Transcription
Let's go to 13 to 23. Book two. I want to very quickly just walk through book two if we can.
Book two is the Oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw. So this becomes an Oracle, and it's from the word "lifting up." It's a lifting up of a discourse that he saw. And Babylon, he, here, the city equals the exile. In other words, he's talking about a place to symbolize the exile to it.
Now, in verses, chapters 13 to 23, the second book is about largely nations around Judah that have affected the Jewish people, okay? And he says, "Lift the standard on a bare hill, raise your hand to them." What's a standard? What do you use it for? And the ancients, they would put a flag up on a hill and wave it so that the people on another distant hill could read it, and they could also read the signal flags. It was a way of signaling an event. So what he says is, get a signal fire, a flare, let's put it that way. Fire a flare out there. Let's do a little contemporary version here. So he says, "There's going to be, wave the hand, that they may enter the doors of the nobles." I need you to get this communicated. "I have commanded my consecrated ones." That is, I have, I, I, I want this communicated to the selected leaders that I have selected. "I have even called my mighty warriors." I want you to rally the troops. He says, "My proud, exalting ones, to execute my anger." "A sound of tumult on the mountains, like that of many people. A sound of the uproar of kingdoms or of nations gathered together." This is a story. He says, "I want you to get up, start signaling all the nations to come together for a war. Bring your armies. Come on, let's do it." And he says, in verse 4, at the end, "The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle." Would you put a, a box around "The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle"? That's at the end of verse four. Put a box around it. Then put a little key next to it because that's the key to what he's talking about. This is God calling the nations together to war against his people because he's going to destroy them in that battle. This is Revelation 19. God gathering together the nations at the end of the tribulation period in order to destroy them. How do I know it's Revelation 19? Revelation puts all these things in order. Isaiah tells you the stories, but he doesn't put them in order. John comes back and says, "You know all those stories? Let me write them in order." So by the time you get to Revelation, you'll finally go, "Now I know how he knew what went before what?" Because in the text, it's like backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards. But in Revelation, it's laid out in chunks, okay?
All right, in verse 5, "They are coming from a far country, from the farthest horizons, the Lord and his instruments of, of indignation to destroy the whole land." So he talks about both the tribulation and a coming exile. He's using it in a double bounce. He's saying, "People are going to come and take you away." Oh, by the way, it's a double bounce because people are going to come from all over the world. Well, that's not true of the ancient one, it's only true of the future one.
Now, I want you to put a box around in verse 6, "Day of the Lord." Then I want you to put it around 9, "Day of the Lord." Then I want you to listen to, "Wail." Verse 6: "For the day of the Lord is near. It will come as destruction from the Almighty." That is, it's irresistible. You can't do anything. "Therefore, all hands will fall limp, every man's heart will melt. There's nothing you can do. They will be terrified. Pains, anguish will take hold of them. They will rise like a woman in labor. They will look at one another in astonishment. Their faces a flame. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury, burning anger, to make the land a desolation. He will exterminate its sinners from it." In other words, the wrath of the tribulation will be such that it will absolutely destroy, destroy, destroy.
In verse 10, "For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be darkened when it rises and the moon will not shed its light." This is Matthew 24:29. And by the way, the order of these events is given in Matthew 24. He says, "They'll come, the beginning of a tribulation, then there'll come a wrath of the tribulation in which these events are going to play out." "I will punish not the, not the Jewish people." Who's he going to punish? In verse 11, "The world." The Great Tribulation is against the world, not just against his own people. "I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless."
Verse 12: "I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold." So the tribulation does what to the population of humanity? Trims it significantly. Large numbers of people will die. In Revelation 6-9, it tells the story of three, uh, three poundings of judgment. The first one takes a quarter of the Earth. The second one takes a third of all that's left. The third one takes a massive number beyond that and doesn't give you the fraction. So you see, three waves of judgment in 6 through 19 of Revelation, and each one grows in its severity. By the time the first half of the tribulation is over, you're already only half the population you were going into it. Because if you take a quarter and then take a third of what's left, that's another quarter. A quarter and a quarter of the total is is half. You've wiped out half of humanity in the tribulation before, before you even get to the worst of the wrath. And that's why I want you to understand that the promises here are very, very stern.
