Jack Hibbs - A Time of Decision
Introduction to Isaiah Chapter 33
Well, you guys, grab your Bibles tonight and turn to Isaiah chapter 33—a chapter that is one of the most difficult chapters to teach on. Literally tremendous. I encourage you later: if you get absolutely nothing out of this message tonight, I will not be surprised. Because if you were to click on to your favorite Bible teacher or go get a book on this great book of the Bible, the book of Isaiah, this is one of those chapters where very little is written. The authors just kind of touch on the background and off they go. And it's tough stuff.
Many great scholars, Hebrew scholars, will mention that there are verses here—and there are several verses here—where they're not sure what Isaiah is speaking about. When we come to that, as we will tonight, what are we supposed to do?
Encouragement from the Old Testament
Number one: the Bible tells us—and I'm going from memory right now, so forgive me; it just comes into my mind—but in Romans chapter 15, possibly around verse 4-ish, the Bible says that whatsoever things were written beforehand were written for our learning, that we might inherit these promises, that we'd have patience in inheriting these promises. And when Paul says to the church at Rome “whatever things were written beforehand,” he's talking about the Old Testament.
That when we read the things of the Old Testament, we are to be encouraged, we're to be patient, and we're to grab on to these things. Now we know that the Holy Spirit's the author of the Bible. So when we read chapter 33 and study it tonight, there are things that He will be talking about that's looming over the nation of Israel—and also specifically Judah.
Isaiah was the prophet predominantly to Judah, the southern two tribes: Judah and Benjamin. But the fact that he's going to go from one thought in one verse and then he's going to go way out to the end-of-day times—yet future for us—it's hard to track. And he's speaking... He goes from speaking things—quite frankly, you're going to be much more easily recognizing the things of the future. Because, and I think this is of God, I think this is God's wisdom for us: we're closer to the end of those things that He speaks about than the things of the past that are 3000 years ago.
When He speaks about those things that were very soon to happen to them 3000 years ago, those were the things—are you with me?—that back then they would have said, “Oh, we recognize that, we know that.” But when Isaiah speaks about that stuff in the future, we don't get it. Here we are 3000 years down the road on the timeline—we don't get so much what he talked about back then, but we kind of see more what he was talking about in the future. It's quite amazing.
Regardless of what era you're living in, it's always a time to make a decision to follow the Lord.
Woe to the Assyrian King
So chapter 33—and please, if you get bored just for the next 55 minutes, think for a moment you're just getting put to sleep in a history class right now—but chapter 33 is a prophecy against—and by the way, it's the last woe of this segment—where it is a prophecy against, again, the Assyrian Empire led by King Sennacherib. We've mentioned his name in the past, and you might say, “What's the guy's name? King Sennacherib?” You can Google him later. Museums are full of this guy—literally. I'll show you some stuff tonight.
But let's just dive into it. Look at verse one. He says, “Woe to you”—and you can write in your notes: Sennacherib, to this king, the king of Assyria. That's who the prophet is putting the woe upon. It's a strong word in the Hebrew. It also appears in the Greek language. Jesus said, for example, “Woe unto you, Bethsaida.” He warns about the little seaport villages of the Galilee that had miracles done in them in Jesus's day that didn't believe. And Jesus said, “Woe to you, Bethsaida... Chorazin,” because if the miracles would have been done in Sodom and Gomorrah that had been done in you in this town, then Sodom and Gomorrah would have believed. You guys saw miracles and you don't believe. Woe unto you.
And the word “woe” means condemned—be you—or damned be you. Strong words from the mouth of Jesus and from the prophet Isaiah: condemned be you.
Judgment on the Plunderer
“Woe who plunder,” verse one, “though you have not been plundered.” So you don't know what it's like to be plundered, but you're the plunderer. You've been successful all your days. “And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you. When you cease plundering, you will be plundered, and when you make an end of dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you.”
What is he saying? Because Israel—watch—Israel's in the north. They did not obey God. They did not obey the prophets that were warning them. They were taken captive by the Assyrian Empire under Sennacherib. Now he's pointing down to the rich, fertile areas of the south. He's going after the two final tribes. So he's got his eyes set on the Divided Kingdom now down south—Judah. He's going to conquer that.
And God has been warning Judah over and over again, but they're not repenting. They're rich. It's where the temple is at. They think there's no way anything could happen to us—we're God's favorite. And they listen, so to speak, right? They were like Sunday believers, and then on Monday they were back to their old ways, and they didn't think about God until Sunday again. Well, of course, I'm speaking about Jews, and it would have been for them Friday evening to Saturday evening. But they got all religious, but they didn't live for God outside that time of worship. They disobeyed God.
And now the very one who is the enemy of Judah is coming to be a tool of God, actually. But as God always does, He'll use a wicked empire to chastise His people who will not listen. When His people are judged by their enemy, that's what always gets their attention.
God's Severe Mercy
Imagine if God decided to chastise America tonight. He could use who? China? Russia? North Korea? Iran? Persia? Yeah, I mean, on and on it goes, right? He could—boom—like that. Why would He do that? You'd say for this one reason: He would say, “I've been trying to talk to you. Nobody's listening to me. I didn't want to do this—He never wants to do this—but I have to do this now to get your attention because I haven't heard from you for a long time.”
Have you noticed you cry out to God when you've been knocked on your back? You think God wants to knock us on our back? He doesn't want to knock us on our back. C.S. Lewis writes on this more than anybody, I think—the most efficient and most effective way. See, Lewis often called this “severe mercy.” God will chastise us to the point—only the point—to which it gets us to turn around, and He won't go one point over.
You see, well, you know, my friend is backslid, and he's not walking with Jesus. He used to love the Lord, and I've committed him into the hands of God. I've turned him over to God. Maybe it's a husband, maybe it's a wife, maybe it's a child, maybe you've committed your parents who were wayward from God over to the Lord. And then you find out that their house burned down, and you know your dad broke his leg, or your kid got his nose smashed, and then you wonder, “Lord, Lord, what are you doing?”
Know this: He will never break—or allow—a nose to be broken or a house to be burned or anything to happen that wouldn't have needed to be exercised. He doesn't punish people to hear them cry. He gets people to the point where they'll say, “I give up.” Best to give up before it gets bloody. Seriously. God says, “I want to lead you with My right hand. Why do you turn from Me?” And that's what Judah had done.
Historical Background: King Sennacherib
So now here comes this King Sennacherib. Let me give you a little bit of history about him. He died in January 681 BC in Nineveh—a place that's in the news almost every day. Mosul is the modern name in Iraq today—extremely historical town, one of the oldest towns in the world. He was the king of Assyria from 705 to his death in 681. He was the son of Sargon II. (Sargon—that's a real name; that's not from Lord of the Rings.) And as king, he made Nineveh his capital, building a new palace there and extending and beautifying the city greatly, erecting an inner and an outer wall for its defenses that still stands today—unless ISIS has ruined it this month.
I don't know if you've seen the news, but ISIS has been taking, sadly, U.S. military Caterpillars and destroying 3000-year-old statues and buildings and walls and places—relics of priceless history. But anyway, last time we looked, the walls were still standing there. And King Sennacherib is prominent in this book of Isaiah—many chapters of Isaiah, Second Kings in your Bible, and 2 Chronicles.
Artifacts and the British Museum
And so I want to show you a few things tonight. Again, you might be bored about this, but first slide: I want to show you this is a relief of him. This is no joke. They took this very seriously. You say, “Well, Jack, how well do we know that that's him?” We know absolutely that this is him because of the vast majority of artifacts of him with the actual naming of him in the reliefs and in the documentation—or cylinders, their rolled stones with writing, historical documents, almost like a time capsule. That's the word I was looking for.
But this is him. I mean, that is him. You see what his nose was like? You're looking at what his nose was. They were very serious about having their image struck. For example, you know exactly what George Washington looked like. You've never met him—you won't meet him until you meet him in heaven—but you know what George Washington looked like. They took that very seriously. People of leadership throughout antiquity took that very seriously.
So what's awesome about this—by the way, and I'm, you know, after studying today, I just thought, man, we need to do this again—but years ago... the next time we do—well, we can't do the next Israel trip; that's already booked and done—but we've got to do a trip in the future where we get to the British Museum. Has anyone in this room ever been there? It is one of the greatest places on the planet to go to—that and the Vatican. I kid you not. You got to go to the—how many have anybody been to the Vatican? Okay, unbelievable.
Why? Because they conquered everybody and brought all their stuff to the Vatican, and the Vatican has preserved it so well. I mean, it is—you'll just drool as you walk through those halls. And the British Museum is absolutely off the charts. We've got to go someday as a church on a tour to see this. Why? Because there's so—you take the Bible references and Bible events out of the British Museum, and there's almost nothing there to see. I kid you not. It is an absolute amazing place.
