Welcome to The Word for Today.
The Word for Today is a continuous study
of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith
of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old
Testament, and if you're following along in your
Bible, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter
34, beginning with verse 4, as we continue
with an in-depth message entitled, Woe to
the Nations.
And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck.
Where is the one that was counting the
towers, developing the strategy to take the city?
And now speaking to those of Jerusalem, he
said, You have, you shall not see a
fierce people, a people of deeper speech than
you can understand, whose stammering tongue you do
not understand.
The foreign language of the Assyrians, you're not
going to hear it, you're not going to
see it.
Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.
Your eyes shall see Jerusalem as a quiet
habitation.
The enemy has been destroyed.
A tabernacle that shall not be taken down,
not one of the stakes thereof shall ever
be removed, neither shall any of the cords
thereof be broken.
But there the glorious Lord will be unto
us a place of broad rivers and streams,
wherein shall no galley with oars, neither shall
gallant ship pass by.
The prophet begins to wax poetic and enters
into poetic speech of this glorious city in
the future, God's future for the city of
Jerusalem.
For the Lord is our judge.
The Lord is our lawgiver.
The Lord rules.
The Lord reigns.
The Lord is our king.
We will see the king in his beauty.
The Lord is our king and he will
save us.
Thy tacklings are loose, talking again in the
poetic terms of the ship.
They could not well strengthen their mast.
The cables that held up the mast were
loosened.
The mast wouldn't stand.
They could not spread the sail because of
the mast being shaky, unstable.
Then is the prey of the great spoil
divided, and the lame take the prey.
And the inhabitants shall not say, I am
sick.
People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their
iniquity.
God's blessing.
Inhabitant will not know sickness.
Now the prophet saw the dark days that
were going to come.
And throughout the Scripture, the Scripture deals with
those dark days that are coming.
But the Scripture never ends with the dark
days.
The Scriptures always take you beyond the dark
days into those glorious days of light in
the future.
So yes, going through trials.
Yes, you're going to have a lot of
problems.
There's going to be severe tribulation.
But the day of the Lord is coming
beyond.
You're going to come out on the other
side.
Now we get that as we move into
chapter 34, because we're going to move into
some of the darkest days of man's history
as we deal with the days of the
battle of Armageddon, the great wrath of God
culminating in the battle of Armageddon as we
get into chapter 34.
Really, the way that these chapters are coming
out, it's sort of, in a way, a
little difficult because you're going to be in
darkness for a week.
It won't be until next week we get
into chapter 35 that we come out into
the light.
So we're going to leave you in the
darkness of the tribulation in chapter 34.
I'm glad that you already know chapter 35
and you know the end of the story
that we do come out into the glorious
kingdom age.
But before that is going to come, there
is going to be a period of great
tribulation upon the earth as God's wrath and
God's judgment is poured out upon the sinner,
upon the iniquity of man.
So come near, the prophet calls.
Come near ye nations to hear.
Hearken ye people.
Let the earth hear and all that are
in it, the world and all of the
things that come forth of it.
He is calling now everybody, the earth, everyone
listen, because this judgment of God is going
to be universal on the earth.
We're hearing a lot about global strategy.
And the word global is a buzzword today
among the politicians and all.
It's a significant buzzword because we're moving into
that one world government and the global community
and all.
And we're moving into that.
And thus it is significant that the prophet
calls for the global ear to hearken, to
listen.
Come near ye nations to hear.
Hearken ye people.
Let the earth hear all that are therein
and all of the things that come forth
out of the world for the indignation.
Now I've said before that this word indignation
in the Old Testament is the equivalent of
tribulation in the New, the great tribulation.
And so wherever you read of this indignation,
most, in most cases, it is a reference
to that period of great tribulation that Jesus
said was going to come upon the earth.
So the indignation of the Lord is upon
all nations and his fury upon all their
armies.
He has uttered the word utterly destroyed them.
He has delivered them to the slaughter.
In the book of Revelation as it speaks
of this tremendous slaughter that is coming, they
cry for the birds of the earth to
gather together and to feast on the carcasses
of the princes and of the kings and
of the mighty men of the earth as
it speaks of this horrible carnage that is
going to take place.
In Revelation 19, 17, I saw the angel
standing in the sun.
He cried with a loud voice saying to
all of the fowls that fly in the
midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together
under the supper of the great God.
That is that he has prepared for you
that you may eat the flesh of kings,
the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty
men, the flesh of the horses and of
those that sat upon them, the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, both small
and great.
And so this battle of Armageddon ending in
this horrible carnage when the blood will flow
to the horse's bridle for the length of
fourteen furlongs or fourteen hundred furlongs.
So here is a mention of that.
His fury is against all their armies.
He's utterly destroyed them.
He has delivered them to the slaughter.
Their slain also shall be cast out and
the smell will come up out of their
carcasses and the mountains will be melted with
their blood.
It is figurative speech and yet it is
speaking of this horrible time when when the
blood will flow to the horse's bridles and
the smell of these millions of bodies as
they are going through the process of deterioration
and all the host of heaven shall be
dissolved.
And so this great judgment of God will
be cataclysmic.
It will not just be confined to the
earth but will be also in the heavens.
Great earthquakes, great tornadoes, great meteorite showers that
will hit the earth and destroy.
The host of heaven will be dissolved.
The heavens will be rolled together as a
scroll and all their hosts shall fall down
as the leaf falleth from the vine and
as a falling fig from the fig tree.
Jesus spoke about the stars of heaven falling
as a fig tree casteth forth its untimely
figs.
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven.
Behold it shall come down upon Idumea and
upon the people of my curse to judgment.
The sword of the Lord is filled with
blood.
It is made fat with a fatness and
with the blood of the lambs and goats
and the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra
and a great slaughter in the land of
Idumea.
Now these references to Idumea and to Basra
and all are figurative and they are referring
to those nations that have opposed themselves to
the people of God.
Now God way back said to Abraham as
a part of his covenant with Abraham.
He said I will bless those that bless
you and I will curse those who curse
you.
Now we are told by intimation at least
in Zechariah the twelfth chapter that in these
last days Abraham the whole earth will be
gathered together against Israel.
And so this chapter deals with these nations
and of which Idumea becomes the sort of
classic example for the Idumeans that have always
been the perpetual enemy of Israel throughout history.
They are representative of those nations that are
perpetual enemies to the people of God or
enemies to the people of God to Israel.
And thus God said I will bless those
that bless you.
I will curse those that curse you.
And I challenge you to look at history
and look at those nations that have cursed
Israel and see what has happened and look
at those nations that have blessed Israel and
see what has happened.
But the final result is yet to come.
So the day of the Lord's vengeance verse
eight.
Well he lists the Sower of the Lord
is filled with blood, fat and so forth.
Basra the great slaughter in the land of
Idumea.
The unicorns verse seven shall come down with
them and the bullocks with the bulls and
their land shall be soaked with blood and
their dust made fat with fatness.
For it is the day of the Lord's
vengeance.
God is judging now.
The year of recompenses for the controversies of
Zion.
God is now moving in judgment for his
people.
And verse nine I find extremely fascinating.
The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch
or tar, oil, crude oil.
The dust thereof into brimstone and the land
thereof shall become burning oil or pitch.
Pitch which is the oil.
It is the tar.
It was actually the fact that the Bible
mentions that the ark was covered with pitch.
Noah built the ark and he covered it
with pitch.
Well Rockefeller in reading the Bible and reading
that thought to himself covered it with pitch.
That's interesting.
If there's pitch knowing that it is tar
there must be oil over there.
And that's what caused Rockefeller to go over
there and start drilling for oil.
And thus the vast oil reserves were discovered
by him reading the Bible.
It is interesting also that in the war
in 1967 the terrorists and the
Syrians were planning to blow up that oil
pipeline that comes across the northern part of
Israel to the coast to bring the oil
Middle East oil in this big pipeline flows
through Israel under this treaty.
And they were planning to blow up the
pipeline up in the northern portion.
If you know geography of Israel the northern
most portion of the of the Hula Valley
which is the upper Galilee region where the
headwaters of the Jordan River come.
The Banias River and the Dan River and
the Chutzpahni River all three join together to
make the Jordan River.
The word Jordan means down from Dan.
And so the tribe of Dan was up
there in the north.
The river came down from Dan and so
the Jordan.
But it's actually made up of three rivers
and the one the Banias comes right out
of the base of Mount Hermon.
In the place known as Banias in the
Bible times it was known as Caesarea Philippi
where Jesus was with his disciples at the
time of his transfiguration.
But right up in that area of Banias
where the Banias River comes down they were
planning to blow up the pipeline and dump
millions of gallons of oil on down into
the Jordan River that would have flowed down
into the Dead Sea and would have wrecked
horrible ecological damage on Israel.
And then they were planning to just ignite
the thing.
So you'd have a river of fire.
That almost happened.
The Israelis caught the men and who were
trying to come in and to blow up
the pipeline and the men were destroyed.
But and Israel was saved from this holocaust
that would have been had they carried out
that plan.
But that is mentioned here as a strategy
of war.
So it is interesting that they are using
oil as a strategy for warfare now but
it will go one further step as they
turn the oil into the stream beds.
The stream shall be turned into pitch oil,
the dust thereof into brimstone and the land
shall become burning pitch.
It will not be quenched by night or
by day.
The smoke thereof shall go up forever, forever
being figurative speech I'm sure.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste.
None shall pass through it forever and ever.
And so it speaks of the area that
will be made so desolate.
But the wild animals and the cormorant, the
bittern, the owl, the raven, the deer, the
sheep, the raven will dwell in it, will
stretch the line of confusion on the stones
of emptiness.
They shall call the nobles thereof to the
kingdom but none shall be there.
All of her princes shall be nothing.
Thorns, weeds and all will grow up in
the area where the palaces were and in
the fortresses.
It will be a habitation of demons actually,
dragons and a court for owls.
The wild beast of the desert shall meet
with the wild beast of the island and
the hairy ones shall cry to his fellows.
The demons, the screech owl shall rest there
and find herself a place of rest.
There shall the great owl make her nest
and lay and hatch and gather her shadow.
In other words it'll be inhabited only by
wild animals and under the shadow there shall
the vultures also be gathered, everyone with their
mate.
Now having given this prophecy of horrible desolation
and all, he then declares, seek ye out
of the book of the Lord and read.
At that time he's saying just hey, get
this book out and read it, you'll find
out.
You know, you'll see it now and just
read about it then.
It's interesting how that so many times as
we read the Bible the daily events come
alive and we realize what an amazing book
the Bible is, speaking of future events before
they ever take place.
And here's the challenge that when these things
happen then seek out the book of the
Lord and it is interesting that it is
referred to as the book of the Lord,
the Bible, and read because not one of
these things shall fail.
Now one of these days we'll have another
Bible lesson and we will be looking back
on these events and I'll say, you see,
this is what Isaiah was talking about.
You see right there he was talking about
and now you see it over there, the
rivers of pitch.
Not one of these shall fail.
Not one of the Scriptures, not one word
that God has said shall fail.
Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away
but my word will never pass away.
God's word is certain.
God's word is steadfast.
God's word is sure.
Not one word of this prophecy shall fail.
As God said, I said it and I
will do it.
And that which he was talking about he
has already done.
We've seen that.
That's one of those that's already checked off.
None shall want her mate for my mouth
it has commanded and his spirit it has
gathered them.
God said not anything is going to be
lacking.
It will all come together.
There won't be any missing pieces for I
have commanded and my spirit is putting it
together and he has cast the lot for
them and his hand has divided it unto
them by line.
Now the line was usually used in the
matter of construction.
You you set out your lines for the
corners of the buildings and so forth and
and all and it's usually thought in the
terms of destruction.
Laying out the lines where you're going to
build but this is the laying out of
the line for where you're going to destroy
the land the line for destruction.
I've divided it unto them by line and
they shall possess it forever from generation to
generation.
They shall dwell there in that is the
wild animals and all and not be a
dwelling place for man.
So that desolation that will follow the great
battle of Armageddon when God destroys the armies
of man.
Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few
closing comments but first I'd like to remind
you that today's message is available in its
unedited form on cassette or CD.
Simply write or call and ask for ordering
details on tape or CD number C3257.
Again that's tape or CD number C3257.
Well Christmas time is soon approaching and it's
easy to get caught up in the hustle
and bustle of the season.
Buying presents, decorating, cooking, the list grows longer
every day.
Without realizing it we can easily forget the
true meaning of why we celebrate our Lord's
birth.
For this reason the word for today would
like to present a booklet by Pastor Chuck
Smith entitled How Can a Man Be Born
Again?
And also an audio CD entitled Why?
by Pastor Chuck that would be the perfect
compliment for Christmas cards and gifts this year.
Both resources share the gospel of Jesus Christ
and explain the true meaning of Christmas and
why a man born 2000 years ago can
still affect the world today.
And best of all they contain a message
leading people to accept Jesus Christ as their
personal Lord and Savior.
And remember the word for today would like
to assist you this Christmas in spreading the
gospel of Jesus to your family, friends, and
co-workers.
Please call our customer service department to help
you in finding that perfect gift that will
reflect the true meaning of Christmas.
And if you call right now and mention
this radio ad, the word for today will
give you a 20% discount on any
resource carried by the word for today.
So call the word for today at 1
-800-272-WORD or write to us at
P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, CA 92628.
Once again that number to call is 1
-800-272-9673.
And for those of you that would like
to visit our website you can do so
at www.twft.com.
Or if you would like to email us
you can do so at info at twft
.com.
Well coming up next time on the word
for today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his
fascinating study through the book of Isaiah.
That's coming up next time on the word
for today.
And now with a few closing comments, here's
Pastor Chuck.
God has used this chapter to minister to
my own soul in an hour of great
need, in an hour of great sorrow.
God ministered to me through the 35th chapter.
It's become one of my favorite chapters because
of the way the Spirit of God used
it to minister to my heart at a
time of great need in my own life
personally.
And thus the 35th chapter is one that
I cherish.
I just am waiting for God to fulfill
this.
And He shall.
He said it, He'll do it.
And not one word is going to fail.
This program
is sponsored by the word for today.
The radio ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa,
California.