(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. Right, Isaiah chapter 18 now, and Isaiah 17 was where we were last week, and it was the burden of Damascus, which although part fulfilled, Damascus still exists, doesn't it? And the final fulfilment seemingly to come in God's wrath for me, with the flocks lying down coming in the millennial reign straight after we saw that straight after that burden of Damascus. There was a picture of the rapture with a small amount left picturing those that are receptive to the Gospel during God's wrath, but the more imminent fulfilling of the prophecies would have to have been during the Babylonian Empire's invasion of Syria, as at this point in time the Assyrians had already invaded Syria. We saw how during their destruction men wouldn't be looking any more to the works of their hands, which was false God's work salvation. Then also how without doing things God's way the results would be useless. Finally we saw that the multitude of nations that were against God's people would be punished. It said in verse 12, and a lot of them that rob us. And then Isaiah 18 says this in verse 1, I'd like to pray before we get going. Father, thank you for your word, thank you Lord for this chapter of the Bible, and Lord a bit of a maybe complicated chapter to really understand and I pray that you just help me to do it in a way that people will really understand it and you help me to be accurate Lord and full of your spirit as I do that. Please help people have a tent of vision to take something from this sermon as well as a little information here and a lot of its prophecy and help me to just preach it in the right way Lord that people will be able to be edified Jesus and pray. Amen. Okay so he said woe to the land shadowing with wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. And this is confusing at first I think where Ethiopia is mentioned but the war is to the land shadowing with wings. Okay the land shadowing with wings, the land that is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia it says here. And um okay Ethiopia was geographically different to where it is now in case anyone's kind of picturing Ethiopia a bit more southern which is what it is now but then it was a lot more northwards it was covering what is now known as a Sudan really okay it was that that region of Africa the border between Ethiopia and Egypt was where the Nile joins Lake Nasser with various other rivers branching off around there too so there was this sort of bordering area of lots of rivers and there's there's Lake Nasser there's a Nile there's other offshoot rivers around there as well so he said woe to the land shadowing with wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia so it's a land beyond and I suppose that could be either north or south of the rivers of Ethiopia and it's a land shadowing with wings which makes you think more of an empire doesn't it? A land shadowing with wings. Turn to Ezekiel 31. Ezekiel 31 which is the only other place that we see a nation described as shadowing in the bible so Ezekiel chapter 31 it says it like this and then by the way Ezekiel 31 it's about 150 years on from from the point we are here where Isaiah is preaching Ezekiel is preaching against Egypt and he reminds Egypt of a former world power so he says this in Ezekiel 31 and verse 1 and it came to pass in the 11th year and the third month in the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude whom art thou like in thy greatness behold the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud and of an high stature and his top was among the thick boughs so a shadowing branch we might say rather than shroud or maybe covering why were the Assyrians described like this why were they described you know as a cedar and with a shadowing shroud because they were at the time the biggest ever world empire so when the Assyrian empire was at its peak it was the biggest world empire yet at this point in history they had a shadowing shroud basically they covered a large area okay they covered a very large area verse four says the waters made him great the deep set him up on high with our rivers running around about his plants and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field now the comparison being to a tree okay our trees plural therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field and his boughs were multiplied and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters when he shot forth so being that that he was being nourished he was able to to grow and grow verse six says all the fowls of the heaven made their nests in his boughs and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young and under his shadow dwell all great nations so again that shadowing it was under the shadow of Assyria thus was he fair fair in his greatness in the length of his branches for his root was by great waters the cedars in the garden of god could not hide him the fir trees were not like his boughs and the chestnut trees were not like his branches nor any tree in the garden of god was like unto him in his beauty i've made him fair by the multitude of his branches so all the trees of eden that were in the garden of god envied him so with that description of mine back in isaiah 18 1 where it said woe to the land shadowing with wings which is beyond the rivers of ethiopia the woe is either to assyria which is beyond the rivers of ethiopia if you're looking from the point of ethiopia or going the other direction it would be to ethiopia itself so they're the two options for me so ethiopia did so you're going well how would ethiopia be shadowing with with wings well it did seem to previously have some control of neighboring egypt there was kind of a to and fro there with who controlled you know with with how much uh of egypt conquered but there was a point where it kind of conquered egypt around about this time it seemed but but it was driven back to the other side of the border rivers by the assyrians who invaded the northern land of egypt so the assyrians didn't get as far as beyond and in down into ethiopia but they did seem to at least take over egypt in the in the you know north of those rivers so it's either a woe to the ethiopians who would have been driven back or to the assyrians who were eventually to be replaced however