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Isaiah 25 - The Feast Yahweh Is Preparing · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Hello and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  I'm excited today to be in Isaiah 25.
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  We are in Isaiah's little apocalypse.
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  What Isaiah saw and heard was told from the Lord about what
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  would happen at the end of time. And so last episode we looked at
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  the judgment of the earth, and as God deals with the totality
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  of all nation, all nations, and all humanity's wickedness, what
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  he will do there. And so yesterday was a little
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  bit more of a sober kind of downer of an episode as you look
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  at death and devastation that occurs first that humanity
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  inflicts on itself and on each other, and then finally, as God
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  deals with their sin, that he brings back on them what they
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  have levied out to others. But then today's episode #25 is
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  so encouraging and uplifting. And so I'm looking forward to
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  being in this particular portion with you.
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  Isaiah 25 and verse #1 says this Yahweh, you are are my God.
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  I will exalt you, I will praise your name, for you have
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  accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago with perfect
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  faithfulness. Here Isaiah starts with like
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  this song, this poem. You could even think of these
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  words being put to a tune and singing through it of all the
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  gods that were represented in the ancient Near East, the gods
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  of the Canaanites, of Babylon, of Egypt.
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  And Isaiah says, Yahweh, you are the God that I worship.
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  You are the one that I own as my God.
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  You're not just a God that overseas the crops or
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  fertilization or war. You are God over it all.
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  You are the one who is supremely in charge and in control.
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  So I'm going to lift you up. I'm going to tell other people
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  about you. I'm going to praise you because
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  you have done incredible things and you have done it according
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  to your plan. I love there.
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  He says plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness that
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  everything that comes to pass we know comes through the hand of
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  our good and faithful God, who despite humanity's sinfulness
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  and faithlessness and evil, God is still working out all things
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  according to the counsel of his own will.
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  Verse #2 Isaiah begins describing what some of these
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  plans entailed. He says, For you have turned the
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  city into a pile of rocks, a fortified city into ruins.
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  The fortress of Barbarians is no longer a city.
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  It will never be rebuilt. Therefore a strong people will
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  honor you. The cities of violent nations
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  will fear you, for you have been a stronghold for the poor
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  person, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, A refuge
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  from storms and a shade from heat.
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  When the breath of the violent is like a storm against a wall,
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  like heat in a dry land, you will subdue the uproar of
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  Barbarians as the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day.
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  So he will silence the song of the violent.
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  So here, this city that is being talked about, this is something
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  that's first mentioned actually in the book of Genesis.
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  And then it's kind of a theme, a thread all throughout Scripture,
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  is this talk about the city of man versus the city of God.
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  So the first city that is built is done by Cain all the way back
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  in Genesis chapter 4. And as Cain builds a city, the
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  effects of large amounts of humanity together, especially
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  under powerful rulers, is seen over and over again to be a
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  place of violence, abuse, sexual immorality and sexual abuse of
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  others, rampant greed and idolatry.
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  Like that's what cities so often represent in Scripture.
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  And even as you look nowadays, as you look at cities, as I run
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  through those lists, many of you might go, oh, yeah, that that
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  seems to happen when a lot of people get together.
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  There's a lot of consolidated power.
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  There's kind of closer quarters together.
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  And so it makes for some things of crime or some things of the
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  rich and powerful and those that oversee everyone else, they can
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  tend to overrule and and be wicked in many ways towards
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  others. You might go, yeah, that that
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  kind of makes sense. Actually, that's very much true
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  to our lived experience. And this is what Scripture so
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  often references with cities. But God has also said there is
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  another city. It's like the New Jerusalem that
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  we learned about in Isaiah chapter 2, that city that is not
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  made by mankind, but a city that is made by God.
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  And he is the one that will rule.
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  He will rule in righteousness and people will have the, if you
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  will, the resources and the community that come with having
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  a large city. But it will not be overseen by
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  wickedness and crime will not be something that we have to worry
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  about. It will be a place where we can
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  be around others and enjoy all of the benefits of city life,
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  but without what is currently happening in our world with
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  crime and evil, poverty, abuse, all of that.
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  And so here Isaiah is extolling the wonder of God, who has
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  destroyed the city of man and broken down the the violence and
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  the abusers, those that oppress the poor and the needy, that he
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  is like shade on a cloudy day over those that need help.
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  And then we read this in verses 6 through 8 on this mountain
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  that is Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is.
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  This is the picture of God's new Kingdom.
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  That Millennium reign of Christ says on this mountain, Yahweh of
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  heaven's armies will prepare for all the peoples, not just
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  Israel, all of the nations, a feast of choice meat, a feast
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  with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.
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  So there's all of these descriptions of like delicious
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  meat and like super old wine and aged well.
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  And God is preparing this for his people, for all the peoples
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  of the world, all those who have turned to him.
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  Verse #7 on this mountain, He will swallow up the burial
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  shroud, the shroud over all the peoples sheet covering all the
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  nations. All right, what?
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  What is this thing that covers everybody from every nation?
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  What is it that he is eating? This burial shroud says when he
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  is swallowed up, death once and for all, Yahweh ad And I will
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  wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people's
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  disgrace from the whole earth. For Yahweh has spoken.
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  There is coming a day where there will be no more death.
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  What a joy that that will be one day.
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  And this is the promise of God's word.
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  And Jesus is the first fruits of this promise that there at
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  Jerusalem, right outside of the city, Jesus was the one who
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  first took this burial, shroud, this death on to himself so that
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  he could conquer it and render it powerless for those that
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  believe in the Lord. And one day he will make it so
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  that all death, any death, any physical death for us is forever
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  off the page. And on that day we will feast
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  this marriage supper of the Lamb that Jesus promised to the
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  disciples that one day he would eat with them in his Father's
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  Kingdom. And then John in Revelation
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  highlights the marriage supper of the lamb, this feast that we
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  enjoy. And John didn't just get that
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  from the words of Jesus. He got it by looking back at the
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  Old Testament and looking here at Isaiah.
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  This is this theme is going to come up a few more times, I
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  believe even over in chapter 27. I know of some of it and we
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  might see a little bit of it in tomorrow's episode as well.
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  So death is going to be consumed.
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  God is eating death and the tears will be wiped away from
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  every face. Shame will be gone and we get to
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  enjoy the good life with God. Think of the Garden of Eden,
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  that initial mountain that we would read about in Ezekiel
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  chapter 28, and their God had a relationship with Adam and Eve,
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  that He was their God. He walked with them, He talked
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  with them. They were able to eat all of the
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  different fruits of the garden. But then they disobeyed God.
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  They decided to, if you will, write their own rules of right
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  and wrong, not listening to God, and as a result they broke
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  relationship. They broke fellowship with God.
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  But God was always intent on humanity returning back to Him
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  and on this day we will get to eat again.
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  This time not just the fruit, but here choice meat and here
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  even aged wine and fine vintage wine is what the Lord has
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  prepared for us. Verse #9 On that day it will be
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  said, look, this is our God, we have waited for him and he has
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  saved us. This is Yahweh, we have waited
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  for him. Let's rejoice and be glad in His
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  salvation. Yahweh's power will rest on this
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  mountain. What a joy.
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  And here, just as Israel waited for what God would do in
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  restoring and rescuing them, that took its first fruits in
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  Jesus. That through Jesus we are not
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  under condemnation. We are in relationship.
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  We're not alienated from God or have a fundamental brokenness to
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  us that severs our connection with God.
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  Instead. Instead, we have been put back
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  together. We're made whole again, and
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  there is no condemnation for us. We are the prodigal sons, far
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  away from the Father. Through the work of the Holy
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  Spirit, we came to our senses, realized that we needed to
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  return, and God has enveloped us and He has this feast waiting
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  for us. What a joy.
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  So let's wait patiently for either the day when we pass and
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  we are reunited with God because death no longer is that fearful
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  thing for us. Instead it is a time of
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  rejoicing. Which is somewhat ironic that in
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  death we find eternal life. But it is what Jesus has
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  purchased for us. Or someday Jesus himself will
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  bodily return. And so we will ever be with the
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  Lord. And so whether we go to him or
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  he comes to us, we can wait for the Lord.
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  We can, Joyce, we can be glad in the saving work that God has
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  done for us. Then verse #10 through verse #12
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  takes a little bit of a turn and we can harken back to a couple
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  of chapters. Remember here, 'cause it's going
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  to talk about Moab. This is talking about the
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  political and religious, military and financial structure
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  of these nations that are emblematic of the city.
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  So here Moab represents the political, financial and
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  religious sectors of that place. This isn't all of these people
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  are in this boat, he says. But Moab will be trampled in his
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  place. So instead of Israel and Judah
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  being destroyed by the nations, Moab gets destroyed by the
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  nations. He says as straw is trampled in
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  a dung pile, he will spread out his arms in the middle of it.
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  As a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim, his pride will be
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  brought low along with the trickery of his high hands.
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  The high walled fortress will be brought down, thrown to the
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  ground, to the dust. So here the great architecture,
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  everything that was so amazing about this particular nation
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  gets brought down. That instead of what has
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  happened to Israel and Judah with their destruction, now
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  someone else gets it. And God is going to bring back
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  His people. He is going to save them and
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  restore them. He's not interested in restoring
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  the fortunes of the nation of Moab.
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  Now there are people from Moab that know the Lord, that love
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  the Lord that became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ himself.
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  And so here is not a here's what's wrong with those that
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  are, you know, genetically or historically those from the
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  tribe of Moab because King David himself, his ancestors are from
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  Moab. And so God has love for all the
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  peoples of the world. God has no love for the
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  institution's, the systems, the nations and the politics that we
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  have. Instead, he has his own way.
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  And I look forward to that day when the Lord comes.
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  He has this feast for us. He is wiping away the tears from
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  our face. He removes all of our disgrace
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  and our shame and we will ever be with him.
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  I hope that you're looking forward to that day, that you
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  have called them the Lord to save you, that you are waiting
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  patiently, knowing that yes, judgment day is coming for evil,
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  but also reward and joy, fellowship and community is
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  coming for the people of God. Be encouraged through that
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  today. Let me know if you have any
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  questions and I would love to hear from you.
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  Even if it's just watch the episode today or listen to the
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  episode today. I would love to hear from you.
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  If you are on Apple Podcasts or Spotify podcast, I encourage you
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  go to the channel and leave a review that helps other people
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  get to hear what you are hearing from the word of God.
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  If this is a blessing to you, then I encourage you to leave a
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  review and looking forward to next episode, Isaiah chapter 26.
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  And we'll have tomorrow's episode and one more in Isaiah's
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  little apocalypse. And then we'll jump into another
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  section of this scroll of Isaiah.
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  God bless. Have a wonderful day.