible through the Holy Spirit do not miss words when they speak. So show my people their transgression. Well, you have to define what a transgression is. And most people cannot tell you what the biblical definition of transgression is. 1 John 3, 4 says that sin is the transgression of the law.

So show my people their transgression, their sins. You have to open up the Word of God and preach and teach the Word of God in the house of Jacob. And Jacob, oftentimes, is usually, if you get the house of Jacob, you're talking about all 12 tribes. Show the house of Jacob, all 12 tribes, Israel, their sins. Of course, we are to go into the world and preach to all flesh, to everyone, not just to the house of Israel. But we start at the house of Israel on the day in which Christ ascended back to heaven. We notice the admonition that He gives the apostles, if you turn to Acts chapter 1. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus Christ speaking.

Let's read verse 6, where the apostles are talking. When they therefore would come together, they ask Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. But You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon You, and You shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and into the uttermost parts of the earth. And in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, it says, This go ye therefore into all the world, disciple all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. But God and Christ started their work with Israel, with the nation of Israel. And one of the main challenges in the Commission, the Israel was for them to bring all nations into a relationship with God and Christ. And of course, they failed under the terms of the Old Covenant. And now that mission has been passed on to the Church. But the Church, we do not teach replacement theology. The Church has not replaced the nation of Israel because we read so much about the restoration of Israel. Now limited restoration of Israel has taken place in modern times because a lot of the prophecies would necessitate Israel being a nation at the end of the age and building a temple and one sitting in the temple of God, as in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, proclaiming that he is God. So the restoration of Israel to a limited degree has taken place, but the spiritual restoration of Israel takes place later on at the beginning of the millennium and during the day of the Lord. So we have this here, this challenge to lift up your voice like a trumpet and show the people their sins and really challenge them on the Word of God. As we were talking there before this study began, I don't think I would have ever really come to the truth if I had not been challenged on what I believed. I was teaching at Delphin what the truth really is. And of course, they claim that they were followers of John the Baptist and the church should be named Baptist and all of that. But then you came to see what the truth really is. Then we have the contrast in verse 2, Isaiah 58.2, yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness. And of course, the righteousness part is basically the prosperity gospel today in which they say if you sow seeds, if you give such and such offering, it's going to return unto you maybe twofold, maybe fivefold, maybe tenfold. And so we have lots of televangelists who have their private jets and that kind of thing. And they jet around the country boasting of their prosperity and how you, if you'll sow your seed with them, you too can live the same kind of life that they live. And then this part about knowing God and doing the right thing in society, of course, is spilled over into the political arena. And what used to be the domain of the church of helping the poor and so on has become a political football. And now we have the DEI program that the federal government is sponsoring. D is diversity, E is equity, and I is inclusion. The DEI program of diversity, equity, and inclusion that the current administration is trying to foist off. And there are many, there are other anachronyms as well. One of the first executive orders that the current president issued was an executive order shortly after he took office about equity and racial equality.