It says that, um, verse 13, "The heavens will tremble, Earth will shake." End of 13, "They'll be burning anger." That's the wrath of God. And it will be like that of the hunted, like a hunted gazelle, like sheep with none to gather them. "They will turn each turn to his own people and each one flee to his own land." People will begin to break up and find their, their ethnicities and their nation-states and try to find a way to make it through. They're just going to try to gravitate to one another, find refugee camps. I want you to picture the worst of the sci-fi shows after, you know, aliens have pummeled the planet and you got little pockets of humanity. Well, take out the aliens, and that's the story you have here.
It says, "The little ones will also be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished." See, the character of savagery in the tribulation is one that we don't talk about a lot. It is a savage time. There's civil breakdown. Let me say it this way: If you believe in a literal tribulation coming, then you believe that our civility is breaking down around the planet. If you believe what the other people believe, that the kingdom is getting better and better, what you believe is that the gospel is permeating countries and we're all actually getting closer to Kumbaya. Now, what does it look like to you? Does it look like across Europe where the, where the, uh, people have had the gospel now for more than 1,500 years spread to them, like they're actually getting more in love with God or less? Does it look like across the nations of the world we're actually coming to a place where we're revering God more or less? The point is that, that if you take it literally, what you're saying is civility will break down to the point where there'll be savagery and people will not uphold a standard of law.
Now, verse 17 says, "Behold, I'm going to stir up the Medes against them." So obviously, the judge will be judging through a series of people. What's interesting is this prophecy is an important, essential, powerful prophecy. I want to break away from my talking about the tribulation now and talk about a specific prophecy that God names in the text. Watch this. It says, "I'm going to stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. Their bows will mow down their young men; they will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye pity children. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldean pride, will be as it was when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." Stop there. The Assyrians are the big players at his time, okay? After the Assyrians, what power rises up and gobbles up Assyria? Babylon. But he's not on Babylon, and he's not on Assyria. What power rises up after them and gobbles up Babylon? The Medes and Persians. He's two kingdoms in advance of where they are right now. He says, "Let me tell you, God's view in the news around about 500 years or 400, 300 years from now. Let me tell you about a people you haven't even heard about yet. I'm going to explain to you that yes, the Assyrians are coming, but after them, the Babylonians will come, and after them, the Medes will come. And I'm going to go all the way to the Medes and explain to you what's going to happen then." And you got to be sitting here going, "Wow." If you don't believe in predictive prophecy, here's what you do: You come in as a scholar and say, "Well, this was obviously inserted after the Medes." There's no evidence of that. But in fact, in the copies, the oldest copies we have of Isaiah, it flows right there, right where it is, right now. But if you believe in predictive prophecy, God can drop into what's going to happen 300 years from now and talk about it like it already happened because in his mind, it did.
So here's what he says. He says, "Babylon," verse 19, "the beauty of the kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldean pride, will be as it was when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." You know, Babylon, that you haven't even yet really heard from, they're going to rise, be beautiful, and then be destroyed. Now, here's the thing: "It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation, nor will the Arab pitch his tent there." Right next to that, Revelation 18:2. "Back, Babylon becomes the picture that John the Apostle uses for the world system and how it comes apart." And in Revelation 18:2, he says, "It's going to be wiped out and nobody's going to live there at all." The entire religious and economic system that he calls Babylon, or you would call the world system, breaks down in one moment. It collapses. In the text, it says, "In one hour."
Now, watch what he says. Verse 21: "Desert creatures will lie down there; their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will live there; shaggy goats will frolic there." You got to love this. I mean, this is some flowery stuff. Bunch of shaggy goats frolicking around where you used to have a nice city. "Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers and jackals in their luxurious places." You're going to see animals walking through what used to be inhabited, beautiful palaces. "Her, her fateful time also will be prolonged, will soon come, and her days will not be prolonged."
Now, stop there and notice that he's going to again talk about world system, world power, and then a spiritual reality behind it. This is not a double bounce. This is, here's the puppet, here's the hand, okay? Watch what he does. In verse, in chapter 14, "When the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel and will settle down in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob." That's interesting that he stops and makes a note that there will be others that come along with them, and that they have become more than just what they are. There are others who are following after their story who aren't Jewish. And then it says, in verse 2, "The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants, and they will take captors captive and rule over their oppressors." And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.
