Okay, we're continuing our Bible study on the book of Isaiah, and of course we're in chapter 27 tonight.
Now, if you've been following along over the last couple of chapters, you'll notice that
many of these previous chapters are dealing with end times Bible prophecy.
Of course, there's immediate fulfillment to what's being said,
but it's also foreshadowing a lot of the end times prophecy of the millennial reign,
the new heaven, and the new earth, and of course we've seen
foreshadowings of the fact that hell is going to be cast into the lake of fire,
and many of those elements. Now, I do want to remind you, as I've done in times past, that
when reading the book of Isaiah and other books in the Old Testament,
you have to make sure that when you read into passages dealing with end times,
they're not in chronological order all the time, meaning that the chronology of end times prophecy
isn't something that's necessarily in order in the Old Testament, it just kind of gives us
a glimpse of certain events that take place. If you want chronology,
you've got to go to the book of Revelation as far as when certain events take place.
But in the Old Testament, the reason we want to reference the Old Testament for end times prophecy
is because sometimes the Old Testament will fill in certain gaps. It's like the bonus material
that isn't necessarily mentioned in the book of Revelation, but it is explicitly talked about in
the Old. And so it makes end times prophecy a little more interesting when you reference
the book of Jeremiah, the book of Isaiah, the book of Daniel, because it does share some extra
details that isn't necessarily being divulged in the book of Revelation. And so chronology is not
there, but the events are. The reason that's important is because a lot of these events
kind of overlap. Millennial reign, new heaven and new earth, then it talks about the lake of fire,
then it talks about the millennial reign again, then it talks about the antichrist,
then it talks about Satan. And so it kind of jumps all over the place.
There are instances though, where it kind of does have a little bit of a chronology,
but it's not as strict as we see it in the book of Revelation. Now look at chapter 26,
if you would, and let's look at verse 19 to see where we left off here. It says in verse 19 of
chapter 26, thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and
sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy do is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the
dead. Now automatically you think to yourself, this is obviously referring to the rapture
because it's talking about the dead men living together with my dead body shall they arise.
This is obviously talking about the resurrection where the dead in Christ shall rise first,
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.
So this is terminology, this is wording. It's trying to get us help us to associate it with
the rapture. Look at verse 21. It says for behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood
and shall no more cover her sin. So after the rapture, you have what? Three and a half years
of God's wrath being poured out. And that's what we see in verse 21, that the Lord is coming to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. And when you look at those three and
a half years of God's wrath, the trumpets in the vials, yeah, that's basically God punishing the
inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness. He discloses it with blood. And of course,
we know how that goes in the end of the world. Now going into chapter 27, we're going to look at the
defeat of the antichrist, or should we say the foreshadowing of the defeat of the antichrist
and of Satan. Now this is pretty interesting because the first thing that's mentioned here
in the first verse is Leviathan. Look at verse one, it says in that day, the Lord with his sword
and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked
serpent. Now the subject of Leviathan is pretty interesting because of the fact that it's scarcely
mentioned in the Old Testament, probably only a handful of times. You have it being talked about
in Job 41, you have a couple of mentions in the book of Psalms, and then you have him being
mentioned here in the book of Isaiah. And the reason it's an interesting subject is because
a lot of people debate whether it's referring to just a mythological creature that never really
existed to begin with, it's just foreshadowing Satan and the antichrist. But I'm of the persuasion
that it was an actual creature. And when you study what the Bible says about Leviathan,
the actual creature itself, you walk away thinking this was an actual animal that existed
at one point and was used to foreshadow Satan himself. Now let me give you the actual description
of what Leviathan is, what he is, what kind of creature he is, and why he represents Satan as
the spiritual application. First of all, it says there that he's going to punish Leviathan,
the piercing serpent, and then he calls him the crooked serpent. Now what does this mean? It means
that Leviathan is a snake of some sort. We would say snake, the Bible uses serpent, sometimes it
uses the term dragon. Now people often think of these mythological dragons that are flying in the
air, they have wings and stuff like that. I don't think that's necessarily what it's referred to
because this particular serpent actually swims in the ocean. But I will say this is that according
to Job 41, Leviathan does breathe out fire, okay? And so I can't really say if that's symbolic or
not. When you, and I don't have time to develop a whole sermon on Leviathan right now, but when
you read Job 41, which is an entire dissertation on Leviathan, I mean it's God speaking of this
creation known as Leviathan, you know it's a very enormous creature to say the least. And in fact,
in my opinion, it's probably the largest creature of the ocean even surpassing the size of a blue
whale or a sperm whale. And in fact, you know, Job 41 talks about the fact that, you know, its face
has doors, meaning that that's how big its mouth is. It talks about the fact that its heart is like
the nether stone, just talking about the size of its actual heart. It talks about the fact that,
you know, the spears and darts and habergians can't do anything to it. You know, he laughs
at the shaking of the spear. And you think of like all these tribal people just like,
you know, trying to like intimidate Leviathan and just Leviathan is just like whatever about it.
It doesn't bother him at all, you know. And it even says that it breaks iron and brass as straw
and as rotten wood, you know, just kind of showing you the capacity of its strength, right.
But it also talks about the fact that, you know, it's able to breathe fire and it's able to kindle
flames by its breath. I don't believe that's symbolic. I believe it's referring to the fact
that this creature was capable of doing that in real life. And then, you know, when you look at
Job 41, it seems to indicate that this creature was extremely large. And the reason I say that
is because of the fact that it talks about that it actually makes the image, I'm forgetting the
wording here, but the image is like a boiling pot in the deep, okay. And what it's referring to is
the wake that it creates when it swims. You think of a boat that is swimming on the surface, it
creates a wake essentially referring to like the tail of that boat, you know, that white foamy
thing that's called the wake there because of the size of the boat. Well, you know, according to Job
41, Leviathan is so large that when it's swimming in the deep, it creates a wake. You say, why does
that indicate that it's big? Well, because the deeper you go into the ocean, the less you can see,
you know, the darker it gets. But when it comes to Leviathan though, when he's in the deep,
you can still see him because of the wake that he creates that boiling pot, so to speak. And so,
obviously, this is a very large creature. And, you know, about a month ago, I preached on the
subject of the creation story. And I was talking about the fact that, you know, in Genesis chapter
one, you know, the Bible talks about the creation of beasts. And then it kind of specifically
mentions the great whales. And it seems so specific about that particular kind of animal.
But what I was proposing is that great whale is just classifying all large sea creatures.
And that Leviathan would be included in that classification as being a great whale, okay.
And, you know, people today would obviously disagree with that because
to us in 2024, a whale is a mammal, okay, of some sort of, you know, in the ocean.
But when you look at Job, or not Job, you look at Jonah, for example,
it talks about Jonah, God preparing a great fish to swallow up Jonah. But then Jesus Christ talks
about a great whale swallowing up Jonah, essentially using those interchangeably great fish,
great whale, it's just referring to a great sea creature. And I would even propose this,
and obviously I could be wrong, I'm not dogmatic about this. But I would even propose that Leviathan,
although he could be called a great whale, he was probably the one that actually swallowed up Jonah,
okay. The reason I probably believe that is because of the fact that God prepared a great
whale, a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And this is typically what he does when he's punishing
a believer. He's unleashing Satan to essentially devour that person for the destruction of the
flesh. And so, you know, Satan walketh about seeking whom he may devour, and he's obviously
trying to devour Jonah because of his disobedience because God's allowing it, you know, I don't think
it's a preposterous thing to say that it was probably Leviathan who swallowed up Jonah. Now,
a lot of people probably disagree with that because we all got this mental picture that it
was just a huge sperm whale or a blue whale that swallowed him up, but, you know, it's possible
that it was Leviathan that did that, okay, because he pictured Satan. And the descriptions that we
see of Leviathan in the Old Testament is symbolically representing Satan. There's no way
around that. It's obviously referring to that. You know, in Revelation chapter 13, it talks about,
or not 13, Revelation chapter 12, it talks about Satan, that old serpent, the dragon, the Bible
says, okay, and so that's important to note. And here it talks about that he's a piercing serpent,
and I think that's referring to the fact of it's the rapidity by which it cuts through the waters,
okay, it pierces through the waters. It's a crooked serpent. Obviously, in its most literal sense,
he's kind of, you know, swimming like this. He isn't necessarily swimming straightforward. He's
a crooked serpent, but it's obviously symbolically representing the fact that Satan is a crooked,
you know, angelic being. Now, look what it goes on to say here.
In verse number one, it says, in that day, the Lord with his sword and great and strong sword
shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he
shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. Now, hold your place here and go to Psalm 74, if you would.
Psalm 74, brother Ulysses, you can turn down the AC. I think it's probably cold enough now.
I'll suffer here for you all. Now, I think this is actually referring to
literally God destroying the actual serpent, Leviathan, okay, this dragon, this serpent.
I believe that God literally destroyed the actual serpent itself, and the reason he did
this is to symbolically represent the fact that he will destroy Satan also in the end times. Now,
in Genesis 1, the Bible indicates that we have dominion over all of creation, all the beasts of
the field, you know, the birds of the air, the marine life, but the Bible also seems to indicate
that there's kind of like one creature that we don't have dominion over, and that's Leviathan,
because when you read Job 41, God is telling Job, like, you're not gonna be able to handle
Leviathan. You can't pull him out with a fishing rod. You can't pierce him. He's laughing at you.
You know, when he comes out of the water, people purify themselves at the sight of him,
meaning, like, they get right with God, you know, and he's basically saying, like, let's see if you
can handle Leviathan. He's basically saying you can't handle this creature. So man has been able
to tame and destroy all manner of creatures throughout history, but according to the Bible,
according to God's account, it's almost as if Leviathan is the only one that he cannot tame,
control, or destroy. Look at Psalm 74 verse 12. It says, For God is my king of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength.
Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan
in pieces, and gavest him to be me to the people inhabiting the wilderness. So the Bible actually
states that God is the one who destroys Leviathan, okay? He breaks his heads in pieces,
and, you know, I don't know if this is referring to the fact that Leviathan actually has multiple
heads. That's a possibility because it's kind of mentioning that here, but it's obviously pretty
clear that this Leviathan is that sea creature that's coming up out of the sea in Revelation
chapter 13 with many heads and many crowns upon his head, okay? The point that I'm making here is
the fact that God is the only one who's actually able to destroy Leviathan, and God is the one who
actually destroys Satan himself. Now, obviously, this is important to note spiritually because,
you know, you have Christians out there specifically of the Pentecostal realm
that think they can whoop the devil or something like that, and they talk like that, right? They
can slay the devil, and I'll kick the devil's you know what, and they kind of speak very proudly.
They bring up railing accusations against the devil, but here's the thing, folks. Let me just
give you a reality check is that Satan is actually very powerful, okay? He's extremely powerful,
and, in fact, he has, listen to me, he has destroyed Christians ever since this whole
thing started, okay? He's not only celestial in his celestial form powerful, but he's also
extremely smart, okay? And so to have this idea that like, oh, he's less than us, and he's not
going to do anything to us, and I remember when I first got saved in a fundamental Baptist church,
I was waiting to talk to my pastor, and it was after a sermon, and this guy came up to him,
and he's just like, I just want to let you know I'm not afraid of the devil. I'll defeat him,
and my father-in-law was like, you know, I don't think you should talk like that. You know, he's
pretty powerful. He is Satan. You know, he's a lion, and he's like, no, I'll take him on,
and just kind of speaking very proudly, presumptuously, and it's no wonder we never
saw that guy ever again, you know what I mean? It's just like, first of all, how do you expect
to defeat Satan if you can't even defeat your own laziness to get yourself to church, you know?
But here's the thing is that the Bible actually says that we are overcomers, right? And we're
able to overcome Satan, that wicked one, by the word of God, and another way of describing an
overcomer, according to Romans chapter 8, is a conqueror, right? And the Bible says that we
are more than conquerors through him that loved us. So in order for us to defeat Satan, in order
for us to overcome the wicked one, it has to be through Jesus Christ and his word. It can't be
through our own power and might. Why? Because it's only God who can break the heads of Leviathan,
you understand? And so we see here that I believe that God actually physically probably even made
Leviathan go extinct by destroying Leviathan, but it's also picturing the fact that he's also
going to destroy Satan in the end times. And it's interesting that it says that he breaks the heads
of Leviathan in pieces, and in Revelation 13, it talks about one of the heads of that dragon that
comes out of the sea had a deadly wound to its head, right? Then its deadly wound was healed,
but then obviously three and a half years thereafter, he's cast into the lake of fire,
the system, this dragon Leviathan is taken out of the picture, he is destroyed.
And so the point that I'm making here is that it's possible that God actually wiped out
the physical creature Leviathan in order to give meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness,
but it's also symbolically representing the fact that God is the only one capable of destroying
Satan himself. And let me just make something very clear. Obviously we're living in a world
where it's good versus evil, God versus the devil, but there's no chance of the devil winning this
because he's not as powerful as God himself. And in fact, Satan can only do things with the
permission of God. People often get that mixed up and they think that he kind of works autonomously
apart from God, but the fact remains that based upon scriptural evidence,
Satan cannot attack. He cannot do anything without God allowing him to. And in fact,
the Bible specifically teaches us in Revelation chapter 12, that he is the accuser of the
brethren, meaning that he goes before God, accusing us to God, asking for permission.
And we see a story like that in the Bible, right? We see in the book of Job,
you know, he comes to give an account to the Lord and the Lord's like, where have you been?
