Isaiah Lesson 83

All right, well, let's get going on the 83rd installment, 83rd and then next week will be part 84, the final chapter in our study.

Let's pray. We'll go right into Ephesians, yeah, right after we finish

Isaiah. Let's pray. So Father, thank you for your word. Your word is truth.

I think of how Isaiah in the 8th chapter said to the testimony, Lord, help us to run to your word and find comfort there.

We thank you for all that we've been shown already, and we pray as we finish the book of Isaiah, that we do so with open hearts and that you would train us in righteousness by your word in Jesus name, amen.

So, as we go to Isaiah chapter 65 now, the 64th chapter was a prayer that Isaiah offered to God, and we notice how he didn't just jump right in with supplications.

He began with exalting, and he remembered the blessings of the Lord. He blessed the Lord. He confessed sin, and then he began to lay his requests before the

Lord. It was very similar to the Acts model of prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.

So he's asked of God that God would deliver them. Now the interesting thing there is they're not yet ruined by Babylon.

They're not yet in the captivity, but Isaiah is foreseeing that and calling on God to deliver them in time.

So if you look at the book of Isaiah, you really have two parts, kind of like you have the Old Testament and New Testament.

Isaiah, the first 40 chapters, 39, first 39, and then 40 to 66, the last 27, kind of match in some way.

But it also overlays the Assyrian threat and the Babylonian threat. So by the end of that first section,

Assyria has come in to conquer Israel, but they got as far as Jerusalem and got repelled by the angel of the

Lord. 185 ,000 Assyrian soldiers were killed. So an amazing story there.

But the next threat is on the horizon, and Isaiah foresees that in the future and calls on God to deliver them.

So what we have then in chapter 65 is very interesting. The answer is a bit like an overview of the entire book of Isaiah.

Let me read to you how the Bible knowledge commentary, this is how Dallas Seminary kind of summarizes what's happening here.

Let me read just their summary of the chapter. In several ways, the

Lord's response to the remnant's prayer sums up the message of the entire book of Isaiah.

The Lord said that though he had constantly been presenting his love to Israel, they had rejected him, which made judgment necessary.

So we're going to see in verses 1 to 7, the reason for the judgment, they've rejected.

Then in 8 to 12, however, in that judgment, a remnant will be preserved. There's always a remnant.

And then in 13 to 16, the consequences of righteous living differ from those of wicked living.

So you see the contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous, even within Israel. And then lastly, the

Lord will establish a glorious kingdom in which peace and righteousness will flourish.

That is the hope of Isaiah. Remember back in chapter 11, he foresaw the

Messiah, the spirit of the Lord on the Messiah, sevenfold spirit,

Isaiah 11, 1 to 4. But then he foresaw the millennial kingdom, where the lion lays down next to the lamb.

The hope that even though Israel is being crushed by all these enemies, in the end, there is a new

Jerusalem for God's people. So think about that today. We look at the horizon, and what do we see?

Well, what's the trajectory of our own nation right now? I mean, you think about, yeah, you think about where this country has gone with abortion over the years.

In the last 50 years, especially. Think about where this nation has gone with authoritarian government, the rise of bigger and bigger government, with church lockdowns and forced injections and all of these kind of things.

Big government, authoritarianism. We know where that ends, the one world be system that overruns the whole world.

You think about the sexual ethic of the nation and the LGBTQIA plus agenda being forced on everyone and being accepted more and more by people.

You think about the socialism, where the economy of the country is being given over more and more to socialism rather than capitalism, private property.

Yeah, Marxism overrunning. You think about the feminism, how the gender distinctions between male and female have been broken down to the point where now men don't know that they're men or women that they're women.

And women take the role of authority in churches, female pastors and executive pastors and things of this nature.

Looks bad, doesn't it? So if you've lived through that, as all of us have,

I was born in 77. It's been pretty much a slow downhill ride for my 44 years.

That can be depressing, especially in 2020 when things get ridiculous and you have riots in the streets and you have

Antifa with their mobs and burning things down and the political class catering to that and pandering to that.