Next slide: there you go. You walk down the hallway of this particular portion of the British Museum. You see the walls that have got those—it looks—you see the darker portions? Those are actual murals from Sennacherib's palace from Nineveh. Not knockoffs, they're not “maybe kind of like”—they're the ones. They all tell stories. There's the real meaning of the word graffiti, describing the events that are in the murals.
Next slide: that's a selfie of him.
Next slide: this is his empire—the green, massive, powerful. Just about in the middle of your screen, just a little bit south, you see Judah. Do you see it there? I don't have my pointer, but it doesn't matter—all of that there. Remarkable.
Past, Present, and Future Connections
Here's what's awesome about this map that you're looking at: it's a map about the past, obviously. It's a map about the present, because though it's a different religion, the Islamic pursuit of a caliphate—this is the ground and more that they're trying to reestablish right now. See the green? That green they want. Of course, to push way toward the Greek city-states, and of course Libya—that would be ISIS now as well. So that should be green.
So we're looking at the map of the past. We're looking, in a sense, at the map of the present day. And we're looking at a map, in a sense, of the future. Because again, a different religion, but the same demonic power. The coming days of the Antichrist—he's going to start the assemblage of his kingdom. We know from the book of Daniel and other places that the Antichrist will start his “green spot” will happen in the west—where you see, for example, Macedonia in the top left-hand corner. It's going to start in Europe, and it's going to spread quickly to the Middle East.
In fact, what starts the eastward expansion of the Antichrist government of the future is that he's going to sign—or engineer; he will actually engineer, the Bible tells us—a seven-year peace treaty with the nation of Israel and its neighbors. That's in the Bible. Is that not needed today, just on the global scene? Isn't that remarkable?
So what you're looking at is just a spirit of how things go. But when I talk about the future, go out from even the time of the Antichrist. So watch: past, present, future—Antichrist coming to reign and to occupy that area again. But go beyond that regarding the second coming of Christ.
Even though we're in the first verse, grab your Bible—Isaiah—go back to chapter 19. Watch this. Watch how this comes together. I hope and pray. Isaiah chapter 19—look to the future, because this chapter 33 will hit on this tonight. Look at Isaiah chapter 19:20. I want you to be thinking as we read this.
Because if I were to ask you tonight, what religion predominantly dominates Egypt this evening? Islam. Okay, what about Saudi Arabia? Islam. What about the areas of Jordan, for example? What about the area that is Syria tonight? Islam. Lebanon? Islam right now.
Watch this—looking way to the future. Isaiah 19:20—I look at the middle part of the verse: “for they”—it's the Egyptians in the context—“will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One.” Those are references of the divine God, by the way—those are names of the divine God of the Bible—“and He will deliver them.” Who? The Egyptians.
When in history can you say—give me a date—when the Lord sent them a Savior and delivered them from their oppressors? It's never happened.
Isaiah 19:21: “Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day.” There's those three words that tell the Bible student it's a future event regarding the tribulation period and/or the second coming of Christ—“in that day”—“and will make sacrifice and offering. Yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.” This is Egypt. It's never happened before.
“And the Lord will strike Egypt; He will strike and heal it. They will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.”
Look at verse 23: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria”—the region that Sennacherib used to govern over thousands and thousands of years ago—“and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of the three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land.”
This is when Jesus comes back. Can you imagine Israel and Assyria and Egypt getting together? They're all going to be merchants and traders and co-nations in that day. Israel will be one with them—a blessing in the midst of the land.
Verse 25: “whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.’”
That's the future. This is going to happen without the UN. This is going to happen without the EU and without the US. God is going to do this. This is amazing.
Isaiah's Cry and God's Intervention
Here we are—we've got the Bible open to a book that's 3000 years old, and we're looking ahead to the future, and the Bible tells you in advance how it's going to end. It's not going to be right until Christ returns. Thank God He's coming back in the second coming.
But look at verses 2 through 6—there's the cry of Isaiah for Judah. When God arises, he says, “Oh Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their arm every morning”—this is again Isaiah speaking—“our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult”—this is the enemy—“at the noise of the enemy, the people shall flee. When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered.”
So now Isaiah goes from Sennacherib, and he's announcing there's going to come a time when God is going to interject Himself in the dealings of nations—and specifically in the Middle East—with what's happening. And it's absolutely awesome, to say the least.
