Isaiah Lesson 44

Psalm 81 and the Call to Sing Aloud to God

So we're going from all kinds of crazy things back into scripture. I'm gonna open up with a couple of verses out of Psalm 81. Pastor Jeff and I spent a little time at the beginning of Psalm 81 where it says, sing aloud to God our strength.

And the exhortation there is seeing who God is, recognizing God's hand and then proclaiming it aloud. Being that motivated by your God and by your God's love and his strength that you're willing to sing it aloud knowing that the world will hear and some aren't going to appreciate it.

But that's okay, sing aloud. It says down in verse eight, hear all my people while I admonish you, O Israel, if you would but listen to me, there shall be no strange God among you, you shall not bow down to a foreign God.

This Psalm goes on to an exhortation, it's to God's people. It's called a Psalm of Asaph, which just means the music. It's not an individual, it's a group of people involved in the worship within the temple.

But hear all people while I admonish you, listen to me. All right, God speaks to his people. This is something we're very comfortable hearing as we've been spending time in Isaiah. The prophet proclaiming the shortfalls of the people, the holiness of God, the reality of the judgment of God.

But then talking about how he's using a wicked people like the Assyrians for his purpose and how they can go but only as far as God allows them to go. And we're comfortable hearing these kinds of things.

Isaiah 34 as a Call to the Nations and the Day of Vengeance

Verse chapter 34 of Isaiah is going to shift gears ever so slightly because it's going to say, draw near O nations and hear. He has word now for mankind in general. This is not necessarily an exhortation for his people who have apostatized, his people who have lost their fear, fire.

This is now a general call to the nations in particular. I wanted to read a short passage out of Boney Mockham's book on page 31. I hope this book helps better equip you to be a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

He quotes out of Second Timothy two. He goes on, not so you can defeat your brethren in an argument, but so you can engage them with hope of winning them. Engage them with a hope of winning them. Now this section here out of Boney Mockham's book is in context is written to the believing to people who are devoted to God, who are perhaps concerned about all of this critical race theory and how can he equip them.

And so this phrase here, I'm not asking you to be ready to win the argument, but to encourage them. I find it real interesting as we move into chapter 34 of Isaiah, the prophet does a very significant shift from exhorting the nation that has fallen short or describing his sovereignty in using nations like Assyria to execute the judgment that needs to be executed to where he now says, draw near, O nations.

And here, this chapter is opening the book now to humanity in general. There is a, there's an aspect of God that is so clear now in this chapter that it's not just his people that he cares for, but it's all mankind.

It's all mankind and if mankind can listen and turn, the message is going to be in the core of it is going to be in verse eight. For the Lord has a day of vengeance. Mankind is given the opportunity to hear this message and respond to it and then in verse 16, seek and read from the book of the law.

So we're going to be looking at this particular chapter from a mindset that God is now opening up his call to all of humanity who has the opportunity and it's his desire that none should perish, okay?

Now we have to put that into the reality that God from before time predestined for new, but God, just because Esau abandoned his birthright, doesn't mean God didn't love him and that his heart's desire, we're going to see that in a little bit, his heart's desire still was for them to turn to him, although he was not going to be the blessed one.

There is a call here for all of humanity to turn to him. First Chronicles 29, 11 says, "'Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power "'and the glory and the victory and the majesty "'in everything that is in the heavens and the earth.

"'Thine is the dominion, O Lord, "'and thou dost exalt thyself as Lord over all.'". And I highlight and I emphasize the beginning, thine, O Lord, it's God, it is our God, and I highlight the end of it, that thou exalts thyself as Lord over all.

The world presents itself as authority or as not needing God, but the reality is God always says that he is the Lord, thine, O Lord, and all the greatness is his, and to be exalted as Lord over all. And then in Zechariah 2, 13, "'Be silent all flesh before God, "'for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.'".

What will happen in the end of times, in the day of the Lord, in perhaps the 70th week of Daniel, in what we know as the Great Tribulation, those seven weeks, is reality for all mankind. The theology that teaches that the church will be raptured perhaps allows the faithful at that time to not be under that punishment, but God's dominion over all is what's emphasized.

And so we get into chapter 34 of Isaiah, and it says, draw near, O nations. And here, give attention, O peoples. We're gonna turn now to 34.

Pastor Jeff, could you open this, please? Yes. So, Father, thank you for this word we've received already. As we think about 1 Chronicles 29, 11, we pray, Lord, that yours is the majesty and the glory and the power.

All of these things are yours. You are God, and this morning we confess your greatness and our unworthiness, Lord. We confess that we fall short of your glory, but we thank you so much for your great salvation, so great a salvation that sinners like us could be reconciled to a holy God like you.

Thank you, God. And thank you that you now have made us to be jars of clay that you use. So I pray for my brother, Lord, that you would use this jar of clay to show that the all-surpassing power comes from you and not from him.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, that is so true. Ralph, I'm gonna ask you to give me verse one, please, in chapter 34. And while I do that, Luke 1, 37, Rich, if you would get that, if you don't already know it by heart, and John Detoli, if you would have Revelation 22, 12, have those ready for me, please.

Give me verse one.

The Nations Must Hear: God Speaks, and the World Is Accountable

Come near you, nations, and listen. Pay attention, you people. Let the earth hear and all that is in it, the world and all that comes out of it.

Yeah, I have in my mind this vision of Pastor Jeff back when he was in Kensington, perhaps standing on the corner as people were there, saying, I've got something I need to tell you. Mm-hmm. And it's a truth message that the world needs to hear.

And here is God speaking through the prophet Isaiah, draw near, O nations, and hear. Why does he even have to say that? He is the creator God over all. Why does he even have to exhort the people to draw near and listen?

Because the people's hearts are hard. People's hearts are hard. And I totally, totally agree with that, but I gotta ask the question, why are they hard? Self-centered. Drawing it down to its very bottom, Lucifer, I will make myself like the Most High, God sends him down to earth, and then Satan takes on the form of a serpent and Adam and Eve, and we've all inherited that.

So this reality that our flesh, by our flesh, is not seeking after God. In fact, there's only one way that this flesh will ever seek after God. Jeff, what is that? Grace. Thank you. By the grace of God.

And so the world has created all these fabricated stories. We can go to Babel, we can go all over the place to these fabrics. We can even go to, as Pastor Jeff was talking Sunday about the three guys, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and how Isaac followed after the footsteps of his father.

Tell them you're my sister, okay? Just protecting their own, you know, their own. The world has all of these stories. We were talking about what's going on with the woke culture, what's even going on with the school.

This passage, this verse to me says, when God speaks, nothing else matters. When God speaks, there's gonna be power and there's gonna be truth. When God speaks, the messages, the falsehoods of this world can't stand up against it, and so if God speaks, when God speaks, the truth cannot, and the reality is that all of creation, all of mankind, are subject under God's judgment.

Now, this exhortation, draw near, give attention, no nations here, et cetera, et cetera, I like to use a picture of somebody out on the battlefield and they're trying to communicate with headquarters, perhaps it's a platoon wanting to talk to their company commander, and they're doing it by wireless, and they're doing it by wireless, and perhaps the company commander is wanting to get messages out to the troops on what to do, but the only way, even though the radio operator for that captain is sending out signals and those signal waves are washing over the troops that are out on the field, until that radio receiver is turned on and turned to the right frequency, the message is not received, okay?

So he's telling them right now, give near, draw near, nations, give attention, oh, peoples, God is speaking, turn your radio on, get it on the right frequency, and listen to what he has to say. The messages that we've been hearing through the previous 33 chapters put the nation of Israel in a bad position and it puts the nations against them as being instruments of God's judgment, but it's a bleak picture of people that have turned against God.

These people are not beyond God's reach. Even to say, where did Jonah go to Nineveh? They were pretty bad people, not beyond God's reach. Even Rahab, even Gibeon, the Amorites, the Canaanites, they were not beyond God's reach.

Give me Luke 1 .37, please, Rich.

For with God, nothing is impossible.

Hearing the truth and allowing the truth to come into you will change your life. This is not impossible with God. He's calling on the nations because Revelations 22 gives us the end of the story. John, totally?

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done.

There is no opportunity for get-out-of-jail-free cards for people who reject God. Well, I just said I never made the decision. Well, yeah, you did, you made the decision to not make the decision. Listen to what God, he's speaking, open up and listen to him.

Pastor Jeff, I'm gonna ask if you would do verses two through four, and Dave Reynolds, I'm gonna ask if you would get Matthew 10 .33 ready. Give me two through four.

For the Lord is enraged against all the nations and furious against all their hosts. He has devoted them to destruction. He has given them over for slaughter. Their slain shall be cast out and the stench of their corpses shall rise.

The mountain shall flow with their blood. All the hosts of heaven shall rot away and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their hosts shall fall as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.

Why is God enraged against the nations? Man's rebellion. Good answer, keep going. Why is he enraged with the nations? Give me some attributes of God that would make him enraged at the nations.

Let somebody else answer, Ricky. He's holy. He's holy. And can't bear the presence of sin.

Can't bear the presence of sin. When God judges, he is judging with righteousness, okay? We are concerned about things that could happen in our culture because we're not, we're just not conforming to the left right now.

But when God judges, he judges in holiness. It says that he is enraged. He is enraged with all the nations. There are consequences that cannot be denied. The reality is the denial of God is just evidence of man's choice to be independent of God.

That is not going to happen. You know, it could seem at this point in time when this is being written, we're going to be going in further on. I think it's chapter 36, I think it is. We start to see some of the, in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

It can seem like these nations are having their way. And it can seem like God is not there for his people. It can seem like that. But the reality is that there is going to come a time, and I go back now down to verse eight, where it's going to say, for the Lord has a day.

The Lord has a day. He is calling on the nations, give ear, listen, pay attention because God is not happy. In fact, God's wrath. He's furious against the nations. Matthew 10, 33, you got that, Dave?

But whoever denies me before then, I will also deny before my father.

We can take that into context and we can talk about the Pharisees who say, well, we knew you, we loved you. And Jesus is going to say, I got news for you. I never knew you. And if you're going to deny me, I am going to deny you before the father.

That is probably the most frightening indictment that can be made. I will deny you before the father because nobody's going to stand in front of the father except by the blood of Christ. And these people are looking ahead and are going to be redeemed by the blood.

But for those who are denying God, it basically says, there is no hope. All hosts, all hosts, their slain shall be cast out. The stench of their corpses will rise. The mountains will flow with blood. All the hosts will fall, just like leaves off of a tree, like leaves from a fig tree.

There is no hope for anybody who thinks they can stand up against God because his vengeance is real. And again, he says, listen, this proclamation is given with the opportunity to hear it. For a world that has lost its way, for a world that had decided to follow the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all are, that world is under the indictment of verses two through four but verse one is giving you the call.

Listen to what I've got to say. Give me verses five through seven, please. I'm going to have us read some of these. Well, give me five through seven.

Edom, Esau, and the Scope of Divine Judgment

For my sword has drunk its fiddle in the heavens. Behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. The Lord has a sword. It is sated with blood. It is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Basra, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Wild oxen shall fall with them and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

Let's just be clear about this. This is pretty devastating news. This is judgment to its ultimate and to its complete. This is people, livestock, land, everything, everything has got a problem. And I find it fascinating that he uses Edom as the example of what's gonna go on.

Who is Edom? Esau. Esau, yeah, Esau. Okay, so in Genesis 25, 27 to 30, I'm able to piggyback on where you were just past this past Sunday. Esau is called Edom. And we know the things that occurred. Esau, who was the firstborn, loses out on the blessings.

We're not gonna go today into the deceit of Rebekah and Isaac, but it's not really hard to perceive that Esau, just because he was hungry, sold his birthright just for a little bowl of stew. Now, that being said, God still has a soft heart for the people that would come out of Esau.

Deuteronomy 23. Bob, if you could get that, get to Deuteronomy 23. And, Barb, I'm gonna ask you to get 2 Chronicles 25, if you would get that ready.

Okay, 23. Verse three, yeah. 23, three, no Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the 10th generation.

Okay, at this point in time, we're getting the marching orders, we're getting the expectations, how the nation of Israel should protect themselves from the ites that will draw them away from worship, okay?

He has something called harem, where these nations, because of their wickedness, are to be destroyed. But there's also this realization that each one of these ites would represent a threat to their devotion to God.

And so the ones that Bob read about, no, it just can't happen. But now go to verse seven and eight.

Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.

Say, read that again, please.

Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.

God's highlighting to the nation of Israel that the Edomites, okay, there are gonna be problems with them, but they're your brother. And God is still recognizing who they are as children of Isaac. All right, continue on with that.

Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country. The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord. Now, I'm not gonna talk about the Egyptian,.

But I am gonna talk about the Edomites. The first one said, even to the 10th generation, you have nothing to do with them. And in fact, the call is going to be harem. But for the Edomites and for the Egyptians, by the third generation, bring them back in.

There is still this level of devotion, of love, of mercy that God would have on these people. Now, as the people are wandering through the wilderness, they approach various opposing kings, and God gives them direction on how they, did I give somebody numbers 20?

I don't think so, did I? No, okay. As they are gonna approach the Edomites, God is gonna have them approach the king of Edom and say, we are your brother. Let us pass through with peace. We will not touch your livestock.

We will not do anything. How did the king of Edom react to that request? Nope. No, you will not. You will not pass through. The Edomites have gone down a path of walking so far away from Yahweh that even their brothers, they have no tenderness for them anymore.

We get into 2 Chronicles 25. We start to learn how deep they've gone. Go ahead, Barb.

When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as their own gods, bowed down to them, and burned sacrifices to them. The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said, why do you consult these people's gods, which could not save you, their own people, from your hand?

The Edomites have become idol worshipers. They have completely walked away from Yahweh, and their belief system now is in idols. Their trust is in idols, and it's gotten to the point at this point in time where the nation has actually brought back some of those idols.

The danger of idols and of that infiltration into the people, but the Edomites have lost their devotion even to their brothers, to God. They are now idol worshipers. Psalm 137 .7 is going to record the fact that the Edomites joined in the siege on Jerusalem.

Now, that occurrence is after this recording in Isaiah. That's going to happen later, because 672 is the fall of Jerusalem. That's when the Edomites join in on the siege that will result in the destruction of Israel.

This is significantly before that. These people who have turned away from God, these people who have turned to idol worship, God is saying, draw near, O nations, hear and listen. I have wrath against you, and you people are now devoted to destruction.

This is a call to repentance and to come back to Him. It's what's going to happen, because these people are going to be around for a while, and they're actually going to be part of the siege on Jerusalem.

Those who deny God are going to be judged just because they were Isaac's children. Doesn't give them any standing before God. It's who they are before God. And these Edomites, very representative of all nations of the world, listen, O nations, hear, O people.

And then he speaks about Edom, who was actually one of Isaac's sons. And how far gone they have gone. The Lord has a sword. It is sated with blood. It is gorged with fat. The Lord has a sacrifice in Boazra, which, by the way, is a city of Edom.

A great slaughter in the land of Edom. Their land shall drink its fill of blood. Now give me verse eight, please, Jeff.

For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

The Day of the Lord, Joel, and the Call to Repentance

Now, what is the day of vengeance? When is that? What does that mean?

Revelation 6, 17. Go ahead with that. The day of his wrath has come.

It's in his timing, oh, by the way. He has a day of vengeance. Habakkuk is a great example of this dialogue between the prophet and God. He says, aren't you even looking? This is really going bad. Can you do something, the nation?

He says, yeah, I will. I'll send Babylon. He says, no, no, no. That's not the right answer. But God has in his way, in his timing, his day. God remembers a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. I wanna turn to the book of Joel.

And Chris, if you could get in Joel chapter one, I'm gonna have you read verses one and two. And I'll go over here. Carol, could you get Joel chapter two, verse 10 and verse 11? Give me both. Joel one, verses one and two.

Joel one, one and two says, the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders. Give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has such a thing happened in your days or in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children to another generation.

This reality of what's coming is coming. He's, in this chapter, giving the nations a chance to hear. There's a call to his people, but in this, there is a call to hear. Chapter two, verses 10 and 11, please.

The earth quakes as they advance and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars no longer shine. The Lord leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army and they follow his orders.

The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can endure it?

Feeling pretty good about yourself right now? You got your fortified cities, you got your armies, you're defeating all sorts of people, you're standing in defiance of God and it doesn't seem to go against you.

You're feeling pretty good about yourself. Well, I got news for you. The day of the Lord is gonna come. Matthew 24, verses 29 to 31 talks about after the tribulation, the sun and the moon are gonna grow dark.

The sign of the son of man is going to come. He's gonna return on the Mount of Olives. This is going to be, this is the word of God that is going to come. You've got Joel 2 still open, Carol? All right, I'm gonna give you a minute to get to it and get to 32.

Yeah. This is the word of God and this will come and this is gonna come because God judges in righteousness.

Joel 2, 32. And anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There will be people on Mount Zion in Jerusalem who escape just as the Lord has said. These will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called.

Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Chapter 34 in Isaiah is pretty bleak unless you have these realizations that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jeff, I'm gonna ask you to read 9 through 15, please.

The Desolation of Edom and the Devolution of Creation

And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch and her soil into sulfur. Her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched. Its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste.

None shall pass through it forever and ever. But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it. The owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it and the plumb line of emptiness.

Its nobles, there is no one there to call it a kingdom and all its princes shall be nothing. Thorns shall grow over its strongholds and nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals and abode of ostriches and wild animals shall meet with hyenas and wild goats shall cry to his fellow.

Indeed, there the night bird settles and finds herself a resting place. Is that 15 also? And 15. There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow. Indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate.

I had an opportunity many years ago. I was at a conference in Tucson, Arizona. And I have this rather unique bucket list item that says I would like to run in all 50 states. And for me that means it has to be a two mile run or longer.

And I had never run in New Mexico. Well, here I was in Tucson, Arizona, which is not far from New Mexico. So I got on Route 10. I had an afternoon off and I drove across the border and the first exit was a ghost town.

Now, there was a general store there. And so I checked in at the general store and I told the guy I was going to run a mile on this little logging trail, not logging trail, whatever, trail. I was gonna run out a mile, turn around and come back just so the guy knew that I was there.

It was kind of cool. It got my New Mexico run in. The town at one point in time was the pass that would have gone through the mountains. That's where Route 10 goes. And at one time, I'm sure there was a reason for that town to be there.

But now all you saw was tumbleweed and wild animals and very uninhabitable. You've seen these on movies, Western movies, this town. What's going to happen to Edom is going to be that. The once very thriving nation with people and cities, Basra, with all of this that was there, the picture of what's now left is streams that are turned into pitch and the soil into sulfur and the land burning.

There is no redeeming qualities left to this landscape. In fact, it's very hostile to live in. Generation to generation, this is going to be an enduring judgment upon this area. And what's gonna happen is you're gonna have wild animals, hawks and porcupines and owls and ravens.

They're going to make residence. That would not happen in a city. They might fly overhead. We have hawk here in Mount Laurel. But they're gonna be there in place of people. In fact, to the point that it's nobles, nah.

It's princes, forget that. Anything that the people have set up, because they're all that, is now going to be gone. Thorns and thistles are gonna grow. A hunt of jackals, wild animals, the owl nests and lays and hatches.

That does not happen where people are occupying and living life. This is now a picture of complete destruction and people are gone. Judgment against it. Genesis 1 .31, God looked on all that he had made and it was good.

Genesis 3 .17, creation is cursed because of the fall of man. What was created in beauty and in splendor and in perfectness, once the fall of man occurred, all of creation was with it. And it says in Romans 8, 20 to 22, it tells us that all creation is subjected to futility.

It groans and it suffers. Sue, I'm gonna ask if you would be willing to get 2 Peter 3 .10 and read that for me. Jeff, I actually heard somebody use your word. In all places, it's CNN.

We have a lot of comments, so I can imagine.

Oh. The devolution of creation. Oh. They actually spoke of the devolution of creation. And I thought you had created that.

That's my word, right there. That's your word. All right, entropy, the second law of thermodynamics.

All matter finds its level of least order without external influence, second law of thermodynamics. Since the fall, since the fall, creation is devolving. It is. Since the fall, mankind, we are devolving since the fall.

We were in our perfectness in the Garden of Eden. But there's gonna, it's called a step function where you see things moving along in a direction and boop, it just drops off. There's gonna be a step function when God, the day of the Lord comes.

And mankind, these nations that are all that are gonna be judged. And creation is going to suffer an unmeasurable, unmeasurable harm, all because of the fall and the sin. But I got good news for you. And Sue's gonna read that in 2 Peter 3 .10.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are in it shall be burned up.

And guess what? It's replaced with a new Jerusalem. The new heavens and the new earth return in perfectness. But it's got, Rick, you can't help yourself. What do you got?

Even now, 2 Corinthians 4 .16 tells us, even though our natural man is passing away, the inward man is being renewed day by day.

We are a new creation. Behold, you are a new creation. Old things are past. All things are made new. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted.

Be on that with Jeroboam. But with the temptation, he provides the way of escape. But without God, but without God, we are on a path leading towards destruction, which will occur in the day of the Lord.

And all of this is gonna come to an end where what was majestic becomes desolate. I want you to listen. All nations hear and all people take heed. This is going to happen. Now give me 16 and 17, please.

The Book of the Lord, Salvation, and Hope in Habakkuk

Seek and read from the book of the Lord. Read that again. Seek and read from the book of the Lord. Amen. Not one of these shall be missing. None shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded and his spirit has gathered them.

He has cast the lot for them. His hand has portioned it out to them with the line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation, they shall dwell in it.

All mankind is exhorted to read and heed the word of God. And there's a reason because his word is the only truth. And through his grace, there is only one way to find truth and that's through the word of God.

The Lord decrees it. It is going to be accomplished. I don't care how you believe that you cannot be overcome and that you don't believe in God. I don't care about all of that because God has said seek and read from the book of the Lord.

For those who are going to seek and heed, there are blessings. We get that over and over again. Joel 2 .32, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Sandy, I'm gonna ask you to get to Habakkuk chapter three.

I'm gonna have you read 16 to 19. We are told that God is a holy God. We are told that God cannot abide sin in his presence, but we are also told that the Messiah comes. And he goes to the cross and he dies for our sins.

And he sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. And when Satan says, that guy, John, he is a sinner. He isn't worthy of you. I can give you a list of everything that this guy has done.

Jesus is saying, yeah, I know all about those because they were there on the cross and I covered them with my blood. Father, look at that man through my blood. Give me verses 16 to 19, Sandy.

I heard in my inward parts tremble. At the sound, my lips quiver. Decay enters my bones. And in my place, I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail.

And the fields produce no food,.

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls.

By the way, I'm gonna let you finish. Does this sound like what we just read in Isaiah 34? It truly, truly does.

Go ahead, Sandy, finish. Yet I will exult in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet my kind's feet and makes me walk on my high places for the choir director on my stringed instrument.