Isaiah Lesson 38

Everybody who's here and for those online with us, it's good to be with you again.

I want to start with a couple of other verses. We're going to be in Isaiah chapter 29 today.

In Isaiah chapter 29, it's in this section now called the woes. We did the oracles before, now we're in this section called the woes.

And the focus today is going to be more Judah -centric as opposed to Israel -centric.

But I wanted to set the stage with a couple of other outside verses of Bob Zellman. I'm going to ask if you would get 2

Chronicles 7 .14. I am absolutely positive that little

Ricky could quote this one without even looking it up. But we'll let you read it. And brother, I'm going to ask if you would get

Psalms 75, 2 and 3. So if you've got those, Bob, go ahead and we will just a minute.

Then if my people who bear my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their evil ways,

I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. This promise is obviously given to Israel.

It's claimed by evangelical churches. We see what's going on and it may be claimed somewhat out of context, but the concept is right if we humble ourselves and pray.

God makes a promise. The danger of taking that too significantly and saying name it, claim it, is that we can ignore the reality that we have a sovereign

God. And so give me Psalms 75, 2 and 3. At the set time that I appoint,

I will judge with equity. When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, it is

I who keeps steady its pillars. This is God who he sees, he knows, he is a holy

God, but it's at his set time. It's not at our set time. Because we see evil prevailing or because we go through difficulties, in no way diminishes the ability that God has, or his sovereignty, or his love, or his holiness, because it's all going to be at his set time.

The reason I bring that up, we're going to be taking a little bit of a detour at the front of this, because when you read a chapter like Isaiah 29, knowing the situation and knowing some of the historical accounts of how

God's people responded to God and how God responded and how he used surrounding nations like Assyria, it allows us to understand a whole lot better what's going on in chapter 29.

Underneath it all is God's love and his holiness. Underneath it all is a reality that God's people are called to respond to him.

God's people are called to pray and God promises to be faithful to his covenants, but also on top of that is

God's sovereignty and it's in his timing. We're in the book of Isaiah.

My totally uninspired comment here is that Isaiah is a prophet to God's people.

In the midst of apostasy and in the midst of their rejection of God, he's delivering a message of judgment, a call to repentance, and a promised

Messiah. All of this is wrapped together as we get into Isaiah 29.

So brother, would you open us for the prayer? So Father, we are now opening your word and we recognize that we need to hear your voice.

We pray that you would sustain us with your word, that you would give us insights into the text that chasten us and help us and encourage us.

And Lord, we pray that your word would accomplish the work for which it is sent in our hearts in Jesus' name.

Amen. Give me just verse one, if you would, chapter 29.

Isaiah 29, verse one? Yes, just. Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, add year to year, let the feasts run their round.

All right. What I want to do because what's going to happen in this is we're going to sequentially go through a siege that is going to come upon Jerusalem, but yet there's going to be relief and the sovereignty of God comes through.

Then we're going to be able to see how God proclaims the spiritual dullness of the people and the ramifications of the spiritual dullness of the people.

And then we get this phrase, yet in a little while. And so we do see the mercy of God and how

God's sovereignty will ultimately set things right. So what's going on at this time of this prophecy,

Ariel, Ariel, who is Ariel? Where King David lives.

Very well done. In fact, we would find that in 2 Samuel 5. So, I'm just going to express what's going on in 2

Samuel 5. David goes after the capital city of Zion, Jerusalem.

He prevails and then he sets up his home there. He sets camp right there.

And it says here, the city where David encamped, it says that right there in Isaiah 29.

O Ariel, O Ariel, O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem. So that's what's going on.

These woes are being spoken, understanding what's going on, not only in Judah, Jerusalem, but understanding what transpired in Israel is important.

This particular chapter is fairly well set, circa 712, okay?

That's approximately where it's set. Now Isaiah is a prophet and he prophesied.

And there are a couple of ways, depending on who you're reading. Some people place

Isaiah's ministry from 760 to 673.

That's a long time. That's a lot of years, 67 years, I guess.

Others make it a little bit smaller, 740 to 700, perhaps a little bit less.