And he's like walking to and fro on all the earth. And he says, I'll consider my servant Job,
that there's none like him in all the earth, a perfect and upright man, and one who is true
with evil. And then of course he gives him permission to attack Job. So I'm saying that
because you know, one day you're going to be attacked by Satan. And one of the initial
thoughts that Christians get when they're being attacked by Satan is like, where's God in all
this, right? Why isn't God protecting me? Why is God allowing this? But let me just remind you
that God is the one who gave him permission to do so. You're like, why would he do that? Well,
just the same reason why he allowed Job to go through that. It's because his opinion of Job
was very high. He says he's a perfect and upright man, one who is true with evil,
hast thou considered him? You understand what I'm saying? And so when you go through a hard time
and you feel like Satan's attacking you, I know it's hard to kind of remember this,
but you're going to have to. And that is, you know, God saw you worthy of this trial.
He thinks he knows that you can handle it. He's putting you up against the wiles of Satan because
he can, he highly esteems your spiritual life, your spiritual disciplines, your love for God.
Like he knows that. Okay. And that's what the Bible tells us to rejoice when we are in great
trial of afflictions. When Satan attacks, we just have to make sure that we resist Satan and that,
you know, we don't give in to his wiles. We don't believe his lies and we fight him off.
The point that I'm making here is that ultimately God is the one who destroys Leviathan. And he's
also the one who destroys Satan, whom Leviathan represents. Now this happens in revelation 13,
when he receives a deadly wound to the head, but it literally happens in revelation chapter 19,
go to revelation 19, if you would revelation chapter 19.
Now in Isaiah 27, it says in that day, the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword.
Now what is his sore and great and strong sword? It's referring to the word of God.
And who is the word of God? Jesus Christ. Look at revelation 19 verse 15. It says here in verse 15,
and out of his mouth, whose mouth? Jesus's mouth, go with a sharp sword that with it,
he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with the rod of iron. And he tread at the
winepress of the fierceness of wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, meaning his
clothing and on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Look at verse 19,
if you would. And I saw the beasts and the Kings of the earth and their armies gathered together
to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. So what's going on here?
This is called famously the battle of Armageddon. Where the Kings of the North are coming to fight
against Jesus Christ and his army. This is the Antichrist, the false prophet in his army that
he has deceived into thinking, hey, we're going to defeat Jesus Christ. And this is probably one
of the most incredible battles in the Bible, not counting the battle of Gog and Magog.
Because at this point, Jesus Christ and all believers at this time who are in heaven
will essentially come down from heaven to essentially participate in this particular
spiritual battle right here. And it's not just a spiritual battle. It's where spiritual meets
physical, right? I mean, you have to be under a really strong delusion.
If you see Jesus Christ coming on a white horse with a bunch of other dudes on white horses,
coming like just breaching through the sky and you're thinking like, yeah, we got this.
You're crazy. I mean, just picture that. That's never been seen before ever. You have this huge
multitude of a celestial army coming down and keep in mind, you know, Jesus Christ is not coming
any lowly animal. What is he coming on a white horse? Meaning he's coming to fight. He's coming
off the battle. He's coming to destroy and he looks very fierce, but yet they're under this
extremely strong delusion that somehow they're going to win. And don't misunderstand the text
here. It's called a battle, but it's not really a battle because, you know, a battle requires
both sides to fight. It doesn't work that way. Like the Bible literally tells us that,
well, let's look, look what it says in verse 20. And the beast was taken. So, you know,
notice in verse 19, it talks about the beast, the kings of the earth, their armies gathered
together to ward against him. It sat on the horse then against his army. And then it says,
and the beast was taken. So it's like, he didn't even get to throw a punch or anything. I don't
know if he shot a bullet or what, a missile? The beast was taken and with them, the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the
beast and then the worship his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire,
burning with brimstone. So right off the bat, initially, when the war starts, he comes down
and it's just like, we're going to just grab some both and just like, shut up. You know,
he just throws them right into the lake of fire. There's no, just lightweight,
you know, lightweight, no reaction. Just grabs him and just throws him in there. And it's just like,
that was easy. There's just no effort whatsoever necessary. Okay. And then it says in verse 21,
the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded
out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So he takes out the head
honchos first, referring to the Antichrist and his false prophet, just immediately just tosses
them into the lake of fire, which by the way, they get to themselves for a thousand years
because no one else goes there until the thousand years are over. And then the rest of the armies,
he's just destroying them with the sword of his mouth. Now, I don't know how that's going to look.
I'm very curious to know how that's going to look, but it's basically, he just like,
I don't know if it's just like a flame that he's just like, you know, just destroys everyone,
but, you know, he slays them and leaves corpses all over the battlefield to the point where
the fowls referring to the birds coming, they feast on the corpses of these Kings. Okay.
