Shall we turn to Isaiah chapter 36?
Last week as we completed the 35th chapter
of the book of Isaiah, of course we
got into those glorious prophecies of the future
kingdom age, when Jesus Christ will be reigning
over the earth, and how God is going
to restore the earth to its Edenic glory.
Now, we always, it seems, have sort of
curious minds, and we wonder often just how
God proposes to do the things that He
says He is going to do.
And in reality, the whys aren't really our
real concern, however we so often make them
a concern.
You know, well, if He did this or
if He did that.
And there are many suggestions as to how
the earth might be restored to the Edenic
glory and beauty.
Here in the 35th chapter, there are references
to there being streams in the deserts, pools
in the dry places, and so forth, and
how that the whole earth is going to
be more or less restored.
As far as the deserts will be gone,
they will blossom as a rose, and the
whole earth will become very fertile and productive.
And with the prophecies of Isaiah, there are
also those prophecies of the earth being moved
out of its place, staggering to and fro
as a drunken man, and things of this
nature, which has caused some people to theorize
that it is quite possible that we will
have another polar axis shift.
And it could very well explain many of
the cataclysmic events that are declared to be
taking place during the Great Tribulation.
As the earth shakes and as the mountains
and the islands disappear, and it talks really
of a tremendous cataclysmic upheaval of the earth.
At the present time, the earth is tilted
at about, as far as the polar axis
and its relationship to the sun, it's tilted
at about 23 and a third degrees, which
causes our summer and winter seasons, because of
this tilt on the polar axis.
And now being in the northern hemisphere, the
sun is, because of our tilt, we are
now receiving longer days and will do so
up until the 22nd of June when we
come into the summer equinox.
There is a suggestion that there will be
another polar axis shift, at which time it
could be that the earth will come in
to pretty much a straight alignment with the
sun and the earth revolving on its axis.
Now if this should result, what would happen
is, of course, you would have a medium
climate all the way around the earth, you
wouldn't really have your seasons any longer.
But you'd have pretty much a medium climate
around the earth, it would heat up the
earth sufficient to melt the ice pack at
the north and the south pole, which would
raise the water level around the entire earth.
With a greater warmth, it would cause more
evaporation of the water on into the atmosphere
and would create a much larger moisture barrier
within the atmosphere itself.
Because of the polar ice packs being melted,
you would not have your tremendous cold air,
arctic air moving, so all of your winds
would become much more mild than they presently
are, as the air would move much slower
than it now does as a result of
the polar arctic winds and so forth that
bring these.
You have your warm air rising and the
cold air moving in, but it would sort
of minimize the air movement, much milder winds
and so forth than what we presently have.
Probably increase rainfall around the earth, it of
course would raise the water level on all
of the shorelines and it would give us
a little bit more of a water-earth
ratio rather than two-third, one-third, and
would result probably in the disappearance of all
of the desert regions and also all of
your extremely hot zones and extremely cold zones,
so that you'd have a pretty much of
a temperate climate all around the world.
We do know that at one time at
the North Pole there was tropical vegetation.
Mammoths that have been found encased in ice
in Siberia have had tropical vegetation still in
their digestive tracts.
The mammoths were fast frozen there by some
cataclysmic event of the past, quite possibly the
flood of Noah.
We do know that at one time at
the South Pole there were great forests because
they have found tremendous deposits of charcoal 200
feet under the ice pack, indicating that there
were once forests down there.
And again it could be accountable back to
the flood that at that time there was
a polar axis shift causing the tremendous movement
of the waters, the oceans, and so forth
and creating whole new type of continents and
entirely new kind of a geography around the
earth.
So there are hints and indications in the
scripture that this indeed might be what will
cause these changing effects, but however God works
it out, as I say, we only guess.
We really don't know, but God is going
to work it out and the earth is
going to be a beautiful place to live,
and so it really doesn't matter.
You don't have to put a claim on
Hawaii.
I don't even know if Hawaii will still
be here because during the great cataclysmic changes
it talks about the islands disappearing.
It would be a shame, I agree, if
Hawaii would go, but you know, no matter
where you live it'll be beautiful and verdant
as God restores the earth.
So chapter 35 is prophetic as it looks
ahead into that glorious kingdom age.
Now from 36 to 39 Isaiah just takes
out of the historic records and you'll find
that this particular area parallels 2 Kings beginning
with around chapter 17 or 18, and so
he evidently took the historic records.
In fact, chapter 37 of Isaiah is identical
to 2 Kings chapter 19, so he has
just more or less copied the historic records
of which 2 Kings is a part of
the history of the nations of Israel and
Judah, and he copied out of the historic
accounts these chapters in order to give you
the historic background for the prophecies that he
has just made of the destruction of the
Assyrian forces and so forth.
Having prophesied these things, he now gives the
historic background that you might see that God's
word was accurate and true, and what God
foretold would come to pass did indeed transpire.
So these next four chapters are just out
of the Kings and other historic records that
he had available to him that we do
not have now, and they just cover this
period of history over which he has been
prophesying, the period of history when the Assyrians
would be bringing their armies in an invasion
of Jerusalem, but would be turned back by
the hand of God.
So this is the history of it.
Now, it came to pass in the 14th
year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib, the king
of Assyria, came up against the defense cities
of Judah and took them, and the king
of Assyria sent Rabshakeh.
Now, Rabshakeh is the title.
We really don't know what the name of
the man was, but that is the title
of this particular person.
From Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with
a great army, and he stood by the
conduit of the upper pool.
Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son,
which was over the house, and Shibnah, the
scribe, and Joah and Asaph's son, the recorder.
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Go tell Hezekiah,
thus saith the great king, the king of
Assyria, what is this confidence wherein you trust?
I say, but they are vain words, I
have counsel.
He said, you're saying actually that you have
counsel and strength for war.
Now, on whom are you trusting that you
would rebel against me?
Lo, you are trusting in the staff of
the broken reed of Egypt, whereon if a
man would lean, it would go into his
hand and pierce it.
And so is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt,
and all that trust in him.
But if you say unto me, we trust
in Yahweh our God, is it not he
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has
taken away?
And said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ye
shall worship before this altar.
Now Rabbeckshak shows his ignorance of the worship
of the God of Israel or the God
of Judah.
For Hezekiah did indeed destroy the altars and
the high places and the groves in which
the children of Israel were worshiping the gods
of the Canaanites.
The worship of Molech and Baal and Mammon
was done in these groves and in these
high places.
And so one of the pluses of Hezekiah
is that when he came to the throne,
he tore down the altars to the false
gods that the children of Israel had been
worshiping.
But as is so often the case, those
that are looking from the outside in presumed
to know a lot of what is being
taught or said, and really they know nothing
of the truth.
And in this case, Rabbeckshak was totally wrong
in that he is accusing Hezekiah of tearing
down the altars or tearing down the high
places of Jehovah.
Jehovah actually commanded them not to build the
high places and always spoke out against them.
And it was established that there was only
one place that they should gather to worship
Jehovah and to offer sacrifices, and that was
in Jerusalem at the temple.
And so Rabbeckshak shows his total ignorance of
Jehovah in his remarks.
Now, he also is assuming that the children
of Judah had gone to Egypt for help,
but Hezekiah had been counseled by Isaiah not
to go down to Egypt for help, but
just to trust in the Lord.
Now, the natural thing to do in this
situation, the wise natural thing would have been
to go down to Egypt to seek their
help, because Egypt was also being threatened by
Assyria.
And so it would have made good natural
sense to go down to get Egypt's help.
But what often is to us good natural
sense isn't always good spiritual sense.
And where naturally it would have been a
smart move from a spiritual standpoint, it would
have been a bad move, and God recommended
and counseled them against it.
He said, trust in me and not in
the arm of Egypt or in the arm
of flesh.
And so Rabbeckshak shows two cases of his
ignorance of the situation.
One is ignorance of their worship of Yahweh.
Secondly, his ignorance of the counsel that God
had given to them not to trust in
Egypt.
So they were not trusting in Egypt.
They were trusting completely in the Lord through
the encouragement of Isaiah to just trust in
the Lord to deliver the Assyrian host into
their hand.
Now he is belittling them.
He said, look, give me some money and
I'll give you 2,000 horses and let's
see if you can find enough men to
sit upon those horses.
You know, we'll help you to fight us.
Just give us some pledges and we'll give
you 2,000 horses if you can put
men upon them, if you're able to set
riders on them.
How then will you turn away the face
of just one captain of the least of
my master's servants?
And you put your trust in Egypt for
chariots and horsemen.
And now I come up out of.
And do you think that I now come
up without the Lord against this land to
destroy it?
Yahweh said unto me, go up against this
land and destroy it.
So now he is blaspheming God.
He's saying, hey, God's giving me directions.
You know, you think I'd come out up
here without God's instructions?
For Yahweh said to me, come on up
and besiege this place.
Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joash to
this Sheka, speak, I pray thee unto thy
servants in the Syrian language or in Aramaic,
for we understand it.
Don't speak to us in the Jews language
in the ears of the people that are
upon the wall.
Now, here are all of the men of
Israel sitting there on the wall.
And so these emissaries of Hezekiah figure, man,
this guy must be demoralizing these people.
He's, you know, saying, hey, you know, if
we gave you 2,000 horses, you couldn't
put men on them.
And how are you going to ever defy
us and all?
And so they said, hey, you know, don't
talk to us in Hebrew.
Talk to us in the Syrian.
We can understand your Syrian tongue or Aramaic.
We understand that.
Speak to us in Aramaic.
But this Rav Sheka picked up on what
they were noticing.
And so he said, hey, wait a minute.
Didn't the King send me to talk to
you men on the wall?
You know, I don't care about your King
Hezekiah.
And he stood and he cried with a
loud voice, verse 13, in the Jews language
and said, hear ye the words of the
great King, the King of Assyria.
Thus saith the King, don't let Hezekiah deceive
you, for he shall not be able to
deliver you.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the
Lord or in Yahweh, saying, the Yahweh will
surely deliver us, for this city shall not
be delivered into the hand of the King
of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the
King of Assyria, just make an agreement with
me by a present.
Just pay some tribute and come on out
and just work in your fields, eat of
your own vines and of your own fig
trees, drink waters out of your own cistern
until I come and repopulate you in another
land that is just as nice and pleasant
as this one.
Now, Sennacherib, the Assyrian King, had the
habit or custom of repopulating the peoples from
their lands because as they would move them
out of their land, away from their families
and away from their friends, they had to
learn a whole new culture and with different
people and it kept them from banding together
in a rebellion.
And so he's offering them, here, we'll just
take you away and we'll give you another
land that's just as pleasant and nice as
this, you know, just pay tribute and just
wait for us to come and repopulate you.
And then again, he said, beware lest Hezekiah
persuade you, saying that Yahweh will deliver us.
Has any of the gods of the nations
delivered his land out of the hand of
the King of Assyria?
So he's now exalting himself against the God
of Jacob.
Where are the gods of Hamath, Arphad?
Where are the gods of Seraphim?
And those, and they, have they delivered Samaria
out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of
these lands that have delivered their land out
of my hand that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem
out of my hand?
But the men on the wall wisely held
their peace.
They didn't answer a word for the King's
commandment was, don't answer him.
So then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah,
that was over the household of Shebna, the
scribe, and Joah and the son of Asaph,
the recorder to Hezekiah, with their clothes rent
and they told him the words of Rabbe
Shekeh.
Now it was a custom that when you
were very upset or when you were in
real trouble, the thing to do is just
tear your clothes.
And so these guys have been receiving all
of these threats now from this emissary of
the King of Assyria.
And it's been a bad experience.
So they tear their clothes.
