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Isaiah chapter 34, and last week we were in Isaiah 33 and there was a warning to the treacherous spoilers of Jerusalem with the imminent Assyrian invasion, if you remember, who were contrasted with those that were to wait upon the Lord, without being a theme of the chapter. We saw that there were two types of people, there were those that were rejecting the preaching, the warnings from Isaiah to trusting God, who were to therefore suffer at the hands of the Assyrians, if you remember, as opposed to those that were waiting on the Lord. So we had two types of people there that he was preaching to, which went hand in hand with being upright, with living right, so waiting on the Lord, you're going to be more likely to wait on the Lord if you're living right, you're upright, you're doing the things of God, you're more likely to then have your faith in God. We saw, for example, verse 15 said, He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high, his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be given him, his waters shall be short. Just to make it clear, I'm not talking about salvation here, I'm talking about people that are already saved and more likely to wait upon the Lord if they're living right after salvation. We compared this with 2 Peter 1, verses 5 to 7, we're not going to go there, don't worry, but where the patience required to wait on the Lord in tribulation is a result of adding virtue, knowledge, and temperance to your faith, so we saw that kind of lined up as well, as you're adding those things, you're going to then get that patience on the back of that lining up with what we were reading in Isaiah there. This is also going to be the case in the great tribulation to come, so we saw the tribulation here, picturing obviously the tribulation to come in the end times, with chapter 33 also picturing that in various places, but especially when it comes to getting through that tribulation, and that has been the case in Isaiah, we've seen a lot of pictures of the end times, foreshadowings of the end times, dual prophecies, etc. The chapter ended with an assurance that those that waited on the Lord would be safe in Zion. So it said in verse 22, so back in Isaiah 33, verse 22 said for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. Thy tacklings are loose, they could not well strengthen their masks, they could not spread the sail, then is the prey of a great spoil divided, the lame take the prey, and the inhabitant shall not say I am sick, the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. And then Isaiah 34 starts with verse 1, which is, Come near ye nations, to hear and hearken ye people, let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world and all things that come forth of it. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to get started with Isaiah chapter 34. Father, thank you Lord for this chapter, thank you for the many truths we can get out of it, Lord, the prophecies that we're going to see in it, Lord, help me to preach them clearly and accurately and boldly, Lord, help me to preach it in a way that people would just be able to pay attention to, understand and follow along, Lord, in a way that sort of simplifies it as much as possible with what is a fairly cryptic chapter here, Lord. Help me fill these things full of your spirit, in Jesus' name, pray, Amen. So verse 1 again said, Come near ye nations, to hear and hearken ye people, let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world and all things that come forth of it. So like I said in the prayer there, it's a bit of a cryptic chapter, okay, where Isaiah is prophesying of a combination of immediate, nearer future, and then still to come, fulfillments. And in case you're thinking, well, why can't he just say which period he's prophesying of? Can Isaiah just say, look, just to make it clear, this is what I'm prophesying of here, this is what I'm prophesying of there, why can't it just be a bit clearer? Maybe you might have wondered that sometimes, or maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Well firstly, because God wants us to study, okay, God wants us to study, you know, 2 Timothy 2.15 says to study, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman, not just someone who's just relaxing, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So God commands a preacher, Timothy, the pastor Timothy, to study the word of God. And I would say that goes to all men of God, women of God, children of God, he wants you to study the word of God. And as much as, look, Bible reading is Bible reading, you should be reading the Bible, okay, we should all be reading the Bible, reading it regularly, reading it regularly. But there is a place of studying it as well, isn't there? And obviously if you're a man, and there's nothing better than when you preach your sermon to study the Bible, because when it's for the edifying of God's people, I don't know, you just feel like if you got your heart right with it, you got your head right with it, God helps you when you're preaching to learn things, you know, it's for God's people, so ultimately if he's going to help you, he's going to help you, right, because he wants his people to learn, he wants his people to grow, to grow in knowledge, there's nothing better than that, but if you're not preaching, or if you're, you know, some of the ladies here, some of the kids here, still, you know, it's good to study the word, it's not just about reading it, because some people they do just skim read, some people it becomes just a kind of an exercise, but study it out as well, study a topic, study something, look at a passage, think, I'm going to work out what this actually means, you know, that's a good thing to do, it's something we're told to do, I believe, as well, right? Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman, put some work into the word of God that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and the word of God is written in a way that even the most spirit-filled workmen could never run out of things to study, okay, it doesn't matter how spirit-filled you are, how much you're in the word of God, how much you can get out of the word of God, you'll never run out, that's what's so amazing about it, it's just, it is so amazing like that, isn't it, that there's just so much in there, you just keep unraveling and unraveling, and sometimes, you know, sometimes I preach through something maybe many years ago, and then I look at it again for maybe another sermon, and I think, well, I can see something else in there that maybe you missed the first time, maybe you missed the second time, it's not necessarily even that you've missed it, just that there's just, it's so deep, isn't it, the word of God, so much in there, and it's also written and collected in a way that as well makes it seem like another language to the unsaved, just amazing like that, isn't it, the word of God is just, it never ceases to amaze me, so for the unsaved, they look at this, they look at, and not just obviously pastures like this are pretty cryptic, whether you're saved or not, right, but so much of it, you know, the unsaved can read through it and read through it and read through it, and they just don't get it, do they, and it is written in that way, and the prophecies are written in a way that kind of you need to learn and grow and add precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, and get that sort of, start to understand what it's talking about and where it's talking about, it's not written in a way where it's like, right, these are the prophecies of Christ first coming, these are the prophecies of Christ, no, you've got to search them out, you've got to study, you've got to compare, and you'll never get bored of doing, you'll never get tired of doing that, but they don't understand it, right, hence the need for new Bible perversions and stuff, because they just don't get it, right, but they still don't get it with the new Bible perversions, even when the Bible perversions are trying to teach them, you know, what it actually says and not just do an honest translation, they still don't get it, right, you can't get it because you need salvation, you need the Holy Spirit to help you understand the word of God. Well here in the book of Isaiah we've seen prophecies that were to be fulfilled in the immediate future, we've seen those, we've seen prophecies that were to be fulfilled a couple of hundred years later during the Babylonian empire and its eventual destruction, we've seen that as well, we've seen prophecies of Christ first coming, we've seen prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, we've seen prophecies of events surrounding Christ's second coming yet to happen, and perhaps becoming slightly clearer the closer we get to it, I think as we get closer to that happening, the clearer some of these will get, but sometimes it has been a case of trying to figure out what period or event he's prophesying of, isn't it, as we've gone through this, thinking, right, is he prophesying of this, is he prophesying of that, but some prophecies do have dual fulfilment, and I've said this a few times, and I find this really interesting how he does this sometimes, in the book of Isaiah, and you see it in other places as well, where Isaiah uses language that maybe could be called poetic and non-literal for the first fulfilment, so you're seeing things where, in the first fulfilment, whether it's the Assyrian invasion or maybe, you know, maybe after that with some of the prophecies of maybe Babylon and other places, where you see this sort of, this non-literal fulfilment, and then the literal interpretation still to be fulfilled in the events surrounding Christ's second coming, such as here in chapter 34, where it said in verse 1, Come near ye nations to here, and harken, ye people, let the earth hear, and all that is therein, 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 hath delivered them to the slaughter. Did the Assyrian empire destroy all nations of the world? Because the Assyrian empire was ultimately meeting out upon punishment, well, it didn't. Neither did the Babylonians, neither did the Medo-Persians, neither did the Greeks, neither did the Romans. They didn't destroy all nations of the world. However, for those in the Middle East and surrounding nations, it was probably from their perspective the world, wasn't it? I mean, these were vast empires as well, and everything surrounding pretty much, you know, the Assyrians just crushing all these different nations and bringing them under tribute, etc. That would have felt like the world. The Neo-Assyrian empire and that period of the Neo-Assyrian empire was 912 to 612 BC. It stretched throughout Mesopotamia, the Levant, Egypt, Anatolia, and into parts of Persia and Arabia. It was huge. It was the biggest empire at the time ever, okay? This was a world empire basically for this time, for this period of time. And Judah was a pretty central position within it, by the way. So Judah was one of the central positions with it, just covering all these vast areas surrounding Judah. The Roman Empire around 100 AD, at that point of 100 AD when it was at its biggest, stretched from the British Isles to the deserts of North Africa, from the Iberian Peninsula, which is basically Spain, all the way to the eastern side of the Middle East. Again, it was a huge empire, right? Huge empire. And again, Judah on the northwest of the Middle East was a pretty central spot in that Roman Empire as well. So again, it was pretty much the world as far as they were concerned. But, oh, and just quickly, did you know that none of these empires were the biggest? Guess what's the biggest world empire to this day? Anyone want to guess? That's it. Oh, Britannia. Okay, okay. Britannia was always used to. Doesn't rule much anymore, right? But yeah, British Empire. The sun never set on the British Empire. I had a look at this. At its peak in 1920, it covered 13.7 million square miles. It ruled over 458 million people. That's a huge empire. That's why they said the sun never set on the British Empire. Because from east to west, it was just, it was constant, right? And it was the largest empire in history, covering apparently about a quarter of the world's land area was the British Empire. Oh, how times have changed, right? Now being conquered by some, well, a few different types, but at least the people being used, it seems to be of an Islamic nature right now, conquering from the inside, it seems. But regardless, that was, the British Empire was the biggest empire ever, but still, it was only about a quarter of the world, not the whole world. However, there is a time when this will be ultimately fulfilled, okay? Where this prophecy will be fulfilled. Turn to Revelation 13, Revelation chapter 13, Revelation 13. A time when the world's nations and armies are gathered together under a one-world leader. Revelation 13 you're turning to. So there will be the whole world's nations and armies gathered together. Revelation 13, 5 says this about, ultimately about this one-world leader. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months, which is three and a half years. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Look at verse 7 here, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. Keep something here in Revelation, but that is still to be fulfilled, isn't it? As is Christ's return, the thousand year millennial reign of Christ and before that God's wrath, culminating in what, in the battle of Armageddon, the final part of that destruction, I believe, of the world's armies. So that's probably the final part of that, but it is over that period, right, that second half, that God's wrath, that three and a half years, second half of that seven years, Daniel's, that final week, that 70th week there. So look at verse 1 where it says this, Come near ye nations, to hear, back in Isaiah and chapter 34, Come near ye nations to hear, and harken ye people, let the earth hear, and all that is therein, 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 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. Now that's a pretty horrendous image, isn't it? I'm assuming that if taken literally for the final fulfillment of this, it's due to the heat of their blood, wouldn't you say? The mountains to be melted, he just said 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. That's a pretty grim image, isn't it? We'll turn to Revelation 9 now, if you kept something in Revelation. Go back to the book of Revelation. Look at Revelation chapter 9. I think this would probably fit best with the description of the sixth trump of God's wrath. Just to remind you, when God's wrath starts, and with Christ's return, his second coming, then we go through the trumps with these different biblical judgments, God's wrath being spilled out on the world there, and the sixth trump of God's wrath, here in Revelation 9, it says this in verse 13. Revelation 9, 13 says, And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which abound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men. So a third of the world's population there. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand, that's two hundred million, and I heard the number of them. Verse 17, look at verse 17, And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. I mean, this sounds horrendous. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents, a gun of light had snake-like tails, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. But remember, it's the fire, the smoke and the brimstone coming out, basically leaving the sight, coming out of their tails and coming out of their mouths, and killing a third of men, which for me is likely why the mountains are melted with their blood, that's what I believe. So I think these people are getting cooked alive, and their boiling blood is melting ground underneath it. This is still to come. I mean, that is a pretty impressive image, if you want to say, right? Now, you look at that, and you say, we've got God's prophet talking about ultimately a time still to come where the mountains are going to be melted with the blood of people. When you look at that, and you might say, but isn't God love? God's love, isn't he? Isn't that what, you know, if you, you probably won't have many services on a Wednesday evening nowadays in a lot of churches, because it's a bit much about hard work, but Sunday morning, you'll probably find that the majority of churches in this town and others will be talking about the love of God, and God's a loving God, isn't he? So I love the world, but he gave his only begot the Son. I mean, that was some love, wasn't it? And God is love. God is ultimate love. So why slaughter so many? And why this sort of stuff? Why are we reading about this? Why are we seeing this prophesied? Why the slaughter of these people? Why are mountains being burned with these people's blood, melted with their blood? Well, aside from the fact that during all of this wrath and slaughter, the Lord does send out 144,000 witnesses to witness of the Gospel. There's two witnesses, too. There's going to be two high-profile witnesses who'll be doing some great miracles as well. So, look, if anyone's going to get saved, you'd think they're going to get saved when, well, either scorpion locust things are running around out of hell, or if that didn't do it, we've got, you know, fire-breathing horsies with lion's mouths and snake tails running around cooking people. If you're open to the Gospel and you're hearing the Gospel being preached, look, I mean, at the end of the day, you know, we looked at this many times throughout Isaiah as his hand is stretched out in judgment. His hand is also stretched out, giving people the offer of eternal life. So there is that. If there was a time to get saved, this would have been it, surely. But who is it that is still rejecting, then? So think about this. There's no, well, you know, does God even exist? Well, no, because as those heavens appeal back as a scroll and they all see the Lord Jesus Christ, they're hiding from him, there's none of that anymore. There's no hiding behind that excuse. It's like, well, I think I'm a good enough person. Well, clearly not, because you're getting cooked. And then on top of that, you've got the Gospel being