WWUTT 1909 The Oracle Against the Moabites (Isaiah 15:1-9)

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The Assyrians would devastate Israel and Judah, but the Lord would also use this army to judge other people in the land, including the

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Moabites, whom we read about today in Isaiah Chapter 15, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are up to Chapter 15.

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If you have a Bible and want to join with me there, this is an oracle concerning the destruction of Moab, and it goes from Chapter 15 into Chapter 16.

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I'm going to start here by reading all of Chapter 15, which is nine verses, out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. The Oracle Concerning Moab Surely in a night

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R of Moab is destroyed and ruined. Surely in a night Kir of Moab is destroyed and ruined.

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They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep.

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Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off.

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In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth. On the rooftops and in their squares everyone is wailing, dissolved in weeping.

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Heshbon and Alila also cry out. Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz.

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Therefore the armed men of Moab make a loud shout. His soul trembles within him.

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My heart cries out for Moab. Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Agilath -Shelishiah.

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For they go up the ascent of Lehuath weeping. Surely on the road to Heronium they keep awake with crying and distress over their destruction.

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For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is dried up. The tender grass has completely ceased.

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There is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have made and stored up they carry off over the brook of Erebim.

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For the cry has gone around the territory of Moab. Its wailing goes as far as Eglium and its wailing even to Bir Elim.

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For the waters of Diman are full of blood. Surely I will put added woes upon Diman.

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A lion upon those of Moab who have escaped and upon the remnant of the land.

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So we're reading here about God's judgments coming against Moab. And in case you're not familiar with it,

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Moab is to the east of Judah, immediately to the east across what is today referred to as the

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Dead Sea. Now the Moabites were kinsmen with Judah. It was

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Lot's daughters in their incestuous relationship with their father after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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You remember that saga that had taken place in Genesis chapter 19? It's in the same chapter that we read about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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And after this destruction has taken place and these cities have been wiped off the plains by the fires of God that have come down from heaven, it surely would have seemed to anybody in the nearby regions that the end of the world had just taken place.

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Lot and his daughters have had to flee into the hills and they think they're the only ones left alive.

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And so the daughters say there's no way for the human race to even continue or perpetuate. So let's get our father drunk and lay with him.

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And that's what they did. And one of the sons that was born from that incestuous encounter was a son named

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Moab. And he became the father of all of the Moabites. That entire nation came to exist because of that act of incest.

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And so the Moabites were a pagan people, though they were kinsmen of the Israelites to a certain degree.

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They were pagans. Ruth came from the Moabites. So remember her being taken out of that land.

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We talked about her recently in the genealogy of Jesus Christ at the start of the Gospel of Matthew.

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She coming out of that land into Judah and even settling in Bethlehem and marrying a man named

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Boaz, and they would become great grandparents of King David. How the

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Lord had shown compassion and mercy on a Moabite woman that she would become an ancestor in the line of Christ.

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That was a land that God had also forbidden the Israelites to have any kind of warm association with because they did not show hospitality to the

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Israelites. And because this pagan people continually turned away from the Lord, because they had worshipped false gods, because they did not love the other descendants of Abraham, the

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Lord's hand turned against them. And their land is left desolated by the

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Assyrians, according to the oracle that is mentioned here. Now, this being an oracle, it's foretelling of something that is going to happen, and surely it did.

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So there are five things that we can see plainly from these woes that have been given to the land of Moab.

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First of all is that their chief cities would be surprised and therefore destroyed by the enemy.

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You have those cities that are mentioned at the very start. You have Ar of Moab. You have Kir of Moab. They're destroyed and ruined immediately, surely in a night.

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Now, it probably wasn't, you know, over a span of just a few hours and suddenly they were gone, but it came upon them so suddenly and it happened so surprisingly that it's described here as being practically overnight.

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Remember that when Jesus talks about his return, he says his return will be like a thief in the night.

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It'll be surprising to those who don't expect it. That's the metaphor. Well, that comes even from the

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Old Testament. So here it is said of Moab that their destruction would come upon them as quickly as if it had come in the night.

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If they had been watchful, if they had been alert and aware that an enemy is coming, it would not have surprised them so quickly.

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But because they were not prepared for these things, then their destruction comes upon them swiftly and unexpected.

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Number two, even though this is the judgment of God that is coming against the land and even though God has told them what he is going to do to them so that when these things happen, they look and see and recognize this is the hand of the

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Lord, even though this is God who does this, where do the Moabites turn when the destruction comes upon the land?

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They turn back to their own false gods. Verse two, they have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep.

