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On Sep 12, 2007: Isaiah 2-4 · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007. We're continuing our study through the book of Isaiah now. He's a prophet that's ministering to the nation of Israel. About 100 years or 150 years before they are destroyed, before they're taken captive by the Babylonians, Isaiah is ministering. And the purpose of Isaiah's ministry, as well as the other prophets that we will continue to study in the coming months that we see in the scriptures, the purpose of the prophets was to turn God's people back to him. Isaiah is one of the predominant ones that we know because his book is the largest, being 66 chapters. And he had a lengthy ministry, ministering during the reigns of five different kings of Israel and possibly Manasseh as well. And so he had a long ministry. And Israel or Judah, actually, the nation that he ministered to, the southern kingdom, the southern part of what once was known as Israel, The nation of Judah was on a downward spiral. They were going down. They had some good kings here and there, but all in all, as a whole, the nation was turning more and more against God and worshiping idols and following false gods. refusing to be obedient to God and His word. And so Isaiah was sent by the Lord to the nation of Judah to call them back to holiness, to turn them back. And that is the purpose of the other prophets as well. Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hosea and all these different guys that God sent. He was seeking to turn them back to So that they wouldn't receive the judgment that was coming, but that they would receive his mercy and grace. And this evening for you and I as well, as we continue to study through Isaiah in the coming weeks, It will be for us a reminder and a call to holiness as well. For us to come back and get right with the Lord as God will reveal to us different areas of our hearts and issues that he wants to deal with. He will give us opportunity after opportunity to turn back to him and come into complete submission to him and his word. It's a call for holiness for you and I as well. That we would walk in according to God's ways and that we would be obedient to him in all things. And so as we read Isaiah, he doesn't hold back. He shares specifically and clearly and to the point what God has spoken to his heart and what God has commanded him to share. We start out in chapter 2 this evening with verse 1, which says, So here is the message that God has given specifically to Isaiah to share with the nation of Judah, and within the nation of Judah specifically, to the city of Jerusalem, which was the capital of the nation of Judah. And really, as the nation begins to spiral down more and more, The city of Jerusalem becomes all that is left of the nation of Judah. And all of the surrounding cities and areas will be conquered as time goes by, by the Assyrian army. And then later, ultimately, the whole region will be conquered by the Babylonian army led by King Nebuchadnezzar, which I'm sure you've heard his name before. And so God is sending this message through Isaiah to the nation of Judah, to the city of Jerusalem, that the leaders, that the people would repent and turn back to him. Now I'll stop for just a second to give you a quick side note on the authorship of Isaiah. We find here in verse 1 that it's the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw. Isaiah 66 And those who don't really believe God's word claim that, no, there's not one Isaiah that this Isaiah didn't write the entire book. But some would say, well, this Isaiah wrote the first 39 chapters and a later Isaiah, a different guy, many years later, wrote the last 27 chapters. But the reason why they say this, and if you hear this, I want to address it just so you can understand what's going on. The reason why people take this approach is because they do not believe in the supernatural. The reason why they say these things, well, one of them is because in Isaiah chapter 45, the prophet Isaiah mentions a man named Cyrus. He mentions him by name, tells a little bit about him and what he will do. And the interesting thing is, he mentions this man Cyrus at least a hundred years before he was born. This man Cyrus will be the king of the Persian Empire, which will become the next world power after the Babylonian Empire. So the Babylonians will conquer Jerusalem and They will take over that whole region. And then after that, while the Babylonian kingdom is in power, the nation of Persia will rise up by this man named Cyrus who will conquer the Babylonian kingdom. And Isaiah prophesies about this man who is to come, who's not born yet, but he will come and he will conquer the Babylonian army. It was a hundred years before Cyrus was born. And Cyrus conquered Babylon. It was fulfilled in 539 BC. And why that's significant is because Isaiah died about 695 BC. Again, 150 years after Isaiah died, the prophecy that he wrote in chapter 45 came to pass. And so people who don't believe in the supernatural and don't believe that God could do such a thing They say, well, there's two Isaiahs. There's an Isaiah here, and then hundreds of years later, after the event had already taken place, then this other Isaiah wrote, pretending to be the original Isaiah, and added in these things that no one could have known ahead of time. Can you imagine? Our country is not very old. It's a little over 200 years old. And so you could imagine it'd be the equivalent of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or Benjamin Franklin writing your name down and saying, hey, he's going to have this kind of job and go to this church. And, you know, it would just be a ridiculous claim. And, of course, you would say, no, someone had to write that later who knew me. But we're not dealing with the natural. We're dealing with a supernatural God who does speak forth. He knows the beginning from the end. And so this prophet Isaiah heard from the Lord and spoke forth what God had given to him. Now, one evidence that Isaiah is complete and it was all written by the same man is that Jesus himself quoted from both portions of the book of Isaiah and attributed those portions to this man, Isaiah. And if you would like to check that out, you can on your own time in John chapter 12, verses 37 through 41. Jesus quotes from Isaiah twice. The first quote is from the last part of Isaiah in Isaiah 53. And the second quote is from the first part of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6. And so if you'd like to delve into that, you can examine that and spend some time. That was John chapter 12 verses 37 through 41. Well, But let's continue on in Isaiah. In verse 2, it goes on to say, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow to it. Verse 3, Many people shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Verse 4. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Verse 5. As Isaiah begins this prophecy, he starts by sharing a vision, a prophecy of a time that is to come. He calls it, in the latter days it will come to pass. In the end times, in the latter days, it will come to pass. And what he's referring to here is what we know today as the millennial period or the millennium. It is the time where Jesus comes and sets up his kingdom on this earth for 1,000 years. He comes at the end of the seven-year tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon. As the armies there are gathered to battle, Jesus Christ will come back It's called the second coming of Jesus Christ. And he will establish there his kingdom for 1,000 years. And Isaiah here is sharing with us what that kingdom will be like. It's going to be a time that will be of peace. As it says in verse 4 there, that people will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. It's not going to be a time of war and battle, but it's going to be a time of peace as Christ reigns on this earth for a thousand years. Not only that, but it's going to be a time where God resides there, Jesus resides there in Jerusalem, and the nations will gather to him and people will desire to seek the Lord. And they'll say, hey, let's go to Jerusalem. Let's go up to the mountain of the Lord. And there we will find out what God says and what his ways are, and we'll be able to walk in his ways and keep his commandments. And so it will be a time of really peace. It will be a time of obedience to the Lord. It will be a time of renewal within the earth for that thousand years as Jesus Christ rules and reigns. And Revelation chapter 20 tells us that the saints, you and I as believers in Jesus Christ, we will be coming back, returning with him in our glorified bodies to rule and reign with him for those thousand years. Isaiah goes on in verse 5 to say, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Here Isaiah is basically saying this, look, since this is the future for us, since this is what God has in store, let us walk in the light of the Lord. He's again calling the nation back to To holiness. He's calling out to Judah and saying, Hey guys, let's walk in the light of the Lord. Let's walk in obedience to Him. Let's walk in His ways according to His plan. Because He has this wonderful future and plan for us. And this is one of the important reasons to know what the Bible says about prophecy and about the future. Because when we know and understand what the Bible says about the future... It encourages us and helps us to live in holiness today. In 2 Peter 3, verses 13 and 14, Peter says something to that effect. He says, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth. Peter says, since we know where we're going and we know what God is going to do and we know the kingdom that he's bringing us to, let's do our best, let's be diligent to be found in right relationship with Him without spot and blameless walking according to His ways. John told us something similar as well in 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3. When he talks about the hope that we have of seeing Jesus Christ and the fact that we will see Him as He is and we'll get to see Him face to face. And he says in verse 3 that everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as Jesus is pure. Everyone who has the hope of seeing God and being with God and being united with Jesus Christ will purify themselves just as God is pure. And so there's the importance for us to study these things and know these things. And as Isaiah is pronouncing this message to the nation of Judah, he says, this is where we're going, guys. Let's be holy. Let's walk in his light. Let's be diligent to be found without spot and blameless. And for you and I, God is going to meet... With us, he's going to catch us up together to meet with him in the clouds in the rapture, or we are going to die before that happens. And we're going to meet with him that way. We're going to be with him in his presence. And since we have that hope, that hope of eternity of being with him, let us be diligent to be found in him in peace. Without spot and blameless. Let us purify ourselves. Let's come back to holiness. Turning away from the things of this world. The things of sin. The areas that God has commanded us to stay away from. Let's turn from those things. And walk according to his ways. Because God has some incredible things in store for us. The nation of Judah does not answer this call to holiness. They don't receive Isaiah's message. And so Isaiah continues on to pronounce the judgment that God is going to bring. First of all, he explains why. Starting