It's sort of a, you know, woe is
us.
We've had a kind of a thing.
And they came into Hezekiah with their clothes
torn.
And so it came to pass when King
Hezekiah heard it that he tore his clothes.
Yeah, man, it is bad drip, you know.
And he covered himself with sackcloth.
Now sackcloth was something that they put upon
themselves to more or less afflict themselves.
It was whenever you were in mourning, you
would put on sackcloth.
Sackcloth, as you can well imagine, against the
skin must be very irritating.
And so the King himself put on sackcloth
and he went into the house of the
Lord, or he went into the temple.
And they said unto him, let's see, and
then he sent Eliakim, who was over the
household, and Shibna, the scribe, and the elders
and the priests, they were covered with sackcloth.
And they came to Isaiah, the prophet.
And they said to Isaiah, thus saith Hezekiah,
this day is a day of trouble and
of rebuke and of blasphemy.
For the children are come to birth, but
the mothers do not have enough strength to
bring them forth.
Actually, they were beginning to suffer from the
ravages of being closed in by the Assyrian
forces.
And so with the shortage of food, the
strength of the mothers was ebbing.
And they didn't have enough strength.
When it came time for a child to
be delivered, they'd be in labor.
And yet they didn't have enough strength to
bring the children forth.
He said, it may be that Yahweh thy
God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom
the king of Assyria, his master, hath sent
to reproach the living God and will reprove
the words which the Lord thy God hath
heard.
Wherefore, lift up thy prayer for the remnant
that is left.
So it's really a request to Isaiah, pray.
You know, this guy's been down here and
we're in trouble, pray.
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to
Isaiah and Isaiah said unto them, thus shall
ye say to your master, thus saith the
Lord, be not afraid of the words that
you have heard wherewith the servants of the
king of Assyria hath blasphemed me.
Behold, I will send a blast upon him
and he shall hear a rumor and return
to his own land.
And I will cause him to fall by
the sword in his own land.
So God's answer to these threats of Sennacherib
is that he is going to return to
his own land and there fall by the
sword.
So Rabshakeh returned and he found the king
of Assyria warring against Libna, for he had
heard that he was departed from Lachish.
And he heard saying concerning Tirhaka, the king
of Ethiopia, that he has come forth to
make war with thee.
And when he heard it, he sent messengers
to Hezekiah saying, thus shall you speak to
Hezekiah, the king of Judah saying, let not
thy God in whom you trust deceive you
saying Jerusalem shall not be given to the
hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, you have heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all of the lands
by destroying them utterly.
And you think you're going to be delivered?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them,
which their fathers have, which my fathers have
destroyed as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and
the children of Edom, which were in Tileser.
Where is the king of Hammah and the
king of Arphed and the king of the
city of Sepharvain and Hena and Iva?
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand
of the messengers.
And he read it and Hezekiah went up
into the house of the Lord and he
spread it out before the Lord.
I like this.
He gets a threatening letter.
It is a disturbing letter.
And what does he do with it?
He goes into the house of the Lord
and he just spreads it out before the
Lord said, look, Lord, what they're saying about
you now, take care of them, God.
And so he spreads this thing out before
the Lord.
Oh, if we would only learn to take
our problems and our trouble to the Lord,
you know, just spread it out before the
Lord.
Lord, look what's going on.
What a wise thing to do.
Just take your problems and spread them out
before the Lord.
And he prayed unto the Lord saying, oh,
Lord of hosts, God of Israel that dwells
between the cherubim, thou art the God, even
thou alone of all of the kingdoms of
the earth.
Thou hast made the heaven and the earth.
God is above all gods.
There are many gods for a God is
the master passion of a person's life.
The Bible speaks that the gods of the
heathen are vain.
There's only one true and living God.
Francis Schaeffer said the time has come when
we as Christians must really just we can't
just talk about God anymore because God is
so many things to so many people.
You talk about God and to some person,
it's an essence of love and it's so
many things.
So he said the time has come when
we need to more or less qualify the
term God and not just use the term
God, but qualify it by saying the eternal
living God who created the heavens and the
earth.
Then we know what God we're talking about.
For there is only one eternal living God
who has created the heavens and the earth,
though there are many gods that people bow
down to worship.
Yet there's only one true eternal living God,
creator of heaven and earth.
So here of all of the kingdoms of
the earth and the gods of all of
the kingdoms, you're the only one who is
really the creator of heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.
Open your eyes, O Lord, and see.
And hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath
sent, which he hath sent actually to reproach
the living God.
So here he is, he addresses him as
the living God who has made heaven and
earth, the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel who dwells between the Jeroboams.
Now he acknowledges a certain truthfulness to this
threatening letter of a truth.
Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste
all the nations and their countries surrounding territories,
and they have cast their gods into the
fire because they were not true gods, but
the work of men's hands.
They were gods of wood and stone.
Therefore, they were able to destroy them.
Now, therefore, O Lord, our God, save us
from his hand that all of the kingdoms
of the earth may know that thou art
the Lord and you only.
Marvelous prayer, a prayer in the recognizing of
the greatness of God who he is, a
prayer in which he lays out the facts
as he understands them and then asks God's
help in the situation.
Then Isaiah sent to Hezekiah saying, thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, inasmuch as you
have prayed to me against Sennacherib, the king
of Assyria, this is the word which the
Lord has spoken concerning him.
The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised
thee.
Talking about Sennacherib now, this powerful Assyrian king.
Hey, our little girls despise thee and they've
laughed thee to scorn.
The daughters of Jerusalem just shake their heads
at thee, which is a sort of a
reproachful kind of a thing.
Who have you reproached and blasphemed and against
whom have you exalted your voice and lifted
up your eyes on high even against the
holy one of Israel and by your servants
you've reproached the Lord, the Adonai, and hath
said by the multitude of my chariots am
I come into the height of the mountains
and to the sides of Lebanon and I
will cut down the tall cedars thereof and
the choice fir trees and I will enter
into the height of his border and to
the forest of his Carmel.
