Isaiah Lesson 18

Good morning and welcome. I'm going to call on Brother Laskin to open us in a word of prayer.

Brother Laskin? And pastor and the right reverend.

The right reverend Laskin. I'm trying to think, we had a shaker congregation outside of our town in Massachusetts, brothers and sisters.

Oh, the shakers. But they had two chambers, the center was where the pastor was and there was a chamber over here where the men were and a chamber over here where the women were and never the two shall meet.

Right, yeah. And to the extreme, I do believe that the shakers did not believe in marital relations, which is why their entire denomination completely died out after a generation.

So they definitely kept the men and women separate. Yes, they really did. To the extreme. Okay, brother, we're ready.

Father, as we come to you, it is with anticipation to hear your word.

We know, Lord, that man has sinned and Satan has befuddled us and your people,

Lord, at times just did not retain a devotion to you.

But we know the promise, Lord, that God always keeps a remnant. And so we look forward to hearing how you protect your people and you judge the wicked.

We ask, Lord, that you would anoint Pastor Jeff with your spirit and prepare our hearts to hear.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 2021 might be the year that historians point to, especially

Christian historians, as they do historical theology, in which it transitioned from an advantage to a disadvantage to be a

Christian in the culture. So prior to recent years, Christians were favored in the culture.

In other words, if you profess to be a Christian and held Christian worldview and were known to be a churchman and someone who is involved with various ministries, such a thing would advantage you in hiring practices.

You have a better chance to get a job. There became then, in recent years, more of a neutral footing where it wasn't really a benefit anymore, but neither was it a disadvantage.

I would say that we have entered into a new phase where a person is actually disadvantaged in America for being a

Christian, for claiming to be a Christian. You see the persecution that's come against someone like Mike Lindau, where his wearing a cross at one time could probably have been a benefit to him in the

American culture. Now he's being persecuted for the sake of that cross that he wears around his neck.

There was the time when getting a job was easier if people knew you to be an upstanding

Christian man. But think about, or woman, think about the diversity, inclusion, equity officers at a major corporation.

If the D .I .E. officer is perusing your Facebook and sees that you have

Christian positions that you hold to, do you think you'll be more or less likely to get that job?

Nowadays, it's less likely. I think we've hit kind of a tipping point. There are, in our society, protected classes, people that are considered to be marginalized groups.

In fact, I saw a friend of mine posting that a certain somebody was dressed like a hippie.

And someone came up to that hippie person with the long hair and the kind of tie -dye rainbow shirt and said, you know, you're white, but I want you to understand something.

You are a protected class too. Hippies are marginalized people in America, and you are part of the protected class.

An interesting thing has happened, I think, in that what was once considered marginalized people has become the majority of people, whether because of race or gender or sexuality or being a hippie or some other thing.

Most people can identify themselves in a marginalized class, which is ironic, isn't it?

When the marginalized has become the majority. Something has become rather odd in that worldview.

I bring this up because now in 2021, more than ever, and it's always been the case, but more than ever in America, Christians need to understand that we are a remnant people.

We are a remnant church. Most people, even who identify as Christian, which is 80 % of this country, reject the biblical worldview.

And it's very easy to see, you know, you say to somebody, look, your worldview is showing. It's very easy to see somebody's worldview showing despite their profession of Christ in many of the things that they advocate, which are against the

Bible. John Calvin said, when God wants to judge a people, he gives them wicked rulers.

In recent weeks, we've seen many wicked rulings come down. And I have to wonder, but that God might be judging

America. There's judgment on the country, on a people, as a nationality.

But there's also discipline for those who truly belong to him, namely the church. This is the time in which we live.

It's a time of judgment. God is the one with whom we have to do. So when wicked rulers are bringing judgments, which are against the church, against freedom, against freedom of speech, against religious liberty, against biblical morals, those things are happening against us by people who are doing what they want to do.

But as Christians, we need to understand something. God is over it all. It's God who wields the rod of judgment.