So you look at the religious world today and they boast of their righteousness, and they don't realize that they don't even understand the very basics of what Christianity is all about. The law of God has not been done away with, and one must repent of their sins and turn to God with their whole heart, and good works will not save them. In Matthew 7 it says, many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, have we not done many great good works in your name, casting out devils, and giving to the poor, and so on. So here's the contrast once again. Here are these people coming before God and boasting of their righteousness, and then the next clause says, and pursue not the ordinance of their God. In other words, it's like, well, I'm doing that which pleases God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice, and they delight in approaching to God. But on the other hand, they can understand, as in verse 3, that they're not really being blessed in the spiritual sense that really counts with regard to becoming converted and following God's immutable spiritual law. Then they ask the question in verse 3, why have we fasted? In other words, what good is passing done us? They say, you see not and wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and you take no knowledge. In other words, why isn't God answering our prayers and doing the things that he has promised in his word? And then God responds, Behold, the day of your fast. You find pleasure in exacting all your labors. In other words, instead of seeking God with your whole heart in the right way, you go about your business doing it your way and exacting all your labors. Now, that word exact is an interesting word. It means to by implication to tax, to harass, to tyrannize, to distress, to oppress, to raise taxes, taskmaster. So you go about your business as usual, doing the usual things, and yet at the same time expect God to honor your fast. Then he describes the fast that they are doing. Now, let's pause here for a moment and talk about fast just briefly. Briefly, what does fast mean? Well, the only thing that Satan has to offer in this world is material things. He cannot offer anything of lasting spiritual substance. He can offer the glamour and glitz of this present evil age. He can make this present evil age look glamorous. He can make it look exciting. He can make it look like it's where you want to be. You want to be with the hen crowd, but the only thing that he has to offer is the here and now. The here and now. And of course, we know that at one time there was a soft drink company that had this commercial in which they called themselves the Now Generation. The Now Generation drinks this drink. Behold, you fast for strife and debate and to smite with a fist of wickedness.

You shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice be heard on high. So you can't expect God to answer or to react to a fast end or prayer that is laden with pleasure and seeking your own weight. So God then asks the question, is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bull rush into spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast? In other words, the outward show. The outward show says, I'm going to really show everybody how righteous I am. I'm going to bow my head. I'm addressing sackcloth and ashes. And God responds, will you call this a fast and an acceptable day of the Lord? Do you think that the outer trappings of fasting is what God wants? Not at all. Then he begins to describe the fast that he has chosen. Is not this the fast that I have chosen to lose the bands of wickedness? So one of the first things in a fast that is done, now if you'll turn to Daniel, just before the minor prophets, to the book of Daniel, chapter 9, we see this great prayer that Daniel prayed when he sought to understand the 70 years of the Bible. Daniel's prophecy of Jeremiah. So in Daniel, chapter 9, let's notice how Daniel started his prayer.

Daniel, chapter 9, verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Elhazarias, of the seed of the Medes, it was a Medo-Persian empire, which is made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, and the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonian or the Chaldean empire. In the first year of the reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years were of, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Of course, Daniel prayed faster than 21 days. Finally, the angel came to him and revealed what was going to happen, and it became the 70 weeks prophecy. And what did he do? And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

So one of the first things is to confess sin, as in verse 4. And I prayed unto the Lord, I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant of mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments. We have sinned. So the first thing that Daniel did, as he entered into the fast in his prayer, was to confess sins and ask for forgiveness. So God asks us not to confess that I have chosen, back in Isaiah 58.6, to undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.

Well, during Old Testament times, a person could indenture themselves and become, in essence, the to whom he indentured himself would become his master, as it were. And he would be somewhat like a slave, but God never says that we're to be slaves to any human being, but we are to be slaves to God. But yet, at the same time, it was permissible for a person to sell himself, he might say, to another person to pay off the debt. But God is against slavery. He's against oppression. He's against people being placed under the yoke, under bondage. And so one of the great things that, of course, the nation now is having to deal with, has to do with the fact that in the times past, the United States of America engaged in slavery. And we're paying the price right now. And it's a heavy price. I won't go into that. I won't pursue that anymore. You know what I'm talking about with regard to slavery and what it does.

So God says, in contrast to what they were doing, you are to pray and fast, to break the bonds of wickedness, and to break the bonds of oppression, and to let the captives go free. Then verse seven is not to deal the bread to the hungry. And that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house. When you see the naked, that you cover him and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh. You hide yourself not from your own flesh. There are several different ways to look at that. Last phrase there, commentators go wild on this particular verse. See, to hide from your own flesh. It says in the New Testament, if a man cares not for his own household, he's worse than an infidel and denied the flesh. So you want to take care of your household and your own flesh. And of course, we all have limited resources. And if we bailed everyone out of their debts, we would also be dead ourselves. So we have to exercise caution, wisdom, and follow what God says to do in it. But we're not to hide from our own flesh. We're to take care of our own household. Now, when Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover themselves and hide from God. And they tried to hide from their own flesh, literally, by sewing fig leaves together and trying to think they could hide from God. Of course, God came to them and called them out and of course told them what they had done and they were cast out of the garden because they disobeyed.

So if you do as what he says in verses six and seven, then verse eight, then shall your light break forth as the morning and your health shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your re-reward.

Now, the glory of the Lord is fully realized when we are in resurrection. You know, in John 17, I'm not turning there, but in Christ's great prayer in John 17, he prayed to the Father, restore unto me the glory I had with you before the world began. And so Jesus Christ died on the state, was in the grave three years and three, not three years, but three days and three nights. And then he was resurrected. His life essence was not left in the grave. His body did not see corruption. And he was resurrected a glorious, radiant, life-giving spirit being, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15. Then shall you call and the Lord shall answer. If you'll do these things, you pass and you pray and you follow this, you shall cry and I shall say, here I am. If you take away the midst of you, the yoke, in other words, don't oppress people, don't put them in bondage, don't put them in slavery.

The putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity, trying to point out to people how righteous you are in contrast to what they are and speaking vain words. Verse 10, and you draw out your soul, your very life essence, your being, to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, satisfy the afflicted soul.

Satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall your light rise in obscurity. In other words, you may be in darkness, you may be surrounded by not understanding, you may be in darkness, your prayers may not be answered, but if you do these things, it says in obscurity and in your darkness will be as a noon day. In other words, the darkness, the depression, the whatever you're in will suddenly be changed and you will be as in the noon day. And the noon day is when the sun is at its highest point and when most of the light comes through. And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy your life essence, your being, in drought and make fat your bones, and you shall be watered, and you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And of course, waters oftentimes use symbolically to indicate the Holy Spirit. Remember Jesus Christ cried out on that last great day of the feast where he cried out and said, out of my belly shall flow living water speaking of the Holy Spirit. And they shall be of you shall and they shall be of you shall build the always places. Then it goes to Millennial because that's one of the main things that those who live over into the Millennium and those who are resurrected and help guide people and direct them in the Millennium. And they shall be of you they shall build the always places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. And so that great challenge will be for before those who are in resurrection and those who are converted and live over into the Millennium. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, it comes back from the Sabbath in the several chapters in the 50s in the book of Isaiah. God emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath. You know that the Sabbath was introduced to humankind, and I don't know how recently we reviewed this, but let's turn back to Genesis chapter 2 because the Sabbath is so important to God.

The Sabbath reveals God as a physical creator and a spiritual creator. He set the day aside in one century so well as just like any other day. But there's something different about the Sabbath day, and even God rested on the Sabbath day. So we look at Genesis 2, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host for them. That was in six days. We call it the recreation because the earth was not created in Tohu and Bohu. It was created to be inhabited. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. He set it apart because in it he had rested from all his work, which he created and made. So from recreation week to the present time, God has emphasized the Sabbath, and Isaiah really emphasizes the Sabbath under inspiration from God. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath and from doing your pleasure on my holy day, remember, he calls it a holy day. And what makes something holy? God's active presence within it. So there's something about that day that's different from other days. He calls it a holy day, and we rest on the Sabbath and call the Sabbath a delight. That's what for some people that is a real challenge. We call the Sabbath a delight because people want to get up and go, and they want to do their work, and they want to do their thing on that day instead of doing what God wants them to do, and that is to look to him to rest on the Sabbath day.

So once again, my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the eternal, the holy of Yahweh, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Now that is the challenge for all of us, not speaking our own words, because actually oftentimes before church, after church, we speak our own words. We talk about everything under the sun, but the holy things of God, you're guilty, I'm guilty, we're all guilty, and we really need to work on that area. Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob. The heritage of Jacob, he was to inherit the land from the great river to the great river, which Israel never totally inherited that land, in the millennium they will. Of course, the heritage of Jacob was much more than just inheriting the land. It was through Jacob that the twelve tribes rose, Jesus Christ sprang from the tribe of Judah, and salvation through faith, and Christ came, so there are so many things that are involved in the heritage of Jacob. You know, from Romans 8 and verse 17, that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. It is a mind-boggling thing. We're not only going to be fed with the heritage of Jacob and enjoy the heritage of Jacob. Your Father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. You're going to be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ if you are in resurrection. Now we go to chapter 59. Chapter 59 of Isaiah Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, but it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. Now reading Isaiah 59, it's like reading the morning newspaper or listening to the morning news on any network you want to choose, basically, because we see all of the elements that are mentioned in Isaiah 59 brought forth, live and in color as they say, and yet, and more added to it, because they mainly just talk about the bad and the ugly. They don't talk about justice and judgment and that which is coming. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities, your lawlessness, have separated between you and your God. Now I hear people who are not in the truth, and it's better that they, I guess if you had to choose between two evils, say, okay, they do believe that God exists, and they begin to pray to God, but yet at the same time, they don't really know the truth.

But I would rather have a person that is praying and believing in God and one that is going their own way and don't even believe that God exists. And more and more, the nation is going in the direction of believing that God doesn't exist, and people who believe in God, and especially those who attend church and are faithful to their belief and calling, are becoming more and more in the minority, as we'll read just a little later here in Isaiah. So your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. So people expect God to answer their prayer and yet remain in their sins. One place in the New Testament, I think it's in John, where Christ says, why call you mean, Lord, Lord, and do not what I say. And I would imagine if you were to do a survey of the people of America, that a lot of people, and a lot of people, the majority now apparently don't attend church, that any church, that they would say, even those who don't attend, would probably say they believe in God in some form. And some would probably say that they pray to God, but yet at the same time they go about their lives as if he didn't exist. Where your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, lawlessness, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue have muttered perverseness. And that's about all you hear now. You hear lie after lie after lie after lie, perverseness, pointing the finger, accusing, and on and on it goes. None calls for justice. And even those who call for justice are belittled, they are made to, they're made out to be that, the oppressor. None calls for justice nor any pleads for truth. They trust in vanity. And vanity means that which is temporary, that which does not last. The Hebrew word here is tohu. It means confusion. That's interesting. The earth was not created in tohu and boh-guh and chaos and confusion. This word for vanity here is tohu. It's not, they trust in confusion. They trust in empty place. They trust in nothingness. They trust in waste-ness. That's what it means. And speaking lies, they conceive mishear and bring forth lawlessness. They hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the spider's web. He that eats of their eggs dies. And he that would. And that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.

So I don't know if you've ever seen snake eggs. I have. That snakes lay eggs too and they hatch vipers. And most of the poisonous creatures, like the spider and the snakes, they hatch out that which is harmful, poisonous. Their webs shall not become garments. Neither shall they cover themselves or their works. Their works are works of iniquity. And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts or thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths. So I mean, here is a description of the way the world currently is. This is what the news is filled with. The way of peace they know not. There is no judgment in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goes therein shall not know peace. So on and on it goes, describing perfectly the scene in today's world. Therefore, his judgment far from us. Neither does justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. For brightness, but we walk in darkness. It goes on and on. Of course, we all want long suffering. We all want mercy. We all want whatever we can get that is righteous, just and good. But the world is not really seeking after righteous judgment at the present time. Righteous judgment is far from us. We have been divided up into various groups that are against each other. And what the news is made of is trying to be one up on the other person. One up on them. They say this, we say that, we say this, they say that. And on and on it goes. We grope for the wall like the blind. And we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noon day, as in the night. We are in desolate places as dead men. What a sentence, what a description of what the populace has become. We must never allow ourselves to go in that direction. We roar all like bears, and mourn so are like doves. We look for judgment, but there is none for salvation, for deliverance. But it is far from us, where our transgressions are multiplied before you. So we have sin after sin after sin after sin. They are multiplied, they pile up, and it seems like there is no hope. Where our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins, testify against us. It's there. It's for everybody to see. Robbery, murder, violence. It stalks the streets, and people are innocent victims. Recently, a little girl here in South Texas was murdered by a person who was taking her to school. Where our transgressions are with us, and for our iniquities, we know them. In transgressing and lying against the eternal. See, all sin is against God, as it says in Psalm 51. In transgression, transgressing and lying against the eternal, and departing away from our God, speaking of oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood. I mean, you listen to the replay of some of the statements that have been made by those high up in political office, and it is unbelievable what they have done. It's very obvious that they're lying, and don't they know that they're drilling to be caught, and their very lies will be there what they fall into.