kind of that's the end of that woe so that's kind of whether it's either one isn't so important because it's more interesting who he's then talking about he says 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 waters saying go ye swift messengers and this is more of the the subject of it to a nation scattered and peeled to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden down whose land the rivers have spoiled so there's woe coming to either assyria or ethiopia like we said i'm leaning myself personally towards assyria there however then he's describing an invasion for me of egypt he said to a nation scattered and peeled to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden down whose land the rivers have spawned now egypt was a nation previously terrible frightful formidable we might say that was meted out or measured and trodden down wasn't it how have the rivers spoiled the land well turn to x to seven which is the first angle i want to look at um exodus chapter seven where where egypt or when egypt was terrible okay before it was scattered and peeled at the red sea you might say moses is asking pharaoh to let the people go okay aaron's just turned his rod into a snake exodus 7 and verse 14 so exodus chapter 7 and verse 14 says and the lord sent unto moses pharaoh's heart is hardened he refuses to let the people go get thee unto pharaoh in the morning lo he goeth out onto the water and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come and the rod which was turned to a serpent shall take in thine hand and thou shalt say unto him the lord god of the hebrews have sent me unto thee saying let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness and behold hitherto thou wouldst not hear thus saith the lord in this thou shalt know that i am the lord behold i will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river and they shall be turned to blood and the fish that is in the river shall die and the river shall stink and the egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river and the lord spake unto moses sound to aaron take thy rod and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of egypt upon their streams upon their rivers and upon their ponds and upon all their pools of water that they may become blood and that there may be blood throughout all the land of egypt both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone so all this water is getting turned to blood okay upon the water of egypt their streams their rivers their ponds their pools of water even in the vessels and moses and aaron did so verse 20 as the lord commanded he lifted up the rod and smoked the waters that were in the river in the sight of pharaoh and in the sight of his servants and all the waters that are in the river were turned to blood so it wasn't just an empty threat and verse 21 and a fish that was in the river died and the river stank and the egyptians could not drink of the water of the river and there was blood throughout all the land of egypt it wasn't just concentrated in one place it was the whole land of egypt so it's easy to read through this as the first miracle i don't know if you've read through exodus a few times and you might read through it as a first miracle and think well you know that's probably a bit rough and the next thing you know you're on to the frogs and and onwards okay but all the fish died all the fish in the whole land this is all the land of egypt it was the streams the rivers the ponds the pools a whole lot of them so all of those fish died and that was that must have been a massive thing at the time throughout this huge nations all fish died and i'd imagine that that was a lot of people were getting at least a big part of their diet would have probably been those fish that would have resulted if you think about it on a you know on a with a massive knock-on effect they had no water to drink either it's not just that the fish were dying they didn't have any water this is fresh water most of it and and that was all i mean this is before probably mass pollution as well so i'd imagine a lot of that water was probably at least drinking water to a degree maybe washing water drinking water it said everything every pole even everything in a vessel throughout all the land and there were some pretty nasty plagues after that but this one was not only start but but would also have devastated the land right at the start so if you think about it look there was some some of those plagues they sound a bit grim the lice and things like that but here this first one just suddenly wiped out all fish and all drinking water i mean that was a big deal yeah and that did destroy the land to some degree didn't it said in verse 24 and all the egyptians verse 24 now and all the egyptians dig round about the river for water to drink for they could not drink of the water of the river now that's not suddenly automatic oh yeah no worries we'll just dig around it i mean that that would have been you know it takes a lot of labor a lot of time a lot of effort and seven days were fulfilled after the lord of smith of the river so the rivers the rivers though is and here's the thing it's not just that so in these first couple of plagues it's also about the rivers because the rivers also brought forth the next plague which was the frogs look at exodus 8 and verse 1 and the lord said i spake unto moses go unto pharaoh and say unto him thus saith the lord let my people go that they may serve me and if they refuse to let them go behold i will smite all thy borders with frogs and the river shall bring full frogs abundantly which shall go up and come into thine house and into thy bed chambered upon thy bed and into the house of thy servants upon thy people into thine ovens and into thy kneading troughs and the frog shall come up both on thee and upon thy people and upon all thy servants now you might go okay but how did that spoil the land because didn't it say it spoiled the land look at verse 12 verse 12 and moses and aaron went out for pharaoh moses cried unto the lord because of the frogs which he'd brought against pharaoh and the lord did according to the word of moses and the frogs died out of the houses out of the villages and out of the fields and they gathered them together upon heaps and the land stank so the frogs were everywhere we just read right kneading troughs it said in bed chambers beds everywhere ovens they just got everywhere i mean that's a lot of frogs okay it wasn't that you just found a frog somewhere i mean everywhere well that must have been some stink imagine them all dying and being piled up and aside from the physical smell i think also the land stank to god too they've rejected him twice now the land stank so back in isaiah 18 perhaps what that is what is being talked about where it said whose land the rivers have spoiled however jump forward to isaiah 19 which follows on from this sort of introduction so that's one way we could look at it but in isaiah 90 we're going to look from verse 4 we see another way that that the rivers you know the rivers here have may have spoiled the land it may that's what it might be talking about said in verse 4 isaiah 94 the egyptians will i give over into the hand of a cruel lord and a fierce king shall rule over them saith the lord the lord of foes and the waters shall fail from the sea and the river shall be wasted and dried up and they shall turn the rivers far away and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up the reeds and flags shall wither 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 the fishers also shall mourn and all they that cast angle into the brook shall lament and they that spread nets upon the water shall languish moreover they that work in fine flax and they that weave networks shall be confounded and they shall be broken in the purposes of all that makes sluices and ponds for fish well i mean either way okay so either way for me it's it's got to be talking about egypt okay so you can either say well based on what happened in the past or based on what was going to happen this seems to be a big part of the downfall of egypt here before the asirian invasion or you could say well you know it's a tradition you know something that that happened obviously in the past with that but where it said back in isiah 18 woe to the land shadowing with wings which is beyond the rivers of of ethiopia then what is that land doing sending ambassadors by the sea even in vessels of bull rushes upon the waters saying go ye swift messages to a nation what's this nation scattered and peeled to people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and shot down whose land the rivers have spoiled so this the the sea i think would likely be the red sea and the asirians could have come down the mediterranean for ease ease of travel though travel though as well but probably down the red sea and also if it was the ethiopians they could have come up the red sea from south to north so again whatever you want to believe with that the the messengers the ambassadors were often sent before an invasion so if you think oh what's the messengers about think of when rab shaky for example was sent to hezekiah prior to the syrian siege um to the asirian siege sorry of judah so they sent messengers to talk to him talk to the people to negotiate a surrender basically okay to save them having to to lose a load of men um attacking it some sort of pledge of subservience some sort of tribute paid that's what they were looking for that's what they would have sent ahead of an invasion so i think he's saying woe to the invaders who ended up taking egypt okay with all that kind of you know all that to say that's what i believe is being being said here woe to the invaders he said then in verse three all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see you when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains and when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye now we had a similar image painting isaiah 11 if you'd like to turn there isaiah chapter 11 back to chapter 11 which was a picture of the day of the lord the rapture of god's people verse three just said all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see ye when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye so we got the end sign we got the blowing of the trumpet also in isaiah 5 we saw an end sign where it said in verse 26 he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far will hiss unto them from the end of the earth and behold they shall come with speed swiftly and we saw it was being a picture of the second coming of christ verse 30 and isaiah made it clear in isaiah 5 where it said and in that day they shall roar against him like the roaring of the sea and if one look unto the land behold darkness and sorrow and the light is darken darkened in the heavens thereof being one of the big events that happens when christ returns now isaiah also prophesied though of this in isaiah 11 where you are where it says in verse 10 of isaiah 11 and in that day there shall be a root of jesse which shall stand for an end sign of the people to it shall the gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious so the root of jesse being the son of david the lord jesus christ and it shall come to pass in that day and he's an ensign nail stand for an end sign said and it shall come to pass in that day that the lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from isaiah and from egypt and from pathos and from kush and from elam and from shina and from hamath and from the islands of the sea and kush by the way being another name for ethiopia and he shall set up an end sign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of israel and gather together the dispersed of judah from the four corners of the earth and when we looked at this previously we saw how it was part fulfilled by hezekiah's reign with the outcast flocking to his banner but it is still to be ultimately fulfilled with the disperse of judah from the four corners of the earth being all believers at the rapture okay i hope everyone's kind of with me with this right and this is what isaiah is also prophesying of in isaiah 18 okay that's my point all that to say in verse three back in isaiah 18 when he said all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see when he lifteth up an end sign on the mountains and when he bloweth a trumpet and you don't have to turn a bit in matthew 24 31 talking of that day to come it said and he shall send his angels with the sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other okay so clearly talking about the rapture and you might be going why does he keep talking about talking about the rapture and look isaiah is a very prophetic book as we've surely seen already okay so of course a lot of it he's talking about stuff and i mean most of it has like a first fulfillment but then there's just constantly this dual fulfillment he's showing pictures of the rapture he's showing pictures of the wrath he's showing pictures of the millennial reign of christ there's just all this prophecy in the book of isaiah and it's a great book of the bible to to be able to compare and and to then leapfrog then into revelation other places and see you know and put it all together so he's talking at the rapture and in isaiah 11 12 he said from the four corners of the earth okay when you were there a second ago in matthew 24 31 he said from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other and bear that in mind because as is often the case with isaiah's prophecies here what's usually on the back of that there's still a remnant to be saved okay i just want you to bear that in mind because we're going to look at that uh as we can as we get to the end of the chapter we're going to see that in a minute but look at verse four it said 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 which i believe are contrasting things okay so the clear heat being a bad thing i think is what he's saying here i think a clear heat you know like a daytime heat upon when it's heat upon herbs probably you know is more likely to scorch to wither but then the cloud of jew being a blessing okay jew especially there i think we i explained this a while back where where the dew there was was basically the way things were watered a lot of the time when through the months when there was no rain and and in the heat of harvest a jew was a big blessing okay that's what you wanted and due with a d by the way not with a j verse five says for well in those days the i've been a blessing what we call jews now probably not okay okay verse five 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 so remember that the rapture okay is often compared to the day of harvest we looked at that last week he said that before or we would say before before that day he should do some pruning he shall cut off the sprigs and he shall cut away the branches he then said in verse six they should be left together unto the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth and the fowl shall summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them so now notice the timing here verse three said all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth see ye when he lifteth up and ensign on the mountains when he bloweth the trumpet hear you so he's talking about the rapture okay then he says this for so the lord said unto me i will take my rest this is before the rapture i will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs like a cloud during the heat of harvest so he's going to consider for me between cursing and blessing verse five for a for the harvest so before the harvest remember the harvest regularly represents the rapture when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower okay so it's looking good for for the rapture he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches and and basically i think he's saying that before that harvest or before that rapture they're going to be those cut off they're going to be those taken away and cut down he then said this 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 he's not talking about cutting in a good way he's talking about basically discarding the waste the rubbish yeah so they're not getting harvested they're not getting taken they're not being raptured is another way you could say that they're being cut off or perhaps they're being damned before that day how are they cut off and cut down well turn to revelation chapter 13 now this isn't just people that don't make the rapture is it like we've talked about before there's there's 144 000 witnesses those two witnesses you know that all the world shall see and that's for a reason so there are those that can and i believe will get saved during the wrath but there are those that are cast off before the rapture how does that work well for me if you've turned to revelation 13 it's those that choose a mark it's those that choose the mark of the beast there who will be cut off just before that day it's those that will be cut down before that harvest in revelation 13 okay we see the false prophet arrive on the scene and he's definitely for me you know where we've seen him in in isaiah 18 he's definitely prophesying of the rapture of those end times to come he said in verse 11 and i beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake the dragon so like i said this is talking about in the future now this is some time some time uh in the future from now okay where we're talking about this this end times in the world what we know is the end times and we know is you know that that preceding the day of the lord preceding the second coming of christ and this is something we're waiting this it's yet to come on the prophetic calendar it says this guy so it said this beast coming out of the earth he had two horns like lamb he spake as a dragon and the dragon is who the devil okay and he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein and i don't want you to miss this to worship to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed now this is a key word here because it's it's it's not that people accidentally get the mark and you say and i say that just because if you remember during covid and during the covid vaccine coming out there's a lot of people saying this is the mark of the beast don't get it you're gonna you know accidentally you're gonna be damned for eternity or something there's a lot of this stuff going around wasn't there okay and and people were panicking and you know sometimes it was good because you got to preach from the gospel some people were so out to lunch they would never have heard the gospel they were just convinced if you got the covid vaccine you were taking the mark for example and other people have other ideas of what they consider the mark to be and that you could accidentally take the mark no no they worshipped the first beast he's caused them to worship there's a worship involved of the and the beast is the anti-crisis one world leader that's going to rise to power during this this time okay it said in verse 13 and he doeth great wonders so he make a fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men now you can imagine people being pretty impressed by that can't you just fight like someone someone in the public eyes some sort of someone near to this you know who's like buddies with this one world leader just making fire come down out of heaven and i could imagine a lot of people would be impressed by that they'd be pretty amazed by that okay and he said he's doing these great wonders and there's more than i mean that's just one example there's obviously other wonders he's doing as well said in verse 14 and he and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live so there's some sort of you know whether it's a fake resurrection or at least you know an impersonating resurrection of christ there's some sort of deadly wound given to the given to the anti-christ that he then lives through which makes the world you know wonder they marvel after the beast but they're they're deceived into making an image of some sort to worship now some you know maybe many years ago you would have thought about maybe a graven image now you kind of think more about maybe some sort of i don't know maybe a computerized image or maybe not maybe it would be a huge statue that's you know that people have have a way of accessing we don't really know okay and many people can speculate and have ideas how that would look if it was in our day you know you've probably got your own ideas on that but there's going to be this image there's going to be some sort of image of this one world leader that people are going to basically worship because he said and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed so you could say well of course everyone will get the mark but this seems to be post worship doesn't it post image it said and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause and remember that people are already worshiping this image and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be should be killed and it gives the impression that the image is causing others to want to kill those that don't worship them i don't know if you read that like i do there it said he had power to give life unto the image of the beast but the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed so it's as if because of this image because of the the world wanting to worship this choosing this image to worship and the beast ultimately who they're worshiping then anyone that doesn't it's caused the cause of that the result is that i believe it's the worshippers it's and ultimately it's the people that take this mark that worship the beast that then the result is that they want to kill people that don't that are not accepting him as this one god as this kind of christ figure as this kind of whatever messiah that all these different religions are ultimately waiting for said in false religions that is in verse 16 says and he calls the thaw both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads and again this is something that you can imagine even many decades ago let alone many centuries or at least uh you know a few centuries or even more ago in and onwards and onwards people would have had just no idea how could this even work like what are you talking about mark in their head and by the way the king james bible says in their hand or in their forehead okay and again that's not you know some sort of something drawn on that's not so that's something implanted in your hand and now we can say okay we could kind of see how that might work right there's some sort of mark and you can imagine nowadays we look at things like microchips and pushing for that and there's been obviously trials out i remember it was out in sweden they had quite a big trial of that and using it to pay for things and be able to scan it on a smartphone and things like that so there is there is a technology there for something like that it doesn't mean it's around the corner the technology isn't going to suddenly not be there this technology will still be there for hundreds of years you'd imagine so there is there's something to come maybe with that maybe that's how it might work we don't know exactly how that'll work how it would work in the forehead in the right hand and obviously there's different things out there there's people you know talking about these different sort of chips you get like sort of ai type i don't know you know abilities and help with things and i don't know but regardless it's not something you're going to accidentally get so you're not just going to god i thought that was going to help me you know be able to pay for things and now say oh no i've just worshipped the image that's not how it's working you're choosing you're willfully choosing to to to worship that image and to with that taking that mark he said and that no man might buy or sell say fee that had the mark or the name of the beast the number of his name so there's an ostracizing of those that don't and again therefore you could see with that people maybe they'd be saying they're terrorists maybe that chip will kind of prove that you've had like the latest vaccine or whatever i don't know we speculate but there's going to be it's going to cause people i think to them want to kill those that aren't involved and don't get it for whatever reason he said in verse 18 here is wisdom let him that have understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 600 three score and six so that's where that 666 comes from but again i don't think it's some guys walking around with 666 on his forehead he like there he is got him okay i think there's some wisdom involved here and i think that that wisdom will become clearer to those alive in those days okay i think if you're alive and you're studying your bible and you're reading and you're aware of this i think in that day when it comes you're going to be probably more likely to be able to clock this yeah right now just to make it clear if you're saved okay you wouldn't be able to take the mark you're unable to take the mark now firstly because and you have done in matthew 24 24 says for there shall arise false christs and false prophets shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect but it's not possible to deceive the very elect because if you're saved you have everlasting life you have everlasting life you can't take the mark because you're damned if you take the mark if you have everlasting life well he said he that believed them he had everlasting life in john 6 47 if you've got everlasting life how could you have everlasting life and then lose it because you stupidly took some mark in your hand and you worshiped some beast well then it wasn't everlasting and then jesus christ a liar when he said if if you believe you have everlasting life you've been spiritually reborn i mean what does that would you get unborn how do you be unborn you know and and i you know i say this stuff because look you know some people they get shaken up by sometimes like the work salvation stuff out there you know they get a bit of doubt and stuff but what did jesus christ say he said except when i'll be born again he cannot see the kingdom of god so if you've been born again then how would you get unborn how would you take some mark and worship some beast if you've been sealed by the holy spirit are you going to get unsealed because you know talking about you know christ he said in whom you also trust in ephesians 1 13 after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation whom also after that you believed you were what sealed with that holy spirit promise you're sealed so how would you then take the mark he also said that he holds you didn't he god said that he holds you when you're saved it's god that holds you he said i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand said my father which gave them his great little no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand so thank god it's god that holds us because if we held ourselves then we wouldn't be held for very long but it's him that holds us he's not just going to drop us you know he holds us and and he'll never let us go you you know that you have eternal life for example says first john 5 13 he said these things are written unto you that believe in the name of son of god that you may know that you have eternal life and you may believe in the name of son of god how could you know you have eternal life if there's a chance that you'll accidentally take a mark worship a beast and no longer have eternal life he also said that you will never come into condemnation that means you you will never be condemned to hell he said in john 5 24 didn't he very verily i said to you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life so if you you're not going to come into condemnation never be condemned to hell but you you have passed from death unto life you don't pass back to death and back to life and back to it so the point being that those that take the mark are doomed you cannot take the mark because those that do never have forgiveness look at revelation 14 it says in verse 9 in revelation 14 of verse 9 and the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice if any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand okay so remember they're worshiping and they're receiving the mark 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 fine brim sun in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb yep god's there the lord jesus christ is there he'll be it's in the presence of him and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name so they have no rest day or night okay they if they worship him if they take that they cannot be saved they're damned now again it's a combination okay look at that again in verse 11 who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name so it's a rejection of god and the choosing to worship the beast and his image in place of god basically and it is ultimately changing the truth of god into a lie and look what follows pretty soon after and with all of that in mind so we've just seen that we we've seen that we we have this mark of the beast okay we have this anti-christ one world leader we have this mark where where it goes hand in hand with worshiping the beast worshiping the image receiving this mark and then look what follows look at verse 12 here is the patience of the saints here are they that keep the commandments of god and the faith of jesus okay so that's those that have endured unto this point that make it physically through the tribulation he said in verse 13 and i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me right blessed of the dead which die in the lord from henceforth say save the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them so not everyone will make it but everyone who's saved will end up in heaven verse 14 says and i looked and make it physically that is and i looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his head a sharp sickle and another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is right and he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped now if you notice there that it's kind of this is pretty much straight after the mark okay so we've got the mark he obviously prepares it 144 000 but it's it's basically the mark is implemented and then christ returns so that's what happens so it's those taking the mark which i believe is being prophesied about back in isaiah 18 and verse 5 where it said or from verse 5 to verse 6 so back in isaiah 18 that's what i believe it's talking about it's prophesying of the rapture but it's also prophesying of before the harvest for a for the harvest verse 5 when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower so it's right before he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches they should be left together onto the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth the fowl shall summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them so ultimately that that you know the anti-christ and him coming is just it is a test for people isn't it alive at that time and remember before that time all those events that lead up those begin at the beginning of sorrows that famine that death the wars all that stuff going on people should you'd hope would be receptive at that time and that'll be a job to do for believers then to try and get people saved then you have then you have this basic deception but they make this choice don't they they make this choice to then choose to worship the beast to take that mark and with that they're done and and it's kind of you know now it's not that everyone will do that because there will be those that reject and there will be those i think that will be hanging around like we saw in the last chapter there'll be the odd bit of gleaning left which is what those witnesses are for which is you know the why there's witnesses during the wrath but there is a big choice to make just before christ returns isn't there he said they shall be left together onto the thousand mountains to the beast of the earth well they'll also be left to the beast of the earth won't they you think about it like that they'll be left to the beast of the earth well you know there's a second one there's a false prophet that's like unto the first beast and then he said into the fowls of the mountains and the fowls represent the devil in the parable of the sower at least so maybe there's something there in that verse as well right and they should be left together onto the fowls of the mountain to the beasts of the earth and the fowl shall summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them and where do all these people eventually end up in hell they'll go through god's wrath on earth before eventually ending up in everlasting torment he said in verse 7 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 hitherto and they shall meet it out and trodden underfoot to his land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount zion so remember i said to bear in mind that he will gather his elect from the four winds from the four corners of the earth well here the message is that i believe that he's saying there will be a remnant saved from egypt i think that's what he's saying turn to psalm 68 psalm 68 i'm going to read verse 7 again while you turn there it said in that time you'll turn to psalm 68 he said 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 hitherto remember this is what we just read earlier in verse where are we uh verse what two wasn't it um where he said uh for people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden underfoot his land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount zion so he's talking about these people from this place being brought as a present he said he said about those obviously his land the rivers have spoiled and for me that in either whichever way you look at it is going to be egypt there and then he said in verse uh in psalm 68 in verse 28 it's the psalm of david he said thy god has commanded thy strength strengthen i got that which thou has wrought for us because of thy temple at jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee rebuke the company of spearmen the multitude of the bulls with the cards of the people till everyone submit himself with piece of silver scatter thou the people that delight in war princes shall come out of egypt ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto god sing unto god ye kingdoms of the earth i'll sing praises unto the lord sila so he's prophesying a prince is coming out of egypt and i think ethiopia there you could join with that stretching their hands unto god of people from all kingdoms of the earth it's said in verse 32 and i think that's what specifically here in verse 7 is talking about with those from egypt so with that he said in in psalm 68 he's prophesying a prince coming out of egypt this is back david prophesying ethiopia structure our hands unto god and then here in verse 7 it's those from egypt it says in verse 7 again of back in isaiah 18 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 hitherto a nation meted out and trodden underfoot whose land the rivers have spoiled to the place of the name of the lord of hosts of mount sion now what's the present the present is the lord's inheritance isn't it save people specifically i think from the land of egypt because when it comes to lord returning okay you don't have to turn it but first corinthians 15 52 says in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed so it's those that are dead in christ and those that are alive and remain it's both isn't it so when he when that rapture comes it'll be all that have died their bodies will will be raised okay their bodies are going to be be raised up and and you don't have to worry about whether they've been you know gone back into the earth from burial or cremation or buried at sea or whatever else okay somehow that's going to happen they're going to rise those dead bodies those are alive and remain at that point okay going to meet them in the air we're going to be changed we're going to get that glorified body so if you you know here's one way of looking at it okay if if all people are going to come together all people are going to be raised and that will be people from the past from places like egypt and many other places and even right now look just just to make it clear there are safe people in many nations throughout the world okay so if you've kind of don't think it's just like oh it can only american and english and a few others here and there you know with some like you know soul-winning churches that there are people say there's a rare you bump into them sometimes don't you sometimes you bump it up bumped into someone saved the other day you know and you just bump into them they're people saved around and here there's people saved in other nations but everyone's going to join rise up together okay so at that rapture be raptured together those that have either died in christ or that are already that already you know that are here at the at the time so here's one way of looking if you're one of those racist types out there you better get used to the idea of eternity with all nations right because you've got eternity just whatever nation or whatever you want to call it race background culture you you know you've got a bugbear about if you do well you've got eternity so you may be good to get used to that stuff now and get rid of that carnality you know that's a lot of nonsense right and look god made god made eternity or god made god made his people of all nations all right okay and and that's one way you can look at that because look you might go there's no one like that in here but i hope there isn't okay but there are throughout the world and from