So, if they heard something that was true, they would say, truly. You know, amen means that what you said is true. So, what you prayed was true. Amen. Praise the Lord. Okay, direct your hearts as you just heard in a prayer toward the book of Isaiah for the simplest reason of this. Isaiah was Jesus Christ's favorite book. It was also the Apostle Paul's favorite book of the Bible. It was also the Apostle John's favorite book of the Bible. It was also the Apostle Peter's. Did you know if you, in our world, are on social media, there are a group of people called influencers. Have you ever heard of influencers? If they wear certain shoes, everybody wants those shoes. If they have a backpack and wear it, everybody wants it. If they go to some place and take a picture of themselves there, Everybody wants to go there. In fact, now governments of the world are stopping Instagrammers from going places because they're ruining whole cities of the world by taking a picture, you know, of themselves in a certain place. And tens of thousands of people want to go And they trample on people's lawns, like there's a little city in England, another little street in Paris. There's even a street in Boston, Massachusetts. And they're starting to put up signs that say, no Instagram picturing here. Why? Because if people that you like do something, you want to do it too. Well, guess what? To Jesus, Isaiah was the book he just used all the time. In fact, I could also say Matthew, Luke. I didn't put Luke up there. Isaiah is the most quoted author in the New Testament. So everybody that you read about in your Bible in the New Testament, this was their favorite book. Also, when John, the apostle, wanted to describe the future, The book of Revelation quotes the book of Isaiah more than any other book. It is amazing how much John quoted it. So why was Isaiah the favorite book of Paul? Why was it the favorite book of Peter? Why was it the favorite book of John and of Jesus? Well, here is just... the front page of my Bible in Isaiah. And I can just see right from the beginning in verse three, and you should open your Bibles to Isaiah because we're gonna be looking and reading a lot of verses from Isaiah. So everybody get ready for reading. Just like we've done every other class, I will be going and we'll just reset and let Ellen be the very first one because we like to start right in the front and we'll just go down the road. But Isaiah 1 and verse 3 says something that's fascinating. It's kind of like explaining the book to us. And it says that the ox, which is a type of cow, the ox knows its master, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel doesn't know, and my people do not consider. What that verse says is this whole book is about God looking at his people, and explaining what God's expectations are of them, and then later, what his plans are for them. So that's actually in your notes. So the whole book of Isaiah is about God's expectations of his people. So there's a very small line. Look how small that is. This is to see how small you can write in your notes, okay? So you have a lot of fill in the blanks there. But God has expectations for his people. Remember, I just showed you that in the third verse. And God has future plans for his people. But the whole book of Isaiah is about who are his people. His people are not merely those who were Israelites. They were the ones, His people were the ones that had a new heart and were saved. So the first part of the book, the first section, number one on your outline, Our Mighty God Chastening. Do you know what the word chastening means? All of you English speakers, do you know what chastening is? Parents in the Bible are supposed to raise their children with correction. That's what chastening is. Chastening is, do you remember I told you the first day, where did I stand in second grade? in the corner. They were chastening me. It's punishment, correction. A form of it is called spanking. You know, when you turn a child over your knee and you take a paddle. By the way, I got that in fourth grade. Bam. That was when I was lighting the trash cans on fire. And the principal would take me in the office and I had to go like this. I was this, let's see, fourth grade. How old were you in fourth grade? Nine or ten, so I don't know. I was this high. The principal was only about this high. Her name was Mrs. Ralia and she was about this tall and her paddle was that long. And she was tough, tough. And she ran that school. And when she found out I was the one that started the fire, go to my office. And all the kids were scared. Took me, put me over her desk. She hit me so hard with that thing, I probably could file a lawsuit today for abuse. And I rarely started fires in the trash cans after that. It worked, rarely. I think I did one more time, just to see if she'd spank me again. And she did. So that's what chastening is. It's punishment, it's correction, it's spanking. So, Raul, do you know what spanking means? Spanking. So all of you, got it? Everybody knows what I'm talking, chastening. But did you know the Bible says God chastens his people? Did you know that? How many of you know that? Where is it in the Bible? It's in James, is one. Do you know the longest place where it is is in Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12, God says something interesting. He said, if you don't get chastened by God, you're not really one of his