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Isaiah 34 the Bible reads come near ye nations to hear and harken you people let the earth hear and all that is therein the world all things that come forth of it the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations and his fury upon all their armies he hath utterly destroyed them he hath delivered them to the slaughter their slain also shall be cast out and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses and the mountains shall be melted with their blood and all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and is a falling fig from the fig tree for my sword shall be bathed in heaven behold it shall come down upon a do me and upon the people of my curse to judgment the sword of the Lord is filled with blood it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of Rams for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of udemyia and the unicorn shall come down with them and the bullocks with the bulls and their land shall be soaked with blood and their dust made fat with fatness for it is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompense is for the controversy of Zion and the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the land thereof shall become burning pitch it shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof shall go up forever from generation to generation it shall lie waste none shall pass through it forever and ever but the con core Morant on and the bin turn shall possess it the owl also and the Raven shall dwell in it and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness and they shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom but none shall be there and all our princes shall be nothing and thorn shall come up in her palaces nettles and brambles and the fortresses thereof and it shall be an habitation of dragons and a court for owls the wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island and the Seder shall cry to his fellow the screech I'll also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest there shall the great owl make her nest and lay and hatch and gather under her shadow there shall the vultures also be gathered everyone with her mate seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read no one of these shall fail none shall want her mate for my mouth it has commanded and his spirit it hath gathered them and you have cast a lot for them and his hand hath divided it unto them by line and shall possess it forever from generation to generation shall they dwell therein let's pray dilla God just thank you for tonight Lord this beautiful night you've given us Lord and just thank you for your word Lord and just thank you for the book of Isaiah we pray that you bless pastor right now as he preaches out of your word Lord and that we learn new things and go away edified Lord and so just give us ears to hear for the preaching of your word Lord we pray this hall in Jesus name amen okay we're continuing this evening with our Bible study in the book of Isaiah and we're in chapter 34 and tonight we're gonna look a little further into the judgment that's gonna come upon the nation of Assyria and how that applies to end times Bible prophecy of course throughout the couple of last couple weeks we see the message being directed towards the Assyrians in defense of Israel but a lot of that is just a microcosm of God dealing with the world in defense of his people all believers of course in the New Testament let's look at verse number one we're gonna look at the message to the world regarding the indignation of the Lord it says in verse number one come near ye nations to hear and harken ye people let the earth hear and all that is there in the world and all things that come forth of it for the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations and his fury upon all their armies he hath utterly destroyed them he had delivered them to the slaughter and again this is a specific preach or a prophecy regarding Assyria but I want you to notice that God wants everyone to hear about this okay God wants everyone to listen to the message of the Prophet he wants all to know about the judgment that's to come he doesn't just say you know what this specific message is only specifically for Assyria it's not applicable to anybody else no one should apply this specific preaching to their nation to their people no actually God wants the whole world to hear and this is how the Bible works okay when you read throughout the Old Testament in even New Testament obviously there are specific letters there's specific preaching and prophesying that's directed towards a person a nation but in general you know the Bible teaches us he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches right you think of Revelation 2 and 3 a specific letter is given to a particular church but then towards the end of each of those letters he says he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches so even though he's addressing the church at Ephesus God wants you to apply this to yourself as well right and this is important because we don't want ever want to have this attitude or this interpretation of scripture that well we can't apply that because that was only to the Ephesians we can apply this specific scripture because that's Old Testament Israel those principles don't apply to us wrong obviously it was directed towards that nation directed towards that particular person but the Bible tells us that these things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come right and in fact you think of the words of Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 13 when dealing with end times of Bible prophecy you know he says what I say unto you I say unto all watch now that's important because that's a parallel passage to Matthew 24 that a lot of dispensationalists will say well that's only for the Jews right this is only directed for Israel only for the Jews but yet mark isn't directed towards the Jews and mark 13 the parallel passage says what I'm telling you I'm saying to