But that gives us an understanding of the kings, both in the

Northern Kingdom and in the Southern Kingdom, and how they led their people, the

Northern tribes, the Southern tribes, and how things were going. And just taking a little bit of time, we do get a picture into this

God who is judging and who is sovereign and all this other kind of stuff.

So we're going to set this prophecy, this particular chapter, somewhere around 712.

It fits in with the events that we would see within here. If we're looking at the

Northern Kingdom, there are three kings that would have benefited from hearing the prophecies, could have, should have benefited from hearing the prophecies.

We have Jeroboam, Pecah, and Hosea. We can look at each of these,

Jeroboam, I have the time span here of about 793 to 753.

Now, he potentially would have been within the realm if we have this greater 760 window.

Interestingly, the thing about Jeroboam, how was Jeroboam as a godly king?

No. Not? No. No, but he found the Israel. Right. As a geopolitical king, how was

Jeroboam? Geopolitical? Yeah.

Well, it was just before he was here in Conquest. All right, second king, Sandy, second

Kings 14, 23 to 27. And there's some interesting insights.

Jeroboam, as a king, did not do well in the eyes of the Lord. Yet, God blessed his reign.

All right, Sandy, do you have that? I'm getting it. Okay. Second Kings 14.

23 to 27. Okay, in the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Okay, I'm just going to stop you there just briefly. It is really fascinating as you read through the book of Kings. It alternates between Israel -centric and Judah -centric.

And frequently he'll say, like, in the 15th year of so -and -so, the king of Judah, so -and -so became king of Israel.

And so the chronology of these kings, it's pretty well set.

We can follow it. But anyway, we've got Jeroboam. Go ahead. Okay, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria and reigned for 41 years.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Naboth, which he made

Israel sin. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the sea of the

Ereba, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke through his servant

Jonah, the son of Amittiah, the prophet who was of Gehepher.

Am I still reading? You're going. How did you find it? Are you angry at your wife?

Are you giving her the hardest passage? Here's the point. Jeroboam did not do right in the eyes of the

Lord. But yet, geopolitically, God allowed him to reign for 40 -some years, expanded the borders, they experienced peace, and God allowed and spared him from evil judgment, although there were prophets whose prophets...

He allowed Israel to actually prosper under this time.

Now, eventually he dies, Pekah becomes king, and he's going to reign for 30 years, but it's going to be a split kingdom.

There's also going to be Manahem and Pekahiah, who are going to have part of the kingdom, part of the time, while Pekah's got the rest of the kingdom.

Pekah was not a good guy. Pekah was a wicked man, but again, God allowed him to be.

Now we come into Hoshea, who is the last of the reigning kings in the northern kingdom.

Bob, if you would get chapter 17, verses 1 and 2, if you could get 2

Kings 17, 1 and 2. In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, son of Elah, became king of Israel and Samaria, and he reigned nine years.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Okay, the final king, wicked, and in 722, at the end of Hoshea's reign,

Assyria defeats the northern kingdom, and they're taken captive.

All of this is recorded history, and I bring this up because the Old Testament, the way that it's recorded, as we specifically are in the book of 2

Kings, it flip -flops, it alternates between what's going on in Israel, what's going on in Judah.

The new king of Judah in such and such a year of the king of Israel, and back and forth. So, although the kingdom was divided in the time of Rabom and Jeroboam, there still is a brotherhood, there still is an acknowledgement of what's going on.

The southern kingdom, Judah, specifically Jerusalem, or Ariel, should have at least acknowledgement and knowledge of what went on, and should be able to go back and recognize that in 722

BC, their brothers were taken captive. We are now in 712, ten years later, and Isaiah is making a prophecy.

Jotham, there are many, many kings in the southern kingdom, but in sequence, at this point in time, Jotham would have reigned in the time of Isaiah.

It says that he did right only the high places he did not remove, and the priests offered sacrifices in the high places.

But then we go to Ahaz, and Ahaz is a bad dude. Now, this is just before this prophecy would come to be.

If you read in chapters 16, verses 1 to 3, he did evil.

And then we will read that there are attacks by an anti -Assyrian coalition that included

Israel, and this guy named Rezin, and they attack.

And Ahaz, in fear of this attack, goes to the king of Assyria, seeking help.

And the king of Assyria says, well, I tell you what, if you make some sort of a tribute to us, some of the things of the temple are given away.

And then, to make it even worse, Ahaz makes a trip to Damascus and sees their altars and says, wow,

I like these. And so he creates a document, the specifications, what these altars are like, comes back to Jerusalem and has them build these altars in a high place and offer sacrifices.

Not a good thing. Okay, now this is all occurring before this chapter 29, but it's setting the stage for a nation that's wicked.

And then we get to King Hezekiah, and he is the one that is on the throne on the time of Isaiah chapter 29.

Now, Isaiah does right, but he's attacked, and he also is giving tributes back to Assyria, and Assyria is taunting the people, quit listening to this guy,

Hezekiah. He can't stand against us. And then we get to chapter 19.

Carol, if you would get chapter 19, verses 1 and 2, and then verses 5 and 7.

When King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the

Lord to pray. And he sent Eliakim, the palace administrator,

Shedna, the court secretary, and the leading priest, all dressed in sackcloth to the prophet

Isaiah of Amoz. And then five, you said?

Yes. After King Hezekiah's officials delivered the king's message to Isaiah, the prophet replied,

Say to your master, this is what the Lord says. Do not be disturbed by his blasphemous speech against me from the

Assyrian king's messengers. Listen, I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a report from Assyria telling him that he is needed at home.

Then I will make him want to return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.

And that happened. And that happened. Assyria comes and are laying siege, and word comes.

I believe it's Sennacherib, I think that was the king. He hears the word and he goes back and he dies.

And he dies. Then we find the

Babylonians. And God's sovereignty is so amazing because in the midst of all of this, there's another prophet by the name of Habakkuk, who says,

God, it is so bad here, aren't you even watching? And God says, yeah, I am. I'm going to send the

Babylonians, who were not the power to be feared at the time. He calls them that fearful and dreadful nation.

And then Sennacherib, the siege, he goes back, he dies. The Babylonians come to power.

And then what's going to happen? And you read this in Ezekiel chapter 8.

There's warnings about the people setting up an abomination and God's wrath is declared, abomination in the temple.

And then you get into chapters, chapter 8 verses 17 and 18. And you get into chapter 10 of Ezekiel.

And the picture of the Shekinah Glory lifting out of the Holy of Holies, out the eastern gates, onto the wings of the cherubim and departing.

And the Shekinah Glory is gone and the nation is left unprotected. And you eventually get into 2

Kings 25. This is 586, significantly after this

Isaiah. But then we have the final defeat.

All right, I bring this up. We know the history of Israel. And this all occurs before this chapter's prophecy.

But the people should have at least an acknowledgment. What happens when kings are evil?

What happens when you fall away? What happens when you go apostate? Is God's wrath.

And then we go into the southern kingdom and we have Jotham doing right, sort of.

We have Ahaz not doing right. And we have Hezekiah doing real bad, but then repenting and calling on the prophet

Isaiah. So now we're into Isaiah chapter 29. The siege, the relief and sovereignty of God.

Now remember, this is Assyria coming after Judah, after Ariel, Jerusalem.

And Syria is not going to conquer them, but God is going to allow the siege to occur, eventually

His sovereignty. Give me verses 1 to 8, please. Okay. Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped.

Add year to year, let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an

Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around and will besiege you with towers, and I will raise siege works against you, and you will be brought low.

From the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down.

Your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night, as when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with this hunger not satisfied.

Or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint with his thirst not quenched.

So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. Verses 1 to 4,

O woe to Ariel, O Ariel. Why is God's proclamation so strong against Jerusalem in verses 1 to 4?

What have they done? In the beginning of the end of verse 1, it shows a picture of just going up, life year after year, sacrifice, feast after feast, completely ignorant of the fact that they have really gotten in bad with God, but they're comfortable and they're happy because it appears as though, all right, the northern kingdom went bad for them, but we're okay and we're doing our feasts and we're doing it all year after year.

And in the top of that is this proclamation from God through the prophet

Isaiah, yet I will distress Ariel. There's no get out of jail free card for misbehavior.

There's no free pass to be ignoring God. Empty worship is what we have here.

There will be mourning and lamentation. The transition from feasts that run all round to mourning and lamentation, he's got to get their attention.

And he gets their attention, in this case, through the nation Assyria. I will encamp against you all around.

I want you to pick up on that pronoun. Who's going to be encamped around the city?

Who's it going to look like is camped around the city? It's going to look like it's Assyria. But what he is telling them in reality, who's camping around them?

God is. And that's a horrible place to be, to have actually

God stepping up in judgment of you. And it says, I will camp around you. There will be towers, siege works against you, and you will be brought low.

Now there's a proclamation of judgment against the people who are adding year to year, feast to feast, going round and round, ignorant of the fact that their empty worship is displeasing

God. So they were really just clueless, that they were just going through the traditions and emotions and just not knowing that God was not appreciating this.

You nailed that. You absolutely nailed that, Laurie. If we go all the way back into the beginning of the book, he says, even when you pray,

I won't listen. I will turn my face from you because your prayers are meaningless. What he's warning them about here is, year after year, feast after feast, you're clueless, but get a clue.

But get a clue. So they weren't doing any kind of apostasy. It was just, they were just...

Yes, they were. They were empty worship, which is apostasy. Wow, that's true. It was exterior, it wasn't interior.

They're going through the motions and doing the religious things. They're being religious, but not the heart.

What Laurie's saying is she didn't think it was outright defiance. Okay, so Laurie, and you are right to this extent that eventually, and we can find this described to us in Ezekiel 8,

Ezekiel 10, when they actually desecrate the temple. That's when they've gone over the top.

That's outright. That's outright, and that's when the Shekinah glory is removed. At this point in time, they're being defiant, maybe.

They're being ignorant. They're being lazy. Their heart isn't in it. But the Shekinah glory is still in the temple.

The Shekinah glory is still in the temple, and so God is still the one that is going to have this siege come.

He says, I will distress Ariel. He's going to bring the Assyrian army, and they're going to do what they're going to do.

To get their attention, you will be brought low. Would that be the same as a lukewarm Christian then?

Just the motions, or is that a different description? It's in the same chapter of the same book.

If you go into the beginning of Revelation, and you find these letters to the...

Laodicea. Yeah, Laodicea. Exactly. Exactly. So that would be kind of on par with the spiritual dullness that Israel is doing right in this chapter.

At this point in time, it doesn't appear that he's rebuking them for false worship so much as empty worship.

Now, if we go back to the time of... Which one was it that came back and brought the...

The time of Ahaz, who actually went to Damascus and got... False altars.

False altars. So there is that false worship, and the judgment against false worship.

Specifically in here, he's getting their attention. Specifically here, he's getting their attention.

But then on top of saying, I need to get your attention, is this amazing word, but...

The multitude of these foes that are going to come up against you, I got them.

I'm going to defeat them. He says, they're going to be made like dust. And in verse 6 is a beautiful word there, because God is still...

The Shekinah glory is still there. God is still true to his people. He's trying to get their attention, and this is all about getting them to return to Yahweh.

With their hearts. With their hearts. You will be visited by the

Lord of hosts. And those eight words, or whatever it is, they're an amazing,

I think, promise of comfort. Yes, I'm going to bring the...

Yes, I will cause the siege, but I will bring them down, and I will visit you.

The multitudes of all the nations that fight against Ariel. All these nations that fight against Ariel, they are going to be like a dream.

They are going to be like dust. It's going to be like a man waking up who's hungry, not fed, a man who dreams, and wants water, and he's thirsty.

So shall be the multitude of the nations that fight against Mount Zion. He is still sovereign, and Jeff, you've used this word compatibilism to say that he raises up Assyria for his purposes, but yet it's

Assyria doing what's in their heart in the first place. So the judgment that's going to come against Assyria is just.

It's just. They have an insatiable desire to conquest. It goes beyond what doors remain.

Absolutely. So then you ask yourself, why did God bring Assyria to the very doorstep of Jerusalem?

Okay, I'll ask that question. Why did Assyria... Pastor John, why did Assyria... Why did

God bring Assyria to the very doorstep of Jerusalem? He asked first. Yeah. Why did he do that?

I think you already said it. Get their attention. They've been doing wrong.