children. You understand that? That's kind of scary. Let me show you. My wife reminded me that I often say, I know you already know this, right? And of course, everybody goes, yeah, because they're not sure what I mean. So let me show you what I mean. It's in verse five of Hebrews 12, and you can write it down from five all the way down through 11, and I will read it to you. Verse five, my son do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Verse six, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens. Continuing in verse six, and scourges every son. Scourging is not a positive word. Cody, is that a positive word? No. Jess, do you think scourging, do you want to be scourged? No. What did the soldiers do to Jesus before they crucified him? Scourged. So what scourging is, is personal intense correction. And they were saying Jesus was a lawbreaker, so they were correcting by scourging. God says, every son I receive, I scourge. What does that mean? It means that we're not good children. some of the time. We're bad. We go our own way. God won't let us go our own way. That's what the whole book of Isaiah is about. There. You guys can rest and eat donuts the rest of the time. You just got Isaiah. Isaiah says God has expectations of his people and if they don't Obey him, God chastens them. Now continue in Hebrews 12. Look what it says. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom the Father does not chasten? Verse seven. Verse eight of Hebrews 12. But if you are without chastening, of which all are partakers, then you are illegitimate and not a son. Did you catch that? God says, I don't let my children persistently disobey me. I stop them. And he stops them many different ways. You know what the first way is? You start feeling distant from God. You know what the second thing happens? You start feeling like possibly you're not a Christian. A lot of As a pastor, the number one reason people came to visit me in my office to talk. First, they'd say, I have a question from the Bible. Could I have an appointment? Oh, sure. So my secretary would make an appointment. They'd come and sit down in my office, and they would ask this question that was so simple, and I'd answer it. And then they'd keep sitting there. I'd say, is there anything else? Anything else you want to talk about? And they'd look around to make sure no one was hearing, and they'd say, you know what? I don't feel like I'm a Christian. I think I'm not saved. And then I would ask him, do you ever remember a time you thought you were saved? That you thought you were a Christian? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Well, when was that? Oh, they tell me, they would start talking, talking about how they got saved and how the Lord changed their life and how wonderful it was to know their sins were forgiven. But they said, no, I don't, I don't feel saved. I said, well, when did this start? Well, and then you find out what's really going on. They have gone back to what God saved them from. They have started the sins repeatedly that they confessed and forsook and asked the Lord to forgive them of when he saved them. When we stop doing what God asked us to do as his children, he chastens us, number one, by taking away our joy, number two, by taking away our assurance. We don't feel like we're his children anymore. It gets worse. You start feeling really distant from God. You start feeling empty. Basically, a Christian that's being chastened starts feeling like a lost person feels. You know how lost people are restless and empty and anxious and frustrated? That's what Christians start feeling like. Why? because God has expectations. And so that's what Isaiah is about. And these are the sections we're gonna study. God, sin, culture, consecration, the promise of Christ, the Messiah, how God judges the pagan nations. Right now, there are countries in our world that are pagan. That means they're not Christian nations, if there is even such a thing as a Christian nation. But, I mean, they don't even recognize Christianity in their countries. How does God deal with countries like that? Like, for example, China is trying to extinguish Biblical Christianity, did you know that? They're systematically trying to curtail local churches, discipling people and having them loyal to the word and to God because the Chinese government thinks they won't be loyal to the government. So they're curtailing the church in many ways. What does God do about that? Does he just let it happen? The book of Isaiah answers that. God is very aware of everything going on. How about what happens to our world that seems to be going away from God? The tribulation is described in Isaiah. When John, in Revelation, tells us the future, where does he pull it from? Isaiah, that's where all of that stuff you've read about, the seals and the bowls and the angels coming out of the pit, all the stuff you read in Revelation, boom. It's coming from this book. In fact, right up here in letter C is where we find out where Satan came from. The woes upon God's people, Judah, and then, boy, this is one of the most wonderful parts of Isaiah when God showed how powerful he was to Hezekiah. And then our merciful God comforting his people. See, the chastening God is mighty and holy, but he's very merciful and he comforts his people. He promises Israel restoration. He offers salvation through the Messiah. Right here is the greatest chapter