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Isaiah 24-25

Chapter 24 begins a portion of this prophetic book that is often referred to as the Isaiah Apocalypse. Some go so far as to consider the whole book of Isaiah and particularly this section, as the fifth gospel. The alignment of these words and the prophetic information provided to us in the 4 gospels, as well as in Thessalonians and Revelation, all point towards the dramatic and conclusive events on earth, as this age comes to its conclusion. The prophet Isaiah also was speaking re the upcoming troubles of Israel that were to be realized during the Babylonian invasion. You'd think mankind would have learned by now that God's plans indeed stand, and He is not kidding around when He says what He says. Holiness and righteous living work. Anything else is a failure.

Isaiah 23, and FULL-FILLment, and success in our times

There's a long prelude that:

A. Takes us into Romans 8:26 for our prayer-success, and

B. Confirms, again, the absolute sovereignty of God who can impact and direct events on earth even as arrogant nations seek guidance from false gods in their ignorance and self-will.

Tyre, in Isa 23, offers us an early and parallel snapshot of the Lord's divine taking-down of a demonized world stronghold, very much like He will do again in Rev 18:9-19. It's the "Roamin' Empire".

And in the midst of it all, our unstoppable yet merciful God offers repentant man forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace:

Isaiah 27:4-5
⁴ Fury is not in Me.
Who would set briers and thorns
Against Me in battle?
I would go through them,
I would burn them together.
⁵ Or let him take hold of My strength,
That he may make peace with Me;
And he shall make peace with Me.”

(NKJV Strong's)

 

Isaiah 20-22

It's all about God and His absolute perfectness as He observes mankind, works with mankind, moves upon mankind to draw as many as possible to salvation. Intentionally, He is our only safe place. And He is sufficient.

History is the proof-text of His love, the word's prophetic accuracy, and the plans of God going forward.

 

Isaiah 19. God's eventual plan of salvation for people coming out of long-term enemy nations

Our amazing God - who has utilized and even "employed" neighboring nations to discipline and move upon His Israel, has a plan to save some from those nations when they come to Him in the troubles that He will bring upon them. THAT is mercy, sovereignty, and yet to occur (HHY).

We're also shown the accountability to speak and prophesy truth at all times. There's some time in Isa 30 as well as time in Ezekiel.

We serve a God who instructs us from the past so we can be equipped to succeed in our current and future situations.

Isaiah 16-18. The merciful though trouble-inclusive call to repentance to all nations.

Circling back into Isaiah 16 and then proceeding to chapters 17 and 18, we are beginning to see more clearly a prophetic undercurrent of God's great mercy (even in His troubling of the nations) to save many out of the nations.

This understanding will bless us in appreciating how He deals with all people, beginning with His covenant people, but not ending there. He is not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. And He will have His people, out of all the nations.

Echad - The wholeness of God and our completeness in Him

We're intended by God to be complete in Him, as He is complete and whole and holy. He is in the healing business, on His divine terms.

Outside of Him is to-be-expected brokenness and incompleteness.

This message was spoken a year or 3 ago. It's a good one to remember, particularly if/when tough things or tough seasons might come upon us, and as our adversary accuses us, distracts us, accuses to the Lord to us.

QUES: Who are we to believe?

ANS: Our Lord.

 

Isaiah 16 - also w time in Amos 3&4

The ongoing theme remains the sovereignty of God, and the success of surrender as well as the worthlessness and jeopardy of disobedience to the One who rightly owns and controls the eternal patent rights over all of creation.

THE PLAN is to have us moving a little more quickly through Isaiah. This is NOT to imply that any single word of God is less important, but rather to continue our timely flow of understanding, having already established the absolute confirmable-by-history accuracy of all that was prophesied and has already occurred. John Walvoord (a commentator I've mentioned a few times already) believes some of the specifics of scripture were put to ink in order to shut the mouths of the skeptics. It is perfect they exist, and we as saints embrace those truths. And/but there's much to cover in the deep and timely book and we want to remain on pace with the Lord as to where He may be taking us.

That said, there may be weeks where Isaiah is more lightly touched upon, as I do not want to miss what the Lord may want to bring forth for us. We're on a SENSITIVE mission of SENSITIVITY here, to discover His will and to be moved upon by His spirit in that timing.

Be sure to tap into the brief discussion on this episode re the sons of Issachar, and Jesus, and donkeys, and timing, and Passover. It starts at Gen 49:14 and then wanders through David in Hebron and Jesus at Calvary. And here we are, in 2019. As the Righteous Brothers sang: Time has come today.

 

Isaiah 15 - and God's sovereignty over all nations

Isaiah 15 (and also 16 - to be discussed next time) are specifically about judgment on Moab, but also serve to provide us with insight into how God will address wickedness globally. God is God over all the nations, so worldwide accountability and how He deals with all nations is something for us to understand, beyond just wicked Moab. And we, His people, are invited to rest in His fairness and His plans to gets all things resolved in a holy manner. The battle is the Lord's.

Our great God is neither evil nor prone to flying off the handle. He is righteous and just and true and how He acts is always fair. His righteous love necessarily involves judgment. That truth permeates all of scripture and our understanding of that will keep us from silly toothless teachings and/or from taking offense when our Lord does what He tells us He will do at the conclusion of this age.

There's a good number of bunny trails (throughout both testaments) in this podcast episode to confirm and substantiate this topic, as well as to provide some background reference specific to Moab.

Some verses we will be discussing: Gen 19:35-37, Num 24:25-25:4, Isa 33:1, Rev 2:12-14, Jude 1:14-23, 2 Thess 1:1-8, Isa 37:21-27, Rom 12:17-19, Ezek 36:10-15, Isa 66:14-24

 

 

Isaiah 14

Our spiritual adversary, revealed in this chapter as the dark force behind the satanic kingdoms and satanic kings of this earth, is illustrated as prideful and arrogant. "I will", "I will", "I will". 

He will eventually be brought low, forever, along with those who ruled and reigned, temporarily, by inviting him into their domains. 

Isaiah 12 & 13

We're making fine progress - first backtracking (quickly, I promise) into chapter 11 and then digging into 12 and 13. This part of Isaiah is a prophetic continuum, and refreshing ourselves as to what the prophet had just told us in order to identify and respect (and understand) the context in which he is speaking, is a good thing.