Here's what it says: "When your kingdom comes, when you're finally back in your land, when your Messiah is sitting on your throne, you will have seen an event to get there." Do you remember what happens before the millennial kingdom? Who or what is bound before that kingdom? In Revelation 20, the devil is bound. Satan is bound. And then the kingdom begins. So it says, "When you're in the kingdom, Satan will have been bound, and you will look back and sing this taunt." And if you want to write down next to verse 4, Revelation 13:4 and Revelation 17:3. Revelation 13:4, Revelation 17:3. "How the oppressor has ceased and how his fury has ceased. The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth with shouts of joy. Even the cypress trees rejoice over you and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes against us.' Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; it arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will respond and say to you, 'Even you have become weak as we and have become like us. Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to the grave; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are for your covering.'"
Here's what it says: The rulers of the earth that have fallen at the end of the tribulation will see Satan's destruction and say, "You're no more powerful than we are. For generations and millennia, we served your evil ways, and you don't have any power. When the king speaks, it's done." That's why I say to you often, evil is not equal to God. This is not a great wrestling in the heavens between good and evil. When God speaks, it's done. It's over. And then the nations of the world will look on the one whom they have followed so diligently, Satan, in his fall, and they will say, "You're kidding me. We followed you? You don't have any power? You, you can't do anything when it comes to standing up to God."
Now, watch what it says because you've seen these verses before at the beginning of our class. The very first days of our class, you were in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. This is the story of the hand inside the puppet. This is the fall of Lucifer. After he falls the second time, the first time he fell from heaven, the second time he falls into the abyss because God casts him there. Okay? Watch what it says: "How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, O son of the dawn? You have been cut down to earth. You have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the Mount of assembly in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Look at what he says: "I'm going to ascend, raise my throne, Mount, uh, uh, uh, sit on the Mount of the assembly, ascend above the heights. I'm going to be in God's highest place. I'm going to supplant God." That's what this star of the morning said, named Lucifer.
And verse 15 says, "Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol." And I would write right next to verse 15, Revelation 20. "You will be cast into the, the holding place, into the grave, to the recesses of the pit." And this is what happens when that happens. "Those who will see you will gaze at you; they will wonder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home?' All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. But you have been cast out of your own tomb like a rejected branch, clothed with a slain, who are pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse. You will not be united with them in burial because you have ruined your lands, you have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers; they must not rise, arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities."
"I will rise against them," declares the Lord of hosts, "and cut off Babylon, its name, its survivors, offspring, and posterity," declares the Lord. "I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water. I will sweep it from the broom of destruction," declares the Lord of hosts. What is this story? It's two stories, one told over the other. I'm going to destroy Babylon, which in Revelation is the world system, here it's an actual city, and it's both. But I'm also going to smack down the one who has seduced the nations into rebellion. And the nations are going to see the enemy put into the pit, and they're going to marvel that they followed him. All those movies that glorified how powerful Satan is standing up to God, they're all going to be trashed together in the same pit because he is powerful when it comes to you, but not when it comes to our Heavenly Father. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And here he's judged.
Now, we know poetically this tells us of the time of Satan's fall, which you also find in what other chapter? Ezekiel 28. And in both cases, you're looking at poetry, but you're looking at poetry that can't just be the people, it's got to be the power behind it because the words are too broad. There's no person that this could be. In fact, when you get to, uh, Ezekiel 28, he's in the Garden of Eden, he had beautiful splendor. Come on, this can't be just the king of Tyre or the king of Babylon. It can't be just those people. They're, they're, they're too large, too broad for the description. So in my view, it's very clear.
