Isaiah Lesson 60

Good afternoon. We're gathered again together with Isaiah. Pastor Jeff had to start the camera, so he's come back to join us. Continuing in Lesson 60, Pastor.

Yes, Lesson 60. My kids said, when my father-in-law clicked on our Cornerstone channel on YouTube, on his TV, and he said he's going to click one of these sermons, and my kid said, oh, I've seen them all.

So I said, wait a minute, I don't think you've seen Isaiah yet. I think we have 60 episodes you have to catch up on. So they're like, no! They thought they were caught up. I think one of the things that.

We talked about, which, you know, maybe somewhere next year when people have time, will be to take our website and to divide it into tab sections. That'll be an Isaiah section, and we're going to talk a little bit about next year, where we've been considering some specialty topics.

We would call them like a university class, and so maybe take a Wednesday or two to talk about, because I think you were asked to teach one on evangelism. Yeah, yes, I would love to do that. And so then maybe have a section, a tab, where our university classes or whatever, but what's the over-under for how many lessons it's going to take?

I'm going to set it over-under, and you can choose over or under, all right? So we're about two-thirds of the way through. We're in 60. I'm going to put the over-under at 90. I'll take the under. Okay, so it depends on how many times I.

Teach and you teach. Yeah, I'll try to speed it up and slow it down to try to win the bet. Would you open us in prayer, brother, and then I'll get in. Lord, it is.

Awesome to be here, and it is awesome to be with our brothers and sisters who want to chew the truth of Scripture and grow by what it's taught. We're not just taking a class so that we can have information.

We know, Lord, that in our world today, there are false gods who have their methods, and sometimes they're very, very subtle. We pray for protection as we continue in this section, the trial of the false gods, to have a reality that you are Yahweh, and we pray that these lessons would help us to have our focus on the God who cares for us.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The largest open drug.

Market in the country is in Kensington in Philadelphia right now. People will walk the streets and openly shoot up. There are drug dealers being made, you know, right there in open view. Yes, I was there, and we lived within, you know, just a block of Kensington Avenue, and the only thing that kept me on this side of that situation, and any of you, the same thing, the only thing that has carried us to where we are is grace.

There's nothing different in any of us than those who are like walking zombies in Philadelphia. Often what happens is a person is coping with pain in their life. Perhaps there's some anxiety disorder.

Perhaps there is a great loss, or maybe a child is raised in an abusive home. Maybe there's some other situation like that, and when they get a little bit older, they begin to try to dull that pain. Maybe it's just going to drinking parties in high school, and they begin to look to alcohol as a crutch to help them deal with the pain of life.

Somebody suggests they smoke pot, and they try that, and at some point this gateway opens up to harder drugs, and instead of carrying them through the anxiety, or the pain, or the difficulty of their childhood, what ends up happening is that thing that they relied on becomes an even heavier burden.

It turns around and enslaves them instead of setting them free. They looked for alcohol to carry them, and there's many young moms who just begin to have a drink of wine at night to take the edge off of the day and to de-stress, but a decade later they're an alcoholic, and alcohol has become their master.

The idols of the nations promise to save and to help, and many people look to idols to find deliverance, and they never do. In fact, they do the opposite. They become the burden. As we sit here as saved people, walking in the Holy Spirit, forgiven and cleansed and upheld, we should testify that from the womb, it was the Lord's grace that carried us.

He gave us the grace of a womb to begin with, a protected place in a mother to grow and develop. Yes, as we were carried in the wombs of our mother, every step that we've taken in this life, we've been carried.

Who knows the footprints poem? You guys like that footprints poem? I love that poem. It's quaint, but it's beautiful. You know, the idea that a man looking back on his life, he sees the tracks of him walking with God, but there comes these certain places along the road where there's only one set of tracks, and it corresponds to the most difficult times in your life.

And so he asks, God, why is there only one set of tracks there? Did you leave me? And he says, I was carrying you all the while. So footprints is a great way to think about it. We have been carried from our youth.

Everything we've been through in this life that could have undone us, he was.

Carrying us. Yes. Okay, go ahead. It's about how Jesus, you know, was the one solitary life, and made all the difference in the world. Jesus came in grace and truth. The truth is we all deserve hell. If it wasn't for grace,.

That's where we would be going. Amen. But for the grace of God, there go I. We've been carried all the while, and we were carried unto salvation, because our God actually saves. When you call upon his name, he hears you.

He answers, and he saves you. He is a God who hears and who saves. Let's read about it in Isaiah 46. So John, could I call on you for the first two verses? And then Barbara, if you could begin to look for Hebrews 3, 16 to 19, or you could just read it right out.

Of the notes there. So,.

The Trial of the False Gods in Isaiah 46

Bell bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are on beasts and livestock. These things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop, they bow down together. They cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.

Bell bows down. Nebo stoops. The picture here is the idols of the nations either being taken away, captive, or just moved from place to place. They're laid down and tied up to a camel or a donkey. They gotta take their gods with them.

So it says, Bell bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are on beasts and livestock. These things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. Poor beasts, says Rich. So look at their posture, first of all.

They stoop. And the idea there in verse 2, they stoop, they bow down together. It ought to be the other way around. The idea here is a true God ought to be worshiped. We should be the ones bowing down, but here is a so-called God that's bowing down.

They have to lay them flat and tie them on with straps and bring them along on a camel. They're bowing, that's the posture. But moreover, look on. It says, they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.

The gods of the nations, Bell, Nebo, any other idol made by hands is only an idol. It cannot save. Itself goes into the burden, is a burden, and goes into captivity. So if you would, Barbara, would you read Hebrews 3, 16 to 19?

For those who live, for who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt, led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Okay, the first.

Generation of Israelites coming out of Egypt failed to enter into God's rest, and you remember why. They had wicked hearts that refused to believe God. Instead, as soon as Moses went up the mountain, what did they do?

They made a gold calf. They were chasing after the idols of the nations, the wrong God. They were looking for rest to a false God, and so they heard and yet rebelled. They left Egypt led by Moses, and they provoked the Lord for 40 years.

The Lord promises us rest. In fact, the whole concept of the Sabbath is rest. You work for six days, you rest on the seventh, and that is a picture of God working for six days and resting on the seventh, and ultimately that whole pattern is to point us to Christ, because he is a true God that we can come to and in him find rest from our work, but there's no rest for the weary in the idols of Bel and Neba.

Notice they can't save from the captor. In fact, the idols themselves can be taken captive by the captor. They cannot save the burden. There are many false gods in the world that promise to lift the burden.

I open this teaching with alcohol. How many people have believed that alcohol would take the edge off of the burden of this life, only to find that it became the heaviest burden in their life? How many people have looked to drugs to mitigate their pain and suffering?

Many people turn to the things of this earth to cope with the difficulties of this life. Ralph, you're a sports guy. You ever seen anybody turn to sports to cope with life? Well, they immerse themselves in it.

Exactly. You know, to the exclusion of reality. Yep, and of course John Calvin said our hearts are idol factors. We can make idols out of anything, whether it be sports or alcohol or drugs or any other thing in life that gives you some pleasure.

As soon as you begin to trust in that thing to give you rest and turn to it, it becomes an idol, but it cannot deliver. It cannot keep you out of captivity. It cannot keep you out of hell. And it becomes a burden.

It adds to your pain, even though it promises to take that pain away. So, Ivan, would you read three and four for us? Now, think about that. The idols can't lift the burden, but now look in comparison, verses three and four.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob and all the.

Remnants of the house of Israel, you who have been born by me from birth and have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you. I have done it and I will carry you, and I will bear you and I will deliver you.

This is the God who carries us and saves.

Us. He is not a burden to us. He is the one that carries our burdens. And it says here, from the womb to the gray hair. I remember when my son was only four years old, we were in the park and we saw some runners go by, and so we followed them along.

We ended up talking to the coach, and it was the Mount Moral Striders. They were a cross-country team, and he was only four years old, but the coach let him start running with them. But as a four-year-old he couldn't quite keep up, so I would run with the little kids in the back of the pack, and little Timmy couldn't quite keep up because he's four years old running with six, seven, eight, nine-year-olds.

So he would run as long and as hard as he could, and then he'd start to fall behind, and I'd be right behind him, and I would pick him up, and I just jog along behind the pack, and he would catch his breath, his legs would get strong, and after about a minute of running that way my arms were all tired, I set him down, and there he goes again keeping up.

And lo and behold, by the time this two-mile run is over, he's kept up with the big kids. Of course, a big part of that time he was carried by his father. In that imagery, we see what this life is really like.

God is with us all the time. Our Father is with us, and when we can't, He can. And the beautiful imagery here is from the womb, it says in verse three, all the way to gray hairs. Thank God for that. John brings the amen.

I'm starting to bring the amen from my chinny chin chin there. But that's a crown of glory, the Proverbs says, John. The gray hair is a crown of glory. Yeah, yeah, he's got a crown, doesn't he? So it says, listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel.

Even in those days of slavery, imagine the burden of making these bricks for Pharaoh. Imagine the struggles. Imagine that all of their hopes were put in a deliverer, and this baby, Moses, born to save, would have to be called Moses because he was drawn out of water.

There was no ability for Israel to save themselves. Moses at one point, as an infant, as a child, was put in a basket and cast upon the waters. What an image that is. Their Savior, completely in the hands of God.

Nothing can keep that basket from tipping, from an alligator, from being overwhelmed by the flood. You're on fire today, Rich. I can hardly keep up with my own teaching. A tasty snack. Amen. And that's the point here.

From infancy, he was carried along in a basket, and in the providence of God, this unseen hand, he was drawn out. The daughter of Pharaoh. Yeah, the daughter of Pharaoh pulls him out, and he becomes the deliverer for Israel.

So he carries us from the womb, but not just from the beginning, all the way to the tomb, and then into eternity. Look at verse 4. Even to your old age, I am he. There comes a point when all of us become physically unable to care for ourselves, and that's probably a more scary proposition for us as adults than the same concept is for a toddler, because a toddler doesn't know that he's dependent.

He doesn't even realize that his dad carried him for half that run, you know. But when you're older, you've lived life, and you feel the loss of your ability to be self-sufficient, and that's a hard thing, and especially with a debilitating disease.

You know, my mom with Parkinson's, and many of us have have experienced that. When you see someone who used to be the rock, and the one who cared for everybody else, now needing to be carried again. This is the image here.

From the womb, helpless in the womb, until you breathe your last breath, he will carry you. So there's nothing to fear in aging, because the same one who cared for us, when we didn't even know any different, he will see us through.

It says, even to your old age, and look what he says, I am he. Again, this ego-a-me, this concept that I'm the one. I'm the sufficient one. Your sufficiency comes from me. I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear.

He's the one that made you, and he's the one that will carry you. I will carry, and I will save. I love that image, when you contrast that with every other God. Nebo bows down and stoops. Has to be carried along on a beast of burden.

So it is with every God of the nations, that people look to for help. They cannot save. It makes me feel bad for them. You know, the addict on Kensington Avenue, that's looking again and again to the same source, but it never saves.

It only becomes a heavier burden. The Muslim who's looking to Allah, but never finds love. The Hindu, who has a million gods, but not one of them speaks. Thank you. Really? Yeah, 330 million gods in Hinduism, okay?

None of them can save. We have something that the world lacks, and it's the difference. And that is, we have the true God of Israel. So verses five through seven. Oh, before we read that, let's have someone read.

Sandy, I hear you back there chuckling. So you get to read Matthew 11, 29 to 30.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle, and low in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Wow. Isn't it great to serve the God who.

Says, you will find rest for your souls. It's important, I also think, to recognize the gospel of everything is love, everything is going to be good. That's not the gospel, because you do take a yoke.

Yeah, yes, yep. He says, pick up your.

Cross. Right, follow me. Yeah, pick up your cross. Yeah. Joyce, would you like to read five.

Through seven? Sure. It says, to whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god.

Then they fall down and worship. They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer, or save him from his trouble.

Amen.

Again, what is this section called? Isaiah 40 to 48. I say it every week. Anybody know? Yes, close, close. John's got it. The trial of false gods. He's putting the idols on trial. And what is the evidence that they are no gods at all?

Here he gives five pieces of evidence. One, they can be bought. Two, they need to be carried. Three, they're stuck, they're immobile. Number four, they're mute, they can't speak. And number five, the big one that this all leads to, there's no salvation.

So look at this in verse five. To whom will you liken me and make me equal? The idols, rich, are unable to do any of the things that the true God can do. So to whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me that we may be alike?

So God here, he is putting the idols on trial, and he does that to display his own glory and what sets him apart as unique. He is the true God that can't be bought, that can't be carried, that's never stuck, that always answers when we call, and he is the only God who saves.

Verse six, those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith. And he makes it into a god. Then they fall down and worship. Isn't that just rich? They pay.

Money. It reminds me of a teacher, Demetrius yelling, greatest Artemis in the Ephesians.

Yeah, sure. Greatest Artemis, yeah. So they bow down and worship the thing that they.

Just bought. I don't understand the psychology of the whole thing, because if these gods never do anything for them, they never answer, they don't give them salvation, they don't give them hope, why do they continue?

It's a.

Stronghold. In fact, the deceiver is himself deceived. We talked about this on Sunday with the illustration I gave of the powwows of the Indians. They actually believed that these spirits could do things.

Because there were demonic forces behind them, the conjurer was deceived, and he might even give some true information. You made this, I told the story on Sunday, you promised that the next deer you killed, you will offer as a sacrifice.

And he didn't. And he didn't do it, and the conjurer said, this is what happened, and he just blew his mind. There was some spiritual power there, but it was a demonic force, and it spoke because Satan actually knows things.

And so there's a deception there, and the person is caught.

In that deception, and so the deceiver is himself deceived. At the root of it, it's two words, it's translated into the English, I will, as opposed to two words that are translated, I am. And as Satan stood before God up in heaven, he said, I will make myself.

But God professed at the burning bush, I am. The idols are, it's basically a continued manifestation of Satan's desire to take God out of the equation. When I say, I will, I will make, I will, I will, I will.

So the first mark here of a.

False god is that it can be bought. There are many in ministry that can be bought. There is a word for it, and that is simony. Simony, it comes from Simon Magus. When Paul encountered him, the false prophet, he would make a prophet selling, or was it Acts 8 when Philip, it was Philip in Acts 8, not 13.

Yes, yes, he was trying to buy the gift of God. Yes, right. That's where we get simony, yes. Simony is where we get simony. So simony is trying to buy. Well, these gods, these false gods are, they're bought with money.

They pay the silversmith and the goldsmith the fashion, and they bow down. Next, they lift it to their shoulders, they carry it. We're looking at verse 7 of Isaiah 46. The false gods need to be carried.

The true God carries you. Next, it cannot move from its place. It's immobile. It's stuck. The true God is never stuck. There is never a conundrum too great for him that has him pinned to the ground. He is free, absolutely sovereignly free.

Next, he's mute. The false God is mute. If one cries to it, it does not answer. Now, some conjurer may try to answer for it, but it can't speak. The idol is mute. And then lastly, it builds to this, or save him from trouble.

There is no salvation. As many times as the Muslim chants to Allah, he will never save. The Hindu God will never save Vishnu. As many times as you try to travel the Eightfold Path of Buddhism and speak of Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha, he'll never save you.

There is no other God that saves. This is the one true God. What does the name Jesus mean? Yahweh is salvation. Yeshua. Yahweh is salvation. He is the one God who saves. So, God here has put the idols on trial, and he himself is exalted in contradistinction with them.

So, verses 8 through 11. Now, we get to the epistemology of the Christian faith. How do we know that our God is the true God? He doesn't ask us to arbitrarily take a blind leap, but rather, he always gives this test, which we've heard again and again.

Rich, how about you read this for us? Verses 8 to 11.

"...end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I shall do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a far country.

Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it.".

So, the Lord appeals to both former things and future things, and he said, he begins this passage with, remember. That word is an important Christian word, to remember. How many times has the Lord carried you?

Can someone share a testimony? Has he carried you through something? What has he brought you through?

When I lost my husband, I mean, I knew right away, I just simply said, God, you're gonna have to carry me because this is a tough one. Yeah. And he did, and to the point that at his memorial service, I could actually stand up and I said, fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me do your will, in spite of my pain, and I could speak the gospel message to all my friends and people who came to that, and that was God, that was not me.

He carried you on eagles' wings. Because I did not have strength at all.

Beautiful. Someone else, what does he carry you? I run a telephone pole, 50 miles an hour. Wow. Yeah. And I'm still here. Could only have been an angel. He carried you. He carried you. My entire life.

Yeah, my head's full. The screws got a little loose upstairs. He carried me through the streets of.

Kensington. I used to walk those streets every night, you know, walking to teen club. Never a hand laid on me. You dodged a lot of bullets. 12 years. Well, we could hear him at night sometimes, yeah. And all of us have that testimony.

Anybody else? What has he.

Carried you through? I got lost at Great Adventure. I was on a class trip. I was.

Eight years old, and I remember being very fearful, and I went to the lost caboose thing, and there were kids a lot smaller than me crying. I was tall for my age, and I decided, well, this is no fun, and I just really felt the companionship of the Lord to the extent that I went out and rode roller coasters and whatever I could until my mom found me at eight o 'clock at night.

If you hear the story from her perspective, it's a lot more dramatic, but I can truly say at eight years old, I knew I was not alone, and I knew I was safe, and I can't explain that other than the Lord was really ministering to my little fearful spirit.

I didn't know what else to do. I tried to find my teacher. Apparently, I went out to the car to make sure the buses were still in the parking lot. I knew to get my hand stamped at eight years old, and I was like, okay, my ride's still here.

I'm not gonna sit around and be afraid. I'm not alone. And enough that I was a blessed little girl that day. It was like the best day of my life. The worst for my parents, but I was okay. That's an amazing story of.

Just being carried. I'm in the palm of his hand. And doesn't he give you that sense of his presence when you need it the most? Yeah. You know he's there, and just this peace comes over you that it's gonna be okay, because he's carrying you.

He said it in Isaiah 40, right? He'll mount you up with wings as eagles. You'll run and not be weary. Walk and not faint. Through cancer, through many trials, many snares, I have already come. His grace has brought me safe thus far.

His grace shall lead me home. From the womb to the tomb, he's carrying us. Remember, and Israel's told, remember, I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you into the promised land. They're to remember.

Now, he moves from past to the future. He's the only God that tells the end from the beginning. He says, for I am God, there is no other. I am God, there is none like me. Verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning.

Just in the last chapter, chapter 45, he said, I will send Cyrus. He calls him by name and says, I tell you his name. And 150 years after saying that, Cyrus is delivering the Jewish people and allowing them back to their homeland.

This is our God. He declares the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, things not yet done. And here's a very key verse to a theology that I hold and I teach regularly. This is a very key verse in verse 10.

And it answers the question, how does God know the future? Okay? It says, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. Did you ever ask yourself, why does God have the ability to make predictive prophecies?

Yes, that's the answer. Not because he learns it by looking down the corridor of history, and therefore his foreknowledge is based on just being omniscient. No, it's that he has a purpose, meaning he's doing it.

He's ordaining it to take place. And this is what's called the counsel of God, or his decree. So the second part of verse 10, it said, this is why he can declare the end from the beginning. This is how he does that.

He says, my counsel shall stand. In other words, if he purposes to do it, then he will. And he can tell what's coming, that Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, because he's purposed that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

And if Joseph has a bad day, and he tries to use his free will to go north instead of south to Bethlehem, to run off to Syria instead of to go be registered, when Quirinius gave the command, God's purpose will stand.

God's purpose will stand. It's not debatable. It's not something which he's only hoping he will accomplish, but can be thwarted by the free will of man. No. The point here is, things happen as predicted, because he actually holds the whole world in his hand.

So another parallel verse to 4710 would be Ephesians 1 .11. If you want to see a New Testament teaching where the same thing is said. In Ephesians 1 .11, who would like to read that for me? Thank you, Sandy.

We could do a word study and see how each of these words reiterate this point. Of course, the big idea in verse 11 is predestination unto salvation. But notice, it goes on to say, you're predestined according to Him, and to the purpose of Him, who works all things.

Not just the salvation of us who believe, but it actually says, His counsel, His purpose, His boulet, His willful plan is meticulous in His providence. It's all encompassing. It's all things. He holds the whole world in His hands.

He is the one who's working a purpose in the world. Rich, can you record the crucifixion of.

Jesus? It says in Acts 2 .23, in being delivered by the determined purpose and.

Foreknowledge of God, you have attained Him by the law of His hands. It wasn't done by men. It was a plan by God from eternity past. Amen. And that foreknowledge is key there as well. It's connected to His determined plan.

Some people will read 1 Peter 1 and say, oh, see, election is according to foreknowledge. Well, read on in 1 Peter 1 to verse 20, where the Son Himself is foreknown. It's not because God learned He had a Son.

He's foreknown in this intimate knowledge before being revealed. So God is working His plan, not learning things and accomplishing plan B, you know, as He works things out. No. His plan A, His boulet, His plan.

So back to Isaiah 46 .10, it's also here. He makes an explicit statement. My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. I love that verse. I love these doctrines, and people wonder why.

Do you know why I love the doctrines of grace and sovereignty? Because it means He has a purpose, and we can trust His purpose. It's something you can rest in. I need to be carried, because I can't carry myself.

I could make an idol and carry that along and ask it to, you know, manipulate the powers like Nebo and Bell, but I need a God who has a purpose and is in control, because if I have that, I have nothing to fear.

I have no anxiety. I don't live my life with anxiety. I think largely because I have a really high view of God's sovereignty. So I know that there's bad things happening, and I'm aware, just like, you know, as much bad stuff happens to me as others, but I think one of the reasons that I've never struggled with anxiety is because of a high view of sovereignty.

Whatever He's doing, there's a purpose in it that He's going to work, and the more we set our eyes on that boule, that plan, the counsel of His will, we recognize, yes, this is going to be painful. When suffering comes, it doesn't feel good, but God is in the suffering, like Job says, though He slay me, yet will I praise Him.

God will allow these painful things, but God has a purpose in it. Now, if you say, well, God's not in that, you know, He's just allowing it, but He can't stop it. It's free will. It's the natural course of things.

Wait a minute. The only thing you've lost in that exchange is purpose. The thing itself is still going to happen. The predestined plan is still going to be worked out. You're not controlling anything.

All you're doing is taking away God's purpose in it. It's Him that's allowing this, that's decreed this to come about this way, and so if He has a purpose, then you can rest, and that's what no other God can deliver.

The Christian God alone can deliver this. All other gods need to be carried on donkeys, but our God is carrying us. Amen? It's beautiful. It all comes together here, and it's a shame that so many Christians have never even read through Isaiah, but when you get into the 46th chapter, and you're learning about His counsel, His plan, His purpose, and then you think, well, what does He compare it to here?

Verse 11, calling a bird of prey from the east. Who's that? Yes, Babalov. Good job. A bird of prey, that's not a very delightful thing to have. You want the turkey on your table at Thanksgiving Day. You don't want the vulture coming after you, right?

When you see one of those really big vultures circling, you don't want to even lay down and play dead, because it might think, you know, it might come get you. I bring my little fluffy white dog inside when you see a bald eagle sitting on the tree looking at it.

I've done that before. It's like, uh-oh, he might be looking for a snack. Rich, you're hungry today. So, a bird of prey, but the reason I stress that, Babalov is coming. That's scary, but what is he saying?

I've decreed the man of my counsel. Remember in the previous verse, my counsel shall stand. Ephesians 111, all things to the counsel of his will. This is his decree. God has decreed that Babylon's coming.

Seventy years, but it's all part of the plan. In fact, that's how he knows it's exactly 70 years. He's decreed it, not because that's as soon as he can get them out. No, he's sending them there for 70 years because they neglected 70 Sabbath years.

They never let the land lay fallow, so he's going to give him 70 years of time out. There's all these purposes are being worked out. He's sending the bird of prey, Nebuchadnezzar and his commanders. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass.

Did it come to pass? Wow, do you realize where we sit in history at the end times? How much we can remember of what God already said and did. Every prophecy of Messiah that's fulfilled in his first coming should make us look to a second coming and say, okay, he's coming riding on a horse with a sword from his mouth, eyes blazing like fire, his robe dipped in blood and on his thigh, king of kings and Lord of lords.

It's coming. He's coming. We should have utmost confidence because he's fulfilled every promise he's ever spoken. I have spoken. I will bring it to pass. I have purpose. I will do it. That's our God. Unlike the false gods of the nations.

God's Sovereign Purpose and Predictive Prophecy

Verses 12 and 13. Let's finish it, John.

You want to read that for us? Listen to me, you stubborn of heart. And he's.

Speaking to Israel. He's speaking to us. We need to be reminded. Why don't you have me read this?