Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 16 as we
continue our study through the prophecy of Isaiah.
Now, in these next few chapters that we
are covering here in Isaiah, behind the scenes,
Assyria is arising as a strong, powerful military
force.
Assyria with its capital city of Nineveh is
becoming extremely powerful and beginning to develop a
tremendous army that will soon be on a
campaign of subjugating the world.
And so, the prophet Isaiah begins to address
himself to some of the various countries round
about, to Moab, to Syria, to Ephraim, and
all because these nations, Egypt, Ethiopia, are to
be in conflict and in battle with the
Assyrians.
And so, behind these next chapters, you have
to see the clouds of war rising from
Assyria as they are going to soon begin
their sweep down into this area of the
world.
And Isaiah is addressing now the nations concerning
the destruction that is sure to come during
this Assyrian invasion.
And the first nation that he addresses himself
to is the nation of Moab, which is
the present-day Jordan.
It lies on the east of the Jordan
River from Mount Gilead, actually, on south to
Mount Seir.
So, send ye the lamb to the ruler
of the land from Selah.
Now, Selah is the word rock, and from
it the word Petra and the city of
Petra, which happens to be in the area
of Moab.
To the wilderness unto the mount of the
daughter of Zion, for it shall be that
as a wandering bird cast out of the
nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be
at the fords of Arnon.
Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as
the night in the midst of the noonday.
Hide thee outcasts, betray them not that wandereth.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab.
Be thou a covert to them from the
face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is
at the end, and the spoiler ceases, and
the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
And in mercy shall the throne be established,
and he shall sit upon it in truth
in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking
judgment, and hasting righteousness.
And then he begins his lament over Moab
because of their great pride.
Now, as we mentioned earlier as we were
studying the prophecies of Isaiah, there's a unique
characteristic in, well it isn't unique because it
is in many of the prophets, where they
will be talking about a situation that is
close at hand, but there seems to be
a dual fulfillment of the prophecy, and it
reaches on out to another era, and it
spans into another time.
And so, there is often what we call
the near fulfillment and the far fulfillment of
this prophecy.
Now, many Bible scholars in the far fulfillment
of this prophecy, as God is commanding Moab
to meet the wandering bird that is cast
out of the nest at the Fords of
Arnon, and to hide the outcast and betray
them not that wanders, and let the outcast
dwell with the Moab.
There are many Bible scholars who see this
in its fulfillment as yet to come, when
in the midst of the seven-year period
that God has yet to reckon to the
nation Israel.
For in Daniel the ninth chapter, the angel
said unto Daniel, there are seventy-sevens determined
upon the nation Israel, to finish the transgressions,
to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the prophecies, and
to anoint the Most Holy One.
Now, no one understands from the time the
commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
to the coming of the Messiah, the Prince
will be seven-sevens and sixty-two-sevens,
and the walls will be built again in
troublous times.
But the Messiah will be cut off without
receiving the kingdom, and the people will end
up by being dispersed.
Now Daniel said the Prince of the people
that shall come will make a covenant with
Israel for the seventieth week, or for this
last week, this last period of seven years,
but in the midst of the seven years,
he will break the covenant and set up
an abomination which causes desolation.
Now, the disciples came to Jesus one day
and they said, Lord, what will be the
sign of your coming in the end of
the age?
And Jesus began to tell them the signs
that they should watch for, the things that
would be transpiring in the earth, which would
be a warning to them that they were
approaching the end of the age.
And as Jesus is talking to them about
the various signs, he does speak to them,
talking again to the Jews, when you see
the abomination of desolation that was spoken of
by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy
place, then flee to the wilderness.
And if you happen to be on the
roof of your house, don't even bother grabbing
a coat as you're going through, just get
out of there as quickly as you can.
And if you are out in the field
working, don't even return to your house, but
get down to the wilderness just as quickly
as possible.
So the Lord is warning them that the
sign of the abomination of desolation, now he
said, now he that has wisdom will understand,
because he said there is going to be
a time of great tribulation, such as the
world has never seen before, or will ever
see again.
Now we are told in the book of
Revelation, chapter 12, that John saw these various
characters or these various symbolisms.
He saw a woman clothed with the moon
and the stars, 12 stars and the moon,
and she was travailing, ready to bring forth
a child.
And he saw this great dragon that was
seeking to devour the child as soon as
it was born.
And he speaks of how the woman brought
forth the child which was caught on up
into heaven, to his throne.
And so the dragon sought to make war
against the remnant of the woman's seed, but
God gave to her the wings of an
eagle to bear her to the wilderness place
where she is to be nourished for three
and a half years.
From a prophetic standpoint, what this is all
talking about is that God has one more
seven year cycle to fulfill in the history
of the nation of Israel.
The 69 seven year cycles were fulfilled from
the time of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem
to the coming of Jesus Christ.
The 69 seven year cycles were fulfilled actually
to the day.
For in March 14, 445 BC, Artaxerxes gave
the commandment to Nehemiah to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem.
And 173,880 days later, 483 years on
the Babylonian calendar, 360 days to the year,
Jesus on April the 6th, 32 AD made
his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Fulfilled right on the letter.
But the angel said there are 77.
Now Jesus in being cut off, the Messiah
will be cut off, Jesus was cut off.
But in being cut off, in his being
cut off, he made through his death upon
the cross, he made reconciliation for iniquity.
He made an end of our sins.
But he did not set up the everlasting
kingdom, nor was the most holy place anointed,
nor were the prophecies all fulfilled.
So a part of those prophecies are yet
remaining and they will take place at the
end of the 70th seven year cycle.
So there is one missing seven year cycle
that Jesus, when he was talking to his
disciples, declared that it was a yet future
thing.
When the church is taken out of the
earth, it will then immediately give rise to
the Antichrist.
Sometime after the church is removed, I believe
that it will pretty much coincide with the
removal of the church.
For that which hinders shall hinder until it
is taken out of the way and then
shall that man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition, who comes forth with all
kinds of lies and deceit and guile.
In Revelation chapter 4, you see the church
taken up into heaven and I saw a
door open in heaven.
The first voice was as of a trumpet
saying, Come up hither, I'll show you things
which will be after the church things.
And immediately I was caught away by the
spirit into heaven and there I saw the
throne of God and the emerald type of
rainbow about the throne of God, the 24
lesser thrones of the elders and the cherubim
as they were worshipping God and the elders
as they joined in the worship, falling on
their faces and casting their crowns on the
glassy sea, declaring the worthiness of God to
receive the praise and the worship.
And then in chapter 5, he saw the
scroll with seven seals in the right hand
of him that was sitting upon the throne.
Heard the angels say, Who is worthy to
take this scroll and loose the seals?
The title deed to the earth.
Who is worthy to take this title deed,
to reclaim the earth?
The day of redemption has come.
Who is worthy?
And John began to sob because no man
was worthy in heaven, in earth, under the
sea to take the scroll or even to
look thereon.
And the elders said, Don't weep, John.
Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed to take the scroll and loose
the seals.
And John saw, turned, and he saw him
as a lamb that had been slaughtered.
And he saw him as he stepped forth
and took the scroll out of the right
hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And immediately the 24 elders took little golden
bowls that were full of incense odors.
The prayers of the saints offered them before
God.
And they sang a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the scroll and loose
the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and
you have redeemed us by your blood out
of all of the nations, tribes, kindreds, tongues,
and people.
And you have made us unto our God,
kings and priests, and we shall reign with
you upon the earth.
The song of the redeemed church in heaven.
Only the redeemed church can sing that song.
That is not the song of Israel.
It's out of all of the families of
the people on the earth.
That is not the song of angels.
It's only the song of the redeemed church.
Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us by
thy blood.
Angels can't sing that song, but they can
sing the chorus, and so they join in,
a hundred million strong plus millions of millions,
as they sing, Worthy is the Lamb to
receive glory and power and might and dominion
and glory and thrones and so forth.
But we sing the verse.
And so we get into chapter six, and
he opened the first seal, and the angel
said, Come, and I saw, and a white
horse with his rider came forth conquering and
to conquer.
The Antichrist, the revelation of the Antichrist, it
immediately follows the glorious acclamation of the worthiness
of Christ to take this scroll and loose
the seals.
So the introduction of the Antichrist upon the
earth, and one of the first orders of
business of the Antichrist as he is putting
together the earth once again that has been
ravaged by war when Russia invades the Middle
East.
So now he's starting to put the pieces
together because Russia has been soundly and thoroughly
defeated in her invasion of the Middle East.
He starts to put the pieces together again,
and the first thing he does is make
a covenant with the nation of Israel.
Now the Bible doesn't say that the covenant
includes the rebuilding of the temple, but that
is my own personal feeling and opinion, and
it's very strong, that this covenant that he
makes with the nation Israel includes their giving
to them the privilege of the rebuilding of
their temple.
And when they rebuild their temple, they will
not build it on the site of the
Mosque of Omar, or that which is commonly
called the Mosque of Omar, which in reality
is the Dome of the Rock Mosque.
I believe that they'll leave the Dome of
the Rock Mosque intact.
I believe that they will build a wall
on the north side of the Dome of
the Rock Mosque.
And in that large area of some 15
acres or so, they will make provision for
the Jews to build their temple, which many
of their scientists now believe is above the
site of Solomon's temple.