And then COVID, very disruptive and the government overreaction to that as well.

All of these things could be distressing. So you need to spend some time in Isaiah 65 because they were looking down the barrel of the

Babylonian threat, but God doesn't leave it there. He points them to the hope that's just over the horizon, the kingdom, the millennium.

So let's just read it one section at a time. Rich, would you read Isaiah 65, one to seven?

And again, this is the summary of what causes the book of Isaiah. There's judgment because the people have wondered, but some amazing things happen in these seven verses.

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.

I was found by those who did not seek me, to a nation that did not call on my name.

I said, here I am, here am I. All day long, I have held my hands to an inordinate, to an obstinate people, to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.

People who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.

Who among the graves, who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil.

Who eat flesh, the flesh of pigs, unclean meat. Who say, keep away, don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you.

Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning till day.

See it stands written before me, I will not keep silent, I will pay back in full,

I will pay back their laps. Both your sins and the sins of your fathers, says the

Lord, because they burned me, a sacrifice on the mountains, and defied me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps a full payment for their former deeds.

Alright, thank you Rich for reading that. Alright, so in verse 1, it's really amazing.

We have God foretelling the inclusion of the

Gentiles into the tree. The grafting in of the

Gentiles into that fig tree, the people of Israel. Look at it, verse 1,

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 10, verses 20 and 21.

Paul is talking about how the witness goes out to the ends of the earth, beyond Israel, and then he says in verse 20 of chapter 10,

Romans 10, 20, then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me.

I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me, but of Israel, he says, all day long,

I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. So whenever an apostle exposits the

Old Testament, you can trust his interpretation, okay? That's a very important principle.

The apostle doesn't get it wrong. Paul gets this right. So in verse 20, Isaiah is bold to say,

I have been found by those who did not seek me. He's referring to the Gentiles. Now hidden in that, go back now to, and then notice before we go back in verse 21 of Israel, he says, all day long,

I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Now go back to Isaiah 65.

What Paul has done is applied verse one, at least the first part of the verse to the

Gentiles and verse two, no longer to the Gentiles, but to Israel.

And that clarifies what's happening here. So I was ready to be sought. Well, back in Isaiah's day,

God is ready, but none of the Gentiles are coming because he hasn't given them, he hasn't grafted them in and brought them into the new covenant.

So God is ready, but there's no one who seeks according to Romans three. So therefore none find.

The Gentiles are not coming in except for the few that come and get included under the covering of Israel, but the gospel hasn't gone out to them.

It says, I was ready, but Paul kind of translates that slightly differently. He says,

I was found. And that marks the change in dispensation. When you get to the new covenant, now the

Gentiles are grafted in. The gospel does go out to the ends of the earth and they, they find him and they're found by him.

So Paul is interpreting Isaiah in the translation. Does it make sense? So Isaiah writes,

I was ready to be sought. I was ready to be found. Paul, Paul translates that and interprets it.

I have been found because from the new, new covenant perspective, now the Gentiles are included, but Isaiah is foreseeing it.

Make sense? There you go. So it was foreseen and foretold, but then fulfilled in the new

Testament. So here is a prophecy of the Gentiles being included.

Now the second half of verse one, he says, here I am. Here I am to a nation that was not called by my name.

That could be a continuation of that thought. Nations that are not Israel, not called by the name

Israel. But I think the translation is, is better that says that did not call upon my name.

He's trained, he's changing the subject from being ready to reach the nations.

Now to the people who should have been called by his name, but they don't call upon his name.

That's how some translate verse one. The nation that does not call upon my name is a way to translate that.

So there's disagreement in how the translators read that. But what I think is happening here is he's moving now to Israel as a subject, which is why he goes on to say,

I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people. Who is that? Israel or the

Gentiles? Israel. How do you know that? Because Paul told us in Romans 10, 21, that this is now

Israel he's talking about, no longer the Gentiles. That's why I think he's transitioned back to his people to say, look, there's coming a time when they will believe out there, the

Gentiles. But here in Israel, they're not even calling. And that's why judgment is coming.

So I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.

So Israel is going to need to be judged. And that's why we get a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks.

To my face continually. They become like the pagan nations that surround them. They offer to pagan gods, not on the beautiful gold of the altar that God has provided for them in the temple.

They go off to gardens to do their own thing and follow false idols. It's provoking

God. Look what else they do. Verse four, this is what's called necromancy prohibited in Deuteronomy 18.

It is contacting the dead. They will actually go to tombs, sitting out in the graveyards, trying to contact the dead.

They sit in tombs. They spend the night in secret places. Sadly, there were some so -called prophets at Bethel Church in Redding, California, who were doing grave soaking.

They would go to the tomb of Amy Semple McPherson or some supposed great

Christian leader and lay on the grave to try to soak in their anointing. That's necromancy.

That's demonic. It's an error. It's a grave error. And it horrifies the

Lord. So it says, I shouldn't say horrify. He is angered. He has wrath towards that.

Justly so. Yeah, it is horrifying to us.

Who sits in tombs and spend the night in secret places. Who eat pig's flesh.

Wait a minute. Didn't you all have bacon recently? This is why dispensationalism is so important.

When Peter saw a vision from heaven and God said, take and eat.

He said, Lord, I've never eaten anything unclean. New dispensation.

Yeah. Some things change at the initiation of the new covenant.

And now Israel and the church, all Christians are allowed to eat what was formerly in Leviticus seven outlawed.

So the problem is Israel under the old covenant is eating pig's meat.

That's what's happening here. It says who eat pig's flesh and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels.

Who say, keep to yourself. Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.

When I read that, I cracked up. Because they are completely violating the covenant of God.

And yet somehow they think they're so holy by their religious practice. It's completely man made.

But there's this arrogance that reminds me of Satan. He wanted to be

God on high and to sit in throne where God belongs. Remember in Isaiah chapter 14 of the king of Babylon, which speaks of the son of the dawn,

Satan was behind the king of Babylon and he thought he would ascend to God. That's in Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14 is the five I wills. Five I wills. Yeah.

Let's go back there just real quick. So Isaiah 11, 14.

No, I think it's 14, 11 and 12. 14 and 12. So Isaiah 14 verse 12.

How far you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low.

He's talking to the king of Babylon. But behind the king of Babylon is Satan himself.

The son of dawn, the day star, as he's referred to. Verse 13.

You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high.

These are the I wills. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.

And of course, but you are brought down to Sheol to the far reaches of the pit.

So return to Isaiah 65 verse 5. Here you have the pagan idolatry.

He's an Israelite, but he's acting as a pagan. He thinks he's holy.

Now, when Isaiah came face to the holy, holy, holy

God, he was undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

And he was undone. And yet this Israelite is acting like he's

God, like nobody can approach him. He says, keep to yourself.

Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you. The arrogance.

It's satanic arrogance. I am too holy for you. This holier -than -thou attitude.

And it provokes God. It's like smoke. Have you ever been around a campfire and the wind changed directions?

And all of a sudden you're sitting there by it, and it starts blowing up your nostrils. And it's just annoying.

And that's how this is to God. These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

Behold, it is written before me. I will not keep silent, but I will repay.

I will indeed repay into their lap both your iniquities and your father's iniquities together, says the

Lord, because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.

Okay, there's the first section. Why does Israel need, first of all,

Assyria, and then now again, Babylon? Because they've become just like the pagans.

They're necromancers and idolaters. And they're arrogant. They take the place of God.

And in the pride of their hearts, God is angry. He will judge. So verses 8 to 12 are a bit of good news, because in 8 to 10, we see the remnant.

And then we'll see the opposite. Those who are being judged, not all

Israelites are idolaters. A majority are.

In the days of Elijah, Elijah thought he was the only one. And God said,

I have reserved for myself 7 ,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. It's still a small percentage.

It's pretty small compared to a million people, you know. But there was a remnant.

God always had a remnant within Israel. And even today, he has a remnant.

So let's read it. Verses 8 through 10. I don't want to put anybody on the spot.

Anybody want to read 8 through 10? I'll read it. Okay, thank you. This is what the Lord says.

As when juice is still found in the cluster of grapes, and men say, don't destroy it.

There is yet some good in it. So I will do it in behalf of my servants. I will not destroy them all.

I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah, those who will possess my mountains.

My chosen people will inherit them. And there will be my servants live.

And there will my servants live. Sharon, who became a pastor for Phlox, and the valley of Achor, and resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

Beautiful. All right. Here's the analogy. In verse 8, as the new wine is found in the cluster, you have a grape vine that looks dead.

Israel looks dead. But there's some new wine. There's still some life there.

Some grapes. Someone comes along and says, don't cut that. Don't cut that off. There's still life in it.

I have a raspberry bush on the side of my house. And it has prima canes and flora canes.

The prima cane is a first year shoot. And it doesn't produce any fruit. The flora cane is the second year of that shoot.

And that's when the raspberries come out. After the flora cane flowers or produces its fruit, it's useless.

It starts to turn brown. And then by the winter, it'll be just black. And you go through and you prune it.

You cut off the old flora canes and you let the prima canes live. So you prune your vine.

And that's how it lives. Well, the gardener comes to the vine and sees Israel. It looks like bad.

Wipe it out. Cut it off. It's done. No. There's still a remnant.

There's still some new wine, some cluster in this grape vine. Don't cut it off.

It's alive. Israel looked dead, but there was still a remnant. Now Sodom, on the other hand, was gone.

Abraham interceded back in Genesis. And he said, if there's even 50, Lord, would you spare it?

40, 30. Lord, if there's even 10. And God said, if there's 10,

I will spare the entire city for the sake of the 10. And Abraham stopped there. It really was probably only

Lot, because Lot's wife and their two daughters, Moab and Ammon, come from their immorality.

And Lot himself had pitched his tent towards Sodom and eventually became so compromised. But we learn in Hebrews that he actually was still saved.

He was genuine as a believer. Not much left in Sodom.

It got to the point God cut it off. Fire from heaven completely incinerated it.

He could do that to Israel, but he doesn't. That's the point. Why not? For the sake of the remnant.

The 10 were found. The 50 were found. The 7 ,000 were found. And even in the days of Jesus, the apostles and thousands, 3 ,000 in a day, on the day of Pentecost, there was a remnant.

Yeah. Here's a beautiful verse in Isaiah 42, which supports that promise.

42, verse 3. He says, a bruised wreath he will not break or snuff out, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

Amen. Is there still a remnant of Jews that trust their Messiah? Yes. So is God done with the

Jews? No. No, he's not. And in the end, he will soften the hearts of his people.

And those who formerly rejected him will look on the one that they pierced and mourn for him.

And there will be a great revival. The grafting back in to the original olive tree. Isn't that beautiful?

Yes. Wow. He's not done. We're living to see the fulfillment.

Well, we're seeing already the physical land come back to life. Fig trees bearing fruit.

Amazing. Yeah. Yet the people still mostly, there's a remnant. You can watch that one for Israel.

Amazing videos they make of believing Jews who are Messianic. But still, by and large, the nation is rejected.

But there's a remnant. Now, let's look at that contrast from verses 11 through 12.

We've seen that for the servant's sake, he doesn't destroy them all in verses 8 to 10. Now in 11 to 12, but you who forsake the

Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for destiny.

Those are two gods, fortune and destiny. But I think it also refers to a monistic

Eastern pagan view of the world. Rather than a transcendent

God who's personal and can be known, the creation of all of these gods are actually just man's attempt to manipulate his own fortune, his own destiny.

Yeah. In Babel, the mystery religion, they wanted to build a tower to heaven.

And from there has been this pagan attempt to manipulate the unseen spiritual world.

It's still with us. It's still with us today. That sounds like a cult fortune telling. And that sounds like the religion of America today.

Yes. By and large, it's whatever. I'm spiritual, not religious. Not relating to a transcendent personal

God who I'm accountable to. It's the spirituality of trying to manipulate the force.

To help me. What they're saying is I'm involved in the occult. That's what they are.

Yeah. That's why even here in Mount Laurel, there are so many people. If you go on some of these

Facebook groups, you see they go to necromancers or occultic.

Psychics. Psychics that would read their fortune, tell their destiny. Do you see that?

The Eastern fortune cookie. So in all of these things, it's trying to manipulate the unseen world to help you and to make you prosper.

It's not submission to a transcendent personal God under his revealed will.

It's the creation of these all your own little pagan God in your own image that you can control to help you.

So you can give. You can make a sacrifice in the garden or do some kind of ritual to it, and then you'll be blessed.

That's what Israel was doing. They like the idea of pagan gods that you can manipulate.

And so does our culture. And God says. You set a table for fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for destiny.

I will destiny you. There's a personal God who will do actual destiny.

He will determine the destiny. To the sword. And all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because when

I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. But you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what

I did not delight in. All right. In the verses that follow, then 13 to 16, you see the contrast of Isaiah.

You have Isaiah and his wife and my hair shall. Remember who that is?

His son. Who say to the testimony, to the council,

Isaiah chapter eight, this small remnant that's hiding in God and clinging to the word of truth, the

God of truth himself. Meanwhile, most of the nation is pagan and idolatrous and coming under judgment.

The remnant is protected in him. The larger culture is going to pot.

God is going to bring the judgment. Look at the distinction that God makes now in 13 to 16.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my servant shall eat.

But you shall go hungry. See the contrast. See the distinction. Sheep, goat, light, darkness, a child of God, a child of Satan.

There's this strong contrast. Meat tear. Okay. Behold, my servant shall eat, but you shall be hungry.

My servant shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame.

Pause right there in the midst of an American culture in pagan, neopagan, an idolatry and being destroyed right before our eyes.

Although not to the full extent of what's going to happen. So the church is salt and light.

We preserve this culture until Christ comes to rapture us. And then it just completely unravels.

Right. We studied that second Thessalonians 2. The restrainer is holding back the force of lawlessness, the

Antichrist. So we're blessed because we live in the age of this restraint, but they won't.

They'll live through the tribulation. Now, how can we live in the midst of a decaying culture with joy?

We're the remnant while they have this fate and we can see that fate coming upon the world.

We rejoice, we eat, we drink. He's providing food for us.

And every time we eat a meal, we can, with gratitude, pray and say, Lord, you provided. I'm not crushed by Syria.

I'm not crushed by Babylon and the coming Antichrist world beast system. I'm eating a joyful meal and I'm thanking you for it.

We can delight in our food. We can delight in our drink. We can rejoice. Behold, verse 14, my servant shall sing for glad.

We can sing joyfully while we watch the decay.

Not because we say, ah, let the world go to hell. No, we're restraining it as best we can.

But we're seeing the judgment of the wicked and we know it's God doing it. And we know he's going to keep us, his remnant.

And we're inviting the world to come in. We're trying to rescue, pull them and rescue them from that fire.

But we ourselves have joy. Why? Because we've been rescued already. We're already saved.

What more could he give us? He's given us a son. How will he not also with him give us all things?

Romans 8. We have everything we need for life and godliness. The salvation of our souls, the down payment inheritance of the

Holy Spirit in us, which is an assurance of our future possession of the full inheritance in the son.

We can sing. That's why we come on Sunday mornings and we sing with joy, even though the world is looking as wicked as it is and going downhill as quickly.

There's a distinction. So while we sing for gladness of heart, you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse and the Lord God will put you to death.

But his servants, he will call by another name. You know, Revelation tells us each one of us will be given a white stone with the name written on it.

He knows you by name. And I don't know what. It's just this personal relationship that you have with him.

You're known by him and you know him. It's a relationship. He calls you by name.

Verse 16, so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the

God of truth. The God of truth. Every promise that God has ever made to you,

Christian, is yes and amen. Amen. He will resurrect the dead who die in him.

So we don't grieve like those who have no hope. It's yes and amen. He will see you through every storm.

He will be faithful to you. He is there with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Yes and amen. He said this and he is the God of truth. So we're holding on to God himself.

He who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth. This is the remnant now.

Because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. Now, see the distinction?

Sheep and goats to the sheep.

The book of Isaiah now is climaxing and ending here with the picture of the millennium.

And interestingly, because remember Isaiah, what was the word you used? Paralypsis? Oh, I'm sorry.

Isaiah 42, 3. When you said that word. Prolepsis. Prolepsis. Oh yeah, he's speaking as current things that are going to happen in the future.

Okay. So when Isaiah speaks of the coming kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth, the millennium, he is seeing it from afar 700 years in advance.

He can't see. He only sees this bright, shining kingdom. He knows it's coming. Yeah, he knows it's coming, but he won't see all the distinctions that we see and get up over top of it in the new covenant to understand.

He doesn't have the book of Revelation, right? So what he does here, beginning in verse 17 through 25, is he foresees the new heaven and the new earth, the millennial kingdom, and he collapses that all together in a point.

And the way Matthew Henry describes it, it's like, well, if you think about it, a thousand year reign of Christ on this earth prior to the creation of a new heaven and new earth, a thousand years compared to eternity is only a dot.

It's only a little pinpoint anyway. So it's all within the bigger idea. And that's the concept here.

Isaiah foresees the new heaven and the new earth, but he doesn't seem to make a distinction between the thousand years on this earth reigning from Jerusalem and the eternal state.

But it's because he's looking 700 BC, and then we get further revelation as we get up on top of it.

He then unfolds what Isaiah only saw in total. Make sense?

So look at verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And let me just read through this and let it wash over us because this is what we're destined for.

And then we'll try to make a little distinction of how that unfolds in dispensations.

But the big idea here is what Isaiah see. It's the hope. It's the fact that even though Israel keeps getting wiped out by a

Syria and now soon coming the devastation of Babylon, it's the hope.

Let's read it. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in that which

I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in the sound and the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not fill out his days for the young man shall die 100 years old and the sinner 100 years old shall be a curse.

They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat for like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people and my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands.

Verse 23. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity.

For they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them. Before they call,

I will answer. Don't you wish your prayer life was like that? I mean, before you can even say it, he says, while they are yet speaking,

I will hear. And look at verse 25. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together.

The lion shall eat straw like the ox and dust shall be the serpent's food.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Amen.

So, big picture, that's the coming hope. Now, let's look at the dispensations a little bit because there's disagreement.

So, I always read Matthew Henry before I teach and I read the Bible knowledge commentary and there's a difference there.

Matthew Henry would see as an amillennialist, right? There's not going to be a thousand year literal reign of Christ on earth.

My view, Dallas Seminary, BK Bible knowledge commentary, is that there is going to be a literal thousand year reign on earth.

Matthew Henry will read verse 20. A young man shall die a hundred years old and picture that as the gospel era.

And he'll say, when a baby dies, a little child dies, because of the gospel, there's immediate presence in the

Lord and there's a resurrected body. It's as if he's a hundred years old because death has no sting.

The gospel has taken the sting of death away. So, even a short life is the same as a hundred year old life.

He's reading it figuratively. The BKC will say, no, in the millennium, people still die.

What do you think about that, Rich? You've written a whole book on this subject. Well, in the millennium, people are born naturally.

Yeah. So, they'll have natural death too. We're not promised in the millennium that natural people will die naturally.

Right. I think that's the interpretation of the BKC and I think that's probably where I'm at. I'm just not convinced of it.

I don't know for sure that there'll be death in the millennium. I don't know if this is looking at that gospel hope or if this is literally saying that people will live more than a hundred years or like a tree, but still die.

But here's what I know. Listen, Christian, when you go into the millennium, you're going in with a resurrected body because you've been raptured and given the

Lord. You've been translated to that resurrected body, glorified in the air.

And when Christ comes back, you come back to reign with him. A thousand years. So, what

I know for sure is that during that thousand years, you're not going to die again. There's no second death.

So, the beloved in Christ who have already died, get their resurrected body. They don't die again. What about the people that survived the tribulation?

Yeah. And so, that's possible and that's how Dallas takes it. That might be what's happening here.

And John Martin wrote this. I think he might be right. That if you're born during the millennium to those who entered the millennium in natural bodies, not glorified bodies, those people still die maybe after 200 years.

Because it said, let's look really carefully at the text here. Verse 20, no more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days.

You're not going to have little children dying. So, if you take that very literally, which I think how we ought to, right?

You're not in the millennium. You're not going to have abortion or babies dying just after birth of childhood sicknesses.

The millennial reign will be such that children just don't die. It's kind of how I'm reading it. Yeah, we won't be clinics or hospitals.

Right. An infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not fill out his days.

For the young man shall die a hundred years old. So, a hundred would be, that would be an early death in the millennium.

That's kind of how it seems to me. What do you all think about that? Yeah, yeah.

It seems like, you read it through Isaiah 11 too. Yeah, Isaiah 11, yeah.

It seems like we'll live, you know, we'll go back to, you know, the way it was intended

Yes. Right. Yeah, that seems to be what's happened here.

That curse has been lifted, but there's still death though. See, even those long lives were after the fall.

So, they're still dying and they're just dying older. Well, but in any case, that's what it says. A sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

Yeah, because he's a natural birth. It's a natural birth. Yeah. These people were not, you know, born again in grace.

Yeah, well, let's just look at the bigger picture. Houses, vineyards, fruit.

Verse 22, like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity.

It's just, it's beautiful. It's a wonderful picture. 24, before they call, I will answer.

This nearness with the king right there in Jerusalem and our prayer. Let's say you're stationed here in New Jersey, Rich.

And the king is in Jerusalem. When you pray your relationship with the Holy Spirit, you're talking directly to him.

And the answers are like this. So, maybe there would be some sickness, but you pray and that child doesn't die.

I mean, just answers to prayer. What do you think? Like it says in 1

Corinthians 2 .9, I have not seen or heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him.

Look at verse 25, we'll be done. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox.

How cool is that? There's going to be lions in the millennium, but they won't be a threat to you.

They just eat straw. And dust, I like this.

This is a symbolic as well as physical, I think. And dust shall be the serpent's food.

Of course, what does that reference? Genesis 3, you shall crawl on your belly and eat dust. It's a curse on Satan.

Well, he's held under the earth for a thousand years with the chain. But physical snakes, they're crawling on the ground.

They don't bite people. They don't, they're not poisonous. A rattlesnake is, a little child is playing with the cobra.

And let their food just be dust is the picture there. Because serpents represented Satan. So, they eat dust.

Why can't that be physical? I mean, God could feed a serpent with dust if he wants to do that in the millennium.

Yeah, dust shall be the serpent's food. But obviously, the symbolism there is now the serpent of old is not a threat.

He's put down and it's a beautiful picture. They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain, says the

Lord. That's what Isaiah was all about. Let's close in prayer. So, Father, as we sit in this wicked and perverse generation, and we see a nation and a world descending toward the revived

Roman Empire, a one world government, and all the wickedness of the culture around us, we want to thank you,

Lord, that you have a remnant. And it's not a small remnant. You have called the Gentiles in.

And thousands upon thousands, millions and millions, maybe a billion

Christians remain as the remnant. That await your appearing. And Lord, you are using us to restrain evil.

We thank you for that. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to rejoice as we await your coming.

Help us to be just filled with gratitude for our food, for our drink, for our houses and cars and transportation, everything that you have provided for life and godliness.

You are so good to us, Lord. And we are filled with joy. And so we say with Psalm 126, verse 3, the

Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. In Jesus name,