Look at verse 4: “And your plunder”—that is, the enemy's—“shall be gathered like the gathering of a caterpillar, as the running to and fro of locusts.” In other words, devastation. “He”—that is, the Lord—“shall run upon them. The Lord is exalted; He dwells on high. He has filled Zion”—Jerusalem, another name for Jerusalem—“with justice and righteousness.”
So He goes now to the time of Christ assembling His kingdom. “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times and the strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is His treasure.” Remarkable, difficult stuff to study. Isaiah speaks in these compartments. It would be great if somebody produced a Bible that would be color-coded—for example, that the first part of what I read in verse one or two, for example, would be a certain color if he's talking to them, and now he's talking to the future. Very, very technical.
Lamentation for Trusting Egypt
Verses 7 through 9 is the lamentation of having trusted in the Egyptians. Here's what happens now—forget about what I just said about chapter 19; that's in the future, but we're not there right now. We're back to Isaiah 33.
Judah has said this to themselves: “Wow, Sennacherib came with his army. He devastated our brothers in the north—Israel. We better turn to our neighbors down south—Egypt—and have them help us. They'll deliver us.” They never turned to the Lord. They never cried out to God.
It's easy to do that. We're prone to do that. You get a headache—instead of saying, “Lord, take away my headache,” I'll reach for an aspirin. I should ask Him first, but I have to confess I'm just that carnal. “Oh man, I got a headache,” or “my neck hurts”—ibuprofen—instead of just saying, “Hey Lord, my neck hurts.”
You say, “Well, that's kind of simple, isn't it?” Well, that's the point. When a nation begins to lean on some other nation for support instead of going to the Lord, it's not a good thing.
Watch what happens: “Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside; the ambassadors of peace”—these are those that Judah sent to Egypt to make peace—“Hey, we need help because the Assyrian Empire is coming”—“shall weep bitterly. The highways lie waste. The traveling man ceases. He”—that is, Sennacherib—“has broken the covenant. He has despised the cities”—again Sennacherib—“regards no man. The earth”—and this is a reference to Israel and Judah—“mourns and languishes. Lebanon is shamed and shriveled. Sharon is like a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.”
Everything's failing. The enemy is coming.
God's Judgment and Protection
Now watch verse 10: “Now I will arise,” says the Lord. “Now I will be exalted. Now I will lift Myself up.” Verse 11: “You shall conceive chaff; you shall bring forth stubble. Your breath as fire shall devour you.”
Now God is speaking judgment against Sennacherib. You see, “Jack, but didn't He send them against Judah?” Yes. This is what He does. And when the enemy has accomplished the task, then God will turn and He says... Well, isn't that unjust of God? Not at all. We've said this a few months ago—let me say this again.
How is God innocent in setting this up perfectly? This is how—are you listening?—watch what happens. It's in Sennacherib's mind to conquer the entire world. He wants to do this. It's in his heart. It's in his mind. The Assyrian Empire is his tool—that's in him. God's people are not listening to the Lord.
What God does—without Him compromising, because He's not evil; He's always good—is God lifts His protection. He doesn't say, “Wow, you know what? You guys have really ticked Me off. I'm going to put a thought in Sennacherib's mind to go after you guys even though he didn't want to. I'm going to make him.” That's not how God rolls.
It's in the man's heart to conquer Israel and Judah. God keeps the evil from coming with His protection. Think of this now in America—or in whatever country, if you're watching tonight, whatever country you're in—think of this: if that nation doesn't seek the Lord, there's always a nation, there's always a terrorist group desiring to conquer you. And the reason why they don't is because it's the goodness of God that keeps the enemy back like a flood.
When our sins have reached a point where God says, “I know you're not going to turn back to Me unless you're chastised. I don't want to spank you, so I'm not going to.” He's going to move His umbrella of protection over here for a little bit, and the enemy is going to come in.
This is true in every area of our lives today. Over and over again we hear the Lord say, “Walk with Me.” Jesus said when He was gathering His followers, “Follow Me.” As long as they followed Him, it was good. Jesus says to you tonight, “Follow Me.” Why? He wants to bless your life. When we get out and away from Him is when it's not good.
He does not desire to chastise us. But when we reach a point where you might be here tonight saying, “Well, you know what? I've been doing this and I've been doing that. Nothing's happened to me yet. Nobody knows—I mean, I know God knows everything—but He hasn't told me no.”
Well, let me ask you this: what you're doing that you think you're getting away with—is it wrong to God? Is it wrong—not you—to God? Is it wrong? “Well, yeah, there's a verse or two about it in the Bible.” If you've not yet been chastised, it's because of His sheer mercy right now in grace.
Are you His child? If you are, repent of whatever it is before Him now and run from it. If you don't, He says He will expose you. You see, “Well, there's no way anybody could know.” He will expose you. If that doesn't get you, then He will allow you to be chastised by your own sin. And all the while He didn't do it—He just stepped back and let all the ugliness that was wanting to destroy in the first place come against you. That's called His grace.
Did you have a good day today? Did you make it through today? Even if you had a bad day and you're here right now, it's still a good day. Because if you could only see in the invisible world what the enemy has pointed at your head and it didn't happen—it's because God is good. He loves you, and He loves me, and He's protecting.
And what you want to do—like little chicks—you know, even though it's winter time in California, you still go to the feed store. You go to the Pomona or your local grain—I know you guys have horses and you buy real horse food. I go there and buy like seed for the little birds. But they have these big cages with little chicks running around—cheep, cheep, cheep—and it's so cute. Because listen, if somebody scares them, the little hens run right under the wings of the mom hen. The little chicks—right under the mom—and she just puts her wings out like this, and you can't even see them.
That's what we're supposed to do with the Lord. When the world goes “boo,” we're supposed to run under His wings, and He will protect us like that. We'll have shelter under the wings of the Almighty, right? He promises this.
And when temptation comes—it's so... listen, temptation—you know what it is. When it comes—“Hi, how are you?”—you know, in an instant: “Dude, I should run. Run, Forrest, run.” You know when the temptation hits—you know it's temptation. Every man knows this. This is a temptation. And then it's—you either run, or it goes downhill from there.
Should I run? If you have to ask, run. If you have to ask, run. “Well, I don't know if this... if it's a temp—” If you have to think about it, run. Better to run and find out it's not than to not run and find out it is. Run. Because listen, God's grace is always enough. He will always, with every temptation, provide an escape for us. Run. It's so vitally important.
Don't choose to rest upon your own strength or, “Well, I've beat this temptation before. I'll do it again.” Don't do that. Don't do that.
Petra: Refuge in the End Times
God says now He uses what was in the very heart of the enemy. He didn't put it there—it was in their heart.
In verse 12: “And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; like thorns cut up, they shall be burned in the fire. Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might.”
Listen to what He's saying. Verse 14: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’”
Simply this: God looks and He says—okay, that's it. And this is terrifying. He looks at Judah, and He zooms in. And imagine what city do you live in—He zooms in on that city, then He zooms in on your street, then He zooms in on the 10 houses around your house, then He zooms in—He parses down each. Think about it—He knows what's going on in each home, so to speak.
And He's saying now, regarding the sinners that are in Judah—the nation has departed from Me, but there's always a remnant—but now God says those who are bent on disobeying Me, bent on death as it were. This is interesting because He says, “Who shall be able to dwell among the fire?”
And listen, this is cool—write it in your margins. Verse 14—you may never be reading this again or in quite a while. Some scholars believe—and I have to agree with them—that this is none other than a reference to the promise made by the Lord to Israel at the midpoint of the tribulation period. Circle verse 14 and say it's possible that this is a warning from the Lord concerning Israel in the future.
“The sinners in Zion are afraid.” The godless that live in Zion will be afraid—or are afraid. “Fearfulness has seized upon the hypocrites.” These are not God's people. They live among God's people, but they're not God's people.
So watch: the Bible identifies a place that many scholars believe verse 14 is opening the door to. And this gets a little technical, but I think it's fun, church—if you can fly with me on this.
The Bible identifies a place called Bozrah—B-O-Z-R-A-H in Hebrew—or Petra in Greek—as one of the significant areas during the end times regarding the prophetic messages in the Bible regarding Israel.
Micah 2:12—listen, Micah 2, verse 12. This is about 540 years before Jesus was born. The prophet Micah said, “I will surely assemble, O Jacob”—what's another name for Jacob? Israel—“all of thee.” I'm reading out of the Old King James, by the way—this is a good moment. The Old King James right now in this verse. Micah chapter 2, verse 12 is the only translation of the original language that gets this right—not even the New King James gets this right. So look at your Bibles carefully if you care to right now.
Listen to this: “I will assemble—I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.” Those that are left. “I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold.”