in the Bible, Isaiah 53. And then God describes the future, the millennium. Glad you got that. The whole book of Isaiah is built around these key chapters, and we're gonna look at every one of them. The throne of God is unbelievably described in chapter six. Jesus the Messiah, God incarnate, is described for us in chapter seven and chapter nine. In fact, chapter seven has the only prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ in the whole Bible. It's very important. The doom of Babylon, what is Babylon? Why is Babylon important? Is Babylon still around? All that's explained in chapter 13, and then Lucifer, Satan, before he fell into sin, is explained to us in chapter 14. And then we have the tribulation I told you about. How about this? The greatest prophecy in the Bible, the letter God wrote to Cyrus 200 years before he was born. Did you know that when Cyrus heard about this letter, He immediately, when he was shown what God said about him, he immediately responded and sent the exiles back to Jerusalem to build the temple. It's amazing how the Lord used it. The Messiah, his atonement, Isaiah 53, the second coming of Christ, only Isaiah tells us that Jesus comes wearing white garments and they're splattered with blood because he, he comes in to judge the nations that are attacking Israel. And it's very graphic. And then the millennium and heaven. So those are the key chapters of the Bible. And boy, you're fast. You got that, Cain, just like that. I just watch in the front row, and if you guys have filled it in, I keep going. Oh, key chapter's right here. I'll go back to it, see? The throne, let me back up. You should be on the second square, or third square, and the first blank is throne. Do you see that? If you see it, say yes. Okay, and then, I don't know what the other blanks are, but can I borrow yours? Thanks, Chrissy. Who made this so small? I can hardly see it. I did, I'm sorry, I'm saving paper. The Doom of Babylon and, there's a blank right there for Lucifer, that's the name of Satan. The Tribulation, right there, is another blank by number four. And the Greatest Prophecy, that's a blank right there. And then the Second Coming and Millennium, which has two L's and two N's. Millennium, which means thousand years, okay? And if you didn't get that, I already sent these to Steve, and you guys will probably get them soon. Okay, let's talk about, real quickly before we run out of time, the magnitude of Isaiah in God's Word. And what I mean by that is, why is this book so important that of all the books of the Bible, Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Luke, Peter, all of them, Matthew, all of them, We're into this book. Why? What is so amazing about it? Number one, it's the most, just a second, it's the most quoted, I have to change this so I can see the bottom of the slide. There we go. And now I have to back up and go like this. No, sorry. If you watch YouTube, I talk to my computer all the time. I have to go to displays and I have to turn off mirroring. And now, well, you guys might just see a funny screen because this is so important. Play. Still won't do it. Okay, well, you'll just see what I'm reading right there. And on the break, I'll fix it. Why is it the most quoted book in the Bible? Isaiah is quoted from or alluded to 470 times by 23 New Testament books. That makes it the all time, Psalms is second. But for some reason, Most ancient writers believe that Isaiah was much like what they called the fifth gospel. It's almost like the preview to the gospel. We have Matthew, which talks about Christ as king. We have Mark that talks about Christ as the servant. We have Luke, which talks about Christ as the perfect human being. Then we have John that talks about Christ as divine. So these are called the four Gospels. I mean, everyone knows there are four Gospels. Well, what's interesting is before the four Gospels, here is the one that the four Gospels use to describe the Christ who came. Because Isaiah describes him coming and These four say that he came. You see, this is predictive and this is biographical. But what's amazing is Isaiah. to the ancients. I'm talking about the ancients, the early church. They said it's like the fifth gospel because Isaiah has more about Christ's coming, about his birth, about what he would do on the cross, about his ministry. It even talks about, Isaiah describes the phases of Christ's ministry. So that's number one. It's the most, so the first reason why all of these writers used Isaiah is it's the most resource they use, they quote it. Number two, it's the number one salvation book of the Old Testament. More explanation about salvation. It has 33 times the word salvation appears in the writing of the prophets, 26 of them are in Isaiah. So even the word salvation, in fact the word Isaiah means that salvation is of the Lord. Isaiah means salvation is from God. The word, his name, means salvation is from the Lord. His theme is about salvation, and he explains the most important part of salvation, which is substitution. Have you guys started, what month? This is November. When did this semester start, this cycle? When? September, okay, September. September, October, so you've had two months. And when's the semester over? Okay, so are you into theology yet? Is someone teaching theology classes? Yeah. And they do different parts of theology. Have you got into the substitutionary atonement? Okay, the substitutionary atonement is all about Isaiah 53. That's why it's called the greatest chapter in the Bible. And Paul, what was Paul's favorite book of the Bible? Just got it. If we were doing a quiz, A. 100%. Paul's favorite book was Isaiah. And substitutionary atonement in theology is called justification. How many of you have heard of that long word? Justification, okay? Here's what justification is. Here's me and God. kind of like, do we have a video camera in this room? You know how everywhere you go nowadays, they have video cameras in parking lots and, you know, in areas, and they're always watching, and someone's recording it, you know, for security. They call them security cameras. God has a security camera running, and he knows that since I was born, so as soon as I was born in 1956, He started saying, sin, sin, sin, you know, sin number three, sin number four, sin number five. I mean, I'm probably on sin number billion something, you know. He's got a record of all of them. Because the Bible says we were born sinners by nature. All we like sheep have gone astray, Isaiah 53.6. We've turned everyone to our own way. Whenever I do my way instead of God's way, he calls it a sin. Whenever I go my way instead of God's way, he calls it a what? Sin. So who determines what is sin, me or God? God. I wanna make sure you've got that, so we'll do it again. When I go my way instead of God's way, what does God call it? Same. Okay. Now, everybody that said that, don't say it this time. We'll hear it from all the rest who don't ever say anything, because they're too quiet. And we'll do this till everybody's got it, okay? Here we go. Two choices, God's, mine. When I don't do God's and I do my own way, what does God call that? Same. Very good. That's enthusiasm. So I, on this video camera, it's just going, and he's going, wow, the way you treated your mother, the way you treated all those kids in school, You just got out of paddling, you shouldn't start fires in the bathroom. That's wrong. Oh, that's not all I did. Did you know my parents were so poor? You know what poor means? No money. Poor. We lived in a house, our whole house. We had a four, I think the realtor said it was 480 square feet. One of the homes Bonnie and I lived in in Tulsa, the bedroom was bigger than the whole house I grew up in, and there were five of us growing up in that house. My parents built trundle beds, they're called. They were little drawers about this wide that pulled out, and the top one had my sister, the next one had my next sister, and the bottom drawer I slept in, so that during the day they could push them back in, so there was more room in the house. When I was little, I was so bad, my sisters would put me in that and shut the drawer and not let me out. Now see how, you see why I act like I do? How would you like to be locked in a drawer all day? Until my parents finally would say, Johnny, where are you? And I'd be, and they'd open the drawer and let me out. So we were in this little tiny house. And what's so amazing is that My parents bought me a cap gun. A cap gun is like Western, you know, cowboys have them. And a cap gun, it's a plastic gun, but you put this little paper in it, and if you click it, it makes a pop sound. It's called a cap gun. It makes a sound like a gun shooting. They gave me the gun, they didn't buy the caps because they cost too much. So we went to the store and my mom was this high and I was this high and the caps were right there and I just picked one up, boxed, put it right in my pocket, stole it, and took it home. Because I thought if you buy me a gun and don't give me caps, I deserve caps. So I stole them. As soon as we got home, my mom went in the house, I put the caps in the gun, and I ran around the yard shooting it like this. I shot an entire roll. It makes a really loud, like a firecracker sound. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! And the door of our little tiny house opened and my mom said, Johnny? And I thought, right then I thought, She didn't buy those, but she knows I have them. So I ran around the house in the back door, went into our only bathroom, took the caps that I still had, two more or three more rolls, in the box, threw them in the toilet, flushed the toilet, down it went. And I was standing there right next to the toilet, smiling. I said, yes, mom? And she walked in. She said, where did you get those caps that you just shot in your gun? I said, I don't know what you're talking about. And just then, the toilet stopped swirling, and a box of caps popped up to the top, because they float. You know, it's a box. And it didn't go down. It just went around, and it was floating there. And my mom said, what's that? I said, I don't know. Where did that? It came from somewhere. I don't know. And she just stood there with me. And what did I just, at the store, what did I do? What's that called? What did God write down here? Stealing. And then, what did I just do with my mother? Wow. Well, then I did another sin, obfuscation. I put her off, and then I started deceiving her, like my sisters flushed it down the toilet. And she didn't do anything. I was expecting, bam, you know, like my principal gave me. No, my mom didn't say anything. But that night, in the Bible story, we read the Bible every night, she said, she did the Bible story, said, it's time to pray. Before I pray, she said, I just want you to know that, she looked right at me, she said, mama is going to heaven. She pointed to my dad, she said, your dad is going to heaven, your sister's going to heaven, and your other sister's going to heaven, and you are not. What a way to, and I said, great, I'm tired, I'm going to bed. Didn't bother me a bit. I mean, I was six years old, and you know, I didn't get a spanking, I was happy. But guess what? The Lord is recording all these, and the Holy Spirit does something called conviction. You see, you can't get saved unless the Holy Spirit makes you realize you've done something wrong. Now, I knew I'd done something wrong, that was my conscience, but I wasn't convicted about it because I felt I had it covered, you know? I lied about it and calmed things down, she'd forget about it. But the Lord wouldn't stop convicting me. Until finally, did you know she did that every night from then on? Every night, mama's going to heaven, daddy's going to heaven, Karen's going to heaven, Sharon's going to heaven, you're not. Finally, after a little while, I finally realized what she was saying. I mean, it sunk in. Actually, the Holy Spirit convicted me. And I remember the day I said, what did you just tell me? She said, mama's going to heaven, daddy's going to heaven, Karen, Sharon, you're not. I said, why? And so she took me to a famous verse. Do you all know this verse? John what? Yeah, and said, for God so loved the world. And that's you, that he gave his only begotten son. That's Jesus, the substitute. And you have sinned a lot of sins, but guess what Jesus offers? See, all my sins were piling up, and she explained to me that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Now, all of you know that, but do you know what that means? It means that on the cross, when Jesus was on that cross, God, the wrath of God, God's anger and punishment for sins, that on the cross, God took that whole list of sins and punished Jesus like he did my sins. That's what justification means. So once Jesus paid for those sins, they transferred over, and watch what the Lord does with the video. You know how you can rename a file? He renamed my file as the Jesus file. Jesus stole the calves. Jesus lied to his mother. God punishes Jesus on the cross. And me, if you went in today to the heavenly security camera and watched the tape, there are no sins on my tape. None. Am I still a sinner? Do I still sin? Does Cain still sin? Say yes. Does Naomi still sin? Say yes. Ruthann? Every day. Chrissy? Michael? See? We're all sinners. But why, on the security camera, are they not there? Where did they go? That's what justification means. Do you realize that? There is no record. God does not have a record. that we've sinned. Why? Because God is a perfect accountant. He's already put the record on Jesus' account. That's what you're sharing at Momentum. You're telling all those young people, God is watching, he has a record, even though your parents don't know and your friends don't know, he knows every time you've ever been proud and angry and deceitful and sinful and lustful and stealing and lying or whatever sins they've done, and it's piling up. But if you will call in the name of the Lord, who is your substitute, who died on the cross, God will credit. all of your sins to Christ's account, and he will have paid for them. But you know what's really neat? God covered all my sins from when I was born in 1956 until I got saved right then that year in 1962, and he covered all of my sins and punished Jesus for them through 2019, and he's promised he's gonna do so all the way to the end. That's a good deal. That's salvation, okay? Do you know why else Isaiah is popular? It's the only book that has the source for the birth of Christ being virgin born, that's Isaiah 7.14. You wanna know why else it's amazing? It's the complete picture of the whole Bible. How many books are in the Bible? 66, didn't you guys just do a Bible quiz or name thing? How many books are in the Bible? How many chapters are in Isaiah? Oh, isn't that interesting? And guess what? The Isaiah, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are all about doom and gloom and judgment. And chapter 40 starts with John the Baptist prophesied as a voice crying in the wilderness about a Messiah coming. And there are 27 chapters. See, Isaiah is a miniature model of the Bible. The Bible has 66 books. It has 66 chapters. The Old Testament has 39 books. And I mean 39 chapters and there are 39 books in the Old Testament. It's an exact mirror of the Bible. It even ends in chapter 65 and 66 with the very words that are in Revelation 21 and 22. Did you know that? It's unbelievable. It's a little mirror of the whole Bible. It's kind of like the Bible in miniature. It's the number one source of some of the greatest mysteries in the Bible. In fact, what I wrote down is Isaiah contains the two furthest reaching events in history. The fall of Satan all the way through to heaven. That's all in Isaiah. The greatest, where did Satan come from? Where did the demons come from? What power do demons have? It's just amazing, all these things that Isaiah tells us. It's also the most amazing book on the doctrine of God in the Bible. That's chapter 40. It talks about the greatness of God, 40 and 43. The wrath of God and the horrors of tribulation, chapter 24. The wonders of God in the millennium, what he does with the earth. You know all this climate change stuff? The climate is