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Continuing in Isaiah chapter 18 and the Bible reads Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia that sendeth ambassadors by the sea Even in vessels of bulrushes upon the water saying go ye swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled To a people terrible from their beginning either to a nation meted out and trodden down whose land the rivers have spoiled All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see ye when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains and when he bloweth the trumpet hear ye For 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 For for the harvest when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches They shall be left together onto the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth and the fowls shall summer upon Them and beasts of the earth shall winter upon them in that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled and from a people terrible from their beginning either to a Nation meted out and trodden underfoot whose land the rivers have spoiled the place of the name of the Lord of hosts The Mount Zion, let's pray. Thank you. Heavenly Father for the King James Bible. Dear God We thank you for this wonderful church. You've given us. Thank you for our pastor We pray that you please fill in with the Holy Spirit tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name. Amen, man So as you very well may have noticed chapter 18 is a very short chapter with only seven verses And so tonight I'm actually gonna use that as the introduction chapter 18 And then I'm gonna preach through chapter 19 because it's more extensive there But let me just get a little bit of review from last week. And in fact, I'm only gonna cover One verse from chapter 17 if you remember in chapter 17 it was essentially a judgment against Damascus, which is the capital of Syria and then a judgment on Ephraim Which is just another way of saying Israel and the reason God is coupling both of these nations For judgment is because of the fact that they were making affinity one with another to fight against Judah. And so God is punishing Damascus he's punishing Israel because they are Confederate one with another Against the southern kingdom of Judah and I want you to notice verse number 10 We're just gonna look at one verse here in chapter 17 that I didn't get a chance to cover last week But I felt it was important to to just touch on this It says here verse number 10 because that was forgotten the God of thy salvation and has not been mindful of the rock of thy strength Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shall set it with strange slips now I mentioned last week that when it says that they've forgotten the God of that of their salvation It's just another way of saying that they've apostatized And in fact, we went through a couple scriptures particularly in the New Testament in 1st Corinthians 15 talking about keeping the gospel in memory, right and The reason they forgot the God of their salvation or the reason God says that they forgot is because they're worshipping false gods And so they are serving worshipping believing in Idols and false gods and so they don't know the God of the Bible They've essentially apostatized referring to the northern kingdom. They've apostatized they don't Worship or serve the true God of the Bible and so that is very much something that we see throughout the Old Testament But I want you to notice this towards the latter end of verse number ten. It says therefore Shout thou plant pleasant plants now, what does that mean exactly? Well, what I believe it's referring to is that they're going to produce future generations Okay, so if they were to be likened unto a vineyard Trees there. He's basically saying you're gonna plant pleasant plants your children your great-grandchildren So on and so forth, but I want you to notice this it says and shall set it with strange slips Now what is a slip well slip is essentially a softwood cutting or shoot It's that which is used for grafting Okay If you're to graft a branch into a tree you would essentially grab that branch from a different tree put it with a new tree and bind it until Eventually, it would fuse with that particular tree and become a part of it Right and it's saying here that they will be set with strange slips So these future generations that are coming years after they've apostatized Will be grafted in with strange slips and what's another way of saying strange foreign? Right that which is foreign and obviously what's being indicated here Is that Israel would eventually mix themselves with the foreign nations and become like the foreign nations? Permanently and this is very much something that took place because the ten tribes that make up that northern kingdom When they were scattered did intermingle with the heathen to the point that when Jesus Christ came in the first century AD They were no longer referred to as Israel. And in fact, they were described as the Samaritans So those ten tribes no longer existed there were now addressed as the Samaritans and it's pretty it's somewhat poetic Right because of the fact that instead of being grafted into Jesus Christ by their faith in Jesus They were instead grafted into a foreign nation into unbelief into the heathen And therefore by the time Christ came they were no longer even recognized by Jesus as being Israelites or of the ten tribes Why because they were grafted in with strange slips now hold your place or go to Hosea chapter 7 Hosea chapter 7 This is of course in chapter 17 of Isaiah is just describing the judgment that's going to come upon Ephraim Israel and he is prophesying of the fact that that northern kingdom would no longer be Existent in the future. It says in Hosea chapter 7 in verse number 8 Ephraim referring to Israel, of course. He has mixed himself among the people Ephraim is a cake not turned Strangers have devoured his strength And he knoweth it not Yea, great hairs are here and there upon him yet He knoweth not and the pride of Israel testifieth to his face and they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all of this Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart. They call to Egypt they go to Assyria when they shall go I will spread my net upon them. I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard So even in Hosea chapter 7 we see that Israel already had this Propensity to just kind of intermingle with the heathen and they don't even know that it was to their detriment They would eventually not only lose their ethnic identity so to speak But also their religious identity to the point where they were no longer worshiping the God of the Bible They're worshiping false gods and idols and this is why he says that they're essentially being set up these pleasant plants of the future Will be set up with strange slips foreign slips Gratted into the heathen no longer referred to as the Israelites and that's important because you know people today think that these twelve tribes still exist Whereas ten of those tribes for sure don't exist. I mean they weren't even around at