Just last June, one of the archaeologists and
scientists in Israel came out with a very
interesting article that was published in the Jerusalem
Post, in which he declared and gave his
findings for believing that the Temple of Solomon
actually was north of the Dome of the
Rock Mosque, which if they can prove and
all which they are seeking to do, it
will be a tremendous kind of a boon
for those Jews that are wanting to rebuild
their temple, because it means they can build
it without having a holy war.
All the Muslims of the world marching against
them, because it would be very easy just
to put a wall.
And there is a verse in Ezekiel that
talks about putting a wall along to separate.
And in the 11th chapter of the book
of Revelation, where the Lord gave unto John
a ruler and said, now go measure the
new temple and the courts.
He said, don't measure the outer court, because
it's been given to the heathen.
And the Dome of the Rock Mosque stands
in what would have been the outer court
of Solomon's temple, if Solomon's temple was there
on the north side.
So, he'll make a covenant with the nation
Israel.
But in the midst of the seven-year
period, after three and a half years, he
will come to Jerusalem, and according to what
Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians, and Jesus
spoke about in Matthew 24, and Daniel spoke
about in chapter 9, he will stand in
the rebuilt temple and declare himself to be
God.
And he will demand that they worship him
as God.
Now, according to the Scriptures, according to Jesus,
this is the sign for the Jews to
flee out of Jerusalem.
Get out of there as quickly as you
can.
Because the Antichrist, the man of sin, is
going to now demand that the Jews worship
him as God, and though they had initially
hailed him as the Messiah, at this point,
they're going to realize that they were mistaken
and deceived by this man.
And Jesus said, get out of there as
quickly as you can, don't bother taking anything
with you.
And according to Revelation, God will give to
them wings of an eagle to bear them
to a wilderness place where they will be
nourished for three and a half years.
And the Antichrist will send out an army
after them, but the earth will open up
and swallow his army.
And so, we begin to see the prophetic
scene take place.
Now, where are they going to the wilderness?
And where will they be fleeing?
Here's where this prophecy of Isaiah begins to
unfold.
Send ye the lamb to the ruler of
the land from Petra to the wilderness, unto
the mount of the daughter of Zion.
For it shall be that as a wandering
bird cast out of the nest, so the
daughters of Moab shall be at the fords
of Arnon.
Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as
the night in the midst of the noonday.
Hide the outcast, betray them not that wandereth.
Let mine outcast, God says, mine outcast dwell
with thee, Moab.
Be thou a covering to them from the
face of the spoiler or from the Antichrist.
For the extortioner, the Antichrist is at an
end.
The spoiler ceaseth and the oppressors are consumed
out of the land.
And what will happen?
And in mercy shall the throne be established
and he, that is Jesus, shall sit upon
it in truth in the tabernacle of David,
judging and seeking judgment and hastening righteousness.
Now, one further note should be made about
this before we move on.
And that is, the day that the Antichrist
comes, or the man of sin, the son
of perdition, the beast, or one of the
many names that the Scripture gives to him,
the spoiler, the extortioner, the day that he
comes and stands in the rebuilt temple and
declares that he is God in the midst
of this seven-year period, the day that
that takes place, it will be, from that
day, 1290 days until Jesus comes again with
his church to set up his kingdom upon
the earth.
So we're moving down towards these final sequence
of events.
We are reading constantly of Russia's threat to
move into the Middle East because of her
own oil needs.
And that will be the event that will
more or less trigger these final sequence of
events.
For as Russia moves in, God will soundly
defeat Russia.
It will give rise to the ten nations
of Europe out of which will arise this
man of sin who will make a covenant
with the nation of Israel for seven years.
But in the midst of the seven-year
period, he'll break the covenant by coming into
the temple, declaring that he is God, demanding
that he is worshipped as God, stopping the
daily sacrifices and prayers.
And 1290 days later, Jesus coming again with
the church to establish God's kingdom upon the
earth.
So, at this point, the Jews are to
flee to the wilderness.
God is telling Moab, open up your arms,
receive them, cover them, keep them safe from
the extortioner and from the spoiler and all,
and hide them, don't betray them until this
time of indignation is overpassed, time of great
tribulation.
So, and of course, until the king comes
to sit upon the throne of David and
to establish it in righteousness.
Now, he turns to Moab at the immediate
condition.
Moab has been filled with pride.
She is very proud, filled with haughtiness and
is pride and is wrath.
Now, notice pride, very proud, haughtiness, pride.
These words in the Hebrew are all a
little different, but they come from the same
base or root word.
It is like using the word boast, boastfulness,
boasting, and the boaster and so forth.
It's the same root word in the Hebrew
as it speaks of the great pride of
Moab.
Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab.
Everyone shall howl for the foundations of Kir
Heretzith shall mourn.
Surely they are stricken.
And so it tells about how that this
tremendous, the vineyards for which Moab was famous
were going to be trampled under the soldiers
that were to come.
They would no longer be trampling, the people
would no longer be trampling the grapes in
the wine presses.