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Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. They turn back to the gods that they have fashioned from their own mind, thinking that they can save them, that they can deliver them from this plight.

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So it shows that their judgment that comes upon them is deserved and will be complete.

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These people whose hearts are nowhere for God. Number three, there would be cries of grief throughout the land.

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Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off.

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It's showing the extent of the wailing, of the mourning that would be going on throughout the land.

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They would shave their heads and even cut their beards, which was a sign of mourning. When Job lost his children and all of this destruction had come against him in the first chapter of Job, he shaved his head and covered himself with sackcloth and ashes.

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So that was a sign of deep grief. And this would be throughout all the land of Moab. You would know they are a mourning people because every head, especially the head of the men, would be shaven.

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Verse three, in their streets, they have girded themselves with sackcloth on their rooftops and in their squares. Everyone is wailing, dissolved in weeping.

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It would be national mourning, but it would not be a grief that turned their hearts back to the

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Lord. With the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said that there were two kinds of grief.

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There's a worldly grief and a godly grief. And a worldly grief leads to death, but a godly grief leads to repentance.

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We would turn from our sin back to the Lord for his forgiveness.

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For as it says in 1 John 1 .9, if we are faithful to ask forgiveness for our sins,

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God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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If only the Moabites had listened to this oracle from Isaiah, if only they had recognized their own wickedness, this judgment was deserved because they had rebelled against God and worshiped the false gods.

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If only they had recognized that, they, in their grief, would turn to the

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Lord and he would rescue them. The judgment that would come upon the land would still be complete, but he would rescue the remnant and he would bring them out of their destruction and give them a place that they could settle in and find refuge.

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But they did not take refuge in the Lord. They tried to take refuge in their own false gods, and so their grief leads them to destruction instead of deliverance.

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So that's the third thing. Cries of grief throughout the land, a worldly grief that does not lead to repentance.

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Fourth thing that we see here, we see that the courage of their soldiers completely fail.

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Verse four, Heshbon and Alilah also cry out. Their voices heard all the way to Jahaz.

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Therefore, the armed men of Moab make a loud shout. His soul trembles within him.

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There is no one left in Moab to fight for them against these enemies.

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I mean, the Assyrian army was truly great. There was no, you know, if you were to have taken bets on a war between the

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Assyrians and the Moabites, even if the Moabites had been ready, you would have put all your money on the Assyrians.

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There was just no defeating that army, and Moab was not known as being a great military might anyway.

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They were like Edom. Both the Edomites and the Moabites had become very, very content in their lands, and they just kind of had this attitude.

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No one's going to harm us. We have the right alliances. We've got a good location here. Who's going to come against us for anything?

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And so the men were not that strong to begin with, but their hearts being so filled with terror, they have nothing left even to fight for their land, even to take a stand against these enemies and try to drive them off somewhat.

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No, the destruction of the land would be total. The Assyrians would almost completely annihilate them.

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So that's number four. The fifth thing here, I said there were five. We glean from these nine verses.

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Here's the fifth thing. These calamities would cause grief even among the people outside of Moab.

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Look at verse five. My heart cries out for Moab. Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Agilath -Shelishia.

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You know, this is Isaiah that's delivering this oracle, and yet even his own heart weeps and mourns for Moab.

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It's going to be destruction that is so great, and you're going to see weeping and crying among this people that is so deep.

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You can't help but your heart go out to them. I mean, surely we're looking at a pagan people here, and surely we understand that the destruction that comes upon them is just because their hearts have turned away from God, and they've done awful, wicked, pagan things.

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We read about kings in Israel who did pagan things, and the paganism that they turned to even resulted in the sacrificing of their own children.

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It's deeply harrowing and sickening, and the Moabites were surely involved in these same kinds of things.

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They were not a godly people at all, yet to see this kind of destruction come against this people still moves the heart to have compassion for people.

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Would we not rather see a people turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and live?

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And, of course, the Moabites can't turn to Christ. Christ hasn't come about yet. This is hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.

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But they turn back to the Lord. Even the Lord said to his own people, if you turn back to me,

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I will heal your land. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

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I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. That's in 2 Chronicles 7.

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But the Moabites surely don't do that. And so they continue.

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In their wailing and mourning, it moves the heart. But in their grief, they don't turn back to God.

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And it just becomes grief compounded upon grief. There is a famine that sweeps the land that just completely consumes the people all the more.

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Famine is surely a result of a war -torn area, that there's going to be famine and they're not going to be able to find food.

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They won't find sustenance. They won't be able to feed themselves. So we see that coming up in verse 6. The waters of Nimrim are desolate.

