Jack Hibbs - Night Vision (01/23/2026)
Night Vision in Isaiah 21
Well, grab your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 21 as we continue on in the book of Isaiah—Isaiah, the evangelistic prophet of the Old Testament. No prophet of the Old Testament has more verses that are found regarding the ministry of Jesus Christ in the New Testament than the prophet Isaiah—remarkable.
And Isaiah continues on, and as we come to chapter 21 tonight, we’re looking at a message entitled «Night Vision.» Night Vision—I don’t know what comes to your mind when you think about night vision, but simply put, night vision is a type of apparatus that you would wear that allows you to see into the darkness.
In fact, the darker it is, the better you can see with the right type of visual aid—night goggles or night glasses for night vision.
And Isaiah speaks about a time—when we’re going to look at it—that was future for his day. By the way, not too far out future in his day—it was coming. But he was prophesying, and then there’s been some subsequent fulfillments—what are called the near and far fulfillments.
But this is an amazing chapter. It’s definitely hard to study. It’s definitely hard to understand. But we’ll go through it carefully because the ultimate—as many of the scholars—my goodness, I read a scholar today, highly respected scholar—he wrote his commentary on Isaiah 21 in 1703.
And as remarkable as the man was—speaking in 1703—this commentator mentioned how there is no way that Isaiah 21 could be true in history and for the future unless there’s a nation of Israel recreated in the last days. He said that in 1703 or 1708.
Think of it—he said it at a time that many people believed Israel was no more. And he was exactly dead on. This speaks about a future event as well.
And by the way, as we look at this tonight, you’re going to see—or some of you Bible scholars may recognize—"Hey, I remember that from Matthew» or «I remember that from the book of Revelation» or «from Luke’s gospel.» And yes, you will.
So this is a very important thing as we come now to another prophetic utterance about Babylon. We first heard about God’s announcement through the prophet Isaiah regarding Babylon in chapter 13. Now we hear about it again in 21, and it’s a little bit more elaborate. So keep that in mind.
Babylon: Past, Present, and Future
Babylon—Babylon, church—a geographical location in the Middle East in the area predominantly of Iraq. It kind of touches a little bit of modern-day Iran today and a little bit of the northern part of Saudi Arabia. But Babylon—a geographical fact and location, archaeologically confirmed.
Then there is the spirit of Babylon—false worship, the Babylonian worship system. The Bible teaches us that all false worship—all cults, by the way—originate in one of the 360 gods that were worshiped in Babylon in antiquity. It’s the mother of false religions.
But then there’s the future Babylon that is coming. There’s a Babylon that the book of Revelation 17 and 18 talk about. There is a Babylon that is coming again.
Most scholars believe that after the Ezekiel battle—you’ll hear more about this in a moment—after the Ezekiel battle takes place, where there is, I think, a five-nation Muslim—there, Islamic nations—mentioned there in Ezekiel 38 that will be brought under the protective powers of Gog.
Gog, the leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal—those are ancient tribal locations of what is today Russia—that in the last days it’s going to enter into his mind to attack Israel. And he’s going to bring with them five nations that are listed there in your Bible—Ezekiel 38—to attack Israel.
And they won’t even make it. They’re going to get to the mountains of Israel, which are to the north, and they are going to be absolutely decimated by the intervention of God.
You say, «When’s that going to happen?» Could be any time because the settlements of nations that are mentioned are in play today. They’re all hostile towards Israel. It’s no longer the Soviet Union—it is Russia. And it’s very interesting.
So that could happen—we don’t know how soon. But the amazing thing is you and I live in a time that is absolutely amazing.
But when that happens, a lot of scholars believe that when God intervenes—and it’s amazing because if you’ve read that in detail, the Bible says that they’re going to launch their rockets—their projectiles. The word in Hebrew is projectile—which is kind of amazing. Think about that because Ezekiel is trying to describe what he’s seeing almost 3000 years ago. «Wow—this thing went up in the air—what was it?» He called it an arrow. In the Hebrew it’s a projectile.
And the Bible says that they’re going to launch it against Israel, and it’s going to come back and land right upon them. How cool is that? What’s going to happen? A little bug in the program—there’ll be some sort of glitch in the deal.
But isn’t that amazing? I think almost that prophecy speaks about the malfunction of technology. Of course, God’s going to have everything to do with it. So it’s going to be amazing.
And some people think that when that happens, then what will open up will be a Middle East that appears to be safe. And there may be great prosperity in the Middle East.
And again, a lot of what’s called eschatologists—those students of prophecy—say that then Babylon will be rebuilt in short order, as the Bible talks about. It will become massively prosperous. We know that the Antichrist will be part of that.
So as we look at this tonight, we’re just going to kind of trudge along. And by all means, I intend to finish this chapter tonight. So no—don’t laugh. This is ridiculous. I wanted to do three chapters a week, and I haven’t done that yet. And so I’ll be happy to get one down here tonight.
The Burden Against the Wilderness of the Sea
So night vision—number one, look at verses 1 and 2. The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. Circle that—that’s a nickname for Babylon. You can research that in the Encyclopedia Britannica or anything else—it’s a nickname for Babylon.
«The Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.»
So something’s coming against Babylon. Verse 2: «A distressing vision is declared to me,» Isaiah says. «The treacherous dealer"—write down in your notes, check it out later, but write it down—"the treacherous dealer"—that’s Persia—"deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunders"—who’s that? The Medes—the Median or the Medo-Persian Empires.
«They go up,» he says. «Go up, O Elam"—that’s another name for Persia or Iran today—"besiege, O Media"—or the Median Empire. «All its sighing"—that’s—listen—the Jewish people that are sighing under the captivity of Babylon—"I have made to cease.»
So verses 1 and 2—write it down in your notes—what do we get out of this? Number one—night vision. Isaiah’s speaking about something that is coming to the future. And he’s speaking—now watch, everybody—Isaiah’s been preaching and prophesying to the southern kingdom of Judah.
God’s got other prophets prophesying to the north—that would be Israel. The kingdom is divided right now—Israel to the north, 10 tribes; two tribes to the south, Judah. Isaiah is working the south.
However, he’s such a prominent prophet that his message engulfs the nation in total. He’s now speaking about the future.
Israel to the north and Judah have not yet been taken away captive. It’s coming. But Isaiah looks way ahead and says, «Oh Babylon—who’s going to take Judah captive—you know Babylon?»
Do you remember a kid that lived in Judah? Do you know—do you remember a kid by the name of Daniel? That Daniel’s not been taken captive yet. So think of Daniel’s family living in Judah at this time.
There’s going to come a time when Babylon under the general Nebuchadnezzar—not yet King Nebuchadnezzar—is going to come in. He’s going to take Judah captive, and he’s going to take prisoners to Babylon. And the most four of the most famous are Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel—the four Hebrew boys. They’re going to be taken captive, and they’re going to go to Babylon.
Isaiah is prophesying—watch this—Isaiah is prophesying way before Daniel is ever born. He’s going out into the kingdom that will take Daniel’s people captive—Israel and the Jews—and he starts to address them. He’s speaking into the future. Isn’t that amazing?
See, you and I living on this side of the whole thing—we’re not even moved by that. It’s like, «Oh whatever.» From our perspective, we get to snoop back into history and look at the exactness of the Bible. I think it’s awesome.
Can you trust God to keep the promises that He’s made to you? Bible prophecy is the only reason why you can.
A lot of people don’t want to talk about Bible prophecy. «Oh Pastor—you’re going to talk about the book of Isaiah? I’m not going to come until you’re all done. I’ll come back when it’s done.» Because it’s a book of prophecy—it scares me.
Wait a minute—you can’t know God keeps His promises without prophecy. Prophecy is when God tells something in advance, and then He does it. And you can trust His Word.
We love God’s promises. Listen—the only reason why you can accurately love God’s promises is because God keeps His Word. How do you know? Because He keeps prophecy.
So we look at this—number one here in verses 1 and 2—night vision causes us to see justice. God is bringing justice to the Babylonian nation, and He’s going to punish them. He’s going to punish them for invading.
And God is for—not only the Jewish people—God is for all those who suffer. He is for all those who are being vanquished by wrong. He’s going to vindicate His people.
They’re going to be taken captive—Isaiah is talking about that—they’re going to be delivered. And God is going to deal with the nation of Babylon.
And this is a great lesson for us and a window into the 21st century. Because as I was mentioning a moment ago, God’s ancient Word says He’s going to reintroduce Himself back into the Middle East.
Church—technically He’s just moving the pieces around right now. Even though Israel is a nation right now as prophesied in Scripture—God is right now just moving nations around. He hasn’t shown up yet.
When He shows up, you won’t have to wonder if He has shown up. He is going to appear.
In moving the chess pieces around in the Middle East—in short order, I believe by the way things are going—you’re going to see amazing stuff. We’re going to see amazing things. I’m convinced of it in the Middle East.
By the way—this is a side note—all the military geniuses from Israel to Washington to London right now—you know what they’re wondering right now?
Everybody was completely caught off guard by something that happened this week. Anybody know? Say it again—Russia pulled out of the Middle East. Even caught Russians off guard.
No—I’m serious. Families were told, «Your son won’t be back for a while.» All of a sudden they’re coming back home.
Global intelligence—you can read some of those—go search, go look at them. They’re out there. You have something—they have to pay for it. It’s worth it. Go find out what they’re talking about. It’s quite amazing.
Russia for some reason has packed up and is heading out of town in a hurry. And it’s scaring people. Russia doesn’t leave anywhere. Why are they leaving?
Some are wondering—is something very nasty about to happen? We don’t know. But it’s happened this week. We’ll find out. We’ll see. We’ll watch the news.
But at some time after something takes place in the Middle East—and certainly the Babylon of the future is dealt with—or I should say before it’s dealt with—there’s going to be a rise so that a Babylon can take shape.
The book of Revelation talks about a Babylonian system that is spiritual, that is governmental. And the Bible says it’s going to be one of the head bases of this one that is called the Antichrist.
Be honest—have you heard of the Antichrist? Have you heard of this stuff going on?
Have you heard of—I saw—I kid you not—it’s hilarious. You know when you think about this stuff—the Antichrist—the Bible says he’s coming. 1 John talks about it. Book of Revelation—Daniel talks about.
I saw a guy go down the street in a car yesterday—literally—with his license plate with 666. And I thought, «Man—I would actually love that license plate to have on my car for witnessing purposes.»
Because the Bible says he’s going to be number 666—his name is going to equal a number. And a lot of people’s names equal that number in the Hebrew language.
But the point is—this guy will be a governing leader that will seemingly arise out of nowhere. And part of his global shtick is to rebuild Babylon. Seems crazy, doesn’t it?
But the Bible’s never been wrong yet.
But the Scripture is very clear about when this man does this—that three and a half years into his peace treaty with Israel—as Babylon is established—something’s going to happen.
And where would we go to take a look at that? Grab your Bibles and look over at Daniel chapter 7.
Daniel 7—now we talked about Daniel a moment ago. Keep this in mind, Bible student—Isaiah’s prophesying, and the book of Daniel and Daniel himself will not come along for over 240 years.
So Isaiah’s 240 years ahead of his time in this prophecy. And now we read a prophecy of Daniel himself.
Daniel 7—who’s he talking about? The Antichrist and his coming kingdom.
But God judges nations—keep that in mind. He raises them up, and He brings them down.
Daniel 7:20—Daniel says, «I also wanted to know about the 10 horns"—circle the word horns. You’ll see in a moment the word horns is an ancient Middle Eastern term for kings. It’s used in all kinds of fashions. But the word horns or horn is king or kings.
So «I wanted to know about the 10 kings or the 10 horns on its head.» He saw a beast with 10 horns. «And about the other horn"—that’s the 11th horn—"that came up, so one is added, before which three of them fell. The horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully.»
Verse 21: «As I watched, this horn was waging war against"—mark it—"the holy people.» This is the NIV version, which in this case is most accurate.
Some of your Bibles—raise your hand if some of your Bibles say «saints.» Okay—you can write this down in your margins: «saints"—you can write there «tribulation saints.» Write that down—tribulation saints.
All who believe in the Lord are saints. David was a saint. Noah was a saint. Isaiah is a saint. But they are of the Old Testament order.
There’s basically three categories of saints: there’s the Old Testament saints; there is the church-age saints, which are known as the bride of Christ; and then there is the tribulation saints.
So watch this as we read this, and you’ll be all the smarter for it. It’s quite simple, actually.
Remember who Daniel is—he’s a Jew talking about the Jewish people, and he’s a prophet to the Jewish nation.
So «against the holy people and defeating them» verse 22 «until the Ancient of Days"—that’s the Lord—"came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High"—that’s the Jewish people—"and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.»
«He gave me this explanation: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth"—that’s never happened before of any kingdom—"trampling it down and crushing it.»
«The ten horns are 10 kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones.» This is what Daniel refers to as the 11th king—or another place he’s referred to as the little horn.
«He will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress His people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time"—watch this, everybody—"times and half a time.»
Guess what that is? 1260 days—which is 3½ years.
The Bible, by the way—from Genesis to Revelation—never does its math on a 365-day calendar. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation counts one year as 360 days. Three and a half years is 1260 days. It’s a time, times, and a dividing of time.
Is that amazing? God’s Word—so accurate.
Verse 26: «But the court will sit"—that is in heaven—"and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.» Notice it’s a personal pronoun—his power—he—him.
«Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High.» This is the millennium. «His kingdom"—that’s the Lord’s kingdom—look at the capital H—"His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.»
God judges the nations.
So Isaiah looks far ahead to the judgment of Babylon—both Babylon of the past, the spiritual Babylon, and the Babylon of the future that the book of Revelation speaks about.
The Wrath of God to Come
Number two—let’s look at verses 3 through 5 regarding night vision. We would see the wrath of God to come.
Therefore Isaiah says, «My"—that’s Isaiah speaking—"my loins"—his guts—I’ll explain this in a second—"I guess.» And it’s amazing to me that Isaiah is going through this feeling.
Remember who’s being destroyed, church—you paying attention? Who’s going to be destroyed for how they dealt with Israel? Babylon.
God is going to use the Medo-Persian Empire to punish Babylon.
Any historians in the room? Anybody remember what nation alliance destroyed the Babylonian Empire? The Medo-Persian Empire.
Who says? History says. Every book on history says. Isn’t it neat that the Bible said it before any books on history said it?
Isaiah though is interesting—he must have a very tender heart because he gets—he’s sick when he sees the judgment that comes against Babylon. He has compassion for them.
Wow—would you have compassion if God smacked down tonight ISIS? Would you weep over the death of ISIS warriors that are beheading children? I wouldn’t.
Apparently Isaiah would. Maybe we should be more like Isaiah.
You said no—man, why? Why? Well, because Isaiah sees people for what they really are—that they’re lost souls created in the image of God. Lost—they’re lost—but created in the image of God nonetheless.
It’s hard for us, isn’t it—to see some horrific, lawless, renegade person—and God loves them. He hates what they’re doing, but He loves them.
Isaiah says in verse 3: «Therefore my loins are filled with pain.» It means his guts are sick to the point where his stomach—he wants to vomit. «Pains have taken hold of me like the pains of a woman in labor.»
«Oh my goodness—I was distressed when I heard it. I was dismayed when I saw it. My heart wavered. Fearfulness frightened me. The night for which I longed"—He the Lord—it’s God—"turned into fear for me.»
Verse 5: «Prepare the table, set a watchman in the tower, eat and drink. Arise, you princes— anoint the shields.»
Amazing statement—the battle is coming. They don’t even know it’s coming. They eat, but the war is at their feet.
The Babylonians are living in absolute wealth and power, and they have no idea they’re about to be taken away.
And Isaiah is grieved by that. It’s remarkable—sitting in absolute the power of the world, and they had no idea that they were about to be completely destroyed. They had no idea.
You say, «Jack—I don’t like history.» That’s my whole point tonight. This may not be history for us.
What if—think of it—Babylon. No—in fact, go later and see and study how the Medo-Persian Empire conquered Babylon. Guess how—how many shots did they fire? Zero.
They snuck in. Somebody literally left the gate unlocked. They were so powerful they thought they could never be conquered.
«Who—who will take us on? Who’s got the guts to punch us in the nose as a country? We can whip anybody.» Ooh—they were the wealth. They were the power. They had all the land. They were the standard of the world.
And they were defeated without a shot. They were surprised—it was a surprise attack.
The invading generals of the Medo-Persian Empire—they dammed up the Euphrates River. The water went down because part of the Babylonian—the Euphrates flowed right in the middle of the city of the massive famous Babylon city—the river.
They dried up the river. The river went down, and they just walked down the riverbed and walked right into the place.
In fact, some people reported in history—it’s recorded in history—that some people, because it was so massive, some people didn’t know they had been conquered for three days after they were conquered. Surprise attack.
Have you noticed that America’s number one surprise attack issues are times that we never thought would ever happen? «It’s not happen to us.»
Pearl Harbor—Pearl Harbor—we never thought it could happen to us. First of all, nobody could reach us out there in Hawaii—never happened.
And then 9/11—"That can’t happen to us.» Wow.
Babylon said, «That can’t happen to us.» And it happened.
And how it happened—by the way—there was a prophecy going on. Not only had Babylon been warned in other ways, but you guys—the grandson—technically Belshazzar—the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar—not his son but grandson.
You know—if you’ve read the Bible—Daniel chapter 5—he’s having a drunken party, right? With all the region’s political leaders, and they’re all having a party. And they have women dancing, and they’ve got implements from the temple in Jerusalem that they’re drinking out of in an orgy party banquet.
By the way—archaeologists have found the room. They have found the room—it’s 135 feet by, I think, 75 feet. It’s been archaeologically dug up.
The Bible tells us that while they were partying and Belshazzar was sitting there on his throne, the Bible says that a hand appeared on the wall in front of him and all the guests, and it began to write—a hand began to etch into the wall. I guess it’s etched into the wall—it says it was wrote on the wall.
«Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.»
They brought in the translator—nobody could figure it out. So they brought in the translator—you know who the translator was? Old man Daniel. He was banished from the king.
They said, «There’s an old famous smart old Jewish guy in captivity. He was able to decipher dreams. Bring him in here—see if he can figure it out.»
Daniel walks in there, looks at it, and by the way—he goes like this: «Oh yeah—hey—your grandpa—he was a king.» In other words, «You’re not.»
«He was—you should have listened to him more.»
He says, «Yeah—you know what that says? Says that you have been weighed in the balances, and you have been determined to be a lightweight. You’ve been weighed in the balances, and you ain’t got nothing to you. You’re a straw man. You have no—you have no authority. You’re just a big mouth in a robe driving a big kingdom, and you ain’t got nothing in you.»
You ever meet people like that? They’re all talk—wow—and inside there’s nothing to you.
And he says, «Your kingdom is going to be taken from you tonight, and you’re at the end of your life.»
While Daniel was speaking that, the invasion was underway.
And the Bible says in Daniel chapter 5 that when the king heard that—this is the King James way of putting it—so polite—it says his hips or his loins became loose.
Translation—there was no Pampers—there was no diaper big enough to handle what was going on.
And it says that his knees began to smite together.
Think of it—he became so terrified and sick with fear, and he died that night.
It’s in the Bible—you got to read the Bible more. It’s very exciting, right? Absolutely amazing—absolutely amazing.
But the truth of the matter is, church—that the prophet speaks about God’s coming wrath.
God does things like this—He’s going to intervene in nations again.
And just don’t think because it’s so slow that He never gets involved. It seems slow—and it is slow, I guess, to our time. But when He gets involved, you know it—you won’t have to wonder about it.
And I find that fascinating—suddenly they were attacked. Suddenly it was overthrown.
Jesus is in Luke 17:26: «And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank"—He’s talking about the world—"they got married, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.»
«And likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built"—life as usual, right?
«But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.»
Verse 30—Jesus—this is Jesus speaking—He says, «Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.»
Wow—people caught off guard.
Imagine right now if Jesus showed up today—would people get caught off guard?
Now look—you guys studied the Bible, and it’s not uncommon for us to talk like this. And even when we’re on a Sunday morning on a totally different topic, we can still pray or mention a verse that will apply to the fact that the Lord could come back at any time.
But think about this—you know that, I know that. Generations have known that.
But isn’t it strange—I heard a pastor recently say, «My goodness—when’s Jesus coming back? Things are getting so obvious in the world in light of Bible prophecy that if He doesn’t come back soon, no one’s going to be surprised.»
Think that through—it’s brilliant.
But it’s—you know—it’s funny that he said that, and it is brilliant. But the truth of the matter is—it’s so obvious to people who know the book.
If you don’t know the book, you’re going, «What—what are you talking about? I’m still caught back there in that Ezekiel thing you said.»
Know the book—the book knows the future. It’s absolutely amazing.
Night vision—is it dark outside? Well, listen—in the Spirit, God is leading us. The Holy Spirit lives in you—He gives you the ability to discern times and seasons.
You’re able to look into a culture—you’re able to look into—and you discern things.
I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but listen—as a Christian, have you ever been somewhere and you just know—you know what? «I think we should leave.» And you don’t know why. And you will find out later or whatever that it turned out to be a very, very dark environment or very spiritually depressing situation.
Have you ever been grieved? That’s the Holy Spirit in you saying, «Um—time to go. I don’t want to be here.»
Isn’t it amazing? That’s God in you.
Well—you have to come back on Sunday for more of that. In Philippians we’ll talk more about that—about how that works.
Wow—thank You, Lord, for that. I’m grateful for that.
You—what’s the deal? And you can almost drive through cities, and you can feel it.
You think I’m goofing around with you? We ought to take a little trip down to Hollywood and Vine and feel it. You know what I mean? There’s a darkness.
Wow—oh, I’m going to confess something to you. In town there’s a palm reader, and I’ve tried to go there three times.
I said I tried to go there three times because I wanted to walk in there like a prophet—like share the gospel. Just walk in there and just look right at the palm reader—because you know they’re spiritual people, right? So that hurdle’s already been hurdled.
So I was just going to say, «God’s eyes are upon you. He sees what you’re doing is absolutely an abomination to Him"—because that’s Deuteronomy 13 and 18—it’s true—"and you need to repent now to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.»
Look—everything I said is exactly right.
But every time I’ve thought about pulling over to go do it, I sense that, «Don’t do it.»
But I want to do it.
But you know what? We’re not—you know—maybe my heart’s not right, or maybe the Lord doesn’t want me to share at that moment. I don’t know what the deal is.
But three times I intended to do it, and each time, «No—you’re not.»
«Oh come on, Dad—you know.»
Night vision.
Seeing and Saying What God Reveals
Look at the third argument—verses 6 to 9—is seeing and saying—seeing and saying what he sees.
Isaiah is seeing with night vision into the future—into things that no man could know. And he says it—what does he say? He tells them what he sees. He speaks—he writes down what he sees.
Now watch—verse 6: «For thus says the Lord to me"—that’s Isaiah—"Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.»
So in other words—put Judah and Israel on guard. Warn them.
And he—this is now back to Babylon—saw—he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen. The first set—a chariot of donkeys—the Persians. I don’t know why, but they did. They’re definitely powerful animals—they’re not as noble as a horse, but they’re stronger than the horses. The Persians used these types of donkeys, which was unique to them.
So if you say, «Why would somebody use a donkey?» Well—good question. But the Persians used donkeys almost like tanks in battle—very powerful and armor-plated donkeys. Kind of amazing.
And a chariot of camels—that’s the Medes. The Medes used camels in warfare.
It’s terrible, but I saw on YouTube—ISIS North Africa using camels right now with their scimitar swords—I know—on camelback.
And he listened earnestly with great care. And then he cried, «A lion! My Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime. I have sat at my post every night.»
«And look—here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen.»
Then he answered—this is Isaiah speaking—and said, «Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And all the carved images of her gods or idols He has broken to the ground.»
Who broke the idols to the ground? Well—God did. But He used the Medo-Persian Empire to do it.
Listen up, everybody—God used another nation—or two nations—to bring down Babylon, right? That’s what it says.
What did Isaiah recognize went down? The idols were knocked to the ground.
Remember I said earlier in the introduction—360 different gods of Babylon. It was the source of what is known as Babylonianism—cult worship.
First thing that goes down are the pagan idol gods—boom.
Look in the Bible—when God deals with nations or when God sends revival to a state or a nation or a people in the Bible—look in the book of Acts—when idols are found, what are done to the idols? They’re ground to dust and burned or destroyed.
Isn’t that amazing?
You see—but it’s an idol—it’s a stupid idol. Exactly—it’s just a dumb idol, isn’t it?
But Paul tells us in his epistles that idols are areas of habitation for demons.
You see—it’s just a carved image. You know—it’s a carved image. I know—it’s a carved image. And the person bowing down to it knows it is a carved image.
But when they do that, they invite demons into their presence.
Who says? Bible says.
«I don’t believe it.» Oh—they got you half duped right there.
Think about it—pretty bizarre, huh? Pretty amazing.
There’s a lesson here for us too—it’s much easier to stand and defend what is right, what is good, what is valuable than to fight to get it back.
If the Babylonians would have repented, maybe God would have done something with them. The Ninevites repented—God did something with them.
The nation Judah will be taken captive. Isaiah looks ahead to the future—they will be delivered at great expense, mind you.
But why give up your freedom in the first place?
Church—listen—I’m serious—it’s next to impossible to get something back that you hand over.
We need to learn this old lesson—we need to fight for what we have to keep it free.
«Oh—you are talking about our country again.»
Hey—listen—every country, every citizen fights for their country. God put it in the human heart.
But that’s not what I’m talking about.
I wrote down what I’m talking about—your personal experiences with Jesus in a day-to-day walk with God. It’s worth fighting for.
It’s much easier to stay walking with Jesus and fight for your devotional time. Fight—you have to fight. You know what I’m talking about. Somebody say amen.
You think just devotional time comes naturally—comes easy? You know what I’m talking about—devotional time. If you don’t know—getting up and praying and talking to God before you go to work—your whole day is different.
You know you have to fight to do that—it’s hard work.
You know what’s harder than that? Leaving your devotional life—months go by, maybe years go by—and then trying to get back to it.
Fight to keep it—it’s easier than fighting to get it back.
What else? I wrote this down—your family life.
«Family—well, this nation’s going to hell in a handbasket. I don’t know what’s going on.»
You know what? Maybe it is. But what about your family? Your family doesn’t have to go like that, does it?
Hey—if everybody forsakes God, what about your family? You don’t have to.
You got to fight for your family—seriously fight for your family.
Hey—wake up—if you got some stupid thoughts on your mind—"Well, you know—my secretary—woo—she whoo—wow.» Really? You going to throw your family away for her? Are you going to throw your family away for him?
Think of it—it’s a lie—it’s all a lie.
Fight for it.
Hey—it’s a lot easier to fight for it than it is to fight to get it back—if it’s possible.
Fight for it—don’t quit.
«Well, she made me upset.» Well—you know what? You make me upset.
Fight for it.
Friendships—I forget what verse it is—it’s coming to my head right now—I just don’t know the address. But the verse says in Proverbs that you ought to know your neighbor, for in the day of calamity he’s your friend.
Think of that—isn’t that brilliant?
Right—we’ve got the luxury of not talking to anybody in our neighborhood because we don’t need anybody. As long as the neighbor stays over there and that neighbor stays over there—it’s a wonderful life.
We have—I pull up to my driveway, press a button—my house opens up. It eats my car. The door shuts, and I walk in the house, and nobody sees me. It’s a wonderful life.
Until—until something happens, and you don’t know your neighbors. And you—you need a Band-Aid or you’re bleeding—you cut your hand off—and you go to your neighbor’s door and knock with the other hand, «I need help.»
And then—"Who are you?»
We need neighbors. Friendships—we need them, as the Bible says, for the day of calamity. You’re going to need your neighbor.
We need to nurture those—it’s easier to maintain them than it is to rebuild them, right?
What else? What else? Of course—your marriage.
And you know what? Even as a church—serving together, praying together, warring together—upstairs on Wednesday nights praying for the persecuted church around the world, praying for our national leaders according to 1 Timothy—Paul’s command—praying for one another. Prayer teams that when I’m teaching on Sundays, there’s a prayer team praying for every service.
Think of it—and listen—the frontline prayer ministry—when you’re in trouble and you call the church at 2:00 in the morning to get a prayer request on—it goes to a network of people that are prayer warriors.
And then likewise—like we said in the announcement—greeters and visitors for Resurrection Sunday morning. Could we hire people to do it? Of course we could.
Would that break the heart of God? Yes. Would that be disgusting as a church? Hey—I hope our people were nice to you—we’re paying them pretty good.
What an abomination—that’s a form of prostitution.
Think of it—no—we’re in this together.
Listen—it’s easier to fight for a church than to fight to get it back.
We need to do that—we need to fight.
Seeing Discipline for What It Is
Number four—night vision—verse 10. I love this verse—verse 10. This is awesome—seeing discipline for what it is—discipline.
Isaiah says, «Oh my people"—he cries out—"threshed and winnowed—I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s armies has said—everything the God of Israel has told me.»
Oh—circle that verse. That is a pastor’s commissioning. That verse is a pastor verse—Isaiah 21:10. That is a Christian minister’s mandate right there.
That’s what he’s to do—I’m telling you everything God has said to do.
Notice he’s not saying, «I told you everything that you wanted to hear,» huh? He’s saying, «I’m telling you everything that you need to hear. God told me to say it—I’m telling you everything that you need to hear.»
We don’t like it—God, he said, «I’m telling you what God said to say.»
The disciplines of God—God disciplines us. Does not God say things to you that you don’t want to hear because He loves you?
Proverbs 3:11 says, «My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord"—don’t get upset when God spanks you—"nor detest His correction"—when He puts you in the penalty box, right?
«For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.»
You ever seen a kid that doesn’t get disciplined? They’re disgusting. You see them all the time—it’s very pitiful.
You want to—you want to go take another field trip after you go to Hollywood and Vine—then go to Toys «R» Us. That’s the place you take your GoPro and watch—watch what goes on in a Toys «R» Us.
There is so much parent abuse going on in there—it’s all—there should be police in there to protect the parents. They need little squad cars out in the front with like…
«No—I’m Mommy—I want this.» «You can’t have that.» «I said I want it.» «No—no—not today—maybe tomorrow but not today.»
I’ve seen—have you seen kids slap their parents in Toys «R» Us? It’s the end of the world.
And the Bible says you leave a kid alone like that, and that kid will grow up to terrorize your life.
The Bible says when that kid grows up, they’ll be a reproach to the family—to the parents.
You know what they are? They’ll be little—they’ll be criminals in life.
Because you want to know why? «Nobody tells me what to do.» And they’re lawless.
Don’t do—listen—when God spanks us, the Bible says receive it—He loves you.
My goodness—the book of James—I think it’s the book of James—book of Hebrews tells us that if God doesn’t discipline you for what you’re doing, you’re actually not His child.
«I’ve been getting away with it for years.» You’re not His—that’s why.
But look what He’s been doing.
God says, «I–I don’t—I don’t look at him. I don’t even know him.» Wow.
The comforting part is when you cross a line—have you ever had God spank you?
Look—you can cross the line in your thoughts, and He’ll spank you. It all depends on how close you are to Him—it’s kind of interesting.
Please don’t confuse this—don’t mess this up. When you’re real close to Him—if you’re walking tight with God—you can think the thought, and He says, «Hey—come over here.» Because He knows what you’re thinking.
But if you’re not walking so close with God—you may put your foot over here—you may be dabbling in this there—and just like you know it’s wrong—and it’s like, «Okay then"—right? And then it’s just like this—in a trap.
«Ah.»
Listen—this is as pastors—this is what we hear. It happens.
«Ow—hello—I need to come in the church. I need to talk to somebody.»
«Okay—come on in.»
«Yeah—I got this—I got this thing on my foot. It’s—she’s a bear trap.»
«Where’d you get that?»
«Well—I mean—I–I don’t know what God’s doing to me, man. I just don’t get it. Why would He do this?»
«Well—it looks to me—it looks to me like you’re one of His kids, and you went somewhere you ought not to be going. And you can thank Him for that.»
«See what’s going to leave a mark? And you can thank Him every time you look at that mark.»
That’s serious.
Seeing the Signs of the Times
Number five—verses 11-12—night vision is seeing the signs of the times.
The burden or the oracle is the word against Dumah—that’s Edom—Jordan today—the Edomite kingdom—Jordan today.
«He calls to me out of Seir: 'Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? '»
The watchman said, «The morning comes"—listen—"and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire—return—come back.»
What is he talking about?
This is what he’s saying—the future prophecy tells us that the kingdom of Jordan will be witnessing what they hear. And listen—this is what’s going to be said as they see what’s going on.
There’s going to be a cry that comes out of Jordan like this: «It’s really dark—it’s really dark what’s happening in the world. Watchman—tell me—you’re on the wall—tell me.»
It’s so dark what’s happening.
And the watchman announces this: «The morning’s coming—at least that’s what time it shows on my sundial. But it’s still dark.»
«Go—think about it. When you’ve thought about it, come back with a new mind—come back with a new heart. I’ll—as a watchman—I’ll figure it out. I’m waiting—I’m watching. You go back. Maybe when you come back, I’ll be able to announce that it is the morning and it is light.»
But right now—it’s the morning, and it’s still dark.
It’s an amazing statement.
We should be living—there should be life—there should be joy. But it’s dark outside.
It’s funny, huh? We’re at this verse, and we just had a time change. What’s going on? It’s lighter and darker—and it should be darker and lighter. What’s this? What’s the story? That kind of thing—on a spiritual scale.
Hey—we should be having fun. Hey—it should be wonderful. But it’s dark.
And the watchman who scans the horizon—another work of a spiritual leader—what’s coming? I’ll tell you in a moment—I’m looking—I’m looking.
And he announces, «You know what? It should be light—but it’s dark. I’ll keep looking. Something’s wrong.»
Isn’t that amazingly powerful?
And the remainder of it is an argument—I would say number six is seeing God speak through His Word—is verses 13 to 17.
For time’s sake, we’ll have to wrap this up. But it’s the burden against Arabia—Arabia today we know it as Saudi Arabia—and the descendants—I’m just going to paraphrase.
As you go down, you look at verse 13—the Dedanites—those are the descendants of Abraham and Keturah. Interesting, huh?
The offspring—all this leads to Middle East tribes warning against each other.
You keep looking down, and within a year—the prophecy—verse 16—according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail.
Tema and Kedar—the descendants of Abraham through Hagar—and the descendants which would be of Ishmael’s lineage.
And the remainder of the number of archers—the mighty men of the peoples of Kedar—will be diminished.
«For the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.»
Remarkable—night vision—prophets of God seeing into the distant future—the things that are in the hearts and the minds of men. And God knows what’s in the hearts and the minds of us.
There’s no hiding from the God of the Bible. He has night vision, as it were, into our souls.
What an amazing God.
You know the Scripture says—because of His mercy we’re not consumed. Isn’t that amazing?
Thank God—you know tomorrow morning when you wake up, the Bible says there’s new mercies every morning.
And as we end this, I want you to be thinking about just some things that are happening right now with us.
The remarkable—and I may mention this on Sunday—the remarkable pictures that God shows us as a people.
It’s been, as it were, the dark night of the soul so to speak with winter—the days are lengthening, the air is warming, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing. There’s weddings are being planned.
Why? There’s almost like a renewed life in the spring.
Jesus rose again from the grave in the spring.
You wake up in the morning—it’s been, as it were, the dark night of the soul. But the morning comes.
And whatever was bothering you today—there it doesn’t seem as bad in the morning, does it?
Wise Ben Franklin said, «Sleep on it.» Why? Because it’s different in the morning.
And tonight you may have brought a truckload of burdens in here in your heart.
This church—this week—deaths and births. Isn’t it strange? Babies coming into the world and people dying.
And between those two things—a generation lives—stories to tell, things experienced.
All of it is speaking—just think for a moment, friend—all of it is speaking about God’s promises—the faithfulness of His Word and His commitment to you.
He loves you.
Jesus Christ died on the cross to release from you the grip of sin.
And once He was dead on the cross, He was taken down from that cross, and He was laid in a nearby tomb there in Jerusalem.
And I think three weeks—we’re going to be in it—we’re going to see it. It’s empty.
You’re the only group of people in the world that can go to its founder’s grave, and there’s nothing there. He’s risen from the dead to guarantee you eternal life.
How do I know? How do I know? Because this book says so.
And the beautiful thing is you and I live in the 21st century where history has confirmed such things.
And if I didn’t have any of that, I have the fact that I have a new life.
There’s nothing you can tell me that can trump this—Jesus Christ has given me a new life. He’ll do the same thing for you tonight.
Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You for Your life that You give.
And Father—tonight—if there’s any man or woman, boy or girl in this house that would say yes to Jesus Christ—that friend, whoever you are right now—you would say, «That’s the prayer of my heart.»
«God—will You forgive me of my sins? Will You wash my sins away? I want to have a new life. I want to know God—the living God. And I want to walk with God. I want to be taken in—I want to be adopted by God.»
If that’s you tonight—right where you’re at—you tell Him that. You just tell Him that. He’s listening—He can hear you.
And if you’re telling that to Him—I’d love to hear about that. Please—you grab me, you tell me, you come by, you write me a note—you just get it to me. I want to know—I want to know you.
Because you’re going to be in heaven with us forever. I want to know you because God’s going to do amazing things in and through your life.
I want to know you because your life is just about ready to begin.
Finally—thank You, God, for being so awesome.
In Jesus' name—and all God’s people said, amen.
And Father—tonight—if there’s any man or woman, boy or girl in this house that would say yes to Jesus Christ—that friend, whoever you are right now—you would say, «That’s the prayer of my heart.»
«God—will You forgive me of my sins? Will You wash my sins away? I want to have a new life. I want to know God—the living God. And I want to walk with God. I want to be taken in—I want to be adopted by God.»
If that’s you tonight—right where you’re at—you tell Him that. You just tell Him that. He’s listening—He can hear you.
And if you’re telling that to Him—I’d love to hear about that. Please—you grab me, you tell me, you come by, you write me a note—you just get it to me. I want to know—I want to know you.
Because you’re going to be in heaven with us forever. I want to know you because God’s going to do amazing things in and through your life.
I want to know you because your life is just about ready to begin.
Finally—thank You, God, for being so awesome.
In Jesus' name—and all God’s people said, amen.