Now, there was a cry that the people
used to, as they would stomp the grapes
in the wine presses, they would cry, Hey
Dad!
Hey Dad!
With every, Hey Dad!
Hey Dad!
As they were stepping down the grapes and
crushing them.
And so the prophet is saying, this cry,
Hey Dad!
will no longer be heard in the wine
presses, but it will be heard by the
marching of the soldiers that are trampling down
the vineyards.
They'll be coming marching to the Hey Dad!
Hey Dad!
And it will be not a shout of
rejoicing, but a sound of the conquering armies
of the Assyrians who shall destroy the marvelous
vineyards of Moab.
And in verses 13 and 14, he declares
that this judgment against Moab will actually come
within a three year span of time.
And within three years, Assyria conquered over Moab.
And as the result, Moab will become, though
she was very proud and all, shall become
very small and feeble.
Now he turns his prophecy against Damascus, which
of course was the capital of Syria.
Now Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel
had confederated together to stand against Assyria as
Assyria became a very definite threat.
Syria knew that she could not stand against
Assyria alone, so she sought to confederate with
Ephraim and Manasseh, the major tribes of the
northern kingdom.
And they were hoping by a confederation to
stop the Assyrian invasion.
And so he prophesies first against Damascus, but
then he begins to weave in also Ephraim
and Manasseh declaring that even through their confederation
they will not be able to withstand the
Assyrian invasion that they were going to, all
of them, fall at the hands of the
Assyrians.
So the burden of Damascus.
Behold, it is taken away from being a
city.
It is going to be a ruinous heap.
The Assyrians are going to just smash down
Damascus.
The cities of Arar are forsaken.
And in these places where the cities once
existed, they will now be herding their flocks
of sheep.
And it will be so desolate that the
sheep won't even be bothered by people.
The sheep will be grazing in what was
once the cities of Syria.
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim coming
down now to the northern kingdom of Israel.
And the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant
of Syria they shall be as the glory
of the children of Israel, saith the Lord
of hosts.
And in that day it shall come to
pass that the glory of Jacob shall be
made thin, and the fatness of his flesh
shall wax thin, lean.
And it shall be as when the harvest
man gathers the corn, and reach the ears
in his arm.
And it shall be as he that gathers
the ears in the valleys of Riphim.
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it,
and the shaking of an olive tree, two
or three berries at the top.
In other words, God is declaring that the
inhabitants are going to be destroyed.
It will be like the gleaning of an
olive tree.
There will just be a few berries in
the top.
There will be just a few grapes left
on the vine.
But it's like the Assyrians have come through
and harvested and wiped out the majority of
people and just a few people remain.
The Assyrians were extremely cruel people.
According to the record of history, there were
many cities which when were surrounded by the
Assyrian army and it was obvious that there
was no chance of escape, much like Masada,
the entire populace of the city would commit
suicide rather than to be captured by the
Assyrians because they treated their captives so cruelly.
They would pull out their tongues.
They would gouge out their eyes.
They would commit all kinds of atrocities against
the captives and so people were extremely fearful
of Assyria and would oftentimes, entire cities, you'd
have a mass suicide rather than being taken
captive by these Assyrians.
That is why Jonah did not want to
go to Nineveh to declare the judgment of
God because he was afraid that the Ninevites
might repent and God wouldn't wipe them out.
And so he had no intention of going.
When God said, go to Nineveh and warn
them my judgment's coming, Jonah took off the
other way because he wanted God to wipe
Nineveh out and he was afraid if he
went and preached they might repent and he
knew God was gracious and merciful and God
might relent and not wipe them out.
So that's why Jonah took off the other
way.
He was a true patriot.
He wanted Assyria, the Ninevites, to be wiped
out.
In fact, you remember that Jonah was sitting
out there pouting after the whole thing.
God said, what's the matter?
You have any right to be upset?
You bet your life I have a right
to be upset.
This is exactly what I thought was going
to happen.
I knew you were merciful and gracious.
I knew that they might repent and that
you would forgive them.
Now you haven't wiped them out.
Boy, he was mad.
And it's interesting what God said.
The reason why I didn't wipe them out
is because there are 120,000 little children
in that city that are so small that
they don't even know their right hand from
their left hand.
God's mercy upon the children and for the
children's sake spared the city.
But we'll get to the story of Jonah
later but that gives you...
Here, you know, the whole thing is fitting
together.
Assyria is getting ready to move against Moab,
getting ready to move against Syria and against
the northern kingdom of Israel and they are
all going to fall.
The northern kingdom of Israel is going to
be left just a few people, just like
a few berries in the top of the
olive tree, just a few grapes in a
vineyard that has already been harvested, just the
gleanings.
At that day shall a man look to
his Maker and his eyes shall have respect
to the Holy One of Israel.
Those that remain will be turning to God.
He will not look to the altars that
they have created, the worship of Baal and
the groves and so forth that they have
made, the false worship for which God's judgment
came against them.
In that day shall his strong cities be
as a forsaken bough and the uppermost branch
which they left because the children of Israel,
there shall be desolation because you have forgotten
the God of your salvation.
You have not been mindful of the rock
of your strength.
Therefore, you shall plant the pleasant plants and
shall set them with strange slips.
In the day shalt thou make thy plant
to grow and in the morning thou shalt
make thy seed to flourish but the harvest
shall be a heap in the day of
grief and desperate sorrow.
So because they had forgotten God, they had
turned away from Him and were worshiping these
other gods, the reason why God has allowed
this judgment using Assyria as His tool of
judgment to destroy Syria and the northern kingdom
of Israel with its capital of Samaria.
But yet, though Assyria is used as the
tool of God's judgment, God turns His word
against Assyria.
Woe to the multitude of many people which
make a noise like the noise of the
sea.
In other words, the noise of their armies
coming is just like a roar of the
sea.
And to the rushing of nations that make
a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters.
The nations shall rush like the rushing of
many waters, but God shall rebuke them and
they shall flee far off and shall be
chased as a chaff in the mountains before
the wind and like the rolling thing before
the whirlwind.
And behold, it even tied trouble and before
the morning He is not.
God will wipe them out.
In the evening they'll be there, but in
the morning they'll not be there.
Now, here is a hint at the destruction
of the Assyrians.
The Assyrians did come.
They did conquer the northern kingdom of Israel.
They did conquer Moab.
They did even go down and conquer Ashdod
and on down into Egypt and Ethiopia.
But they did not conquer Judah.
Now, here in Judah as the Assyrians were
coming and all and Hezekiah was the king
and Isaiah was his counselor, he was saying,
hey, don't worry about it.
They're not going to conquer us.
Now, don't be afraid.
God is going to stand for us.
Now, don't worry about it.
You're not going to have to fight this
battle.
This is the Lord's battle.
He's going to stand up and fight for
us.
And Isaiah was telling them, hey, you don't
have to worry about this.
God's going to take care of things.
Of course, Hezekiah was busy building the tunnel
from the spring of Gihon over the pool
of Siloam to bring the water into the
city so that they would have water in
the city when the Assyrians invaded and cut
the city off and all.
But yet, all the while, Isaiah was encouraging
the king to trust in the Lord that
God would deliver.
And the Assyrians brought their invading army against
Jerusalem.
And they were making all of their threats.
The Rabakshah said to the men, where is
the God of the Sumerians?
Where is the God of the Assyrians?
Where is the God of the Egyptians?
You know, we wiped them all out.
Don't let Hezekiah lead you into a false
trust of your God saying our God will
deliver what God is able to deliver from
the hand of the Assyrians and all.
And blaspheme in God.
And Isaiah said, just watch this now.
God's going to take care of them.
Don't worry about it, Hezekiah.
Hezekiah took the letter and he spread it
out before the Lord and he wept.
He said, God, look what they're saying.
Look what they're doing, you know.
And an angel of the Lord went through
the camp of the Assyrians and in one
night, he wiped out 185,000 of their
front line troops.
When the Israelis awoke in the morning and
looked over the wall to see their enemy,
they were nothing but corpses on the ground.
In a night, in the morning, they'll not
be there.
And, of course, the Lord will get out
into a little bit further where actually there
are so many corpses that the birds and
the beasts feed on them for a long
time.
You can imagine what a feast that would
be for vultures.
185,000 carcasses to feed on.
In the evening time, trouble.
And before the morning, it's gone.
They are not.
This is the portion of them that spoil
us and the lot of those that rob
us.
This is God's judgment against Assyria.
Now in chapter 18, there are those that
see the United States in chapter 18, but
it is rather far-fetched and I am
sorry that my mind can't stretch that far.
I cannot see the United States in chapter
18.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings.
And they point out that on the top
of the American flag, there's an eagle with
wings.
So, shadowing with wings.
Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
And, of course, we are beyond the rivers
of Ethiopia.
That send ambassadors by the sea in vessels.
And, of course, the only way our ambassadors
could travel to the other lands prior to
the aircraft and so forth were by boats.
But it does say vessels of bulrushes.
And I don't know of any ambassador that
ever went out in a reed boat made
of bulrushes and pitched with tar.
Now, as I say, people can see and
I can't, but people do see the United
States in this.
What it is basically dealing with is Ethiopia
itself, which was making, which had sent ambassadors
to Jerusalem, to the king, to make a
confederacy with them against Assyria.
In other words, Assyria was conquering.
And these Ethiopian ambassadors, big, tall, dark-skinned,
handsome men, were there trying to get Judah
to join with them in a confederacy to
withstand this invasion from Assyria.
And Isaiah was counseling against the confederacy not
to make a covenant with them, for God
was going to watch over them and take
care of them and don't get involved in
a treaty, a mutual defense pact with these
Ethiopians.
So, woe to the land.
God is pronouncing the woe that is going
to come upon Ethiopia that sends the ambassadors
by the sea.
They came in these boats down the Nile
River from Ethiopia.
And the boats of bulrushes were light so
that when they get to the rapids and
all, they could carry them and then put
them in.
And they came from Ethiopia in these boats
of bulrushes to Israel, or to Judah, the
southern kingdom, and sought then to make this
covenant, saying, Go ye swift messengers to a
nation that is scattered and peeled, to a
people that is awesome from their beginning, hitherto
a nation that is meted out and trotted
down, whose land the rivers have cut through.
All ye inhabitants of the world and the
dwellers upon the earth, see ye when he
lifts up a sign upon the mountains and
when he blows a trumpet, hear ye.
For so the Lord said unto me, I
will take my rest and I will consider
in my dwelling place like a clear heat
upon the herbs and like a cloud of
dew in the heat of harvest.
For before the harvest, when the bud is
perfect and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the
sprigs and the pruning hooks and take away
and cut down the branches.
So Isaiah is saying, we don't need to
make a covenant with these people.
God is going to take care of them.
He's going to cut them down before they're
able to really fully develop.
And so here is the prediction of a
serious destruction by God.
They shall be left together unto the fowls
of the mountains and the beasts of the
earth.
And the fowls shall summer upon them and
all of the beasts of the earth shall
winter upon them.
In other words, the vultures will eat the
carcasses during the summertime, but there are so
many by the time winter has come, even
the animals, the coyotes and all will be
eating the bones of them even through the
wintertime.
In that time shall the present be brought
to the Lord of hosts of a people
scattered and peeled and the people lost from
their beginning.
Hitherto a nation meted out and trodden underfoot
whose land the rivers have cut through to
the place of the name of the Lord
of hosts, the Mount Zion.
So the prediction of a serious destruction by
the hand of God and no need to
join hands with the Ethiopians in a mutual
defense pact because God is our defense and
God will take care of us.
Now he turns to Egypt.
The burden of Egypt.
Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud
and shall come into Egypt.
And the idols of Egypt shall be moved
at His presence and in the heart of
Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
And I will set the Egyptians against the
Egyptians.
So God is speaking here of a civil
war.
And they shall fight everyone against his brother
and everyone against his neighbor, the city against
city and the kingdom against kingdom.
There's going to be civil turmoil and war
within Egypt.
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in
the midst thereof and I will destroy the
council thereof and they shall seek to the
idols and to the charmers and to them
that have familiar spirits and to the wizards.
And the Egyptians will I give over into
the hand of a cruel Lord.
A fierce king shall rule over them, saith
the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
And then he begins to make some very
interesting predictions.
The water shall fail from the sea and
the river shall be wasted and dried up.
And they shall turn the rivers far away.
The word there is translated in one of
the new versions and they shall dam the
river far away.
And the brooks of defense shall be emptied
and dried up and the reeds and the
flags shall wither.
And the paper reeds by the brooks, by
the mouth of the brooks, and everything sewn
by the brooks shall wither and be driven
away and be no more.
The fishers also shall mourn and all they
that cast their hook into the brooks shall
lament and they that spread their nets upon
the waters shall languish.
Moreover, they that work in fine flax and
they that weave the networks shall be confounded
and they shall be broken in the purposes
thereof all that make the sluices and ponds
for fish.
Surely the princes of Zon are fools and
the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh
is become brutish.
How say you unto Pharaoh, I am the
son of the wise and the son of
ancient kings.
Now, here is a prediction that the river
shall be dammed far away.
The Aswan Dam.
Surely answers to this prediction.
As early as 1970, they began to discover
some of the ecological problems that were created
by the building of the Aswan Dam.
In a report made to the Congress and
has become a part of the congressional record,
number S-3448, in an ecology report, the
first thing that they drew the attention to
was the smog in Los Angeles as an
ecology disaster.
But the second thing was the DDT problem
that since has been resolved by laws.
But then the third thing was Egypt.
And here is what was said.
The Aswan Dam has slowed down the Nile.
Six hundred miles down river, the sandbars have
stopped building up on the delta.
The Mediterranean is flooding the delta and one
million fertile acres have disappeared under salt water.
Below the dam, snails carry the blood cooks
of cystosomycosis.
And thousands of men and women and children
are going to die of this painful, cruel
disease.
The Nile no longer carries its nutrient-rich
sediments out to sea and the fish are
disappearing and the fishing families are moving to
the slums of Cairo and Alexandria.