And so Christians ought to be chastised by God when we see these things happening. We should be disciplined and recognize we need to be purged of the sin that's in us, turn back to God and keep our eyes set on him.

Who knows, he might turn and bless where judgment came for a period of time. So we should be chastised by our

God and turn back to him, keeping our eyes ever on him. In a time like this, we need to remember

God always has his remnant. If it looks to you like all of Christianity is being caught up in the false worldview of cultural

Marxism and whether it be hysteria and government overreach related to COVID, or it be racial prejudice masquerading as reconciliation.

When you see these kind of movements entering into the church under the banner of quote unquote social justice, and it seems like even our fellow evangelicals are embracing these false ideas.

If you think you're the only one, you're not. There came a time when Elijah thought he was the only one, only to hear

God say there are 7 ,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. And Elijah thought he was the only one.

Here in the text today, we're going to see that God always has a remnant. And it's God who wields the sword of judgment to chastise his people, to purify those who truly belong to him, and to judge the wicked in his wrath.

There's a, yeah, a sifting of chaff from wheat. Okay, so let's go there. We left off last week in Isaiah chapter 10, verse 15.

So today we're going to attempt to make it through the rest of the chapter, kind of highlighting this big idea that God will always have a remnant.

So John, would you read, I guess we'll do it kind of verse at a time and comment. Verse 16, and I'll call on others to read other passages.

So Isaiah 10, 16. Therefore, the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors.

And under his glory, a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.

Okay, at the beginning of chapter 10, we heard about a day of judgment. God was going to judge.

Now, at the beginning of chapter 10, the ones who were going to be judged were his own people,

Israel. But here at verse 16, look at the context and it really begins in verse 12. The one being chastised, the one being punished or judged is not

Israel Judah. It is Assyria. See, look at verse 12.

When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, what was the nature of that work?

Correcting them. He was going to wield the rod of his fury against who?

Mount Zion and Jerusalem, his own people. So when he's done doing that, what's he going to do? He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

Okay, so then we hear more about what that boastful heart condition is like. And we focused on that last week.

It was a real disposition of the king's own will. The king of Assyria had a willfulness against God.

He had his own desires, his own plans. It was a very real creaturely will.

And God will now turn around and judge him for that. Now, wait a minute.

How is that fair? Can God ordain something to happen and then punish the one through whom it was ordained to come?

Doesn't that seem like God is playing the puppet strings and then judging the puppet? How dare?

Yeah, beyond the restrictions.

What do you mean by that? So where would you draw that line?

Were they to come in with the sword? Okay, I don't see that as the issue.

I think that the issue is compatibilism, meaning it was God who ordained that they would turn fortified cities into piles of stone.

That meant that those who were crushed by the stone included women and children, fathers, mothers, the elderly.

The judgment by the sword. Let's look ahead and we'll see as God deals with when this event actually takes place in Isaiah chapter 37, verse 26.

Isaiah 37, 26. Today, we're gonna see the prophesying of these events. Isaiah 37, 26 refers to the same

Assyrian conquest, which will come right up to the necks of the people of Jerusalem. Did God ordain it?

Did he ordain the wickedness of the judgment that came upon Israel?

What God ordained was the event of them doing it. The wickedness came from their own heart and they're responsible for it.

Again, the answer here is compatibilism. And let's look at verse 26. The king of Assyria and all his pomp bragging about how dominant he is.

Look at verse 26. Have you not heard that I determined it long ago?

That's a dirty word for the free will Christian, okay? The determinism of God is taught explicitly in Isaiah 37, 26.

Here's what he says. I planned from days of old what now

I bring to pass. That you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins while their inhabitants shorn of strength are dismayed and confounded and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops blighted before it has grown.

Figurative image of a complete trampling. Now think about that for a moment. God is saying he ordained the

Assyrian conquests. Every town that they crushed. This is profound.

Every person that died under the sword of the Assyrian, every young shoot of grass, every child trampled before it reaches maturity.

That even that was planned by God. That's a heavy teaching, isn't it?

That's hard to accept. But we have no right as philosophers to object to the language of God.

We have no right to object to the language of the text, do we? Let our exegesis drive our theology, not philosophy from outside, inform the way we think about God.

So by exegesis, I mean what we draw out of the text and it's plainly said in Isaiah 37, 26, referring to the same event.

Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? Now sadly, most

Christians in America would answer, no, I didn't hear that. Nobody taught me that God has a decree.

We learned about it again on Sunday, a bullae, a plan, a purpose in everything that comes to pass. I plan from days of old what now

I bring to pass. The answer is compatibilism. So back to Isaiah 10.

In verse 16, therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of a fire.

It was God who used the Assyrians to judge Israel.

They were the rod in his hand. They were his fury as a sword that God was using them to crush all of these people.

Why would he crush Lebanon? Why would God crush Lebanon? This is not

Israel. This is not Judah. In his wrath, he chose to judge.

Maybe it's because of their idolatry, the worshiping of Moloch and the throwing of children to the fire, which is

I think paralleled in the abortion industry in our country. Maybe God judges evil and wickedness and he is right to do that.

Why would he judge his own people that has chosen the apple of his eye? Because they too have turned to idols and God is angry.

He has wrath. Now though, in verse 16, who gets the wasting sickness? Again, this is directed to Assyria.

The ones he had used as the rod to judge others, now he will turn. Now, how can he do that?

If he's the one that was using them, how can he judge them? Remember again, the answer is back up in verse seven.

When God is causing him to conquer, when it's

God who's turning fortified cities into piles of stone and it's God who's actually behind it all with the decree and a plan, verse seven says, but he does not so intend and his heart does not so think.

In other words, the Assyrian king has his own will for which he is responsible.

So even though God can use him to judge, he can still hold responsible the very rod that he uses to crush others with.

Isn't that amazing? That's the teaching of compatibilism. In verse 16, Assyria, after being an instrument of judgment, will be judged.

It's a both end. There's a real will in the Assyrian heart of every soldier and the king.

They're doing what they want to do to dominate the world and they will be held responsible for that. Even so,

God is using them for his purpose. So John, let's continue on. Verses 17 to 19 and then we'll call in our first reader.

The light of Israel will become a fire and his holy one a flame and it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day.

The glory of his forest of his fruitful land, the Lord will destroy both soul and body and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.

Okay. Could it be that God wanted Assyria to judge Israel, but only to go so far?

And he couldn't help, but they kind of overdid it a little bit. That's not the case. That's not the case.

God is so powerful that he could strike down 185 ,000 soldiers, the full host of the

Assyrian army, in a day. That's his power. I talked about last week, a drunk driver.

God could have caused that drunk driver to have a heart attack before he got behind the wheel. So what is the case?

Look at verse 17. The light of Israel will become a fire. It looked like this dim light in Israel was weak and easily extinguished.

The Assyrian paid no mind. They thought that the God of Israel was like the gods of Lebanon and the other gods of the nations that they easily ran over.

But if God himself is who he is, he can ignite like a consuming fire and in one day destroy an entire army.

The light of Israel will become a fire. Notice the light of Israel is God himself and his holy one, which could be a reference to Christ, that it would be different, multiple persons within the one

God, a flame. And it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in one day.

This is prophetic to the judgment that God will exert against who? Assyria.

And that comes later when they do come right up to the neck of Jerusalem. The glory of his forest.

Now this imagery of a forest pictures the people, the Assyrian soldiers, but they're being compared to the cedars of Lebanon, as we'll see later in the passage.

The cedars of Lebanon, the glorious forest. That's how the

Assyrian army looks to the world. The glory of his forest and his fruitful land, the

Lord will destroy both soul and body. So, you know, it's an analogy here because it's the humans, the people of Assyria that have soul and body.

God will judge them, kill them and cast them into hell. Soul and body. They're being likened to a forest.

Matthew 10, 28 says what? Yeah, right.

Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. Now, this is not an environmental concern.

It's not Tolkien and the talking trees of Lord of the Rings. That's not what's in view here.

Although some environmentalists would like to use it for that way. The imagery of the cutting down of the forest is

God judging Assyria, the people, body and soul into hell. OK, somebody read for me

Hebrews 12, 28 to 29. Sword drill. Rick, you got it first. Our God is a consuming fire.

Let us be thankful that we are part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. When it looks like everything around us is shaking and when we enter more and more into the fires of persecution, we need not fear.

Our kingdom cannot be shaken. Our God is a consuming fire.

He will accomplish his purposes on earth. He will judge them, those whom he desires to judge. He can rise up in a day and destroy our enemies.

What should we be afraid of? Nothing. So let's keep reading 20 through 23.

John, thank you. In that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will be no more, will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the

Lord, the Holy one of Israel. In truth, a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty man, to the mighty

God. For though your people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return.

Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness for the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of the earth.

Okay. The big word for today is that word remnant. The ones who remain after the destruction, the ones who remain faithful when everybody else has not abided.

We're told to abide in Christ, to remain in Christ, to be a remnant. When others are departing, there will be a remnant that are safe in his hands.

The survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the

Lord. How was it that Judah was leaning on him who struck them?

This goes back to chapter seven when they were fearful of resident

Pekah. So what were they doing? Anybody remember? Lebanon and Samaria, the country to the north of Israel and the northern kingdom of Samaria, Samaria, Syria and Israel were in league together, a conspiracy to attack the south.

So what was the south doing? They were leaning on Egypt and Assyria calling for the

Assyrians to come help them out against the northern alliance. You see the error?

This is what it's talking about. Verse 20. It says, you will no more lean on him who struck them.

You see, after Assyria would wipe out the northern alliance, they would come for Judah. They were leaning on the one that strikes them, but will lean on the

Lord. One of the great benefits of living in a time when the

Christian is no longer favored in a culture is that it has a purging effect.

It breaks our heart ties to the world. When the

Christian is too comfortable in a society, and hear me, it's good.

The blessings of God are good. We don't despise those things, but it does present a danger that we would become so comfortable in the world that we would turn away from God and begin to rely on the things of the world.

When you have a house that you own and a car and all the food that you could eat and insurance in case you get sick and insurance on your house and insurance on your car and insurance on your teeth.

When you have everything insured, it is very easy to rely on the world around you rather than relying on God.

And I think one of the reasons that God won't leave us comfortable for too long. You ever notice that the times of just comfort and ease don't last that long and you wonder,

God, why is it always a struggle? Why do I face so many trials? I think a big part of it is that he doesn't want us to lean on the things of the world.

He knows the frailty of our hearts, how prone to wander we are, to become materialistic, to become centered on the things that we have and to forget

God. Give me neither poverty nor riches. If I'm too poor, I might steal and dishonor his name.

If I'm too rich, I might rely on those things and trust in those things and forget my

God, rich. Okay, yeah, the idea there is sever in the context of don't rely on.

Okay, very good. So the remnant will return, verse 21, a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty

God. You see, there's a distinction. God does have a distinction.

Titus 2, 14, he is preparing a people for himself and God treats that people what

Ephesians 5 calls his bride, what John 10 calls his sheep, in that case, the church, but also

Israel, the apple of his eye, his chosen people, his holy race. He does distinguish between true

Israel, the church, and those who are not his own. There's a distinction, isn't there?

God will not treat his remnant the way he treats those who are under his judgment.

That's why in Romans 8, there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is now. Okay, yeah, and that's the idea that there's a distinction between how

God treats us will God ever condemn me in my sin? No. Will he discipline me?

Yes, he will discipline those he loves and accepts as a child, but he will never condemn you and I who trust in Christ.

We are part of a remnant. And so look what he does here in verse 21, a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty

God. Now, anybody recognize verse 22? Where might this be quoted in the New Testament?

For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant.

Yeah, okay, so that's the promise of Genesis 12. But where is this verse quoted in the New? Hint, it's in your notes.

Destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness. Oh, you said it.

Now you got to read it. Come on. All right, turn with me to, yeah, or you can read right off the notes. When did

Isaiah cry that out? Right there, chapter 10, verse 22. For though your people

Israel be as the sand of the sea. So that means when Isaiah was prophesying this, he was crying out against Israel, against Judah.

He's prophesying in Jerusalem and he's saying, look, this city is full of people.

So many people. You can go to some mega churches in America that have tens of thousands of people in one building.

Does that mean the tens of thousands of people are saved? Does not. Only a remnant of them will return.

What if 80 % of people in America claim to be Christians, but less than 10 % of the country actually believe that Jesus is the only way to the father, that the

Bible is the inerrant word of God. There's really a remnant. That's the case. If you look at the

Barna studies of how people, the actual answers they give about being born again and things of that nature, it's less than 10 % probably of Americans.

Church, we are the remnant. We are not in the majority position. We are a remnant in America.

Do you realize that? I mean, we love each other and we have such an amazing fellowship.

It just kind of feels like all is great. But Cornerstone is a very small pocket in a very big city.

In Mount Laurel and Marlton, there's 40 ,000 people in Mount Laurel and 40 ,000 in Marlton and 20 ,000 in Moorestown.

Hundreds of thousands of people, I think 500 ,000 people live in Burlington County. And there are other evangelical faithful churches, but they're few and far between.

And even ones that sometimes you think are with you, aren't. They turn against the very principles of God's word.

Yes. Yeah. I believe Jesus rose from the dead. So here's the point.

We are the remnant and God is treating us differently. The Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of all the earth.

He will accomplish his purpose of judgment, but he will preserve and protect his own. Some he'll protect eternally, even though they'll die righteously under the sword of the

Assyrian, they'll go to heaven and they'll be safe with him. So it's not a prosperity that no righteous person will die in the

Assyrian onslaught. It means he keeps his remnant here on earth, safe in his love and for all eternity, safe in his presence.

24 and following. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts.

Oh, my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the

Egyptians did for in a very little while my fury will come to an end and my angry will be directed to their destruction.

And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb and his staff will be over the sea and he will lift it up as he did in Egypt.

And in that day, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.

All right. The main reason I wanted to teach through the book of Isaiah is contained in these verses.

Do not fear. This is the message that the church needs to hear. We need courageous soldiers to stand up and fight for God and his word.

We need a people in a remnant situation when we are the remnant to be unafraid.

Very often fear cripples the Christian but we are told fear not.

We are not to have a spirit of fear. So again and again, Isaiah taught this. Back in chapter 8 verse 12, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread.

Isaiah 41 verse 10, fear not for I am with you. Be not afraid for I am your

God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you in my righteous right hand.

This is what Isaiah does for us. It calls the remnant people to be fearless. Reminds us again and again, do not fear.

Do not live in dread. Does Judah have reason physically to be afraid?

Yes. Is Assyria a genuine threat? Yeah. And yet the remnant here commanded by God, do not fear.

Verse 24. Remember that. We'll keep coming back to it. Now there's two reasons given. Number one, for in a very little while my fury will come to an end.

There is always an end to God's anger. For the

Christian, discipline is for a period of time. It is not eternal.

It accomplishes the purpose that God sends it to do. It corrects the genuine church and brings us back.

And then a second purpose. And my anger will be directed to their destruction.

Who is the there in this sentence? Assyria. God will judge the wicked.

In the end, we win. We are lifted up and we are exalted. We are vindicated, but the wicked will be judged.

So we'll look at periods of time in history that the wicked prosper. Last week, there was passed a bill which funds international abortion.

That had been made illegal in previous administration, but now American tax dollars are funding the slaughter of innocent children in the womb worldwide.

Yes, and there are other atrocities like that happening in our culture by something like 30 something executive orders by the same person that said that the previous administration was a tyrant for so many executive orders.

What's good for thee is not good for me, evidently. The hypocrisy of that. It does look that the wicked are prospering in this country for a time.

But God, we're promised in verse 25, my anger will be directed to their destruction. Verse 26, we have two analogies.

Does anybody remember what either of these are? The rock of Oreb or over the sea?

The second one is easier than the first. So the analogy here is judgment.

And in the past, God judged the Egyptians after delivering his people. He closed the waters in over the

Egyptians. God will judge the wicked. What is the first one? What's that? Amen.

You will never see them. Yeah, that's that's correct. Thank you. And the rock of Oreb.

Anybody know what that story is? There's a reference to it here. The Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when he struck

Midian. There's a clue at the rock of Oreb. I think it's in Judges 7 .25.

You guys have learned to look at my notes. Who wants to read? Who wants to read Judges 7 .25

for me right off the notes? And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Dib.

They killed Oreb and Dib. They killed Abu. Then they pursued

Midian and they brought the heads of Oreb and Dib to Gideon across the Jordan. Now, you remember the story with that?

Gideon. Gideon, it starts with a big army and then everybody who wants to go home is allowed to go home.

And then God still wants to weed the army down to the 300, the original 300.

And these warriors go to war with torches covered by pots. And they smash the pots and it sends the enemy into such confusion that they turn their own swords against one another and destroy themselves and then flee.

And then the men of Judah give chase and they capture Oreb and put him to death on the rock of Oreb. It is a picture of judgment when

God judges the wicked. So just as he did it before, he's going to do it again.

And it seems to be the pattern of history, isn't it? The wicked will prosper for a time.

The Adolf Hitlers will rise, but eventually they will meet their doom.

It's only for a period of time that the wicked prosper. Such a short time.

Not worth it, but they choose the pleasures of this life to their own destruction.

Okay, so we move on to 27 to 31. And in that day, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.

Okay, time out there. I've looked at commentaries and I can't get a consensus on what that even means as far as broken because of the fat.

The best I can do is the idea that you will be protected and so well nourished that you can't be yoked.

So, but the big picture here is that his burden will depart from your shoulder.

In other words, the Assyrian oppression of the people of God is over.

God's going to judge them now. His yoke, the imprisonment, the enslavement around their neck, that yoke's going to be broken.

Why is it because of the fat? I'm not quite sure, but maybe because they're so well fed that they're just not able to be captured.

Well, remember that the offering that was to be given, the fat was burned because it was holy unto the

Lord. Okay. The fat was to be burned. I think when you had the...

Nate was actually... Nate Navenger gave us this one at our group last night. When Hophni and Phineas would seek to take of the offering that was to be burned before the

Lord. If you go back into, I think it was in numbers, I think it was.

The breast was for the priests, but the fat was to be burned because that was holy unto the

Lord. So you think there could be a reference to that? A reference to the fact that that would refer to the part that's dedicated, separated to the

Lord. Well, if anybody finds... This would take some more digging. If anybody finds it, let me know. Yeah. She has a

Schofield, as the yoke shall be destroyed. Because of the anointing.

All right. Somebody get on Bible Hub real quick and put in Strong's, look at that Hebrew word and find the parsing of it.

I think Kimberly's the only one that actually knows Hebrew here. So that's good. Yeah. By your prosperity.

That's kind of the sense that I'm taking. So we have a Schofield, we have a Ryrie, which are both in the same school there.

So they're both Dallas guys, but they disagree a little bit. So we'll get back to you on that.

We'll get back to you on that. And if you find anything more and do some research, we can start next week with anything more on that.

But let's keep moving so we can finish up. So he has come to Aeth, read 28 through 31.

The names are kind of hard, so you do it. Sandy, where are you?

He has come to Aeth. He has passed through Migran at Mishmash. He stores his baggage.

They has crossed over the pass. At Geba they lodged for the night. Rama trembles.

Gibeah of Saul has fled. Cry aloud, O daughter of Galem.

Give attention, O Laisha, O poor Anathoth. Mademnath is in flight and the inhabitants of Geben flee for safety.