It's pretty vivid imagery here, right? And I believe that this is actually what Isaiah 27
is referring to when he says that in that day, you know, he's going to basically destroy Leviathan
with the sword. Okay. He's basically taking the sword of his mouth, destroying the Antichrist,
which by the way, Leviathan picturing Satan also pictures the Antichrist, but it also pictures what
the new world order, because the beast in revelation 13 is a picture of what that new
world order, that new world order system. And so they are destroyed. They are completely wiped out
and that's the end of them. Go back to Isaiah 27, if you would, Isaiah 27.
Isn't it interesting that it says in the book of Psalms, where the Bible talks about God
breaking the heads of Leviathan and giving it to be meat for the inhabitants of the land.
One like manner, he destroys the Antichrist, the false prophet and his armies, and they become meat
for the fowls of the earth. Okay. And so that's why we're completely against this Buddhist
type of funeral where you just lay out the corpse there and wait for the fowls of the air to come
eat and feast. How many of you have ever heard of that? You know, Joe Rogan talks a lot about that.
He's like, I want my funeral to be, you know, just lay my carcass out there and let vultures
come and eat me. That's like not good. You know, you know, that's a way to dishonor a corpse
according to the Bible, because that's how God is going to dishonor all the kings of the earth,
just allow birds to just feast on your flesh.
Very important there. Now look at verse number two here. So that's the end of Leviathan.
That's the end of the new world order. That's the end of the Antichrist, the false prophet.
And, you know, obviously Satan is cast into the bottom of split for a thousand years. He's
released thereafter and then he's cast into the lake of fire permanently. Look what it says in
verse two, it says, in that day, seeing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine, I, the Lord do keep
it. I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it. And I will keep it night and day. Now, what
I believe this is referring to is after the battle of Armageddon, what do you have? You have Jesus
Christ ruling and reigning for a thousand years. And you could essentially say that the world
becomes his vineyard, but more specifically, Israel is his major vineyard, because that's
where he's going to rule and reign from. Okay. And what he's saying here, when he talks about
in verse number three, that he's going to keep it, he's going to water it, lest any hurt it,
I will keep it night and day. He's basically saying that I'm going to prevent the vineyard
from going sour. He's going to prevent it from having any evil figs as Jeremiah puts it. Okay.
And so when you read the book of Jeremiah and chapter 24, you see that God often talks about
the fact that in the end time, specifically the millennial reign, he talks about Israel and he
says, only the good figs will stay there. The evil figs are going to be removed because they're so
evil, they're so sour, they can't be eaten. Okay. And what I believe that's referring to is the
fact that only saved Jews will be in the millennial reign. These evil figs, these
unsaved Jews who hate the Lord Jesus Christ will not abide in that vineyard. You know,
God is going to remove them from that. Look at verse number four. He says,
fury is not in me who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle. I would go through
them. I would burn them together. Now, what I believe this is talking about is the fact that
there's going to be zero tolerance in the millennial reign. Okay. You know, he's basically
saying, you know, I'm not furious. I'm not here to fight, but who's going to set the thorns and
briars? Who's going to set a reprobate to come fight against me? He says, I would go through
them and I will burn them together. You know, right now, reprobates are just allowed to just
do all types of wickedness and just all types of evil. But in the millennial reign, God's like,
it ain't happening. I will go through you and I will burn you. That's why it's important for
people to get saved right now. You know, if you're not saved, get saved today because of the fact
that you want to be on the right side when all this stuff takes place. Right. But I like what
he says. He's like, who would set briars and thorns against me in battle? Like who's dumb
enough to fight against me? I'm going to go through. I'm going to burn them together. Like
zero tolerance. And revelation 19 tells us that he's going to rule with a rod of iron.
Now, what does that mean ruling with the rod of iron? This is referring to how strict God's going
to be in that millennial reign. No tolerance, zero tolerance. There's no warnings. You break
God's law. The laws of God are going to be executed automatically. He's going to be righteous.
He's going to be just. And you know, false religion is not going to exist. Murderers,
rapists, pedophiles, they're not just going to be allowed to just go rampant. There's not going to
be a revolving door in prison. There's not even going to be prison. Because in a system where
God's laws are being executed, you know, uh, evildoers are punished swiftly for their crimes.
Right. And so, uh, zero tolerance. And I think that's great, you know, and that,
that will create a world where crime will decrease succeedingly and rapidly,
you know, overnight. You say why? Well, when you have, uh, I don't know, God in the flesh,
just wiping people out left and right for their crimes. People who are tempted to commit crimes
are going to be like, you know, I don't think I'm going to do that. I don't think I'm going to
murder anybody. You know, I don't want, you see that sword that came out of his mouth? He was like,
he's going to destroy us. And so, uh, you know, executing punishments speedily reduces crime.
And that's how it's going to be in the millennial reign. Okay. Now look at verse number five,
it says, or let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace
with me. Now, zero tolerance in the millennial reign, but this is not at the exclusion of his
mercy. This is not at the exclusion of his love. This is not the exclusion of his grace. You know,
complete submission is strongly recommended though. Right. It's basically saying like
zero tolerance, but you know what? God will be a benevolent dictator and yes, a dictator,
but a benevolent one, you know, the creator will rule, but he's saying here, you know,
make peace with me and I shall make peace. And you know, you shall make peace with me. Basically,
he's like, if you want to reconcile, I'm here to reconcile. You know, God is not unreasonable.
Right. He says, in fact, he said at the beginning of the book, come let us reason together.
You know, God wants the world to be reconciled unto him through Jesus Christ,
but it has to be on his terms. He wants the world to be reconciled. He wants peace on earth,
but it has to be on his terms. It's not like, well, what do you think we should do? God is
the source of all knowledge and wisdom. He knows how a perfect society can, can function.
And we can have peace with God, but it has to be on his terms.
You know, for example, if we want peace with God, eternally,
it has to be on his terms and his terms are what? Through Jesus Christ, by faith alone.
It's not by your works. It's not by you being able to repent through your sin
or keeping God's commandments or baptism or attending a church. Those aren't God's terms.
The terms and conditions is that you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ. You have to
believe on him for salvation exclusively and not add anything to that, right?
And you can have the peace of God. You can have peace with God. All it requires is for you to
receive the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But you know, a lot of people want
that peace, but they don't like the conditions. They say, no, we have to pray a rosary. We got to
do the sacraments. We have to be baptized. We have to make a pilgrimage. We have to go to church.
We have to stop drinking. We have to stop doing all manner of sins in order to be saved. Sorry,
those aren't the terms and conditions that God has laid out and you cannot experience peace
without Jesus Christ. And so he's saying, look, you know, he's not going to be an unreasonable
ruler in the millennial reign. He said, if you want peace, you can have it. You just got to get
it this way. And it's not like it's an unreasonable condition either. It's not like just, you know,
climb, you know, Mount Jerusalem or Mount Zion, you know, make a pilgrimage and do all. No,
he's just like, believe, just have me as your King, as your Lord. And you can have peace.
People make it so difficult. Right. And, you know, having salvation is easy.
That condition is super easy. People who don't like the condition make it hard.
Oh, what are you saying? All I got to do is believe. I mean, isn't that super easy?
Why would you want a more difficult condition in turn? Why would you want to make it harder
on yourself? If God is offering a gift that cannot be purchased through Jesus Christ,
and it doesn't require your effort, your obedience, why not take it? Pride is what it is.
You know, we went sowing yesterday and I ran into a Catholic and, you know, he said he was Catholic
and, you know, that's his wife was of a different faith or something. And he said, you know,
I'm Catholic. And I popped the question. And you know what? This guy was super receptive
and he got saved super easy. Probably like 15 minutes tops, I think. Took for the
gospel presentation. And then I was like, does everything make sense? He's like,
it makes perfect sense. I did not know that it was a gift that it can never be lost.
You know what that guy did? He accepted the terms and services, terms and conditions of salvation,
which is through faith. If someone chooses not to, it's because they want to provide other terms.
They don't want the terms and conditions. They want the terms and services.
They want to be able to do something for salvation, make peace with God on his terms.
Okay. What it says in verse six, it tells us he shall cause them to come out of Jacob to take
root. Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the whole of, excuse me, of the world
with fruit. And I think what this is just talking about is the fact that saved Jews, Israelites
will inhabit the millennial reign and they will finally be able to be fruitful for once.
Because, you know, for the last 2000 years, they haven't been because, you know, they've been
replaced. You know, this is why Jesus Christ told them that the kingdom of God should be taken from
you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. It's like, you're not producing
fruit. So now we're going to alter the covenant, make a new one actually. And this new covenant
is hiring new people of different nationalities to be a part of God's people. And these people
are going to be more fruitful than you are. But in the millennial reign though,
you know, it says that they shall come out of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud
and fill the world with fruit. In other words, they can finally be fruitful again because
unbelieving Israel is removed. Okay. Look at verse seven, if you would, we're going to look at God's
judgment on Israel. It says in verse seven, hath he smitten him? Has he smote those that smote him?
Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure when it
shooteth forth, thou will debate with him. He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east
wind. And I think what this is essentially saying is that, you know, Israel in general has just been
punished by God. When you look at the term, the east wind in the Bible, it's often associated
with God's judgment. When he says, hey, you're taking the east wind, he's basically saying,
you're taking my judgment upon me. And in fact, let me read you from Hosea chapter 12, verse one,
it says, Ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth after the east wind. He daily increaseth lies
and desolation and they do not, excuse me, and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians and
oil is carried into Egypt. What is he saying? You know, it's like Israel wants to be punished or
something. They're following after the east wind. And you know what? All of us to a certain extent
know some backslidden Christian that we can say they're following the east wind. It's not enough
that the east wind is pursuing them. It's like, you're going to the east wind. You know that God's
going to punish you. You know you're being disciplined by God. You know God's wrath is
upon you for your disobedience. And it's like, you're just following the east wind. We want to
run away from the east wind. We want the west wind. We want the south wind. We want the winds
of God's blessings. But you know there's people out there that are so stubborn, Christians that
are just so stubborn because they're so backslidden that you could almost classify them as being
people following after that east wind and wanting the wrath of God to come upon them for whatever
reason. Well that's how Israel was. You know think about it. Israel is the nation that God selected
in the Old Testament to bear his name and proclaim his word and yet repeatedly over and over again
they're worshiping false gods. They're blaspheming the Lord. They're no longer serving God.
They're getting involved in all kinds of paganism. It's almost as if they're following the east wind.
And so he had to smite them. He had to punish them. He had to slay them and debate with them.
Look at verse number nine. It says, by this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged
and this is all the fruit to take away his sin when he maketh all the stones of the altar as
chalk stones that are beaten and sunder the groves and images shall not stand up. Verse 10,
yet the defense city shall be desolate and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness.
There shall the calf feed and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof. So he's
basically saying you know a lot of times in the Old Testament I mean when you read the story of
Israel being punished it's essentially to remove the bad people and keep the good people right.
You know reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord has rejected them and when you look at
some of the captivities some people were kept because they actually believed on the Lord.
Others were removed and who are the ones that are removed? The unbelieving ones. Who are the ones
that kept? The ones that kept believing. Well the same goes on today and you know what in the
millennial reign who are the ones that are going to be removed? Unbelieving Israel. Who are the
ones going to stay? The ones who still believe. Okay very important look at verse number 11.
When the bows thereof are withered they shall be broken off the women come and set them on fire
for it is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them
and he that formed them will show them no favor and I think what this is talking about is the
fact that like Israel essentially was broken off let's talk about a bow that is withered and
what happens to a bow that's withered it breaks off of the actual tree itself and is no longer
attached to the root you understand well when you look at Israel as a whole according to Romans
chapter 11 they're described as those who were broken off and we as a wild olive tree are grafted
in it says that they're withered they shall be broken off the women come and set them on fire
why for it is a people of no understanding the Bible says and so this is essentially
foreshadowing the fact that Israel is going to be replaced they're going to be broken off
so on and so forth now people often wonder like so how is this like a permanent thing that they're
just broken off you know can they ever get saved and the answer is yes they can be saved
okay this is not a Jew hating church and you know a lot of times people will go to the extreme
when it comes to replacement theology and just take this position that the Jews are just the
scum of the world you know and we hate Jews and Heil Hitler or whatever that's nonsense this is
a Baptist church this is a Christian church we believe the Bible okay and none of that stuff is
biblical none of that stuff is biblical and in fact you know I can prove it to you that the
Bible literally says in Romans chapter 11 the apostle Paul says that they can be grafted in
you know if they don't abide in unbelief showing us that there's Jews out there that probably are
getting saved probably not very many though and obviously you know it's not necessarily the most
receptive people group in the world we will probably never do a mission trip to Israel
not probably we will never do a mission trip to Israel amen we're probably I'm gonna be honest
we probably will never do a soul winning marathon in Hollywood or Beverly Hills West Hollywood
Beverly Hills uh you know wherever there's a concentration of Jews I didn't say camp I
said concentration of Jews you know it's likely we're not going to go there to go preach the
gospel and not because we don't like Jews because we love all nationalities it's because biblical
principle when it comes to the gospel teaches us that we need to go to the receptive people first
and if you were to look at all nations they're at the bottom of the list when it comes to
receptiveness you're like well when are we going to get there probably never because here's the
thing is that we have so many receptive people to go to now this doesn't mean that if we're
knocking door we're going door to door we're running to a Jew outdoor knocking of course we're
going to witness to them you know we should never have this attitude like oh man he's coming out
with the yarmulke or something like that and you know I mean obviously I probably would say that in
my in my heart they're like here we go here's my next sermon illustration you know but I would give
them the gospel I've given Jews the gospel and you know do I have a lot of faith that they're
going to get saved no that's just probably my sin nature I just end my experience that has shown me
that they're not very receptive in fact most of the time they're very blasphemous towards the
Lord Jesus Christ but you know this is not a Jew-hating church we do not hate Jews so take
that crap somewhere else you know take it to you know Hitler Baptist Church or something like that
if it even exists and if it does it's not a legitimate church okay now do I think that Jews
are responsible for a lot of evil and wickedness in this world duh you know uh yeah you know and
do I think that you know they're a cursed nation yeah that's what the Bible says and do I think
they crucified and killed the Lord Jesus Christ duh of course do I think that's an anti-Semitic
thing to say I don't care because it's true you know because people are so sensitive about like
anti-Semitic statements or something they're not even willing to say things that are actually in
the Bible it's nonsense you know do I think the Jews are responsible for all the pornography
and all the filth and smut that's being promoted by Hollywood of course
but you know your your random Jew that's just you know if there's any I don't know you know
maybe it's too poor for them you know I don't know you know this random Jew that's out there
you know I'd witness to him if I ran into him and so it's important for us to realize that that they
can still be saved and I guarantee you there are Jews all around the world that are getting saved
even today probably not as much as other ethnicities or other religious groups or whatever
but you know they can be saved okay and look I'm gonna tell you right now I love Jews and
let me tell you this I love them because if it wasn't for certain Jews we wouldn't have
Christianity come to us right the apostle Paul is a Jew I mean he's a Benjaminite whatever but you
know he said he was a Jew Peter was a Jew that many of the disciples were Jews these men converted
and they kind of just stopped even identifying or some of the apostles didn't but you know the
apostle Paul just kind of just like went for the Gentiles he loved Gentiles and so I'm thankful
for them and you know what we're gonna be with them for all of eternity too many of them who
are saved but I don't buy into this whole false narrative that just because they're a Jew they're
gonna be in heaven or something like that it's nonsense it's stupid they don't get a free pass
no ethnic group or religious group or whatever because they're blessed of God in the Old
Testament gets a free pass to heaven or something like that let me just remind you that the Jews
killed Jesus plain and simple and you know what if you want to say that's anti-Semitic then so be it
you know I'll admit that it's anti-Semitic as long as they admit that it's that they're anti-jesus
they take responsibility for it so it's a biblical thing to say look at verse 12 here's the last part
it says and it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel
of the river into the stream of Egypt and he shall be gathered one by one oh you children of Israel
and it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown and they shall come
with which we're ready to perish in the land of Syria and the outcast in the land of Egypt and
shall worship the Lord and the holy mount at Jerusalem so chapter 26 ends with the
rapture chapter 27 also ends with a symbolic representation of the rapture as well
because it's saying here that the trumpet shall be blown and they shall come which we're ready
to perish in the land of Assyria and what's interesting about that well when you look at
end times bible prophecy the last 75 days prior to the rapture is also referred to as great
tribulation when the trumpet is blown it's basically when believers are ready to perish
it's like we're at our wits end the antichrist is making war with the saints he's killing them
and it's just like lift up your heads for your redemption draw your redemption draweth nigh
and so it's just a beautiful picture of the rapture so what is chapter 27 really telling
us here obviously it's talking about end times and it's telling us that you know satan is not
always going to be swimming in the in the waters of the earth you know satan is not always going
to be present to tempt you to fight against you to attack you to discourage you he has an end
and we can't bring his end but you know what we have god on our side if god before us who can be
against us ultimately he's the one who destroys satan casting him into the lake of fire and we
should rest easy on that and then too this just this chapter basically teaches us that you know
we need to be more eternally minded a lot of these chapters teach that right to look forward
to the day where we can have jesus christ as our king here on this earth and and look forward to
a time of great peace let's pray father we thank you so much for your word we're thankful for
chapter 27 lord and i pray that you help us to take these things to heart and realize that the
only way uh anybody in this world can overcome satan is through jesus christ uh you're the only
one that can break the heads of leviathan and lord i pray father god that you'd help to help us
as your people to depend on you as we're in spiritual warfare from time to time that we
may look to you look to your word look through prayer lord and meditate upon these things
uh and realize lord that we're insufficient to fight against satan but if we can't overcome
the wicked one by the word of god by the spirit of god and through jesus christ we're more than
conquers through him we love you lord and we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen