Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Isaiah 17 - God’s Judgment Against Syria and Israel

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Isaiah 17 - God’s Judgment Against Syria and Israel · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Hello and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  We are in the book of Isaiah, and Isaiah is a prophet in about
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  the century, century and a half before the southern Kingdom of
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  Judah was brought into exile by Babylon.
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  And so Isaiah during his lifetime was preaching against
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  the sins and evils of both the nation of Judah and the nations
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  around Judah, as they were ignoring the Lord and His way
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  and were instead just doing whatever they wanted to do.
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  And so many of the past, oh, probably 7 or 8 chapters have
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  dealt specifically with nations around Judah.
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  So we looked at Babylon, Assyria, Moab, and then today
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  we're going to look at the nation of Aram or Syria with its
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  capital city of Damascus. We're going to look a little bit
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  at the judgment on the northern Kingdom of Israel, and then the
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  judgment of God against the nations in general.
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  Next episode, we're going to look at God's judgments against
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  Egypt, and that's going to be, honestly, a really interesting
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  episode and looking forward to that.
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  But let's begin the day with Isaiah chapter 17 and verse #1A
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  pronouncement concerning Damascus.
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  Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
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  It has become a ruined heap. The cities of Arar are
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  abandoned. They will be places for flocks.
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  They will lie down without fear. So where there was thriving
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  metropolis cities, now there's just going to be farmers and
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  sheep that go through those areas.
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  Verse #3 The fortress disappears from Ephraim and a Kingdom from
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  Damascus. The remnants of Arum will be
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  like the splendor of the Israelites.
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  This is the declaration of Yahweh of Heaven's armies.
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  So here where the northern Kingdom of Israel had allied
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  itself with Arum against the southern Kingdom of Judah, which
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  was something that God said was evil and wrong, that there would
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  be a double edged, if you will, kind of sword against both Syria
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  and Israel. That there would no longer be
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  huge armies able to come and pillage and maraud through the
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  Kingdom of Judah. Instead they would be brought
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  down. They'd be a very humble group of
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  people that would be there. Verse #4 On that day, the
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  splendor of Jacob will fade. This is that northern Kingdom of
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  Israel, and his healthy body will become emaciated.
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  That is, that there is less population.
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  There's not great military might.
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  The cities aren't, you know, thriving and super busy.
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  It just becomes a simpler place. Verse #5 It'll be as if a Reaper
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  had gathered standing grain, his arm harvesting the heads of
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  grain, and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in Riffian
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  Valley. Only gleanings will be left in
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  Israel as if an olive tree had been beaten, two or three olives
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  at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful
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  branches. This is the declaration of
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  Yahweh, the God of Israel. He says, you guys have forgotten
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  me, and instead you have insisted on acts of military
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  violence. And so there is going to be,
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  there are going to be consequences as a result of this
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  verse #7 on that day, people will look to their Maker and
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  will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
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  They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to
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  the asherahs and shrines they made with their fingers.
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  These would be what's called in the Bible the high places.
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  So you would find a, you know, tall hill or mountain where
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  there was a Grove set up, and you would offer sacrifices to,
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  you know, some of the Canaanite gods or gods of the other
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  nations. So these were places of false
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  worship. The Asherahs is what those are
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  also sometimes called on that day.
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  Verse #9 Their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods
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  and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the
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  Israelites. There will be desolation, for
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  you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you failed
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  to remember the rock of your strength.
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  Therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out
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  cuttings from exotic vines. On the day that you plant, you
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  will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your
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  seed to sprout, but the harvest will vanish.
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  On the day of disease and incurable pain that there would
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  be attempts to just go about life as as regular, there would
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  be lots of effort put into bettering the nation.
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  Here you have these plants from exotic vines and places that are
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  beautiful and you're putting in work and you go, yes, this is
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  going to all be fine, but God says no, there is judgment that
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  is coming. So you can repent, you can turn,
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  you can remember the God who is your salvation, the only one
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  that gives you strength, or you can continue operating without
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  Him and find out what is the end result.
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  When you abandon life himself, all that is left is death and
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  destruction and devastation. I love these descriptive words
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  for God there in verse #10 He is the God of our salvation.
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  Any hope of security was not found in Syria.
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  It wasn't found in US Syria. It wasn't even found in the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah. The one that Israel needed to be
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  looking to was God because he was the one that would deliver
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  them, as they found out over time, all of the false gods and
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  local deities of the Canaanites and the Arameans, and then
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  eventually the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
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  These gods that they consulted, that they sacrificed to, that
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  they worshipped, they were useless gods.
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  Our God, Yahweh, Jesus Christ, He is the true God.
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  He is the only one that we should be relying on.
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  I want to highlight for us our salvation does not ultimately
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  come through anything that we do.
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  Like we can set up, you know, security cameras.
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  But as I discovered in my life, that doesn't always mean that
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  robbers will not come or that you will have full knowledge of
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  what is happening at all times. I've told the story on here
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  before about accidentally walking in on a robber.
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  If you want to hear that story, you can look at the Tabernacle
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  Michael talk episode on Psalm 3 and that is there for you.
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  So the the you know, security cameras cannot guarantee you
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  safety in life. Simply having like a loving
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  spouse doesn't guarantee that you will have a wonderful
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  marriage or that you will be able to have kids.
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  Just having a, you know, 4 O 1K does not mean that you are going
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  or having a great job that pays well does not mean that you are
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  going to be financially stable and secure.
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  Everything that we have in this world is up in the air and the
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  only one that we should be turning to is the Lord.