Okay. And actually read 32 as well. This very day he will halt at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

Okay. Seems daunting. However, this is actually not a very difficult section. These are simply cities of Judah.

So as you've come down out of the north, as the Assyrian onslaught will come, they enter across the northern

Judah border. Aeth, Migran, Mishmash, Geba. These are towns.

All of the surrounding towns of Judah to the north. As this

Assyrian army comes down, all of them are going to be in bad trouble. Look at verse 32. This very day he will halt at Nob.

He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

Amazing prophecy that Isaiah gave here. Because as we'll learn, Assyria in fact will come right up to the neck of the walled city of Jerusalem.

Remember when Rabshakeh is talking trash and they send the message to Hezekiah. He goes and lays it out before the

Lord and prays. Well, eventually we hear that the very night that he does that,

God sends the angel to wipe them out. So they get right up to the neck of Jerusalem. They even conquer all of these towns of Judah, but they don't get the city.

They get, what does it say here? He will shake his fist. That's, I picture Rabshakeh out there just, you know, cursing, shaking his fist.

It comes that close at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

That's how close they get. And then 33 and 34, God will cut Assyria down. Behold, the

Lord God of hosts will lap the bowels with terrifying power. The great in height will be hewn down.

The lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one.

So does this mean that God is going to send out people who hate the environment up to Lebanon and chop down all their trees in the forest?

Yeah, that's it, right? This is why context is king when studying the Bible, right? We always have to keep the context of the flow.

So the analogy here is that the Assyrian army are like the trees of Lebanon.

This formidable force, these huge men with perfect swords and armor and everything that is so formidable and nobody in the world has ever stopped the

Assyrian army. They're just grandiose. Behold, the Lord God of hosts will lap the bowels with terrifying power.

He's going to chop them down like trees. They're all going to fall. And that's what happens when we get to Isaiah 37 and following.

What does Isaiah 37, 36 say? One, at the angel of the Lord. Yeah.

Yes, so that's where it happens,

Isaiah 37, 36. The great in height will be hewn down and the lofty will be brought low.

He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one.

So in application, as in the days of wayward Judah, we live amongst a wayward people.

It's no longer a Christian nation. I do think there was a time when you could broadly call the culture a

Christian culture. The Puritans that founded the country, the second great awakening gave birth to the

American revolution. And then, I mean, sorry, the first great awakening. Then the second great awakening brought many to saving faith.

And you probably did have a period of time where a majority of people were believing Christians. Of course, there was plenty of posers and fakers amongst the faithful.

Then there came a time in American history where we were just sort of neutral, kind of in the middle.

But we've certainly, I think, crossed that tipping point where the genuine faithful Christians are a small remnant.

We are by no means a majority, probably less than 10 % of the entire nation, holding to the truths of God's word.

We are amongst a wayward people. So things have changed. Now, most important point, do not fear.

Don't just look at the circumstances of the country. When bad things are happening, God is accomplishing a purpose in the country and in your own life in whatever circumstances come.

Do not fear. God, He loves you. You are part of the remnant. You who believe and truly trust in Him.

You're a remnant people. He's doing something in this. And it's good for us. It is going to teach us not to lean on the world any longer, not to be so comfortable and relying on things that are not

God, but to lean on Christ. When we're persecuted, everybody who suffers is done with sin,

Peter tells us. It's purifying to us. It's not a bad thing. Rather, know that God treats

His remnant differently. He distinguishes between the church and those who are not the church.

Focus on building your life upon the rock. Cut ties with this world to the point where you're no longer leaning on it.

Amen? Amen. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Thanks, John. Lord God, we come to you as a people in need of you.

We come to you as a people knowing, Lord, that you love us so much, that you would care for us and you would even cleanse us.

Father, in our world today, in our country today, there are our struggles, but you are sovereign and we rely on you,

Lord God. We pray that we turn to you and don't get overwhelmed by the world or reliant on the world, but that we rely on you.