Get their attention. And then why did he turn them away?

Why did he not let the attack succeed? Give them time.

The ultimate... His mercy. His mercy is the answer. It's absolutely the answer.

But the ultimate defiance, the abomination and desecration hadn't happened yet. The God of glory was still there.

And God's presence with his covenant people, it was still there. It was getting close. But he does pull them back.

Give me verses 9 through 16. Spiritual dullness. Astonish yourselves and be astonished.

Blind yourselves and be blind. Be drunk, but not with wine. Stagger, but not with strong drink.

For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.

When men give it to one who can read, saying, read this, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.

And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, read this, he says,

I cannot read. And the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.

Therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.

Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark and who say, who sees us, who knows us?

You turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay that the thing made should say of its maker, he did not make me, or the thing formed, say of him who formed it, he has no understanding.

That kind of sounds like the end of the book of Job. You know, where were you when I created the foundations of the earth?

He starts this section out by just putting it right out there. You people are spiritually dull.

You are spiritually blind. You're drunk with wine, but you're not drunk with wine.

You're just, you are so incomprehending of everything that's going around you. And so the

Lord is pouring on you. This is the people's style.

This is the people's choice. And so God is saying, okay, fine, go there. And it's a lot like Romans.

I gave unto the people what they asked for and the deepness of it.

Verse 11, I think as an indication, the vision of this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.

I think that what we have here is an allusion to the fact, did you guys see what happened to your northern brethren?

And I'm giving you these words. I'm giving to you so that you can read them and understand them.

And all they can say is, I can't read. All of the lessons, all of the teaching, all of the exhortations,

I'm dull, I'm dull. I can't see, I can't read. The message is not coming through.

And that's who he's calling them. And then verse 13,

I think nails what's going on. Give me 13 one more time. And the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.

All that they have, all that they have and all that they're relying on are the things that people tell them.

It would be like if your entire spiritual health and spiritual walk depended on Pastor Jeff preaching.

Now, that's a good thing. But you need more than that. You need to be doing it yourself.

And you need to be doing more than just hearing it. He says here, their hearts are far from me.

That's the exhortation of this chapter. And the Lord said, because these people draw near with their mouth, they're doing the actions, and honor me, but only with their lips.

There's really no drawing near to be found. And there's no honor given.

Because there's no heart. Hearers, but not doers. Hearers, but not doers.

Absolutely. And all that they do and all that they really respond to is what people have written down or what people have taught to them.

What's the first and greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

And then Jesus said, the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. They could have gotten those two.

What did Jesus say? And on these hang all the rest of the commands. And so there's no heart.

Then in verse 14 is an interesting indication.

Therefore I will do wonderful things among them. I'm sitting there going, yes!

Great! He's going to give us sight. He's going to heal our hearts. He's going to do all of these things.

What's the wonderful thing that He's going to do for them? He's going to destroy the wisdom of their wise men.

And that is a wonderful thing. It is a wonderful thing. It is. Purging of the walls. Yes. Purging of it.

Absolutely. Without the wisdom of the wise men, what will the people be left with?

Well, okay, what they should have had in the first place. Yahweh. Yes. Or no way.

For them it's no way. From no way to Yahweh. I've got to write that one down.

I'll give you credit for that one. That is a wonderful thing.

To have the reality that the sovereign God is going to befuddle the wisdom of the wise men and the discerning of the discerning men is going to be gone.

It's going to disappear. And they're going to go, as Bob said, from no way to Yahweh.

And that's a good direction to go. Verses 15 and 16 now is going to challenge them against self -assurance.

We have people that are saying, well, who sees? Who knows? And then there's this warning against the clay thinking they're better than the potter.

Because who forms them, who helps them, who takes care of them is the potter.

They are not to the potter. Or the thing formed, say of him who formed it, he has no understanding.

It's this arrogant, almost thumbing their nose at God. You don't know what

I'm going through. Now I've got my wise men and everything else. Well, God is going to deal with this spiritual dullness.

And now we get into a promise. 17 starts out with, it is not yet a very little while.

Something's going to happen. Something's going to happen. And there's going to be a restoration that's going to happen yet in a little while.

Now, there are at least two. I found two interpretations for this yet in a little while.