everyone else and everyone else needs to listen to this everyone else needs to watch the message is for all nations okay and you know this is important because of the fact that what Isaiah is doing here is he's telling the Assyrians hey this message of judgment it's gonna come upon you it applies to every nation that's wicked it applies to every nation that takes advantage of his people it applies to every nation that has forgotten God okay so even though one particular nations being judged here he's addressing all nations he's addressing the entire world okay and this is very reminiscent of what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10 what I tell you in darkness that's speaking in the light right what I tell you in the ear that preachy upon the housetops you know it's important to God for us to talk about the judgments and the wrath of God to everyone right and a lot of times you have Christians that say well you shouldn't talk about that stuff because you're gonna scare people away or you're gonna offend people but the reality is this is that according to the Bible you know the Bible obviously tells us that the goodness and forbearance of God leadeth us to repentance but there's other people that are motivated by fear though you know there's some people that are motivated to get right with God to get saved or to get the sin out of their lives because of God's judgment so yeah there's other there's people that think about the goodness of God and think how good God has been to them the grace of God the mercy of God and they get right with God because of that but other people are more readily motivated you know but or they're incentivized by God's wrath by God's judgment because God is angry with them okay and in fact think about this you know the Bible says in june 22 and if some have compassion making a difference listen to this others save with fear pulling them out of the fire what does that mean it means there are certain people in this world that when they preach the gospel they talk about hell and people think about that they're like whoa I don't want to go to hell I don't want to die and go to hell I know that's gonna happen to me and so that makes a difference in their life they actually end up getting saved because of that and the soul winner is able to pull them out of the fire but not just in regards to the message of salvation just in general you know God wants the nation's to hear the negative messages of the Bible okay and it's important for us to not only talk about the extortations of the Lord the positives about the Word of God the grace of the Lord the mercy of God but you know a balanced spiritual diet also includes God's judgment and God's wrath and if you think about it the vast majority of the Old Testament is extremely negative most if not all the prophets of the Old Testament preached a lot of negative things a lot of judgment there are some of the most judgmental people in the Bible I mean just read the book of Jeremiah just all doom and gloom I mean the last couple chapters of the book of Isaiah has been doom and gloom destruction judgment desolation it almost sounds a little redundant if you think about it you know if you listen to my sermons over the last couple weeks and months it's basically me just saying the same thing because the Bible is literally saying the same thing about God's judgment upon people upon his people upon the Assyrians and then his people again and then the Assyrians again and don't forget about the world the world's gonna get it too and yeah you Assyrians you're gonna get it and then the Babylonians are gonna it's just God just talking about how everyone's just gonna get it and what does he tell Isaiah send this message to the world because I want everyone to know about this okay and why why why why does God do that well because it's so it serves as a warning to all nations not to double-cross God right not to double-cross his people not to make a mockery of God you know be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever man so it that shall he also reap and that goes for nations as well let me read to you from Jeremiah 19 verse 3 it says ah and say hear ye the word of the Lord O king of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring evil upon this place and I want you to notice this the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle so he's like I want I'm gonna bring an evil so profound upon the land that even just hearing about what took place there will make you do this oh man it's like your ears tingle so obviously God wants us to preach judgment because he wants to have that effect on people that their ears would tingle and they would get right with God their ears will tingle and they would not go down the same path of these other nations disobeying God making a mockery of the laws of God etc so he's saying you know get this message of indignation to all the world and again even though it's addressed specifically to Assyria this is very clearly saying here that it's not just for Assyria I want the whole world to hear about this okay that there was a God in Israel he's angry with the wicked every single day look at verse 3 it says they're slain also shall be cast out what are the what is he referring to the dead people carcasses slain also shall be cast out this is a good pre Thanksgiving sermon amen you know right before there I can't say the next week's gonna be just as nice and there's things shall come up out of their carcasses so he's pretty graphic here right what he's talking about rigor mortis talk about the fact that the bodies are gonna rot and he says in the mountains shall be melted with their blood and all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree now what is this referring to well we know based upon other scriptures in the Old Testament and more specifically very clearly said in the New Testament that this is actually talking about the day of the Lord okay and what is the day of the Lord the day of the Lord is referring to explicitly the rapture what the Bible would also call the