preached. All these people running around preaching the Gospel, all these witnesses, you've got the high-profile witnesses, the two witnesses, you've got all this stuff. So who is it left? Who is it that's not getting saved during this period of time? Those that the Bible says of in John 12, 30, 9 to 40. You don't have to turn, I'm just going to quote the verses. Therefore, they could not believe. Yep, the Bible says there are people that could not believe, because Isaiah, that we've been talking about here, said again, He, talking about God, have blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. It's those reprobate worshipers of the Antichrist, those that take the mark of the beast, those that had taken the mark of the beast and had changed the truth of God into a lie, basically, and chose to make him God, basically, to call him a version of Christ, ultimately. And it says here in verse 20, where you are, it says in verse 20, And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands. What's the works of their hands? That's works of salvation. The works of their hands, you see that regularly in the Old Testament, it's works of salvation. The picture of all the different types of works of salvation, it's the works of their hands. And it's a combination, it's a God of their own making, and that God of their own making is pleased by their work, by what they provide, what they can earn in terms of when it comes to salvation. What is it? A load of works of salvation reprobates. It says here that they should not worship devils. And what is it behind all these different versions of God, these works of salvation, versions of God, devils, and idols of gold? They've got their idols in one way or another, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. These are various idols of works of religion. And likely, I believe, probably united in some sort of ecumenical way under the Antichrist. Because it seems, we just see this ecumenical... Obviously we've seen it throughout history. We talk about this a lot. And isn't this the truth, that works salvationists are usually pretty happy with other works of salvationists? Now I know you get the odd little Catholic, Protestant little bits and pieces here and there, and you get some fallouts and stuff, but as a general rule, the works of salvationists are generally happy with other works of salvationists. I mean, they go as far as now as saying, even if it's got nothing to do with Jesus or the Bible, it's just another path to God. It's just all another path to God. And it seems that the Antichrist is going to unite the world, at least those that choose to worship him, but together in this worshiping of him. So he's going to somehow unite, I believe, if we looked at it at some point in the not-too-distant future, he's going to unite all these false religions, all these works of salvationists together as being some sort of answer to all of them. And with that, these united, it's ecumenical, but they've been given over to a reprobate mind. And when you've been given over to a reprobate mind, it's not just works of salvation that you won't repent of. So they're not repenting of the works of their hands, because they can't, because they're unable, they're unable to turn from their false religion and put their faith in Christ. And it says in verse 21, neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Why? Because they're reprobates. They're psychopaths. They can't, they can't repent of it. These are the sorts of people getting boiled. God-haters, those that have received the knowledge of the truth, rejected and changed it. And without the reprobate doctrine, stuff like this is pretty hard to really get a grip on, isn't it? Being boiled alive and stuff, what are these people? Because they're being given chance after chance. They're in surely the most humbling time of your life. God's revealed himself, he's raining down punishment. Who is it who's still there not getting saved? Reprobates, God-haters, the enemies of God, children of Belial, children of the devil. Still keep a finger here in Revelation. Isaiah 34 verse 2 said this, Isaiah 34 verse 2 said, For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and has fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountain shall be melted with their blood. So definitely ultimately prophesying of the end times. With verse 4 being a key feature, verse 4 then says that all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down, as a leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. So go back to Revelation, this time chapter 6. Book of Revelation chapter 6. Well you go there, I'm going to quote Matthew 24, 29, which says this, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give a light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. We've just seen that 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. So this is at the end of the three and a half years tribulation period. Christ's return, and then we have then after that three and a half years of God's wrath about to begin. Revelation 6, where you've turned, says it like this. The sixth seal, not trump. Sixth seal being the end of the tribulation basically, says this 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 air, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth. Verse 13 in Revelation 6, Even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Clearly what he's talking about here in Isaiah 34, where he said, The hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down, as a leaf falleth off from the vine, as a falling fig from the fig tree. What a sight to see, right? He then said this. So definitely that is a key feature of what's still to come. Verse 5, and definitely that hasn't happened yet, by the way, verse 5 says, For my sword shall be bathed in heaven. Behold, it shall come down upon Idemir, and upon the people of my curse to judgment. So Idemir is another name for Edom. So what have the Edomites suddenly got to do with it? So you're looking through this. You're seeing this prophecy of the end times. There is some dual prophecy there. We know that the Assyrians are