there and by the way you can be a racist and be any type whatever the world's construct of race i don't really you know the word's a bit of a nonsense because we're all of the human race but there's a lot of people out there from all different areas that just hate people that i mean i i'll tell you one one we saw the other day when we're out in uh did you see that in the netherlands by the way they had the uh the black hebrews root skies did you see that so we just had lunch i think he left before that so we just had lunch come out into the town center and they'd like done this kind of god of honor around this and they were like some of them were like borderline armor and then one of them's holding the bible and the other one's going what color was jesus what color was jesus you tell me what color and he's just like it was super aggressive super just like what a load of carnal nonsense who cares who cares and what these guys and you know what it's not just black hebrews roots guys you know there's white hebrews roots guys it's probably asian hebrews there's there's like all these people who just want to like somehow feel special because of the color of their skin in whatever way it is right it's so carnal it's such a nonsense and the reality of it is that there's going to be people from all nations up there together for eternity so if you know maybe i know i know there's not going to be sin up there anyway so if you were a racist it'll quickly get quickly come out of you with your uh when you lose that fleshly body anyway but still you might as well get used to it while you're here anyway okay but it's not just like i said because the dead in christ will rise there are there are remnants of safe people throughout the world okay they're everywhere and and i you know there's going to be people you know at the time probably in all these different nations being raptured but i think that the overriding message of this chapter okay is a message that we're seeing a bit already in isaiah it's that with the destruction of nations is a resulting remnant of safe people we just keep seeing this time and time again time time again so with the day of visitation comes for some the glory glorifying of god that's what we see um you know regularly in the book of isaiah said in verse seven in that time shall the present be brought unto the lord of hosts for a people scattered and peeled and from people terrible from the beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden underfoot whose land the rivers are spoiled to the place of the name of the lord of hosts the mount zion so with the first fulfillment being those gathering in the earthly jerusalem or whatever period of time you think that is maybe even i think maybe even with the return from captivity now that could be talking about but the ultimate fulfillment being those gathering in the heavenly jerusalem that's really what is ultimately being prophesied of is that there will be a present brought to the lord of hosts and not just from those people not just from egypt from from the four corners of the earth from one end of heaven to the other there will be people being raptured from all over the place at that point and and the dead in christ shall be rising from all over the world and and there will always be a remnant won't there and it always seems to come on the back of a lot of judgment a lot of chastisement a lot of a lot of basically beatings by god and and you know there's something to maybe remember as well when when hard times happen and you know a lot of the time there are good results on the back of it aren't there and sometimes when they it seems like the enemy is you know doing this doing that crushing destroying causing grief causing problems a lot of the time good just comes out of that god's people a lot of the time firm up they strengthen up they knuckle down and at the same time when it comes to nations a lot of the time when the back of destruction will come people getting saved people will will just in that time in those times when it's hard times when they're fearful when the pride's lower when they don't know what's going to happen next when people are maybe being killed people are getting sick people are getting ill people are just more likely to get saved and here it's it's of those people that have been meted out trodden underfoot the rivers have spoiled the land but there'll be a present brought out unto them to the place of the name of the lord of the host the mount zion and the that being those gathering in in the heavenly jerusalem that's all it's talking about there ultimately and that was uh isai chapter 18 and on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer well thank you for your word thank you for um the book was our lord and the many prophecies we're seeing of times to come lord and um and we thank you that you know your word just lines up you know so you know just so amazingly there how we can read you know a book and prophecies you know written by a prophet back you know sort of two and a half thousand odd years ago and it lines up with then you know prophecies written another sort of 600 years after that and um and as we're going to see as if we live to that time or for those in the future that do they're just going to see it line up perfectly with with events still to come lord and we thank you for the richness of your word we thank you that uh during our bible studies we can see that as we go through it and see it just matching up in different places and many pictures and many uh you know the symbolism and also just just a clear blatant prophecy as well we thank you for that we thank you that your word is such a pleasure to study uh we we pray that you just um let's help us lord we're on the back of you know that message and you know knowing that that you know there are people to be safe from every nation just help us to to get out to every nation lord help us to find a way help us us and other churches to find a way of reaching those and starting with those receptive places around the world and to be able to get to them to find ways of getting to them lord and find ways of reaching them with the gospel help us to do that as a church and and to then inspire others to do the same in the future and help us to get home safe this evening and do the same pray amen