Because we're going to see things like Lebanon turning into a fruitful land and the death here.

The ruthless shall come to nothing in verse 20. There seems to be a reconciliation of righteousness against the evil that's prevailing.

Now, one of the interpretations, if you go to Isaiah 37, verses 36 to 38, is a description of the defeat of Assyria.

We talked about Assyria laying siege, Sennacherib going back, getting killed.

Assyria being defeated. That is one interpretation because the beginning of this chapter,

Ariel, oh Ariel, it's talking about God using the nation of Assyria in judgment against the people.

And it's not a bad interpretation to say, well, Assyria's going to get their judgment.

So that's not a bad interpretation. Another interpretation, if you read verses 20 and 21, it goes again, please, 29.

20 and 21? Yes, please. For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffers cease.

And all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

The word, the emphasis of this sounds like total reconciliation and total removal of the evil that turns against God.

The scoffers shall cease. Not be put aside. The scoffers shall, all who watch to do evil shall be cut off.

All who watch to do evil shall be cut off. And on the strength of those verses, the other interpretation of this is this is a millennial promise.

I tend to think that both of them are applicable in that for the nation of Israel, they're going to get to see

Assyria get their comeuppance, but their ultimate promise isn't going to be completely fulfilled until God sets things right and Jesus sits on the throne for a thousand years on earth.

Scripture does this a lot. It gives us a short mountain peak, but then the ultimate, and I think that's what we've got here in this section.

Yet in a little while, Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field. Things are going to be good. And that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book.

Those who said, I can't read, now they're going to be able to hear the words of the book.

Out of their gloom and darkness, the blind eyes shall see. Those who were drunk and undiscerning, now it's going to be made.

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord. There are promises of restoration.

The poor among mankind shall exalt the Holy One of Israel.

There is this projection of time.

It sounds, when I read that, the poor among mankind shall exalt the

Holy One as opposed to while their hearts are far from me.

So there is a healing of this disjointedness between man and God.

What we have here, I believe, is a promise that the Sovereign Lord, in His timing, and I go back to Psalm 74.

We read that at the beginning of it. Verses 2 and 3. It's in His time.

It's in His time. Now we're looking here again at approximately 712

B .C. We're looking here in the middle of Hezekiah's time. And Hezekiah is going to go down a bad path, but he's going to come back, and he's going to call on the prophet

Isaiah, and the prophet Isaiah is going to speak to him. Now, what's going to happen is not going to happen for a while.

Assyria is going to have this final attack and this final siege, siege towers.

Ben Sennacherib gets called back to the home office and he gets killed. Then Babylon, and then eventually the fall.

But in the midst of this is a sovereign God, and He says, yet in a little while. He defines a little while.

He defines a little while. But the depth of the promises are pretty, pretty significant.

We're going to close, then, just reading 22 to 24, Jeff, if you would do that. Yes. Therefore, thus says the

Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall no more be ashamed.

No more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will sanctify my name.

They will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the

God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding. And those who murmur will accept instruction.

This starts out with, all right, I'm setting up the validity and the reason why you should.

You remember what I did for Abraham? You remember how I took care of him? I'm that same God. Jacob is going to be given honor.

There'll be no more shame. God's going to take care of His people. And the people are going to respond standing in awe of their

God with true understanding that He bestows upon them.

My closing takeaway, the sovereign God judges in righteousness, leads His people to truth, and ultimately,

He's the one that will make the blind to see. Do you want to close in prayer? Absolutely.

Father God, thank You so much for this encouraging word, Lord. Our eyes are out toward the millennium.

We're looking for Your kingdom reign where righteousness will cover the earth like waters cover the sea, where the knowledge of the

Lord will cover the earth. Lord, we delight in that, and we thank You that You were faithful to accomplish that for a period of time after defeating the

Assyrians in a short -lived revival there in Jerusalem. But Lord, we look for that kingdom of peace where righteousness reigns forever.

Lord, until that day, let us be building with hearts that are on fire for You, Lord, not lukewarm hearts that are apathetic and cold and dull.

Lord, we pray that we would be alert and aware of the times, and Lord God, that Your Holy Spirit would burn in our hearts.