Verse 24 then picks up some nations. "The Lord of hosts has sworn, 'Surely, just as I have intended, so it shall happen, and just as I have planned, it will stand.'" "To break Assyria." So I want you to circle in verse 25, "Assyria." "I'm going to bring Assyria, they're going to break Israel, but then I'm going to break Assyria." That's what he says in 24-28. Then Ahaz, who had called Isaiah out of retirement and dusted him off because he was so worried back in chapters 7, 8, 9, that Ahaz, he died in verse 28. So Ahaz dies in verse 28, and that means that we know that that year is 715 BCE. And who took over after Ahaz? This will be Hezekiah. Took over in Judah, and Hezekiah, by and large, was a decent king. He had some real failings, but he was a decent king.
Now, I want you to circle in verse 29, "The judgment against Philistia." It's interesting because Philistia today would be Gaza Strip. "My judgment against Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken." What's interesting is in verse 31, "Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! Melt away, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes from the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? The Lord has founded Zion, and the afflicted of his people will seek refuge in it." He says, um, "Don't think that because I brought down the Jewish people, I've forgotten you, because you're also going to get yours." That's what he does with Philistia.
Now, who's in chapter 15, verse 1? Moab. Moab. Circle Moab. And in verse 2, Nobah and Matanah. One is a mountain, Mount Nobah, from Deuteronomy 34 and Moses' view of the promised land. And Matanah is actually a city that's up on the plateau. And he says, "Moab will be taken captive." Where does he say he's going to be taken captive? In the end of verse 2, "Everyone's head is bald and everyone's beard is cut off," meaning he's put in chains. They shave his head and bring him into captivity. By the way, verse 5 says that Isaiah cried for Moab, even though they were enemies. "My heart cries for Moab. His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah." And what he says is, "I want you to understand that God is going to break down even the enemies of Israel, and that hurts me."
Verse 7. Look at the end of verse 6. Verse 6, I'm sorry. The end of verse 6: "Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass dried out, there is no green thing." "I'm going to desolate your place." By the way, it's all desert today. It's interesting that he says, "I'm going to see it, and all the green is going to be taken away, and it's desolate." Um, the modern Kingdom of Jordan has been working hard to try and make it green again.
In 16, it says, "Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela, from the cliff by the way of the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion." In other words, Moab submits to Jerusalem. From Sela, from the cliff by the way of the wilderness to the mountain to the daughter of Zion. In other words, it come, it will come about that those who are living in what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will be submitting under the king of Jerusalem. That, that's going to happen sometime in the future. And that some of them are going to be so badly treated, they're going to come into the land of Israel. And at verse 4, it warns the Judahites, "Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you." This apparently has to do with a period of time in which the rise of one who we're later going to call the man of sin or Antichrist causes a real problem in the Middle East. And it causes some of the people who live right now in Arab countries to come and seek refuge underneath the Jewish people, to hide with them. It's a very strange story. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about it. But what you should see is in verse 8, "For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah, Sibmah as well, the lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters." Apparently, there's a, some kind of league of nations that comes into the Middle East, and it tramples down some of those nations. And if they won't stand with the world, the United Nations against Israel, whatever, if they won't stand with them, they get trampled down alongside Israel. And some of them seek refuge in Israel. There's a great story here. I wish, I wish I could tell it. I can tell you that in 16:14, "The glory of Moab will be degraded along with his great population."
And then we move on to chapter 17. And in 17, we're now going to the capital of Syria, which is what city? Damascus. The article concerning Damascus. 17:1, "Damascus is about to be removed from being a city and will become a fallen city." And in verse 3, "The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim and sovereignty from Damascus." Why is that important? Because all the way back in chapter 7, God said he would eliminate the two kingdoms that were up against Judah. One of them was the Syrians at Damascus, the Arameans at Damascus with Rezin, and the other one was Pekah, who was the king of Ephraim. So what he's saying is, "I see a time in the future when the northern kingdom is destroyed along with their supporters in Damascus." What's interesting is that things become very deeply scarce. The northern kingdom, supported by the Arameans, is eventually destroyed. Verse 4 says, "In that day, the glory of Jacob will fade and the fatness of his flesh will become lean." In other words, in that day, Ephraim and the northern kingdom will start waning, going down, because Damascus will be destroyed by the Assyrians, and they won't get money from the Assyrians and backing from the Assyrians. So the northern kingdom will begin to wither.
