Isaiah 21. Isaiah was called by God to do what? What was his mission? It was fourfold really. To call the people of Judah to trust in God. trust in him alone and to assure them that he will keep his covenant promises with abraham with them that through one of his descendants god's blessing will come to all the nations of the earth and isaiah has also begun to reveal some things about somebody who's that somebody christ the messiah chapter seven nine and eleven filled with information about the Messiah to come, as will be chapters 42, 49, and 53, and other chapters. And Isaiah has also warned of the coming judgment of God against those who reject Him and trust in false gods. We've got the whole gospel right here in Isaiah. It's not missing. That's why it seems like such a New Testament book with Old Testament characters and nations. And at that time, when Isaiah was writing, almost the entire world, including most of Israel and Judah, had become idolaters. They were trusting in imaginary gods for their security and their provision. And when they didn't trust in the imaginary gods, they trusted in ungodly nations. And at that time, the most powerful nation, kingdom on earth, was Assyria. And it went about conquering and subjugating every nation it could. It sought to conquer the entire known world. And as we've seen, Judah was tempted to, and sometimes did, enter into alliances with other nations against Assyria, and even, when Ahazaz was king, entered into an alliance with Assyria against Israel and Syria. That led them into idolatry, according to Assyrian pagan rituals. And Isaiah has reminded his hearers something that we need to always be reminded of, that the Lord is always present. He's not distant. He's not uninvolved. And in His own time, He will act. And so these messages of Isaiah had a real purpose to them, to teach them about the Messiah, to warn them of judgment, and to warn especially the people of God, which was just the tribe of Judah at this point, not to trust in ungodly nations. And that judgment is going to come upon them, Judah, as it will those nations if they don't repent. Life has always been about repentance. The book of Isaiah, remember, is not a chronological history, and the prophecies aren't necessarily arranged in the order in which they will occur, or even in the order in which they were given. Isaiah has also begun to show Judah something else. And what was that? It had to do with Egypt, Assyria, and Israel. What would they all have in common one day? They would all be part of the body of Christ. They would all be among the people of God, as would people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. So, here's Isaiah continuing to call on his hearers to remember the promises of God, to place their hope and trust in Him and His promises. Now, in chapter 21, the key to understanding this passage is understanding a Babylonian ruler named Merodach-Baladan. He was an adventurous type. He was not one to back down from Assyria, as so many did. And he even, in the period between 722 B.C. and 710 B.C., and then again from 705 to 702, he was able to obtain independence for Babylon from Assyria. Now you see the period between 710 and 705, that independence was lost. But he even made Babylon a threat to Assyria during this time. Now remember, it's going to be another hundred years before Babylon becomes the leading world power. But like the others, he had sought an alliance with Judah, this time Hezekiah, before it might have been Ahaz, against Assyria. And as had become customary, Isaiah warned Hezekiah, as he'd warned all the other kings. don't ally with Babylon, because Babylon is headed for doom. And so, verse 1 of chapter 21, we see the oracle concerning the wilderness by the sea, as windstorms in the Negev sweep on, it comes from the wilderness from a terrifying land. Now the Negev is the area of southern Israel, southern Judah. to the south. It's what the word Negev means. And by this vision, or image, Isaiah is made aware, once again, that a dire state of affairs lies ahead. Now, some see this term, desert by the sea, as a reference to Babylon, but others, and I think I would lean toward the others, based on the reference to the southern winds of the Negev in Judea, this seems to be a reference to the place where Isaiah would have received this vision. And so Babylon's going to fall. Now, we already saw Babylon fall back in chapters 13 and 14. We saw the symbol Babylon fall at the end of time. Babylon being a symbol, and you see it again here because I had to bring back the passages from Revelation. The end of time, when the Bible says in Revelation, Babylon fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, it's referring to all. the human, wicked, ungodly kingdoms and religions of the world. All of the earthly kingdoms fall before the one true king. But earthly Babylon also had a number of falls. We've seen one before in chapter 13 and 14. But it had a fall in 710 to Sargon when Sargon defeated Babylon. Sargon, the king of Assyria. In 702 it happened again, Assyria under Sennacherib. He recovered Babylon again. Then in 539, after the exile of the people of Judah to Babylon, it was the Medes and the Persians who conquered Babylon. And that was the complete and total collapse of earthly Babylon. But there's one other fall of Babylon, earthly Babylon, and that was 689 BC. And it's probably that one that