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The Book of Isaiah Like You_ve Never Seen Before · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: What if I told you that a prophet who lived
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  Speaker 1: two thousand, seven hundred years ago predicted the fall of empires,
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  Speaker 1: the coming of a suffering Messiah, and the end of
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  Speaker 1: the world as we know it, all in vivid, cinematic detail.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah wasn't just a prophet. He was a poet, a
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  Speaker 1: political adviser, a mystic who saw God's throne room, and
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  Speaker 1: a voice crying out in the darkness of human rebellion.
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  Speaker 1: His book is a masterpiece that spans decades of turmoil,
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  Speaker 1: from the glittering halls of Jerusalem's Palace to the smoking
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  Speaker 1: ruins of conquered cities. Inside these sixty six chapters, you'll
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  Speaker 1: find some of the most haunting images in all of scripture.
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  Speaker 1: A cold, burning away sin, a virgin conceiving a child
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  Speaker 1: called God with us, a servant so disfigured that people
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  Speaker 1: turn away, yet through his wounds the world finds healing.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't your Sunday school, Isaiah. This is raw, dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: beautiful prophecy that has shaped kings, inspired revolutions, and pointed
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  Speaker 1: humanity toward hope when everything seemed lost. Buckle up, We're
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  Speaker 1: about to journey through Isaiah like you've never experienced before.
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  Speaker 1: The book opens with God calling heaven and earth as
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  Speaker 1: witnesses against his own people. In chapter one, verse two,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord speaks through Isaiah, hear o heavens, and give
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  Speaker 1: ear o Earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have
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  Speaker 1: nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
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  Speaker 1: It's a father's heart broken complaint against ungrateful children. God
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  Speaker 1: continues in verses three and four, saying the ox knows
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  Speaker 1: his owner, and the donkey knows his master's feeding trough.
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  Speaker 1: But Israel doesn't know God. His own people don't understand.
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  Speaker 1: They're a sinful nation. People loaded down with guilt, children
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  Speaker 1: given to corruption. They've abandoned the Lord and turned their
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  Speaker 1: backs on him. The prophet describes what he sees in
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  Speaker 1: verse six, from the soul of the foot, even unto
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  Speaker 1: the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds
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  Speaker 1: and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
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  Speaker 1: neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The nation is
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  Speaker 1: like a sick body, covered in infected wounds that nobody
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  Speaker 1: has bothered to treat. Your country lies in ruins. Your
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  Speaker 1: cities are burned with fire. Foreigners are eating up your
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  Speaker 1: fields right in front of you. The daughter of Zion
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  Speaker 1: is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a
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  Speaker 1: hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.
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  Speaker 1: In verse nine, Isaiah says, if the Lord hadn't left
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  Speaker 1: them a few survivors, they would have become like Sodom
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  Speaker 1: and Gomorrah. Jerusalem, once faithful, has become a prostitute. Justice
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  Speaker 1: used to live in her streets, but now murderers fill them.
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  Speaker 1: In verse twenty one, God declares, how is the faithful
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  Speaker 1: city become an harlot? It was full of judgment, righteousness
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  Speaker 1: lodged in it, but now murderers the cities silver has
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  Speaker 1: turned to waste, and her wine is mixed with water.
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  Speaker 1: The leaders are rebels, friends with thieves. Everyone loves bribes
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  Speaker 1: and chases after gifts. They don't defend orphans or listen
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  Speaker 1: when widows bring their cases to court. God isn't interested
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  Speaker 1: in their endless sacrifices. In verses eleven through thirteen, he
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  Speaker 1: tells them, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices?
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  Speaker 1: Unto me, saith the Lord, I am full of the
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts.
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  Speaker 1: And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or
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  Speaker 1: of lambs, or of he goats. Bring no more vain oblations.
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  Speaker 1: Incense is an abomination unto me. When they spread out
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  Speaker 1: their hands to pray, God hides his eyes. Their hands
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  Speaker 1: are covered in blood. God tells them in verse sixteen
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  Speaker 1: to wash themselves, make themselves clean, and stop doing evil.
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  Speaker 1: They need to learn to do right, seek justice, and
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  Speaker 1: defend the oppressed. Then God makes an offer in verse eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: Come now and let us reason together, Saith the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
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  Speaker 1: white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they
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  Speaker 1: shall be as wool. In chapter six, verse one, Isiah
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  Speaker 1: records in the year that King a Ziah died, I
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  Speaker 1: saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and
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  Speaker 1: lifted up, and his train filled the temple. This wasn't
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  Speaker 1: a dream or a metaphor. Isaiah saw the living God
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  Speaker 1: with his own eyes. The train of his robe filled
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  Speaker 1: the temple. Above the Lord stood seraphim, each having six wings.
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  Speaker 1: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they
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  Speaker 1: covered their feet, and with two they flew. They called
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  Speaker 1: to one another and Their voices were so powerful that
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  Speaker 1: in verse three they cried, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the
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  Speaker 1: Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.
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  Speaker 1: When they spoke, the door posts and threshold shook, and
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  Speaker 1: the temple filled with smoke. Isaiah's immediate reaction in verse
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  Speaker 1: five was terror. Woe is me, for I am undone,
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  Speaker 1: because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
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  Speaker 1: dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
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  Speaker 1: For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts,
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  Speaker 1: standing before absolute holiness. Isaiah suddenly saw his own corruption clearly.
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  Speaker 1: He was ruined, finished, destroyed, not because he was worse
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  Speaker 1: than others, but because, in the presence of perfect purity,
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  Speaker 1: even the best human looks filthy. One of the seraphim
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  Speaker 1: flew to him, holding a burning coal he taken with
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  Speaker 1: tongs from the altar. In verses six and seven. The
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  Speaker 1: seraph touched Isaiah's mouth with the coal and said, Lo,
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  Speaker 1: this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away,
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  Speaker 1: and thy sin purged. The pain must have been intense,
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  Speaker 1: but it was a cleansing pain. Then Isaiah heard the
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  Speaker 1: voice of the Lord, asking whom shall I send and
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  Speaker 1: who will go for us? Without hesitation? Isaiah answered in
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  Speaker 1: verse eight, here am I send me? He'd just been
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  Speaker 1: undone by God's holiness, just had his mouth burned clean,
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  Speaker 1: and now he was volunteering for whatever mission God had
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  Speaker 1: in mind. God's response wasn't what Isiah expected. In verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord told him, go and tell this people hear
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  Speaker 1: ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but
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  Speaker 1: perceive not. Isiah was being sent to preach to people
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  Speaker 1: who would listen but not comprehend, who would look but
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  Speaker 1: not see. The message gets harder, God continues in verse ten,
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  Speaker 1: Make the heart of this people fat, and make their
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  Speaker 1: ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with
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  Speaker 1: their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
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  Speaker 1: their heart, and convert and be healed. Isaiah's preaching would
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  Speaker 1: actually make people more resistant to God's message. His ministry
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  Speaker 1: would harden hearts instead of softening them. Isaiah asks the
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  Speaker 1: obvious question in verse eleven, Lord, how long how long
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  Speaker 1: would this go on? How long would he have to
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  Speaker 1: preach to people who wouldn't listen. God's answer was devastating,
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  Speaker 1: until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses
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  Speaker 1: without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the
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  Speaker 1: Lord have removed men far away, and there be a
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  Speaker 1: great forsaking in the midst of the land. Even if
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  Speaker 1: a tenth remains in the land, it will be destroyed again,
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  Speaker 1: like a tree cut down, leaving only a stump. But
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  Speaker 1: God adds one small note of hope at the end
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  Speaker 1: of verse thirteen. The Holy Seed shall be the substance thereof.
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  Speaker 1: Something would survive, a remnant would remain. In chapter five,
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  Speaker 1: Isiah sings a song about his loved one's vineyard. His
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  Speaker 1: loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He
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  Speaker 1: dug it up, cleared it of stones, and planted it
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  Speaker 1: with the choicest vines. He built a watch tower and
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  Speaker 1: cut out a wine press. Then he looked for good grapes,
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  Speaker 1: but it yielded only bad fruit. God asks in verse three,
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  Speaker 1: and now, o inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge,
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  Speaker 1: I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. What more
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  Speaker 1: could he have done when he looked for good grapes?
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  Speaker 1: Why did it yield only bad? Now he'll make it
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  Speaker 1: a waste land. In verse seven, Isiah reveals, for the
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  Speaker 1: vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he
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  Speaker 1: looked for judgment, but behold oppression. For righteousness, but behold
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  Speaker 1: a cry. During the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah,
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  Speaker 1: trouble came from the north. In chapter seven, verse one, Resin,
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  Speaker 1: king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Rimalia, King of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they couldn't overpower it.
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  Speaker 1: When the House of David heard that Syria had allied
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  Speaker 1: with Israel, the hearts of a Haz and his people
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  Speaker 1: shook like trees swaying in the wind. God sent Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: to meet a Haz at the end of the aqueduct
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  Speaker 1: of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer's field.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah brought his son sheer Jashub with him, a name
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  Speaker 1: that means a remnant will return. God's message in verse
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  Speaker 1: four was clear, take heed and be quiet. Fear not
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  Speaker 1: neither be fainthearted. For the two tales of these smoking
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  Speaker 1: fire brands. For the fierce anger of Resin with Syria
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  Speaker 1: and of the son of Rimalia, these two kings had
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  Speaker 1: plotted against Judah, planning to invade and divide it up,
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  Speaker 1: setting up the son of Tabil as a puppet king.