And in verse 6, "All of a sudden, two or three olives on the topmost bough will be all they, the bough of the tree is all they can find." In other words, even their famines are starting to now take place. And it says in verse 7, "That in that day, man will have regard for his Maker and his eyes will look to the one, to the Holy One of Israel. He will not look, he will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, even Asherim and incense stands." "In that day, their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest, where branches which they are abandoned before the sons of Israel, and the land will be a desolation." "For you have forgotten the Lord, the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock and your refuge. Therefore, you plant delightful plants and set them with vine slips of a strange God." What's he saying? He's saying the northern kingdom is going to get reduced to the point where they're finally going to turn their eyes back to God. But it won't be until all of their false religion fails. They've forgotten him. And one day, he will break down every one of their false idols and lead them off into a great time of, of exile. And in that time, it will be because of their idolatry, but more or less because of their lack of reverence of God. What got God to destroy the northern kingdom was not simply the golden calves, it was their lack of reverence for who God is.
And you can see a good, a good description of the tribulation in 11. It says, "In a day of sickliness and incurable pain." I have that underlined in my Bible. "A day of sickliness and incurable pain." A good description of the tribulation itself. Now, there will be an end of tribulation for the nations. Verse 12 says, "Alas! The uproar of many peoples who roar like the roar of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee away and be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind or whirling dust before the gale." Look at the end of verse 14: "Such will be the portion of those who plunder us and the lot for those who pillage us." In other words, he's on the page of Damascus is going to fall because the Assyrians are coming. When Damascus falls, the northern kingdom is going to get weaker and weaker and go through famine and eventually fall. But the nations who help it fall, they're going to be pillaged eventually as well. So he keeps going, and he says, "People who don't trust God, I may use a Gentile, nasty nation to come beat my own people, but then I'll beat up the nasty nation that did it. And eventually, it'll all come where man destroys man, destroys man, destroys man, faces me."
In verse, in chapter 18, he goes after North Africa. What is North Africa called in the text? What's it called in the text? Kush. So strike out "message to Ethiopia" and put "message to Kush." Somebody decided that they knew what Kush was and therefore put the name Ethiopia in. The problem is, you end up thinking of Ethiopia as the boundaries of the country today. Look, in antiquity, people didn't have borders and flags and guys who stood there and let you go, you know, "You've now entered Egypt. Let me see your papers." They didn't have such things. Where was Ethiopia? Wherever the Ethiopians happened to be traveling that year, that was Ethiopia. Where was Midian? Wherever the Midianites were. Where was Amalek? Wherever the Amalekites were. People were moving around. And as they moved around, it's not the land with a flag and a capital city and roads coming to it and airports. It's where are their people? The Cushites are known as the, the dark nations of Africa, is what he's talking about. He says, "I want you to understand that, that, that you should observe the judgment of my people, even from the nations of Africa." Watch what happens as I judge my people. Verse 3: "All the inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, as soon as the standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it. As soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it. For thus the Lord has told me, 'I will look, look for my dwelling place quietly.'" See, God lets it happen. He says, "I want all the world to watch as I judge my people." As the tribulation comes, for God to turn his eyes back to his estranged wife. He says, "To all the nations, listen up, watch what I'm doing." Eventually, he will then tell them later, "Come, come and get them, come and hurt my people." And when they do, that's when the Son of Man comes breaking through the clouds and destroys them. So here he's just saying, as the tribulation comes on, he turns to them and says, "Everybody pay attention to what I'm about to do to my people." You can't believe a time in which all the people of the earth, even in Africa, would know the name Jerusalem or would pay attention to Middle East politics? Could you? As we draw later in this, those of us who believe in a literal landscape for this, just look at the world's newspapers. People who have never been out of their village read about Jerusalem when a bomb goes off there. They don't read about a bomb going off in their own capital city. Today, I can go to the Chicago Tribune and I can tell you who died in Israel. What I can't tell you is who died in Chicago. So what this says is that the world is going to turn its attentions and and increasingly behold what God does with his people, this little group of people called Israel.
Go down to verse 7. "At that time, a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people feared far and wide, a powerful and oppressive nation whose land the rivers divide, and to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even to Mount Zion." It says, "There will come a day in the midst of God's gripping with Israel that the nations of Africa will pay attention to what the Lord is doing and give homage to the Lord." They, some of those nations will be changed by the message of Messiah. That, that Africa has a future promise.
How about, um, chapter 19? Who's that for? Don't get caught again this time. Yeah, Egypt. And it's in verse 1, "The Oracle concerning Egypt." Did you know that God has a promise for the future of Egypt that's positive? He says, "Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt. Idols of Egypt will tremble in his presence; the heart of the Egyptians will melt. So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; they will fight against his brother and against his neighbor." He says, "There's going to be rioting in the streets of Egypt. Egypt and the Egyptians are going to turn and riot. Police are going to shoot their own brothers." You can't imagine that, can you? Or you could watch the news, right?
Um, verse 3: "The spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within, and I will confound their strategy. They will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, mediums and spiritists. They're going to go into all kinds of weird stuff just trying to find meaning because they, they are so demoralized by what they see. The large, huge nation of Syria, uh, of Egypt will be unable to find refuge in itself. Moreover, I will deliver Egyptians into the hands of a cruel master, and a mighty king will rule over them." Put the word "dictator" over them, declares the Lord of hosts. It's interesting because in 670, Esarhaddon is one of the ways that this could have been answered. But verse 5 says, "The waters from the sea will dry up, the rivers from will be parched and dry, the canals will emit a stench." Did you see that word? It says, "The canals of Egypt will emit a stench." "The streams of Egypt will thin out, dry up. Reeds, rushes, rot. Bullrushes by the Nile, sown fields by the Nile will dry and be driven away. Fishermen will lament." Verse 9: "Manufacturers of linen from combed flax and weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected." Do you know that the main things we get from Egypt today are flax and cotton? You know that that's their main productivity. It, this says that those would be the very things that will dry up in front of them. The economy will collapse. The water won't give yield any any fish. "The hired laborers will be grieved in soul. The princes of, of Zoan are mere fools; the advice of Pharaoh's wisest advisers has become stupid." It ends up happening that the whole thing is coming down on them.
Now, I said there's a positive promise. You got to stay with it. Get down to verse 14. "The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion." That's the word deception. See, verse 17: "The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt." It says that the Jews will become a refuge, and the Egyptians will fear them. "Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which he is purposing against them." "In that day, five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One will be called, one will be called the City of Heliopolis, the City of Destruction." Here's what I want you to see: "In that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near its border." This is interesting. Now the text turns. They've gone down, down, down. It's become negative, negative, negative. And in that day, there is a small group of people who know God, and an altar to the Lord there. It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a champion, and he will deliver them. The Savior will come to Egypt. That when they are broken, Egypt will begin to hear the message of the Savior. Thus the Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord. In that day, they will even worship with sacrifice and offering and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. They will strike Egypt. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but then healing. So they will return to the Lord, and he will respond to them and he will heal them. In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt all the way to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians come into Assyria. That is, that there will be between Iraq and Egypt an open door of transport, one to the other, and a blessing in the midst of the earth. When the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance.'" He says, "I'm going to come in, and the gospel is going to take hold in parts of what is now the Islamic world. I'm going to walk in. They're going to be reduced almost to ashes by their own deception, and then the gospel will rise in those places." I got to tell you, if you're, uh, if you're in missions in the Middle East, these are important passages to you. It says that there is hope for these people. I need you to understand something. In the news today, Arab and Islam are the same thing. But that is not true. The majority of Muslims in the world are not Arab. There are more Indonesian Muslims than there are Arab Muslims. Arab is an ethnicity of a beautiful beyond words, beautiful people, gorgeous people with a rich and wonderful heritage living under a dark, enveloped deception called Islam. I need you to separate a demonic teaching from a wonderful people because God will break the back of that deception, and the people will rise. It is a reason why I celebrate Arab outreach because Islam and Arab is not the same thing. God has a future in the gospel for the Arab, and I think that's an exciting thing. I really do.