resurrection of the just but it's also simultaneously referring to God's wrath that's gonna be poured upon the earth after the rapture and after the resurrection so the day of the Lord is classified by these two specific things right here right the rapture and the wrath of God now the day of the Lord is great for us right we rejoice in the day of the Lord because it means that we're not gonna be here anymore it means that we're gonna get a resurrected bodies it means that we're gonna be forever with the Lord but it's very negative for the unsaved why because it also means God's wrath upon them and when you look at the the timeline of end times prophecy all of God's wrath and God's judgments happens immediately after the rapture takes place okay now hold your place there and go with me if you would to Revelation chapter 6 Revelation chapter 6 just to look at some of the elements that we see here in Isaiah and Isaiah 34 just to kind of prove here and confirm that this is referring to the day of the Lord let me read to you once again from verse 4 of Isaiah 34 it says all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and it says in the heavens listen to this shall be rolled together as a scroll that sounds very familiar right and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree now the host of heaven typically in the Bible refers to what angels right angelic beings but in this particular context it's actually just referring to the heavenly bodies referring to stars meteors for example and it's saying here that the host of heaven referring to those stars and meteors they're gonna be dissolved and it says that they shall fall down and they shall fall as a leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree now look at Revelation chapter 6 in verse number 12 with that in mind it says in verse number 12 regarding the day of the Lord regarding the rapture the second coming of Christ it says in verse 12 and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the Sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood and I want you to notice verse 13 and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind very similar to what we see in Isaiah 34 that says as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree look at verse 14 and the heaven departed as what as a scroll when it is rolled together every mountain and island were moved out of their places that's very similar to what we see in Isaiah 34 that says and all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll so this is obviously giving us an indication giving us some some evidence here that this is addressing the day of the Lord okay these are specific elements that we see involved in the day of the Lord the heavens are rolled together the stars are falling from the sky chaos is ensuing right in this particular day go with me if you would to turn with me if you would to first Thessalonians chapter 5 first Thessalonians chapter 5 and then we're gonna go to 2nd Peter chapter 3 first Thessalonians chapter number 5 now I don't want to talk too much about the day of the Lord because of the fact that I don't want to steal my thunder for Sunday nights Sunday night we're gonna go over the seven trumpets and seven vials but I am gonna address some of the things because it's obviously being addressed here in Isaiah 34 look at first Thessalonians chapter 5 in chapter 4 towards the latter end we get an explicit mention of the rapture right that the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them together in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord and then it's same context chapter 5 verse 1 says but of the times and the seasons brethren ye have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night so when it says that the day of the Lord so cometh as the thief in the night in context is referring to what just took place towards the latter end of chapter 4 which is the rapture you say why is that important of course that's what it's referring to well because you have a lot of pre-tribbers out there that separate chapters 4 & 5 as separate events most pre-tribbers all pre-tribbers as far as I know agree that chapter 4 is referring to the rapture I mean we would but we would agree with them right that's a very explicit passage regarding the rapture but then they'll say that chapter 5 has nothing to do with the rapture okay the chapter 5 the day of the Lord is actually referring to Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ comes on a white horse and he comes to make war with the Antichrist the false prophets and the armies of this world but no chapter 5 is also referring to in context the rapture okay because he said by the way let me just let you in on a little secret when the Bible is written and it wasn't broken up into chapters right like it wasn't like you know Paul's writing this and he's like make sure you put chapter 4 I let's start a new thought here chapter 5 the chapters and the verses are are done by the translators right just as a means to help us to better memorize scripture to find references more readily but when this letter is written the Apostle Paul is not putting chapter 1 verse 1 verse 2 verse 3 verse 4 the point that I'm making here is this is a continuation of a thought from chapter 4 ok I know preachers hate that but it is it's a continuation which is why he says of the times and seasons what times and seasons of the rapture he doesn't need to write into them because they know that the day of the Lord referring to what the rapture so cometh as a thief in the night look at verse 3 for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them why because the day of the Lord is not only synonymous with the rapture it's synonymous with God's wrath so sudden destruction sudden rapture for us but sudden destruction for them who's them the unsaved he says peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape go to 2nd Peter chapter 3 2nd Peter chapter number 3 if you would now a lot of the times when the day of the Lord is described in the Old Testament there are instances where