the time of Christ and it's because of their decision to reject the God of the Bible and Essentially inherit observe worship false gods and idols and so I just want to make that point there because I felt like it was a Important point to make in the decline of the nation of Israel now look at chapter 18 Let me say this regarding chapter 18 This is probably one of the hardest chapters to actually interpret in my opinion in the book of Isaiah. It's very cryptic it's very difficult to interpret and so I'm gonna give you what I believe it's referring to and Obviously you can come to your own conclusions, but at the end of the day I think it's safe to say that it's simply a judgment upon Ethiopia and keep in mind that these chapters leading up to where we're at Here they're all Indictments, they're all maledictions against the surrounding nations And so it follows the pattern that a nation is being judged here specifically Ethiopia Which is also referred to in the Bible as Kush. Okay, it says in verse number one Woe to the land shadowing the wing with wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia 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 hitherto a Nation meted out and trotted down whose land the rivers have spoiled now what I believe this is talking about here Is that he's judging Ethiopia and from what it seems What it what the passage seems to be saying here is that they are taking advantage of a vulnerable nation Which would be Judah and they're trying to make alliances with a very wicked and strong nation Which is Assyria now you say where do you get that from well verse 1 tells us here that? That land referring to Ethiopia is being shadowed with wings and this could potentially be referring to the fact that Ethiopia is just Consistently known as a nation that has a lot of insects for example, and that could be symbolic of the fact that Ethiopia is constantly having these diplomatic activities with other nations. Okay, because it says in verse number two That it says go ye swift messengers Referring to those ambassadors to a nation scattered and peeled Well, what nation has been scattered and peeled over the last couple of chapters? It's Judah Judah's been punished by God through the Assyrians and the Assyrians came and essentially scattered them You know taking them captive and so we see there that they're possibly taking advantage of this vulnerable nation of Judah By just kind of picking them off. They're scattered and peeled But then it also says to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto And I believe this is referring to the Assyrians. We'll see later on that. That's potentially what it's talking about Towards the latter end of the chapter It says a nation made it out and trotted down whose land the rivers have spoiled So if we were to surmise why Ethiopia is being judged It potentially is because of the fact that they are making affinity with the wicked nation All the while trying to take advantage of Judah, which is scattered and peeled and obviously the principle there Is that God doesn't want us to kick our enemies when they're down Right if you have Judah scattered and peeled they've been destroyed by foreign nations He doesn't want Other nations to kind of see that as an opportunity To take advantage of them for for wicked means for resources for slavery Whatever it may be, you know, God views that and he sees that as being a very wicked device And so he's going to punish Ethiopia for that and then to add insult to injury They're also making affinity with Assyria, which is also a wicked thing We've touched on that in weeks past, you know joining the wicked in their devices It says in verse number three He begins to talk about the judgments that's going to come upon Ethiopia He says all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see when he lifted up an ensign on the mountains And when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye So the first thing we're going to see here is the fact that God's judgment will be heard about all around the world Because he says all ye inhabitants of the world. So whatever judgment came upon Ethiopia You know the word spread quickly That this was going to be a very destructive judgment that was going to come upon them It was as if a trumpet is blown. Everyone's listening to it. It's the shot that's heard around the world So to speak right everyone knows about it. And so and you say well, why would God want all the world to know? About what he's doing in Ethiopia if it has nothing to do with them the others may fear of course, right? When destruction comes upon a nation God wants us to observe that to learn from it And so that we would be prudent and hide ourselves from the evil And prevent ourselves from doing that which that particular nation has done. It says in verse number four For 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 and I think this is referring to the fact that the judgment upon Ethiopia Will be gradual because he's saying there he's that the Lord's going to rest he's going to consider In his dwelling place and he likens it unto clear heat upon herbs As well as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest it seems to give this indication That this judgment will be gradual until it reaches this apex of just complete and utter destruction Which we see in verse number five for a for the harvest before the harvest when the bud is perfect And the sour grape is ripening in the flower He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches. What is this talking about? It's basically communicating the fact that the judgment will be timely So it's like perfect because you know, the sour grapes are just ripe. That's when judgment comes, right? And you know the uh, he's going to cut off the sprigs with the pruning hooks take down the branches It's almost as if everything's beautiful in his time So god knows exactly when to strike exactly when to chest dies exactly when to prune and to destroy And so his judgments Are timely he goes on to say in verse number six and it gets a little Gets a little morbid here, but hey god's judgments are often morbid. Okay It says in verse six They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth And the fowls shall summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them So well, how's that morbid? Well, he's basically saying that carcasses are just going to be laid out in ethiopia No one's going to bury them You say well, how do you know because he's giving these carcasses for the fowls of the mountain of fowls Just another way of saying birds, okay So the birds have their buffet of carcasses for the entire summer And then it says that the beast of the earth shall winter upon them So there's enough carcasses to last up until the winter time where the beast will come and feast upon them. You say man Is it really saying that? Yeah And you know, this is not the first time that god gives the carcasses of the land to the beast of the field Nor will it be the last okay? and You know if you read revelation 19, for example, he gives all of these, you know, the antichrist his false prophet and the armies They die