Chapter 20 goes on and gives us what people, what city? By the way, this is out of sequence prophecy. The commander came to what city? Ashdod. Ashdod. Uh, the commander Sargon came. Sargon, by the way, his dates as an Assyrian are 721 down to 705 as a leader of the Assyrians. And in the year 712, he came into Ashdod. So, in other words, the entire first verse is to tell you, "Now, in the year 712, that's what he's telling you. Don't worry about all the details, just know that's what he's saying." "At the time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amos, saying, 'Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet,' and he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, 'Even as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a token against Egypt and against Kush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Kush.'" In other words, the Assyrians are coming. They're going to get all the way into Egypt. Egypt will be broken, as will North African tribes, and Assyria will will defeat them all. "The young and the old, the naked and the barefoot, buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt." So, by the way, in Isaiah's case, when we talk about nakedness, it means he's showing his butt. Nakedness in the Bible is anything above showing the bare legs. But in his case, it's like more than that, okay? So just so you know that, you know, some of the things God asked the people to do were really very hard. I mean, if you, if you ever come to grips with God and say, "God, why did you ask me to do hard things?" Take Isaiah's place, okay? Not an easy spot. Run around with your butt hanging out for a while, okay?
Get down to 21 for a minute. I'm just trying to get you through these nations. In 21, "The Oracle concerning what?" Concerning the Wilderness of the Sea. And the windstorms in the Negev that sweep on. This is desolate places. "I have an, an oracle for the desolate places. A harsh vision has been shown to me." Listen, they started off desolate. "Go, Elam! Lay siege, Media!" "I have made an end of the groaning." She has caused. He's now, he's now all the way past the Assyrians and the Babylonians, back into the Meo-Persians. But you need to know this is probably out of order. And he just says, "By the way, I have this, I have this vision that I want to tell you. Media shall rise." Okay, that's what that's about.
And go down to verse 11. This is another oracle. This one's concerning what people? The, put next to that, the, what, what minor prophet? Obadiah. There you go. Luke's on it, man. "And Watchman, how far gone is the night?" Watchman, "How far gone is the night?" The Watchman says, "Morning comes, but also night. If you would inquire, inquire, come back again." He says, he comes back and he says that there's this, um, long night of oppression. Even though it's almost over, don't get your hopes up because another night's coming. Babylon comes right behind it. So he's just saying, "The Oracle concerning Edom." You'll just about get on your feet, get wiped out by the Assyrians. Don't get too excited. You'll get back on your feet and you'll be wiped out by the Babylonians. He's just sort of spitting out these things, you know.
Here's the Oracle for verse 13. What? Arabia. Arabia, which is the southern end of Jordan in the period all the way down to the Arabian Peninsula, meaning the deserts of people with camels. "In the thicket of Arabia, you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites. Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. Meet the fugitive with bread, for they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword." What does he say about the, about the, um, Arabian, Arabian nights? What does he say about the Arabian tents? That's going to be the place where people leave all of the inhabited places when the Assyrians and Babylonians come. They're going to come running, and you're going to find staggering people coming out into the wilderness. Give them some water and give them a tent because some people are going to come, and I'm going to come by and I'm going to drive them right out of their homes. They're going to drive right into your arms.
Go to the Oracle in verse 20 in chapter 22. "The Oracle concerning the Valley of Vision." "What is the matter with you now that you have all gone up to the housetops?" It looks like that they're sick and they're going to their upper chambers. What's in the upper chamber? Bathroom. The bathroom. So they're going up to the toilet on the roof. What's the matter with you? You're all up in the bathroom. "You who are full of noise, you boisterous city, you exalting city, you are slain were not slain with the sword, nor did they die in battle." Apparently, they all are in the bathroom because they're all sick. There's nobody downtown, everybody's home sick with disease. What happened to you? "All your rulers have fled together and have been captured without the bow." He says, "Disease is going to come upon you such that that somebody could walk in and take over your whole town and nobody has to fight because you're all sitting on the john or throwing up."