the rapture is symbolized you can see it in a figure but the vast majority of the time of the Old Testament more time is spent or should I say most of the scriptures are just very heavy on God's wrath okay in the Old Testament the rapture is more explicitly taught with the day of the Lord in the New Testament so in the Old Testament the day of the Lord the heavy emphasis is on God's wrath whereas in the New Testament even though God's wrath is mentioned the emphasis is on what the resurrection the rapture okay look at 2nd Peter chapter 3 in verse 10 it says in verse 10 but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are there in shall be burned up seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat so I hope you notice some of the very same terminology that's being used in 2nd Peter 3 that's also being used in Isaiah chapter 34 regarding the heavens dissolving we see the fervent heat so on and so forth now what is 2nd Peter 3 really telling us here well it's obviously explaining to us that everything is gonna burn okay and when you read Revelation chapter 8 we'll get there in a bit you'll see that pretty much everything burns and what it's telling us here that because these things are gonna be dissolved by heat because God's gonna burn everything up he says what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holiness and godliness what does he mean he means this you know since everything's gonna burn shouldn't you be more eternally minded because all these things are gonna be gone you know we need things and we need resources we need our houses and our vehicles and you know the physical things of this world but at the end of the day we should not set our affections on those things why because eventually they're gonna burn everything in this world is gonna burn your favorite car is gonna burn your favorite house is gonna burn your card collection is gonna burn your stamp collection if you have one is gonna burn your whatever collection is gonna burn everything's gonna go everything must go total liquidation and this is why he's saying you know he's throwing in some doctrine right Peter is just like everything's gonna be dissolved fervent heat it's all gonna go so what kind of per what kind of Christian should you be knowing this it's like oh man can you just give us more Bible prophecy no we need the application too and the application is yeah you're not gonna be here when it burns so how much more how should you behave in all holy conversation in godliness because obviously we're not gonna be here but our stuff is and guess what it's gonna burn and so this is obviously teaching us here that you know because our our possessions will melt one day you know we shouldn't put so much value on them because a man's life consisteth not in the things which he possess it right our the Bible says that Christ who is our life the Bible says to set your affections on things above none of the things on this earth now this is not to say that we should be these ascetic you know monk type Christians where we can't enjoy anything we can't enjoy food we can't laugh we can't have a good time we can't do this that the other obviously the Bible says that use the world but not abuse it and the Bible says that he has given us all things listen to this richly to enjoy right and so these things are meant to be enjoyed but there are instances where Christians allow these things to possess them and how do we know that how do you know if something possesses you is it hindering you from thinking about the things of God from serving God from being in church is it hindering you from having an eternal perspective then then then yes your possessions possess you and not the other way around and we need to think about the fact that these things will burn one day go back to Isaiah chapter 34 if you wouldn't so he's talking about the day of the Lord in verses 3 & 4 he's talking about the fact that these meteors are gonna come crashing down and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll they're gonna be melted the host shall fall down as a leaf cast at her untimely figs it says this is the kind of judgment that's gonna come upon them and obviously you know in this particular context with the Assyrians we don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these supernatural cosmic occurrences happen with them but it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day it is prophetic of some day that where it will happen physically right and this is how the Old Testament works he proclaims judgment but then he talks about some supernatural occurrence that probably didn't happen in their day but he's saying it because of the fact that it's prophetic of a future event right and a good example of this would be who Jonah when Jonah is in the well's belly for three days and three nights he talks about the fact that he's in what hell now was Jonah literally in hell no he's in the well's belly but it's a prophetic statement of Jesus Christ who did go to hell for three days and three nights and just as Jonah was in the well's belly and like manner Jesus Christ was in the heart of the earth and so a lot of these statements here even though they did not supernaturally occur in their day it was prophetic of a future event look at verse number five continuing on with the wrath upon the nations it says verse 5 from my sword shall be bathed in heaven behold that shall come down upon edu maya and upon the people of my curse to judgment so he's mainly focusing on Syria but again because it's all nations he's also addressing other countries other nations one in particular is edu maya which is just another way of saying Edom and we saw preaching against Edom in past chapters he's not happy with them so he hasn't forgotten their deeds look at verse 6 the sword of the Lord is filled with blood it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of Rams for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of edu maya now Basra is a city in Edom and what is verse 6 telling us here well the main it's kind of like he's being