We've had several examples in recent times. Now verse 14, a judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Well, equity, as they are seeking it now, is a false kind of equity. Diversity, equity, and inclusion, yes, we want to treat all people with honor, with dignity, with respect, but it should come from the heart, and it should be according to the way that God has revealed to us to treat one another in Scripture.

Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. Now, truth fails time after time. We see truth talked about. You remember the famous question that Pilate asked of, what is truth? Well, the answer to that question is, your word is truth.

Sanctify them through your word. Set them apart. Your word is truth. The words I speak, Jesus said, they are truth, and they are life. For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. So more and more. You remember that Scripture in Matthew where it says, you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. You'll be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Why? Because you have stood fast for the truth. You stand fast. You put on the armor, the whole armor of God.

You do not compromise with the truth over the truth. Remember what it says in Revelation chapter 11 about overcoming Satan, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, they ordered their testimony, they love not their lives unto the death. You know, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Oh yeah, if you profess to be one who honors that which is right, they jump on you like wild dogs on meat. They want to tear you apart, and to level you, debase you, make you come down on the level they are. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment, no righteousness in the land. And he saw that there was no man wondered that there was no intercessor. And many of us are intercessors, and we really seek justice and judgment. Or do we seek something else? Well, going all the way back to the days of Moses when he was a type of Christ, and he stood as an intercessor for the nation of Israel, remember that God wanted to start all over with Moses, and Moses said, I pray that you don't do that because the other nations would say, well, he delivered those people, but he was not able to fulfill his promises to them.

Now Jesus Christ is our intercessor. He is at the right hand of the Father, living continually to make intercession for you and me. Therefore, his arm brought salvation. When God saw that there was no arm, no one, no person, no human to intercede, he interceded. He brought forth salvation unto him, and his righteousness sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate. Now this is similar to Ephesians 6, putting on the whole armor of God. God and Jesus Christ may have that whole armor on all the time, and we're to put on that whole armor all the time.

He put righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head. Helmet permeates the whole being. The thing that we really have to keep in mind right now with the helmet of salvation is keeping the big picture in mind of what lies in store for those who are faithful to the very end. Keep that big picture burning that you're going to be a glorious radiant spirit being in the kingdom of God. And he put on the garments of vengeance. So he says, of course, in Scripture that vengeance is mine, says the Eternal, I will repay.

And the day of his vengeance is going to come. We're going to see that. I believe it's Isaiah 61. Remember, he stood up in the temple after he was baptized, and he read from the book of Isaiah, and he stopped when it came to the day of the vengeance of our God. The day of the vengeance of our God is yet to come, and it looks like it's getting closer and closer upon us. And he put on the garments of vengeance clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak, may not have parted, zeal, a cloak, a cloak basically covers the whole body. According to their deeds, accordingly, he will repay, fury to his adversaries and recompense to his enemies, to the islands he will repay recompense.

So shall they fear the name of the eternal from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.