changing, but it's really gonna change a lot in the future. Did you know the climate's gonna be so bad that one third of every tree you see is going to be burning? It's gonna be so, the Bible says that. It says a third of all the trees burn. It says water is gonna be so poisonous, people can't drink water. How long can you go without water? Four days. It says the air is going to be like New Delhi. Do you know what's going on in India today? You can't even fly to New Delhi, that city in India, today. Why? The pollution is so great. Pilots said they won't land their planes there. People are dying from breathing the smoke in New Delhi right now. It's a crisis. I mean, it's a huge crisis right now in India. That's what God says the whole world's gonna be like. He said one third of all the vegetation is gonna burn. One third of all the creatures alive in the ocean are going to die. That's called red tide. Bonnie and I were in Florida in America during red tide. Dolphins were coming up on the shore and just going and dying because they were poisoned in the water. Everything, there was every kind of sea creature rotting on the sand. It's the most gross thing you've ever seen, but it was only like a hundred miles long in Florida. The whole world is going to have that. Climate change. When you hear people say climate change, say, man, I'll tell you about climate change. You have no idea how much it's going to change. There are going to be meteorites hitting the earth that are going to bring poisonous like methane and ammonia to the earth. It's just horrible. That's the book of Revelation. We're not studying it, but it's viewed here in the book of Isaiah. It's also the number one declaration of the doctrine of Trinity. You ever heard of Trinity? What is Trinity? God the Father, God the, and God the? Can you prove that? Well, Isaiah does. See, a lot of people, if some Jehovah's Witness knocks on their door and says, prove the Trinity to me, they go, uh, and they call their pastor. Well, if you study the book of Isaiah, The clearest, here's one that I'm gonna start with, but there is chapter after chapter of God explaining the Father, the Son, the Spirit. It's the number one source of doctrine. The number one chapter in the whole Old Testament, in fact, I would say maybe the whole Bible, is Isaiah 53. It's quoted or alluded to 85 times in the New Testament. And Jesus even says in John 12.41 that Isaiah saw his glory. That's another time, by the way, that the religious leaders wanted to stone. Do you remember all the times they would pick up stones in the Gospels and try and stone Jesus? Have you ever noticed that, you guys that read the Bible? Yeah? Why? Every time he claimed to be God, they would stone him. And here he said, the only way you can be saved, Isaiah 53, is for me to be your substitute. He told those religious leaders they needed to trust in him and he would take all their sin on themselves, their sin on himself, and they didn't want it. It's also the number one explanation for the very powerful purpose of prophecy. If you ever get some kind of a legal document, or you charge something at the store, and you give them your credit card, they point at a little machine, and it has a little box, and they give you a little stylus, and what do they say? What do they tell you to do? This is what you do. What do you call that? your signature. What is a signature? Why, when you go to a store and use a credit card, why do they make you do that? Say it again? Yeah, to authenticate, ID, to identify. Yeah, what you're saying is, it's me, that's my credit card, I'll pay for it. That's called our signature. If you ever buy something, a car, a house, if you ever borrow money, at some process, you have to do a signature. Now, you know, some people, they just sign, you know, like this. They do their mark. They don't like to sign. Other people, I see them, they just go. You know, they just squiggle because it's kind of like a nuisance to them. But throughout history, things that were authenticated, things that were shown to be genuine, had a signature on them. In fact, in the ancient world, when you ship something on a boat, they would put clay soft clay sealing the object with ropes and put soft clay where the ropes met and you would push in a little signature. It was called a signet which is like signature only it was shorter word. You'd push it in and everyone would stand there until the clay hardened and then they would ship it. and that proved the contents were right, that it really came from you to whoever got it. So signatures are important. Guess what God said? Prophecy is my signature. It's how you know that I'm God. You know, a lot of young people don't know anything about prophecy. They think, oh, it's disputed and people don't believe it, and so they don't believe it. Isaiah alone tells us that God verifies himself by prophecy. Prophecy is the signature of God. Isaiah makes the Old Testament's clearest prophecy about an individual this Cyrus that I've told you about. By the way, it's the number one archaeological proof book in the Bible. In fact, those of you going, when is the Israel trip? March. When you go in March, I'm going to show you some of what you're going to see. It's unbelievable. Hezekiah's wall, Hezekiah's tunnel, the Lachish battle. Okay. Here's, there, you guys, it's the very same thing. You have to read the whole book of Isaiah, that's your classwork, once. Please get started today if you haven't. It's 66 chapters long. It takes two and a half hours to read it. And I don't mind if you read it in Korean, in Creole, or in whatever language, in Vietnamese. You can read it in whatever language you read in. In fact, I would encourage you to listen to it. Do you guys know you can listen? Every language of the world has, the Gideons have put the Bible in every language of the world and you can listen to it. It's very neat. And so you could just walk around and listen to it for two hours. Then you can do two things at once. I think, Cody, you walked by my room 12 times. How many laps do you do when you walk? You walk, I saw you walk by. You were talking and walking with some fellow. Is that exercise or you're just talking? But you, I mean, there he goes again. There he goes again. He could have listened to half of Isaiah. Okay, five minute warning. You have to pick 10 chapters of Isaiah just like you did, only there's one correction to all of your work. Half of you got it right, half of you didn't. When you do the project, I would not like three separate lists. Because what I have to look at is what you found, and then I have to find what you found and look at the prayer, and then I have to go back and find the lessons. Put them together. Half of you did and half of you didn't. So for your Isaiah, first chapter you pick, when you turn it in, you have to have the title, for that chapter, let's say it's chapter one, so the title of chapter one, the lessons or principles or doctrines that you found in chapter one, and then the prayer for God to work in your heart based on those truths for that chapter. They have to be together. Some of you sent a list of 10 chapter titles, and then a list of 10 things you learned, and then a list of 10 prayers, and I was going, oof. So I didn't get to read them all, and I'll have to do it tonight. That's the project. The verse for this class is Isaiah 53.6. There'll be two quizzes, just like we had before, over the class. And then you're going to take a final exam over that outline you saw way back there. The one right there, it's number two in your notes. So there'll be a 15-point exam over that outline and the key chapters, which is wherever the key chapters are, it's in there somewhere too. And so that's basically it. The devotional method is the same I showed you. And now in the last couple of minutes, the Bible is verified as true. And I want to read this to you and I'll make it bigger so you can see it. We have a faith rooted in history, not mystery. The words on the pages of scripture are supported by simple elements we can dig out of the ground. That's what archaeology is doing. They prove nothing, but they support everything. How can we expect to believe in the parts of the Bible we can't verify, like faith, the Messiah, and heaven, if the scriptures are not true in the natural realm, the things we can verify? The Bible is not primarily a history book, but everything it says about history is true. It's not a science book, but what it says about science is true. And that's why the reality reminds us of what Jesus told Nicodemus, if I tell you earthly things and you don't believe them, earthly things like history and archeologically verifiable things, how will you believe the heavenly? With our own eyes. And in March, you will see the wall that Hezekiah built that Isaiah writes about, and no one knew about it until 1967. And so I believed it for 11 years, even though they had never excavated it. Hezekiah's tunnel, which you might go through or at least you'll see or hear about, that was lost until 1838. Nobody knew it was there, but the Bible said it was there. So if you believe the Bible, you knew it was there, but normal people said it's not true. Sennacherib's prism, that he lost his whole army at the walls of Jerusalem. Isaiah said it happened. He said 185,000 soldiers died. But it wasn't until archaeologists found the writing that they went, wow, this really happened. They are real, those events, those archaeological verifications, and so is our faith. This is Sennacherib's prison. This is in the British Museum. That's what it says. Basically that he shut Isaiah up in the city and he couldn't get out, like a bird in a cage, and he left, Sennacherib did, because he doesn't mention God killed his army. This is Hezekiah's wall right there. This massive wall. See, people are standing up there at the top. You'll probably stand right there where that lady is leaning against the wall in the back. And look at this thing. It's really there. This has guys tunnel. I don't know if you guys go through it. Do you? You'll slosh through it. That is one of the most amazing archaeological verifications of the Bible. It's 1760 feet long through solid rock. And the Bible says that it was made from two ends and that they met in the middle. And guess what? Right in the middle where they met, just about where that girl's arm is, there's a plaque. And it was hidden until 1800s, until about the Civil War period in America. This was just found. This is the seal. That seal right there actually says the words Isaiah the Prophet. They dug that up in 3,000 year old. That's a close-up of it, of this seal. That's a picture of Jewish soldiers getting impaled on spears, which is exactly what the Assyrians did. And everything they find in archaeology exactly verifies the Bible. See you back in 10 minutes.