poetic here because obviously there are no sacrifices that are being done during this time especially by Edom okay so it's not referring to a literal animal sacrifice the sacrifice that he actually is addressing is actually the people okay and the reason he's talking about animals is because of the fact that you know Israel understands and the surrounding nations understand that God required an animal sacrifice in the Old Testament to make you know atonement for their sins right but because this was not being done because they have forsaken the Lord he's essentially saying you're gonna be the sacrifice for your iniquities and your sins now this doesn't mean that their payment is gonna be paid eternally he's just saying like you're gonna die and my sword will be bathed in your blood because you're gonna be the one sacrificed for your sins and you know this is very common for God to do things like this to other nations he's basically getting paid back he's making restitutions here and we know that the Bible says that almost all things are purged by the law with blood and without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins so he's saying look if you're not gonna do the animal sacrifices okay I'll take your blood I'll come and kill you I'll come and destroy your land so that the land could have rest and so full payment could be made for your iniquity okay it's rough and again it's not a referring to the eternal sin that's gonna be paid for by their sacrifice he's referring to the fact that you know they're the wages of sin is death right and in this particular case it's their death the death of the Assyrians the death of those in Edom so forth go to Revelation chapter 8 if you would hold your place in Revelation go to Revelation chapter 8 because when you look at Isaiah 34 there's just a lot of talk about blood there's blood everywhere it's like blood on my sword my sword shall be bathed in heaven and what in blood you know I'm gonna require blood and he's just constantly talking about this very gory detail of blood but again this is prophetic of a future event and when you read about the seven trumpets and seven vials you see that there's just a lot of blood being mentioned in the end times okay and here's a specific measure look at verse 7 of Revelation 8 it says the first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and that interesting and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of the trees was burnt up and all the green grass was burnt up and the second angel sounded it and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood so he's sending down hail right ice mingled with fire with blood I mean this is pretty crazy think about it why is he doing this well go to Revelation 16 if you would Revelation 16 now those are the trumpets and we're gonna look at an example of a vial these are things that happen concurrently and I'll explain more of this on Sunday night but the trumpets and vials essentially almost are essentially the same judgments they're separate judgments excuse me but they're happening concurrently one with another this is chapter 16 is the vial look what it says in verse 3 and the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea and the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers in the fountains of waters and they became blood and I heard the angel of the water say thou are righteous Oh Lord which art and was and shall be because I was judged thus and I want you to notice verse 6 for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou has given them what blood to drink for they are worthy so the reason he's bathing the world with blood is that it's for payback he's saying oh you guys are bloodthirsty oh you guys want to shed blood you want to abort all these babies you want to murder innocent people you want to take the lives of innocent people okay then I'll give you blood to drink that's what he says he says thou has given them blood to drink you'll give them to their fill and it kind of reminds me of the wilderness when the children of Israel lusted after what they lost it after the quail right the meat and he's like I'm gonna give you so much meat is gonna come out of your nostrils to the point where you're just sick of it and that's kind of like an example what we see here in the world where he's just like oh you just like to take innocent lives you just like to abort millions of babies every single year you like to just shed blood well I'm gonna give you blood to drink I'm gonna give you blood as a punishment for the blood that you've shed specifically of the Saints and of the prophets go back to Isaiah if you would Isaiah this is a good midweek encouragement amen this will help you get to the remainder of the week talk about all this blood I mean that's what the Lord thinks at least he's saying there there's a sacrifice in Basra a great slaughter in the land of edu man obviously it's not of the animal sacrifices of the people verse number seven says in the unicorns shall come down with them and the bullets in the bulls and their land shall be soaked with blood more blood and their dust made fat with fatness for it is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompense is for the controversy of Zion now we're gonna see this later on but the reason he's mentioning the unicorns that shall come down with them in the bullets and bulls is because when God destroys a nation to the point where everyone dies or everyone's taken into captivity or basically there's just no more people left the indicator that that specific geographical location has been cursed by God is the fact that animals begin to take over okay they begin to seize the land because people are no longer there to inhabit it therefore animals see they gain confidence and they're able to come and by the way just I guess it's worth the mention here unicorns not referring to the horse with one with one horn sorry to break it to the little girls in our church well this is unicorn a unicorn is just an animal with a single horn and I would say that it's probably referring to a rhinoceros of sorts and I know there's some rhinoceros that have like three horns or something like that but I guarantee you there was an animal that existed at one point like a rhinoceros that had a single horn and so this is a wild animal that's coming down with the steers and the bulls and why are they doing that because they've gained confidence in the land that there's no longer people there to inhabit it therefore they're making it their home and in verse 8 it's saying that God's doing this because he's being vengeful okay vengeance is mine say the Lord I will repay so think about all of the accumulative you know judgments that God has not poured on this world to vindicate you me God's people throughout thousands of years to fight for them this is all cumulative that the blood may come upon them from the blood of righteous Abel to Zechariah right just essentially from A to Z Abel to Zechariah just collecting all the wrong doings throughout history it all boils down to this particular day the day of the Lord the day of God's vengeance and he says the year of recompense is for the controversy of Zion so what says the controversy of Zion so this is only for the Jews pastor dispensation Lee you're not rightly dividing the word of truth well let me read you from Acts chapter 3 and verse 19 the Apostle Peter preaching here says repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began so who is he talking on when he says spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets well how about Isaiah what we see here in Isaiah 34 and he says that he's coming for the times of restitution what is restitution when he restores recompenses the world for their wrongdoings okay you know you think of someone who receives restitution is because of something that was lost or stolen and Satan came to steal to kill him to destroy right via different people in this world well there's gonna be a time where God weighs out the balances and he makes restitution of all things its payback to this world okay this is the wrath of God that's gonna come upon the world look at verse 9 of Isaiah 34 it says the streams therefore shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone and the land thereof shall become burning pitch it shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof shall go up forever from generation to generation it shall lie waste none shall pass through it forever and ever so this is literally referring to the fact that a Syria Edom they're gonna be destroyed to the point where their land is gonna be made waste and it's gonna be consumed with flames and fire and no one's gonna be able to put it out why because there's no one alive to put it out but this is obviously symbolic of what if something is burning forever and ever if the smoke is rising no man is able to quench it night and day what is this referring to well it's a symbolic representation of hell because hell is a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched okay let me just remind you tonight that hell is eternal it's not a place where people go burn up and they cease to exist it's not a place where people it's not just symbolic of being away from the presence of God okay it's not just the you know the worst thing about hell is that you're just separated from the presence of God no it's not that's not the worst part and in fact God's there watching you burn according to the Bible Bible says you're actually there burning before the presence of the angels and of the Lamb meaning that they're watching you burn for all of eternity you know the Bible says that hell is naked before God how much more the hearts of men so at this current moment God can see people burning in hell in the center of the earth right now and yes he looks upon that and let me just say this yes he is satisfied with that because his justice is being fulfilled by people burning in hell because of the rejection of Jesus Christ and of course then burning in hell is them paying for their sins for all of eternity but hell is a place where you the fires not quench the worm dieth not it's a place where the smoke of the their torment the Bible says ascended up listen to this forever and ever don't let anybody ever teach you or try to fool you into thinking no no no hell flames is just symbolic you just burn up it's a you get annihilated you know whatever and then you cease to exist because fired us what fire does you know people always take this view of God and his works and they try to humanize it right well because fire just burned things up that means when you go to hell you just kind of just burn up you just cease to exist well that's interesting because there is a fire in the Bible in the Old Testament you know the burning bush for example where the bush was on fire but it was not it wasn't consumed meaning it was still intact and you know what let me just let me explain to you why hell is eternal and why it continuously burns and it's never it's never quenched let me explain to you why because the Bible says that God is a what consuming fire and let me ask you this question is God eternal yes and because he's a consuming fire because hell proceeds forth from God and proceeds forth judgment and hell fire proceeds forth from God and he's eternal that's why hell is eternal and and you know I know this is crazy to you if you bought into that lie but here's the thing when a soul goes to hell it does burn and God created souls to be eternal but some eternally live through Christ and there are some that eternally die it doesn't mean they cease to exist and means that they are burning in hell forever and ever and ever and that is a legitimate doctrine in the Bible that's something that we need to consistently talk about because you have these seven-day Adventists you have these Jehovah's Witnesses you have these false cults and even segments of Christianity they want to they just want to you know water down the doctrine of hell and say it's just a separation from God it's not a separation from God you are eternally burning and you know people would say what