coming. It's ultimately a judgment of God. And then you're saying, Well, why haven't we suddenly got Idemir involved, being Edom? What have they got to do with this, right? It said in verse 5, It shall come down the sword upon Idemir, and upon the people of my curse, I miss that, to judgment. He said in verse 6, The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, and 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 Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Idemir. And a 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. He then goes on to talk of it becoming a wilderness. And there is a first fulfillment of this, with the Edomites. Well, they no longer exist. I mean, there's no such place anymore. Idemir is done. It's a desert. The land itself is desolate. Bosra was the previous capital, by the way, of Idemir. So turn to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9. Because Esau and the Edomites represent something else too. So you turn to Romans 9. So Esau, who is the father of the Edomites, they represent something else in the word of God. In Romans 9, okay. And as opposed to some Calvinist style pre-election nonsense, okay, so if you've ever had anyone try to trick you and con you with that stuff, that's not what it's talking about. What Paul's doing in Romans 9, ultimately got through Paul, he's showing some of the pictures in the Old Testament of the replacement of the physical nation. The physical nation of Israel, and what by the end is the southern kingdom of Judah, the replacing of that with the spiritual nation of believers. Represented by the child of Promise Isaac, okay, there's one representation, but also by events in Jacob and Esau's lives and the descendants of them. Romans 9 says this in verse 6. Romans 9, 6 says, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. If only some of the dispensationalists out there and the Zionists could actually read these verses. And it's not even complicated verses, are they? Pretty clear. This is pretty clear teaching, isn't it, from the word of God. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. No, they're not the children of God. No, those guys up the road there with their funny long sideburns and their funny outfits and, you know, those several thousand pound hats and everything else and five pound bicycles, they're not, well, you get fit that way, right? They're not the children of God. They're not the children of God. It's a lie. But the children of the promise accounted for the seed. So who are the children of the promise? Who are the children of the promise? Aren't those Jews, aren't they, aren't those white guys who happen to apparently be in the Middle East, aren't they the children of the promise? Well, Galatians 3, 29 says, And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs, according to the promise. That's the children of the promise, people that have their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those guys don't have the faith. In fact, they not only not have their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they hate the Lord Jesus Christ. So according to Romans 9 and Galatians 3, the physical descendants, the children of the flesh, and whether they claim or not, whether they are or not, right, people claiming to be children of the flesh are not the children of God. They're not the children of God, clearly. Romans 9 says, For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. So we've seen that there's this picture of the child of promise of Isaac rather than the child of the flesh and the child of the bomb made of Hagar. But it then says, And not only this, so this is another example of this truth, another picture of this truth, of this replacement of the physical seed. But when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. So the elder Esau was to serve the younger Jacob. But how did Esau serve Jacob? In their early years, yep, Jacob buys Esau's birthright, yeah, sure, he takes his, and he bought it pretty cheap as well, he got a good deal, a bowl of lentils, yeah. He takes his father's blessing, yeah, conned him for his father's blessing, but Esau never served him, did he? In fact, if anything, it was the other way around, when Jacob returns, and he's panicking, he's, oh, let me just give you a load of stuff, I'll just give you a load of the flock that I've been earning for years, you know, all the wealth I've got, I'll give it over to you. He never served him. Esau never served Jacob. Keep a finger here and go to Malachi 1. Malachi 1. It's referring to nations. Jacob being the father of the Israelites and Esau of the Edomites. And in Genesis 25, 23, you'll turn to Malachi 1. In Genesis 25, 23, the Lord tells Rebekah about her twin babies, Jacob and Esau. He said this, and it says this, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, two nations, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. Well, verse 13 of Romans 9, don't worry, you're turning to Malachi 1. Well, that's what it was quoting. It was quoting Malachi 1 and verses 2 to 3. We're going to look from verse 2 to verse 5. Verse 2 said this in Malachi 1, I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou lovedest? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob. And I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Now, as I said earlier, this does eventually happen. This did eventually happen. Not with the Assyrians. This happens many, many years after, really after the structure of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It's not in Esau's lifetime, and it's about the nation that he was the father of the Edomites. It says in verse 4, Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down, and they shall call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. But as we saw in Romans 9, who do the Edomites picture? The physical nation. What people call the Jews. That's who they picture. Children of the flesh, not the children of the promise. Esau or Edom being usurped by the spiritual nation Jacob. The people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. That's a so-called physical seed, right? And you could argue they're spiritual descendants. Said in verse 10, back in Romans 9, go back to Romans 9, The picture is of the physical nation Esau or Edom. They're usurped by the spiritual nation, and verse 10 says, And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. So God in his foreknowledge used them for his purpose of showing the coming replacement of physical Israel with spiritual Israel. Verse 12 said, It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. So with all of that in mind, back in Isaiah 34, I am going to speed up as we go through this, in case you think we're going to have a long night here, okay? Back in Isaiah 34, where Isaiah said, For my sword shall be bathed in heaven, behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse to judgment. Yes, Idumea was invaded by the Assyrians, so first fulfillment. Yes, many years later it became desolate, but it's also a picture in the end times of the synagogue of Satan. It's a picture of the so-called physical seed, those that he's claiming to be. Those who God said that he hates, those who will probably be ruling with the Antichrist at the head of things. And you could add all of their work, salvation followers really too, couldn't you? A whole lot of them. The sword of the Lord, verse 6, is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of the lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, for the Lord had the sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. Now he said in verse 5, For my sword shall be bathed in heaven, behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse to judgment. So it seems that the sword of the Lord is being bathed in that blood, that he then just said it, that he described in verse 6, those sacrifices, but it's being bathed in heaven. And if the sword of the Lord is a word of God, in many places we see that truth, if the sword of the Lord is a word of God, perhaps this represents the sheer amount of sacrifices that maybe should have pointed them to Christ. The sword is bathed in heaven, it's bathed, it's a word of God, which is filled with blood, it's made fat with fatness, with the blood of the lambs and goats and fat of the kidneys of the rams. Then he's got this sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. So, therefore resulting in the rejectors having that sword come down upon them. Does that make sense? So the sword of the Lord is filled with blood, the word of God is filled with blood, all these things which should point you towards Christ, it's bathed in that, and that's why it's going to come down upon those rejectors, resulting with them having it come down on them. He then said in verse 7, with that in mind, and the unicorns 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. So basically people are going to be flying down with little pink and bright-coloured flying horses with horns. No, of course not. Just in case you were wondering, what's going to be flapping down on these little, like, effeminate coloured horsies with horns on their heads? A unicorn is referring to a rhinoceros. It's basically something with one horn, and a rhinoceros obviously with one horn, and a rhinoceros with two horns. This is a single-horned rhinoceros, I think he's talking about here. But what's he listing? Why the rhinoceros with the bullock and the bulls? They're big animals. They're big animals here being sacrificed. The unicorns 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. So I believe it's representing the destruction coming to the great men. These are like the big animals. The unicorn, the big rhinoceros, the bullocks, the bulls. I think it's probably talking about the destruction coming, because remember we're seeing that this is ultimately talking about the destruction coming to Eide Meir, representing the physical nature, representing these works, salvationists, Jews and their followers, and it's coming to the great men, to the wealthy amongst them, to those at the top. Revelation 6.15 says of when Christ returns, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bobman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. So I think that's what it's talking about here. It said here, 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 a day of the Lord's vengeance and a year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, or we might say the opposition of Zion. He said in verse 9, And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. So I believe that the place still being referred to as Bosra, rather than Zion, what he's talking about here with the burning pitch, etc. Remember, Bosra being the capital of Idemir, as opposed to Zion. Zion a controversy that the opposition of Zion, I would say probably of that physical nation, when they were there in Zion, that's the controversy, that's the reason, the reasoning. However, the Idemians, like we said, representing the unbelieving physical nation, as opposed to believers of spiritual nation. So Bosra would then be the hub if it's the capital of Idemir, the center of their power, you could say, right? Which would then make sense with then the following verse. Like I said, it is a bit cryptic, okay? But the following verse is being very similar to what's to come to Mystery Babylon in the end times. Look at verse 9. He said, And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. So pitch apparently burning easily. So it's a coating that they put, for example, on the outside of the ark and things, but it also burns easily as well. So the place is going to be raised, that's what it's talking about. It's going to be raised properly, okay? Burnt to a crisp. Verse 10, It shall not be quenched night nor day, for 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 cormorant and the bitten 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. So cormorant is a type of pelican, it seems, bitters are types of cranes. So these are, you know, predatory birds. With these unclean birds likely, I think, also representing devils, such as in the parable of the scythe, for example, the fowls. Revelation 18.2 says this, by the way. Revelation 18.2 says, And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. So for me this is clearly picturing Babylon. Revelation 18.8 says, Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, the morning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. So we've got the burning here, we've got the unclean birds, picturing devils as well. It then says in verse 12, They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. So basically just desolation, which is what's going to happen to mystery Babylon in the future. And here he's talking about it, it's being pictured by the capital of Idumea. Verse 13, And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be in 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 satyr shall cry to his fellow and the screech owl, also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest. So although Idumea may have had some of these now seemingly extinct creatures, by the time of God's wrath, I think they're likely representing devils. That's what Babylon's going to be, a place for unclean spirits, for devils. Satyrs are in Greek mythology, those half-goat, half-man demonic things, whatever you call them. But back to the earlier fulfilment. Idumea was in what is now southwestern Jordan, and it's just all desert now. Uninhabited, just all desert, nothing there anymore. Gone. Which is what is being prophesied here when it comes to that first fulfilment with Idumea. Desolate, finished. Just birds of prey there, nothing there left. And I suppose the birds of prey, firstly because of all the flesh, and because of people getting wiped out, killed. Verse 15 says, 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 hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. So I think he's saying that these creatures will inhabit there, because the Lord has spoken it, and he therefore gathered them. So they're not going to be wanting them. It's not like, oh, well, there's only going to be one there and no others. No, he said that's what's going to happen, he's going to gather them there, because that's what he said. None of these shall fail. He said in verse 17, He hath cast a lot 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. So a foreshadowing of Babylon for me, with the first fulfilment in Edom or Idemir, evidence to this day. Okay, clearly evidence, this is one of those prophecies of the Bible where people just can't argue. They're like, yeah, Idemir got wiped out. And it's prophesied in a few different places in the word of God as well. Idemir finished, Edom gone, desert now, nothing there anymore. What's the lesson then? What's the lesson with all that in mind? Well, the lesson for me is when God says that something will happen, it will happen. When God says it will happen, it will happen. Turn to the first psalm. The first psalm. None of his words will fail. That's what we've seen here. He said, No one of these shall fail. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read, No one of these shall fail. So yes, the Lord will return someday. Firstly, you can say that. The Lord's going to return. Ignore the scoffers who Peter warned us about in 2 Peter 3 who say, Where is the promise of his coming? I had one today. Some drunkard started saying that as I was trying to preach the gospel to someone, staggered past drunk, and then came up to us and started going, It's like 2,000 years ago. Where is Jesus? And starts trying to prevent me getting this person saved. He's saying, Where is the promise of his coming? That's what he's saying. For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Only he couldn't word it quite like that. I would have got spat at a bit when he said it. But there are scoffers, aren't there? But ignore the scoffers. Because when God says something's going to happen, it's going to happen. It is going to happen. Yes, he will get vengeance upon all of his enemies, upon the kings of the earth, like we saw in the great men, the rich men, the chief captors and the mighty men. But it's not just the prophecies of events to come that won't fail. So yeah, we can look at that and go, Well, future events, when God prophesies it's going to happen. When the Lord says, Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, know that that's not going to fail. Know that you can be assured of that. Yeah, if you're saved, you're saved. But you know what? You're going to have some strong faith in that as well. You're going to have that sort of faith which makes you go out and tell others. Which makes you want to go out and show everyone who's ever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life. When he said in Titus 1, 2, In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. That's a promise that will not fail. Those promises will not fail. But beyond salvation, beyond salvation, when he said here in Psalm 1, he said, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He said he'll be blessed, and he said he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You know what? He said none of these shall fail. And I think that's included. That won't fail. None of these shall fail. And you know what? It's not just Psalm 1, and it's not just eternal life, and it's not just prophecies of events to come. When God says something, and he promises you something, it ain't going to fail. And here he's saying, you know what? You'll be blessed if you don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. You will be blessed. You might be, oh yeah, but no, no, no, I've got to get some ungodly counsel in this area of my life. I've got to get some ungodly counsel in this area because, you know, this isn't sort of Bible area stuff. No, you know what? Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Don't get me wrong. Of course you can learn stuff from the ungodly about things which are not spiritual things, which aren't about your life, but there's so many things where people let it cross over, though, and they do where there is counsel in the word of God about that sort of thing, but instead they want the counsel of the ungodly. He said blessed is a man that doesn't stand, basically, in the way of sinners, that doesn't behave like sinners. Don't be joined with them. Don't behave like them. Don't act like them. Don't sit in the seat of the scornful. You know what? If you don't do that stuff, you don't start scawning people, scawning everyone and everything, and you know what scawning a lot of the time is, because of course there's like the worst scorners, but a lot of the time it's when you're just constantly finding things and people to scorn. It's a prideful thing. It's to make yourself feel better, and it's easy to fall into, isn't it, where you just scorn at this, scorn at that, scorn at that, scorn at that person, scorn at this person, but it's really it's a pride, isn't it, because it makes you feel better when you're scawning on someone else and something else. But you know what? The man that doesn't do that, that's a blessed man. That's a happy man. That's a person blessed by God. That man who has his delight in the law of the Lord, and when he meditates in that day and night, so again, yeah, but you know, do I really need to read the Bible day and night? Do I really need to think on those things day and night? Yeah. Yeah, because you know what? God's promises don't fail. He said that that blessed man's delight is in the law of the Lord, delighted him. And he's saying that blessed man meditates day and night, and you know what the result of that is, is that you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. You'll bring forth your fruit in his season, that you will do those things that God wants you to do. You will start to fulfill what he wants in you. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Things will start to go well for you. Sometimes you've got to stick it out a bit. Sometimes you've got to think, but you know, it'd be easier to do it this way. It'd be easier not to do it God's way. It'd be easier not to go to church. For example, we were talking about this earlier on a Wednesday night, on a cold, dark, damp February Wednesday night. So I'm not selling it for you for next week, am I? Empty church next week, right? It would be easier, wouldn't it? It'd be easier on a Sunday evening, just to go home, wouldn't it? I've done the morning. It was a bit of fun. Maybe even manage a bit of soul as well. We could just go home, couldn't we? Really have to stay for the evening service. It'd be easier, wouldn't it? Do you know what? When your delight's in the law of the Lord, when you do those things that God wants you doing, when you're meditating day and night on those things, you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and whatsoever you do shall prosper, and that's the promise of God, isn't it? Or is he just kind of just made for a good Psalm? That's a good bit of Psalm, that, isn't it? Move on. I know best. I believe the word of God makes best. There are so many promises in the word of God that I could preach sermon after sermon on, couldn't I, really? And preach promise after promise after promise in the word of God. Just be wise in life. Do what God wants you to do in life. For example, in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 3. Let's go there quickly. Proverbs chapter 3. He said this. Trust in the Lord, verse 5, with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. He goes, I need God to direct my paths. I don't know what to do. Can I trust that he's going to make me, show me the right way, direct me in the right way? Yeah, he will if you trust him with all your heart. He will if you don't lean to your own understanding. He will if you acknowledge him in all your ways. He said, be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. You go, what's the point in that? Well, if you do, it shall be health of thy navel and marrow to thy bones. You're going to be healthier. You're going to be happier. Honor thy Lord with thy substance, with the first fruit of all thine increase. I don't know if I can afford that. I don't know if I should be tithing. I don't know if I should be doing those things. So shall thy bonds be filled with plenty, and thy flesh shall burst out with new wine. And there's so much more, isn't there? And there's passage after passage, verse after verse, promise after promise of God. And when we do it, none of them will fail. He said in verse 16, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. How do we know what he's promised? Read it. Read it. Keep reading those promises. Keep meditating on those promises. No one of thee shall fail. The promises of God will not fail. None shall want her mate, talking about there, with that prophecy, for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. If his mouth has commanded it, it's going to happen. And he hath cast the lot for them. So basically they're going to be there. And his hand hath divided unto them by lines. They've been given that area, being what was formerly Edom. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation shall they dwell therein. So birds of prey, just the beasts, the wild beasts of the desert. And people still don't dwell there to this day. That's going to happen with Mystery Babylon in the future. And like we've just seen there, if God promises it, it is going to happen. And on that, we're going to finish in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the book of Isaiah. Thank you for chapter 34 there and the lessons that we've got out of it today, Lord. And ultimately the lesson to just trust that when you say something's going to happen, it's going to happen. And not just with future events, but also with just the promises that you give us throughout your word, Lord, of how we should be living, how we should be behaving, Lord, and the results that will come from that. Sometimes you've got to wait a little while, Lord. Help us be patient, especially in tribulation, as we saw in the previous chapter as well, Lord. Help us to just remember these things, Lord, to remember that your promises do get fulfilled. Help us to remember it as we go into hard times in life, Lord, hard times maybe this week or weeks to come. Help us to get home safe this evening, Lord, and to return on Sunday for another day in your house. In Jesus' name, amen. . . .