I have digged and drunk water and with
the soul of my feet have I dried
up all of the rivers of the besieged
places.
Hath thou not heard long ago how I
have done it and of ancient times that
I have formed it now have I brought
it to pass that you should be laid
waste or that you should be to that
thou should.
Let's see.
Now have I brought it to pass that
thou shouldest be to lay waste defense cities
into ruin and therefore their inhabitants were of
small power.
They were dismayed and confounded.
They were as the grass of the field
and as the green herb and as the
grass on the housetops and as the corn
that is blasted before it has grown up.
But I know thy abode and thy going
out and thy coming in and thy rage
against me and because thy rage against me
and the tumult has come up into mine
ears.
Therefore will I put my hook in your
nose and my bridle in thy lips and
I will turn thee back by the way
which you came and this shall be a
sign unto you.
You shall eat and this is unto the
children of Hezekiah.
You shall eat this year.
In other words God has declared I'm going
to turn you back and by the way
you came this way you go.
This is the end of the message to
Sennacherib now to Hezekiah.
This will be the sign that God is
going to fulfill this.
This year you will eat that which just
grows of itself out of the ground and
the second year the same thing that which
springs from the same.
And in the third year you're going to
sow the land and reap and you'll plant
the vineyards and you'll eat the fruit thereof.
God is going to restore and remove the
enemy entirely out of the land and the
remnant that has escaped of the house of
Judas shall again take root downward and bear
fruit upward for out of Jerusalem shall go
forth a remnant and they that escape out
of Mount Zion for the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will do this.
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king
of Assyria he shall not come into this
city nor shoot an arrow there nor come
before it with shields nor cast a bank
against it by the way that he came
the same he will return and shall not
come into this city saith the Lord for
I will defend this city to save it
for my own sake and for my servant
David's sake.
Now this is the word of the Lord
through Isaiah to King Hezekiah.
Now if you were king and the prophet
of God gave you this message how would
you react to it.
Here you're facing the strongest army in the
world and you are admittedly weak.
The guys said hey we gave you two
thousand horses you don't have enough men to
put on them.
They've wiped out all of the enemy all
of the other lands which were many of
them stronger and more powerful than you are
and now the word of the Lord comes
from the prophet Isaiah saying don't worry about
it they'll never step inside of this city.
They won't shoot an arrow in by the
way they came they're going to turn back.
Well really what can you do you're really
sort of defenseless anyhow you might as well
just hope that the prophet's right because you
can't do much else.
But fortunately in this case the prophet is
right for we read then the angel of
the Lord went forth and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty
five thousand and when they that is the
children of Judah awoke early in the morning
behold the Assyrian army were all dead corpses.
So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and
he went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh
which is the capital of Assyria.
He returned to Nineveh in defeat his armies
destroyed by an angel of the Lord and
it came to pass.
Remember he said he's going to go back
to his land and there he would fall
by the sword.
It came to pass as he was worshiping
in the house of Nisroch his God that
Adramelech and Sharizar his sons smote him with
a sword and they escaped into the land
of Armenia and Esarhaddon his son reigned in
his stead.
So God's word was fulfilled.
Now in those days was Hezekiah sick unto
death and Isaiah the prophet the son of
Amos came unto him and said unto him
thus saith the Lord set your house in
order for you shall die and not live.
Now these are pretty heavy tidings.
You get sick and a prophet of God
comes and says hey set your house in
order man this is it.
You're going to die and not live.
There are things that we must take care
of before we die.
Important things to take care of.
The most important thing that I take care
of before I die is my relationship with
God and that's really what the prophet was
referring to.
Set your house in order.
You're going to die and not live.
So Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall
and he prayed unto the Lord and he
said remember now oh Lord I beseech thee
how I have walked before you in truth
and with a complete heart and I have
done that which is good in your sight
and Hezekiah wept and it then came the
word of the Lord to Isaiah saying go
and say to Hezekiah thus saith the Lord
the God of David thy father I have
heard thy prayer I have seen your tears
behold I will add 15 years to you
and I will deliver you and this city
out of the hand of the king of
Assyria and I will defend this city and
this shall be the sign unto thee from
the Lord that the Lord will do this
thing that he has spoken behold I will
bring again the shadow of the degrees which
has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz
10 degrees backward so the sun returned 10
degrees by which degrees it was gone down
interesting thing just to prove a point that
what God said is true hey all right
I'll give you 15 years you know don't
cry and to prove it I'll bring the
shadow on the sundial back 10 degrees so
here is actually a long day 10 degrees
backward and by the time it started again
it would give you about a 45 minute
lapse time here as God took now how
did God pull that one off I don't
know there are those who scoff
at the miracles in the bible and try
to either rationalize them completely or just say
that they didn't exist we have the case
in Joshua's time where the sun stood still
for the space of almost a day in
order that Joshua was able to completely wipe
out the enemies now if the sun stood
still in the evening time and the moon
there in the valley of a high agilon
then it would mean that over here on
this side of the earth they would have
had a long night which of course the
Aztec and Inca records do record and and
Velikovsky in his book worlds in collision traces
this long day of Joshua around the world
now there are there are the scoffers who
say well wait a minute the sun doesn't
revolve around the earth anyhow we have that
kind of an illusion only because the earth
is spinning on its axis so rather than
the sun standing still it must be that
the earth came to a halt but the
earth is spinning at a thousand miles an
hour and if the earth would suddenly stop
everybody would be thrown off and so they
tried to deny the reality of that miracle
through this idea that you know anything stopped
spinning at a thousand miles an hour everything
would be thrown off of it well who
said God put on the brakes that hard
say God took 15 minutes to slow the
earth to a stop oh my that's easing
down because from a thousand miles in in
15 minutes you would hardly even notice the
brakes being applied at that speed so if
God say slowed it down in five minutes
it would be like applying your brakes at
60 miles an hour to stop at a
signal that is a half a mile away
so there's no problem God didn't just slam
on a brake yank you know and everybody
goes flying off he just applied the brakes
stopped the thing the miracle to me is
how did he get it going again now
here's a little bit better he actually reversed
the thing a little bit let it go
back 10 degrees before he fired it up
so you know the only reason why people
have difficulty with these passages of scripture is
because their concept of God is so small
and the reason why their concept of God
is small is because they've created their own
ideas of God now if you believe in
the God that is revealed in the Bible
then these things present absolutely no problem at
all in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth that's a pretty big God
and if he created the heavens of the
earth he has no problem in in guiding
and directing and then stopping if he wants
the rotation of this earth upon its axis
for a moment starting it up again it's
an interesting thing Velikovsky in his book believes
that when God started it up again he
started in the opposite direction that actually the
earth used to rotate from west to east
he believes and and seeks to prove it
in his book but interesting God just to
prove to the king hey I mean it
show you a little proof just to encourage
you now when Hezekiah was sick this is
what he wrote you talk about a negative
confession I mean this guy had a classic
negative confession so this is what Hezekiah wrote
when he was sick I said in the
cutting off of my days I shall go
down to the gates of hell I am
deprived of the residue of my years I
said I shall not see the Lord even
the Lord in the land of the living
I shall behold man no more with the
inhabitants of the world my age has departed
and is removed from me as a shepherd's
tent I have cut off my weaver I
have cut off like a weaver my life
and he will cut me off with pining
sickness from day even tonight wilt thou make
an end of me I reckon till morning
that as a lion so will he break
all my bones and from day even tonight
wilt thou make an end of me boy
what a negative confession now if what you
say is what you get then Hezekiah really
would have been done in but in spite
of all of his negative confessions God answered
his prayer and gave him 15 years but
that brings up a problem should he really
have died at that time it would appear
that God's primary will for Hezekiah was that
he should die at that time there is
a theological debate on to whether or not
prayer really changes things can I by prayer
really change the mind of God God declares
behold I am God I change not should
I by prayer seek to change the mind
of God what would be the purpose of
changing the mind of God the only purpose
I can see of seeking to change the
mind of God is that I've got a
smarter thought than God does now God I
want you to see it my way it
is interesting how that so often in our
prayers they are really real hype jobs in
trying to in a sense change the mind
of God at least the way we pray
it it is as though we're trying to
make God see it our way and to
convince God that our way is right to
sell God on my program here but is
that really the real thrust of prayer and
the purpose of prayer to change the mind
of God does prayer really change God now
it would appear that there is a direct
will of God for our lives but then
there is this area that we might title
the permissive will of God for us and
quite often God's direct will is expressed first
this is what is best but I get
in there and I begin to push and
shove and insist and God says well all
right you know if that's what you really
want have at it it would appear that
this did happen when Barak the king sent
to Balaam to curse the people that were
coming through the land and Balaam prayed unto
the Lord and the Lord said unto Balaam
do not go down to the king do
not curse these people because they are my
people so Balaam sent back a message to
Barak and said I'm sorry king I can't
come down the Lord won't let me neither
can I curse these people for the same
reason so king Barak sent other messengers with
great rewards a lot of loot and said
just come on down and counsel me concerning
these people that are coming through the land
so Balaam was a greedy fellow and when
he saw all the loot that the king
was offering for counseling fees he thought wow
could I ever use that get me a
new donkey and a new house and greed
really filled his heart so he prayed again
now God had already said don't go down
but I can hear Balaam this time oh
Lord just please let me go Lord just
you know I'll be good Lord but ah
just let me go down Lord you know
after all what can it hurt me going
down Lord you know please God you know
God finally said all right go ahead but
you just be careful you don't say any
more than what I tell you but the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Balaam
evidently you see though Balaam insisted in God
more or less gave him a tentative sure
do it yet it wasn't God's direct will
for this guy's life because an angel of
the Lord stood in the path with a
drawn sword and that wise little donkey saw
the angel though Balaam did it and he
turned off the path and Balaam beat him
and got him back on the path but
again the angel of the Lord stood where
there was a cliff and and the donkey
edged up against the side of the cliff
and and got oh Balaam's ankle and he
beat the donkey again and got him going
the third time when the angel stood in
the path there was no place for the
donkey to go he just sat down and
Balaam began to beat him and the donkey
turned around and said do you think that's
right beating me three times haven't I been
a faithful donkey ever since you own me
have I ever done anything to the like
this to you before Balaam was so angry
he answered the donkey back and said you
bet your life I do right to beat
you if I had a stick I'd kill
you now he evidently was insisting that God
allow him to go and God permissively said
yes go and yet it wasn't the direct
will of God God allows things that are
not his direct will I can I can
force my will I can force my way
where God more or less reluctantly says well
that's what you want have at it but
yet it isn't really pleasing to God now
whenever these issues are forced then the consequences
are always disastrous I believe that Hezekiah's time
to die had come and I think he
would have been much better off I know
the nation of Israel would have been much
better off had Hezekiah died at that time
those extra 15 years that God allowed at
him were disastrous for two years later he
had a son named Manasseh who became the
ruler the king over Judah when Hezekiah died
and Manasseh was indeed the foulest rottenness king
that ever reigned in Judah and it was
the result of Manasseh's ungodly reign that Judah
got on the road downhill from which it
was never able to recover now had Hezekiah
died when God planned and wanted him to
die then Manasseh would never have been born
and the history for the nation could have
been different whenever we insist upon our way
over God's you're not getting the best God's
way is always the best though we may
not understand it or see it at the
time God's way is always the best so
it is possible that through our pig-headed
bullishness we might be able to get God
to consent to something that we desire but
the result is always negative how much better
that we learn to say oh God thy
will be done and to flow in the
center of God's will so Hezekiah prayed cried
oh he really was going at it like
a crane or a swallow so did I
chatter all night long here he was chattering
like a little bird I mourn like a
dove my eyes fail with looking upward oh
Lord I'm oppressed undertake for me you see
he was really going at it then and
God said oh come on you've got 15
years old right you know the guy's just
really you know going at it you know
just you know God said ah shut up
you know 15 years go ahead take it
what shall I say he has both spoken
unto me and himself has done it I
shall go softly all of my years in
the bitterness of my soul oh Lord by
these things men live and in all of
these things is the life of my spirit
and so wilt thou recover me to make
me to live for behold for peace I
had great bitterness but thou hast in love
to my soul delivered it from the pit
of corruption where thou has cast off all
my sins behind my back for the grave
cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they
that go down into the pit cannot hope
for thy truth the living the living he
shall praise thee as I do this day
the father to the children shall make known
thy truth the Lord was ready to save
me therefore will we sing my songs to
the stringed instruments all the days of our
lives so this is a song that he
wrote during this time and it's a psalm
of Hezekiah where Isaiah had said unto said
let them take a lump of figs and
lay it on as a polis on his
boil and he will recover so Hezekiah also
had said what is the sign that I
should go up to the house of the
Lord now at that time Merodach Baladan the
son of Baladan the king of Babylon sent
letters and a present to Hezekiah for he
heard that he had been sick and that
he had recovered now here's another bad thing
that came out of his recovery so the
the king of Babylon sent his son to
with a message of you know glad you're
well and all Hezekiah was glad for them
and he showed them the house of his
precious things the silver the gold the spices
the precious ointment and the house of his
armor and all of his treasures and there
was nothing in his house and all of
his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them
then came Isaiah the prophet to King Hezekiah
and said unto him what did these men
say to you and where did they come
from and Hezekiah said there come from a
far country and to me even from Babylon
and Isaiah said what did they see in
your house and Hezekiah answered all that I
have in my house they have seen there's
nothing among my treasures that I did not
show them then said Isaiah to Hezekiah hear
the word of the Lord of hosts behold
the days come that all that is in
your house and that which your fathers have
laid up in store until this day shall
be carried to Babylon and nothing shall be
left sayeth the Lord and of thy sons
that shall issue from thee which thou shalt
beget shall they take away and they shall
be eunuchs in the palace of the king
of Babylon then said Hezekiah to Isaiah good
is the word of the Lord which you
have spoken he said moreover for there shall
be peace and truth in my days so
it would appear that God's time for Hezekiah
had come and that nothing but evil came
out of the prolonging of his years 15
years and God's time comes to go man
let's go now this is the end of
what they call part one of the book
of Isaiah 39 chapters comprise the first part
which are more or less equivalent to the
39 chapters of the 39 books of the
Old Testament now the next 27 chapters come
into a whole new theme it's it's a
whole in fact it is so different that
it is caused some critics to say that
there are actually two Isaiah's and that another
Isaiah wrote this second part because it is
so different in style and all than the
first part of Isaiah but he's talking about
a whole new message of God for the
people as we get into the new covenant
of God and so it is appropriate that
this new section of Isaiah begins with the
word of the Lord declaring comfort ye comfort
ye my people saith your God speak comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her
warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned
for she hath received of the Lord's hand
double for all of her sins so the
day of God's forgiveness reconciliation the voice of
him that cries in the wilderness prepare ye
the way of the Lord make straight in
the desert a highway for our God now
you remember when John the Baptist began his
ministry that many people gathered out to him
there at the Jordan River and the Pharisees
came unto John and they said who are
you are you Elijah he said nope are
you Jeremiah nope are you the Messiah nope
then who are you and he quoted this
scripture I am the voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness make straight the way
of the Lord so he quoted to them
this prophecy of Isaiah and so we are
coming into the New Age into the New
Testament era as from this point on Isaiah
really begins to zero in on the coming
Messiah the voice of him that cried in
the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord
make straight in the desert a highway for
our God every valley shall be lifted up
every mountain and hill will be brought down
the crooked will be made straight and the
rough places plain the Lord's gonna smooth out
things gonna fill in the valleys and bring
down the hills he's gonna straighten the crooked
paths and smooth things up and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it so God
declares the day when his glory will be
revealed in all will say it what a
glorious day and how we anticipate that glorious
day of the return of Jesus Christ when
every eye shall see him in his glory
that's more or less an introduction to this
new section and now he cries out declaring
the weakness and the frailty of man as
it is contrasted with the glory and power
of God the voice said that is the
voice of the Lord to Isaiah cry and
he said what shall I cry cry all
flesh is grass and all of the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field
the grass withers the flower fades because the
Spirit of the Lord blows upon it surely
the people is grass the grass withers the
flower fades but the word of our God
shall stand forever so men are as grass
actually what is life James said it's just
like a vapor it appears for a season
and then is gone it's like the grass
of the field which today is and is
tomorrow cast into the oven speaking of the
brevity of life and the frailty of life
like a flower it blossoms forth and then
it fades away that's what it's all about
I'm on the fading in so is life
we're here for a time and then we
pass on but there is something that endures
the word of the Lord Jesus said heaven
and earth will pass away but my word
will never pass away oh the value and
the power of the Word of God it
is it's forever man one generation will come
and another will go and you've got the
changing generations of humanity but God's Word lasting
right on through from one generation to the
next Oh Zion that bring us good tidings
get thee up into the high mountain Oh
Jerusalem that bring us good tidings lift up
thy voice with strength lift it up be
not afraid say to the cities of Judah
behold your God behold the Lord God will
come with a strong hand and his arm
shall rule for him behold his reward is
with him and his work is before him
the coming of our Lord he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd now this is
obvious of reference to Jesus Christ behold Jehovah
God will come with a strong hand his
arm will rule behold his reward is with
him and his work before him Jesus said
behold I come and my reward is with
me in his messages to the churches for
he shall feed his flock like a shepherd
he shall gather the lambs with his arm
and carry them in his bosom and shall
gently lead those that are with young so
Jesus said I am the Good Shepherd I
