Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Isaiah 35 - The New Eden and God’s Restoration of Humanity

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Isaiah 35 - The New Eden and God’s Restoration of Humanity · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Isaiah 35, and
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  this is the end of this particular portion of Isaiah
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  that we've been in since probably chapter 10 or 11, if I
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  remember correctly. As we've been walking through
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  Isaiah's prophecies against the wickedness of his own nation of
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  Judah and its capital city, Jerusalem, the northern Kingdom
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  of Israel and its capital city of Samaria, and then all of the
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  nations around Israel, the ways in which they were not walking
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  with God, they were not doing right by humanity.
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  And so the judgment that they would find from God.
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  And then we also saw over and over again the promise of what
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  God would do in rescuing and restoring humanity, of dealing
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  justly with human evil and the new Jerusalem, the new world
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  that He was going to make, empowered by God's own presence,
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  His Spirit living and working in His people.
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  And so today we are in Isaiah 35, and we're going to begin in
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  verse #1. This chapter is only 10 verses,
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  and I actually grew up singing a song from Isaiah chapter 35 and
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  verse #10 and so I might link that one in the show notes if I
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  can find a recording of it. But let's begin reading now in
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  verse #1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad.
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  The desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower.
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  It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and
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  singing. The glory of Lebanon will be
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  given to it. The splendor of Carmel and
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  Sharon. They will see the glory of
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  Yahweh, the splendor of our God. So here, the places on planet
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  earth that were once barren, useless, without trees, without
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  crops, without grass, All of the earth will be made right.
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  And so here, the glory of Lebanon.
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  These are the big trees. Even the desert will experience
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  the good life, if you will verse #3 Strengthen the weak hands,
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  steady the shaking knees, Say to the cowardly, Be strong.
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  Do not fear, here is your God. Vengeance is coming.
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  God's retribution is coming. He will save you.
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  Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the
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  deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a
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  deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
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  For water will gush in the wilderness and streams in the
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  desert. The parched ground will become a
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  pool, and the thirsty land springs in the haunt of jackals.
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  In their lairs there will be grass, reeds and papyrus.
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  So here in these verses, there is coming that wonderful day
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  when everything wrong with our world is made right.
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  And one of the beautiful ways that this is done is for those
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  that have experienced disability in their life, whether due to
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  injury or just the way that they were born, their genetics, that
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  God will make the blind to see, He will make the deaf to hear,
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  He will make the mute to be able not just to speak, but to sing
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  for joy. The places in our world that
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  could not sustain life, they were wilderness, they were
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  desert, Now they have water. So everywhere there is able to
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  be life and flourishing, they are in the haunt of jackals.
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  So think in the US, this always brings to mind for me Nevada,
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  Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, like that kind of area of the US if
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  all of that looks like, you know, here in Maryland, we have
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  an abundance of trees and bushes.
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  There's, there's just stuff growing all over the place here
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  because yeah, even here in Essex, you know, we're right by
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  the water and I can probably take a 30 second walk and get to
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  some portions of water over by my house.
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  I think there's AI, don't know if it'd be right to call it a
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  swamp behind my house, but there's at least some sort of
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  watery something that is behind my back fence.
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  And so everywhere here is described like the Nile in Egypt
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  of the grass reeds and papyrus, that the wonderful agriculture
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  that was able to take place in the flourishing of that portion
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  of Egypt right by the Nile, that even wilderness and desert
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  settings would be able to be like that be able to experience
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  that fruitfulness of agriculture as a result.
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  And what a joy that this is, that even our imperfections and
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  our failures are not our forever.
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  So for those of you who maybe have some mental health
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  struggles and things, things like OCDADHDADD, bipolar
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  disorder, struggle heavily with anxiety or depression, those
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  types of things, that's not our forever.
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  That one day we will experience wholeness and those parts of our
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  brain right now that maybe don't work as correctly or as normally
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  as they might for some other people, we are going to
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  experience wholeness on that day.
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  And I'm looking forward to that. I've got even friends of mine
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  who they have children that have experienced some hard
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  difficulties in their life, even with some of their abilities and
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  things that they're able to do and not able to do.
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  And on that day when God makes all things new, one of those
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  things that's getting fixed in all of creation is our areas of
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  fallenness. That sin has wrecked a whole lot
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  of everything. It's wrecked our moral centers
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  in a lot of ways so that we don't think or talk or act like
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  God. And that's getting fixed on that
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  wonderful day. There are areas of this world
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  that are just uninhabitable, aren't able to make human life
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  flourish. You can think of the many people
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  all across the world even that experience starvation and
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  nutrient deficiency and all of that.
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  All of that is one day coming to an end.
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  And so though the story right now might not look like it is
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  complete, it might not look like a great story in the here and
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  now, That's because the end of the story, it has not come yet.
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  And so we can live in the broken now in light of the wonderful
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  someday that is coming. Verse #8 a road will be there
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  and away. It will be called the Holy Way
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  or in some older translations the Holy Highway.
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  This is a place that you are walking on.
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  It is a path that is a well worn path.
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  So there is this holy highway that is there.
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  It says the unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for
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  the one who walks the path. So those that want relationship
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  with God, they will be able to experience this way into the
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  restored land, if you will, the new Eden that just as in Genesis
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  2 where there's this wilderness where there's no life and God
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  brings humanity, He brings plants, He brings rivers, He
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  brings the trees, and all of that happens there in that place
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  in Eden. Now there is going to be a new
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  Eden. God is making a new creation.
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  And those that want to travel God's way to get there will be
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  able to travel that. And certainly you can think
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  about Jesus where he says I am the way, the truth and the life.
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  And Jesus is ultimately the holy way by which we enter into new
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  creation or new Eden. It says fools will not wander on
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  it. There will be no lion there, and
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  no vicious beast will go up on it.
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  They will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk on
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  it, and the ransomed of Yahweh will return and come to Zion
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  with singing, crowned with unending joy.
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  Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing
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  will flee. What a wonderful joyous thought
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  that this is, and I love the words that are used here.
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  There's no danger to us in the new creation.
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  He says in the end of verse #9 where the sentence starts, He
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  says, but the redeemed will walk on it, that we are no longer
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  slaves to sin and death and Satan.
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  We have been purchased back, and though in our moral bankruptcy
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  we sold ourselves out to Satan as all humanity, and we did what
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  He wanted us to do in rebellion against God, God has purchased
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  us back through the precious blood of Christ, not with silver
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  or gold, but with Jesus his own life.
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  He bought us back. And so we are the redeemed, we
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  are the ransomed, We are those who were held captive, and Jesus
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  went charged into death, and he rescued us.
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  And so we are the redeemed who will walk on the holy highway.
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  We are the ransomed of Yahweh who return.
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  And we come to Zion, not as captives, but as joyous, if you
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  will, joyous pilgrims, joyous ones coming back home.
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  We come with singing, it says, crowned with unending joy.
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  And I look forward to that day with such anticipation that
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  unending joy is going to be what I wear for all of eternity.
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  Not unending boredom, not unending even just wisdom, but
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  unending joy, because my God is unending, and in His presence,
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  in His Spirit, we find joy, and so for all of eternity we will
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  experience unending joy. It says joy and gladness will
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  overtake them. It is running after me even as
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  you can think about Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall
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  follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the
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  House of Yahweh forever, it says, and sorrow and sighing
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  will flee. There's going to be no more
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  sadness, no more depression, no more grief that we experience on
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  that wonderful day. It is a beautiful never ending
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  story in which each chapter is better than the last, as CS
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  Lewis would put it in his book The Last Battle.
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  The way that I memorized this first grown up, I think it's put
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  to music from the specific verbiage or translation of the
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  King James Version says. Therefore the redeemed of the
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  Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and
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  everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
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  They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and mourning will
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  flee away. And what a wonderful day that
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  that will be today. What do we make of this?
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  Realize that whatever is broken in your life, God is going to
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  fix it. One day He might fix some things
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  for us in the here and now. He definitely wants to fix our
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  broken morality in the here and now that we would begin to love
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  the things that He loves, hate the things that He hates.
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  We would love people and love Him, and that we would make
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  right choices that align with that center of morality.
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  That's our true north. That's where our inner compass
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  ought to point. So God wants to shape and change
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  our morality even now, and He will fix everything else.
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  On that day of new creation there is going to come this
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  wonderful new life, and the fools, the wicked, the unclean
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  will not go there. That's not the people that God
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  doesn't like. Those are the people that do not
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  like God. And because of their hatred for
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  the Lord, they will not take the path to life which is Jesus
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  Christ. If you've never chosen Jesus as
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  your Lord and your Savior, the one who calls the shots in your
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  life, then make that choice today.
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  Confess your sins to Him and believe in Him as your Lord and
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  Savior, and you will be saved. And then know the future that is
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  awaiting you and start singing even now, because now you are
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  redeemed and ransomed. You are on your way to heaven.
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  And so we are crowned with unending joy, joy and gladness.
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  Are you pursuing us? The sadness that we experience
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  now is one day going to leave us forever because there will be no
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  more things to be sad about. And So what a joy.
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  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you have accomplished.
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  Thank you for your work on the cross that has made it possible
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  for us to experience eternal life.
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  To you be all the glory and the praise forever and ever.
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  Amen. Thank you for tuning in today as
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  always, like share, subscribe, leave a review on Apple or
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  Spotify podcasts, leave a comment.
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  If you made it to the end of the episode, you can comment the
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  word jackals. Jackals.
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  It's like a dog type thing, wild dog.
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  You can put jackals in the comments and I'll know that you
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  made it and you get you get Tabernacle talk points.
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  I don't know what those are good for, but you will get them.
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  And looking forward to next episode as we begin the
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  narrative, the next narrative portion of Isaiah, when the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah and in particular the capital city of
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  Jerusalem and Isaiah himself are surrounded by the Assyrian army.
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  And really looking forward to that time with you.
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  God bless. Have a wonderful day.