no you know the Jehovah's Witnesses it's just symbolic what is it symbolic of them what is burning in hell forever symbolic of what does that represent it represents a Nile being annihilated same forever and ever that the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever is just symbolic of just them being annihilated well I guess you'll find out one day huh if that's what you believe and I elationism sure feels like eternity let me read to you from Revelation 14 verse 9 says the third angel fall and I'm saying with a lot of voice if any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name the Bible says you know people always tell me well show me an example of people burning in hell forever well how about the fact that in Revelation 19 Jesus Christ takes the Antichrist and the false prophet he cast them both alive into the lake of fire and they're there for how long a thousand years at the end of the thousand years you have the great white throne judgment or prior to the great white throne judgment excuse me you have the battle of Gog and Magog where God takes Satan and it says that he cast them into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet were no where the beast and the false prophet are so that means for those entire thousand years you know the Antichrist and the false prophet have had it hell all to themselves and they've been there for those thousand years and let me just say this they will be there forever and ever and ever and ever okay well that's only the beast and the false prophet well revelation 14 just says anybody who receives the mark in their hand and let me just say this anybody who just goes to hell will be there and will receive that punishment so Isaiah 34 is giving us a picture here of hell smoke thereof shall go up forever and ever shall not be quenched looking for C 11 it says but the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it and he shall stretch out upon it in the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness so he's essentially saying here that all the unclean animals will inhabit that land that's how desolate it's gonna be and you know it's it's kind of a he's basically disrespecting them because these are unclean animals so he's giving the land to unclean animals to replace people who have made themselves unclean right because you know these people who are supposed to be worshipping God serving the Lord have made themselves unclean and now they've been replaced with unclean animals and the cormorant the bittern these aren't necessarily common classifications of animals that we would use today but they're basically birds okay nothing really special about them they're just birds all right but these are all unclean animals did Leviticus 11 strictly forbids any of God's people from eating now if you want to eat them today you can because you know every creature of God is good nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving and prayer but you know I'm not necessarily rushed to go eat a bittern or a bat or a cormorant or an owl okay and so it sounds pretty disgusting to me the point that I'm making here is the fact that verse 11 is teaching that the animals will inhabit this land showing us that the land has been cursed the people have been removed therefore beasts of land are now taken over Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse number 12 let me read it to you here it says ye Ethiopians also ye shall be slain by my sword and he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness and flocks shall lie down in the midst of her all the beasts of the nations both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it their voice shall sing in the windows desolation shall be in the thresholds for he shall uncover the cedar work and so we this is something we've even seen within recent years because if you remember during kovat in 2020 remember the lock did you guys remember the lockdown you know I don't want you guys to like freak out or anything and start seizure in hearing that phrase but remember the lockdown no one was able to go anywhere well you know the Yosemite and a lot of these national parks were closed down you know no one was allowed to just roam around there and so when they finally opened up it became kind of dangerous because now the animals started taking over so a lot of these you know mountain lions and bears you know obviously they're already there but in the areas where people were prominent in they weren't necessarily going in those areas but now after the lockdown a lot of those animals are coming out and they're very comfortable in the land because the people were removed well how much the more when the land is just completely made desolate and no one dwells there and this is something it's gonna be fulfilled on a greater scale in Revelation 18 when Babylon is destroyed it's made the habitation of Devils the Bible says and that's synonymous with what we see in Isaiah that the animals the unclean animals are taken over the land look at verse 12 he says they shall call the nobles there are thereof to the kingdom but none shall be there and all her princes shall be nothing and thorns shall come up in her palaces nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof and it shall be an habitation of dragons and a court of four owls the wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island and the Seder referring to a goat of some sorts this is not referring to like a you know Chronicles of Narnia Seder or something like that it's just referring to a goat of sorts he says the Seder shall cry to his fellow and the screech owl also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest there shall the great owl make her nest and lay and hatch and gather under her shadow there shall there shall the vultures also be gathered everyone with her mate this is actually reiterated in Revelation chapter 18 where it says that Babylon shall become a habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird and I and I kind of explained what that means in other sermons but basically what