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  Speaker 1: But God said in verse seven, it shall not stand,
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  Speaker 1: neither shall it come to pass. Within sixty five years,
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  Speaker 1: Israel would be shattered as a nation. God warns, as
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  Speaker 1: in verse nine, if ye will not believe, surely ye
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  Speaker 1: shall not be established. Isiah told Ahaz to ask God
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  Speaker 1: for a sign, anything from the depths below to the
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  Speaker 1: heights above. But Ahaz, pretending to be pious, refused in
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  Speaker 1: verse twelve, I will not ask, Neither will I tempt
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. He didn't want to trust God. He'd already
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  Speaker 1: made up his mind to call on Assyria for help instead.
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  Speaker 1: Isiah responded with frustration in verse thirteen. Here ye, now,
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  Speaker 1: o house of David. Is it a small thing for
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  Speaker 1: you to weary men? But will ye weary my God?
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  Speaker 1: Also then he gave a sign anyway. In verse fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: he declared, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall
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  Speaker 1: call his name Immanuel. This child would eat kurds and
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  Speaker 1: honey by the time he knows enough to reject wrong
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  Speaker 1: and choose right. Before the boy reaches that age, the
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  Speaker 1: lands of the two kings Ahaz Dreads will be laid waste.
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  Speaker 1: But the Lord will bring on Ahaz and his people
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  Speaker 1: a time unlike any since the kingdom split. He'll bring
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  Speaker 1: the king of Assyria. In chapter eight, the Lord told
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah to write on a large scroll, Maher shalal Hashbaz.
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  Speaker 1: Then Isaiah went to the prophetess his wife, and she
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  Speaker 1: conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said
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  Speaker 1: in verse three, call his name mahershalal Hashbas. Before the
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  Speaker 1: boy knows how to say my father or my mother.
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  Speaker 1: The wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will
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  Speaker 1: be carried off by the king of Assyria. In chapter ten,
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  Speaker 1: verse five, God reveals his plan. O Assyrian, the rod
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  Speaker 1: of mine anger and the staff in their hand is
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  Speaker 1: mine indignation. Assyria isn't acting on its own. It's a
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  Speaker 1: tool in God's hand, sent against a godless nation to seize, lute, snatch, plunder,
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  Speaker 1: and trample people down like mud in the streets. But
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  Speaker 1: Assyria and understand this. The Assyrian king thinks he's acting
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  Speaker 1: by his own power and wisdom. In verses eight through eleven,
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  Speaker 1: he boasts about conquering nations. Are not my command as
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  Speaker 1: all kings. Has not Calno fared like Carcamish, is not
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  Speaker 1: Hammeth like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus. Has my hand
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  Speaker 1: seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled
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  Speaker 1: those of Jerusalem and Samaria. Shall I not deal with
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and
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  Speaker 1: her idols, The king says in verse thirteen, by the
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  Speaker 1: strength of my hand, I have done it, and by
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  Speaker 1: my wisdom, for I am prudent, and I have removed
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  Speaker 1: the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures.
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  Speaker 1: And I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man,
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  Speaker 1: like one reaching into a nest. He's gathered all the
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  Speaker 1: countries as people gather abandoned eggs. He's gathered all the earth.
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  Speaker 1: God's response in verse fifteen cuts them through this arrogance.
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  Speaker 1: Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith,
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  Speaker 1: Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it,
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  Speaker 1: as if the rod should shake itself against them that
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  Speaker 1: lift it up, or as if the staff should lift
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  Speaker 1: up itself, as if it were no wood. An axe
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  Speaker 1: can't brag about cutting down trees. It's just a tool
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  Speaker 1: in the woodsman's hand. Therefore, the Lord will send a
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  Speaker 1: wasting disease upon the sturdy warriors of Assyria. Under their pomp,
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  Speaker 1: a fire will be kindled, like a blazing flame. The
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  Speaker 1: light of Israel will become a fire, their holy one aflame.
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  Speaker 1: In a single day, it will burn and consume the
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  Speaker 1: thorns and briars. Isaiah describes the Assyrian invasion with terrifying detail.
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  Speaker 1: In verses twenty eight through thirty two. He traces their route.
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  Speaker 1: They've come to Ayath Pass through Migron, stored their supplies
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  Speaker 1: at Micmash, crossed the pass, camped at Gaba Rama trembles
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  Speaker 1: Gibeah of Saul has fled. The people of Galim cry out,
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  Speaker 1: poor Anathoth flees this very day. They'll halt at knob,
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  Speaker 1: shaking their fist, at the mount of daughter Zion, at
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  Speaker 1: the hill of Jerusalem. But see, the Lord will lop
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  Speaker 1: off the bows with great power. The lofty trees will
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  Speaker 1: be felled, and the tall ones will be brought low.
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  Speaker 1: He'll cut down the forest thickets with an axe. In
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  Speaker 1: chapter nine, Isaiah had prophesied about a coming child in
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  Speaker 1: verse six, for unto us, a child is born, and
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  Speaker 1: too us a son is given. And the government shall
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  Speaker 1: be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called
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  Speaker 1: Wonderful counselor the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace,
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  Speaker 1: there will be no end. In chapter thirteen, verse one,
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah receives a prophecy about Babylon, the burden of Babylon,
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  Speaker 1: which Isaiah, the son of Amas, did see. This is
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  Speaker 1: strange because at this time in history, Babylon isn't the
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  Speaker 1: major threat Assyria is. But Isaiah sees beyond the immediate
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  Speaker 1: crisis to a future judgment. Isaiah hears a noise in
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  Speaker 1: the mountains like that of a great crowd. He hears
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  Speaker 1: an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together. God
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  Speaker 1: is mustering an army. In verse four, the noise of
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  Speaker 1: a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people,
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  Speaker 1: A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
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  Speaker 1: They're coming from far away lands, from the ends of
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  Speaker 1: the heavens, the Lord and the weapons of his wrath
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  Speaker 1: to destroy the whole country. People will wail because the
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  Speaker 1: day of the Lord is near, coming as destruction from
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  Speaker 1: the Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp,
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  Speaker 1: and every heart will melt with fear. In Verse eight,
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  Speaker 1: everyone will be terrified, seized with pain and anguish, writhing
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  Speaker 1: like a woman in labor. They'll look at each other
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  Speaker 1: in fear, their faces aflame with shock. The day of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
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  Speaker 1: to make the land desolate and destroy its sinners. In
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  Speaker 1: Verse ten, the stars of heaven and their constellations won't
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  Speaker 1: show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and
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  Speaker 1: the moon won't give its light. God will punish the
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  Speaker 1: world for its evil and the wicked for their sins.
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  Speaker 1: He'll put an end to the arrogance of the haughty,
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  Speaker 1: and will humble the pride of the ruthless. He'll make
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  Speaker 1: people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold
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  Speaker 1: of a fear. Therefore, he'll make the heavens tremble, and
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  Speaker 1: the earth will shake from its place at the wrath
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord Almighty. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, and
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  Speaker 1: the pride of the Chaldeans will be overthrown by God,
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  Speaker 1: like Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse twenty, it will never
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  Speaker 1: be inhabited or lived in through all generations. Arab will
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  Speaker 1: pitch his tent there. No shepherd will rest his flocks,
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  Speaker 1: Desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses,
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  Speaker 1: owls will live there, and wild goats will leap about.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen contains a taunt against the king of Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again
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  Speaker 1: choose Israel. When the Lord gives Israel relief from suffering
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  Speaker 1: and turmoil, they'll take up this mockery. In verse four,
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  Speaker 1: how hath the oppressor ceased? The golden city ceased? The
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  Speaker 1: Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter
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  Speaker 1: of the rulers. The whole earth is at rest and quiet,
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  Speaker 1: breaking into singing. Even the cypress trees and cedars of
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  Speaker 1: Lebanon rejoice, saying that since the king fell, no woodsman
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  Speaker 1: comes to cut them down. The grave below is stirred
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  Speaker 1: to meet the king at his coming. It rouses the
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  Speaker 1: spirits of the departed to greet him. All who were
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  Speaker 1: leaders in the world. They rise from their thrones and
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  Speaker 1: say verse ten, art thou also become weak as we
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  Speaker 1: art thou become like unto us. All his pomp has
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  Speaker 1: been brought down to the grave. Maggots are spread beneath him,
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  Speaker 1: and worms cover him. In verse twelve, the taunt continues,
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  Speaker 1: how art thou fallen from heaven o Lucifer's sun of
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  Speaker 1: the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground,
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  Speaker 1: which didst weaken the nations? The king said in his
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  Speaker 1: heart that he would ascend to heaven and raise his
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  Speaker 1: throne above the stars of God. He would make himself
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  Speaker 1: like the most high. But he's brought down to the grave,
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  Speaker 1: to the depths of the pit. Those who see him
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  Speaker 1: stare at him and ponder his fate. In verse sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
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  Speaker 1: that did shake kingdoms? Is this the man who made
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  Speaker 1: the world a wilderness? In verse twenty eight, Isiah delivers
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  Speaker 1: a prophecy about Pelistia in the year that King Ahaz died.
