Mike Bickle emphasizes the prophetic message in Isaiah 43-44, highlighting God's justice master plan that includes divine discipline, demonic persecution, and the promise of a purified church and a global harvest. He explains that God's discipline is rooted in love, aiming to awaken His people, both Israel and the church, to their covenant relationship with Him. Bickle reassures that despite the challenges, God will redeem His people and pour out His Spirit, leading to a great transformation and the manifestation of His glory. He calls for believers to remember God's promises and to be faithful witnesses of His plans in the world, especially in the face of the coming Antichrist empire.

Well, Romans 1, paragraph A, Isaiah 41 to 44, so these four chapters, really it's one long prophetic message. So these four chapters, we did two last week and two this week, they really, you could put them all together in one setting. Paragraph B, last week we looked at Isaiah 42, the justice master plan of God. You know, God has a justice master plan, and Isaiah 42 is the famous chapter on justice. It's going to fill the earth when the Lord returns. But in this grand plan, I want to highlight, first of all, there's a few things that show up regularly in these 150 chapters. There's a worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we go, yes. There's a worldwide judgment on the Antichrist empire. These judgments are terrifying. And so like we read in Isaiah 24 and 25, the terrifying judgments, and we look at them, but the judgments are focused on the Antichrist empire, but it's a global empire, but they're terrifying judgments. The next thing you've got to remember is God's discipline on His church and on Israel. He's disciplining the church and Israel because He loves the church, but He wants to wake the church up. So there's an element of discipline that shows up in these chapters, and if you only read the discipline, you go, oh no. But the Lord says, no, it's because I want you involved, but I have to have you involved on my terms. I have to wake you up, so we're doing this wholehearted. But then there's a demonic persecution, which is very different from the divine discipline. The demonic persecution with great intensity against the church and Israel. Now some of this divine discipline and demonic persecution, which are very different, but sometimes what this results in is people being, between persecution and discipline, they end up in very troublesome circumstances. Even martyrdom, the persecution, and even prison camps. It's to me terrifying how many times the subject of people in prison camps at the end of the age, and that's a subject nobody really wants to address, but it keeps showing up in the prophets. And so there's discipline, there's persecution, but the master plan, look at here, B, it results in a purified church. First time in history the global church will be purified. It results in a great harvest of souls. I mean, we're believing God for a billion. Can you imagine a purified church and a billion new converts? It results in Israel's national conversion, their national salvation, and Israel filled in the nation with the glory of God. They have this millennial position of glory, in the millennium I mean, of the glory of God, and then every sphere of society is filled with love and justice and humility. That's the fruit of all this, and the glory of God fills the whole earth. And so this master plan has some real difficult parts to it, but only Jesus would have the wisdom to see the persecution, the outpouring of the spirit, the purifying of the church, the divine discipline all mixed together in His brilliant mind. I mean, I don't mean it's mixed together, but He manages all of these different issues to produce a purified church, a global harvest, and then the national salvation of Israel and the glory of God filling the earth, etc. Here in Daniel chapter 11, Daniel mentions, now this is the church he's talking about, how they will be purified, how that there will be martyrs, but the martyrdom of the believers will result in many becoming purified in the body of Christ. Paragraph C, now if we're going to understand Isaiah 43, that's what we're looking at now, we've got to start with the last phrases of Isaiah 42, because Isaiah 42 was in a conversation and there's a chapter break, but it's one conversation. Like Isaiah didn't say, hey, put a chapter in here, let's take a week off, you know. He's right in the middle of a conversation in Isaiah 43 verse 1. So let's backtrack and get the conversation going here. What that conversation is, God's discipline because of love, this is because of love, upon the nation of Israel. He has, again, discipline upon the body of Christ as well in other passages. And they're left, the chapter, the verses right before Isaiah 43, here's where it's at, verse 22, Israel's a people that are robbed and plundered, snared in holes, hit in prison houses. Again, this is a, wow, what an intense subject. Who wants to say these things? Well I assure you, Isaiah did not want to say these things. And some of you are aware that Isaiah was martyred because of the things he said. He was sawn in two by the religious and political leadership of Israel, they cut him in two and killed him because he said these things. So don't imagine that it's going to be received any more in a friendly spirit. This is heavy stuff. But God goes, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. The negative and the positive, I'm overseeing the whole thing in tension together. Then he says in verse 23, who among of you will even listen to this message? Isaiah said, then he asked a question, verse 24, who gave Jacob, which is Israel, who gave Israel up for plunder? Who gave him up to the robbers? And then this shocking answer, God boldly, he doesn't apologize, he says, was it not the Lord? I did it. Wait, you let them go to prison houses? Yes. Lord, you can't do that. And he said, because I wanted to wake them up, because I need them in voluntary partnership. I'm not going to make them obey me, but I'm going to create an optimum environment with an outpouring of the spirit, with trouble on one side and glory on the other side, with promises and power. I'm going to put the whole thing together to create the optimum environment for Israel and the church and even the nations to say yes to the Lord, say yes to coming to the great harvest. Look at verse 25, and therefore God poured on Israel his anger and set him on fire. And it goes later in the verse, and burned him. It's like, what? Then Isaiah 43, verse 1, that's where we're starting in just a minute. So Israel's in prison camps, on fire, being burned, and then Isaiah turns the chapter, so to speak. And he goes, I didn't stop the conversation. Some guy did who put the chapter breaks in. So paragraph B, there's the outline, let's look at top of page 2, and jump right into Isaiah 43 and continue the conversation. So when you're studying and teaching Isaiah 43, remember to lock it into 42. You can't put a, if you start 43, verse 1, you won't understand the intensity of what he's saying in Isaiah 43. It starts off, paragraph, top of page 2, paragraph A, chapter 43, verse 1, but now, and the but now is an acknowledgment of them having fire, that's the judgment of God, burning them. It's through enemy nations. It's through, whether Assyria or Babylon, it's nations, it's military invasions burning their cities. But now, verse 1, and but now points back to chapter 42, the verses we just looked at. I want you to know, who created you? It's I, the Lord. Yes, I know you're being disciplined, but I'm the one that thought of you. I'm the one that exerted power to form you. I'm the one that's incumbent with you. So actually, you're in good hands because you're in the hands of a God who thought of you and thought of the great plan to release my glory in you, and I'm not backing away from that plan. That's what he's saying. Now, you're going to notice in verse 1, he says, O Jacob and O Israel. This is interesting because 16 times, 16 times in the next 10 chapters, Jacob and Israel are put together nearly in the same sentence. It's the two faces. Jacob is the, obviously, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, one of the fathers who had the 12 sons that became the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob was a deceptive man, and Jacob wrestled with God, and God transformed him and gave him a new name, Israel. So Jacob, the deceiver, wrestled with God and became Israel, which means the prince with God. And all through these chapters, the Lord is playing the tension of these two words. You deceiver who wrestles with me that becomes a prince with me and transformed. You deceiver that gets transformed. You transformed prince of God, but oh, did you have to wrestle with me? He's saying that every time he mentions this 16 times in the next 10 chapters, he mentions Jacob and Israel. He goes, fear not. Now you would say, fear not? Our cities are being burned? You don't remember the verse before? Fear not? And he goes, I'm with you. He says, I'm redeeming you. I'm going to allow all these negative things. I'm going to overrule them for good. I'm actually going to take all the destruction and turn it around to your training and to your glory, and I'm going to magnify my grace in you. I have redeemed you. So it's not just I forgave you. I'm going to overrule all the negative you've gone through, all through history, and I'm going to show you the glory of God in your nation, and you'll see my wisdom when it's all said and done. Then he speaks, particularly in verse 1 and verse 4, this affectionate, tender language. You'll see it here in verse 1 and then more in verse 4. He says, you're mine. He says, it's personal. You're my beloved. This isn't, yes, I know I'm disciplining you, but I'm not giving up on you. Matter of fact, I'm going to redeem it all. I'm going to turn it all around. You're my beloved, verse 2. When you pass through the waters, and this means the floodwaters of affliction. I'm going to be with you. When you go through the rivers, the flooding rivers, here you're picturing Israel being chased by a military invasion and persecuted and trying to escape, and there's rivers and waters and danger everywhere. He goes, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. Now this is a promise that did not happen every time Israel had problems. I have no doubt there were moments and there were situations in every one of their episodes of terrible difficulties where some of these miracles happened, but at the end of the age, there's going to be tremendous miracles because that's where this whole storyline culminates in the generation the Lord returns. I think that verse 2 is going to happen. There's going to be miracles in the midst of the fires and the floods. I've read different testimonies of the church in China, several ones, the underground church, and where they, in flooding rivers and burning houses, how God appeared and did miraculous things. And so I thought, oh, that's a little bit of what's going to be happening more and more. But there's a symbolic or kind of a down payment of this through history. There's those miracles all through history, but this is going to be a mainstay in the generation the Lord returns. He says in verse 3, for I'm the Lord, I'm the holy God of Israel. He says that this is a strange passage. He goes, or at first it seems strange, I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba in your place. I gave them in your place. And since here's this affectionate language, you're precious to me. Yes, I know I've left you in the last chapter with your cities being burned in a military invasion, me disciplining you, but it's not because I gave up on you, it's because you're dear to me. You're honored in my sight, and I love you, and I'm sticking with the program, I'm sticking with my commitment to bring you to glory, and I'm not going to back down from this. Therefore I gave men for you and people for your life. So let's look at paragraph F here. I've just got a few of these phrases I kind of tease out a little bit in the notes here. And by the way, when I give the upgraded notes, I'll have a lot more with each one of these points and other passages to go along with it. I always give the six pages and then kind of double it or plus more than double it a couple days later. So if you're really into this chapter and you want to understand more of it, we'll have some more notes there in a couple days from now. Verse, paragraph F. The Lord says, I've redeemed you Israel. I have redeemed you. And this is a powerful declaration that God's love is far greater than Israel's sin. Now this is a message we comfort Israel with. We comfort Jerusalem. Remember, we're to comfort Jerusalem, Isaiah 40. We're to tell them that the God of Israel, that his passion, his love for them is greater than their rebellion towards him. But it doesn't end there. That's the message we can tell the body of Christ about the body of Christ. That's a message we know in our own lives. When we find ourself in a situation that we're not at all pleased that we're in and we're surprised by our failure and our stumble, the Lord says, I haven't given up on you. My love for you is far greater. Read Isaiah 43. Israel, with a military invasion to discipline her as a nation, I told her, I'm going to be with her and I'm going to turn it for her good. I'm going to overrule the negativity and even the sin against her and the persecution and the fire and the discipline and turn it out for her good. God doesn't give up on his people. That's the message of Isaiah 43. Even in Israel's end time apostasy. I mean Israel's doing bad spiritually right now. You look at Israel, it's a nearly godless nation. But the God of Israel says, Israel, I'm going to meet you face to face and turn you around. And the greatest harvest in the history of Israel is coming and it's not far away. But there's going to be a fire the nation's going through. But the nation's not really thinking about it. I mean they think that the Islamic nations are going to bother them and trouble them. But they think we're going to beat them anyway. But they don't really know what their prophets have said as a nation. And that's why the Lord's messengers must bring the message with clarity to wake up people so they're not offended. Because if they know that if God's saying my love is greater than even your rebellion and I'm with you in it. He says you're mine, paragraph G. It's personal to him. You're my beloved. Yes, I'm allowing you to be disciplined, but you're mine. You're the apple of my eye. Now he mentions three names here, paragraph I, in related to Israel being encouraged while under divine discipline. He mentions the fact that he's the Lord your God. That's the covenant name for God. The Lord, Yahweh, the covenant God. So there's personal relationship. Then he's the holy one, that's the transcendent. That's the holy one of Israel is the one that is holy other than. He lives in a realm. He's infinitely superior to everything. He's holy other than. He's transcendent. He has all power, but he's a savior. He's about confronting your enemies and liberating you and changing your circumstances. So number one, there's a personal relationship. Number two, there's a powerful God. And number three, there's a savior who has a plan to remove the negative and to shift your circumstances and save you from it. Now here he says, I gave Egypt for your ransom. And you might look at that and think, how did that happen? And one of the ways that is commonly understood is that when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, remember Syria was the superpower of the day, the one main superpower. When they were coming up and attacking Israel fiercely, what the Lord did is he stirred up this cruel, evil king. He stirred him up to attack Egypt. And so Israel's attack by this superpower was lessened because Egypt needed discipline too. And the Lord says, hey, I stirred him up to go down south to Egypt. And in that way, I spared you. It could have been far worse if Sennacherib had the freedom to do everything he wanted. But I redirected him in flight because I love you and I didn't want you extinguished as a nation. I saved you. There was only a remnant, but I saved you. Do you remember when I did that for you? And of course, the nation of Israel might go, oh, that's why he kind of turned left. Okay, that was kind of a sudden turn. Okay, interesting. Then he goes on, paragraph K, he says here in verse 4, he goes, you're precious in my sight and I loved you. This idea of I loved you is going to be one of the premier themes of the Holy Spirit in the generation the Lord returns. I love you, Israel. I love you, body of Christ. It's not just I'm going to use you and release my glory in you. I actually have an affectionate interaction with you. My heart is moved by your heart. I love you. The first commandment is going to be restored to first place. It's a kingdom where wholehearted love is exchanged. And there's a declaration of this. Right in the middle, I mean in the midst of their discipline, there's military invasions coming. He goes, but Israel, it's I love you. This is about love and I want you to love me and you will love me. Let's look at the top of page 3. So he goes on and he says, not only do I have tender affection for you, in the midst of the fire I'm going to be with you. And you're precious, you're honored, I love you, you're mine. He has all these words in verse 1 and verse 4. He says, but it's more than that. Paragraph 3, verses 5 to 7. He goes, I'm going to regather all the scattered ones of Israel. Now Israel has been scattered several times over the years. They were scattered up north, the northern kingdom, because you know they had a civil war that lasted about 200 years. The north and the south. The northern kingdom was scattered in 721. And the 10 tribes of Israel were scattered. So there's refugees all around the world. 721 B.C. Then 586, Nebuchadnezzar came and scattered them again and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Then in 70 A.D., the Romans did it. Then all through history, various times, the most intense is Nazi Germany and the Jews were scattered to the ends of the earth as well as gathered and killed. They're scattered and gathered, but both of them were just expressions of demonic persecution against them. But the Lord says, I'm going to regather my people from all around the world. I'm going to do this supernaturally. Now this is going to be more than a human effort. And that supernatural move of God is on even now. One of the signs of the times is the regathering of people with Jewish heritage back to Israel. You know, there's a million people with Jewish heritage that speak Russian language. A million of them have gathered back to the land. There's never been a gathering of this magnitude of just one ethnic group coming back to the land. And the only other one that's actually the strange that it is, is Germany. That Germany after World War II was scattered to the ends of the earth and that over the years several, even more, millions came back from all the Russian territories. But this gathering of Israel would be the largest gathering back to a homeland besides the scattered Germans after the war that returned, which is a point that most people are not even ever aware of. But history says 12 million Germans came back from other territories after the war. But anyway, there's this regathering coming now. But the regathering is going to come to a fullness when the Lord returns. But the regathering is happening now because what happens in fullness when the Lord returns is happening in part in an increasing way even now. And so we don't wait until then to give ourself, to be involved in it. Because what He does in fullness then, the regathering of the people to the land, He's doing in part now. And so we're celebrating that and we're praying and asking for the Lord's provision. He says, fear not, I'm going to bring them from the north, the south, the east, and the west, from the ends of the earth, and that's beginning. But there's going to be the ultimate finale when the Lord Himself comes back. The regathering will far eclipse even the million that's come from Russia in the last 25 years, last 30 years. He says, look at verse 7. He goes, I'm going to gather you. He goes, you know why I'm going to gather you? He goes, you know what's really moving me to get you back in the nation, in one nation? He goes, I created you, I created you as a nation so that you would experience my glory and you would manifest it to the earth. I'm gathering you because I want you to experience the glory of God in an unprecedented way in the land and even the process of gathering. Then I'm going to make you vessels of my glory to the ends of the earth. Now Jesus elaborates on this truth in John chapter 17 where He cries out to the Father, and this isn't just about Israel, this is about all believers. He goes, Father, I want my glory to be released in them. I want to experience my glory. But as a nation, God's going to gather them and there's going to be an intense encounter of the glory of God that's going to have global ramifications after the Lord regathers them in the land. The Lord says, my whole purpose of creating you was that you would experience my glory and you would manifest it and we would do it together in partnership. Look at what Jesus says here in John 17. He says, the glory you gave me, Father, I gave to them. I want them fully unified as a community. I want them to love each other like we love each other, Father. And then the world will know that I love them. But look what He says in verse 24. Father, oh, I desire, I desire that they would be with me where I am and they would behold, they would encounter my glory. So when we look at the severity of the big justice master plan, it's all about love and glory at the end of the day. And if we know this, it tempers the way we communicate it. It tempers the way we interpret it. It's how we steward it in our own life when the divine discipline, because the discipline is not just coming on Israel. It's coming on the church. I'm guessing the church is in the earth right now. There's many carnal compromising believers, millions and millions, with barely a second thought about the Lord. They'll go to a church service, they'll worship a little bit, and they'll just do life what they want. And the Lord says, No, no body of Christ. No to the body of Christ. Israel, no to you either. You can't be a mere atheistic nation. You can't. Body of Christ, you can't live this way. You're mine. And so this discipline is that sometimes we look at Israel and say, Well, take a step back. This is what happens when God's in covenant and He loves people. He comes after them to wake them up. So they make choices. Those choices of love will last forever. A million years from now, we'll look back and the Lord says, Hey, I mean it won't take a million years, but say, Hey, you got all the information. Wasn't it right that I cornered you a little bit? Wasn't it right that you chose new things? You didn't like it at the time, but aren't you glad for billions of years? Yes, Lord. Oh, I'm so glad that when I was kicking and screaming, you didn't give in to me. It's kind of like I'm an intimidated parent. Oh my God, the kid doesn't like me. I'll give in and give up. The Lord says, No, no, no, no. I got big shoulders. I know what I'm doing. I got a master plan. I love you. And this isn't going to feel good all the way, but there's a great outpouring of the Spirit too. So we kind of get locked into the Israel trouble because there's not a revelation of the church in the Old Testament, but broaden the perspective. It's the people in covenant with God perspective. And that puts us right in the middle of some of the persecution and some of the divine discipline, but also the outpouring of the Spirit and the release of the glory. All of this applies to us as well, not just that we're messengers to them. We're messengers to the body of Christ as well. I don't mean we here in this place, but I mean the Lord's messengers in that generation, those that will dare to eat the scroll. That's what the angel told John. They'll go deep on the message. They'll study it. They'll meditate. They'll pray it through, and they'll boldly say it, and I believe there'll be hundreds of thousands, if not millions that will do that. They will bring insight to the nations of the earth. Okay, so let's look at Roman numeral four. The Lord is raising up his messengers. Now here in Isaiah 43, he says it real bold, but he uses the word, I'm going to make you my witnesses. And in the New Testament, you find the word. There's a word that's used a handful of times is faithful witnesses. God wants us to be faithful witnesses of his kingdom, which is the same thing as messengers. Now notice what happens, paragraph eight, verse eight and nine, and I'm only putting this verse in so you get the flow of the context. It's kind of a hypothetical. God's calling. He's summonsing the nations to a gathering. Of course, no one comes, and he doesn't expect them to, but it's a hypothetical gathering. God's challenging the nations through Isaiah the prophet because the nations are saying, hey, our idols are powerful. Our idols have real spirits behind them that really give us information and they really make it rain. They really make us win wars. They make our fields fruitful, our livestock productive, because there's real demons involved in idols. And so there's a big argument in the nations in Isaiah's day, and Israel was being sucked into the deception that there are real spirit activity behind idols. Now the idols are just dumb idols, but there are spirits behind it, and what's happening is that nations were boasting about the power of their idols, and Israel was being seduced into that because Israel bought into the idol worship, and God says, well, I'm going to challenge you to a debate, a worldwide debate. Again, nobody came, but he says, and what he's saying in this, so that when you read it later, it'll make sense. He goes, anywhere in the world, all the top leaders come, show me an idol and the spirit behind the idol that can prophesy the future in an accurate way. Now wait, we have people today, psychics and all kinds of groups that get this fact right and that fact right and little bits and pieces of people's lives, and people swear by it. No, it's really true, and there's seances with demonic information, but he's not asking for a little trivial piece of information of somebody's name or some event. He says, tell me, and here's the idea, tell me a significant international event that changes world history that any of you have prophesied, and then you had the power to make that event come to pass. So that's the challenge he throws out to the idols and to the nations, and Israel's listening and he's looking at Israel saying, don't buy into this thing, because none of them can predict the future of international events and then have the power to make them happen and then have the wisdom to interpret them and make it fit into a master plan. Only I can do that. There is no other God. That's the logic of what's going on here. Now, there's quite a few passages in Isaiah, like four, five, six, seven of them, I don't know the number exact, but where these lengthy discussions, just like this, there was one in Isaiah 41 last week, and there's another, a few more coming up in Isaiah in the 40s, and you think, what is this? And here's one, well, number one, it had relevance in its day, but why is so much space to the prophets, particularly Isaiah, given to this idol debate? Because the greatest idolatry movement in human history is yet future. It's the anti-Christ worship system that will have idols all around the earth, and people will take the mark of the beast, and it will be fully energized with demons, and there will be, I'm assuming, all kinds of powerful miracles and prophecies, and the earth is going to be seduced by this argument. And God will say to them again, yeah, they might know somebody's name, they may know an event, they may know a date of something, they may know about Aunt Susie who died ten years ago, or something like that, but one thing they don't know is significant international events, and they can't make them come to pass, and they can't make them fit together in a master plan either. Nobody can do that but the God of Israel. And that's the statement that's going on here, and that's going to be a real relevant issue in the years to come in the face of the anti-Christ empire, because you look at anti-Christ, they're worshiping the anti-Christ, but when you read, and we'll get to it later in the other weeks, but it says in Romans 9, I mean not Romans, Revelation 9 verse 20, that it's idolatry filling the nations. It's demons being activated in the system, and the earth multimillions are going to buy into the idol seduction. So this isn't just the Lord putting an undue amount of time, and Isaiah's like, Isaiah, why do you keep hammering this point? And of course Isaiah might say, I don't know, the spirit just keeps pushing it, but when you take a step back and look at the master plan, it will be one of the most prominent issues in the generation the Lord returns. Well he says in paragraph B, verse 10 and verse 12, he says it twice, then he says it a third time in the next chapter, chapter 44 verse 8, he says, you're my witnesses. He goes, these idol worship movements, they have their witnesses, but none of it's real. Again, they might have some little facts of personal life, some of the demons give them, but they cannot determine any significant international events, they don't have the power to make them to pass, they can't interpret them, and they can't pull them all together to make them have this fit into a great master plan. He goes, but verse 10, you're going to be my witnesses. He goes, Israel, you're going to know what I'm doing, and you're going to declare it, because God could just declare it audibly if he wants to, in the heavens and everybody to hear it, and when Jesus comes back, that will be a loud voice in the heavens and everybody will hear it, but he goes, no, I'm going to make my ways known through my witnesses, and it's not just soul winning, getting somebody to accept salvation, which I don't think there's anything more important than that, so I don't mean just soul winning, but when he says witnesses here, he's talking about that are carrying the prophetic message of God's master plans of what he's doing in the nations, and that is the prophetic scriptures. We have them. Isaiah was one of those witnesses, and that's what these 150 chapters are. They're the bringing together of the message for those that will be witnesses, because it's insight into what God's like, all the multi layers of what he's doing from the outpouring of the spirit to the divine discipline, to the persecution, to the purifying Israel, to the purifying the church, to the judging the antichrist, there's all these elements, and God is saying the dark side doesn't have the information of where it's going. I do, and only I do, and it's in the prophets. I've written it in the book. He says in verse 10, but if you're gonna be my witnesses, this is really key here, you gotta know me. You gotta believe what I say, and that's what, again, it's the whole Bible for sure, but in our context here, we're believing Isaiah 43. We're believing this. We're taking time to understand it. He says the next phrase, verse 10, you gotta understand who I am and what I'm doing, or how can you say it? How can you alert people so they can respond to me right if I don't have those that are my witnesses? Again, we use the word messengers. Turn to the top of page four. He says, well, I'm skipping a lot in Isaiah 43, but I'll put it on the bigger notes. Just, Mike, stay focused. Go on. You're out of time. Stay on page four. Okay. Personal note. I was gonna go back and make another point or two. Now the Lord is, again, Israel, the context, the verse before Isaiah 43, the right verse before, a military invasion, cities burning with fire, thrown in prison, because that happened in history, but it's gonna happen again in Israel. All this prison and fire happened several times in history, but it's gonna have its biggest, most intense expression at the end of the age. And so these chapters are very, very relevant. But he says, paragraph Roman number five, he goes, I am gonna deliver you. I'm gonna be with you, and I'm gonna, not only am I gonna deliver you and bring all your people back and pour out my spirit, I'm gonna transform the entire world, and you're in the center of my heart because I'm doing it because I love you, my covenant people. He says, verse 16, he says, let me tell you what I'm gonna do, what I'm gonna deliver you from these nations that are gonna come against you. Because Assyria came against Israel, then Babylon, then Rome, and then various nations through history. The Nazi Germany, again, very prominent, but more fierce than all is the Antichrist empire. That will be far bigger, more powerful, more cruel, more demonic, more everything negative than all the other empires combined. And all of these messages are culminating, and they have an expression in that, though they have an expression through history, they have an expression for that grand hour of history when this thing all comes together. But at verse 16, he goes, let me tell you, he goes, go back and look at the Exodus. When I divided the Red Sea, when I released the 10 plagues of Egypt, look at verse 16. He goes, thus says the Lord. He goes, I am gonna deliver you. Remember when I made a way in the sea? And you read it, the whole passage there. I have it kind of edited down here. Remember the horse and the rider and the sea and the Red Sea and I split it and all the miracles? They went, yeah. He goes, well, the idea is this. What God did at the Red Sea and the miracles of Moses and the 10 plagues, that is a, that's proof that God's going to get involved in a dramatic way, but it's also a model of how he's going to do it. So it's the proof that at the timing of the Lord, he will intervene dramatically, but it's a model where he's going to, so it's proof and it's a picture of what it might look like. But he says, verse 18, this is very important. He goes, what I did in Egypt and dividing the Red Sea, verse 18, do not remember the former things. Verse 19, I will tell you a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I'll even make roads, this highway in the wilderness, rivers will break out of the deserts. Verse 20, the wild beasts of the fields will rejoice because there'll be water in all the desert regions. This is the millennial blessing he's talking about. But it's this kind of an interesting thing in verse 18. He says, don't remember the former things. Verse 18, the former things is what he just said in verse 16 and 17 about the Red Sea and the deliverance through the miracles of Moses. Don't remember them. And he's not saying forget the memory of it, but he goes, don't limit your view of what God's going to do to the miracles of Egypt. They're going to be far beyond it. When he's saying, don't remember, he's saying, don't limit your view of what God will do to only what he did in Egypt because the end time scenario is far greater in power than the Moses drama which is the most powerful event in history is the Moses drama. I'm talking about national events where heaven broke down with miracles for a whole nation. Never has there been an episode in human history like the Moses event. The Exodus, he's saying, you like that one? Don't even go think of that one because, I mean, yes, it is a model, but it's going to be far beyond that. He goes, it's going to be global, and the book of Revelation really is the Egypt deliverance magnified on a global level. It's not Moses and the Pharaoh, but it's the end time Pharaoh, the Antichrist, and the greater Moses, Jesus, and these tremendous plagues far beyond the plagues of Moses on a global level. Isaiah, the Lord to Isaiah saying, you don't even have an idea how big this is going to be. Matter of fact, it's the bigness of it that trips the body of Christ. I've talked to various leaders over the years and look at Revelation, and they go, oh, it's symbolic. I go, why? Well, I couldn't really. It's kind of ridiculous. Really? I go, really? That's the point. It's way beyond the Moses story. So look what he says in verse 18. Don't remember, don't limit your thinking to the Moses paradigm. And again, that was the most dramatic, international, divine intervention that was seen across the nation with miracles ever in history was the Moses event. He said, but I'm going to do something far beyond verse 19. I want you to catch this. It's new. It's the millennial kingdom. It's a man coming in the clouds in glory. It's the entire earth transformed to the Garden of Eden over a period of time. It's the hostility, the animal kingdom removed. It's on and on, way beyond what happened in Moses. He says it will spring forth. I love that. It shall spring forth. You know, no matter if it's delayed and it's been, what, 3,500 years since Moses and 2,700 years since Isaiah said it, but the Spirit of God says it will come to pass. It shall happen. It shall happen. Now here's the question of the hour, and this is groups like ourselves. I look at this for the whole body of Christ. Shall you not know it? Will you even be familiar with the storyline when it happens? I look at this verse, and I say by the Spirit of grace and by the Word of God, the 150 chapters, yes, we will be aware of it. Lord, we want to be aware of it because it's a paradigm. It's completely a different level of dimension of power of what happens in the book of Revelation when God transitions the earth to the age to come, and most of the body of Christ, I don't try to be negative because I love the church, is sleeping. They're not, they think, oh, Jesus is coming, great. We're going to be caught up and out of here, and it's going to be fantastic, and they're about their business. Beloved, the most dramatic hour in human history is around the corner, and I want to be involved in it. I want to be one of the witnesses declaring it, whether to fives or tens or tens of thousands. I don't care what the number is. I want to, when he says in verse 19, shall you not know it. Then he goes on and says, I'll make a road in the wilderness, and that's that famous highway we've talked about a few times that Isaiah talks about. There's going to be a literal highway that the Lord builds in the millennial kingdom, and everything's going to be transformed, nature, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, look at Roman numeral six. I'm going to take about a two or three-minute pause here, and just look at the word witnesses or the idea of a faithful witness. Isaiah said twice, here in 43.10 and 43.12, that he said it again a third time in 44.8. I have all those verses in the notes. Three times, you're my witnesses. My covenant people are to know what I'm doing and to say it, and they're not just to wait and wait for the rapture, and then there you have it. They are to be declaring what I'm doing. They're my witnesses. I'm not going to speak it from an angel in a cloud. I mean, he might do that someday, but that's not his norm. I'm going to do it through my covenant people. And so, paragraph Roman numeral six. Interesting, of all the names of Jesus and titles for Jesus in the book of Revelation, the very first designation of Jesus is as a faithful witness. And Revelation 1.5. And what that means is he spoke the things, nobody else would say the things Jesus said. Jesus was killed in the human sense because of what he said. He wasn't killed for miracles. He was killed for what he said. And he would not back down. His family was angry at him. His city rejected him. Nazareth, they wanted to kill him. The leadership, the religious leadership abandoned him. The political leadership abandoned him. I mean, the common people did, and he would not back down. And Father said, Jesus. First title in the book of Revelation, and there's many, many names of Jesus in Revelation and descriptions. Above everything, or the first thing, you're faithful. You wouldn't back down no matter what it costs you. You said what I say. And I look at that, and I go, Lord, I just love that by the grace of God. But some of the things he said, ooh. I mean, there are good Bible studies if you're in a friendship group of happy people who all love each other. But boy, to say those things out in the public square, ooh. You know, we just kind of stick with the blessing stuff, basically, the church. Paragraph B. John the Apostle, he described his, when he says, I told you all the things I saw in the book of Revelation, he used the word, I was a witness. And he meant the end time storyline here, specifically. Not that being a witness is only that, but in the book of Revelation, he's saying, I saw everything. I mean, would you have said what John said? I mean, they are so outside of the box. Like, what sane person would actually say what he said? Now, John's famous. In the Bible, we believe it. So therefore, it's cool to believe it. But he said it for the first time. I can't imagine what the people said. John, what on earth? What? Where did you get that? You know, I'm imagining the day he first got it and said it. Well, the two witnesses, that's what they're called. They're the two messengers. But the emphasis is on the fact they're going to say what God's doing. And it's not just how to receive Christ and get your sins forgiven. Again, that's the most important message in the personal sense of people. That's where we start. But the witness is declaring the panorama of what's happening. Because it's offensive, but it must be made known so that people can adjust to it and line up with it and not resist it and not draw back in fear and offense, etc., etc. Turn to the top of page 5. Now, what has happened is that the Lord, here in Romans 7, verse 21, the Lord has just told these great promises I mentioned that new things are going to happen, things that have never been heard of. They shall spring up. Will you declare it? There'll be a highway built by God in the wilderness. You know, the animals will be touched. And all these great promises. Verse 22, Isaiah looked to the people and he says, But you, with all these promises, you don't even call on me. I can't even get you to respond to me, says the Lord. I can't get you to respond to me. You're weary of me. So, how should a covenant people respond when they hear these grand promises? Well, Israel responded. They were prayerless. They didn't do anything with it. They went, cool. Now, hey, can I make this deal with you over here? Can we do that? I got a house to build. Like, hey, Isaiah, that's cool stuff. I'll check in with you maybe next year. Hey, I got things I gotta do. And the Lord cries out, But, this is after all the promises he just laid out that I gave there in verse 19 and 20 and 21. He goes, But, you're weary of me, says the Lord. You're not responding to me. Verse 24. But, I want you to know, I'm weary of you. And not weary of you as people, but your nonchalant, unresponsive heart to the grandeur that I am putting before you, the deep affections and tenderness in your sin, my willingness to forgive you, my desire to have you experience my glory, and then to be vessels of it. And it doesn't move you. He goes, That wearies my heart that none of this interests you, but your sin interests you. Paragraph B. Then he goes, I want to say it again to you. I'll blot out your sins. I'm not writing you off. I'm weary with you. I'm not, what's the word, exasperated. My heart is hurting at your inability to be moved by any of these great things. And my patience, and even the threatening of divine discipline, the warning of persecution, the promise of glory, everything I'm saying, you're unmoved by it. He goes, I'm weary, and it hurts my heart. But verse 25, he says, but I want you to know, I want you to know, I'm going to forgive you. I mean, this is, he says, I'll blot out your sins. I'll not even remember them. That's a remarkable thing. When God says He doesn't remember our sins, it doesn't mean that intellectually He cannot recall them. That's not what it means. Like David, you know, sinned. He committed adultery, then murdered a man. It's in the Bible. It will be in the Bible forever. It's not like in heaven that chapter got ripped out. That will be there. David's like, thanks, guys. You know, it's in there forever in the Bible. I don't know how he feels about that, but when God says I'll not remember it, it means that our sin won't be any of the conversation. It won't be in the relationship or in the conversation with us and God. It's forgotten. It never, ever affects or comes up ever at all. It doesn't mean that intellectually God can't remember it, but He's saying it's not going to be in the conversation. It's not going to be in the relationship. It won't affect us at all at that time. This is a remarkable thing. He says, now here's an interesting verse, verse 26. He goes, put me in remembrance and let us contend together. State your case that you may be acquitted for your father's sin. And what he's saying, he goes, Israel, he goes, you don't really like my read that I, what I'm telling you about your sin. He says, if I've got it wrong, remind me where I'm wrong, where I've got incorrect information about you. I'm very gracious to you, but you think I'm overdoing it. So state your case, acquit yourself, prove where your dedication is that I missed. Now again, this is rhetorical. Nobody, anybody that would hear God say this, they would be silenced. And the fear of God, if God says, I dare you to speak up and remind me of your dedication when I say it wasn't there. So this is a rhetorical question. And again, the answer, no one in Israel stood up and answered this. They just went, ooh, I better be quiet. He says, no, I'm right. Your sins are intensifying. Then he goes on in verse 28, and he prophesies, in essence, the Babylonian judgment. He says, I'm gonna, end of verse 28, he goes, I'm gonna give you over to reproach. And they're going, what? He goes, I'm gonna, and he makes it clear, later it's Babylon. It was 150 years later. He goes, but I'm gonna give you over to reproach. And they're going, reproach? Why? When? Because I can't wake you up. My promises don't move you. My plan doesn't move you. The persecution doesn't move you. Divine discipline, I am going to wake you up. So he says, there's gonna be a great reproach. And that, again, is the Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar 586, the most terrible day in the Old Testament history, when the city of Jerusalem was burned, the temple was burned, the nation was brought into work camps over in Babylon. It was a horrible, horrible time. But that's 150 years from now. And he says, that's really gonna happen. Okay, let's talk, look at Roman numeral 8. Verse 1, paragraph 8. He says, okay, you're gonna be disciplined by Babylon. And then later, we find out from Jesus, they're gonna be disciplined by Rome in 70 AD. And we find out by the prophets of John, the Antichrist empire is gonna rise up at the end of the age. So this element of discipline, regardless what season, that, you know, some commentators will say, well, this was the Assyrian invasion, or the Babylonian one, or the Roman one. Those are the three big ones. Which one is it? I go, it doesn't really matter. The point of it was, it was a divine discipline, and they didn't wake up. That's the real point. You can debate on it, if it's Assyria, or Babylon, or Rome, you can go back and forth on the historical information, but the real point is, God says, I'm gonna wake you up. But look what he says, the very next phrase after he says, I'm gonna give you over to reproach, and again, when you read the whole story, it's the Babylonian captivity, it's reproach, beyond reproach, it's the destruction of Jerusalem. It's a horrible hour. Look at the first thing God says in chapter 41, verse 1. Remember, there's no chapter break. So he's back in the same conversation. He goes, don't pause now, I'm in the middle of the conversation. He says in chapter 41, verse 1, yet hear now, O Jacob, I'm gonna help you. Yes, I'm gonna discipline you in Babylon, but I'm gonna help you. Don't be afraid. Though even you're scattered abroad, your purposes isn't gonna be nullified. I'm staying true to my covenant, I'm staying true to my purposes for you. My purpose won't be canceled out. Yes, there will be personal grievances and tragedies in the midst of it, but as a national identity, because they've said a number of times, you know, Israel's finished. No, have no fear. Your national identity, your purposes will come to full glory. He says, fear not, O Jacob. He says, and you, Jeshurun. Now, Jeshurun is the other name for Israel. This is an affectionate term. I'll put a little bit more on the notes so I can upgrade it here. I'll put a paragraph or two on this. Jeshurun, he's calling him, it's an affectionate term, which means my upright one, my beloved upright one. So he goes, yes, Babylon is coming to discipline you, you sinful nation. Hear now, Jacob, you deceiver, you twister, oh, but you're Jeshurun. You are my delight and my beloved. You are going to be a prince with God, and so he says this affectionate tone even in the midst that he's warning them of Babylonian judgment coming. Why do we care about this? Because God never changes, and the storyline of the ancient of Israel's ancient past is just snapshots and cameos of the end time storyline. We look at these little snapshots that happened in a short period of time years ago, and the Lord says now, imagine that on a global level with far more intensity. The negative is more intense, and the power and the glory is more intense. Study the little cameo shots and see the big panorama of what I'm doing. So when I look at these, this is really personal. It's not like I'm just a historian studying ancient history, although there's an element where we study the history to get the storyline, but it's to apply the storyline because God never changes. God says, why do you think I gave this story? Israel's a very small nation. The word of God's eternal. You think I put their story in for, you know, x amount of thousand people that lived in that hour? It's my storyline. It's a big storyline, and it's going to have a global dimension at the end of the age. He says, here now, Jacob. Oh, gesture on my beloved. He says, I know you're going to be disciplined by Babylon, but verse three, but remember, I'm going to pour my spirit out on you. You're going to have the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now this is going to happen in fullness when the Lord returns. Now again, the spirits been poured out now, but there's a great global outpouring that is yet awaiting then in verse five, and I won't develop this now. He says this outbreak of the spirit is going to move you so deeply. This is this is unbelieving Israel. He's talking to you will be so deeply and thoroughly changed and transformed by this outpouring that one of you will say your spiritual identity on the Lord's. The other one will say, No, I'm going to identify with the weakness of Jacob, and I'm so grateful that God forgave me because I'm so much like Jacob. I understand that the other guy goes, No, I'm going to write with my hand. No, I'm just the Lord's. The other guy says, No, I'm Israel. They're going to have. These are just different spiritual ways that different one individuals are going to see themselves before the Lord. The point being there's going to be such a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit. People are going to identify themselves. These unbelieving nation with such close identity with Jesus of Nazareth with the God of Israel. They named themselves according to different facets of how they're responding to them. That's what verse 5 is talking about. Okay, verse 6. Paragraph D. I'm going to mention again. He said, I'm going to pour out my spirit. Now we know that began on the day of Pentecost, but beloved that was a down payment. That was a partial fulfillment of the global outpouring. The outpouring of the spirit that happened on Pentecost touched 120 people. Then it touched 3,000. Then it touched 5,000. Now today they say 600 million people that have charismatic theology and experiences. 600 million in the earth. That's a number that a number of people, different historians stand by. I don't know how accurate it is, but that's the number being used. But there's a far greater outpouring that's even yet to come. And what I'm saying is as messengers, as faithful witnesses it is absolutely necessary to be Holy Spirit people. We can't just be people of the book. We have to be people of the book and people of the spirit. We don't choose one or the other. We're hungry for the presence of the spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. But we're hungry for the book. For the written word as well. We're bringing the word of the spirit together. And then Roman Numeral 9. There's three faces of God that are highlighted. And then he calls them again my witnesses in verse 8. Look at Roman Numeral 9 verses 6 to 8. Look at verse 8. He says again, you're my witnesses. But what I want you to know as he's emphasizing this witness calling, this witness messenger ministry. I want you to see the three faces of Jesus that Isaiah highlighted that are going to be an important part of those who are the witnesses for the Lord. And again, every believer is a witness. But I'm talking about witnessing to his plans in the nations. That's because that's the challenge he had with the idolaters. He goes, tell me my plans. Tell me global plans. Tell me the big picture stuff. He goes, because my guys are going to say it across the nations. These witnesses. These messengers. And I have written here a paragraph. I mean verse 6. There's three faces of the Lord that are going to be prominent. Now I like to say bridegroom, king, and judge. Because in the teaching of Jesus, Matthew 24 and 25, he presents himself in a primary way at the end of the ages. Bridegroom, king, and judge. He's a king with power. He's a bridegroom with desire for relationship. And he's a judge with zeal to confront everything that hinders love. And there's no contradiction in him as bridegroom, king, and judge. And there's several places in the scripture where those three faces of God come together. And here I can see these three faces right here in verse 6. Look at paragraph B. Well as king, we know what king means or at least we have an idea. As redeemer. Redeemer. He's Jehovah Redeemer. That's the God of the covenant relationship. The God of the family covenant. And I put in here the association of the redeemer. The lamb that was slain. The bride and the lamb. This has the tone of the bridegroom God. The God of covenant and family relationship who's fighting for the relationship. The redeemer to recover all that's lost in the relationship. So I would put bridegroom there and then the Lord of hosts. When it says the Lord of hosts, the word host means the armies of heaven. He's the God of the armies of heaven. He's the judge. He's the one that's coming with great zeal to confront darkness in the earth. He's the Lord of hosts. He's coming in a military fashion as the divine warrior. The zealous judge to confront everything that's coming against his people. So when I see these three realities of Jesus in the lips of Isaiah, king, redeemer and Lord of hosts, I can clearly see in that bridegroom, king and judge as well. And then it's interesting that Isaiah mentions the Lord as being the first and the last. Paragraph E. This is one of the primary titles for Jesus in the New Testament. He's the first and the last. He's actually quoting Isaiah 44. And again in the upgraded notes, I'll put a little bit more in that. Well, paragraph H. I'll just end with this. He says, here's what I want you to do. Verse 22. Verse 21. He goes, Israel, I got two things I want you to do and two things I promise you. I want you to remember these things. Remember them! And I want you, verse 22, to return to me to repent. I want you to break your agreement with darkness and I want you to remember these things. Because when we forget, matter of fact, well, I'll say it this way. The call to remember is one of the primary exhortations in the Bible. The call to remember. Remember the promises. Remember the storyline. Remember what this is about. Because when we don't put energy into remember, what happens, because as human beings, we're prone to drift. I mean, we're prone to forget. And when we forget, we drift from the mandates that He gave us. And then when we drift from the we don't engage with them anymore. And then we drift away from them and then five years go by and we can't remember, well, we used to really be into that and I don't know, I'm not really into that anymore. And the Lord says, you should have remembered. I find it takes intentionality to remember. And that's one thing that I really appreciate about this class we're doing. The 150 chapters we're remembering week by week. And again, there's about 25 facets in these 150 chapters and all of them have little nuances, but the 25, and that's a made up number, there's about 25 big events. I'm going to try to list them all according to my understanding, but it's not a real big list to get the whole thing. And I want to remember. I want to remember what we're doing, why we're doing it, where it's going, the negative obstacles, the setbacks, the promises, the outpouring of the Spirit, the purified church, the anti... I want to remember what's going on. I don't want to get lost over in social media world and some fantasy world over there about what everybody's doing or what everybody's thinking or what they're having for lunch or something. Well, amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Remember, remember, remember. You know, as the worst team's coming, I forgot to mention the two promises. He says, I will blot out your sins. In other words, you haven't gone too far. It's not too late. Israel, if you will remember, I will cover you again and again and again. And again, I love it. The Lord says, I'll push, delete, and we'll start fresh again. Isn't that beautiful? Remember the storyline and don't come under condemnation. Repent and let it go and run with me with a heart of confidence. So I want to pray for people who are saying in their heart, Lord, I need to remember. I need to remember what this is about and I need to forget the things I repented of. I need no condemnation. I need to stand with confidence before the Lord because if God would call Israel in rebellion to this glorious thing, He'll call anybody. I mean, the Lord's mercy is so glorious. There's nobody that's out sinning the Lord. So Lord, here we are before you. Lord, we come before you even now. And we say we want to be people who remember. We want to be people who remember, Lord. And Holy Spirit, I ask you to minister to our hearts even now as these two glorious chapters. I know it's too much to get in a setting, but I'm just trusting you'll be sturdy. You'll go back and you'll check this paragraph out, that verse out. You'll meditate on your private. Lord, mark us. God raised up messengers, faithful witnesses in this house. Again, I want to call forth people that come up that's saying, man, I want to go deep in this. I want the Lord to mark me. I so easily forget this whole thing. I just get lost in it. You know, on Friday night, I can't remember it a little bit. And then by Monday, I forgot it again. I mean, that's how we are as humans. But the Lord's saying, will you engage with me on this? Anyway, I want anybody that wants prayer for this or for anything in your life, actually. You just need a touch of the Holy Spirit in any way. Go ahead and come on out. I want to invite the folks to come up and help us pray for people. Leaders, come up and help us pray for people. And you can get the one thing tickets back there if you want. Or you can sign up for the 411 Research Unit back there as well. We've got people taking spots. All the tickets are back there.