Verse 4 says, "Turn your eyes away from me; let me weep bitterly; do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people." "For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation, confusion in the Valley of Vision, a breaking down of walls and crying to the mountain." "Elam took up the quiver with horses, uh, uh, with chariots, infantry, horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots; the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate." "He removed the defense of Judah." This is a story of how the Assyrians came in, took apart the northern kingdom, and then marched through the southern kingdom. In 2 Kings 20, and literally destroyed 46 cities of Judah. And he says, "They walked right through." He says, verse 10, "Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore down houses to fortify the wall." When you're with me in Jerusalem, I'm going to show you this wall. I'm going to show you Hezekiah's wall. It's still there. They tore down the houses of Jerusalem to build up Hezekiah's wall, and you can still, it's been uncovered, and you can show, I can show you sections of that wall even as it is today. These prophecies live in the stones that are underneath the city of Jerusalem. "And you made a reservoir between the two walls." This is Hezekiah's tunnel. In verse 11, in 2 Chronicles 32:5, by the way, "Some people trust in horses and chariots, but you did not depend on him who made it, nor did you take into consideration him who planned it long ago. Trust in the Lord your God." That's who you're supposed to count on. "Therefore, in that day, the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head, to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gayety and gladness. You're not trusting me."
Verse 14: "The Lord of hosts revealed himself to me." God spoke to Isaiah. He said, "Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord of hosts. That is, the judgment is assured. They're not going to turn because of your voice. He says, "You're going to keep preaching to them, turn back to God. They're not going to do it." Thus says the Lord God of hosts. Verse 15: "Go to the steward, to Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household." He's the second to the king. What's, what's interesting is he is the, he is a very important scribe, and you're going to see him later on today. He's in one of the key featured stories of 36 to 39. Shebna is the scribe. He's also, um, he, he's one who will be a servant to King Hezekiah.
Now, watch what it says in verse 16: "What right do you have here? Whom do you have here that you have hewed a tomb for yourself here, you who hewed a tomb on the height, who carved a resting place for yourself from the rock? Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man, and he is about to grasp you firmly and roll you tightly like a ball to be cast in the vast country. There you will die, and there you will your splendid chariots will be." He goes on and he, he turns and he looks at this guy who's risen politically and he says, "God is going to wipe your house out and destroy you."
And verse 22 says, "I will set the key of the House of David on his shoulder. There is one coming, but he's not you."
Let's go to the very end now, to 23. And I'm just trying to get you through this very tough scroll. And in 23, it says, "The Oracle concerning what?" What, uh, what land? Tyre. Tyre is a city of what country today? Where's Tyre? Tyre and Sidon are both in Lebanon today. It is. And he says, "Tyre is destroyed without house or harbor; it is destroyed. It is reported to them in the land of Cyprus." "Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastline. Your merchants of Sidon, your messengers cross the sea. They were on many waters. Grain of the Nile, the harvest of the river was her revenue. Be ashamed, O Sidon." Verse 4 says, "The sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea." "I have neither travailed nor given birth." Tyre in Ezekiel 28 is the, um, economic system of the satanic union of the world. So when you see this, I want you to see that there's a double play here. Not only is Tyre destroyed, but there's an echo that there's coming a destruction to the economic system of the world. And what I want you to see is when you go to the end of this scroll, in verse 18, it says, "Well, let's go to 17. It will come about at the end of the 70 years that the Lord will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot's wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Her gain and her harlot's wages will be set apart to the Lord; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the Lord."
Here's what it says: It says that Tyre becomes an economic system that during the period of 70 years when they're in captivity, it's, it's an image of something. The world will build up great wealth, and God is going to cash it in and use it for his own people. You'll see this in Ezekiel 28:19. "You will cease to be an economic system forever." You'll see this in Revelation 17 and 18. The economic system will collapse, and the religious system behind it will collapse. But the point of the end of the scroll is that it's bigger than just Tyre. How do I know that? Because "her wages will play the harlot with all kingdoms on the face of the earth." This is the world economy he's talking about. He says, "Tyre, you represent a world economy that is going to fail. People will trust in Wall Street, they'll trust in the dollar, they'll trust in the Euro or the Yen or the Yuan, but all of them will be destroyed. The world economic union will gather together, and I will crush it." And in Revelation, he'll even tell you the story of how this happens. It will happen in one hour.
So all I'm saying is, 13 to 23 tells a story of incredible, powerful oracles, visions. They're gathered together, they're not in any particular order, and they're for a bunch of different people. But don't let that bother you. They say some powerful things. My takeaway from this, my happy moment, is that God has a future for the Arab people. I don't have an offering to bring to you.