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  Speaker 1: Was this burden? The message warns in verse twenty nine
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  Speaker 1: that the Philistines shouldn't celebrate that the gods striking them
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  Speaker 1: is broken, because from the root of that snake will
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  Speaker 1: spring up a viper. Chapter fifteen opens with the burden
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  Speaker 1: against Moab. In verse one, isiases that are in Moab
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  Speaker 1: is ruined, destroyed in a night. Here in Moab is ruined,
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  Speaker 1: destroyed in a night. The people go up to their
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  Speaker 1: temple to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Madaba, every
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  Speaker 1: head shaved and every beard cut off. In the streets
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  Speaker 1: they wear sackcloth, and on the roofs, and in the
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  Speaker 1: public squares everyone wails prostrate with weeping. Heshpen and Eleiyale
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  Speaker 1: cry out, their voices heard all the way to Jahaz.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out, and their
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: hearts faint. Isaiah's own heart cries out over Moab in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: verse five, My heart shall cry out for Moab. His
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: fugitives shall flee unto Zoa and heifer of three years old,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: For by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: they go it up. For in the way of Hornab
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: they shall raise up a cry of destruction. The people
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: flee to Zor like a three year old heifer. They
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: go up the way to Luhith, weeping as they go
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: on the road to Hornaim they raise a cry of destruction.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: The waters of Nimrim are dried up, the grass is withered,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the vegetation is gone, and nothing green remains. The wealth
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: they've acquired and stored up they carry away over the
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: valley of the willows. Their outcry echoes along the border
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of Moab. Chapter sixteen continues with instructions for Moab. In
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: verse one, they're told, send ye the lamb to the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: ruler of the land, from sailor to the wilderness unto
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the mount of the Daughter of Zion. Send lambs as
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: tribute to the ruler of the land. From Seilah across
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion, Like fluttering
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: birds pushed from the nest, So are the women of
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Moab at the fords of the Arnun. They're asking Judah
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: for shelter, pleading and verse three, take counsel, execute judgment.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the noonday. Hide the outcasts, bebray not him that wandereth.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Give us counsel, render a decision. Make your shadow like
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: night at high noon. Hide the fugitives. Don't betray the refugees.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Let the moabite fugitives stay with you, be their shelter
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and destruction will cease. But then Isiah acknowledges what every
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: one knows about Moab. In verse six, we have heard
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: of the pride of Moab. He is very proud, even
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath. But
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: his lies shall not be so. They've heard of Moab's pride.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: How great is her arrogance, her conceit, her pride, her insolence.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: But her boasts are empty. Therefore the people of Moab
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: will wail. They'll all wail together. They'll mourn for the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: raisin cakes of kir Harrisith. The fields of Heshban whither,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: and the vines of Sinma dry up. The rulers of
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the nations have trampled down the choicest vines. Isaiah's heart
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: breaks for Moab in verse nine. Therefore I will bewail
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: with the weeping of Jesa the vine of Sibma. I
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: will water thee with my tears. Oheshbon and e Leayaleh.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: For the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: harvest is fallen joy and gladness are taken away from
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the orchards. No one sings or shouts in the vineyards.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: No one treads out wine at the presses. Isaiah has
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: put an end to the shouting. His heart laments for
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Moab like a harp, his inner being for kir harriseth.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: When Moab appears at her high place. She only wears
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: herself out when she goes to her shrine to pray,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: it does no good. In verse thirteen, the Lord says,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: this is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Moab since that time. But now the Lord gives a
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: specific time frame in verse fourteen. But now the Lord
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: hath spoken, saying, within three years as the years of
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: with all that great multitude, and the remnant shall be
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: very small and feeble. Within three years, as precisely as
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: a hired worker counts down to the end of his contract,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Moab's splendor and all her many people will be despised.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: The survivors will be very few and weak. In chapter seventeen,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: verse one, Isaiah receives a prophecy about Damascus. Behold, Damascus
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: is taken away from being a city, and it shall
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: be a ruinous heap. The capital of Syria, once a
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: thriving city full of commerce and power, will be reduced
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to nothing but rubble and ruins. The fortified cities of
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Syria will disappear, and the kingdom will vanish from Damascus.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: The remnant of Syria will be like the glory of
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the children of Israel, fading away, diminishing to almost nothing.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: God declares through Isaiah in verse three. The fortress also
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the remnant of Syria, they shall be as the glory
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: of the children of Israel Seth, the Lord of Hosts.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: In that day, the glory of Jacob will fade, and
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the fat of his body will grow lean. It will
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: be like a harvester gathering the standing grain, reaping the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: grain with his arm. It will be like someone gleaning
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: heads of grain in the valley of Rephaeim. Yet some
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: gleanings will remain, like when an olive tree is beaten,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: two or three olives left on the topmost branches, four
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: or five on the fruitful boughs. In that day, people
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: will look to their maker, and their eyes will turn
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to the Holy One of Israel. They won't look to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the altars their hands have made, or to the ashera
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: poles and incense altars their fingers have fashioned. In that
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: day their strong cities will be like places abandoned to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: thickets and undergrowth, and all will be desolation. In Verse ten,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: God explains why this will happen, because thou hast forgotten
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of the rock of thy strength. Therefore shalt thou plant
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips. They've
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: forgotten God, their savior, and haven't remembered the rock their fortress.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Though they plant carefully and make their seeds flourish, making
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: them blossom on the very morning they plant them, yet
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the harvest will be nothing in the day of grief
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and incurable pain. On the day they try to harvest,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: they'll find only disease and incurable sorrow. Woe to the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: many nations that rage. They rage like the raging sea.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Woe to the peoples who roar. They roar like the
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: roaring of great waters. Although the peoples roar like the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: roar of surging waters. When God rebukes them they flee
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: far away, driven before the wind, like chaff on the hills,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: like tumbleweed before a gale. In the evening, sudden terror
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: comes before morning, they're gone. This is the portion of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: those who loote us the lot of those who plunder us.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two opens with a burden concerning the Valley
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: of Vision. Isaiah asks in verse one, what aileth thee
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: now that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: What troubles you now that you've all gone up on
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the roofs. Every one has climbed to the flat roof
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: tops of their houses. The city is full of commotion,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: a town full of revelry. Your slain warn't killed by
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the sword, and they didn't die in battle. All your
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: leaders have fled together, but were captured without using the bow.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: All who were caught were taken prisoner together, even though
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: they had fled far away. Therefore, Isaiah says in verse four,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: look away from me, I will weep bitterly. Labor not
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: to comfort me because of the spoiling of the daughter
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: of my people. Leave me alone, Let me weep bitterly.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Don't try to comfort him about the destruction of his people.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: The daughter of his people has been devastated. The Lord,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult, trampling and
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: down walls and crying out to the mountains. Elam takes
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: up the quiver with her charioteers and horses, and ker
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: uncovers the shield. The choicest valleys are full of chariots,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: and horsemen are posted at the city gates. The defenses
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: of Judah are stripped away. When this happened, the people
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: looked to the weapons in the palace of the forest.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: They saw that the walls of the city of David
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: had many breeches, and they stored up water in the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: lower pool. They counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: down houses to strengthen the wall. They built a reservoir
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: between the two walls for the water of the old pool.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: But in verse eleven God points out their fatal mistake.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: But ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: had rescs spect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: They didn't look to the one who made it all,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: or have respect for the one who planned it long ago.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: They focused on human solutions, but ignored the divine planner
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the Lord. The Lord Almighty called them in that day
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to weep and wail, to tear out their hair and
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: put on sackcloth. But instead, in verse thirteen, there was
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: eating of meat, and drinking of wine. Let us eat
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Instead of repentance,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: there was partying. Instead of mourning, there was feasting. The
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Lord Almighty revealed this to Isaiah's ears in verse fourteen.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: ye die, saith the Lord, God of Hosts. This sin
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: will not be atoned for as long as they live.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: The Lord Almighty has spoken. Then God tells Isaiah to
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: go to shep Vna, the steward in charge of the palace.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: In verse sixteen, God confronts him, what hast thou here,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: and whom hast thou here? That thou hast hewed thee
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: out a sepulcher here, as he that heweth him out
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: a sepulcher on high, and that graveth an habitation for
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: himself in a rock? Who gave you permission to cut
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: out a grave for yourself. Here, hewing your grave on
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the height, and chiseling your resting place in the rock.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: God will hurl Shebna away violently. He'll roll him up
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: tightly like a ball and throw him into a large country.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: There he'll die, and there his splendid chariots will become
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: a disgrace to his master's house. God will depose him
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: from his office and pull him down from his position.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three contains the prophecy about Tire, the great
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: commercial city on the Mediterranean coast. In verse one, Isaiah
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: cries out, howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for it is
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: in from the land of Chittim. It is revealed to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: them the ships of Tarsish should wail, because Tire is
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: destroyed and left without house or harbor. Word has come
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: from the land of Cyprus. Be silent, you people of
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the island, and you merchants of Sidon whom the seafarers
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: have enriched on the great waters. Came the grain of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the Shehor. The harvest of the Nile was the revenue
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of Tire, and she became the market place of the nations.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Tire grew rich by trading the grain of Egypt. Be ashamed, Sidon,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and you fortress of the Sea. For the Sea has spoken.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: In verse four, the Sea declares, I travail not nor
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: bring forth children. Neither do I nourish up young men,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: nor bring up virgins. The sea says it has neither
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: been in labor nor given birth. It has neither reared
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: sons nor brought up daughters. When word comes to Egypt,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: they'll be in anguish at the report from Tire cross
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: over to Tarsish and whale, You people of the island,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is this your sin of revelry? The old old city
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: whose feet have taken her to settle in far off lands,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Tire used to send out settlers and establish colonies across
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. Who planned this against Tire, the bestower of crowns,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Who could bring down such a powerful commercial empire? The
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: answer comes in verse nine. The Lord of Hosts hath
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: purposed it to stain the pride of all glory, and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: The Lord Almighty planned it to bring low the pride
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: of all glory, and to humble all who are renowned
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: on the earth. The Lord has stretched out his hand
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble. He has
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: given an order concerning Phoenicia, that her fortresses be destroyed.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: In verse twelve, he says, thou shalt no more rejoice,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: O thou oppressed, virgin daughter of Zeidon. Arise pass over
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: to Chittim there also, so shalt thou have no rest up.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Cross over to Cyprus. Even there you'll find no rest.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: is now of no account. The Assyrians have made it
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: a place for desert creatures. They raised up their siege towers,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: They stripped its fortresses bare, and turned it into a ruin.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Therefore the ships of Tarshish should wail, for their fortress
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: is destroyed. At that time Tire will be forgotten for
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: seventy years, the span of a king's life. But at
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tire.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: As in the song of the Prostitute, Take up a harp,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: walk through the city you've forgotten, prostitute, play the harp
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: well sing many a song, so that you'll be remembered.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: with tire. She'll return to her lucrative prostitution, and will
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of the earth. Yet in verse eighteen, something remarkable will
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: happen with her prophets. Her merchandise, and her hire shall
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: be holiness to the Lord. It shall not be treasured
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: nor laid up for her merchandise shall be for them
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: that dwell before the Lord to eat sufficiently, and for
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: durable clothing. Her profit and earnings will be set apart
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: for the Lord. They won't be stored up or hoarded,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: but will go to those who live before the Lord,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: her abundant food and fine clothes. Chapter twenty four begins
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: with a terrifying vision of global judgment that extends far
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: beyond any single nation. In Verse one, Isaiah declares, Behold,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: The Lord is going to lay waste the earth and
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: devastate it. He'll ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants everywhere.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: It will be the same for everyone, for priest, as
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: for people, for the master, as for his servant, for
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the mistress, as for her servant, for seller, as for bayer,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: for borrower, as for lender, for debtor, as for creditor.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: No one will escape this judgment based on their social
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: position or economic status. The Earth will be completely laid
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: The earth dries up and withers. The world languishes and withers.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: The heavens languish with the earth. In verse five, God
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: explains the reason for this universal devastation. The Earth also
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. The
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Earth is defiled by its people. They've disobeyed the laws,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting Covenant. Therefore, a
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: curse consumes the Earth, and its people must bear their guilt. Therefore,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: The new wine dries up, the vine withers, all the
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: merrymakers grown. The gayety of the tembrils is stilled. The
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: noise of the revelers has stopped, and the joyful harp
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: is silent. All celebration comes to an end. No longer
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: do they drink wine with the song. The beer is
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate. The
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom, and
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: all joyful sounds are banished from the earth. The city
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: is left in ruins. Its gate is battered to pieces.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: So will it be on the earth and among the nations,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: like the beating of an olive tree, like the gleaning
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: of grapes. When the grape harvest is over, only a
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: small remnant will remain. They raise their voices and shout
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: for joy. From the west, they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: in the East, give glory to the Lord. In the
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: islands of the sea, glorify the name of the Lord,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Asia hear singing glory to the Righteous One. But then
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: he says, in verse sixteen, my leanness, my leanness, woe
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: unto me. The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously. If the
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously, he wastes away with despair.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: The treacherous betray, the treacherous betray with treachery. Terror, and
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: pit and snare await you people of the earth. In
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: verse eighteen, God warns, and it shall come to pass
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: out of the midst of the pit shall be taken
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: in the snare. For the windows from on high are open,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and the foundations of the earth do shake. Whoever flees
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: at the sound of terror will fall into a pit.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, and
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken up,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the earth is split a sun. The earth is violently shaken.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: The earth reels like a drunkard. It sways like a
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: hut in the wind, so heavy upon it is the
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: guilt of its rebellion, that it falls, never to rise again.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: In that day, the Lord will punish the powers in
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the heavens above, and the kings on the earth below.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: They'll be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: They'll be shut up in prison and be punished. After
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: many days, the moon will be dismayed and the sun ashamed.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: For the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem and before its elders with great glory. In
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: chapter twenty five, the tone shifts dramatically from judgment to praise.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Isaiah begins in verse one, O Lord, thou art my God,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I will exalt thee I will praise thy name, for
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old are
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: faithfulness and truth. You are my God. I'll exalt you
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: and praise your name. For you've done marvelous things, things
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: planned long ago. In perfect faithfulness and truth. You have
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: a ruin, the foreigner's stronghold, a city no more. It
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong peoples will honor you.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Cities of ruthless nations will revere you. Even the violent
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: nations will fear God's name. You have been a refuge
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: for the poor, a refuge for the needy. In their distress,
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: driving against a wall, and like the heat of the desert.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: You silence the uproar of foreigners and the song of
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the ruthless. On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: of aged wine, the best of meats, and the finest
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: of wines. In verse seven, he promises something even greater,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: and he will destroy in this mountain the face of
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: the covering cast over all people, and the veil that
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: is spread over all nations. On this mountain he'll destroy
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the shroud that infolds all peoples, the sheet that covers
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: all nations. He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces and
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: has spoken in that day, they will say in verse nine, Lo,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: this is our God. We have waited for him, and
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: he will save us. This is the Lord, we have
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: his salvation. The hand of the Lord will rest on
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: this mountain, But moab will be trampled in their land,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: as straw is trampled down in the manure. They'll stretch
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: hands to swim. But God will bring down their pride
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: despite the cleverness of their hands. Chapter twenty six continues
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: with a song that will be sung in the land
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: of Judah in that day. In Verse one, they'll sing,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: we have a strong city. God will appoint salvation for
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: walls and bulwarks. We have a strong city. God makes
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: righteous nation may enter. The nation that keeps faith. You
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: because they trust in you. In Verse three, thou wilt
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: because he trusteth in Thee, trust in the Lord forever.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: For the Lord, the Lord himself is the rock eternal.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: He humbles those who dwell on high. He lays the
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: lofty city low. He levels it to the ground and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: The path of the righteous is level, You, the upright one.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: in the way of your laws, we wait for you.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: My soul yearns for you in the night. In the morning,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. Lord,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you establish peace for us, or that we've accomplished. You've
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: done for us, Lord, our God. Other lords besides you
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: have ruled over us. But your name alone do we honor.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: In verse nineteen, Isaiah declares a powerful promise. Thy dead
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: men shall live together with my dead body. Shall they arise,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, For thy
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: shall cast out the dead. Your dead will live, their
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: bodies will rise. Let those who dwell in the dust
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: wake up and shout for joy. Chapter twenty eight opens
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: with a woe to Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom. In verse one,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Isaiah cries woe to the crown of Pride, to the
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: which are on the head of the fat valleys, of
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: them that are overcome with wine. Oh, to that wreath,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: glorious beauty set on the head of a fertile valley,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: To that city, the pride of those laid low by wine. See,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the Lord has one who is powerful and strong, Like
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: a hail storm and a destructive wind, like a driving
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: to the ground. That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: will be trampled under foot. That fading flower, his glorious
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: beauty set on the head of a fertile valley, will
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: be like figs ripe before harvest. As soon as people
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: see them and take them in hand, they swallow them.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: In that day, the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He'll
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: be a spirit of justice to the one who sits
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: back the battle at the gate. But even these stagger
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: from wine and reel from beer. Priests and prophets stagger
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: from beer and are befuddled with wine, they reel from beer.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: They stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: All the tables are covered with vomit, and there's not
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: a spot without filth. The people mock Isaiah, asking in
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: verse nine, whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the milk and drawn from the breasts. Who is he
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: trying to teach? Who is he explaining his message to
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: to children weaned from their milk, to those just taken
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: from the breast. For it is in verse ten, precept
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Here a little and there a little do this? Do that?
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: A rule? For this? A rule for that? A little here,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: a little there. They're mocking Isaiah's simple, repetitive teaching style.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Very well, then God will speak to this people with
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: foreign lips and strange tongues. He told them that this
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: is the resting place, let the weary rest, and this
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: is the place of repose. But they wouldn't listen. So
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: then the word of the Lord to them will become
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: rule upon rule, rule upon rule. A little here, a
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: little there, so that as they go they'll fall backward,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: be injured, snared, and captured. In Chapter thirty, God pronounces
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: woe on the obstinate children. In verse one, he declares,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: woe to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: counsel but not of me, and that cover with the covering,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: but not of My spirit, that they may add sin
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: to sin. Woe to the obstinate children who carry out
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: plans that are not mine, forming an alliance without my spirit,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: heaping sin upon sin. They go down to Egypt without
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: consulting me. They look for help, to Pharaoh's protection. They
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: take refuge in Egypt's shade. But Pharaoh's protection will be
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: to your shame. Egypt shade will bring you disgrace. Though
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: they have officials in Zoan and their envoys reach Haines,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: everyone will be put to shame because of a people
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: only shame and disgrace. A prophecy concerning the animals of
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: the nagev through a land of hardship and distress, of
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes. The envoys
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: carry their riches on donkeys, backs their treasures on the
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation, to Egypt, whose
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: help is utterly useless. This is a rebellious people, deceitful children,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. They say
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: to the seers in verse ten, see not, and to
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: the prophets prophesy not unto us. Right things speak unto us,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: smooth things, prophesied, deceits. Stop confronting us with visions. Give
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: us no more visions of what is right. Tell ll
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: us pleasant things, prophesy, illusions, leave this way, get off
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: of Israel. Therefore, this is what the Holy One of
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Israel says in verse thirteen. Therefore this iniquity shall be
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression, and
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: a high wall cracked and bulging that collapses suddenly in
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: an instant. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: a god of justice. Blessed are all who wait for
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: him in verse eighteen. And therefore will the Lord wait
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: that he may be gracious unto you, And therefore will
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: For the Lord is a god of judgment. Blessed are
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: all they that wait for him. People of Zion who
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: live in Jerusalem, You'll weep no more. In chapter thirty two,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a Zia sees a vision of a coming righteous king.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: In verse one, he declares, Behold, a king shall reign
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. See, a
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: king will reign in righteousness, and rulers will rule with justice.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: This is a dramatic contrast to the corrupt leadership Isaiah
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: has been denouncing. Each one will be like a shelter
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: streams of water in the desert, and the shadow of
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: of those who see will no longer be closed, and
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the ears of those who hear will listen. The fearful
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: be fluent and clear. No longer will the fool be
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected. Till fools
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: speak folly. Their hearts are bent on evil. They practice
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: ungodliness and spread error concerning the law lord. The hungry
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: they leave empty, and from the thirsty they withhold water.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: The scoundrel's methods are wicked. He makes up evil schemes
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: of the needy is just. But the noble make noble plans,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: and by noble deeds they stand. Isiah addresses the women
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: who are complaisant in verse nine. Rise up, ye women
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: that are at ease. Hear my voice, Ye careless daughters,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: give ear unto my speech. You women who are so complaisant,
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Rise up and listen to me. You daughters who feel secure,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: hear what I have to say. In little more than
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: a year, you who feel secure will tremble. The grape
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Tremble you complaisant women. Shudder, you daughters who feel secure.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: and for the land of my people, a land overgrown
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: with thorns and briars. Yes, mourn for all houses of merriment,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: and for this city of revelry. The fortress will be abandoned,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: the noisy city, deserted, citadel and watchtower will become a
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: waste land forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: till the spirit is poured on us from on high.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: But then comes hope. In Verse fifteen, Isiah promises, until
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: be counted for a forest, till the spirit is poured
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: on us from on high, and the desert becomes a
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: The Lord's justice will dwell in the desert. His righteousness
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: will be peace. Its effect will be quietness and confidence. Forever.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes,
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: in un disturbed places of rest. Chapter thirty three opens
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: with a woe to the destroyer who has not yet
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: been destroyed. In verse one, Isaiah cries out woe to
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: THEE that spoilest, And thou wst not spoiled, and deal
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: is treacherously, And they dealt not treacherously with thee. When
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled. And
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: shall deal treacherously with thee. When you stop destroying, you
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: will be destroyed. When you stop betraying, you will be betrayed. Lord,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: be gracious to us. We long for you, be our
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: strength every morning, our salvation. In time of distress, at
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: the uproar of your army, the peoples flee. When you
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: rise up, the nations scatter. Your plunder ow nations is
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: harvested as by young locusts. Like a swarm of locusts,
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: people pounce on it. The Lord is exalted, for he'd
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: wells on high. He will fill Zion with his justice
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. The
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Look,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: their brave men cry aloud in the streets. The envoys
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: of peace weep bitterly the highways are deserted. No travelers
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: are on the roads. The treaty is broken, Its witnesses
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: are despised, and no one is respected. The land dries
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: up and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Charon
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Kamel drop their leaves. Now,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: the Lord says in verse ten, Now will I rise,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: saith the Lord. Now will I be exalted? Now will
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: I lift up myself? Now I will arise? Now I
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: will be exalted. Now I will be lifted up. You
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: conceive chaff, You give birth to straw. Your breath is
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: a fire that consumes you. The peoples will be burned
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: to lie like cut thorn bushes. They'll be set ablaze.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: You who are far away hear what I have done.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: You who are near, acknowledge my power. The sinners in
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: Zion are terrified, trembling grips the godless. They ask in
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: verse fourteen, who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Who can
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: dwell with consuming fire? Who can dwell with everlasting burning?
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Those who walk righteously and speak what is right? Who
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: reject gain from extortion, and keep their hands from accepting bribes.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: their eyes against contemplating evil. They are the ones who
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: will dwell on the heights. Their refuge will be the
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: not fail them. Your eyes will see the King in
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: his beauty, and view a land that stretches afar. In
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Verse seventeen, thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: They shall behold the land that is very far off.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: You will see a king in his splendor, and view
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: a land that stretches into the distance. Look on Zion,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: a peaceful home, a tent that won't be moved. It
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: ropes broken. There the Lord will be our mighty one.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: will sail them. For the Lord is our judge, the
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Lord is our law giver, The Lord is our king.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: It is he who will save us. Chapter thirty four
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: opens with a call for all nations to listen. In
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: verse one, Isaiah cries out, come near, ye nations, to
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: hear and hearken, ye people, Let the earth hear, and
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: all that is therein the world, and all things that
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: come forth of it. Come near and listen, all you nations.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Let the earth hear and everything in it, the world,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: and all that comes out of it. The Lord is
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: angry with all nations. His wrath is on all their armies.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: He will totally destroy them and give them over to slaughter.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Their slain will be thrown out, Their dead bodies will stink,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: and the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: the stars in the sky will be dissolved, and the
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: heavens rolled up like a scroll. All the starry host
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: figs from the fig tree. God's sword has drunk its
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: fill in the heavens. See it descends in judgment on Edom,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: the people he has totally destroyed. In verse six, the
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: description becomes vivid. The sword of the Lord is filled
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: with blood. It is made fat with fatness, and with
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: the kidneys of rams. For the Lord hath a sacrifice
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Idumeya.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: The Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: in the land of Edom. Wild oxen will fall with them,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: with fat. For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: a year of retribution to uphold Zion's cause. Dam's streams
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Her land will become blazing pitch. It won't be quenched
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: night or day. Its smoke will rise forever, from generation
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: to generation. It will lie desolate. No one will ever
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: pass through it again. The desert owl and screech owl
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: will possess it. The great owl and the raven will
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: nest there. God will stretch out over Edom, the measuring
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. Her
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: and all her princes will vanish away. Thorns will overrun
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: her citadel's nettles and brambles. Her strongholds shall become a
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: haunt for jackals, a home for hours. Howels, desert creatures
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: will meet with hyaenas, and wild goats will bleat to
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: each other. There the night creatures will rest and find
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: for themselves places of repose. The owl will nest there
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: and lay eggs. She'll hatch them and care for her
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: young under the shadow of her wings. There also the
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: falcons will gather, each with its mate. Chapter thirty five
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: presents a stunning contrast to the judgment just described. The
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: will rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It will burst
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: into bloom and rejoice greatly. It will be given the
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: glory of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They'll
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Isaiah calls out in verse three to strengthen the weak
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: with fearful hearts, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: will come and save you. Be strong, and don't fear.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Your God will come with vengeance, with divine retribution. He'll
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: come to save you. Then, the eyes of the blind
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: will be opened and the ears of the death unstopped.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: mute tongue will shout for joy. Water will gush forth
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The burning
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: in the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: and papyrus will grow. A highway will be there, and
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: it will be called the way of holiness. It will
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: be for those who walk on that way. The unclean
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: won't journey on it. Wicked fools won't go about on it.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast will
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: get up on it. They won't be found there. But
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: only the redeemed will walk there. In verse ten, Isaiah
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: describes their return. And the ransomed of the Lord shall
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting ji
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Those the Lord has
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: rescued will return. They'll enter Zion with singing. Everlasting joy
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them,
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Chapter thirty six
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: begins the historical section of Isaiah. In verse one, the
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: narrative opens, Now it came to pass in the fourteenth
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: year of King Hazikiah, that Sir Nacarib, King of Assyria,
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: came up against all the defenced cities of Judah and
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: took them. In the fourteenth year of King Hazikiah's reign,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Zir Nacarib, King of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: of Judah and captured them. The King of Assyria sent
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: his field commander with a large army from Lakish to
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: King Hazikiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: law Undera's field, Eliakim's son of Hilkia, the palace administrator,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: Shebnah the secretary, and Joah, son of aesp the recorder,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: went out to him. The field commander said to them
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: in verse four, say ye, now to Hiszekiah, thus saith
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: the great King, the King of Assyria, What confidence is this?
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: Wherein thou trustest Tell Hezekiah that the great King, the
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: King of Assyria asks on what are you basing this
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: confidence of yours. You say you have counsel and might
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: for war, but you speak only empty words. On whom
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: are you depending that you rebel against me? Look, you're
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: depending on Egypt. That splintered reed of a staff which
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it, touches Pharaoh,
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: king of Egypt, to all who depend on him. But
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: if you say to me that you're depending on the
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: Lord your God, isn't he the one whose high places
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: and altars? Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem that
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: you must worship before this altar. Come, now, make a
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I'll give
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: How then can you repulse one officer of the least
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: of my master's officials, even though you are depending on
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: Egypt for chariots and horsemen. Furthermore, have I come to
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Then Eliakim Shebna and Joah said to the field commander
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: in verse eleven, speak I pray thee unto thy servants
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: in the Syrian language, for we understand it, and speak
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: not to us in the Jews language. In the ears
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: of the people that are on the wall. Please speak
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: people on the wall. But the commander replied that his
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: master sent him to say these things to the people
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: sitting on the wall, who like them will have to
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: eat their own excrement and drink their own urine. Then
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: the commander stood and called out in Hebrew loudly, hear
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: ye the words of the great King, the King of Assyria.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: He continued, don't let Hezekiah deceive you. He can't deliver you.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: by saying the Lord will surely deliver us, and this
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: city won't be given into the hand of the King
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: of Assyria. Don't listen to Hezekiah. The King of Assyria says,
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: make peace with me and come out to me. Then
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: each of you will eat fruit from your own vine
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: and fig tree, and drink water from your own cistern.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: Until I come and take you to a land like
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: your own. Has the god of any nation ever delivered
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: Where are the gods of Hammeth and Arpad? Where are
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: the gods of Cefivim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: Who of all the gods of these countries has been
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: able to save his land from me? How then can
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? But the people
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: had commanded them not to answer him. Then Eliakim, Shebnah,
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: and Joah returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: told him what the field commander had said. When King
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah heard this in chapter thirty seven, he tore his clothes,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: put on sackcloth, and went into the temple of the Lord.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: He sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, of Shebnah, the secretary,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: and the leading priests, all wearing sacloth to the prophet
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Isaiah son of Amoz. They told Isaiah in verse three, Thus,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: Saith Hezekiah, this day is a day of trouble and
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: of rebuke and of blasphemy. For the children are come
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: This is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: as when children come to the moment of birth and
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: there's no strength to deliver them. Perhaps the Lord your
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: godd will hear the words of the field commander, whom
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: his master, the King of Assyria, has sent to ridicule
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: the Living God, and will rebuke him for the words
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, pray for the
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: remnant that still survives. When Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: Isiah said to them, tell your master that the Lord
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: says not to be afraid of what you've heard, those
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: words with which the underlings of the King of Assyria
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: have blasphemed me, listen. When he hears a certain report,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: I'll make him want to return to his own country,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: and there I'll have him cut down with the sword.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: When the field commander heard that the King of Assyria
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: had left Lakish, he withdrew and found the king fighting
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: against Libna. Now, Senecarib received a report that Tihaka, the
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: king of Kush, was marching out to fight against him.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: this word. Don't let the God you depend on deceive
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: you when he says Jerusalem won't be given into the
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: hands of the king of Assyria. Surely you've heard what
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries,
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: deliver them? Ezekiah received the letter from the messengers and
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: read it. Then he went up to the temple of
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah prayed to the Lord in verse sixteen, O, Lord
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: of Hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherabims,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Give ear, Lord, and here open your eyes, Lord, and
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: see listen to all the words Senacharibus sent to ridicule
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: the Living God. It's true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They've
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: they weren't gods, but only wood and stone fashion by
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: human hands. Now, Lord, our God deliver us from his hand,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: that you, Lord, are the only God. Then Isiah sent
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: a message to Hazekiah. The Lord, the God of Israel,
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: says that because you've prayed to me concerning s Nacharib,
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: King of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: spoken against him. Virgin daughter Zion despises you and mocks you.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. The Lord
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: declares in verse twenty nine, because thy rage against me
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: and thy tumult is come up into mine ears. Therefore
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: will I put my hook in thy nose and my
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: by the way by which thou camest. Because you rage
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: against me, and because your insolence has reached my ears,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: I'll put my hook in your nose and my bit
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: in your mouth, and I'll make you return by the
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: way you came. That night, the Angel of the Lord
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: went out and put to death a hundred and eighty
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: So Sirnacharib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. He
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: sons Adramelech and Sharezah killed him with the sword, and
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: they escaped to the land of Ararat and Desah Hadden,
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: his son, succeeded him as king. In chapter thirty eight,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: verse one, the narrative continues, in those days was Hezekiah
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: sick unto death in Isiah. The prophet, the son of Amoz,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: came unto him and said, unto him, thus saith, the
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: Lord set thine house in order, for thou shalt die
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: and not live. In those days, Hezekiah became ill and
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah went
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: to him and said that the Lord tells him to
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: put his house in order, because he's going to die
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: and won't recover. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: and prayed to the Lord. He said in verse three,
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: Remember now, o Lord, I beseech THEE, how I have
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: walked before THEE in truth and with a perfect heart,
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: and have done that which is good in thy sight.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: Remember Lord, how he's walked before God faithfully and with
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: wholehearted devotion, and has done what is good in his eyes.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: came to Isaiah. Go and tell Ezekiah that the Lord,
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: the God of his father David, says, he's heard his
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: prayer and seen his tears. He'll add fifteen years to
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: his life, and he'll deliver him and this city from
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: the hand of the king of Assyria. He'll defend this city.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: This is the Lord's sign to Hezekiah that the Lord
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: will do what he has promised. He'll make the shadow
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: cast by the sun go back the ten steps it
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: has gone down on the stairway of a haz So
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: After Hazekiah recovered, he wrote about his experience. In verse ten,
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: he says, I said, in the cutting off of my days,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: I shall go to the gates of the grave. I
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: am deprived of the residue of my years. He thought,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: in the prime of his life he must go through
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: the gates of death and be robbed of the rest
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: of his years. He thought he wouldn't see the Lord
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: himself in the land of the living. He wouldn't look
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: on humanity anymore with those who now dwell in this
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: world like a shepherd's tent. His dwelling has been pulled
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: down and taken from him like a weaver. He's rolled
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: up his life, and he's been cut off from the loom.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: Hazekiah cried like a swift or thrush. He moaned like
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: a mourning dove. His eyes grew weak as he looked
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: to the heavens. He was being threatened, but the Lord
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: came to his help. What can he say? The Lord
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: has spoken to him, and he himself has done this.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: He'll walk humbly all his years because of this anguish
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: of his soul. Lord, by such things people live, and
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: his spirit finds life in them too. The Lord restored
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: him to health and let him live. Surely it was
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: for his benefit that he suffered such anguish. In his love,
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: God kept him from the pit of destruction and put
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: all his sins behind his back. Chapter thirty nine tells
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: what happened after Hezekiah's recovery. At that time, Marduk Baladan,
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: son of Baladan, King of Babylon, sent Hezekiah letters and
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: a gift because he'd heard of his illness and recovery.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: in his storehouses, the silver, the gold, the spices, the
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: fine olive oil, his entire armory, and everything found among
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: all his kingdom that Hezekiah didn't show them. Then Isiah
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: the Prophet went to King hezik Zekiah and asked what
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: those men said and where they came from. Ezekiah replied
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: that they came from a distant land, from Babylon. Isaiah
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: asked what they saw in his palace. Hezekiah answered, in
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: verse four, all that is in mine house have they seen?
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: There is nothing among my treasures that I have not
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: showed them everything. There is nothing among his treasures that
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: he didn't show them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah in
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: verse six, behold the days come that all that is
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon.
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: Nothing shall be left, Saith the Lord. The time will
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: surely come when everything in your palace and all that
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, and some
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, who will
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: be born to you, will be taken, and they'll become eunuchs.
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: In the palace of the King of Babylon, Ezekiah replied
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: that the word of the Lord Isaiah had spoken is good,
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: for he thought there would be peace and security in
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: his lifetime. Chapter forty marks a dramatic shift in tone
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: and message. In verse one, God speaks, comfort ye, Comfort ye,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: my people, saith your God, Comfort, Comfort my people speak
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: that she's received from the Lord's hand double for all
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: her sins. A voice cries out in verse three, the
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: a highway for our God. A voice of one calling
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: to make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: made low o The rough ground shall become level, the
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: rugged places a plain, and the glory of the Lord
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: says to cry out, and Isaiah asks what he should
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: cry in verse six, the answer comes. All flesh is grass,
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: the field. All people are like grass, and all their
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: grass withers and the flowers fall. But the word of
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: our God endures forever. You who bring good news to Zion,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: go up on a high mountain, You who bring good
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: news to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice with a shout.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: Lift it up, and don't be afraid. Say to the
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: towns of Judah, behold your God. See the sovereign Lord
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: See his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: He gently leads those that have young, who has measured
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens. Who
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: in a balance. Who can fathom the spirit of the Lord,
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: or instruct the Lord as his Counselor surely the nations
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: are like a drop in a bucket. They're regarded as
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: they were fine dust. Lebanon isn't sufficient for altar fires,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him, all
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: the nations are as nothing. They're regarded by him as
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: worthless and less than nothing. Continuing in chapter forty, verse eighteen,
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: Isaiah asked ks, to whom then, will ye liken God?