in verse 6, he says, "...for you have forsaken your people." Why? He tells us, Their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. People bow down, and each man humbles himself. Therefore, do not forgive them. Here Isaiah brings God's complaint, or the reason why God is going to bring judgment upon them. He gives us several reasons why. why judgment is coming. First of all, he says in verse 6 that they are filled with eastern ways. The eastern ways are the ways of divination or witchcraft, the soothsaying like the Philistines. Today we would recognize them as palm readers and psychics and those who call upon the dead and try to mediate between the living and the dead and so on and so forth. The eastern practices, God says, Isaiah says, The nation of Judah was filled with them. They were consulting the dead. They were seeking out what psychics would say. They were hearing and participating in divination and witchcraft, which was really contrary to what God had commanded in direct violation of his word. He says in verse seven that their land is full of silver and gold and also that the land is full of horses. Now, it's not that God is against silver and gold or against horses, but he's referring to their prosperity and their strength and that they're not relying upon the Lord. They're not looking to God for provision or strength or protection. They're relying upon their horses and their chariots. They're relying upon their silver and their gold. They had no need to rely upon the Lord because they were wealthy. They were prosperous. They were doing okay. They had money in the savings account and a solid 401k. And so there's no need to trust God because everything's already taken care of. They have enough to provide for themselves. And finally, in verse 8, he gives us the last example. reason that God was bringing judgment. He says their land is also full of idols. See, this is not something where they had accidentally stumbled in an area or an issue that they, you know, went into one time. Notice the words that God used. They were filled with Eastern ways. They're full of silver and gold. They're full of horses. And they're full of idols. This was something that they were completely given over to. And they would not turn from. Now, we saw last week that the nation of Judah would still come to the temple. And that they would bring sacrifices to God. They would offer praise and worship. They would offer animals and sacrifices to God. But at the same time, their land is full of idols. And that was the problem that God had with them and their worship. Because they would try to worship God, but they wouldn't worship just God. They would worship God and then these other gods and then these other gods. They were full of idols. They worshipped all kinds of gods in all kinds of ways. And so it was for this reason, these reasons, that God's judgment was to come. And this is a little bit scary because it does not sound any different than the state of our nation today. Full of eastern ways. Full of silver and gold and horses. And full of idols. We need to be in prayer. Because we face the same thing. God's principles have not changed. There needs to be a renewal of spirituality today. A relationship with God, a revival in the hearts of this nation, just like there needed to be a revival in the heart of the nation of Judah. Going on in verses 10 and following, it says, "...enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty." Verse 2. Upon every high tower and upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish and upon all the beautiful sloops, the loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols he shall utterly abolish. Here we begin to see the judgment of God coming upon the nation of Judah. This is what is to come, Judah. If you do not turn, if you do not repent, this is what will happen. He says, everyone hide in the rock, hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord. He begins now and he uses the phrase in verse 12, the day of the Lord of hosts. The day of the Lord is an important phrase throughout the scriptures. It's referred to as the day of the Lord or that day of Sometimes it's the latter days. And as the prophets use this phrase, they're not speaking of a 24-hour day, but this time of judgment, this day of judgment that will come to pass. There's lots of discussion that we could have about what this day encompasses. But ultimately, it will encompass the tribulation period when the wrath of God is poured out, the day of the Lord. But it also is known to include the millennial period that Isaiah was mentioning earlier. It's a time of rejoicing for the righteous, but a time of wrath for the unrighteous. Many of the prophecies that we will see as we study through the book of Isaiah have dual fulfillments. That means that they're partially fulfilled immediately, Past tense for us, they were fulfilled partially when Judah was conquered by the nation of Babylon. But the ultimate fulfillment... The complete fulfillment of these things will take place during the tribulation period or a different time depending on the prophecy that is going forth. But many of them have these dual fulfillments. And so we see this here. There's going to be great destruction upon the nation of Judah, upon the city of Jerusalem, and for those... who are here for the tribulation, they will suffer the completeness or the fullness of this judgment. This judgment is the reducing to nothing everything that man has exalted or praises himself for or thinks is great. It's a dreaded day of judgment. He says that all the lofty looks of men shall be humbled. All the haughtiness, everything that man is proud about, everything that man is exalted, all the high towers, his great achievements, all the things in which