That source of food is disappearing.
Also oxygen from the loss of the greenery
and water.
Now, ten years later, as further studies are
made concerning the ecological damage of the building
of the Aswan Dam, the first thing, of
course, that the Prophet here does talk about
is the salt water intrusion into the delta,
the rich delta farmland area.
And this has continued.
The idea of damming up the Aswan was,
of course, to create a control of the
water flow into the irrigation canals and so
forth and hopefully to open up thousands of
new agricultural acres by the irrigation projects.
But they have discovered that through the salt
water intrusion into the most fertile area of
Egypt, into the delta, the Nile delta, through
the salt water intrusion, they have lost over
twice the acreage, agricultural acreage, as they were
gaining.
You see, it used to be at the
flood tide as the Nile River would bring
the silt and all into the Mediterranean that
it built up these silt dams against the
Mediterranean, creating this very fertile delta area, much
like we have down in El Centro and
so forth, that fertile area that has been
built up by the Colorado over the years.
Now, with the Nile no longer flooding, they've
lost the agricultural area by salt water intrusion
from the Mediterranean, first thing he predicted.
But not only that, all of the reeds
and so forth that used to grow along
the Nile were killed because there is a
little snail that sort of feeds, eats at
its roots, but it used to be carried
away every year in the flood season.
But now that there is no more flood
season, these little snails have destroyed all of
the reeds and everything that used to be
along the Nile River, even as Isaiah said.
Now, in 1970, the fishing industry was beginning
to disappear.
It has now totally disappeared.
It doesn't exist.
They do not have any more fishing industry.
There in the Mediterranean, there used to be
tremendous schools of fish that supplied Egypt with
one of its greatest protein sources.
Just an overabundance supply of fish because they
would feed on the rich nutrients that were
carried by the Nile River on into the
Mediterranean Sea.
But now that there is no great flooding
and the carrying of these nutrients in, the
fish, they don't know what happened to them
if they've just left and gone someplace else
or have just disappeared.
But there is no more fishing industry.
It is amazing to me that 2,700
years ago, God inspired the prophet Isaiah to
not only prophesy the building of the Aswan
Dam as they will turn away the river
far away, but also to prophesy those ecological
disasters that would be created by the damming
of the Nile River.
There has even been suggestions by the Egyptians
that the Aswan Dam be blown up.
In order to seek to correct the ecological
disasters that have resulted from its building.
It is interesting then that at the end
of the prophecy, he sort of takes off
against those engineers and counselors that advise them
to build the Aswan Dam.
The counselors of Zohan are fools.
The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh
has become brutish.
How can they say, I am wise.
I'm the son of the ancient kings.
Where are they?
Where are the wise men?
Let them tell you now.
Let them know what the Lord of hosts
has purposed upon Egypt.
These men are so wise.
Now let them tell you.
You know, God has already told you what
damages are going to happen.
These men are so wise.
Let them tell you what God has purposed.
The princes of Zohan have become fools.
The princes of Naph are deceived.
They have also seduced Egypt, even they that
are the stay of the tribes thereof.
The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in
the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt
to err in every work thereof as a
drunken man who is staggering in his own
vomit.
What a graphic picture.
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt
which the head or the tail or branch
or rush may do.
In that day shall Egypt be likened to
women, and it shall be afraid and fear
because of the shaking of the hand of
the Lord of hosts which He shakes over
it.
And the land of Judah shall be a
terror unto Egypt.
And everyone that makes mention thereof shall be
afraid in himself because of the counsel of
the Lord of hosts which He has determined
against it.
And so interesting as we look at the
situations today and see how clearly and concisely
God has actually spoken of these things.
The land of Judah, even again, becoming a
terror unto Egypt.
In that day shall five cities in the
land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan
and swear to the Lord of hosts, and
one shall be called the city of destruction.
In that day shall there be an altar
unto the Lord in the midst of the
land of Egypt and a pillar at the
border thereof to the Lord.
And it shall be for a sign and
for a witness unto the Lord of hosts
in the land of Egypt for they shall
cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors
and He shall send them a Savior and
a Great One and shall deliver them.
And the Lord shall be known to Egypt
and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in
that day.
In that day begins to go ahead into
the future, into the day of the Lord.
When God is going to work, of course,
in the coming of Jesus Christ throughout the
world, but Egypt is going to become a
religious center for the worshiping of the Lord.
Right now, of course, Egypt is strongly Muslim.
They have laws in Egypt against witnessing, proselytizing.
It's capital crime.
If you seek to lead a Muslim to
Jesus Christ in Egypt, you could be put
to death.
It's a capital offense to seek to convert
a Muslim to another faith.
But in that day, the Lord shall be
known to Egypt and they'll know the Lord
and they will do sacrifice and oblation.
Yea, they shall vow a vow unto the
Lord and perform it.
