(The Word for Today) Isaiah 21:11 - Part 1 — Chuck Smith

To the word for today. The word for today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament and for those of you following along in your Bibles we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 21 beginning with verse 11 as we continue with an in-depth message entitled the prophecies against Babylon.

Now with today's study. Here's Pastor Chuck.

The Burden of Edom and the Watchman's Warning

We have heard of the Edomites or Idumea and thus the Duma. The burden of Duma or Idumea or Edom. He calleth to me out of Seir. Mount Seir was the prevalent landscape mark of Edom. Watchman what of the night.

And the response. The watchman said the morning is coming but also the night. If you will inquire inquire return and come. After the fall of Babylon the Medo-Persian troops came on down and they took the area of the Edomites.

And thus the cry. Watchman what of the night. The morning is coming. But there's darkness. There's the darkness that is going to come. The night is going to actually precede and follow. The days that are coming upon Edom are days of destruction.

Arabia, Dedan, and the Refugees of War

And then he goes on to Arabia. The burden upon Arabia in the forest. And that would be the bramble bushes in Arabia shall you lodge. There really are no forest in Arabia as you've perhaps seen some of the pictures of our troops over in Arabia.

Now no forest they're just sand and bramble bushes. And so in the bramble bushes in Arabia shall you lodge. O ye traveling companies of Dedan. Dedan M. Of course the M is a plural. Dedan is the singular.

Dedan is the area of Saudi Arabia. I point that out. For when we get to Ezekiel chapter 38 and we come to the Russian invasion of the Middle East we find that Sheba and Dedan or Arabia are objecting to Russia's move into the Middle East.

And so here is the companies of Dedan M. Now the I am is a plural. So it is the people plural of Dedan. The inhabitants of the land of Tima brought water unto him. Now Tima is there in the south in the Negev.

And it would seem that the refugees were fleeing as the result of the invasion. As every war seems to create its refugees who are trying to escape from the battle. So these refugees seeking to escape out of Arabia and thirsty in that desert land the people from Tima brought water to them and provided bread for them that were fleeing for they had fled from the swords that had were drawn swords and from the bent bow and from the grievousness of war.

For thus hath the Lord said unto me within a year according to the years of a hiring that is exactly a year and all the glory of Kedar shall fail. And the residue of the number of archers the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be diminished.

Jerusalem and the Valley of Vision

For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it. Then going into chapter 22 the burden of the Valley of Vision. Now the Valley of Vision is one of the valleys around Jerusalem probably a valley from which you get a good view of the city of Jerusalem thus called the Valley of Vision you get the vision of Jerusalem.

It could be the upper portion of the Kidron Valley from which you get an excellent view of Jerusalem. What aileth thee. Now that you are wholly gone up to the housetops. Now as he looks at Jerusalem as he sees Jerusalem he sees the people there on their housetops.

Now if you go today to Jerusalem and you walk along the city wall and you look down into the backyards of the places there and you look on the rooftops. Now the rooftops are flat and they usually serve as the patios for the people.

You will find on the rooftops garden furniture. You'll even find gardens. You'll see the clotheslines and the ladies hanging their clothes on. And you'll see the ladies mopping the rooftops and it's a place for the children to play.

It's a place for their outdoor entertainment. Their outdoor eating is done on the rooftops. And so as the prophet is looking at Jerusalem from this Valley of Vision he sees the people on the rooftops or the housetops.

Partying During Jerusalem's Siege

And thou that art full of stirs a tumultuous city a joyous city. For your slain men are not slain with a sword nor dead in the battle. Now the amazing thing to the prophet is that there's all of this partying and all that is going on in the midst of troublous times the city is under siege and many of the people are going to die as the result of this siege.

It is thought historically that this is the time of the siege of Shennekereb who had come with the Assyrian forces and who had surrounded the city of Jerusalem and had cut off the supplies and the people felt that their doom was inevitable and so they figured well we might as well party till we die.

We're gonna die so let's just eat and drink for tomorrow we're gonna die. And thus they were there on their rooftops. There was a city of partying a joyous city. And yet the people were not to be slain with the sword but by the starvation as the result of the siege all of your rulers tried to flee together but they were caught by the archers and bound and all that are found in thee are bound together which tried to flee far away.

Now it would seem that many of the rulers of the city when it was surrounded by the Assyrians there they were probably the politicians. They all tried to flee. They were caught however and were bound together.

So Isaiah as he sees this is torn up by it. Therefore I said look away from me for I will weep bitterly. Don't try to comfort me because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. Isaiah saw it from a wholly different perspective.

He saw it was a time of national calamity. Was a time when yes it was true there destruction was eminent. It would appear it would appear there was no escaping. They were closed in. And here are the people in the rooftops partying and having a great time.

And Isaiah can see the the coming destruction. And and he's weeping bitterly. And people say oh that's alright that's alright. Don't try to comfort me. He is grieving because of the spoiling that is going to take place.

For it is a day of trouble a day of treading down a day of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision breaking down the walls and of the crying to the mountains. People fleeing to the mountains and crying to the mountains for covering them.

Jerusalem's Defenses and the House of the Forest

A day of trouble day of perplexity. And Elam Persia bear the quiver with the chariots of the men and horsemen of Kerr that it uncovered in the shield. And it shall come to pass that your choicest valley shall be full of chariots.

No horsemen will set themselves in array at the gate. And he discovered the covering of Judah. The dust is looking that day to the armor of the house of the forest. Now the armory there in Jerusalem built by Solomon with cedars from Lebanon was called the house of the forest because the wood came out of the forest of Lebanon.

And and they were looking to their own power rather than looking to the Lord. He is saying that these valleys around Jerusalem will soon be covered with the enemies. The tents of the enemies. The troops of the Assyrians will soon be arriving and filling the valley surrounding the city of Jerusalem cutting off the supplies.

And the people know that the Assyrian forces actually here are on their way. And yet they don't seem to be really concerned. War is eminent. It doesn't seem to bother them. You've seen also the breaches of the city of David that there are many.

The walls were in a state of disrepair. You've gathered together the waters of the lower pool that is the pool of Siloam. You've numbered the houses Jerusalem in the houses you've broken down to fortify the wall.

So he tells about their endeavors to to defend the city. First of all the fortifying the walls as they tore down the houses to do so now today they have come across the broad wall that is mentioned in Nehemiah and the wall that is referred to here and Hezekiah's time.

The wall of Nehemiah is build up to it and you can see where the junction comes. But also next to this wall of Hezekiah's time you can see the remains are the foundations of the houses that were destroyed in order that they might take the rocks from those houses to use them in the building of the wall.

So that which Isaiah is speaking about here is something that you can see in Jerusalem today. Looking down at this excavation you can see the foundations of these little houses that were destroyed in order that they might build the wall.

Trusting God Rather Than Human Strength

You've made also the ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. And that's on the upper side that they brought through the Teropian Valley. But you have not looked into the maker thereof.

Neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. Who was the one who put the spring there. You haven't looked to God. The thrust of the complaint is is that you are trusting in everything you can do to defend yourself.

But you're not trusting in God. And what a common mistake that is. How often we do the same thing. We put our trust in man. We put our trust in the arm of flesh and we don't trust in the Lord. It is better to put your trust in God than your confidence in man.

Better to put your trust in the Lord than your confidence in princes. And and here they were taking the things that God had created seeking to shield them from the view of the enemy and all. And and working with God's creation but not really aware of God or conscious of God are not really looking to God as their source of help and their source of strength.

We think of the lyrics of that song the arm of flesh shall fail you. You dare not trust your own. And we must learn to look to God and lean upon the Lord for our strength. David said the Lord is my defense.

The Lord will defend you. And we need to remember that. And we need to allow the Lord to be our defense. I have found that whenever I seek to defend myself the Lord will let me. And it's always disastrous.

But if I will just trust in the Lord he will be my defense. He will be my shield. He's never let me down. Friends have let me down all let me tell you. No I won't but the Lord has never let me down. And so the complaint of Isaiah was that the people were making all of these preparations from the physical standpoint but they weren't really seeking after God in the time of national peril.

Now I think about our nation today and the national peril that we face. And I look at how we are again looking at diplomacy. We're looking at the military build-up. We're looking to the military sort of to the armory you might say like they did in that day they open the armory there in the the house of the forest in Jerusalem.

And they were looking to these things for their strength rather than looking to God for their strength and for their help. And so in verse 12. And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping to mourning to baldness.

God's Call to Mourning and Repentance

In this girding with sackcloth God was seeking to bring the circumstances that would force the people to turn to him. And I do believe that God oftentimes uses trials difficult situations to force us to him.

There was a book written several years ago called crowded to Christ. When I read it I didn't like it because he told how that often God uses adverse circumstances to forces to come to Jesus Christ to crowd us to Christ.

And that's the idea of the book how that circumstances oftentimes sort of crowd us to Jesus Christ. And perhaps you've gone through those kind of circumstances that have forced you to your knees. The Lord wants us to call upon him.

Now I have found that if we will call upon him many times these experiences can be averted walking in close fellowship and communion with the Lord. He'll watch over you he'll take care of you. Start getting independent going your own way.

The Lord will just pull on the reins a bit. You wow that hurts you know don't like that. You remember when David in Psalm 32 was talking about his experience of trying to hide his sin with Bathsheba when I sought to cover it he said the heavy hand of God was upon me day and night my moisture turned into the drought of summer.

And he describes how how barren spiritually barren his life had become. And he said then I said I will call upon the Lord. I will confess my sin. And he said you forgave me my sin. Then the Lord spoke to David in Psalm 32 and he said David don't be like a mule whose mouth must be kept with a bridle lest it step on you.

I will guide you with my eye. So what the Lord was saying is David be sensitive to me don't be stubborn don't force me to use painful processes to get you in the right path. Now it is so important that you walk in the right path.

God will use painful processes if necessary. But he does that reluctantly. God's not sadistic he's not fiendish. He doesn't delight in bringing these hardships into your life. But if you're going in the wrong direction if you are pursuing a dangerous path the Lord loves you so much he will not allow you to destroy yourself.

And he will use if necessary the painful processes in order to get you around to the right path with David. It was a very painful process. It was actually the death of the child and this dry spiritual experience.

But the Lord said don't be like a mule don't be stubborn David. I will guide you with my eye. I don't want to have to use the bit and the bridle to to keep you in line. And so the Lord was calling the people to prayer.

He was calling them to mourning and weeping repenting before God. The boldness was the vow of the Nazarite the shaving of the heads to take the vow unto the Lord of consecration. Lord will give our lives to you will consecrate ourselves to you Lord.

And that's what God was calling for the people to really commit their lives to the Lord. And and God allowed the Assyrians to come and and them to go through this bitterness of this siege in order that they might turn to God.

Fatalism Instead of Seeking God

But behold there was joy there was gladness. There was the slaying of the ox and the killing of sheep. There was the eating of flesh in the drinking of wine. And there was the attitude let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die rather than in their calamity and distress.

Turning to God they turned to the flesh. They said well we're gonna die anyhow. And that's the attitude they took rather than calling upon God rather than seeking God repenting and turning to God. They took a fatalistic attitude towards the whole situation.

We're gonna die so we might as well just live it up. And the fatalistic attitude was fatal.

Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few closing comments but first I'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or CD. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or CD number C3251.

Again that's tape or CD number C3251. As we come to a close in today's program we'd like to introduce a new book by Pastor Chuck Smith written especially for today's young generation. Do you have what it takes to abstain from the immorality of our culture.

Would you stand up for Jesus Christ in a group of complete strangers what about in a group of your closest friends. It definitely takes a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. The word for today presents Pastor Chuck Smith's new book standing up in a fallen world a Bible study based on the book of Daniel a young man who took a stand for righteousness in a time when he could have lost his life.

Filled with encouragement and application Pastor Chuck teaches a powerful message for today's young adults between the ages of 12 and 20 urging them to stand up against the compromise in the world today and get ready for the Lord's coming.

And now for the first time the word for today is made available. Clothing t-shirts beanies and hats for a limited time only equipping young adults to witness and revive their generation. Also available as a study guide especially designed for students and family devotions.

To order your copy of Pastor Chuck's new book standing up in a fallen world the clothing apparel and study guide. You can call the word for today at 1 -800 -272-WORD. Or write to us at PO Box 8000 Costa Mesa California 92628.

Once again that number to call is 1 -800 -272 -9673. And for those of you that would like to visit our website you can do so at www .twft .com. Or if you'd like to email us you can do so at info at twft .com.

Well coming up next time. On the word for today Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah. That's coming up next time. On the word for today.

A Prayer for National Repentance

Closing comments. Here's Pastor Chuck. God not only turned his back outlawed you. We can understand oh God why you would be justified in turning your back on our nation. Lord as your people we cry to you that you God would work your mighty work even in these days.

Begin it Lord in our hearts and take us Lord from a half-hearted relationship into a full blown relationship with you Lord. Forgive us our backslidings our sins heal Lord and may we go forth as your people proclaiming your righteousness to this dying world.

In Jesus name we pray Amen.

This program is sponsored by the word for today the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa California.