lay down my life for my sheep he
shall feed his flock like a shepherd and
then it declares of the greatness of his
power and of his glory who measured the
waters in the hollow of his hand the
great oceans of the earth the Atlantic Pacific
Antarctic Arctic Indian measured them in the hollow
of his hand that's a pretty big God
when you fly over the Atlantic or Pacific
you see all that water that is there
there it is he's measured it out here
let's create the oceans who
how great but even more he meted out
the heaven with the span the measurement for
the universe now someone came to me this
morning and said that he read an article
the other day that we have just discovered
a galaxy that is 50 billion light years
away now I have to question that figure
how do they know it's 50 billion light
years away could be 49 I mean when
you get that far off how can you
really know you see there's a lot of
assumptions that have to be made to come
up with a figure like that one of
the assumptions is that light always travels at
186,000 miles a second that may not
be a correct assumption there may be variables
that will cause the change of the speed
of light that we don't know aspects of
physics that may be that the speed of
light isn't constant so it's a lot of
guesswork but at any rate when he told
me that he read this article that they
found this galaxy 50 billion light years away
I said wow God's even bigger isn't he
because he measured the thing with span I
don't care how big it is he meted
out the heavens with the span how big
is your God it is so important that
our theology be correct because if our theology
is not correct then we're gonna have problems
all the way along knowing God is the
most important thing in the world knowing the
truth of God and God has revealed the
truth concerning himself in this book and God
is so great and so vast and so
powerful so awesome that he measured the waters
in the palm of his hand and he
meted out the heavens with his span he
comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure and weighed the mountains in scales and
the hills in a balance God comprehended the
dust of the earth in a measure have
you ever wondered how many grains of sand
there might be here upon the earth do
you know that they've actually sort of come
up with a figure and you know that
the figure that they have come up with
is approximately what they figure to be the
number of stars in the heaven now it
is interesting that when God said to Abraham
even as the stars of the heaven are
innumerable and the sands of the sea so
will your descendants be innumerable but God made
a comparison between the stars of the heaven
and the sands of the sea and they
believe that it is something like 10 to
the 25th power is the number by weighing
the earth and the grains of sand and
so forth and then they've you know gotten
a formula by which they came to that
but you know who knows who counted once
more who cares who have directed the Spirit
of the Lord I have man I've directed
God in so many things I've sought so
many times to take over the reins and
tell God how he ought to do it
now Lord I've got it all figured out
if you'll just do this and this and
this you know just it'll be smoother to
just really work like clock I've sought to
direct God Spirit of the Lord or being
his counselor who has taught him and in
reality we've all endeavored to do this a
time or two to teach God what's best
for us with whom did he take counsel
and who instructed him and taught him in
the path of judgment and taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding now
as we realize the greatness and the vastness
of God and surely the power and the
wisdom of God how foolish for me to
attempt to instruct God in anything and yet
so often our prayers are like little information
times now Lord I want you to know
what's going on and I don't like it
you know and I and I start laying
the trip on God you know this is
what they did and this is what I
said hey he you know what are you
telling him that he doesn't already know who's
giving God understanding who's instructed him our very
endeavor to do so only indicates our lack
of a true comprehension of the omniscience of
God this is what makes these doctrines of
you know prosperity and everybody ought to be
healed and all of this so ridiculous because
the effect of these doctrines is to place
man in the driver's seat and God in
the servants seat and now I am directing
God what to do and how to do
it and rather than me taking my orders
from God it's reversed and God's got to
be taking orders from me and rather than
my rather than God's will being done there's
an insistence that my will be done and
that whole system just is utterly blasphemous to
think that I know better than does God
what should be done in a given situation
or I know what's best for me I
don't I do what's best for me is
God to work out his will perfectly and
completely in my life that's what's best for
me nothing finer could ever happen to me
behold the nations are like a drop in
a bucket so that's where that phrase a
drop in a bucket has come from they
are counted as the small dust in the
balance in those days of course they did
all of their weighing in in in balance
scales they had their little weights and in
Proverbs you remember how God doesn't like diverse
weights some of the crooked merchants would have
one weight for buying stuff and another weight
for selling stuff and they were both marked
you know one pound but one of them
was heavier than the other and so if
you're buying you use one set of weights
and in selling you use another set and
God said I hate those diverse weights you
know and he really came down on him
in the Proverbs now other merchants in endeavoring
to show how totally honest they were before
they would put the merchandise in the scales
they would blow the dust off so give
me a pound of the almonds and so
he blows the dust off the scale and
I think my he's such an honest man
I'm not having to buy the dust you
know he's gonna give me an honest weight
after all he's he's taking care even to
blow the dust off so it was a
common practice of blowing dust off the scales
before you waited in order to show how
honest you were so it's a figure of
speech that Isaiah used that would be very
vivid and picturesque to the people because they
could see the merchants blowing the dust off
the scales and as that dust is blowing
off the scales Isaiah saying hey that's how
the nations are before God he can blow
any of them out of existence in a
moment nations that become so powerful so strong
the Assyrian like dust in the balance God
can blow them right out into oblivion and
God did you haven't met an Assyrian lately
have you God blew behold he takes up
the aisles is a very little thing and
Lebanon the tremendous forest that were in Lebanon
at that time should you cut the whole
forest down it would not be sufficient to
burn for an altar of sacrifice unto God
or if you took all of the beast
they would not be sufficient for the burnt
offering sacrifice all of the nations before him
are as nothing and they are counted to
him less than nothing and emptiness whom then
will you liken God what kind of a
likeness will you compare unto him and he's
talking now of the folly of the people
making a little idol to represent God what
are you gonna make him like so you
take a piece of wood or you take
gold or silver and you start to carve
what are you gonna carve to make a
likeness of God what are you gonna make
him like now you think of the Hindu
religion and and the gods that they have
carved out ugly gargoyle kind of things you
know multi-legged and armed and you know
weird is that what God looks like if
you're gonna make a likeness of God what
kind of a likeness gonna make Isaiah says
for the workman melts the graven image the
goldsmith spreads it over with gold and he
places silver chains on it he that is
so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses
a tree now you don't have enough money
to make a gold God then you go
out and get a tree and you start
carving out a little wood an idol a
tree that will not rot so you get
to seek to get good strong wood and
then he seeks a cunning workman to prepare
a carved out image that he can set
it up and worship and say that's my
God Oh have you not known have you
not heard has it not been told you
from the beginning have you not understood from
the foundation of the earth it is he
that sits upon the circle of the earth
and inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers he stretches
out the heavens as a curtain and spreads
them out as a tent to dwell in
the greatness of God now what are you
gonna make him like and and what are
you going to fashion to to look like
your God don't you realize how vast and
great and so overawing that he is that
there's no representation that you can make in
a likeness of him notice he sits upon
the circle of the earth the Bible did
not and does not and has never taught
a flat earth that was the view of
the scientist of those days not the men
of God the Bible has never taught that
the earth rested on the back of an
elephant or a turtle or was being held
by Atlas that was taught by the men
of science in those days but Job said
he hanged the earth on nothing he was
scoffed at how ridiculous and so here the
circle of the earth the earth is round
God's Word declared it scientists finally caught up
with it he brings princes to nothing he
makes the judges of the earth empty yea
they shall not be planted I guess some
of the judges are empty boy I'll tell
you did you read in the LA Times
this week God help us they've
got new parlors in Los Angeles Hollywood in
Hollywood's got everything where you can go in
and get beat for a half hour going
to get flogged and they said the majority
of their customers are judges in Los Angeles
and they say that you know it relaxes
you and stimulates you sexually so you go
home and are ravished with your wife but
they say it isn't really a sexual experience
though of course the masochists can have an
orgasm by being beaten all but you've go
in and pay these people to flog you
for a half hour now if that isn't
sick I don't know what is and and
the the you know trying to bragging about
the fact that so many of their customers
are judges in Los Angeles that they go
in before the court in the morning and
they get flogged and then they come to
court and and decide the future of people's
lives God keep me out of court in
LA I'll tell you but what I know
is some of the Orange County judges I
wouldn't want to be in court here either
I feel like have a cook something God
please don't show me anything else I can't
take it Lord I don't want it I
don't want to know it just it's better
ignorance is bliss God I I just rather
not know these things it just upsets me
so much and have a cook with he
said that Lord he's Lord he said please
yeah the whole thing's going to down the
tubes and you're not doing anything God I
just rather not know God please just don't
show me anything else I I just tired
of seeing it Lord I just can't take
it I just don't let me see it
yea they shall not be planted yea they
shall not be sewn yea their stock shall
not take root in the earth and he
shall also blow upon them and they shall
wither and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stubble the princes and the judges of
the earth to whom them will you liken
God what are you going to compare him
to what kind of a standard would you
use in trying to compare with God who's
the equal you see how can you compare
the finite with the infinite there is no
even basis for comparison there's no standards lift
up your eyes on high and behold who
is Greek created all of these stars that
brings out the constellations and all by their
number and calls them all by their names
now the Bible says that God calls all
the stars by their names and if there's
10 to the 25th power stars that's a
good memory and in names aren't George and
Joe and you know but there are tourists
and you know a lot of really fancy
names God calls them all by their names
who you're gonna like in him like who
you gonna make him equal to who's created
all of these things by the greatness of
his might for that he is strong in
power and not one failing why do you
say Oh Jacob and you speak Oh Israel
saying my way is hid from the Lord
and my judgment is passed over from my
God what makes you think you can hide
from God what makes you think that God
isn't going to judge you prophet is saying
to the people you're only fooling yourself if
you think that you've hidden it from God
you're only fooling yourself if you think that
God isn't going to bring judgment hath thou
not known hath thou not heard that the
everlasting God Yahweh the creator of the ends
of the earth fainteth not neither is weary
there is no searching of his understanding there
is no way by which the understanding or
wisdom or knowledge of God can be measured
he is omniscient and yet he gives power
to those who are fainting and to those
who have no might he increases strength how
beautiful that is that this great God who
created the universe will strengthen me and help
me in my weakness Paul the Apostle said
that he had a weakness but he said
that weakness was something that he actually gloried
in in order that God's power might be
demonstrated through him for he said his strength
is made perfect in our weakness and so
it's a glorious thing that I recognize my
weakness because then I learned to rely on
him and trust in him as long as
I think I'm strong as long as I
think I can manage it as long as
I think I've got you know I can
handle it I've got it don't worry I'll
take care of it man I'll tell you
I'm heading for disaster but when I say
hey there's no way I can't do it
don't don't panic feel secure because in my
weakness his strength is perfected now we're so
prone to feel secure when a guy says
well don't worry I'll handle that for you
you know I can do it we think
all right this guy's really you know got
it together hey watch out man that's the
kind of guy that's gonna fold when the
pressure really gets heavy but the guy who
is not certain of himself but certain of
his God is the one you want to
be around when the chips are down because
that is the man through whom the power
of the eternal God will be demonstrated he
gives power to the faint and to them
who have no might he increases strength even
the young the youth shall faint and be
weary and the young men shall utterly fall
but they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength they shall mount up with
wings as eagles they shall walk and not
faint for the strength of the Lord is
their portion and shall sustain them this is
the beginning of this glorious new section of
the book of Isaiah and it is exciting
these last 27 chapters of Isaiah are just
thrilling to read of what God has in
store for the future may the Lord be
with you watch over and keep you through
the week and may his strength be perfected
in your weakness as you learn to just
wait upon the Lord for his work and
his help in your lives