And the Lord shall smite Egypt and He
shall smite and heal it and they shall
return even to the Lord and He shall
be entreated of them and will heal them.
Now, Egypt will be smitten by the Antichrist
actually when he takes his forces and he
starts a move towards Africa to conquer Africa.
He will pass through Egypt.
He'll get to the borders of Ethiopia at
which time tidings out of the north and
the east will trouble him for he will
hear that the Chinese have been moving their
armies westward and he will turn in all
of his fury to meet the invading armies
of the east and of the north, the
regrouped forces of Russia and they will meet
in a deadly conflict in the valley of
Megiddo.
So Egypt is going to suffer.
They will be conquered by the forces of
Europe as they begin their invasion of Africa
but it is an invasion that will never
be completed because as soon as Egypt is
taken as they start to move against Ethiopia
is when the news comes of the invading
forces from the east and from the north
at which time the Antichrist will turn to
meet them with the European forces and thus
the battle of Armageddon.
Now, in that day, the day of the
Lord after he has healed them and established
them, actually Assyria which is modern day Iraq
and Egypt will have a highway going between
them passing through Israel and the three nations
will be joined together in a beautiful harmony
and accord in the glorious day of the
Lord.
It shall be that Israel shall be a
third with Egypt and Assyria even the blessing
in the midst of the land whom the
Lord of hosts shall bless saying blessed be
Egypt my people and Assyria the work of
my hands and Israel mine inheritance.
And so God's glorious work in that day,
that day when Jesus comes to establish God's
kingdom.
Now, in chapter 20, Isaiah predicts that Assyria
is going to waste both Egypt and Ethiopia.
In the year that Tartan which is the
title which means the commander-in-chief.
Tartan, the commander-in-chief came unto Ashdod,
one of the major cities of the Philistines.
It is now a seaport city of Israel.
When the commander-in-chief of the forces
of Assyria under Sargon came to Ashdod and
took it at the same time, the Lord
spoke by Isaiah the prophet saying go and
loose the sackcloth from off your loins and
put your shoes off your feet.
And so he did walking naked and barefoot.
And the Lord said like as my servant
Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three
years for a sign and a wonder upon
Egypt and upon Ethiopia, so shall the king
of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and
the Ethiopians captives young and old, naked and
barefoot even with their buttocks uncovered to the
shame of Egypt.
And they shall be afraid and ashamed of
Ethiopia, their expectation and of Egypt their glory
and the inhabitant of this isle shall say
in that day behold such is our expectation
whether we flee for help to be delivered
from where can we flee for help to
be delivered from the king of Assyria and
how shall we escape.
So it was a a sort of a
a method by which the conquering armies would
seek to disgrace the conquered people is by
making them march naked.
Now it is interesting that God would tell
his prophet Isaiah to walk around naked for
three years so that it would be the
sign to the people.
So Assyria is going to embarrass both Ethiopia
and Egypt by conquering them and leading away
their captives naked.
And their confederacy together is not going to
stand and that is why Isaiah is saying
don't make a league with Egypt or don't
look to them for help against Assyria.
Look to the Lord.
If you look to man if you look
to the arm of flesh they are going
to fall anyhow.
Now the counsel of God is pretty much
perennial in that God is encouraging us to
look to Him for our health and for
our strength and for our defense.
Don't look to the arm of flesh.
Don't look to the arm of man to
help you because man can fail.
The Lord will not fail.
And so this was the message of Isaiah
unto Judah and to King Hezekiah to trust
in the Lord.
Don't trust in an alliance and an agreement
because these nations are going to fall to
Assyria.
You trust in the Lord.
The Lord will take care of you.
And as we trust in the Lord we
can be sure the Lord will take care
of us.
Shall we pray?
Father we thank You again for Thy sure
word that even as You have spoken surely
it shall come to pass.
Father we can see as we look at
history and as we read of the prophets
who before the events so clearly described them
we thank You Lord for this proof of
Your divine capacities and divine nature.
Dwelling Lord as You do in the eternal
outside of our time continuum and thus speaking
of things before they come to pass as
though they had already come to pass because
You know they are going to come to
pass.
Oh how thankful we are for Your sure
word and for the promises that yet await
us as Your children of those things that
are going to come of Thy glorious kingdom
upon this earth and our privilege of being
with You and reigning with You.
Now hide Thy word away in our hearts
and let us grow in our confidence and
trust in Thee.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Shall we stand?
May the Lord be with you and watch
over you through the week as special emphasis
is being made the emphasis and attention upon
the death of Jesus Christ and His subsequent
resurrection.
And may the power that raised Jesus from
the dead dwell in you and quicken you
unto every good work.
God bless you.
Anoint you with His spirit and use your
life as His instrument to shine forth His
light into a dark world.
In Jesus name.
Amen.