From west to east, from Japan to the east, well, Japan is in the east, and we're in the west. From the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. Of course, the sun rises in the east. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up his standard against him. So there's not going to be anything that's going to divert the people of God in the millennium, because God will not permit that to happen. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion. Oh yes, Zion. The word of the Eternals shall go forth from Jerusalem, well, from Zion and the law from Jerusalem. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression, Jacob said, Jacob says the Eternals. As for me, this is my covenant, with him says the Eternals. My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth. I want that to be a wonderful time in which all the words that we speak are godly words, they are righteous words.

Said I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed seed, says the Eternals, from henceforth and forever. And so we end our study tonight a little bit early, because I don't want to go into the other chapter before I want to treat it as a whole. Chapter 60, which I encourage you to read and study in the next two weeks, is a chapter devoted almost entirely to the millennium of how wonderful it is going to be. And it parallels greatly with Revelation 21 and 22. So keep that in mind as you read it. You could read chapter 60 and also Revelation 21 and 22. Okay, so we have come to the end of our study this evening, and we have now the opportunity for you to offer input and comment. So any of you have any input or comment at this point?

Dr. Ward, I don't know if this is the proper place for this question, but there's been a lot of controversy that if you get angry about anything, then you're not godly. And Christ said not let be angry and sin not. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. But we are to be angry at sin, aren't we? Maybe not the person, but at what the person does. And it seems like I get the impression sometimes that if you even have hard feelings about something, then somehow you're not pleasing God because God would never do that. As a matter of fact, I even heard a minister make a comment that Christ ruled with a rod of iron doesn't mean that he's going to be stripped. And I thought, well, I didn't say anything. But anyway, it just seems to be a tendency of some to not want to have any negative feelings whatsoever. And I'm not saying we, as you said at the beginning, we shouldn't be depressive and shouldn't live in a negative state of mind. But there's things that happen sometimes to God's people and to the righteous that kind of raises my blood pressure sometimes. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. No, you're not. My eye doesn't fall on it right now. But it says, those of you who are available for search right quick, God angry.

God is angry with the wicked every day. God does not take kindly. God has a full gamut of emotion. And he does not take kindly to wickedness. And any of you see that verse right quick? I thought I could turn right to it, but so far I haven't seen it.

Well, I don't know the specific verse off the top of my head, but I do remember there's a verse that says God hates sin. God hates wickedness. Yes, in Proverbs it says God is against the evil every day.

Psalm 711.

Pardon? Psalm 711.

He said Psalm 711, I think. Yeah, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. I knew it was in there. It's in the book, 711. Thank you. God is angry with the wicked every day.

Anybody else have any questions or comments?

Dr. Ward, over the last 12 years, I've had the opportunity to get into conversations with people at a restaurant like that has a TV, and we'll start talking for a little bit, and I'll start out talking sports with them, and then I'll ask them if they attend services anywhere. If they do, then I know that you could talk about other things, like prayer. They agree that prayer works, and so I'll tell them we keep a Sabbath, and the New Testament church in Jesus went on Saturday, and they all agree with that, and at the end, before I leave them, I'll mention to them that I can pray for them.

Okay, that's that's bold. I'll see them before after that. Yeah, unfortunately, most of us are not that bold, and that's a good... Seems like to me that's a good approach to take. Do you attend church anywhere and go from there?

Anybody else have a question or comment?

Well, I remind you of the... to pray for those who are, as we say, a death's door, as far as the medical profession is concerned, they are going to die unless there's intervention from God. We have a lot of sickness and unexpected death in some ways in the church and society at large at the present time, so to keep one another in mind and praying for one another is one of the great commandments that's given in the scripture to pray for one another. Paul continually asks people to pray for him that the gospel not be hindered, and we need to pray the same thing.

Anybody else have a question or comment?

Okay, if no more questions or comments, we're going to see you next time, two weeks from today, and hopefully you'll read Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21 and 22. Okay, we'll see you then!