he trusts, all the ships and just the marvels and the ways that he has created and exalted himself, they're all going to be leveled. And in verse 17 it says, "...the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." The loftiness of man will be bowed down. In that day, men will know beyond a shadow of a doubt who he is and who God is. He will know his status and God's status. His finite abilities and strength and God's infinite strength. It's going to be a day where God proves to every person that he is God. Man will be humbled as he brings judgment upon Upon the earth and upon the nation of Judah. Again, there's the partial fulfillment when Babylon conquers the city of Jerusalem. But the ultimate fulfillment will be yet to come during the tribulation period. Going on, verses 19 and following, it says, They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idol of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats. Verse 22. Verse 23. Here Isaiah says, in this day, that day of the Lord, as the wrath of God is poured out because of the unrighteousness and rebellion of man, there will be great terror and men will flee to hide wherever they can in the crags and the rocks and the deepest caves. They're going to search for some type of shelter. It tells us this as well in Revelation chapter 6. The men hide themselves in caves and call the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them to hide them from the wrath of God. It's going to be awesome and terrible. God's issue with the nation of Judah was their idolatry. That's why it refers to them casting away their idols of silver and gold. For pretty much as long as Israel and Judah had been a nation, Since the time that they left the nation of Egypt, they had been involved in idolatry, worshipping false gods, bowing down to idols and images that they had created. One such example is the golden calf. Moses was there on the mountain of Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments from God. They persuade Aaron and they begin to worship this golden calf. But that wasn't the limits of their idol worship. They worshiped the idols of Egypt and they worshiped the idols of the lands that they traveled through and they worshiped the idols of the people of the land that they conquered. And they worshiped all these different idols. But since the captivity of Babylon... Since Jerusalem was destroyed back then in 538 or 530, I can't remember the exact date, but since the nation of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians, and then when the Persian army came in and set them free and they were allowed to go back, the nation of Israel as a whole Of course, individuals are different, but the nation of Israel as a whole has not returned to idolatrous worship in that sense, not bowing down to the images and worshipping false gods. Of course, they don't worship the true and living God, so that could be also called idolatry. But they don't worship in the same way. They've cast away their idols just like Isaiah said they would, and they have not gone back to that type of idolatry. Going on in chapter 3. We'll continue to see the judgment that God is pouring out. In verse 1 it says, As God's judgment is being poured out on this nation... It's described here, basically, God saying, it's going to be a mess because you refuse to be obedient to me. You're not going to have food. You're not going to have water. You're not going to have elders and rulers. You're not going to have prophets. You're not going to have mighty men of war. Everything is going to be destroyed and wiped out. The people are going to be left leaderless and helpless forever. Again, it's because of their rebellion to God. When a king would want to conquer a city, he would lay siege to the city, which is what Nebuchadnezzar did to the city of Jerusalem. And so they would lay siege, they would surround it and encamp around it and not let anything in or out. And so sooner or later, the food would run out, the water would run out, and the people would be left to either surrender or die of starvation there within the walls. And God's saying in that time, the army, the spiritual leaders, the rulers and elders of the government, everyone would be removed. They're not going to have any strength, no wisdom, no wealth, nothing. And for us, it's no different. See, we need to understand God has not changed. Sometimes we try to make a distinction in our minds and hearts between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. It's the same God. The same God who is issuing this pronouncement of judgment is the same God who sent his son to die upon the cross for you and I. And it's the same God if we do not receive that gift of his son that will pour out his wrath upon us. It's the same God if we do not walk in his ways and if we're not obedient to him that will pour out his judgment upon those who are disobedient. Ephesians chapter 2 talks about that. The wrath of God that comes upon the sons of disobedience. The book of Revelation details it very clearly. It's those who are disobedient to God who will not repent of their sins. The wrath of God will come. And for you and I in our lives, we need to understand that if we are disobedient to God, if we continue to live in sin, we will end up like the nation of Judah. We will have no strength and no wisdom. We will have no wealth. We will have nothing. We will destroy our lives because of our sinful life and our sinful activity. The wages of sin is death, always. And we need to be warned. Again, this is a call back to holiness to Israel and to you and I. Isaiah is saying to you and I, the Lord is speaking to us this evening saying, listen, if you insist on living in sin and disobeying my ways and my commands, then you will receive my judgment and you will be destroyed. Your life will be wiped out. You'll be left with nothing. If you repent, however, God has grace and mercy in store. God will bless and will honor his word. He desires to save. He's not willing that any should perish. If the nation of Judah had turned as a result of Isaiah's message, they would not have received any of the judgments that God was pronouncing here. But they did not. Because they're stubborn and they're hard-headed like you and I. And they continued to turn a deaf ear to what God was saying and live by their own wisdom, their own strength, their own provision to the point that God says, I'm going to strip you from all of those things or strip from you all those things. You want to live by your strength and your wisdom and your provision? I'm going to take those things away from you so that you know that I must be your strength and I must be your provision and I must be your wisdom. The loftiness of men and all the pride that we have in ourselves, God will bring that to nothing if we will not humble ourselves and live in obedience to Him. It's a call to holiness, to obedience to God. Isaiah goes on to describe the effects of this judgment upon the nation. In verse 4, he says, When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your power. And that day he will protest, saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of the people. The continued effects of the devastation of the judgment that the nation of Judah will experience if they do not turn from God. He just said that there will be a lack of leaders. The elders will be no more. And so it's the children who will be their princes and the children shall rule over them. If you remember, Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child. It's a woeful thing for the child to be king because there's no wisdom and no understanding, no discernment. And not only that, but it says that the child will be insolent and rebellious. And so it will continue their problems and not fix them. To the point that He gives this little description, a little scene that we can have an understanding that one man will grab another and say, hey, look, you're wearing clothes. The rest of us are here naked. You have clothes. You must be doing something right. So you be our ruler. And the guy doesn't even want it. He says, I don't want any part of it. The troubles are too many. It's too difficult to fix. I don't have anything to help you. Don't make me your ruler. Even though he entices them with these words, you know, let these ruins be under your power. There's nothing left. The nation is in ruins. Nobody will want to rule or have authority because the devastation will be too great. This is the effect of sin upon a nation and upon a person. That's why God tells us, turn from sin. Repent. Because this activity... This lifestyle will destroy you. Going on, verses 8 and 9. He says, For Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them and they declare their sin as Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul for they have brought evil upon themselves. God explains the reasons here for what is taking place and the judgment that is being received. Judgment is being received by their own doing. He says in verse 8, it's because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. They've taken a position in rebellion to God, in opposition to God. He says in verse 9, woe to their soul for they have brought evil upon themselves. They've brought this upon themselves. Because of their rebellion against God. Now he says in verse 9 that they declare their sin is Sodom and they do not hide it. It doesn't mean that God's saying, well, you should have hid your sin and then I wouldn't have judged you. No, what he's saying is, he's illustrating there's no shame. There's no, you know, they just open. They don't care. I don't care. Who knows? This is my position. This is the way I live. This is what I want to do. And it doesn't matter what anybody says. It doesn't even matter what the Lord says. Now, God told them in Deuteronomy chapter 28 through 30, as well as the rest of His Word, but those chapters specifically makes it very clear. God set before Him life and death. And God said, Moses said, the Lord spoke through Moses saying, look, I've set before you today life and goodness, that if you keep my words, if you're obedient to me, then you will have life and you'll be blessed and you'll have this abundance and you'll be blessed in all these different ways. But if you do not follow my ways, then I set before you today curses. And if you refuse to obey me, and if you walk in your own ways, and walk in your own wisdom, and do your own thing, then you will receive these judgments, these curses, you will receive death. Moses said them both before him, lined up everything. Here's the deal, guys. If you follow this, you'll have life. If you follow this, you'll have death. Now, choose which one. Make a choice. Will you be obedient to God, or will you be disobedient to God? And they made the choice... The nation of Judah at this time, they made the choice to be disobedient to God and receive the punishment and the penalty for that. Nobody can blame God for judgment that they receive. Nobody can blame God for spending eternity in hell. We bring judgment upon our own selves by living in disobedience to God, by not receiving His forgiveness and His grace, by not walking according to His ways. God does not send people to hell, but people send themselves by choosing to reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Let us hear the same warning today that Isaiah gave. We need to repent. We need to come back to holiness, to walk right with God. Judah thought that these prophecies would never come true. You know why? Hey, we're God's people. That wouldn't happen to God's people. God wouldn't allow that to happen to His people. Now, later on in the book, Isaiah will say, Hey, remember the northern kingdom, the northern part of the nation of Israel? He uses them as an example. They were destroyed. They were wiped out. They're my people. But they refused to repent. And I wiped them out. And if you don't repent, that will happen to you too. Because the people said, we're God's people. He's not going to bring judgment. He's not going to allow the nation of Babylon to conquer and ruin the temple. We're His people. We have the temple of God. And we have the Holy Scriptures. We're not going to be judged. We're not going to receive all of these judgments and things that you're telling us about. And as Christians, we must not be fooled and have the same heart and attitude. Oh, God's grace and His mercy, and I won't receive these things because, you know, I prayed this prayer, and I've been going to church, or I've been doing this, or I have that. We must not be fooled. Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 and 8 tells us very clearly, don't be deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. But I said this prayer. I said the sinner's prayer. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. It's how you live your life. It's the way that you walk in obedience to God. In James chapter 2, dealing with the subject of faith and works, he says, What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? The answer is no. James is saying, look, a person who has faith, his life will demonstrate it. He will walk in obedience to God. He will answer the call to holiness. Not that they will be perfect, but they won't continue to live contrary to God. They won't continue to walk in disobedience to God. They won't continue to rebel against His Word. They won't count their own wisdom and their own knowledge wrong. as greater than God's, but they'll live by His counsel and His word in obedience to Him. This is a call to holiness. If you do not walk according to God's ways, you will receive His judgment because you will reap what you sow. There is grace and mercy to those who repent, to those who turn from their sin, but if you do not turn, there is judgment, wrath being stored up for you. We are no different than Judah if we refuse to obey God and continue to live in sin. Going on in verse 10, here in chapter 3, it says, "...say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings, Woe to the wicked. It shall be ill with them for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh, my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. The righteous, he says, it'll be OK with you. It'll be well with you. You're going to reap what you have sown. Because you've sown to the Spirit, you'll reap everlasting life. It will be well with you. But to the wicked, he says, it's not going to be well with you. You will reap what you have sown. You will reap destruction. You'll be given the reward of your hands. And he says, my people. Again, this is the level and the state of their devastation. Children are their oppressors. My people are so weak that it doesn't take much. A child will oppress them and come against them. The people who lead them cause you to err, he says. They're going further and further away from the things of God. It will be well with the righteous. God will take care of them. Not that the righteous won't have problems and difficulties. But God will take care of them. It's a promise. We can hold on to that. Like Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. You love God, you're called according to His purpose, then know that no matter what happens in your life, all things will work together for good. God will make sure that it works together for good if you love Him. And that's an important if. In John 14, verse 23, Jesus says, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My words. Again, faith without works is dead. Jesus says, If you love Me, you'll keep My words. And if you love Me, all things will work together for good for you. And so the issue is, do I love the Lord? And if I'm living in disobedience to Him, then I need to know, hey, I don't love the Lord as much as I say that I do or think that I do because I continue to live contrary to His Word. And so I need to get my heart right with God. The issue is my heart and my relationship with the Lord and the love that I have for Him. It all begins in my heart. We need to understand this is very serious. God is a God of grace and mercy, but he's a holy and just God. And we will reap what we have sown. Going on in verse 13, It says, And he says, why have you taken advantage of the helpless? Why have you oppressed the poor and taken advantage of the power and the authority that you have? Judgment begins with those in leadership, those who have authority. Because God always looks out for the helpless and the poor, the fatherless and the widows. And he deals first with those who have authority and those who abuse that to oppress others first. Going on in verses 16 and following, he says, Verse 18, Verse 18, In that day the Lord will take away the finery, the jingling anklets, the scarves and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets and the veils, the headdresses, the leg ornaments and the headbands, the perfume boxes, the charms and the rings, the nose jewels, the festal apparel and the mantles, the outer garments, the purses and the mirrors, the fine linen, the turbans and the robes. And so it shall be. Instead of a sweet smell, there will be a stench. Instead of a sash, a rope. Instead of well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn. and she, being desolate, shall sit on the ground. Verse 1 of chapter 