Isaiah is writing about here. He's probably prophesying about a future conquest of Babylon. And he was warning Hezekiah, who was still king, and the people of Judah, don't count on Babylon. And we saw the same thing play out with Egypt. We saw it play out with other nations. Don't count on Babylon for support against Assyria, because Babylon's going to be destroyed. So the message to Hezekiah is the same one that he's been teaching. Trust in God, not alliance with Babylon. Remember what we saw back in chapter 14. The fall of Babylon there focused on one character. Anybody remember who it was? Somebody in Babylon. Who was it? And what happened to him? What did we see in that character? It was the king of Babylon and we saw him what? We see him fall into the realm of the dead and end up just like everybody else in the realm of the dead. well none of that is part of what we have this time in chapter 21 and so here the first four verses are gonna speak of Isaiah's vision of the fall of Babylon we believe in 689 so he's prophesying of it and then in five verses five through ten we're gonna see it happen so verse two he says a harsh and I looked at five different versions and they had five different adjectives here One said a harsh vision, one said a grievous vision, one said a stern vision, one said a troubling vision, and one said a dire vision has been shown to me. the treacherous one or the traitor still deals treacherously and the destroyer or looter still destroys or loots. Go up Elam, lay siege Media. I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused. Now, Media we know was part of the people who defeated Babylon in 539 B.C. So people look at this and say, well, maybe this is 539 while Daniel's still in exile. But Elam was gone by then. Elam did not exist by that point. So now we're back to 689. In the next verse here, and in the verses that follow, verse 2. appears to picture, and we're going to read it again, Isaiah overhearing the envoys or ambassadors of the Babylonian king, Merodach-Baladan, telling Hezekiah's ruling cabinet that Assyria can no longer be tolerated. And here he sees this vision, the treacherous one, and he's eavesdropping on this, still deals treacherously, the destroyer still destroys. And he says that Elam and Media are ready to help Babylon to take up arms against Assyria. So, Hezekiah, we've got these two ready to join the fight. We need you to join the fight. And Merodach is confident that he can lead this alliance of nations to victory over Assyria and put an end. Here's Merodach's words at the end of verse 2. I have made an end of all the groaning that she, Assyria, has caused. That's what I believe we're looking at here. And so this prophecy probably relates to the Assyrian attack on Babylon around 689 B.C. So he's seen this meeting between Babylon and Judah, and he says, for this reason my loins are full of anguish. Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I'm so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, or my heart staggers. Horror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into troubling." And one of the literal translations renders that last part, "...he has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror." Why would a prophet from Judah respond so emotionally to this? Well, he doesn't feel sorry for the people of Babylon. That's not likely. But if Babylon were defeated again by Assyria, where does that leave Judah and the people of God? Who do they have left for allies at this point? We've seen Egypt fall. We've seen Israel fall. We've seen Syria fall. We've seen Moab fall. We've seen the Philistines fall. There's nobody left. Babylon. So now we've got a situation where we've got three nations, essentially. We've got two enormous nations, Babylon and Assyria. And then we've got little Judah. And none of them have any love for either of the other two. The defeat of Babylon meant that Judah would probably have to face Assyria by itself, and that is likely the cause of Isaiah's anguish, because he knows what's going to happen. God has shown him what's going to happen here. He knows what's going to happen to Babylon. So, they set the table, he says, now we've got this meeting, they set the table, they spread out the cloth of the carpet, they eat, they drink, and then somebody says, rise up captains, oil the shields. Well, what does that mean? Go to war. It's time to go to battle. So this appears to be Hezekiah's banquet when Merodach Baladan had sent his ambassadors to him to propose this alliance. We're going to read about this in chapter 39. And there's no express condemnation of this meal here. There's no suggestion that this was a sign of the people of Judah living in careless ease. There's no indication of debauchery here. But somewhere during this meal, or at the end of the meal, a command is given to those attending to rise up and oil your shields. It's time to go into the battle. And remember, he's having a vision of all this. This appears to depict the call to battle. And Isaiah's vision continues now as God takes him through a depiction of a watchman observing the invasion of an enemy force that will attack Babylon. So that's what we're going to see in a second. The Lord says to me, verse 6, Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees. So we send out this lookout or watchman. When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys and a train of camels, let him pay close attention. Very close attention. So Isaiah describes posting this lookout and giving him a sign to watch for. And the lookout is dutifully discharging his responsibility here. And we see him saying in verse 8, the lookout then called, O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I'm stationed every night at my guard post. Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs. And then look at the next words. And one said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. We've seen these words before. And all the carved or graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground. Verse 8 here pictures this lookout dutifully discharging his mission. When he sees the sign, which is these riders, he reports what he's seen. He reports, I've seen a troop of riders and horsemen in pairs. And one of the riders says, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. Now we've heard those words before, haven't we? Where did we read those words before? Revelation. Twice. We're going to look at it in a second. They're bringing news now of the conquest of Babylon. So Isaiah is seeing what's going to happen because God's showing it to him. Meanwhile, what's going on in reality is the Babylonian ambassadors are trying to persuade Judah, Hezekiah, to enter into an alliance with them. Now, historically, what we just read about refers to the obliteration of Babylon by Assyria in 689 BC. That fact is now going to fall into the background with these words as this writer comes, because Isaiah's words now are prophetic of the day of the Lord, the final day of judgment. And if you look at the passages, Revelation 14, 8, in your scripture sheet, we have these angels, another angel, a second one, followed, saying what? Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. That's not talking about earthly Babylon, that's talking about all the ungodly kingdoms of the earth. And then in Revelation 18.1, it repeats itself. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. So here's the return of Christ. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, this is the angel, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. All those things symbols of demons. So the Apostle John does exactly what Isaiah is doing here. He essentially quotes the angels and messengers of God speaking these very words from Isaiah in Revelation 14.8 and 18.2. And there are similar expressions. We see them in Revelation 16.19. I put this in your scripture sheet. Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. Babylon's not around anymore. Babylon's been gone for 2,500 years. But what Babylon represents, what Babylon is a symbol of all through Scripture, from the Tower of Babel to the very end of the Book of Revelation, is the ungodly, the idea that man can rule himself apart from God. And we see in Revelation 18, 21, same thing. So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. This is all about the war between the city of man and the city of God. It began with Cain and Seth. And the line of Seth was the godly line. And the line of Cain sought to build a city because they wanted to make a name for whom? For themselves. And then, when they went to build that tower after the flood, they did it so as to build a what? Name for themselves. Remember, the descendants of Cain, while the descendants of Seth were naming their things after God, the descendants of Cain named their city after their son. So Babylon has been this symbol of the evil and wicked kingdoms of the world all along. Isaiah appears to be prophetically bringing this out now. Now, did anybody grasp it at that time? No, but it's here for us right now. 1810, by the way, beginning in verse 9 of Revelation, 18, and the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality, this is kings of the earth now, and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning." Now who's this referring to? They're standing at a distance because the fear of her torment, saying, woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city, for in one hour your judgment has come. This is all the kings of the earth mourning the coming of the judgment. And all of this, all of these passages in Revelation represent the ultimate day of the Lord. Babylon and its whole pagan ideology and its false gods are shattered. Isaiah gives us a prophetic glimpse of this here using an actual event. So these words here declare the certain fall of all that Babylon represents, all the political, military, and religious systems and kingdoms of the earth which are not of God. When you see Babylon in Scripture, other than the few places where there are references to the actual city or country, this is what it is. And one of the writers here tells the watchman that Babylon has fallen. Her idols, which represent her gods, were shattered on the ground, broken in pieces. The watchman relays the news that the power of Babylon has ended and her gods are impotent. So, if this vision foretells what will happen when the Assyrians attack Babylon in 689 BC, The significance for them in Judah at that time of this future fall of Babylon and for the people of Judah was pretty clear, wasn't it? Hezekiah's warned that Merodach, Baladan is going to be defeated. So it wouldn't be very wise to enter into an alliance with him either. Yes, I know it's the same lesson he teaches every week. I can't teach a different lesson because we just had it several weeks in a row. God wants us to hear this. When we finish Isaiah, what's the one thought that's going to be in our head? What are we going to learn from this book and never lose sight of? Trust in the Lord. We don't need to memorize who all these kings are, these nations, where they are, to trust in the Lord. And that's what God's doing with this book. Bible seems to use this event and the fall of 539 to symbolize the fall of everything that is evil. so the report of the watchman ends there in verse nine and now the prophecy returns isaiah speaking in first person like he did in the first four verses oh my threshed people now threshed people are to be threshed is to have the animals come in the ox come in and stamp on all the grain and and uh... but here we see the people threshed my afflicted or crushed of the threshing floor What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I make known to you." He sees his people also in great distress. He mourns over a foolish decision that they made. And what was that? That's right. To seek protection from the world rather than their God. And so as a result we get this God's threshing or winnowing of them. What do we call that in the New Testament now? Refinement. He refines us and sanctifies us this way. And he's doing this here. So, Isaiah views his people as his crushed or threshed ones, and these are images that arise from this animal doing the threshing. The Hebrew idioms here, sons of the threshing floor, my crushed or threshed ones, they imply this is what the future holds for God's people. They're going to be trampled like stalks of grain. The one doing the threshing is not identified here, but who's God going to use ultimately? Since Babylon's going to fall, who is God going to use as his instrument for the threshing of Judah? Assyria. Assyria is still there. So they have that to look forward to, but they also have the promise of the Messiah and the promise of glory if they trust in him. And when he says he's heard it from the Lord of hosts, notice that at the very end here, the Lord has said it. He sets his seal of God on his prophecy. He's saying, look, I'm not telling you my own speculations here. I received this from the Lord himself. Paul said words like that in declaring what he was teaching of the gospel. So it's God's sovereign plan that Babylon will fall and all the pagan idols of Babylon can't stop it. Because the gods of Babylon and any other god aren't gods at all. They're powerless. The oracle concerning Edom. Now, if you have anything other than the New American Standard, your Bible says the oracle concerning Dumas. One keeps calling to me from Seir, which is Edom. Watchman, how far gone is, or what is left of, the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night? The Watchman says, Morning comes, but also night. He would inquire, inquire, come back again. Who were the Edomites? Who was their progenitor? Esau. Now let's remember what we had here with Abraham. Abraham is promised a son through whom the blessing is going to come, him and Sarai. They're barren. They get tired of waiting on God. And Sarai sends Hagar in. Abraham and Hagar have a son. His name was Ishmael. Abraham says, Now I've got a son. God says, No, the blessing is not coming through him. my covenant is coming through Isaac. And so then they have Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob is the people of God, Isaac's the people of God, and Christ will be born from that line of Jacob. Meanwhile, Ishmael had some sons. And if you look at Genesis 25, beginning in verse 12, these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maid, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael. And I've underlined three of them there, Kedar, Dumah, and Tamah. You see those? And if you look up here, we see three towns. I don't know that I'd want to bet my life on the cartographer getting these exactly right, because we don't know precisely where all of these places are. This is Arabia. And to the east of the Red Sea, and maybe a couple hundred miles to the east of the Red Sea, we find these towns. And there are maybe a hundred miles apart themselves. Qadar, Dedan, and Tema. And there's Edom to the north, and along the Mediterranean, that's all of Israel, and Judah's this tiny little part of that. So we're out in Arabia now. He's talking about these nations. The name Dumas was given to one of Ishmael's sons, and we see that here in the passage in Genesis 25. And so were Kedar and Tamar. We're going to see all three of these now in these next couple of verses. So this name is associated with this Arabian desert to the east of the Red Sea and extending at least 500 miles. We have Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and these places. And this was an important trade route in all. But there's not a lot of information. Now, Edom, or Seir, to the north of the Arabian Desert there, and to the south of what would be Assyria, and to the east of Israel and Judah, that's where Esau's descendants went, the Edomites. And Isaiah is addressing Edom here. This name Dumah means silent. And that is why many of the translations use Dumah instead of Edom here. And how is the relationship between the people of God, the descendants of Jacob, and those of Esau, the Edomites? Anything happen when the Jews were led by Moses out of Egypt and across the wilderness and they were trying to cross into the land of Canaan? Did they encounter the Edomites? They wouldn't let them through. And that had, in fact, consequence throughout the rest of Scripture. Edom wouldn't let Israel pass into the land of Canaan. And other prophets also spoke. The book of Obadiah is devoted entirely to Edom, to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. Amos, chapter 1, verses 11 and 12 tells us the Edomites treated God's people with brutality. And I put 1 Samuel 1447 in your scripture sheet, it's the first one there. And this gives us some information about these people we've been reading about in Isaiah. When Saul had taken over the kingdom of Israel, he's the first king, not the one God had picked. He fought against all his enemies on every side. And who are these enemies? Well, we've got Moab, which we've already seen, to the east of the Jordan and the Salt Sea. We've got the ammonites, we've got edome, and we've got the phyllistines. So we've got quite a few of these parties that we've been seeing throughout the book of Isaiah, and now we've got an account of these Arabian peoples. First, though, two verses dealing with the Edomites. And there's going to come a time when they are going to be rendered silent. Now, here we have, and this I believe is the best explanation of what we have in these two very confusing verses, 11 and 12. And Edomite asks Isaiah if things are going to change for the better. One keeps calling me from Seir. How long is left of the night? The night being referring to bad times. How long? Will the night end and is morning coming? And the prophet replies in effect, well, not yet, but give it time. The time is coming. The end is going to come, but not yet. And so we have here No word of hope. Notice, this is non-responsive to these Edomites. He's saying, the watchman, who may be Isaiah here, God has no word of hope. nothing but silence for Edom. And the Edomite is saying kind of plaintively, Mr. Watchman, Mr. Prophet, what time of night is it? How much more gloom and darkness must we endure? How long until the new era? And there's a response here, but it's too vague. I didn't encounter anybody who could explain it, other than to say he's not giving him a very clear answer, and he's certainly not giving him any assurance. But this question is one that all the peoples in that area would have wanted answered. Why? Why would everybody have felt a little bit distressed during the 40 years we've been reading about so far in Isaiah? Everybody's being pummeled. I don't know if the Bible uses the word pummeled, but yeah, that's what's going on. Assyria is engaged in this world conquering. So it's not pleasant for anybody. The only choices are, do you run and hide? Do you try to fight a losing battle? Or do you join one of these alliances? One of the commentators, and Alec Motyer is thought to be the best of them by many, he sees these oracles now going along on a path of increasing distancing of people from God. Of all the peoples of the world falling deeper and deeper into this darkness and away from God. And God's eternal plan going forward, sometimes big things happen, and sometimes things go on for years with nothing happening. where they just stay in their dreadful situation. Now remember, God knows in about 700 years the Messiah is coming. He's coming as a Jew, but He's coming to all who will believe in Him. And He's telling these people, just be patient. But remember, they're all sinners deserving of nothing from God. God's grace is not something we deserve, it's something he gives us of his own love and kindness. So his plan's going forward, but sometimes nothing seems to be happening. You ever have that happen in your life? You're thinking, God, I got these plans, I need your help for this, and then a week goes by and God hasn't done whatever you needed done? Now it's a couple weeks, now it's two months, now it's six months. Well, for them the darkness was far worse. And Isaiah continues to tell Judah, you trust in God. There's a promise there that you can cling to forever. And here's Edom, typifying really all of these nations of the whole world, hovering in this uncertainty. And it's a fearful uncertainty. Look at the way the guy talks here. How long? So, we're certainly not going to run off to Edom for assurance and comfort or answers or protection. Don't pin your hopes there, Judah. There's a way out, but that way is God and believing in Him. And for Edom and the descendants of Esau, the prophecy of Obadiah, which is very short if you go read it, you see they failed to take that course. well now the oracle about arabia i'm not convinced that the translation here really ought to be about eros some eros not a particular nation and we're going to see these places again kate are they dan and came off Here, in the thickets of Arabia, Isaiah writes, you must spend the night, O caravans of the Dedenites. Well, Tema, it's farther east, maybe a couple hundred miles east of the Red Sea. It's an oasis city. That's all desert that you see there in red. It's all desert. And it is an oasis. The Dedanites are refugees. They're fugitives. And he says here, in the thickets of Arabia, you've got to spend the night. And they're in caravans, fugitives. And he says, bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Temah. Meet the fugitive with bread. So Temah is supposed to help out with these refugees. And they're about a hundred miles apart. somewhere, some believe, in Northeast Arabia, and Qadar to the north of them. And we don't know exactly where this is, but we know that these Dedenites are hungry, thirsty, and in great danger from whom? Who else? The Assyrians. And so Ishmael's sons, remember, were named Dumah, Tamah, and Qadar. There they are. This is where Ishmael's people ended up. We see Esau's people up there in Edom. We saw the descendants of Lot and his daughter in Moab, just to the east of the Salt Sea. And they may still be there, the descendants of Ishmael. These are Arabs. These are not Persians, as are the Iranians. Arabs and Persians aren't the same. They don't have the same ancestry. Let's make a list of all the countries and nations that aren't being affected by Assyria to this point in Isaiah. Somebody have a pen and a pad? Don't need one, do we? You see what a real evil empire does. They do go about conquering and to conquer. and that's what they're doing. And so here we have this whole Arabian, even the desert, affected by this suffering and unrest. Even nations that aren't involved in the combat during this Assyrian period. In 738 BC we have Kadar paying tribute to Assyria. You could just pay them some money and maybe they'd leave you alone. They didn't want to just take your land. The Assyrians first invaded Arabia in 732, even though Kadar was paying tribute. 732, Assyrians also crushed Syria, Aram. And it was allied at the time with Israel, the northern kingdom. In 715 BC, Sargon, then king of Assyria, Sargon II attacked Tamar. 703, some of these Arabs joined with Merodach, Baladan. So he got them to join into one of his alliances too. They were crushed by Sin-Kerub. And here, we have Tamar out in its oasis and it's just being encouraged, please send some aid, some food and water to the Dedanite refugees. So Assyria had made a real horror show of the entire Mideast and Egypt. And so Isaiah is watching here this horrors of war and this rescue operation that's going on in progress. Now look, Tamar could render some limited short-term aid, but the only real and enduring security is in God. The impression Isaiah creates through this passage is that of civilization after civilization of humanity in a darkening world. There's no salvation in any society that's of any human devising. And at the same time, while all this is happening, the sun will never set on the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God endures forever. The Word of God endures forever. Well, here we see they've, verse 15, they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword and from the bent bow and from the press of battle. Perhaps referring, I believe it's referring to the refugees, the dead in nights. Language conveys that the refugees are here just caught up between warring factions. And the Lord said to me, verse 16, in a year, as a hired man would count it. And they'd hire on for a year. All the splendor of Kadar will terminate. The remainder of the number of Boman, the mighty men of the sons of Kadar, and we don't learn anything about them really, will be few, for the Lord God of Israel has spoken. God spoke to the prophet about this desperate situation. Because he wants Judah to understand the significance of what was happening in Arabia. This is the same pattern. Remember back in chapter 16 talking about Moab. He said, you know, in three years it's going to happen. This time it's one year. and the political power, whoever it was over the region of Qadar will end, its glory will end, its warriors left will be few, and like every nation that grows proud of their glorious accomplishments, Qadar will succumb. There's always a stronger military power, and that may happen to America someday. And look at these words, for the Lord God of Israel has spoken. You see, once he's spoken, how do you undo that? Once God speaks, you can't. There's no undoing what God speaks. Well, this brief paragraph tells Isaiah's audience in Jerusalem that the whole Middle East, cities, nations, even obscure desert tribes, which we just read about in the last section, will be in an uproar because of Assyria's expansion into the whole world. And it's another demonstration of God's sovereign plan for every nation and tribe. I think it'd be foolish to not assume that includes us. Now, we're living in the time of the gospel, but God hasn't simply walked away from earthly matters. God would allow a major power, Assyria, to overthrow all of these countries. He did. He had a purpose. Babylon, Dumas, Qadar, we've had Moab, Philistia, Egypt. And Judah better not fall into the mistake of thinking it's going to escape if it doesn't repent. Well, Father, we thank You that You remind us regularly, weekly, page after page in Isaiah, to trust in nothing else and no one else other than You. We thank You for these servants, Lord, to whom You've given us Your Word. We thank You that You gave the people of Israel the message and preserved it all these thousands of years so that it sits before us even this night. I pray for each one gathered here, Lord, that this message that you are so forcefully bringing to us will take root deeply in each one. I pray for their families. I pray, Lord, for the lost all around us, that this gospel truth of faith in your covenant promises and in your Son will be spread and believed for the salvation of the lost and for your glory. Amen.