this is referring to is that because Babylon in end times is destroyed it may desolate animals are going to take over and obviously if it's saying it's becoming a habitation of Devils it's implying that these animals are probably possessed with those Devils okay which is something that was very common in the New Testament look at verse 16 here here's the last part it says seek ye out the book of the Lord and read no one of these shall fail none shall want her mate from my mouth hath commanded and his spirit it hath gathered them what is he saying you know if this seems a little preposterous that this can happen if you don't think this is possible that this is gonna take place he's saying the here no one of these shall fail in other words if I said it it's gonna happen none shall want her mate for my mouth hath commanded it he says in verse 17 he hath cast the law for them and his hand hath divided it unto them by line they shall possess it forever from generation to generation shall they dwell therein this is essentially given us the assurance of God's Word and you know as God's people we love the assurance of God's Word when it comes to his good promises all his promises are good but I'm saying those which benefit us right his provisions his protection his blessings but let me say this is that there is a full assurance of his judgment as well and what he wants to do here is essentially let eat him know hey don't laugh at this don't scoff at this don't think that your beautiful land your beautiful homes your beautiful landscapes you know that this is not gonna come upon it one day these unclean animals are going to inhabit your homes they're gonna inhabit your mansions your homes they're gonna drink out of your wells they're gonna eat from your vineyards they're gonna sleep in your beds the vines are gonna gather around your homes and the stones of your homes and they're thinking themselves not this you know we have Dominion over the land yeah you know what that was God's original plan absolutely God's original plan was for people to inhabit the land and have Dominion over the animals but hold on a second one man decides to disobey the Lord then he just flips that around and now the animals start to take over and he's saying you know I can remove this from you at any given point and don't mock it nothing shall fail to come to pass and this should strike faith in your heart in God's Word right because we have a tendency to question God's Word sometimes of a question we have a tendency not to believe the Bible when it comes to his promises for benefits or his judgments for curses right sometimes we think on maybe not me maybe not in my lifetime maybe not in our nation but you know the Bible tells us so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void he says it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in a thing where to I sent it I typically quote that verse when I'm talking about sowing seeds out preaching the gospel and it applies right you know sometimes we wonder man I didn't get anybody saved but hold on did you sow some seeds though well yeah but well but nothing the word should not return it to us void you know the people that we got saved this week let me just let you in a little secret someone gave them the gospel before that someone sowed that seed they watered the ground they prayed over it we came and we reaped or other men labored understand and so what happened some person so the seed whether is their aunt or neighbor their parents their friend and maybe that person who sowed that seed may have thought oh man I guess the word the word did return back for it but it did it because we got them saved but you know what in like manner the word of judgment doesn't return back void either you know if God says he's gonna judge a person he's gonna judge the world he's gonna judge a nation it's gonna accomplish that which he sent it to do and so what is the context of chapter 34 well it's all negative it's the day of the Lord's vengeance just blood and judgment but it well pleases the Lord to talk about this though and you know I hope you never get bored however many chapters we talk about blood and judgment and death and carcasses and unclean animals because apparently it pleases God to put it in his word he wants us to know about those things so what for to strike fear in your hearts well I'm motivated by love well get motivated by fear too because the fear the the fear the Lord is to hate evil and by the fear of the Lord listen to this men depart from evil so part of helping us to get right with God when we're not is the fear of God that causes us to want to get right and say you know what I don't want that judgment to come upon me I don't want animals to take over my land and my house and my possessions so let me just stay right with God and please him so that these things don't come upon me and obviously on a greater scale it's not gonna come upon us when it when dealing with the day of the Lord as far as the vengeance upon this world is concerned let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and we're thankful for your judgments I'm thankful for your judgments Lord I'm thankful for the fact that one day you will strike vengeance upon this earth and there are times when we as God's people have suffered wrong and people have persecuted us they have railed on us Lord they have tried to harm us stain our reputation did evil unto us Lord and Christian principle teaches us that we can't retaliate there's nothing we can do in return but we're to give place unto wrath and quite frankly maybe we not may not even see that recompense in our lifetime but may we have faith in your word that one day even if we're not here that restitution will be made upon this earth and upon everyone who wronged your people and I have faith that you'll do it Lord even if it doesn't happen in my lifetime and Lord may your judgments put fear in our hearts that we may stay right with you and please you in all things we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen all right we have one last