All right, so we're going to pick it up in Isaiah chapter 24 and finish this little section here on the judgment of the earth and then get into these two Psalms that are in 25 and 26. And I think you have to kind of put this whole section of Isaiah sort of into context. First and foremost, Isaiah has received a vision. So what he's trying to do in this vision is he's trying to give you an idea of what it is that he sees, kind of like what John, the apostle, was going through when he was writing the Revelation. And it's very similar to a lot of what he says in this book is a direct parallel to what John talks about in his Revelation. And I think it's fascinating as we get into this that He is trying to put it in a context that the people will understand. And the context that is going on at that period of time is there is a very wicked, horrific, whatever word you want to use, empire that has been ruling in Isaiah's time for nearly 500 years. Now just kind of put this into perspective. The Assyrians were reigning in a gigantic territory. If you look geographically on a map, they would go all the way up into Turkey. They maintained all of that area and so forth, all up into what is now Albania. They went that far west, all the way around the Mediterranean Sea, all the way down into Africa. And they then went eastward all the way through Iraq and Iran, all the way into Arabia. The only thing that cut them off on the east side were the mountains that now kind of buffer China. a not only a ruthless uh... empire but they uh... they thought nothing of of coming in rape pillaging and stealing everything that they could possibly get their hands on So with that in mind, God gives him a vision showing him that all of these regions that Assyria, and that's what the chapters 25 through 23 are all about, all of these regions that were in control of Assyria were going to fall. Ethiopia was going to fall, Egypt was going to fall, Tyre was going to fall. I mean, all these places that were strongholds of the Assyrians, they were all going to fall. He even then makes an incredible prophecy about Babylon. And what's interesting about that is that in 630-ish BC, we're not 100% sure of the exact date in the 630s, but in the 630 BC range, There were two kings that were sons of the Assyrian king at that time, and the Assyrian king put one in charge of what was called Babylon, which was the lesser of the kingdoms, and he put his other son, his oldest son, who was an idiot, in charge of the major part of the country in Damascus, and he reigned out of Damascus. And his younger brother was a real, really strong guy, he was the father of Nebuchadnezzar, and he ultimately destroyed his brother, took over the entire kingdom, and changed the Assyrian nation from Assyria to Babylon. actually receded it, which is really amazing. And then, of course, we see, and we all know what happens with Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel and so forth. So it's a fascinating historical run, and the Bible really gives us more information historically about that period of history than any other single book. There isn't any book around that is around today. It gives us anywhere near the detail that we see in the Bible. Really an interesting thing and then he gets into chapter 24 and now he's going to carry it even further and he's going to say not only is God going to destroy those who perpetrate evil against Israel and against really the poor and the needy. That's really what this is all about. I mean, God has a heart for the poor and the needy. That's something that you see throughout this entire section. And so he's saying to them, verse one of chapter 24, behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, that would be earthquakes, and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, and the servant like the master, and the maid like her mistress, and the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. In other words, all of these people were repressed. by the Assyrians and by really just about everybody. So if you were a debtor in those days and you didn't pay your debt, what happened to you? Anybody know? I'm sorry? You were sold. That's exactly right. You were sold as a slave. And your life as we would all understand it at that point is basically over as you knew it. Because you can't hardly get, once you get sold into slavery, getting out of slavery is just not going to happen. And so it was a really interesting period. If you were a lender, you always had more power than the borrower. In fact, there's whole sections of scripture in the book of Psalms that say that the borrower is basically at the beck and call of the lender. If you don't pay your debt, it says in one scripture in the book of Proverbs, that lender will snatch the very bed that you're sleeping in. So it's an incredible picture of those who are the wants, or the haves and the have-nots, the wants and the wants to, and so forth. And so he says, the people will be like the priest is the one that actually gets my attention. Because in those days, especially within the heathen nations, the priests were the ones who had all of the control. They were the ones who took everybody and basically utilized... If you got on the wrong side of a priest in Assyria, you didn't have life. You were done. It was just so... So, you know, the people are going to be like the priest. They're going to have the control, is basically what he's saying. The servant is going to be like his master. That's really, the servant there actually is the word slave, and so really it should be slave. The slave is like his master. And the maid, like her mistress, and so on. So the point is that what he's saying here is that those who have been put down, who have been pushed down, are going to be the ones who are no longer going to be downtrodden because God's going to take care of that. And he says, and the earth will completely be laid waste, completely despoiled for the Lord has spoken his word. That's the key word here. The Lord has spoken his word. What Isaiah is saying here is, this isn't me talking. This is God talking. This is his word. He is going to take care of these people. And so he goes on and he just talks about, I love the fifth verse where it says, and the earth is also polluted by its inhabitants for they transgressed laws, violated statues, broke the everlasting covenant. That has continued throughout time. You know, we see, now it's even worse in this industrial age where we can literally pollute in massive quantities. We can destroy entire, you know, there are sections of Russia, for example, after the Chernobyl disaster that they claim may not be inhabitable ever. They don't know when they'll ever be even close to being inhabitable. In fact, probably will never be inhabited ever. and uh... you know because of nuclear waste and so there's all of these things and he says in verse six he says therefore therefore a curse devours the earth those who live in it are held guilty therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left and and to me this is just you know an incredible picture that he's laying out then if you notice in most bibles that the next section of scripture all the way through Oh, let me see. Starts, goes all the way through to chapter 27 in verse 11. That is a song. We're going to start to look at this, what I would call a song. And it's actually a series of songs. It's actually at least two songs, maybe three. different Psalms that are here. And it's indented because this is actually written as a poem now in the original text. And so that's why they indented there. And he says, and the new wine mourns, the vine decays, all the merry-hearted sigh. So you can see there's this kind of melodic voice to it. It's written in a much more whimsical kind of manner. And then he says, the gaiety of the tambourines cease, the noise of the revelers stop, the gaiety of the harps cease. They do not drink wine with song. Strong drink is bitter for those who drink it. The city of chaos is broken down. Every house is shut up so that none may enter. In other words, the point that he's making here is that this is what they're going to be singing. in that time. This is the whole idea behind this amazing picture that he's getting. And what's interesting to me is that this is really very close to what we see in the Revelation. So when we were studying the Revelation, we saw these people that, you know, refused to obey God. And so God basically said, well, okay, you don't refuse to take me? No problem. We'll just take you out. And that's basically what we see going on here. And then you get down to verse 19, it says, the earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently, the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall never to rise again. I mean, that's a pretty significant judgment. I mean, he's saying, look, it's kind of like you've got the puncher and you've got the boxer, and the boxer hits the person and it staggers him, but it doesn't just stagger him, it shakens him never to return again. To me, that's just an incredible picture. And then we see in verse 21 kind of the key verse, and it says this. It says, so it will happen in that day that the Lord will punish. And then look at what it says. It says the Lord will punish, the word in most Bibles is host, but that word is actually army. That's really what it's talking about there. So whenever you see the word host in the Old Testament, that's talking about the army. So we have the Lord of hosts. So he's the Lord of armies. He's the Lord of conquering. And so we see this idea of the host of heaven. So look at what he says, so you can get the picture here. He says, so in that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high, So the first thing he's gonna do is he's going to affect this army that is from the heavens. And then he says, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. So not only is God going to destroy the kings of Syria and this area, but he's going to destroy the demons as well. That's really basically what he's saying here. The host of heaven are those that are on earth from heaven. So this idea of this demonic force and so forth. And it says, and they will be gathered together. Who's the they? Well, the armies, the host of heaven and the armies of the kings. They're gonna be brought together and like prisoners in the dungeon. and will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished. So again, a direct, in my opinion, a direct correlation back to what we see in Revelation 19 and 20 where it talks about how Satan and his cohorts, starting with the beast and the false prophet, are going to be confined. It says that the two beasts are thrown into the lake of fire just directly, which is fascinating. They never actually see death, which is really an interesting concept. And then, of course, we see Satan being bound for a thousand years in this millennium reign. And so this idea of after many days they will be punished, This concept of what Isaiah is talking about is almost identical to what John was talking about in the Revelation. And it says, and then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed for the Lord of hosts. So it uses that same word, except now he says the Lord of hosts. In other words, the one who really is in charge of all of the real armies. This is the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his leaders. So we see this idea of what John talks about, where Jesus comes and reigns at Mount Zion. And by the way, it says that the glory of God is found in the face of Messiah Jesus. So we see this idea here where he talks about, that's in 1 Corinthians 4, And so we see this picture, it's first or second, it's one of those two. It's either first or second Corinthians chapter four. And it says, the idea is that the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and his glory will be before the leader. So the glory there, of course, the Messiah. So to me, this is just a wonderful picture of the conclusion of this message that not only is he going to, that God is, God not only has control over all of the nations that Assyria reigned over, but he has all the earth. The entire earth is going to be under his control. And that's the promise that he's making here through Isaiah. I am completely convinced Isaiah had no idea what he was talking about. I'm completely convinced. He had no idea what he was talking about. He had no idea what this section of scripture really meant. He didn't understand the seven bowls of wrath. He didn't understand all of these things that were ultimately declared to John. He didn't understand any of that. The only thing that he knew was it will happen. It will happen. And I think that's the message that I really want to bring out here is that when God makes a promise, it is sure. It is sure. There's no doubt about it. In that day is another interesting expression. In the book of Isaiah, he uses that expression. I counted it yesterday, 45 times that I could count. And I might've missed one or two. I don't think I did, but whatever. It is 45 times I was able to find that expression in that day. So when he talks about in that day, what is he talking about? Because he says it over and over and over, we should know pretty much what he's talking about. What is that in that day? What day? Is it in the day that Assyria gets destroyed? Is it in the day that these judgments take place? Is it in the final day of the earth? Is it in the day that Satan gets thrown into the pit and the beasts get destroyed? What day is he talking about? He's talking about the day of judgment. That's exactly right. He's not talking about any of those times. He's talking about the end, the judgment in that day. When God brings all of these things to a conclusion in that day. And so the point that we're trying to make here is that God's message is sure. These things are going to happen. And they're going to happen whether we like that or not. So the fact of the matter is He had no idea what that day was. Nor do we, by the way. The Bible tells us that God has kept that, God the Father has actually kept that even from God the Son, which is really hard for me to get a grip on. I'm serious, that one I struggle with. Because it's like, hmm, how's that? How's that? Yeah, right. When you see me, you see the Father, Jesus said. Hmm, what's up with that? I don't know. The answer is, I don't know. If as a teacher of the scripture you cannot say, I don't know, then you're an idiot. Because the fact of the matter is that, I don't know. Is he talking about Armageddon? Is he talking about the final judgment? I think it's pretty simple that simply he is talking about the final day of judgment, but when is that going to happen? I have no idea. And by the way, people have grappled with that for years. It's really interesting. I remember back when I was first saved, I became a believer in 1973. I was 18 years old. And November 22nd, 1973 at 8.30 at night, and people asked me, how do you know that? And I said, well, I was there. But it's kind of interesting because that was an important day for me. So I wrote it down. Just like when I got born. You know, when I got born, someone wrote it down. They were smart enough to remember that because that's a holiday. You know, my birthday is a holiday. And so it just is all y'all's birthday is a holiday. Right. So the fact of the matter is, is that it's an important day. Right. Is your birthday an important day? I think it is most most. Is there anyone in this room that does not know their birthday? Right. Probably even know what day of the week it was. I was on a Friday. I was born on a Friday. It was really kind of funny. I remember talking to my mother about this when I was not young, but I was probably in my teens. I said, Mom, tell me about when I was born and stuff like that. She said, well, first of all, you came like a month late. And I went, really? And she said, yeah. She said, and you were painful and so forth. But I had to have you on that Friday because your dad had something he had to do on the weekend. I thought that was hysterical. I was like, really? And she's like, yeah, yeah, we had to have you on Friday. And she was joking, I think. I'm not really 100% sure of that. But, you know, your dad had something he had to do that weekend, so that's why we had to have you on Friday. But, you know, it's kind of interesting how you remember that day. But so few people actually took the time to write down the day that they actually were born again. which is the day you were really born, which is the day that you committed your life to Jesus. So I was fortunate that someone told me to do that. I'm serious, that's what happened. Someone told me to do that. When I first became a believer, there was this fellow, his name was George. He was my cousin's boyfriend, ultimately her husband. And he said, Don, you need to write this date down. And you'll always be able to remember it because it's the day after John F. Kennedy's 10th anniversary of his death. And I went, okay, I got it. And so that's how I remembered it. So at any rate, the point is that when God gives us this message, This message is sure. It doesn't change. It doesn't go away. It's real. And so when I was born again, it was real. It was sure. When you were born again, it was real. It was sure. And we can count on that because that, the Bible tells us, is our covering. And by the way, if the whole entire world is crashing out around you, you best have a covering, right? You best have something which is going to keep you, which is going to protect you. And that's really what the Bible then teaches. He does that, and then he gets into this chapter 25 and 26, and in 25 and 26, he kind of switches gears here a little bit. Now, he's been sharing all of this vision, he's been sharing what God showed him, he's been trying to describe it the best he possibly can with words that don't really fit what he's seeing. But nevertheless, he's trying to do the best he possibly can to describe it to us. And now, he starts out chapter 25 with the way almost, I don't know, 25 different psalms or words in the scripture. There's about 25 different times in scripture where it says, Oh Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. Oh Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee. This is one of those expressions in Hebrew that most every student in Hebrew learns, because it's another one of those, what they call baruchahs, it's one of those blessings that almost every single Jewish person, Jewish student, needs to learn. And so they learn this idea of, oh Lord, my God, Oh Lord, thou art my God. And now, so therein, it's fascinating because he starts out with Jehovah and he goes to Elohim and he says, and thanks to your name. Give thanks to your name. This idea of exalting God's name is something that is consistent throughout Isaiah's talk, but it's really consistent throughout the entire Bible, really. But you can see it in chapter 26, in verse 8, he says, he says, thy name, even thy memory is the desire of our souls. And in verse 13, he says, oh Lord our God, our other masters besides thee have ruled us, but through thee alone, we confess thy name. It's really to me, just a beautiful picture of where God is saying to us, remember my name. That's why on Fridays, we've been studying the names of God, because it's really something I feel very strongly that the more we know about the name of God, the more we're gonna know about God. So when we see the names that God calls himself, whether it's, you know, Jehovah Shalom, which means, you know, the Lord is our peace, or Jehovah Rai, which means that he is our shepherd, or not as our shepherd, or Yehovah Tizmenu, which means he is our righteousness, whatever it is. These are beautiful pictures. So in this now, this new psalm that he's basically doing, he's kind of gotten away from the vision. He's gonna get back to the vision, but for this little period, he now is going to exalt the Lord. And look at what he does when he exalts him. He says, verse two is awesome. It says, my Bible says, for thou has worked wonders, you have made plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness. I actually think that King James actually says this better, where it says, he counseled us long ago with faithfulness and truth. And that's actually a better, really a better picture of what it's really trying to say. The point is, is that he's saying to us that he gives us these things which are faithful. He gives us these things which are true, which are perfect, is another word that we use there and so forth. And that's why we can trust Him. So when he gets into 26, he talks about this idea of perfect trust and the perfect peace that we receive as a result of trusting God. But you can't understand that unless you know what it is you're trusting. What are you trusting? You're trusting a God who tells the truth, who is faithful, who never lies, who isn't deplicit as we are. In every way, shape, or form, we are not like God. For the most part, people love to lie. I'm sorry, it's just a fact. We rarely lie if the truth works to our benefit. But when it doesn't work to our benefit, it's real easy to just sort of hedge that truth a little bit. But God doesn't do that. God doesn't hedge the truth. But here's something that I found that just got my attention here recently, and that is that when the Bible, especially the New Testament, talks about grace and truth, did you ever notice that it never talks about truth and grace? Did you ever think about that? Look it up, it's true. I went and I tried to find every place in Scripture where it talks about grace and truth, and it always used grace and then truth. Well, why is that? Why is that? Well yeah, but you know, truth is okay, but when it's brought to you with grace, then truth really has meaning. Truth really has meaning when it comes to you. And so everything that God does, God does with grace. The one consistent truth of the Old Testament and the New Testament, that God is a God of grace. And this is something that a lot of people do not teach. They don't understand this. It's almost as though people think that grace came about only after Jesus came about. And that's just not so. The fact is God has always dealt with us from a position of grace. You can go back as far as you want. Go back to Adam for crying out loud. Yeah, you go right back to the garden. I mean, it doesn't make any... How deep do you want to go on this, right? God always deals with mankind from grace. Now, why is that? Why is that? Why does God always deal with us from the position of grace and then truth? Why? Okay, He's compassionate. That's good. Yeah. That's even better. I like that. Yeah, so He's compassionate. He knows our limitations. What? Bingo. That's what I was looking for. We don't deserve it. We don't deserve it. We are not the best examples of righteousness, are we? Sorry, we just aren't. Well, that's even better. Yeah, to me, that's even more powerful because all of these things, look, whether we acknowledge that it's a gift, that's awesome. Whether we acknowledge we don't deserve it, that's awesome. Whether we acknowledge the fact that all of these other things are so, all of these things bring us back to God knows what he's doing and we don't. So God says, okay, for by grace are you saved through faith. It is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God, as Stephen just said, and not of works lest any man should boast. So the fact is, is that we're sitting here and we're looking at this concept now of the fact that God has made his plans or his counsel long ago, but he's done