Now, we're up to Isaiah 18. We're going chapter by chapter through this book of the Bible.
And if you look at verse number 2, it says,
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying,
Go ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled.
I decided to call the title of the sermon tonight, A Nation Scattered and Peeled.
The reason I chose it primarily is because this idea of being scattered and peeled a nation or a people
comes up twice in these very few verses.
We have seven verses. We don't have a lot in this chapter.
And in fact, out of all the chapters that I've been preparing with the book of Isaiah,
this one has been by far the most difficult.
I don't know, as that was being read to you, did anyone have any opinion as to what nation the Lord is speaking about here?
Just any idea? Yes, brother?
Is it Israel?
Is it Israel? I mean, it's a good guess.
I don't believe it's Israel. I'll give you in a minute why.
Does anyone else want to have an opinion as to what he might be talking about?
Judah.
Might be, well, Judah, well, yeah, Israel, Judah.
I don't believe it is. I don't believe it's any of those two.
In fact, look, I was, you know, many times when I preach through books of the Bible,
I can often sometimes, because I've been in church pretty much my whole life,
I can often think back to verses being read or being taught or expanded upon.
And I'll be honest with you, I've never, at least if my memory serves me right,
I've never heard any preaching out of Isaiah 18.
Because it is very challenging. It is a little bit cryptic.
And God doesn't actually tell us exactly what nation he's speaking about.
Yes, brother?
Ethiopia.
Ethiopia? I mean, yeah, because it mentions Ethiopia there.
Okay, well, it mentions Ethiopia. We'll talk about it in a moment. We'll talk about that in a moment.
But many times, chapter by chapter, we'll have things like the burden of Babylon, right?
The burden of Moab. And, you know, it's very clear who God is speaking about.
But we get to chapter 18, and yes, Ethiopia is mentioned.
And I think some people, I looked up online, like, what do people believe?
And some people do believe it's about Ethiopia. Some people believe it's about Egypt.
Some people do believe it's about Israel. Some people believe it's about Babylon. Some people believe it's about Assyria.
I'm going to give you my thoughts as to what this is about.
But, you know, that idea of being scattered and pure, again, we see that in verse number two.
And we also see that in verse number seven. We'll look at verse number seven in a moment.
But let's start there in verse number one. It says,
Woe to the land, okay, so there's a specific land God is speaking about here.
Woe to the land, shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
This is pretty much, like, what we get here, okay?
Land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
So, definitely Ethiopia is part of this equation to some extent, but is it Ethiopia?
Well, if you think about Ethiopia as potentially, you know,
would we say Ethiopia has ever been a land that has shadowed others with wings?
You know, I mean, look, there was a time when Ethiopia was a wealthy nation by far.
The Queen of Sheba, we know, was a contemporary of King Solomon.
But it wasn't known as necessarily a nation that shadowed or had authority over several other nations.
And what we see here is this land is not a land that is being shadowed,
but a land that is doing the shadowing with wings.
And that authority or that shadowing with wings goes beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
So, what it's saying here, it's not Ethiopia necessarily, but its power and its authority spreads beyond Ethiopia.
And so, this is speaking about a very powerful kingdom as it is, okay?
Now, this idea of being scattered and peeled only appears one other time in the Bible.
So, let's have a look at it. It's in Ezekiel 29.
Ezekiel 29, verse number 18.
Now, what does it mean to be peeled?
You know, well, it's not that complicated when we peel an apple.
What are we doing? We're removing the skin off the apple.
When you get sunburnt and your skin is peeling, you know, your skin's coming off your body and you're getting new skin.
And so, that's all it means.
Peeling means something is happening on the outer layer.
But if you look at Ezekiel 29, 18, it says,
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus.
Every head was made bold.
So, this is every head of the army of Nebuchadrezzar and Nebuchadnezzar, the same person, was made bold.
So, they shaved themselves, then it says, and every shoulder was peeled.
This is the only other reference in the whole Bible, that you speak about a people that is peeled.
And here we have the shoulders being peeled, and let's keep going there.
Yet had he no wages, nor his army for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,
and he shall make her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army.
So, the idea, I believe we can take that literally, that the shoulders were peeled, just like their heads were bold.
And so, potentially, as this army is marching through, going all the way to Egypt is one example here.
Now, the army may very well be carrying things upon the shoulders, the soldiers, we carry things on their shoulders,
and it could just be causing a peeling of the skin, and so this is a people or an army that is peeled.
That's the only other reference, and what I like about this is the fact that it's speaking about the kingdom of Babylon.
Again, the world to the land, shadowing with wings, speaks of a power that is beyond their boundaries.
It goes all the way to Ethiopia.
Now, what we see in Ezekiel 29 is it makes very clear here that the king of Babylon did reach all the way to Egypt.
Egypt was under Babylonian power, and of course, once you cross it into Egypt, you are crossing into Africa.
But, you know, I did as much research as I could, and I could not find that Babylon as a power ever had authority into Ethiopia.
As much as I tried, some websites that looked at some historical writings said that they didn't have power over Ethiopia,
but they definitely had trade agreements with Ethiopia, and so even though they did influence Ethiopia to an extent,
because of the money and the trade and all that between the two nations.
So, you know, could it be talking about Babylon? I think there's a possibility, there's a possibility.
But, as I said, Babylon never crossed over into Ethiopia.
But, now go with me to the book of Esther. Come with me to Esther chapter 1 and verse number 1.
Esther chapter 1 and verse number 1.
So, what nation took over Babylon? Or what kingdom took over the Babylonian kingdom?
The Persians.
Yep, the Persians, the Medo-Persian empire.
And so when we get to the book of Esther, Esther is a woman who is living under this Persian rule.
So, when you look at Esther chapter 1 verse number 1, and essentially the Medo-Persian empire essentially took over the same land as Babylon,
mostly, in their power, in their power base, but look what it says in Esther 1.
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this Ahasuerus which reigned, look what he reigned, this king,
from India, even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, provenance, provinces.
I can't pronounce anything today.
But I also notice that the empire that took over the Babylonian empire did, they increased their land and their stretch beyond Egypt into Ethiopia,
and we have that confirmed for us in the Bible.
So, could it be the Persian empire that God is speaking about? Could it be the Babylonian empire that God is speaking about?
You know, it's left quite vague in this chapter.
And so my thought behind this, my thought, and look, you might have your opinions, I'll let you decide.
If you have some really good ideas, let me know.
But I don't know if this is necessarily representing a specific nation, or if this chapter is representing just global empire as a whole.
Like the Babylonians to some extent, the Persians to some extent, maybe even the Assyrians to some extent.
You know, the fact that this is quite cryptic and left to sort of our imagination.
Like I said, we've only got seven verses.
Yes, Ethiopia is mentioned, but it's a nation that's been shadowed by this land, by this power.
So it's not Ethiopia that necessarily God is speaking about, but it does reach all the way to Ethiopia.
So it may very well be the Persian empire.
And don't forget when Daniel, the prophet Daniel was under the authority, or was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar,
that King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. Remember that dream that he had where he had a statue of a man and the head of that man was gold?
And that gold head represented the Babylonian empire.
And then the chest was silver and that represented the Medo-Persian empire.
And so even though they're different empires, it's still part of the one and the same system that God quite often preaches against.
You know, in the Old Testament, but even in books like the book of Revelation, God is still preaching against mystery Babylon the great.
And so it could just be, the fact that it's left kind of vague, it could be that God is just speaking about power bases or government's authority kingdoms as a whole.
So that's what my thought is, but again, if you've got some ideas, please let me know what you think.
Alright, let's continue. Back to Isaiah 18 and verse number 2.
Isaiah 18 and verse number 2, please.
It says that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying,
Go ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning.
Remember the word terrible means terror.
So this nation or these people invoke terror upon the land.
And so it looks like, from what I'm reading here, that Ethiopia is sending messengers to this nation that are scattered and peeled.
You know, potentially again, just like ambassadors, it says there, sendeth ambassadors by the sea.
This is very likely the Red Sea.
The Red Sea pretty much separates what we know as the Middle East and Africa.
And it might be the Red Sea where these ambassadors travelling.
It mentions the kind of vessels of bulrushes, that's just grassy wetlands, plants that they use to build their ships.
And then it says, a nation, look at verse number 2, it says, a nation that, near the end,
a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled.
Now Babylon itself, of course, at this time was still powerful and rich,
but the lands that they have conquered have been trodden down, okay.
So for example, when Babylon took Judah into captivity, they completely devastated and wiped out the land.
There were very few people remaining on the land of Judah.
They destroyed the city.
They burned down the temple of God.
And so even though Babylon itself is beautiful, rich, and well-to-do,
but the lands around it that they've conquered are lands that have been trodden down.
And it looks like that Ethiopia in this exchange is trying to, you know, just appease the powerful kingdom,
whether they're appeasing Babylon or whether they're trying to appease Persia, I'm not sure exactly again.
This could just be a general overall thought toward, you know, powerful kingdoms that God has allowed to rule over the land.
Let's continue there, verse number 3.
All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth,
see ye when he lifted up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Now again, it's so cryptic.
Like when I read verse number 3, I'm thinking about, you know, this nation that's scattered and pure,
this nation that shadows others with its wings.
And then all of a sudden we're being told that all the people of the earth should listen to this person
that lifts up an ensign or a banner on the mountains, and he blows a trumpet, hear ye.
And the thought that I get here, if I'm just reading verse number 3 together with verses 1 and 2,
this might be like, again, the idea of ambassadors from this powerful nation on these mountains
issuing commands to the nations that are under them.
But the issue of that is when you get to verse number 4, it changes gears.
Because look how verse number 4 begins.
4. 4, so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest.
And so when you see the word for as the beginning of a sentence in the Bible, that is a conjunctive word.
You know, it's linking what came before with this verse.
So sometimes for in the Bible can be the word because, okay?
And so when I look at somebody being lifted up on this mountain
and the whole world has been asked to hear the voice of the one on the mountain,
it seems like to me when I get to verse number 4 that God has a few words to say
to all the peoples of the earth coming from that mountain.
Now, when it says there, in verse number 3, when he blows a trumpet, hear ye,
this again reminds me of preaching.
Because if you go to Isaiah 58, come with me to Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58 and verse number 1.
God gives these instructions to the prophet Isaiah.
He says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.
And again, I know I'm taking a bit of symbolism here.
It is a cryptic chapter.
But it might very well be that the one that is standing on the mountains,
the one that is preaching and God is asking for all the people of the earth to listen to
might very well be Isaiah, you know, preaching God's word, lifting his voice like a trumpet
and advising and we're going to see what he's teaching the people of the earth.
But it seems again, once again, that this is something that God is speaking to the nations of the earth.
So what is it that God is saying? Look at verse number 4.
Now, again, when I would read verse 4 just by itself, it looks like a positive connotation.
Because if you want your plants to grow, you need the sun to shine upon them, right?
That's what feeds the plants, the sun, okay?
That kind of sounds positive.
And then it says, and like a cloud of dew, that's a cloud of rain, essentially, in the heat of harvest.
So, you know, if you want to grow a harvest, you need rain.
You need, you know, the rain to come down for your crops to grow, the sun to shine upon the herbs and give it its food.
And so when I look at verse number 4 again, okay, it kind of sounds positive.
So, you know, is the fact that God is considering these nations and considering the earth a positive thing?
I suppose it is a positive thing because our Lord God is, you know, a righteous judge and whatever he decides for the earth is correct.
But once again, if you continue, look at verse number 5, what might seem positive is actually negative.
Because in verse number 5 it says, for before the harvest,
so before you go and you harvest the grains and the crops that you've planted,
it says when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
so you can see that the harvest is growing, that the bud is about to blossom,
that the grape is not yet sweet, it's still maturing, it's still bitter and sour.
It says, okay, so you're waiting for the harvest, you're waiting to, you know, to harvest,
that's the word I'm using, I'm using that word harvest all the time, to harvest your crops,
you're waiting for it to become ripe and at the right time, it says before that happens,
you know, before the harvest, it says, he shall both cut off the sprigs, sprigs of plants,
with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches.
So before it's like fully flourished, before it's fully matured,
God says he's going to cut down the plants before they come to the full ripening of the harvest.
So that is a negative connotation, right? That's a negative connotation.
So when you understand that this is actually negative, and you go back to verse number four,
let's look at it again, what God is considering in heaven,
and let's take that last, the last sentence of that, last phrases of verse number four,
it says, like a clear heat upon herbs.
So when you think about this being negative, you know, if there's too much heat,
you know, it'll cause herbs to shrivel up and die, okay?
And then it says like a dew in the heat of harvest, you know, we've also seen things like,
you know, in Queensland in recent years where you might have, you know, farms and then all of a sudden,
there's a great downpour, there's flooding and it destroys the harvest, right?
I mean, there was a time or longer a few years ago when one, you know, one piece of lettuce,
one lettuce was like $12 for a single, what do you call them? A single head of lettuce was $12.
Why did that happen? Because it rained too much, right? It rained too much and it destroyed the crops.
And so God is speaking about this power base, this power that is overshadowing over nations.
You know, God says, look, before you reach the full maturity, I'm going to cut you down, okay?
I'm going to stop you before you become all too powerful and of course, I love that about God,
that he sees the affairs of men, he sees governing powers, he sees when kingdoms, you know,
take too much authority upon themselves and from time to time, God says, all right, your time's over, it's enough.
Before you reach the full ripening of your kingdom, I'm going to strike you down.
Now, we are going through Isaiah 18. What's the 18th book of the Bible? Job. Good job, Tim.
Okay, so let's go to Job. Let's go to Job 38, please. Let's go to Job 38. Let's go to Job 38.
I hope you're getting something out of Isaiah 18 so far. Like I said, this is probably the most hardest,
the hardest chapter that I've seen to preach through and obviously, I don't want to say something that God is not saying.
Okay, so I want to be very careful with how I deal with this chapter.
But we saw, as you go into Job 38, I'll just read to you once again from Isaiah 18, verse number 4.
And so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs
and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. Now, when you get to Job 38, look at verse number 1, it says,
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, so we know what we're about to read are the words of God.
Drop down to verse number 25. In verse number 25 it says,
Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder,
to cause it to rain on the earth where no man is, on the wilderness wherein there is no man,
to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to bring forth.
Have the rain a father, or who have begotten the drops of dew?
Now, when we read Job 38, once again God is reminding us that it is He that sends the rain.
And what I love about verse number 28, it says, Have the rain a father.
So who commands the rain to fall? It's only God, right? It's only God.
And who hath begotten the drops of dew? It's only God that can control the rain.
So I'm sorry, Mr. Conspiracy, you know, HAARP, if you've been listening to the HAARP, H-A-A-R-P, technology,
some place in the US that's controlling the weather, that's controlling the rains, listen, that's garbage.
Please don't fall for the idea that man has somehow mastered the controls, whether they're going to send rain or not send rain.
Look, have the rain a father? Can rain be controlled by a man? No, it can't.
Can a man beget drops of rain? No, he can't. He does not have that ability, okay?
Be careful of the junk you listen to online, please. What we see that God has control of the rain.
And in the wilderness, if he wants to send the rain when no one is harvesting, when no one is planting,
okay, he will make the crops to grow. But if he wants to send rain to destroy a harvest, God can do that as well.
It is God that's in control of the environment. God is in control of the rain.
And it's up to him. If he wants it to flood, if he wants to destroy, he can use rain,
if he wants to just grow in the middle of the wilderness where no man is laboring, he can do that as well.
Okay? Now we are going to come back to the book of Job in a moment, so keep your finger there in Job,
and come with me to Isaiah, Isaiah 18, and verse number 5.
Isaiah 18, and verse number 5. And let's just read it again.
For for the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower.
Have you ever, guys, have you ever seen like a sour grape? Like I've got some memories going back to,
you know, back in Chile when I would visit my family, and my grandfather had these grapes,
and they were green grapes, and they looked so beautiful, like they were growing like a vine over,
I don't know, he had some like wooden little archway, and you had these grapes growing over it,
and I remember as a kid just seeing these big green grapes, and I was like excited to go and pluck them,
and eat them, so as a kid I got all these grapes, okay, they looked great, they're big and green,
and they're in my hand, what in the world, it's not sweet at all, what's happening, I mean it looks ripe,
like they look big, okay, but what they hadn't fully matured, they were sour or bitter,
I spat out of my mouth, and you know, the idea again, what we see, look, when it comes to man,
and the kingdoms, and the governments of men, God can put a stop to it when he wishes,
like whenever he wants, and it seems like, you know, with kingdoms like Babylon or Persia,
they want to get to a point where they are clearly the most powerful over all the nations,
they continue to expand their borders, and they feel like, look, we're about to achieve our success,
and you know, man starts to pack themselves in the back, and look what we've achieved,
and you know, look at this crowding effort, you know, we're so victorious, we're so powerful,
but it almost seems like when they're just about to, you know, be the victors over the entire earth,
that God says alright, I'm not going to let it come to, it's fully, you know, be fully developed,
so I'm going to cut you down before you get to a point where, you know, it's like a point of no return.
Now just as a reminder, if you can keep your finger there, come with me to Daniel 2,
come with me to Daniel 2, Daniel 2 and verse number 20, Daniel chapter 2 and verse number 20.
Daniel 2.20, again Daniel was a godly man under captivity of Babylon, alright.
Daniel was a man who had all his rights stripped away from him, okay, he was stripped away from his family,
he was taken away from his house, from his land, okay, very likely was castrated as well,
he had some medical practice put on him, okay, much worse than any COVID vaccine,
okay, he's had some major issues, alright, he finds himself with all his rights stripped away,
but he's still serving the Lord in Babylon, alright, and this is what he says in Daniel 2.20,
Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his,
and I love the next verse, and he changeth the times and the seasons, he removeth kings,
he seteth up kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that no understanding.
This is, you know, who sets up kingdoms and destroys kingdoms?
Who sends the rains and allows it to grow and sends the rain and allows it to destroy?
It's God, okay, and so what I believe the main thrust of Isaiah 18 is regardless of what powerful nation
or what powerful kingdom is ruling over places on the earth, you know, what God is instructing Isaiah to preach
is that God can destroy you, God can stop you at any moment.
And you know what, when it comes to our life, God has given us life, he gives us our blessings,
but you know, God also knows when we're going to pass away, you know, our life is in his hands,
and I often think about, you know, my life as being, I almost feel like I'm indestructible,
like nothing can happen to me until God says, alright, it's over, your life is over,
because there's nothing man can do outside of the control of God.
And when it comes to setting up kings, this is why again, I didn't really mean to go down this rabbit trail,
but that's why I don't, I just don't care necessarily who's in power, who's in control,
who's, you know, running things behind the scenes, and we need to, you know, wake everybody up.
Look, in the Bible, we know God knows all things, and it's in God's hands,
and God will give power to whom he gives power, God will take down whom he will take down,
God allows the wicked to reign for a season, but one thing we know for sure,
they will never achieve the wickedness and take the power, all the power that they want,
you know, they're never going to get to a point where they're fully ripened,
God will cut them down, just like he did Babylon, brought the Persian Empire,
then he took them down with the Grecian Empire, and so on and so forth to this very day,
and that happens time and time and time and time again, okay?
So, like, there's nothing new under the sun, is what I'm trying to say, okay?
And we ought to be like Daniel, Daniel's alright man, he's in a bad place,
but he's still serving the Lord, alright? He's still serving the king of Nebuchadnezzar,
he's doing the best to preach God's word, and who he is in salvation, even in a place of captivity.
I told you to keep a finger in the book of Job, come with me to Job 15.
Job 15 and verse number 1.
The Bible says, then answered Eliphaz, the Temanites, and said,
so Eliphaz is one of Job's friends, frenemies, frenemies is what we call them, right?
Friends on the outside, but they gossip about Job, they don't like Job really,
and they're rejoicing, they're kind of just gloating that Job has been suffering.
They're saying to Job, you know, that you've done something wrong against the Lord God
and he's allowed you to suffer.
Look, sometimes that can be the case, sometimes, well of course,
when you go for some hardship, please stop and consider, is there some major sin in your life,
you know, God might be chastising you,
but sometimes God allows the devil to have a hold in your life simply to test you.
And when it comes to Job, that was exactly what happened.
You know, God was showing the devil just how faithful Job is,
that if you removed all his prosperity, you know, and his family, and his health,
that he will still be rejoicing in his Lord God, and that's exactly what happened.
But here comes the friends, and look at, drop down to verse number 31.
This is what Eliphaz says to Job.
He says, let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense.
So vanity means emptiness, nothingness, right?
So Job's lost everything.
So what is he saying? He goes, if vanity shall be his recompense,
he's saying, you're receiving vanity, Job, because you've trusted in vanity, right?
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity.
So he's saying, Job, look, see, your trust was in empty things.
Your trust was in your wealth, your trust was in your possessions,
your trust was on your status, and because that's all empty things,
he's saying, this is why God is recompensing you with vanity, with emptiness.
It's all been taken away from you.
So, you know, Eliphaz is incorrect.
He's like, you know, accusing Job of having his trust on the wrong things,
and Job makes it very clear in this book that, no, his trust is in his Lord God only.
But look what it says in verse number 32.
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
So he's explaining, he's saying to Job, you're like this unripe grape, okay?
Like, we're talking about these kingdoms being these unripe grapes, okay?
They've not come to full maturity, and God is cutting them down.
Well, Eliphaz here, Eliphaz, what do you want to call him, is using the same illustration to speak of Job.
See, Job, you're trusting in the wrong things, and you know, you've been lifted up,
and you're prideful, and you're trusting in the wrong things, so God cut you down as an unripe grape.
What I find interesting is that he's using the same terminology that Isaiah uses in Isaiah 18.
But of course, you know, when it comes to us as God's people,
you know, whatever God blesses us with in his life, we ought to be thankful for.
But there is a reality that we are in many ways an unripe grape on this earth.
Like, we are saved. Don't get me wrong, no matter what happens, you know, your soul will go to heaven.
But the full realization of our salvation has not yet happened until God raptures us and gives us new resurrected bodies.
At that point, once we have those new bodies, we will never sin again.
We will never struggle with flesh, and we can be with God forever, you know, so shall we ever be with the Lord,
and of course, God's going to reward us with the treasures of heaven.
But it's interesting that we have a believer being accused as being this unripe grape,
but God uses the language, no, no, the unripe grape is for the wicked kingdoms of the world.
Like, he's going to stop them from being fully matured.
But when it comes to believers, we will reach full maturity and be like Christ when God finally gives us our new resurrected bodies at the rapture.
Back to Isaiah 18, Isaiah 18, verse number 6, Isaiah 18, verse number 6.
So we're talking about these kingdoms being cut down, being destroyed by the Lord God.
And in verse number 6, it says, they shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth.
So instead of man living in these lands, or in these cities, God says it's going to be the animals, okay?
It says, and the fowls shall summer upon them, and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
So in both seasons, there's going to be animals that make their abode in this place.
Now, this should remind us a little bit of what we've read earlier in Isaiah 13.
So come with me to Isaiah 13, Isaiah 13 and verse number 1,
Isaiah 13 and verse number 1, the burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Now drop down to verse number 19.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation,
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Look at verse number 21, but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there,
and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satires shall dance there,
and the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces,
and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
And so I also think what we're seeing here from Isaiah 13, this prophecy of Babylon being destroyed,
I believe it's been carried over to Isaiah 18.
Once again, God as a general rule over these towering or powering kingdoms,
that man's going to be removed from the city of Babylon, and instead it's just going to be filled with wild animals.
Even the owls are there, the fowls, the beasts of the earth are going to be living in these places.
And so essentially it's complete desolation in Babylon.
And even to this day, people do not live in Babylon.
Babylon's in Iraq, nobody lives there.
There have been attempts by Saddam Hussein to rebuild it, because he saw himself as a reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar or something.
He made some attempt to rebuild it, but if we know the prophecy that God's given about Babylon,
if you want your work to be destroyed, go try to rebuild Babylon, I suppose.
You'll fight it against God's prophecy, the prophecy of God that he's got there.
But it seems like that Isaiah 18, once again, is referring to Babylon,
but because Ethiopia is mentioned, it could again be reference to just all powerful kingdoms that rule over the earth,
and God has just reminded them, look, I can cut you down when I want.
Don't lift yourself up, don't think you're all powerful, God will decide when your end is coming.
Alright, back to Isaiah 18, verse number 7.
Now, again, it's like, yeah, okay, man, it's so negative, like, look at these things.
Like, Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, if you read for the prophets, major prophets, minor prophets, these are negative books.
It's just God constantly judging his people, judging Israel, judging Judah, judging Babylon, judging other nations, judging Nineveh.
This is who God is, like, our God sees all things, God sees all wickedness, he sees every nation,
and he stops like we saw earlier, he considers in his doing place, he thinks about what's happening,
like, nothing goes past him, and again, I personally, I'm comforted by this, that no matter how wicked the world gets,
like, God sees it all, and he's considering everything that is coming to pass.
He's considering the wickedness, the persecution against God's people, you know, the wicked reparations trying to stop God's word from being proclaimed.
God sees it all, and in his timing, he'll put a stop to these wicked people.
Always. Again, that gives me great comfort.
But even in such a negative situation, like we're reading back here, up to verse number 6,
we have hope, even for the people of Babylon. In verse number 7, it says,
In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts.
So gifts are going to be given to God, okay?
So what is this time? In that time, okay?
It says, of a people scattered and pure, so it's the same group,
and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and trodden underfoot,
whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion.
And so we have this sort of final promise, that even if you're part of this wicked kingdom, like you live there,
maybe you're part of the army, like you've had your skin peeled, and you've gone and you've conquered nations,
and God is judging the wickedness of these nations and these people,
but he leaves this little hope for them, that look, you can come and bring a gift before God in Mount Zion.
Now, come with me to Isaiah 2, come with me to Isaiah chapter 2 and verse number 1.
Isaiah chapter 2 and verse number 1.
So I'm trying to get other references of Isaiah to help build from Isaiah 18, you know?
Because of course, that's probably the best place to enrich our understanding of what God is speaking to us about here in this chapter.
But in Isaiah 2, verse number 1, it says,
The word that Isaiah the son of Amor saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,
and it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
Now, I don't know if you remember, if you can go back 16 weeks now, once we covered Isaiah 2,
but what is he speaking about?
Where all people will come to the mountain of the Lord's house,
all nations are going to gather themselves and flow themselves into it.
When does this take place?
And you may recall we were speaking about the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, okay?
And look at verse number 3,
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And of course, the fulfilment of this will take place when Christ rules on the earth,
he's going to be ruling from Jerusalem, and the nations, the gentile nations of the earth,
they're going to love hearing God's word.
They're going to be coming to Zion to see Jesus, to learn of his ways, to walk in his righteousness,
and of course we, because we're going to be raptured with new bodies,
we're going to be ruling with Christ, and we're going to be helping the Lord God teach these things unto the nations,
because we're going to be ruling over these nations.
And so there is a reality that this is a reference to Christ's millennial reign.
But something else that jumped out at me in verse number 7, in Isaiah 18, verse number 7,
when it says to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, THE Mount Zion, or THE Mount Zion,
that caught my attention.
So I started to look, where does the Bible refer to Mount Zion as THE?
Because most often you read the Bible, it's just Mount Zion.
THE Mount Zion.
Where there are two other references in the Bible that refers to THE Mount Zion, let's look at both of them.
Come with me to Psalm 78, come with me to Psalm 78, Psalm 78.
I haven't got time to expand Psalm 78 in any sense, it's quite lengthy.
But essentially God is describing each tribe of the nation of Israel.
And then when it gets to verse number 68, he speaks of Judah.
In Psalm 78, verse number 68, it says,
The tribe of Judah, THE Mount Zion, which he loved.
So I thought that was quite interesting, THE Mount Zion, which he loved.
There is a mount that God loves, and it's Mount Zion.
And it's there coming from the tribe of Judah, because of course the king who would be the king of kings,
the Lord of Lords, comes from the tribe of Judah.
So the king that will reign for all eternity comes from the tribe of Judah, and is going to rule from Mount Zion.
So the reason God loves it is not so much because of the soil, or the shape of the mountain or something like that,
it's because it's the place where righteousness will be proclaimed.
Now there's one other reference.
Come with me to Revelation 14.
Revelation 14, for THE Mount Zion.
Revelation 14, verse number 1.
Revelation 14, verse number 1 reads,
And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on THE Mount Zion.
Where's that? It says,
And with him, and hundred forty and four thousand, having his father's name written in their foreheads.
So on this mountain is Jesus the Lamb, of course, and 144,000, 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel.
And then it says in verse number 2,
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers, harping with their harps.
So the voice that he hears from heaven, it comes from heaven, but he also hears harpers, he hears music,
and then verse number 3, it says,
And they sung, so he's hearing singing now, as it were, a new song before the throne,
and before the four beasts, and the elders, and no man could learn that song,
but the hundred and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
So who's the only ones that can sing this particular song?
The 144,000.
This is what John is hearing, and he said he heard it from heaven.
This singing, this music, he's hearing it coming from heaven.
And so when we look at verse number 1 again,
And I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, that's speaking about the Mount Zion located in heaven.
Because this is something that you always need to remind yourself as you're going through the Old Testament,
And you're seeing things, you say, what's so special about the Mount Zion on the earth that God loves?
Because it's a picture, it's representative of the Mount Zion that is located in heaven.
And so when we talk about, you know, this nation or this land, like I said, a nation scattered and peeled.
You know, these people that have come from corrupt nations or powerful kingdoms.
Like when you think of Babylon, we have King Nebuchadnezzar.
Like here's such a classic example of a king who lifted himself up, considered himself to be the most powerful,
So prideful for the victories that God had given him, but instead of thanking God, he looked at himself,
And ultimately, I believe very strongly that King Nebuchadnezzar got saved.
Because one of the chapters in Daniel is basically coming from his own hand.
You know, God is moving him to pen the very words in God's Bible.
And so, you know, it's quite interesting that even though God is judging the wickedness of nations, the wickedness of kingdoms,
He considers it all, he impasses judgment, he lifts kings, he destroys kings, he sends the reigns as a blessing,
Or he can send the reigns as a curse. It's all in God's hands.
But what's wonderful about our Lord God, even though he considers the nations, he still considers the individuals within the nation.
Okay, and look, when is this gay and lesbian Mardi Gras going on here in Sydney?
Is it this weekend? I'm starting to hear about it. It's coming soon. It's coming soon.
I mean, like, okay, here we go, boy, what great wickedness, you know, in Sydney.
This annual celebration, you know, this annual, I don't know, at some point you think, instead of it being fireworks and confetti,
It's going to be fire and brimstone coming down from heaven, destroying this thing.
And then we think, boy, you know how wicked Sydney is, but never forget that God is still focused on the individuals that live here.
And, you know, as wonderful as it is going to the Philippines and seeing souls saved, the reminder is there are still souls to be saved in Australia.
There are still souls that are desiring to have a burden lifted off them to know that they can be a child of God and they can worship God in Mount Zion.
Whether that Mount Zion is in the millennial reign of Christ or Mount Zion that is in heaven, those that are saved are going to be in both places anyway at the end of the day.
And it's just a reminder, you know, even if we come from a nation that is scattered and peeled and powerful and mighty and victorious and all of this and prideful,
that God still has his eyes upon salvation. He still wants to see souls saved.
And I think, you know, we see this balance of God, you know, this bad news, this judgment, you know, judge and weakness, but then the mercy of allowing people to be part of Mount Zion,
to bring gifts to God, you know, to serve God faithfully, to love God, you know, he's such a merciful, long-suffering God that we worship.
Anyway, Isaiah 18, I hope I've given you some further things to think about.
And if you say to your pastor, I think it's something else, let me know and give me your evidence behind it. I really appreciate it. Okay, let's pray.