a horrible death and the armies their bodies are given to the the fowls of the air This is why the whole tibetan, you know You know, uh funeral ceremony is wicked, right? They have this Uh tibetan funeral where if you want your carcass can be your your corpse can be taken I think it's the tibetan mountains and they'll give your carcass to the fowls of the air to come and eat The vultures are coming just feast upon you and it's just like well, you know, it's really great because you know They'll be you basically go back into the earth. No, you're you're eaten by Birds and then they crap you out. Okay. It's a very dishonorable death And when you compare it to the depths of the bible, that's something that god did to people that he wanted to dishonor and disrespect That was um, essentially a token of judgment upon a nation because they're not given a proper burial you understand And so there's no honor there and god is obviously trying to dishonor Ethiopia to the point where no one's burying these bodies from summer all the way up until winter And he's just kind of giving it to the fowls of the air It's for sure now we see what jesus said when he when he talks about you know that he thinks about the birds, you know, he's like You know, he knows when they have to eat and you know, so he's like hey he's taking care of them Even even with the bodies of of wicked people who have perished and so you say why would he put that there? Well as as you know As a testimony unto us of what happens to a nation That rejects the lord takes advantage of the innocent and joins affinity with the wicked nation Says in verse seven in that time shall the present be brought into the lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled And from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trotted underfoot whose land the rivers have spoiled To the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount zion now, what is this referring to? Well, this is essentially a promise of the lord receiving recompense and it's somewhat figurative of the millennial reign But it's saying what's what's interesting about this particular passage comparing other passages talking about the millennial reign is that often The passages that we've seen in times past often focus on how god's going to recompense us How god's going to restore the land and bless the people and they shall experience. Peace Whereas in this particular verse it's talking about the present that shall be brought unto the lord, right? So it's more so focused on the lord receiving the recompense And you know, he's receiving those presents and who does he receive them of the people scattered and peeled which is referring to judah And from a people terrible from the beginning hitherto, which I believe is referring to a syria and we're going to see that in chapter 19 in just a bit A nation meted out trotted underfoot whose land the rivers have spoiled the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount Zion, it's basically saying there will come a time in the future Where these nations will be in unity one with another Because of the lord right they will have that common ground and they will bring presence unto the lord. Of course, it's referring to Mount zion referring to jerusalem when jesus christ rules and reigns there and at the end of the day It's it's simply saying that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father Every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess no matter what nation you are a part of so that's a very cryptic chapter But I believe that's what it's referring to there now, let's look at chapter 19 We're going to spend the rest of the sermon Here in this particular chapter now This chapter highlights the judgment as well as the salvation of egypt and that's kind of interesting is it not because You know egypt doesn't seem Like a nation that would be a candidate for salvation, right? Like throughout biblical history egypt has just always had a bad rap You know, they were constantly the enemies of god, you know, they had a good run with joseph But thereafter they're just warring with israel They're oppressing the israelites to the point where egypt in general is symbolically representing the world Pharaoh is often a symbolic representation of satan anytime. God is trying to communicate to his people Not to go to the world or not to adhere to the world's philosophies Or trust in the world's riches he often uses egypt as a picture of that, right? And in fact in the book of revelation when describing the physical nation of israel, he calls it spiritual sodom and egypt Okay, so it obviously has a very negative connotation to it But in chapter 19, we see that you know what the lord still loves a lot of those egyptians And he wants them to be saved. Okay And even though you know egypt is a picture of the world the bible does say for god so love the world And so he wants them to be saved and he loves many of the egyptians And that's one of the reasons why many of the egyptians were were permitted to join the israelites during the exodus, right? That mixed multitude that came out they were permitted to go with them and worship the lord. And so he has a heart for the egyptians But first comes judgment though, okay, so before we talk about the salvation of egypt there's always judgment first Okay, so let's look at the burden of egypt in verse number one It says the burden of egypt behold the lord writeth upon a swift cloud and shall come into egypt And the idols of egypt shall be moved at his presence and the heart of egypt shall melt in the midst of it So the first thing I want you to notice is that term burden. It's basically saying hey buckle your seat belts This message is going to be heavy on egypt and he describes the lord riding upon a swift cloud Why is that? Well, you think of a cloud that? Overspreads upon a city. It's often an indicator that it's going to rain Well, if the lord is riding upon that swift cloud, it's symbolically representing that god's going to rain judgment Upon that nation he's going to rain wrath upon them, you know is not israel, but egypt is pretty much accustomed to that You know, they were a nation that was greatly destroyed of the lord by the hand of the prophet moses and his brother Aaron, when they were seeking to release the israelites from the bondage of egypt And so he's coming upon a swift cloud and it says there that the idols of egypt shall be moved at his presence Now this should come as no surprise because of the fact that we know that egypt in general Was a nation that was very much pagan Polytheistic worshiping a plethora of false gods worshiping cats, you know Worshipping animals and even dogs as well, you know worshiping just Every you know, just just turning the the the glory of god into four-footed beasts and creeping things They were very much a pagan Polytheistic nation And it says there that the idols Will be moved at his presence. Why is that? Well, it's because of the fact that idols are simply devils, right? You know when we think of idols a statute some sort of molten or graven image Physically, that's what it looks like but from a spiritual perspective. There's actually a devil behind that Demon, okay There's actually a demon a devil that is essentially Uh, you know promoting the worship of that particular idol, you know The new testament tells us that it says what say I then that the idol is anything or that which is offered to idols is anything But I say that the things which is which the gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice unto devils And not to god and I would not think you should have fellowship with devils he says So the apostle paul saying hey when you look at these greeks and these romans and all of these four nations Doing sacrifice to these physical images these physical Uh graven images you think of them as idols and yeah, they're nothing but at the end of the day from a spiritual perspective They're devils And it's interesting because he says that they sacrifice to devils and not to god So this is showing us that there's people Who will sacrifice? Pay homage to pray to an idol that they may think is god But it's not a god. It's a devil So just because you call a god Just because you call him jesus Just because you call her mary Just because you call her saint, whatever joseph saint mark, whatever Doesn't mean that's what it is because he says they're actually devils and you're not doing it unto god Okay And so the principle that we can learn here is the fact that idols the reason idolatry is such a wicked sin Especially in the new testament is because at the end of the day if a christian possesses a physical idol of a false god even if it's for Sentimental value because it was given to you by whoever You know, you're basically in possession of a devil And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. That's what the bible says Now with that being said the reason the idols are moved at his presence is because if these idols are devils Devils are greatly afraid of the lord. Jesus christ, right? They're afraid of god and in fact throughout his ministry You see that devils would fall before him and say, you know Thou art the son of god or thou here to torment us before the time And they were greatly afraid of the lord Because he is their judge And the bible tells us in james chapter 2 It tells us thou believeth that there is one god i'll do as well the devils believe and what tremble the bible says so as terrifying as devils and demons are And as terrifying as people make them out to be at the end of the day, they're terrified of the lord And we should obviously be more terrified of the lord as well. In fact, the bible says that god is terrible and he is uh Greatly He should be greatly feared not just reverence, but actually greatly feared Because he's almighty all-powerful. I think there was a sermon preached on that on sunday or something and so we see here that this judgment will be so Uh replete and so severe that even the idols of egypt will be moved at his presence They're like, oh man, we're about to be judged. God is going to come down on us He's going to come down and obviously if we're to just Surmise why the idols or the devils are moved at his presence. It's because of the fact that they have presence there in egypt And so if god comes and just destroys their religious, you know cult They're no longer going to worship these devils. And so these devils are out of a job. They need to find a new nation to Take over and deceive And so that's important so he says there he's going to come upon them like a cloud Even the idols will be moved at his presence. It says in verse number two And I will set the egyptians against the egyptians now we're going to look here From verses two to verses 15 verse 15 Is it's going to highlight the eightfold judgment of god upon egypt. So he's going to highlight eight specific judgments That's going to come upon them And I don't think we need to know exactly why he's judging them I mean it's egypt It's always egypt is always in season to be judged. You know, I mean, it's just like You could always find something wrong with egypt, especially during bible times, you know Even if they're not fighting against judah or israel, they're doing something wicked there I mean, they just always been that way So it's just it's not like well, you know, it's just you know, they're good at during this they're never a good nation They're always pagan And anytime a nation Is just blatantly worshiping false gods. It's an indicator that that nation has rejected the lord So that's reason enough to judge that nation. So he's bringing a Eightfold judgment upon egypt judgment number one Is civil war and disorder because when we think of god's judgments, what do we think of we think of? Hellfire and brimstone diseases plagues You know, we like the supernatural stuff You know god is creative, okay And that's not the only way to destroy a nation. Sometimes he allows a nation to crumble and be destroyed from within And that is also indicative of god's judgment Civil war and disorder look at verse two and I will set the egyptians against the egyptians And they shall fight everyone against his brother and everyone against his neighbor city against city and kingdom against kingdom So instead of raining fire and brimstone he's just going to allow themselves to be destroyed from the inside out Part of god's judgment is when a nation is divided by its own people, right? You know when a polarization is established and civil war ensues Why because you know, obviously The pattern of a good nation is that the inhabitants or the citizens of that nation actually are in unity They agree with one another they're part of the same country they're part of the same nation They should agree upon their laws and their beliefs. So when you have a division of that. Well now you got a problem here, right? And you say well, you know Why is he doing that? Well, obviously he's dividing the nation so that he can set forth people against one another not have unity You know, just just be uh contrary one to another but obviously this is very much reflecting What we have today in the united states of america I mean our nation is very much divided right And not even into two parties. It's just like hundreds of different parties. We cannot agree as a nation I mean we can like there's states that are just against each other We're just constantly at war with one state with another whether politically Culturally religiously We are divided You know, and even though maybe there's not a physical civil war that's breaking out Although, you know things might change in the next couple months You know this this year might be a little wild We might actually see a legitimate civil war in our lifetime I wouldn't doubt it because you know, you know There's just a lot of stuff that i've never seen before that's happening in our lifetime and i'm like wow You know president trying to be you know, they're trying to assassinate the president and whatnot I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a civil war but you know more so than that is just the hearts are turned against one another right Where people cannot come? Together in unity now, why would god do this to a nation? Why would god do this to our nation? Why would he do it to any nation? Why would he create civil war and disorder where people just can't get along? Well, it's to kind of help us to realize that the only time we will see perfect unity is through jesus christ Because Unity perfect unity can only be found through jesus christ You know not through a political party not through Uh cultural identity not through ethnicity because you know, there's ethnic groups. They don't even get along with each other I mean i'm mexican those mexicans don't even like me You know if I identify as white there's gonna be white people that don't like me If I you know, there's there's black people that don't like black people Mexicans that don't like mexicans hispanics that don't like hispanics salvadorans that hate uh Mexicans and vice versa Right. It's like people just don't get along But if you were to look at a local new testament church You have all of those here right like our church. We have a diversity of people I mean the minority here Well, no, actually we got a good amount of white people here Yeah, I was gonna say the white people on my own already, but we got a good amount Amen, brother You know, we got mexicans we got white people we got asians You know, you're like don't you mean chinese just asians? Okay. See this you're the person i'm talking about, right? You know, we have um Assyrians Syrian right here Right there, you know, we have all kinds of people and you know what honestly outside of christ We would have no dealings with one another we have an armenian here I probably would not be hanging out with armenians were it not for christ Right And some of you are like, yeah, there's some people groups I definitely wouldn't have nothing to do with brother If it wasn't for the lord, jesus christ bringing us together. Amen And But it's true Right Why you say wow, i'm just saying what everyone thinks and knows. Okay, it's true Okay, let's just be honest some of you probably wouldn't have any dealings with certain ethnic groups if it wasn't for the lord. Jesus christ You know what brings us together is the lord right because then at that point our ethnicity doesn't really matter Right right because you know You know my ethnic group or whatever if they're not saved they're split in hell wide open And I don't want to have that in common with them I don't want to have hell in common with people Okay, I want to have salvation the lord jesus christ the bible and so, you know, the reason he brings disorder and civil war and disunity within nations is because he's trying to help us to realize that truly A nation will never truly have unity and peace Until the lord jesus christ returns who unites all nations together through salvation, right? And so that is judgment number one judgment. Number two is the citizens will be demoralized It says in verse number three the spirit of egypt shall fail in the midst thereof in other words that the pride Of one's own nation will begin to decay And this is another way of saying that hope is going to be removed You know egypt is obviously a very much a nation that was a powerhouse It was very much strong. It was um prosperous fruitful. It had very powerful armies and leadership But the you know, god is able to just remove that hope from them And another way that the bible puts this is that their hearts will begin to melt the spirit is removed They no longer have that umph or that belief that everything's going to be okay. He's removing that hope from them And again that happens with nations as well so that people can place their hope in christ He goes on to say in verse number three judgment number three is council will be destroyed Says the spirit of egypt shall fail in the midst thereof and I will destroy the council thereof Now, what is that talking about? Well, you know when a nation is in disarray, there's civil war there is disorder the spirit The pride of the nation is being removed people are hopeless. They're going to look for people To give them wisdom and counsel on how to reconcile these things, right? They're going to look to the wise men and say what should we do? But you know god can literally just hit a switch in someone's brain and say no wisdom No counsel He can literally give us a joe biden, right? The leader of the nation, obviously he's not even here. I mean he's not here anymore. He's not he or he is here But you know, he's only he's just trying to finish up his term and that's it And no, I don't believe that he's a he's a clone or whatever Don't come at me with that nonsense Well, I think they're making clones you watch too much star wars You know god can remove the wise council make it non-existent amongst those who claim to have it To the point where he just there is no answer like what should we do is just like go to the wise men go to the The wizards and the counselors And the magicians and they just don't have the answer So obviously we see a pattern here, right? The reason he's removing these things is so egypt can look unto the lord Who is the source of wisdom? Where all the council can come from? He's gonna and even if they do give some counsel Of of some sorts he can bring it to nah And just show how it doesn't work because you know, even in our nation There are people in high places or people with a lot of influence on the internet and social media that seem to give Good solutions to the problems that we have but many of those just come to not And at the end of the day A solution for one people group is fighting words for another So it's still not creating unity, right? The bible tells us you don't have to turn there. Proverbs 15 22 says without counsel purposes are disappointed But in the multitude of counselors, they are established So a nation needs counsel in order to know how to operate correctly And and and you know be a strong nation The bible tells us in first corinthians 1 19 for it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise And will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world hath not god made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of god listen to this the world by wisdom knew not god It pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe So if you think of egypt That egypt's counsel is being removed. All the words of wisdom are being removed. Now the soul owners can come in The preachers can come in Because you know that wisdom didn't help them seek after god. They're worshiping cats and dogs It didn't really help you that well That much right? You're worshiping all these false gods And you have all these wicked laws and wicked rules And you know these man gods known as pharaohs or whatever you're worshiping man It hasn't really helped you much And so if counsel is removed wisdom is removed. He destroys that it gives an opportunity for the man of god for a prophet a preacher of the word of god to come in And and by the foolishness of preaching save them that believe Look at verse number three again Judgment number four is that They will seek idols. They cannot save He says in the spirit of egypt shall fail in the midst thereof And I will destroy the council thereof and they shall seek to the idols and to the charmers and to them that have familiar spirits And to the wizards now, this is very much a judgment Why because you know during a time of despair and chaos The worst thing you could do Is seek after idols wizards charmers, you know, um harry potter and the like, right? Because there will be no solution just further judgment you're just caking on the wrath That's judgment and you know what we have this today Where when our nation is in disarray the last thing they go to is the lord, jesus christ Though, you know, the last thing they go to is a bible believing church That's preaching the word of god. You say where do they go the roman catholic church? That's a punishment You know, what a waste of a life to pray to a statue Your entire life die and go to hell And be like, well, what about all those times? I pray to mary and marries in heaven like bro, like I I didn't hear nothing Right That's a punishment Now, you know, thankfully, you know in the years to come People who have reason and logic and actually seeking the truth and maybe deceived a little bit in the roman catholic church The eastern orthodox church, you know, they'll come to their senses when they realize that these idols aren't doing anything for them You know, they will come to the senses that when they pray To these dumb idols that cannot speak they cannot hear they cannot see they must be born They got to be carried They'll realize this is stupid. Let me just seek out the true god of the bible Who must be worshipped in spirit and in truth? Not by bowing down before a statue And so they begin to seek idols they cannot save that's happening today And in fact, a lot of our leaders are converted to catholicism You know the pain, you know lip service to catholicism You know and candace owens became catholic You know and here's things like yeah, but she's you know against the jews or whatever and she's speaking out against the jews She's being punished though And you know what, you know preaching or talking against the jews should have led her to the lord. Jesus christ The greatest preacher against the jews But instead, you know, she goes to the to the catholic whore of a church And really what it is is it's a it's a it's a it's a pseudo christian institution That may make the unbelievers think that they're saved but they're not Because they cake on all the religious practices cake on all the religious talk And all that and so that's very much a punishment when people begin to seek after idols Instead of the lord, okay Judgment number five is subjection and captivity verse four says and the egyptians will I give over into the land of a cruel lord And a fierce king shall rule over them saith the lord the lord of hosts obviously that's self-explanatory It's basically saying, you know, someone's gonna rule over you. Someone's gonna punish you You're no longer gonna be the head honcho the big cheese. You will now be in subjection to another nation. What does this create humility? When you are in subjection by force And the carpet is removed from under you. You're you're knocked off of your high horse. You are a base. There's nowhere to go but up So now you've been humbled You've been your pride has been removed Well, that is you know, a good place to be in to seek after the lord is in humility Judgment number six is severe drought says in verse number five the water shall fail from the sea And the river shall be wasted and dried up And they shall turn the rivers far away and the bricks of the of defense shall be emptied and dried up the reeds and flags Shall wither so aside from the fact that he creates civil war Disorder people are seeking after false gods. He removes Their spirit as in they no longer have that national pride He removes their counsel that it comes to not he humbles them now he's going to remove their resources One of the best ways to get someone's attention is to hit their pocketbook, right? And then this time obviously the seas the rivers is what provides a lot of their income and we'll see that in the coming Verses here, but let me read to you from isaiah chapter three If you remember this from from chapter three verse one, it says for behold the lord the lord of hosts Doth take away from jerusalem and from judah the stay and the staff The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water. What does that mean? You know when god judges the nation in order to get their attention He removes food and resources Obviously so then at that point it'll provoke them motivate them to seek after the lord Judgment number seven a result of judgment six is economic devastation Look at verse seven It says the paper reads by the brooks by the mouth of the brooks and everything sown by the brooks shall wither Be driven away and be no more So, you know all of their Expensive reads And and paper reads and all of their documentation that's going to wither away They won't have that Venture anymore verse eight says the fishers also shall mourn And all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament and they that spread nets upon the water shall languish so, you know, obviously if they're Capturing fish to sell in the nile river And things of that nature that's removed well now fishers are out of business they're out of a job You know god's not putting fish in the pond anymore. He's not putting fish in the river And so that goes away. He's removing their stay in their staff verse nine moreover they that work in fine flax And they that weave networks shall be confounded. Okay. In other words, you know a guy comes in He's he has like all these clothings that he has to make But god confounds him so he's like I forgot how to do this Now that's scary what if like you are an owner of a business and it's your job To make a certain product and you're the only one who knows how to do it You're the expert at you've been doing it for years and all of a sudden you come to work You're just like I don't know how to do this It's like, you know, if god were to punish me You know lord willing this never happens But it could you know, and I just come up here and preach and i'm like, I don't know I don't know any bible like it's just fled for me I'm, not talking about a brain fart either Because that might happen. You know what I mean? You get a brain fire. I'm just like I forgot what I was saying I'm talking about just god removes the knowledge. He confounds me You know god can do that And so god can easily just hit a switch in your brain where you're incapable Of fulfilling your duty of your livelihood and you no longer know how to do that skill He just removes that skill from you that's what he did to these guys they're confounded he didn't say they're just he's destroying the work He just you know Removes the ability to be able to know how to do it They're all I don't know Verse 10 and they shall be broken in the purposes thereof all that makes sluices and ponds for fish so aside from the Uh the necessities that he's removing he's even removing the luxuries Because the the the sluices and the ponds of fish is just referring to you know Walls of dam for dams in order to maintain water and then of course ponds for fish that's not a necessity That's a luxury And so those are being removed as well Luxuries as well as necessities. He's just bringing it to naught. Okay Why is he doing that? Well, because when god hits the pocketbook then we he gets our attention So the the goal is as christians obviously not to put your faith in riches not to esteem riches But to esteem the god of the riches who gives us all things richly to enjoy Serve god and not mammon so you don't suffer the consequences like egypt here And then judgment number eight lastly is that he gives them incompetent leaders Why are we laughing because we can make application to that for ourselves today Because we have incompetent leaders And you know people get mad at that, but it it is god's judgment Republicans and conservatives can get mad all they want of what happened over the last four years, but it's because we deserve joe biden We got the stupidest leader in the in the history of mankind And you know what? It was god's judgment on us It's what we deserve Oh, it's because they rigged the elect elections. I mean the the republicans rigged it, too Oh Trying to do dirty work too and do all that it's god allowed it He says in verse 11 surely the princes of zoan are fools the council the wise counselors affairs become brutish How say ye unto pharaoh? I am the son of the wise and the son of ancient kings. Where are they? Where are the wise men? Let them tell thee now and let them know what the lord of hosts hath purposed upon egypt. Oh He's like bring forth the the greatest wise men you have and let's see if they can prophesy what i'm about to do to you guys right now I love that That gives me goosebumps The lord is just so gangster sometimes He's like where's the wise you go tell them right now and let's see if they can get What i'm about then, let's see how wise they really are Oh, man It's awesome Verse 13 says the princes of zoan are become fools the princes of naf are deceived They have also seduced egypt even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof But keep in mind prince is referring to just these higher ups. These men are being paid by the government leaders To lead the people. I mean these aren't just your regular joshua. These are scholars These are men who are esteemed by the government as being people who are supposed to know what they're doing, right? What what the nation should do Making wise decisions, but the lord says they're fools. They're deceived They're seducing egypt verse 14 says the lord hath mingled the perverse spirit in the midst thereof And they have caused egypt to err in every work thereof as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit So the reason and by the way, some of these princes might have had wisdom because you know egypt was a prosperous nation for a long time So if they're prosperous because god allowed them to have a certain level of knowledge and competence To have a powerful nation, right? Because it came from the lord the devil doesn't give knowledge to people Okay, he doesn't infuse people with knowledge the lord allows people to have those things But here it says that he mingled the perverse spirit in them So it's just like he kind of gave them a dumb spirit an unclean spirit and they're just kind of like I don't know what to do you know And I don't want to keep bringing joe biden up but it's kind of like the same thing Or certain certain interviews and I haven't seen them all I just seen like bits and pieces But the bits and pieces that I see is it's like it's he sounds drunk He can't like form a sentence and he speaks incoherently. You're just like this is crazy, but you know, he has a perverse spirit Verse 15 says neither shall there be any work for egypt Which the the head or the tail branch or rush may do And you know, once the leadership is removed Then the nation is in complete disarray. He's giving them incompetent leaders why so that they are brought down to a point of Need for the lord where they have nothing else but the lord Okay, so even though these are judgments that are coming upon egypt. It's with the intent that they would seek out the lord And you know what in a very uh small way God can often remove all of these things from one individual one christian with the intent That they would seek out the lord And sometimes, you know if a christian is backslidden They're out of god's will they're out of church. Sometimes we need to pray for these things to come upon them Even though it's severe Even though it seems it's excessive maybe even you know, it does work Because sometimes you just got to remove all those things from a person's life in order to get their attention They can seek out the lord and not just say people but how about unsafe people? And it's scary to pray that for an unsafe person because you just don't know what decisions they're going to make But just pray lord remove everything from this person's life Everything that stands in the way of them listening to the gospel and humbling themselves before the lord so that they may be saved Bring judgment upon them You know, uh remove the counselors that are causing them to err in the ways, right? Remove their health or their finances their resources Do what's necessary to get this person's attention so that they might be saved okay and so That is the the eightfold judgment of god upon egypt in the next five minutes I'm, just going to cover the sixfold promises to egypt look at verse 16 So after he does all that Uh promise number one is the egypt shall fear like a vulnerable woman Says in verse number one in that day, by the way, you'll see this six times over in that day And the reason it says in that day is for two reasons one He's referring to an immediate Fulfillment in their day, but this is also referring to a future fulfillment in the millennial reign Okay In that day shall egypt be like a woman be like into a woman And it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the lord of hosts Which he shaketh over it and the land of judah shall be a terror to egypt Everyone that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself because of the counsel the lord of hosts Which he had determined against it. He said well, how is that a good thing? Saying that they shall fear like unto a woman well because they now fear the lord Because shouldn't we all fear the lord Shouldn't we all have you know people call a healthy fear of god. No, we should just fear god Be afraid of god Why because the fear when men fear the lord they depart from evil? And according to this passage the fear in egypt will be so deep and so severe That they will be shaking Or excuse me They will be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the lord which shaketh over it It says they'll be like a woman You know if I crank this ac Me Most ladies are just gonna be shaking in here Because they don't have a whole lot. They don't have that much testosterone running through them, right? So he's you know, he's not dissing women here by the way, you know, he just he's just stating a fact Okay, a woman who is defenseless and vulnerable will be afraid and fear Over someone who's more powerful than her and in like manner. This is how egypt shall be Okay, and that is a good thing because they should fear god Especially considering that they haven't feared him for centuries Okay, promise number two is that the cities of egypt shall convert to the lord Says in verse 18 in that day shall five cities in the land of egypt speak the language of canan And swear to the lord of hosts one shall be called the city of destruction now This is obviously a Prophecy of future fulfillments in the millennial reign because you know the millennial reign all nations shall be in the millennial reign Right, including egypt itself But I believe this is also something that took place In the future in respective to isaiah and I think this is this is actually referring to the first century a.d Because obviously the language of canan he's referring to the hebrew language And I think this is partially fulfilled in acts chapter 2 Because if you remember in acts chapter 2 is the day of pentecost And there was all nations under heaven that had come to jerusalem for the day of pentecost And one of the nations that was there was egypt Okay, proselytes of egypt were there in pentecost hearing the word of god Worshipping the lord and many of them got saved now. There's a supposed tradition That mark Was a missionary to egypt You know somewhere around 40 50 a.d And that established churches there And I don't really know if I believe that I probably would lean towards that probably didn't happen You say why well because every source where you look that up says saint mark You know went and established churches And let me just teach you something, okay You know anytime you look at resources and they always address the apostles as saint whatever it's probably a catholic Has a catholic bent to it Okay Now i'm not saying that mark didn't go there I'm, just saying that you know uh You just got to keep in mind that one of the biggest christian quote-unquote christian religious groups in egypt Are the coptic orthodox christians that are not christians? Okay, it's a it's a cult it's a false religion it's a bastardization of christianity, okay, and so You know, obviously there were christians there we can point to act chapter two and see that That those of egypt came from pentecost. They probably took that back to egypt and they probably did start churches And unfortunately over the years, of course as the as the years go by decades and even centuries they begin to apostatize And one of the reasons I know that the mark probably did not do that is because you know, they always talk about 300 400 ad And anytime you hear that window of time they're referring to catholicism because that's when catholicism really came about, okay No catholicism started With jesus he got nothing to do with that. Why how would it start with jesus? Why didn't jesus even mention it? It's like no mention of catholic in the bible So You know, he's saying that these five cities will become In the land of egypt lands or cities that will convert into the lord and obviously we don't have any historical documentation Because people say well prove that you know, some of these were like at the churches. Well, you know, i'll just prove from the bible I don't need anything after that to prove that that happened because god's saying that it happened Yeah And obviously it's not telling us a window of time. It's not telling us how long they were christian for But obviously these five cities were cities that were christianity The word of god was being preached for who knows how long maybe a couple generations and then they apostatize because that's typically what happens Over the years is that churches will begin to apostatize and that's the sermon for another day Promise number three the egyptians shall call out unto the lord This is obviously all millennial reign It says in that day there shall be an altar to the lord in the midst of the land of egypt and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord then it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the lord of hosts in the land of egypt For they shall cry unto the lord because of the oppressors and he shall send them a savior And a great one and he shall deliver them promise number four the egyptians shall serve the lord The lord shall be known verse 21 to egypt and the egyptians shall know the lord in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation Yea, they shall vow a vow unto the lord and perform and skip down to verse 23 All nations will dwell in unity around worshiping the lord verse 23 says in that day There shall be a highway out of egypt to asyria and the asyrian shall come into egypt and the egyptian into the asyrian And the egyptian shall serve with the asyrians and lastly number six is that this is a big one Israel shall finally bless the nations due to it being the capital of the lord. Jesus christ Because it says in verse 24 in that day shall israel Be the third with egypt and with asyria even a blessing in the midst of the land now Why does it have to tell us that it's going to be a blessing? Because it's currently not a blessing It's actually a curse into the nations according to first thessalonians chapter 2 That the wrath has come upon them into the uttermost. That's what the bible says. However in the millennial reign that will change Why? Oh, it's because of the land. No, it's because jesus will be there And so once jesus sets up his government there hallelujah, praise god Then we're all going to take a missions trip to israel at that point And it will be the third with egypt and with asyria What is it telling us? You know egypt was a powerhouse asyria was a powerhouse both against each other and against israel But there will come a time where they will all dwell together in unity It says in verse 25 listen to this is a beautiful verse whom the lord of hosts shall bless saying Blessed be egypt listen to this my people That's wonderful, huh? And asyria the work of my hands and israel mine inheritance. It's obviously referring to the fact that These nations will be believers in the lord And there will be no more war between these nations. No more trying to take them into captivity They will finally dwell in unity not because they have the same political views Or they love each other's food Same culture of views why it's because of the lord Jesus christ. Amen And so a great chapter there Egypt's going to get theirs, but they're also going to be saved one day and god is very much interested in saving the egyptian Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word. Thank you for chapter chapters 18 and 19 lord Help us to take these principles to heart to think upon them lord And to realize that lord if we ever stray from the path You're willing to go to uh to some extreme lengths to get our attention and get us back on the on the right road lord And I pray that we would judge ourselves so that we would not be judged of you And may you bless us be gracious to us merciful. Thank you for This church lord. Thank you for our people. May you give us a great weekend to follow. We love you We thank you pray these things in jesus name. Amen Song number 259