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  We can, especially nowadays, we don't put names to the spirit
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  that we worship outside of God. We don't really do that.
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  At least people in, you know, the old days, they were honest
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  about it and they said, hey, I'm worshipping the God of or the
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  goddess of fertility or, you know, financial stability for
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  crops, agriculture, a God of War or a God of peace.
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  And so I am scared of the possibility of war.
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  And so I'm going to go to this temple and I'm going to, you
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  know, either sacrifice an animal or give money to this particular
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  temple so that I will have success in the war that I am
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  fighting, or I will be able to have children because I went to
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  the temple of Aphrodite or I'll find a spouse by going there.
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  So often in our lives, we don't put a name to it, but if you
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  will, our idols are things like, you know, whatever dating app
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  that a person could use that it's not wrong at all to to use
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  a a dating app, Obviously use a good one.
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  You use one that that is put together for the right reasons
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  that you aren't you aren't tempted towards bad behavior as
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  a result of it. But some people can put their
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  hope rather than and God, their ultimate hope could be OK.
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  I think this app is going to keep me safe or for my financial
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  stability. I trust in my job or I trust in
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  my work ethic or in my 4 O 1K. And one of these things will
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  give me financial stability. So I don't pray to God about my
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  finances. I just kind of freak out about
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  it a little bit and I work really hard and I put more money
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  in and I'm hoping that that will sustain me instead of OK God,
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  you know what I need to do and when I need to do it.
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  You have priorities that you've laid out for me within your word
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  as far as my finances go. God, would you help me to find
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  my salvation, my wholeness, my future in you more than in any
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  of these things or any of this stuff, these apps, these
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  friends, God, you are the one that gives me meaning and
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  purpose, safety and hope in this life.
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  I, I know I could dive a little deeper into that, but I feel
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  like that's that's where I'm supposed to stop for the moment.
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  Verse #12 through 14 here at the very end of this chapter says
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  this, Ah, the roar of many peoples.
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  They roar like the roaring of the Seas, the raging of the
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  nations. They rage like the rumble of
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  rushing water, the nation's rage like the rumble of a huge
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  torrent. He rebukes them and they flee
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  far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like
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  tumbleweeds before a Gale. In the evening, sudden terror
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  before morning. It is gone.
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  This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those
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  who ravage us. So here Isaiah portrays the
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  nations of the world in a couple of ways.
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  It's very tied in with Psalm one and two, and it's tied in with
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  Genesis 1 says the nations are these chaos waters seeking to
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  destroy and ruin life on the land.
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  You can see there in verse 12, the roaring of the Seas, the
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  rumble of rushing water. A huge torrent like this is the
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  way that the nations are portrayed, is the chaos waters
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  where no life is left after they come through.
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  It's referencing Psalm one. Blessed is the man that does not
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  walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of
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  sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
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  in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and
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  night. He'll be like a tree planted by
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  the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season.
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  His leaf also will not wither, and whatever he does will
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  prosper. The wicked are not so, but are
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  like the chaff which the wind drives away.
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  And you can see that in verse 13.
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  He rebukes them. They flee away, driven before
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  the wind, like chaff on the hills, and like tumbleweeds
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  before a Gale. And in Psalm 2, where we would
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  read, Why do the nation's rage and the people's imagine vain or
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  empty things? You can see that with the raging
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  of the nation's in verse #12 and verse 13, the nation's rage.
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  So here, thinking about God's Word, Isaiah's saying the
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  nations want to destroy Israel, but God will be our safety.
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  And even as he's been walking through all of these nations,
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  there's Moab, there's against Judah, there is Israel, there's
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  Syria, there's Moab, there's US Syria, there is Babylon, and
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  we'll see next episode Egypt. All of these nations are
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  surrounding them. Felicia, Canaan, all of these
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  people groups were attacking and harming God's people.
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  But what was ultimate, what was promised was God's promise to
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  David of his people in the land forever enjoying his presence,
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  his goodness, his guidance. Like we read in Isaiah chapter
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  2, that's the end goal. And so even though right now
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  there's craziness and I and they could say I don't understand
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  what's going on yet in God's sovereignty and because of God's
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  promises, Isaiah says these nations are temporary because
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  God's plan is eternal. Today in your life we will
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  encounter crazy stuff, but the truth is that our promise from
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  the Lord is eternal life. It is joy, it is presence with
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  Him. And so we can believe and trust
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  the word of our God. We don't have to live in fear.
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  We don't have to live hopeless or despondent.
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  Instead we can say, God, I believe your word.
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  I believe what you say about that home that is awaiting me.
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  God, I believe that I will be with you forever.
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  God, I believe even what we read here in Isaiah about the future
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  that we will experience reunited together, reconciled with all
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  creation as we as we come back to earth, as we read last week
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  the the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven.
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  God has made His dwelling with mankind and what a day that that
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  will be. And I can have faith in what God
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  will do based on that day and knowing His plans towards me are
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  for my good and for His glory. And so I can trust through the
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  bumpy roads. I can trust on that steep drop
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  of the roller coaster that God has me on.
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  I can believe that there is still good.
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  I can't remember which Psalm it is that says something along the
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  lines of like, I would have fainted unless I believed in the
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  goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and love, love
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  that thought. Thank you for tuning in.
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  I know a lot of these episodes that are walking through
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  judgment and condemnation. It can be a little bit of a
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  rough ride and so I am super thankful that you are sticking
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  it out. Next episode we are going to
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  look at Egypt, and Egypt is definitely, when you look at
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  world history, a super interesting place even today as
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  you see the pyramids. And so I'm looking forward to
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  that study. See you next episode.