4, And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel. Only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach. Here he begins to describe the devastation that will come upon the women of the nation of Judah. He describes the daughters of Zion as being haughty, Walking around with outstretched necks and wanton eyes or seductive eyes. They're living in sexual immorality. Again, in disobedience to God, contrary to the word of God, contrary to his ways. And God says as a result of their rebellion, they will be stripped of everything. It's not that God's against jewelry, but he's against immorality. He's against disobedience. And this passage is amazing. It demonstrates that God is no respecter of persons. Men and women are held to God's standards. And if we do not walk in His ways, we will face His judgment. We will reap what we sow, no matter what gender we are. It's going to be complete devastation. There's not going to be any prosperity. Where there used to be sweet smells, there's going to be stench. Where there used to be beauty, where there used to be luxuries and anklets and bracelets and headdresses and all these different ornaments. They would all be gone again because of rebellion against God. Finally, closing it up, he ends on a good note. Verses 2 through 6. He says, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. Verse 5, Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and above her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory there will be a covering, and there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime, from the heat for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. He begins by saying the branch in that day shall be beautiful and glorious. This is the latter end of the judgment time, the latter end of the tribulation period. Again, when the millennium takes place, as Jesus comes to set up his kingdom, the branch is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, Isaiah says that there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse. and a branch shall grow out of his roots. It's a way that they described the Messiah who had come. This descendant of Jesse, who is David's father, and the fact that Jesus would come from the line of David. And at the end, after all the judgment has been poured out, if anyone remains, he will be called holy. Those who enter into the millennial period will be the ones who survived the tribulation and the pouring out of wrath, and they will be called holy. And that time will be a time of renewal. The fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing. The earth will begin to produce, perhaps like it once did in the Garden of Eden. It will be renewed and revived. It will be refreshed. And there will be a great work of God. But those who enter into that will be the ones who are called holy. And God will establish His tabernacle and He will dwell amongst the people here upon the earth. And they will seek after the ways of God. But those who enter in will be the ones who are called holy. Isaiah very clearly comes to the nation of Judah and gives the message that You must be holy. You must repent. As we looked at last week, you must turn or burn. Because if you do not turn from your sin, the judgment of God will be poured out. The wrath of God will come. Because you will reap what you have sown. And so let us take heed this evening as well. The Word of God has not changed. We need to take heed. If you are living today, in disobedience to God. If there's areas of life, of your life, that you do not allow God to touch or that you will not turn from or you don't want to let go, understand the judgment of God will come. You will reap what you sow. We must turn. It's a call to holiness. Let's repent. There's grace and mercy. If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But we must confess. We must turn. We must repent. How do I know if I've repented? Because I don't continue in that anymore. Now, but I struggle and I keep falling. Then you need to get right with God. And you need to draw close to God. And you need to allow God to do that work. And yes, you will struggle. And yes, you will fall. But you need to turn. And you need to repent. And then you need to turn. And then you need to repent. And then after that, you need to turn. And you need to repent. As God deals with different areas in your heart and life, we need to surrender to Him completely and wholly. It's a call to holiness because we will reap what we sow. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I do pray for our hearts, God. Lord, it's a heavy message that Isaiah delivered to the nation. Lord, it's a powerful word that You bring to us. Lord, we love You. the picture that we had in Song of Solomon of Your love and Your great desire for us and the relationship that You have with us. And Lord, all of that is true. You desire to be close with us and for us to have a passionate, in love, on fire relationship. But God, You cannot allow us to continue to live in sin in that relationship. Lord, You are holy and just. And God, we're thankful for that. God, we're thankful that You are perfect and that You're righteous. And Lord, that we receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith in Him for what He did for us upon the cross. But God, in this flesh, we struggle, we fall, we stumble. And Lord, sometimes we live in rebellion against You. And so God, I pray that You would help us turn our hearts towards You, Jesus. Those areas that You need to work on, those areas that You need to deal with, Lord, may the spirit of burning purge our hearts. Burn away anything that's not of you. God, this night we would ask, whatever it takes, no matter how hard it is or how much it hurts, bring us into right relationship with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.