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? With whom
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: will you compare God? To? What image will you liken him?
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: As for an idol, a metal worker casts it, and
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashioned silver chains
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: for it. A person too poor to present such an
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: offering selects wood that won't rot. They look for a
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: skilled worker to set up an idol that won't topple.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: not been told you from the beginning? Have you not
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: them out like a tent to live in. He brings
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: princes to nothing, and reduces the rulers of this world
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: to nothing. No sooner are they planted, No sooner are
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: they sown. No sooner do they take root in the ground,
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: than He blows on them, and they wither, and a
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. In verse twenty five,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: God asks to whom, then, will ye liken me? Or
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: shall I be equal? Saith the Holy One, to whom
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: will you compare me? Or who is my equal? Lift
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: up your eyes and look to the heavens who created
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: all these, He who brings out the starry host one
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: by one and calls forth each of them by name.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: of them is missing. Why do you complain, Jacob, Why
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: do you say, Israel that your way is hidden from
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and your cause is disregarded by your God.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: the earth. He won't grow tired or weary, and his
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: Soar on wings like eagles. They'll run and not grow weary.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: They'll walk and not be faint. Chapter forty one continues
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: this theme. In verse ten, God declares, fear thou not,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, For I
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: am thy God. I will strengthen thee yea, I will
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: help thee yea, I will uphold thee with the right
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: hand of my righteousness. So don't fear, for He's with you.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: Don't be dismayed, for he's your God. He'll strengthen you
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: and help you. He'll uphold you with his righteous right hand.
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: In chapter forty two, verse one, God introduces his servant,
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: Behold my servant, whom I uphold mine elect, in whom
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles. Here is
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: I delight, I'll put my spirit on him, and he'll
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: bring justice to the nations. He won't shout or cry out,
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: or raise his voice in the streets. Bruised reed, he
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: won't break, and a smoldering wickie won't snuff out. And
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: in faithfulness he'll bring forth justice. He won't falter or
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth in his teaching.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: The islands will put their hope. This is what God,
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: the Lord, says, the creator of the heavens, who stretches
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: them out, who spreads out the earth with all that
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: springs from it, who gives breath to its people and
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: life to those who walk on it. He has called
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: his servant in righteousness, and will take hold of his hand.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: He'll keep him, and will make him to be a
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: covenant for the people and a light for the gentiles,
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison,
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: God declares in verse eight, I am the Lord, that
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: is my name, and my glory. Will I not give
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: to another, neither my praise to graven images. He's the Lord,
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: that's his name. He won't yield his glory to another,
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: or his praise to idols. See the former things have
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: taken place, and new things, he declares, before they spring
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: into being, He announces them to you. Sing to the
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: Lord a new song his praise from the ends of
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: the earth, you who go down to the sea and
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: all that is in it, You islands and all who
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: live in them. In chapter forty nine, God's servant speaks
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: in verse one, listen, o isles unto me, and hearken,
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: the womb, from the bowels of my mother. Hath he
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: made mention of my name. Listen to me, you islands.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: Hear this, you distant nations. Before he was born, the
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: Lord called him from his mother's womb. He hath spoken
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: his name. He made his mouth like a sharpened sword.
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: In the shadow of his hand, he hid him. He
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: made him into a polish'd arrow, and concealed him in
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: his quiver. He said to him, you are my servant Israel,
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: in whom I'll display my splendor. But the servant said
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: he'd lay in vain and spent his strength for nothing
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: at all. Yet what was due him was in the
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: Lord's hand, and his reward was with his God. And
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: now the Lord says he who formed him in the
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: him and gather Israel to himself. For he's honored in
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: the eyes of the Lord, and his God has been
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: his strength. He says in verse six, it is a
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: of Israel. I will also give thee for a light
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: to the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: the end of the earth. It's too small a thing
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: for you to be my servant to restore the tribes
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I've kept.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: I'll also make you a light for the gentiles, that
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty opens with God asking a question. In verse one,
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: he says, thus, saith the Lord, where is the bill
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? Or
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: which of my creditors is it to whom I have
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: sold you? Behold? For your iniquities? Have ye sold yourselves?
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: And for your transgressions? Is your mother put away? Where's
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: Because of your sins? You were sold because of your transgressions.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: Your mother was sent away? When God came? Why was
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: there no one when he called? Why was there no
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: one to answer? Was his arm too short to deliver?
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: Did he lack the strength to rescue? By a mere rebuke?
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: He dried up the sea. He turned rivers into a desert.
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: Their fish rotted for lack of water and died of thirst.
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: He clothed the heavens with darkness and made sackcloth its covering. Then,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: in verse four, the servant begins to speak. The Lord
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: I should know how to speak a word in season
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning.
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: He wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned. The
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: sovereign Lord has given him a well instructed tongue to
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens him
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: mourning by morning, wakens his ear to listen like one
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened his ear, and
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: he hasn't been rebellious. He hasn't turned away. He offered
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: his back to those who beat him, his cheeks to
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: those who pulled out his beard. He didn't hide his
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps him,
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: he won't be disgraced. Therefore, he's set his face like flint,
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: and he knows he won't be put to shame. He
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: who vindicates him is near, who then will bring charges
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: against him? Let them confront him. It's the Sovereign Lord
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: who helps him who will condemn him. They'll all wear
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: out like a garment. The moths will eat them up.
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: Who among you fears the Lord and obey the word
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: of his servant. Let the one who walks in the dark,
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: who has no light, trust in the name of the
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: Lord and rely on their God. But now, all you
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: walk in the light of your fires and of the
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: torches you've set ablaze. This is what you'll receive from
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: God's hand. You'll lie down in Torment. Chapter fifty two
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: begins preparing for the greatest revelation in Isaiah. Starting at
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: verse thirteen, God announces, Behold, my servant shall deal prudently.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. See,
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: my servant will act wisely. He'll be raised and lifted
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: were appalled at him. His appearance was so disfigured beyond
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: that of any human being, and his form marred beyond
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: human likeness. So he'll sprinkle. Many nations and kings will
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: shut their mouths because of him. For what they weren't
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: told they'll see, and what they haven't heard they'll understand.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty three continues with the question in verse one,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: who hath believed our report? And to whom is the
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: arm of the Lord revealed? Who has believed our message?
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: He grew up before God like a tender shoot, and
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: like a root out of dry ground. He had no
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces.
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: in verse four the truth breaks through. Surely he hath
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: esteem him. Stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Surely he
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: on him, And by his wounds we are healed. We all,
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: to our own way, and the Lord has laid on
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted,
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: yet he didn't open his mouth. He was led like
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: its shearers, is silent, So he didn't open his mouth.
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: of his generation protested, for he was cut off from
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: the land of the living for the transgression of my people.
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: wicked and with the rich. In his death, though he'd
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: life an offering for sin, see his offspring and prolong
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: in his hand. After he has suffered, he'll see the
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: righteous servant will justify many, and he'll bear their iniquities. Therefore,
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: God will give him a portion among the great, and
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: he'll divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: For he bore the sin of many and made intercession
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: for the transgressors. Chapter fifty four opens with a command
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: in verse one, sing o baron, thou that didst not
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: bear break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: didst not travail with child? For more are the children
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: of the desolate than the children of the married wife.
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: Saith the Lord sing, barren woman, you who never bore
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: a child, burst into song. Shout for joy, you who
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: were never in labor, Because more are the children of
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: the day desolate woman than of her who has a husband.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide.
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: Don't hold back, lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes, or
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: you'll spread out to the right and to the left.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid. You won't be put to shame. Don't
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: fear disgrace. You won't be humiliated. You'll forget the shame
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: of your youth, and remember no more the reproach of
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: your widowhood. For your maker is your husband. The Lord
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: Almighty is his name. The Holy One of Israel is
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: your redeemer. He's called the God of all the earth.
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: The Lord will call you back as if you were
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: a wife deserted and distressed in spirit, a wife who
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: married young only to be rejected. For a brief moment,
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: God abandoned you. But with deep compassion he'll bring you
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: back in a surge of anger, he hid his face
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness he'll
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: have compassion on you. To God, this is like the
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: days of Noah, when he swore that the waters of
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: Noah would never again cover the earth. So now he's
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: be removed, Yet his unfailing love for you won't be shaken,
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: nor his covenant of peace be removed. Afflicted city, lashed
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: by storms, and not comforted, He'll rebuild you with stones
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. He'll make your
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: your walls of precious stones. All your children will be
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: In righteousness, you'll be established. Tyranny will be far from you.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: You'll have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed.
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: It won't come near you. If any one does attack you,
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: it won't be his doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: to you. Chapter fifty five begins with an invitation in
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: verse one ho every one that thirsteth. Come ye to
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye,
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: buy and eat. Ye, Come buy wine and milk without
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: money and without price. Come all you who are thirsty,
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: come to the waters, and you who have no money,
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: money and without cost. Why spend money on what isn't bread,
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: and your labor on what doesn't satisfy. Listen, listen to God,
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: and eat what is good, and you'll delight in the
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: richest affair. Give ear and come to him. Listen, that
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: you may live. He'll make an everlasting covenant with you,
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: his faithful love promised to David. See he has made
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: of the peoples. Surely you'll summon nations you know not,
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: and nations you don't know will come running to you
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: because of the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: For he has endowed you with splendor. Seek the Lord
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: while he may be found, Call on him while he's near.