The word here in the Hebrew is a very tight place—a small place. So God says, “I'm going to gather the remnant of My people—we don't have to guess who they are; it's Israel, Jacob—at a time when there's only a few of them left, and I'm going to gather them in a very tight, small place.”
Most scholars—and I have to agree, no doubt—that this is a mention, this is a reference to Petra in Jordan. In your Bibles, write this down if you care to study this more fully—it's awesome. It's S-E-L-A— not H-S-E-L-A-H “selah” where that word in Hebrew means to meditate or to pause. S-E-L-A is a geographical place in ancient Moab or Edom or Jordan today. Selah goes by another name also—Petra.
The Remnant Flees to Petra
In your Bible, watch what happens. According to the Bible, in the last days the Antichrist is going to arise. He's going to make that covenant—7-year treaty—with the nation of Israel. Halfway through—at the three-and-a-half-year point—the Bible says he's going to break that treaty, and the Jews are going to realize, “This guy's deceived us,” and they're going to flee from Jerusalem. And the Bible says they're going to flee to a very, very small fold—a tight, small little place.
Matthew—in fact, Matthew chapter 24:15-16—Jesus says, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Run—flee—when you see the Antichrist set up something in the temple that defiles the temple during the tribulation period.
Watch Revelation 12:3—are you writing this down? Revelation 12:3—it all ties back to one little verse, Isaiah 33:14. It's amazing.
Revelation 12:3: “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” This is—both Daniel and the book of Revelation align together—this is none other than Satan, the manifestation of the dragon through the Antichrist and the false prophet.
“And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” Follow along now. Notice capital C in the Greek—it's divine Child. Think about your Christmas story in the Gospels. “She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” Does that sound familiar? Do you know anybody who's destined to do that? “And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.” Which is another awesome thing to study later—it's not “He was caught up to God and God's throne”; “He was caught up to God and His throne.” Whoever the Child is that the woman brought forth and was caught up returns back to His throne. That's kind of awesome. You should have said “amen” at that verse.
Verse 6: “Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there 1260 days.”
If you're a Bible student of prophecy, you know what 1260 days means. 1260 days is 42 months. Now you may be doing the math—it's not coming out exactly right. It's because you're thinking 365 days to a year. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible knows nothing about a 365-day year. The Bible only—and whenever the Bible counts days and years—it's always a 360-day year. 42 months is 1260 days. It also turns out to be exactly three and a half years.
It's exactly what Jesus was talking about in the future in the last days: when the Antichrist defiles the temple and erects a symbol or image of himself—you Jews who recognize this—get out of your house, run, and flee to the mountains, to the wilderness. The Bible says a place is going to be prepared for Israel to flee to that the dragon will not be able to pursue—will not be able to get to Israel, the remnant.
The good news is that, according to the book of Daniel, the nation of Jordan—Edom and Moab—for reasons we do not know yet—is that place where the Antichrist will not be able to even conquer. Did you know that in the Bible he doesn't conquer the entire world because he never controls this nation of Jordan, according to the prophets? That's pretty awesome.
The Bible says in Daniel 11:41 that he—the Antichrist—will enter the Glorious Land of Israel, and many nations will fall, but Moab and Edom and the best parts of Ammon will escape. Ammon—where's Ammon? It's in Jordan.
Petra in Pictures
Slide—we have five slides to show you. You ever been here and know it's not Utah? Some of you are thinking Utah, aren't you—the narrows at Zion National Park looks just like it. This is Jordan. We've been there several times on tours with the church, and that's your walk in. In fact, that's just about near the end of the walk. By the way, those cliffs go up—some of those cliffs go up 500 feet high. And by the way, for centuries—for centuries—that area was completely filled in with sand, protected. Nobody knew it was there. It was unearthed by archaeologists and made known to the world, and it became one of the wonders of the world.
Next slide: that passageway—when you come in, it opens up into a cathedral or to an opening. There is a theater there that's 3000 years old and it seats 10,000 people. There are remarkable dwellings that are carved—apartments that are carved out of the stone on the side of the mountain. Again, all of this—all the way up, you guys—was filled in with dust and sand and kept for centuries until God wanted it revealed in the last days. For some, the Jordanians think it was revealed for tourism. God's got a plan.
Next slide: did you ever see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? That's where they filmed it. When the last tour the church went on—when we went to Jordan—we stayed at the Mövenpick Hotel at Petra. It's exactly where the cast of Indiana Jones stayed. They filmed it there. You'll see more about that in a second. Okay, that's—yeah, that's okay. They're in front of one of the pillars. Look at the pillar back there—that's not a newly built pillar; that's a 3000-year-old pillar behind them.
Next slide: as you begin to come in—by the way, it goes down to the narrow portion. It gets so narrow that three horses side by side—so hip to hip—it's reduced down to the width of three horses. You can't bring a tank through there. You can't bring more than 10 men abreast at that point. It's totally protected.
And then as you walk in—I think that... do we have any more? Do you see what's called the Grand Treasury? Do you see that incredible carving? Do you recognize that in the movie with Indiana Jones? If you've ever been there, that's absolutely spectacular. When you come into this, it is so beautiful. It is so well preserved.
Why am I pointing this out to you? Yeah, look at this—this where you and I are seated right now—this opens up and it goes for several miles this way. Church, listen: you can put thousands and thousands of Jews there for three and a half years—protected. You're even protected from weather up above and overhead. There's very little exposure to the sky. Somehow God is going to protect them. The Antichrist and his forces will not be able to get to the remnant of the Jews.
You say, “Who are these remnant of the Jews? Why is it important?” These are the Jews that are not killed by the Antichrist. These are Jews who believe. These are Jews who enter into the millennial kingdom. They're the last remnant of the Hebrew people that will come in to populate the kingdom—among other Gentiles as well. You can read more about them in Matthew chapter 25.
But while they're hidden away—oh my goodness, Lord, stop the clock—while they're hidden away, something's going to take place. And I hope this doesn't freak you out—I think it's awesome.
The Second Coming and Final Victory
Isaiah chapter 63 is going to happen while the Jews are in that place—while they're tucked away for three and a half years. God protects them and provides for them during the last half of the tribulation period. This is one of the recorded events that's going to take place.
Isaiah 63: “Who is this who comes from Edom”—that's Jordan—“with dyed garments from Bozrah? This One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?” Notice quote: “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Close quote. “Why is Your apparel red and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?” Look at the quote: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, I trampled them in My fury. Their blood is sprinkled on My garments; I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. I looked, but there was none to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me, and My own fury it sustained Me. I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk in My fury, and brought down their strength to the earth.”
This is the second coming of Christ—literally during the tribulation period at the latter end. Do you remember—I'm probably getting ahead of you guys—but do you remember when He returns in the second coming, His robe says “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” and it's already splattered? You ever think about that? Before the second coming happens—where the church is returning in Revelation 19 with Christ—He's already been to battle. He's left heaven and He's appeared during the last half of the tribulation period to fight for Israel.
How does He do that? I don't know. Will they see Him? I don't know.
Look at Zechariah 14—we'll end soon, but we can't end just this yet. Zechariah 14:1: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst.” He speaks to the world. “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The city shall be taken, the houses gone through, ravaged, and the women pillaged or raped—tragic. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
Watch what happens—then the Lord... So that's what sets Him off. Watch: whatever's going on—His people, His city's being divided, His people are being taken captive, the enemy seems as though he's going to take it.
Verse 3 is the response: “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall split...”
You guys, I just want to ask you this: when did He go and fight for them in the day of battle? This is something that's known to the Jews now. It makes sense when you're reading, for example, the exploits of Jehoshaphat or King David or Joshua and Israel's losing in the battle, and they cry out to the Lord, or Joshua prays and says, “Lord, have the sun stand still,” when hailstones came and destroyed the enemies of Israel supernaturally, or floods came and bogged down their chariots that the enemies couldn't advance or retreat.
Now it makes sense: the Bible announces that there are days when the Lord fights for Israel, and there's a reminder that at the end He's going to fight for Israel at the end just like He did in the day of battle.
That ought to cause you to rethink your position if you're against a Jew or Israel. Look, when it comes to a Jew in Israel—just hand them over to the hands of God. Don't mess with them. They're God's people. That's God's country. You start messing with them, and you're going to upset the God of heaven.
“Yeah, but you know what they do—” He didn't ask us to agree with their politics. He didn't. Listen, He just said, “They're My people. Don't mess with them. You mess with them, you're messing—” He said—“with the apple of My eye. You're touching My cornea, and I don't like it.” Isn't that awesome? Isn't that radical?
The Millennial Kingdom
Wow. Just for time's sake, there's verse 15: “He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly”—now I believe He's speaking about those who are going to go into the millennial period when Christ comes back—“he who despises the gain of oppressors, who gestures with his hands”—those are going to go into the kingdom—“who refuse bribes, they're not swift to shed blood, they don't look upon evil.” He's talking about those who are going to be going into the kingdom.
Time's sake—verse 17: “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off.” Your heart—verse 18—will meditate on terror or look back in the days when you were terrified and that God had saved you.
Oh, we're out of time. Verse 20: He says, “Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem...” Some of you young people need to mark that in your Bible because there are people on your campus saying Jerusalem is made up by the Jews—that it's not historical. Well, here's a 3000-year-old document in your lap that's got the word “Jerusalem” written in it. Be aware of that.
“...a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down; not one of its stakes will ever be removed,” He says—listen, His assurance to them—“nor will any of its cords be broken.”
Wow. But there the Majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams—there are no rivers in Jerusalem today; there's no streams there unless there's a flash flood. Something is going to happen in which no galley with oars will sail—no, this is a reference to Israel will not be chastised again.
And then verse 22—we'll have to just call it an end with this. Look at verse 22—this is fun, and we'll close.
“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.”
Do you know what's cool about this? Some of you already know. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the father of our Constitution and the future fourth president of the United States, James Madison, proposed a plan to divide the central government into three branches, stating quote: “The perfect model of government has been revealed by the perfect Governor.”
As Madison read from Isaiah 33 verse 22—from him, one man reading Isaiah 33:22 open on your lap right now—Madison said, “We should have a judiciary because the Lord is the Judge—we should have a Supreme Court. Number two, we should have a legislative branch where people from the states come and they make the laws for the nation—the lawgivers. And thirdly, we should have an executive branch—a President.”
Madison got that out of the Bible. And you live in it right now. Is that awesome? One man—and it's influenced the entire world.
Conclusion and Application
So it ends—verses 23 to 24—it simply says this at the end: the Assyrian is going to be like loose tackle—it's worthless, broken, devastated by God. But the Jew—down verse 24—and the inhabitant, mentioning Israel, will no longer say, “I am sick”—or the word means I'm no longer poor, I'm no longer weak, I no longer helpless. Why? Because it says, “The people who dwell in it”—that is, the land of Israel—“will be forgiven of their sins.”
What an amazing announcement. What a difficult chapter. I'm glad it's over. But I got to tell you, when you go to study this, it's like—if you just read it like just read it without diving into it—it's like, was Isaiah on drugs? But he speaks to the moment, then he speaks thousands of years...
The poor man—the Bible says that the prophets wrote down things that they were not aware of. I wonder if these guys ever slept at night with what God revealed to them.
You know, so we take this away: be careful how you decide on things. If you decide tonight—if you determine tonight—to put God first in your decision-making, it will always end well with you. You will never—I have never heard anyone say, “You know, I obeyed God, and it was the worst thing I've ever done.” I've never yet heard that in all my life. Obey Him and watch what happens.
And as we watch the news and look around the world, know this: somehow God in His infinite wisdom has only just begun His end-time work with the nation of Israel. The Bible says in the last days before He returns, all the nations of the world will hate them. We're almost there. We're almost there.
Father, we thank You for the fact that if we were to crawl before You tonight, we couldn't get low enough. We're humbled by this difficult chapter because it exposes the fact that we don't know much at all. It also announces to us You're not going to ask us for any advice or You're not going to require from us our opinion. You're Sovereign God.
Whatever You've said in the past that's happened was literally fulfilled. And so with firm assurance—though we may not understand everything—we know that whatever is going to happen in the future will happen as You've said.
The issue before us is now: what do we decide on Jesus the Lord—that Child who came, born Eternal God coming in the form of a child according to the prophets. Jesus lived in this world, ate, suffered, laughed, cried, enjoyed, and endured like us—but yet without sin.
Lord, tonight this Child that the prophets spoke of—the book of Revelation announces was caught up, returned back to heaven. We pray, Lord, tonight that by Your Holy Spirit we would say yes to You again.
Lord, fill our hearts with Your wisdom, with Your discernment. May we make decisions. May some of us tonight—maybe that need to turn away from things that You're speaking to us, things that would hurt us, destroy us—send Your conviction, Lord.
If we're living a way that we know is not right, don't let us, Lord—please don't let us—exhaust Your grace and mercy. May we turn to You now and trust in You—the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Christ the righteous.
In His name we pray, and all God's people said amen.