it with faithfulness. and he's done it with truth. And that that truth is given to us from a position of grace. And understanding that that is the case, all of these other things that he says in this wonderful song that he basically wants to teach us are just amazing. Because he goes on, he says, for thou hast made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. So he's just basically repeating what he had just read. But look what he says, therefore a strong people will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will revere you For thou has been a defense or a strength for who? for the helpless Not for the not for the masters not for the Kings not for the the guys that are in charge not for the lenders No, no, no, no He says, you've been a defense or a strength for the helpless. You are a defense for the needy and his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless, this is very interesting. For the breath of the ruthless is like a rainstorm against a wall. In other words, it goes nowhere. You know, you have this storm that's pounding and so forth, but if it's hitting a wall, it's not affecting anything that's inside. And that's what he's saying here, is what these guys are saying against you, not going through, not penetrating. Why? Because God is that wall. He is your refuge. He's the thing that... So, like heat and drought, thou dost subdue the roar of the aliens. Like heat, by the shadow of the cloud, the song of the ruthless is silent. And the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples in his mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, refined aged wine. And on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering, which is over all peoples." You know, we were just studying on Friday, Psalm 23. And in Psalm 23, it says, God prepares a table for what? in the presence of my enemies. God prepares a table. Well, what is he saying there? What does he mean by he prepares a table? What's that mean? What's that mean? When he says he prepares a table? Yeah, it means he's, look, have you ever been invited to somebody's house for dinner and there was no dinner? No, I'm serious. Have you ever been invited to somebody's house for dinner and there was no dinner? Did that happen to you, Joanne? Oh, you did that? I'm sorry? You were invited and there was no dinner? Yeah, and who were you invited by, your daughter? Yeah, and so why was there no dinner? But you tried, right? You tried to prepare it. So the difference is that God doesn't ruin the meals He prepares. But here's what He's saying. He's saying exactly here what He says in Psalm 23. In Psalm 23, He says that He is preparing a table for our enemies, before our enemies. In other words, He's letting everybody come in. Anyone who wants to come in, come in. This is not a closed table. This is not a closed table. Anybody that wants to come in can come in. Jesus put it this way. He said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him. Whosoever, anybody. It says in another place, he came unto his own, but his own received him not. But to as many as do receive him, to them he gave the power to become sons of God, even those that believe on his name. So the opportunity is to come. Throughout the entire book of Isaiah, we're gonna see this expression over and over and over. We're gonna see come. He starts right in the very first chapter. First chapter, he says, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as wool. Come. Let's talk about this. Come on. Come on. And, you know, it's really interesting. The word come is a word that's friendly. Did you ever think about that? It's friendly. Like, you're climbing up the mountain, you know, you got somebody behind you. Come on. Come on. It's encouraging. It's building up. It's not tearing down, is it? You don't say come to somebody you don't want with you. Do you? Do you ever say that to somebody you don't want with you? No, in fact, we say, y'all don't need to come. Right? You guys can just hang out. We're going up, right? But if you want somebody with you, you say what? Come. Come on. Right? Come on. That's one of my favorite expressions. Come. Let's go. Come. Come on. And so this idea of come, it's an invitation to come. And that's what he's saying here. Come. Let us reason together. Come, let's have this, so the Lord prepares a lavish, I love that, a lavish banquet. Come to the table, exactly. Yeah, that's a song, right? Yeah, come to the table. You know, come to the table. Yeah, I mean, that's just where it's at, right? So here we got this idea, and I love it. A banquet of aged wine. Perfect choices with marrow. In other words, you know, we're not skimping on the meats. That's what he's saying. We're not skimping on the meat. We're doing it with marrow and refined, aged wine. It's really interesting because there's this idea that old wine is good. All old wine is good. By the way, that ain't true. I've had some old wine and it is not necessarily all good, okay? So what he says there, he defines it, he goes, refined. Refined, you know? To me, that's really special. Sydney, you were making some chicken marsala the other night, right? And you decided to taste the marsala wine. What did you think of that? Horrible. Now, what's interesting is that the reason they use Marsala wine in cooking is because it's horrible. But it works out pretty well if you burn it off and you carry it into the, so the meal was good, right? Yeah, the meal was good, but the Marsala wine in and of itself, not so much. Why? Because it's not refined. That's the point, and that's why it's got a screw top on it. Did you ever think about that? So, yeah, so, anyhow, that's a whole other story. All right, so, but look at what he says in verse 8 of chapter 25. This is just so powerful. He says, and he will swallow up death. Well, actually, he started verse 7. He says, on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering, which is over all peoples, even the veil, which is stretched over all nations. So the veil he's talking about there is the death shroud. That's what he's talking about, okay? So he's saying, he says, on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering, the death shroud, which is over all people. You see, all people are suffering. The Bible tells us, for the wages of sin is what? Death. Everybody's going to experience it. It doesn't make any difference. And so look at what he says. He says, and he will swallow up death. So he uses that same expression. He'll swallow up the covering. That's the death shroud. It says he'll swallow up death for all time. By the way, this is exactly what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when he talks about the resurrection. He says, O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory? For it is swallowed up. He has swallowed up. He's just quoting Isaiah. That's all he's doing. And so he's saying, he's swallow up death. Isn't that neat when you see something in the Old Testament and then you realize, oh, that's what Paul was talking about. I read that in first, oh, I read that in the Bible. Where was that? Oh, first Corinthians. Oh, that was in the New Testament. And oh, that was just, he's just quoting. That's all he's doing. And he says, and he will swallow up death for all time. And the Lord will wipe away the tears from all the faces. That's a direct quote from Revelation 21, four. Exact same words and so he says and he will he will wipe away the tears from all the faces I believe that's because when when John was revealed that he remembered this verse and So that was his description of it and Revelation 21 for And so he will remove the reproach. That's an interesting word too. In Hebrew, that's the word chuppah. And the reproach is what we detest. And it's interesting because another form of chuppah is chuppah. And chuppah is to cover that which is wrong, or that which is which is chuppah. So the two kind of go hand in hand. But chuppah is the idea of something which is wrong. Chuppah is that which covers that which is wrong. Isn't that interesting? And so the Bible tells us, blessed is he whose sons are chuppahed, whose friends are covered. So just another one of those really interesting words. So he'll remove the reproach of his people from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it. And by the way, the it there is in italics, so it's really just the Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord said. This is where he's at. And it will be said in that day, another in that day, behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in his Yeshua, in his salvation. And isn't it interesting that he says that not once, but twice? For the Lord whom we have waited, he doesn't just say it once, he says it twice. But here's what's really interesting. When Michael the archangel came to Joseph, he says, and you shall call his name Yeshua. You shall call his name Jesus. Salvation. Why? Because he will save his people from his sins. That's interesting. I remember years ago teaching this to a group in this church down in Fort Lauderdale, and I quoted Matthew 121, where it talks about, and you shall call his name Jesus. where he shall save their people from their sin. I didn't say Yeshua at that time, I just said Jesus. And I asked the question rhetorically, not rhetorically, I was actually looking for an answer. I said, why would they say, why would the guy say, if he's calling him Jesus, he shall save his people from their sins? And everybody said, for the most part, the answers that I got back were either, I have no idea, or, well, he's our savior. That was kind of the, you know, the catch answer, when somebody said, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's our savior, and so forth. And so I said, okay, well, he was not even born yet, how would anybody know he was a savior? And what were they looking, was Joseph looking for a savior? Was he looking for, and moreover, you know, so I said to him, I said, do you know the word Jesus is a Hebrew, is actually comes from a Hebrew word? And, but that's the Greek translation of that Hebrew word. And I mean, it was almost as though I was saying something that was like a whole different language. These folks didn't even get it. It was just, they totally missed it. You know, he wasn't named in a Greek name. He was named in a Hebrew name. Why? Well, because his parents were Jewish. Hello. And it was incredible to me because it is amazing how many people just don't get that. They miss that. They miss that. When Jesus' parents spoke to each other, they didn't speak to each other in Greek. They certainly didn't speak to each other in English. They spoke to each other in Hebrew. And so they would have said his name in Hebrew, his name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which is exactly what this word is that's used here in Isaiah chapter 25. And he says, and let us rejoice and be glad in his Yeshua, in his salvation. So you shall call his name Yeshua. Why? Because he's going to save his people from their sins. So when you say it in those words, it makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? And so that's what we're trying to basically let you guys see. So here's another example in Isaiah where Isaiah is pointing back to Jesus again. And he's coming to that place where he says, look, that's who we've waited for. And you know, this is a really interesting doctrine amongst most people is we as Christians don't appreciate the idea that the Jews for their entire existence were waiting. for the Messiah. We came into this world, and once we came to that place of salvation, we said, oh, he's come. He's already come. But you see, for years, the Jewish people have been waiting. And unfortunately, they're still waiting. Unfortunately, they're waiting for something that really already has come, which is really a tragedy. But here he's saying, this is the Lord from whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on the mountain, And Moab will be trodden down his place. Now he gets in this whole thing about how he's going to destroy the fortresses and the Lord is going to take out the enemies. And all of these people, again, these are all enemies of the Lord. And so we get into chapter 26. What is Moab? Moab is the son of Lot, who was born to his daughter. And one of the great enemies of, probably, probably one of the top four or five greatest enemies of Israel that God actually ended up destroying. And he says, Moab will be trodden down his place. It's fascinating to me that he writes this as a psalm, though. He writes this as a song. This is what he wanted people to sing. He wanted them to remember this. So that's why you'd write these Psalms. The Psalms were written so that they could be sung. That's what they did. And so they were sung. And then look at what he says in verse 26. He says, and in that day, this Psalm will be sung in the land of Judah. So now he's saying, all right, here, I'm gonna teach you now a new song. So here's the new song I want you to sing. We have a strong city. Elohim sets up walls and ramparts for security. Open the gates that the righteous nation, actually the nation there is not the word goyim, it's the word goya, which means all peoples. That's really what he's talking about there. So it's not talking about Gentiles there, he's just talking about everybody. So open the gates that the righteous nation may enter. So there again, he's bringing this idea that God makes this available to everybody. not just to Jews, he's giving it to everybody. He's giving everybody the opportunity to come. And he says, the one that remains faithful, the steadfast, I love this, the steadfast of mind, you will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. To me, this expression, this psalm goes so deep into everything that God speaks to us. And so what I wrote in my notes is, In another place it says, and thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. So it's the same idea. So this is again, this idea of singing these things. So can you imagine him teaching these people the song? And the song is that he's going to give you perfect peace. He's going to keep you in that thing. And then this is kind of the refrain of the song. It says, Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God we have an eternal or an everlasting rock. And I could see them singing this song and that being the refrain over and over, coming back to that. You know, just like we do in most songs, we come back to the chorus. It's kind of like coming back to the chorus. What's the chorus? Trust in the Lord. That's the chorus. The chorus of this whole entire song is that He is the Lord God. He is the everlasting rock. So I could see that being part of this refrain as they would sing this back and forth. And then they get into the verse, for he has brought low those who dwell on high in the unsalable city. He lays it low. He lays it low to the ground. He casts it to the dust. The foot will trample it. The feet will be of the afflicted. The steps of the helpless. And the way of the righteous is smooth. And then I can see him going, yeah, trust in the Lord forever. For in God, the Lord, we have an everlasting rock. And then he gets into this whole other thing. He says, oh upright one. Now he gets to this whole idea of being upright. Listen to what he says. He says, oh upright one, make the path of the righteous level. So who's the upright one? Remember, this is a song. He's singing this out. Who's the upright one? Is it you? Is it me? Is it Isaiah? Is it the person that's singing the song? Who is it? It's the Lord. Exactly. He says, so upright one. And so in many Bibles, they'll actually have that in capital letters. They'll put that in capital letters, you know. O upright one, make the path of the righteous level. Indeed, While following the way of your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for you eagerly. Your name, even your memory, is the desire of our souls. At night, my soul longs for you. Indeed, my spirit within me seeks you diligently. For when the earth experiences your judgments and inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. And though the wicked, this is interesting, Even though, it should read, even though the wicked is shown favor, he doesn't learn righteous. He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness. So in the land of uprightness, in other words, the land of God, the land of the upright one. He says, and he does not perceive the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, thy hand is lifted up, yet they do not see it. They see This is it. They see zeal for the people and are put to shame. Indeed, fire will devour your enemies. Lord, you will establish peace for us, since you have also performed for us all our works. O Lord our God, other masters besides you have ruled us, but through thee alone we confess your name. It's just a beautiful psalm. It just comes back to this whole concept of God is above all these things that are going on. God is above all of this nonsense that's happening to us. And yet, he contrasts those who walk in the uprightness of God and those that don't. And so the ones that do, their night longs for, or excuse me, at night their soul longs for Him, their spirit seeks diligently, and they learn righteousness. Because righteousness is not something that comes naturally for people. Do you ever think about that? It does not come naturally. but it comes because God is upright and because he gives us that. But the wicked did not sow. They don't learn righteousness. They don't learn how to deal justly. They deal unjustly. They continue to do all those things because they only care about themselves. That's the point. And here he comes into this thing, and then he ends this thing starting in verse 14 by saying this. He says, the dead will not live. The departed spirits will not rise. This is so he's not talking about the saints that are sleeping. He's talking about those that have rebelled, the wicked. He said, they're not going to experience resurrection. They're not going to experience anything except eternal damnation. And there he says, therefore, you have punished and you have destroyed them. You have wiped out all remembrance of them. And you have increased the nation, O Lord. You have increased the nation that you have glorified, and you have extended all of the borders of the land. O Lord, they sought you in distress. They could only whisper a prayer, and your chastening was upon them. And this idea of a pregnant woman now comes back. He says, as the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth, she writhes and cries out in her labor pains. Thus were we before you. Oh Lord, we were pregnant. We writhed in labor. We gave birth, as it were, only to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth, nor were the inhabitants of the world born again. Your dead will live. Your dead will live. So contrast that with what he said there in verse 14. He says, the dead. never gain, never rise. Your dead will live. Your dead. So which side of that are we on? Are we part of his dead or are we part of our dead? I mean, this is just such an interesting section of Scripture. He says, "...your dead will live, their corpses will rise. You who live in the dust awake and shout for joy, for your due is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." This section of Scripture right here was why Pharisees were Pharisees and the Sadducees were not. Because the Sadducees, in their interpretation of this particular section of Scripture, they changed it. Isn't that incredible? They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, so they changed this. And they added the word, seem. And so it says, and the dead shall seem to live, not will live. Isn't that fascinating? But the Pharisees, there's a big fight back in those days. You can actually read about this in the Talmud. They actually have a whole section of the Talmud where they take this particular story and they just debate each other over this one word. Does the word there for will mean will, or does it mean something different than that? And so, yeah, I believe it just means will. Yeah, of course I do, exactly, okay? And then he says what? And then he says come. He says again, he says come. In verse 20, one of my scriptures that I remember years ago, I memorized, come, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until indignation runs its course and behold, the Lord is about to come out from his place and punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and the earth for their, I'm sorry, and the earth will reveal their bloodshed and he will no longer cover her slain. To me, this is just a real picture. I could go on this one for a long time, but I'm just gonna give you the Reader's Digest version. I believe this is talking about the rapture of the church. I really do. I believe this is talking about where he says in Revelation 4.1, come. And he says, and there's an open door for you to come up into heaven. And in that point, We see the believers actually being taken out of that indignation that takes place over the next seven years. We don't have time to get into that today. I don't expect to, but if you go back and listen to what I taught in Revelation chapter four, the tape is on my website. I actually deal with this verse as it compares to that verse. So to me, it's just a beautiful, beautiful picture of that. But is that for sure? I don't know. I mean, that's my interpretation, that's what I think God has said to me about it, but is that something I would go to my death over? Probably not. I'm just being honest. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I can't tell you for a fact. It seems to fit very nicely and so forth, but a lot of things fit very nicely that may or may not be true. But at the end of the day, I do know this, God wants us to come. He has given us an open door and he's put before us a lavish, plate. He has prepared the table and he doesn't mess up the meal. He doesn't mess up that meal, Summer, I tell you. He doesn't. When he makes that meal, it's worthy of wanting to go and sit for it. And it's of the choice meats. It's of the best wine. It's of the things that we really want to have and so forth. It's not wine that we spit out because it's Marsala. You know, it's not that. It's more than all of those things. So, I mean, I could have gotten into chapter 27 today, Ken, but I can't get there. It's a Jeff Clark. There's some good stuff in 27. We'll talk about that next time we get together. And I mean, but the point of this whole entire thing is, who do you trust? Who do you trust? Where do you place your trust? You place it in salvation or you place it in something else? That should be the refrain. Yeah. Yeah, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Yeah, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will. That's it, He will. Yeah, He will. So the point is that that's what this is all about. So I love the fact that Isaiah just sort of took a little sidestep here. And he said, let's just love the Lord. Let's just honor Him. Let's just praise Him. Let's just put Him above all these things and so forth. Let's just remember that there's promises to us that believe in Him. We're going to be raised. We're going to be raised. I mean, that's just an incredible thought. We're going to be raised. And there's nothing that any of these others that were pushing us down and carrying us out and so forth, they can take that away from us. They can do a lot of things on this earth, but they can't take that away from us. And that to me is really powerful. So anyhow, let's get out of here and we'll see you guys next week.