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: Let them turn to the Lord, and he'll have mercy
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: on them. And to our God, for he'll freely pardon.
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: In verse eight, God declares, for my thoughts are not
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, Saith the Lord.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: For my thoughts aren't your thoughts, neither are your ways
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: come down from heaven, and don't return to it without
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: that it yields seed for the sower and bread for
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: the eater, so is my word that goes out from
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: my mouth. It won't return to me empty, but will
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: I scent it. You'll go out in joy and be
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: led for in peace. The mountains and hills will burst
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: into song before you, and all the trees of the
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn, bush
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: will grow the juniper, and instead of briars, the myrtle
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: an everlasting sign that won't be destroyed. Chapter fifty six
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: opens with God's call in verse one, Thus saith the Lord,
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: keep ye judgment and do justice, for my salvation is
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Maintain
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: justice and do what is right, for my salvation is
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: Blessed is any one who does this, the person who
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: and keeps their hands from doing any evil. Let no
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: foreigner who is bound to the Lord say that the
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: Lord will surely exclude them from his people, and let
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: no eunuch complain that he's only a dry tree. For
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep his Sabbaths,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: who choose what pleases him and hold fast to his covenant,
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: to them, he'll give within his temple and its walls
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters.
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: He'll give them an everlasting name that won't be endured.
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: to him, to love the name of the Lord, and
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: to be his servants. All who keep the Sabbath without
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: desecrating it, and who hold fast to his covenant, These
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: he'll bring to his holy mountain and give them joy
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: in his house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: will be accepted on his altar. For his house will
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: be called a house of prayer for all nations. The
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: Sovereign Lord declares, he who gathers the exiles of Israel
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: in verse eight, I will gather still others to them,
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: besides those already gathered. He'll gather still others to them,
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: besides those already gathered. Chapter sixty continue this theme of
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: universal blessing. In verse one, the call goes out, A rise, shine,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: for thy light is come, and the glory of the
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: Lord is risen upon thee. A rise, shine, for your
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: upon you. See darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: is over the peoples. But the Lord rises upon you,
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: your light and kings, to the brightness of your dawn.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: and come to you. Your sons come from Afar, and
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: your daughters are carried on the hip. Then your look
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy.
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: The wealth on the seas will be brought to you.
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: To you, the riches of the nations will come. Herds
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: of camels will cover your land. Young camels of Midian
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: and Epha, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. Foreigners
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you.
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: Though in anger he struck you, in favor, he'll show
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: you compassion. Chapter fifty eight addresses religious hypocrisy. God tells
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: Isiah in verse one, cry aloud, spare not lift up
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Shout it aloud,
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: don't hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek God out.
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: They seem eager to know his ways, as if they
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: were a nation that does what is right and hasn't
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: forsaken the commands of its God. They ask him for
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: They ask in verse three, wherefore have we fasted? Say they?
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: And thou seest not. Wherefore have we afflicted our soul?
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: And thou takest no knowledge? Why have we fasted and
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: you haven't seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves and
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: you haven't noticed yet? On the day of your fasting,
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: each other with wicked fists. You can't fast as you
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: do to day and expect your voice to be heard
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: on high? Is this the kind of fast? God has chosen?
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: Only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: only for bowing one's head like a reed, and for
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: a fast? A day acceptable to the Lord? In verse six,
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: God reveals what he truly wants. Is not this the
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness,
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: go free, and that ye break every yoke? Isn't this
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: the kind of fasting God has chosen to loose the
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Isn't
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: it to share your fe food with the hungry, and
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. When you see
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: from your own flesh and blood. Then your light will
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear.
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: of the Lord will be your rear God. Then you'll
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: call and the Lord will answer. You'll cry for help,
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: and he'll say, here am I. If you do away
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: your light will rise in the darkness, and your night
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: will become like the noonday. Regarding the Sabbath, God says
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: in verse thirteen, if thou turn away thy foot from
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: Lord honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways,
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: If you keep your feet from breaking the sabbath and
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: from doing as you please on his holy day. If
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's Holy
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: Day honorable, and if you honor it by not going
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: your own way and not doing as you please or
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: speaking idle words, then you'll find your joy in the Lord.
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifty nine begins with a powerful statement in verse one, Behold,
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save,
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear. Surely the
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: arm of the Lord isn't too short to save, nor
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: face from you so that he won't hear. For your
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: No one calls for justice, No one pleads a case
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: with integrity. They rely on empty argument. They speak lies,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: the eggs of vipers and spin of spider's web. Whoever
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken,
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing.
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: They can't cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: Their feet rush into sin. They're swift to shed innocent blood.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: They pursue evil schemes. Acts of violence mark their ways.
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: The way of peace. They don't know. There's no justice
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: in their paths. They've turned them into crooked roads. No
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: one who walks along them will know peace. Though justice
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: is far from us and righteousness doesn't reach us. We
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: look for light, but all is darkness for brightness, but
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: we walk in deep shadows like the blind. We grope
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: At midday, we stumble as if it were twilight. Among
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: the strong, we're like the dead. We all growl like bears,
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: moan mournfully like doves. We'd look for justice, but find
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: none for deliverance, But it's far away. For our offenses
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us.
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities.
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: We've rebelled and been treacherous to the Lord. We've turned
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: our backs on our God. We've incited revolt, and oppression.
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: We've uttered lies, our hearts conceived. So justice is driven back,
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: and righteousness stands at a distance. Truth has stumbled in
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: the streets. Honesty can't enter. Truth is nowhere to be found,
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: that there was no one. He was appalled that there
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: was no one to intervene. So his own arm achieved
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: salvation on his head. He put on the garments of
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: veneer and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: In Chapter sixty two, Isiah refuses to remain silent. In
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: verse one, he declares, for Zion's sake, will I not
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: hold my peace, And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: the salvation thereof is a lamp that burneth. For Zion's sake,
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: he won't keep silent. For Jerusalem's sake, he won't remain
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: quiet till her vindication shines out like the dawn her
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication,
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: and all kings your glory. You'll be called by a
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: You'll be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand,
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: longer will they call you deserted or name your land desolate.
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: But you'll be called Hefzibah, and your land Beulah. For
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: the Lord will take delight in you, and your land
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: will be married. As a young man marries a young woman,
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: so will your builder marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixty five reveals God's response to those who seek him.
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: In Verse one, God says, I am sort of them
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: that asked not for me. I am fond of them
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: and too a nation that was not called by my
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: name a reed. I revealed myself to those who didn't
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: ask for me. I was found by those who didn't
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: seek me, to a nation that didn't call on my name.
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: I said, here am I, here am I all day long,
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: He's held out his hands to an obstinate people who
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations, a
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: people who continually provoke him to his very face, offering
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: But God will create something entirely new. In verse seventeen,
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: he declares, for behold, I create new heavens and a
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: new earth, And the former shall not be remembered nor
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: come into mind. See I'll create new heavens and a
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: new earth. The former things won't be remembered, nor will
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: in what he'll create. For he'll create Jerusalem to be
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: a delight and its people a joy. He'll rejoice over
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and take delight in his people. The sound of
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 1: weeping and of crying will be heard in it. No more,
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: Never again will there be in it an infant who
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: lives but a few days, or an old man who
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't live out his years. The one who dies at
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 1: a hundred will be thought a mere child. The one
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: who fails to reach a hundred will be considered a cursed.
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: They'll build houses and dwell in them. They'll plant vineyards
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: and others live in them, or plant and others eat.
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: For as the days of a tree, so will be
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: the days of my people. My chosen ones will long
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: enjoy the work of their hands. They won't labor in vain,
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune. For they'll
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: be a people blessed by the Lord. They and their
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: descendants with them. Before they call, he'll answer. While they're
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: still speaking. He'll hear. The wolf and the lamb will
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: and dust will be the serpent's food. They won't hurt
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: or destroy on all his holy mountain. Chapter sixty six
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: opens with God's declaration in verse one, Thus saith the Lord,
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: Where is the house that ye build unto me? And
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: where is the place of my rest? Heaven is my throne,
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: you'll build for me? Where will my resting place be?
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: Has not his hand made all these things? And so
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: they came into being? These are the ones he looks
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: and who tremble at his word. In verse twenty two,
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: God gives his final promise, for as the new heavens
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: and the new earth which I will make, shall remain
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: before me, saith the Lord, So shall your seed and
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: your name remain. As the new heavens and the new
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: earth that he'll make will endure before him, So will
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: your name and descendants endure. From one new moon to another,
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: and from one sabbath to another. All mankind will come
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: and bow down before him, And they'll go out and
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against him.
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: The worms that eat them won't die, the fire that
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: burns them won't be quenched, and they'll be loathsome to
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: all mankind. If this journey through Isaiah impacted you, do
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: me a favor. Hit that subscribe button right now, breaking
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: down more books of the Bible in ways you've never
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: experienced before, and you won't want to miss what's coming next.
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: And here's the thing. There's someone in your life who
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: needs to hear this. Share this video with them, send
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: it to a friend, post it on your story let
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: this message reach someone who's searching for hope. Thanks for watching.
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: I'll see you in the next one.