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Surely the grass is dried up. The tender grass has completely ceased. They can't find any crops, nothing to eat.

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And they just continue in their suffering and in their wailing. So again, that it moves the heart of people that are outside of Moab.

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The destruction that has come upon them, the griefs that they are experiencing are so great that even neighboring cities and towns, they will be moved in heart toward them, but they won't be able to help them.

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Because how could you help an entire land like this that is so totally devastated? And the

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Assyrians have come in like locusts. That's the very way they've been described. They come in like locusts and they consume the area.

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So it's not just the Moabites that have been affected. It's other lands around as well. But this is the judgment of God that has come upon the promised land, because this is a people that have been worshipping false gods.

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So God will drive them off of his land as he promised that he would do. Verse 9, at the very end, the waters of Diman are full of blood.

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Surely I will put added woes upon Diman, a lion upon those of Moab who have escaped and upon the remnants of the land.

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Even the remnants will not survive. We've read about a remnant of Judah that God would preserve, but the remnants of Moab would not be preserved.

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Even they would come to destruction. Whoever is left after that initial sweeping of the Assyrians through the land of Moab, it will be grief compounded upon grief and they will perish.

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And so again, my friends, our hearts go out to those who are suffering and we would desire that they would turn from their wicked ways back to the

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Lord and live. And so the oracle that we should be giving the land around us is the promise of the judgment of God that is coming upon this world.

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It's coming upon the culture in which you live, the society in which you dwell. It is coming upon the world at large.

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All of the world will see Christ when he comes back, when he comes returning with his angels of flaming fire, as described in 2

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Thessalonians 1, bringing affliction upon those who did not obey

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God and did not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. But he will be showing mercy and compassion upon those who did know

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Christ, delivering them out of their afflictions and bringing them into a perfect kingdom where there will be no more sin, no more sickness, no more disease, no more dying, no more famine.

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Every tear will be wiped from our eyes for all of those things will have been passed away and we will be with our

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Lord and Savior in heaven forever. That's for those who know

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Christ. And so we need to be offering this deliverance even to the people of this world, warning them there's a judgment that is coming.

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Now, what Isaiah is delivering here in chapter 15, this really isn't so much a warning to the

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Moabites as though to say, hey, Moabites, here's what's going to happen to you. So repent or all of you are going to perish in the midst of this.

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This isn't a call to repentance. It's saying this is what's going to happen. Isaiah delivered it before it had taken place.

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The Moabites had heard of it, but they were not moved in heart by it. And they didn't take any precautions.

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They were not convicted. They didn't turn from their false gods back to the true God. They just continued in their way, the way that they were.

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So that even when this destruction that was prophesied came upon them, they still continued to turn to their false gods, showing the full rebellion that was in their heart against God and for their own passions of their flesh.

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So Isaiah is not really delivering something here that's calling the people to repentance. But if they really were convicted of heart, then they would have repented.

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They would have heard this, and it would have stricken them with fear if they truly feared the Lord. But they did not.

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Their hearts were not for God. So we go out with an oracle to the world, and we warn the world that the judgment of God is coming.

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But we are also called to preach repentance in the land. As Jesus told his own disciples in Luke 24, before he departed and ascended into heaven, he said that the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was to be preached throughout the land.

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And we know according to the commission, as it's given in Acts 1, it begins in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

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My friends, the gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth, and we need to continue to proclaim it even in the lands in which we live.

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The promise of judgment that is coming against the wickedness of man, but the promise of deliverance that is given by faith in Jesus Christ.

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He who is coming back to judge is also he who is coming back to deliver. If we turn from our sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, we will live. Make sure the people know that before the day of the

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Lord comes. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here, and may it be something that stirs us in heart toward those who do not believe.

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There is a judgment that is coming upon them, and the judgment will be so great. There will be wailing.

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There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It will be even greater than this judgment that we've read about here that has come against the

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Moabites. We desire that none should perish in this judgment, but that all would reach repentance.

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All would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and live. Is that the desire of our hearts for the people among whom we live?

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So stir in us a desire for the gospel, that we would love the gospel, that we walk in obedience to our

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Lord Jesus Christ. But then we also have hearts for the people among whom we live, that they would hear the gospel, and turn from their sin to Jesus Christ.

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He who died on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for us, who rose from the dead, who ascended into heaven, who is seated at the right hand of God, who is coming back again to judge the living and the dead, all who believe in him will be saved.

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Deliver us out of this wicked world, and bring your kingdom into this place,

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Lord Jesus. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen.