Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Isaiah chapters 9 and 10, focusing on the forerunner message that highlights God's unchanging nature and His plans for both judgment and restoration. He explains that the historical context of Israel's sin and the impending military crises serve as a warning for the end times, where similar patterns of sin and divine discipline will occur globally. Bickle encourages believers to understand the storyline of Isaiah as a means to process current and future crises with hope, knowing that God's ultimate plan involves the coming of a great light in Jesus, who will bring peace and restoration. He stresses the importance of patience in studying the Scriptures to grasp the full narrative of God's redemptive work.

Isaiah chapter 9. Father, we come before you in the name of your glorious Son. Father, we thank you. We love your leadership, Father. We love what you do and who you are. We ask you by the Holy Spirit to touch us in a new way, even tonight. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this is our third session. We're going to cover, by the grace of God, a hundred and fifty chapters. So that's going to take over three years. So I want to encourage you to be patient, to be on a marathon pace. And what I mean by be patient, be patient with yourself in grasping the storyline. Because if you're new to the book of Isaiah, which many people are, it takes a little bit of time to get familiar with some of the key fundamental points. But once you get familiar with it, the whole picture comes together. I want to assure you it's not that hard, but at first it's like, you know, the little boy or girl at elementary school. They're learning addition and multiplication. And I mean addition and subtraction. Because eventually they're going to be able to do multiplication. And so the little guy, you know, what's 9 plus 13? He's going, ah, why do I need to know that? Well, eventually you're going to want to know what 9 times 13 is. Like, oh, I'll never know that. Yeah, you will. You really will. And the idea is, having studied this, it was always a bit foggy and fuzzy and unclear. Like, what? I couldn't get the dates together, couldn't get the storyline. But once it starts coming together, and it takes time, the way this really works is when you can sit back and think about the details without looking at the notes. And I don't mean to test yourself. That's not my point. But when I can sit back and think through these chapters, and I can move around the parts in my mind, then it starts connecting. But it takes a little while to get there. So be patient with yourself. Now you'll notice the title is the forerunner message in Isaiah 9 and 10. So our goal isn't to tear apart every verse in Isaiah, but it's to study it with an angle on what the Holy Spirit will be emphasizing from this passage in the end time church. We want to constantly be asking, Holy Spirit, what are you emphasizing? So we're looking at the details of Isaiah because we want to get the storyline in the future clear. And not all the details of Isaiah have to do with the end time storyline, but more of them have to do with it than a lot of people think. Much of the sin, much of the judgment, much of the supernatural activity of deliverance that happened in Isaiah's day, in part, is going to happen in fullness at the end of the age. Not just in Israel, but in the nations as well. The Lord's saying, that's my storyline. That's my script. I put it in the book. Study the details and you will see a familiar replay of this on a global level. And so when I study these chapters, I feel the relevance, because though I'm studying the sin in Israel's day and how God felt, the Lord says, I never change. And that's how I will feel in the end of the age as well, when certain things happen, good or bad. Well, let's look at Roman Number 1. Let's look at the context for understanding Isaiah chapter 9 and 10. Now again, in a short session like these Friday nights, we can't cover all the details. And so my goal is to stir you up on these two chapters so that you'll study them more in your free time. Well, first I want to point out paragraph 8, that Isaiah 9 to 11 is one unit, very similar to what we just covered, Isaiah 2 to 4. Isaiah chapter 2 to 4 was one unit. And so Isaiah 9 to 11 is very similar. It's parallel to Isaiah 2 to 4. There's three parts in each one of those passages. First, there's a promise of Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom in glory. Then there's a warning of judgment with a description of sin. And then it's sandwiched, or it's bookend at the other end, the third part, with a promise of glory of Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom. So it's glory, warning, glory. And it's the same pattern as it was in Isaiah chapter 2 to 4. And I want you to know that because I want you to grasp the book. I want you to be able to feel like, hey I'm getting this book, even though it will take a little bit of time for that to happen. Paragraph B, quick outline for tonight. God sends a great light in the person of the coming King. He's wonderful counselor, but He sends the promise of the great light to the people of Galilee when they're in a time of military crisis. That's the point I want you to grasp. It's when they're in a military crisis, He says, hey, I want you to process the crisis by knowing the end of the story, a King is coming that's going to reverse it all. And you're going to see it in your geographic area. Then the second part of Isaiah 9 to 11 is that God spells out His judgment on sinful Israel. And it had its very powerful meaning back in Isaiah's day, but it's recorded in the Word as a warning for the end time, I mean for history. But today it's a warning for Israel, but for the Gentile nations as well. Because God never changes. And He says that if that bothered me then, it bothers me now. Because one thing that I'm noticing, and I'm sure all of us are, is that the church and the world is getting more and more slack and easy related to morals and standards. But the Lord says my book doesn't change. So when I read these chapters of the sin, I'm just realigning myself. This really doesn't matter that we hold the line on issues. So He's warning Israel, but He's really telling the rest of history, take the warning. Then He goes right to Judah and says, I want you warned by what I warned Israel. Because if I did it to Israel, I'll do it to you. If I brought judgment to them for these things, if you do the same things, I don't change. The judgment will come on you. Then He highlights Assyria. Assyria was the very big and cruel world empire that covered much of the Middle East. Now I want you all to get that clear. Assyria was the giant superpower of the day, and it was for 300 years at that time. It was the big superpower that nobody could challenge. Really wicked, cruel nation. And God says I'm going to use that wicked nation to discipline my people. That's a very offensive thought to a secular mind, and even to a religious mind. How could you use an evil dictator in an evil nation to discipline your people? And the Lord says I wake up my people, and I use them, and then I discipline the evil dictator. I use him, and then I discipline him, but I do use him. And that's a very kind of again politically incorrect and disturbing, and it's an idea we don't like. But the ultimate expression is God is going to raise up the Antichrist. Far more wicked than Adolf Hitler. Far more wicked than Stalin. The most evil, powerful man in human history. God says I raised him up, and I'm using him, then I will destroy him when I'm done with him. And I'm going to purify the church, Israel, and the nations through his evil being unleashed with my boundaries on it. But I'll give him some big boundaries to unleash his evil as the context, the optimum environment for I'm going to bring love forth in the earth. And it's like what? But only the wonderful counselor has the wisdom to do that. Only the wisdom of that counselor. It's wonderful when the whole story is understood. Let's look at paragraph C. Now we're going to Old Testament 101. Now most of you know this, but if you don't know this, you have to know this to make sense of the prophets. This is Old Testament 101. There was a civil war back in the Old Testament between Israel. The north and the south had a big war, and actually the hostility lasted 200 years. The north and the south. It was one generation after King David died. The north is called Israel. The south is called Judah. Now when David was king a generation earlier, they were both just Israel. But when they had the division, Israel's the north and they were by far the most sinful. They were never faithful to the Lord. They became a byword of what wickedness was. And God, the prophets were always telling Judah, that's down Jerusalem, you know the household of David, they're saying don't be like Israel. And so you have to know this point, because when you're reading it, Israel and Judah are going back and forth because they're archenemies and they are for most of 200 years. You gotta know that. Then paragraph D, we have the Assyrians. I mentioned that. They're the dominant empire in the Middle East. I'm gonna go ahead and put the PowerPoint up, but I gave you a little map there. I just want you to see it's pretty easy. Assyria is the whole green area. I mean they're really big. There's nobody like them. And then you see Judah is in the south. Israel is a separate nation than Judah. Again Judah, you know Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah's a tribe. Israel are the ten tribes. So Israel's just above Judah and Syria is just above Israel. Now Syria and Israel got together in a wicked coalition and they said to Judah, you're gonna do what we want or we're gonna attack you. And they attacked Judah. And they killed 120,000 people in one day when they attacked Judah. We'll get to that in a little bit. But I want you to grasp this. Now the Assyrian empire was the chief empire at that time for about 300 years. And then Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon. Defeated them, then they had the general same area. Not exactly but mostly the same area. They were in the superpower for a few years. Then Cyrus from Persia or Iran, he took, he beat Babylon. Same general area. Then he's the world empire for some couple hundred years. And then Rome and then Greece then Rome. I just give you the layout there because it's the same general area just every couple hundred years there was a new chief empire that was the big guy on the block in the Middle East. And if you know that, when you're reading the prophets, you know which one you're interfacing with. Let's look at paragraph E. Isaiah 9 and 10 alludes to an escalating crisis. It's a crisis that is real but it gets worse and worse and worse. That's the idea. That's what Isaiah is wanting them to know. And that escalating crisis is a snapshot as well of the nations at the end of the age. It had it's real fulfillment in Isaiah's day but it had a, it was also pointing at a generation that would be the ultimate time where sin came to fullness. God's judgment came to fullness. Cruelty came to fullness. The power of God came to fullness. So all of these little snapshots or most of these snapshots in Isaiah are pointing to a time where it will be global at the end of the age. And so we're studying these details knowing that they were fulfilled in their day but they were pointing to a bigger more dramatic time. The generation of which the Lord would transition planet earth to the age to come. And the only people in the earth who know the great king's storyline are people that read the Bible. He says the storylines there. I gave lots of snapshots of what it's like in the prophets. Study them. Get familiar. You're the only people in the earth, born again believers that read their Bibles. There's a billion of us but we need to study this master plan to get clarity. And again when the parts start coming together to where we can think about them without looking at our notes all the time, which I still have to look at my notes at various chapters, but when I can think about them then it really comes together but it takes a little bit of time to get that going. Well there's it's a two-fold military crisis going on in the day that Isaiah is talking about. It's a two-fold crisis. Look at number one. First Syria and Israel. Now look at the map. Remember Syria and Israel. They're right next door to each other. They're just above Judah. They become partners in crime. They don't like each other at all. I mean they're just like today. Syria and Israel arch enemies but they became partners in crime and they went after and attacked Judah. One of the greatest slaughters in the history of Israel happened, when that happened? 735 BC. A hundred and twenty thousand people in Judah soldiers were killed in one day. I mean there's very few days in history that would have that kind of crisis. That's crisis number one going on in Judah down in the south. So the you know where the King Ahaz and Isaiah is down in the south and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of Judah down in the south. This crisis is bigger than life. Well that's not the only crisis going on. Look at paragraph 2. Up north the Assyrian, the big empire, comes after Israel and Syria. Us Syria is not the same as Syria. Us Syria is an empire. It doesn't exist anymore but it did for some hundreds of years. Us Syria, the big empire, came after the nation of Syria and the nation of Israel. They are partners in crime and I mean they had a couple waves of devastating invasion. So the people that live in the land, if they're down south, 120 soldiers killed in one day, but they got relatives you know 20 miles, 40 miles up north. I mean the families are all tied together but they're in a civil war but they're getting beat up by Assyria. So there's blood and crisis and military conflict at every turn. Now one thing that you'll notice when you read these prophetic chapters that military crisis is central to the conflicts almost every time. Not every time but almost every time. But at the end of the age military crisis is so much a part of the global crisis though you don't hear so much about it. You know you have the one verse wars and rumors of wars. People think okay got that down. But it's a big part of God's end time plan is allowing evil to express itself with tremendous a military crisis and there's bloodshed and economic problems and fear and all kinds of things that go with that. Revelation chapter 6 verse 4 talks about a world war. Revelation 19 all the nations of the earth bring their armies together in Jerusalem. It's a military conflict of which the second coming storyline is told in. And it's important for us to understand that so we're prepared. It's not just any minute now Jesus is coming and we're done and the poor earth well praise God you guys should have believed in Jesus we're out of here. No there's going to be intense intense strife and violence and conflict escalating more and more as the nations get closer to the Lord and the godly the righteous and the unrighteous will all be confronted with it. There isn't a group that's going to just avoid all of it. And so Isaiah chapter 9 and 10 is Isaiah saying let me tell you to the remnant how to process this. Now we look at how they processed it in Isaiah's day how Isaiah the prophet taught his disciples because that's the pattern of how we process it at the end of the age and how we teach people to process it. So Isaiah 8 and 9 I mean 9 and 10 are really key to that. I got a bit more of this on the notes here turn to page 2 if you would. Well it starts chapter 9 verse 1 to 7 God's going to send a great light but the part you got to grasp he's going to send the light he's giving that promise to a geographic area that's in a very intense military crisis and one that is escalating. I mean it has several rounds several installments that keep intensifying this military crisis because when the military crisis increases so does the economic crisis then the food crisis then the social dynamics then the political dynamics everything is connected when there's a military crisis like that. Well let's go to Isaiah chapter 9 but before we look at verse 1 let's go back two verses right be the two verses right before Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 because the commentators debate they say those two verses belong with chapter 9 verse 1. You can't understand chapter 9 verse 1 if you don't know the two verses before it. Okay we're going to go back two verses chapter 8 verse 21 and 22 that's the two verses before chapter 9 verse 1. They will pass through it and you can read the whole text on your own. It is the time of escalating military crisis up in the north. It's up in the north of it's the northern I mean Israel's the northern kingdom but it's the northern part of the northern kingdom up in Galilee. Galilee is the northern part of the land. They will pass through it. It is a military crisis that is escalating and I've already given you a few of the dates there not that you could grasp them at one glance but you know you get the dates you look them and put them together. There's only a couple of them you know the first Assyria attacks at one level 733 BC and then 12 years later they come and a devastating level to the group up in the north in the region of Galilee. Now here's what what happens verse 21 here's Isaiah saying they will pass through this thing hard-pressed this season but here's the problem they're going to end up enraged and they're going to curse the political leaders and they're going to curse God. They're going to get so angry in that crisis the people of God because they don't know what's going on. Of course they're living in compromise up north. Verse 22 they will see trouble they'll see the darkness the military crisis is increasing Assyria the big evil empire is hitting them hard hitting them hard. Well they just hit Judah and now Assyria is hitting them and they see gloom they see anguish they will be driven into darkness and it means circumstantially socially the darkness of that gloom of war economically emotionally just social chaos it's going to come and so that's the beginning of it so they end up disillusioned very angry and disillusioned these are people of God now they're again walking in compromise they don't have a an up-to-date real relationship with the Lord but they got a religious heritage but Isaiah I have this on the notes there you can read it later he's telling his disciples because he's got some right there in chapter 8 right before Isaiah 9 the chapter we're at he's telling his disciples hey we're going to study the word we're going to know what God says and we're going to view the crisis with a different perspective than the people in the north are we're going to see what God sees about the future not just what is being told by the broadcasters you know the news stations we're going to see God's view and so that's part of the exhortation of this we have to we have to see what Isaiah taught his disciples about this great crisis okay paragraph B we're back in chapter 9 verse 1 he goes nevertheless what do you mean nevertheless what the verse before they're going to see trouble gloom anguish darkness but nevertheless in the context of this confusion and crisis thus says the Lord talking to the people up in Galilee this compromising part of the nation the gloom won't stay there the gloom is going to live this is a fantastic promise and they're going yeah right whatever you know it's easy for you to say the glooms gonna listen he goes thus says the Lord the gloom will not be upon you which means it won't stay you're not going to be in this crisis forever God is disciplining you because God has a future for you God has a plan to fill the earth with glory and love and he wants you to be a part of it the gloom won't be there upon her who is distressed and they're distressed in the military sense and a social sense when at first God lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and Naphtali now the land of Zebulun and Naphtali that's the northern part that's the Galilee region that's up that's the north part of the North Kingdom you know the North Kingdom is called the Kingdom of Israel the South Kingdom is called Judah so Zebulun and Naphtali that's the Sea of Galilee area and they are really being hammered by Assyria the big evil world empire I mean to them as a world empire but we know it was the Middle East it covered most the Middle East but notice here I want you to catch this at first God lightly esteemed them and then afterwards he heavily oppressed them and I have that in the notes here is that what happened down later in the notes I got it there paragraph F is that round one at first Syria came in in 733 BC and really troubled them and when the Lord says I didn't highly esteem you meaning I allowed the trouble to come I took some of my protection off of you but then 12 years later I really let it get heavy when Assyria came and Assyria came and actually wiped out the northern tribes I mean the northern kingdom but the 10 tribes of Israel wiped them out and you've heard the 10 tribes of Israel were scattered to the nations and here it is 2700 years later we still don't know where they are and that's when the Lord's that's what he meant when he says and afterwards I'm gonna get heavy-handed up in the north but that's not the end of the story because I'm gonna release a supernatural light of glory in the very place where the sin and the compromise was the worst and the judgment was the most severe I'm gonna release the light of the glory of God now it says in verse 2 the people who walked in darkness that's the people of Galilee up in Naphtali and Zebulun right around the Sea of Galilee they've seen a great light Isaiah's writing it like in the past tense you know he's writing this about 700 BC he's writing the 700 years before Christ he's writing it in that prophetic certainty they've seen it it's that sure that it's coming he's forecasting that the most brutalized despised burned-out zone is gonna be surprised by the glory of God the mercy of God is bigger than their sin and it's bigger than the burnt-out district of the world that they're a part of he's got a he's got a word of restoration he's gonna redeem the whole thing and those who dwelled in the land of the shadow of death that's the same people up there in Galilee region upon them a great light is going to shine okay paragraph D now we know that the people of Galilee Zebulun and Naphtali those two tribes those are two of the ten of the twelve tribes of Jacob Naphtali and Zebulun they're the ones right next to the Sea of Galilee that's where they live they were very compromising severe judgment we know that 700 years after Isaiah just think of Isaiah 700 BC is actually he prophesied about 50 years so say 700 to 750 if you want to you know it's kind of ballpark numbers and so 700 years after this prophecy Jesus of Nazareth goes up to Naphtali and Zebulun this burnt over district that had judgment and I mean all kinds of a history of despair and he made it his headquarters I mean that's I mean that's remarkable that he would choose them instead of Jerusalem now it ends up they rejected him at the end and he had some real strong words of judgment at the end of his ministry because they rejected him but even when Jesus went there this isn't the complete fulfillment of this passage Jesus was giving an installment a down payment because the fullness of this passage is when the glory of God comes to Israel and even up in the northern region and it's going to be the glory of Jesus at the second coming I look at Isaiah chapter 60 describing the glory when Jesus comes back as the great king the wonderful counselor the prince of peace Isaiah 60 the glory of God the light of God will rest not just on Zebulun and Naphtali but on the whole land and so what Isaiah Isaiah wrote Isaiah 60 when he wrote Isaiah 60 I bet he went oh man this is awesome Lord I wish you'd have told me this back when I was prophesying back in Isaiah 9 I'm assuming he got it a few years later I have no way of knowing but I'm gonna ask him when I meet him in the resurrection hey did you have Isaiah 60 when you wrote Isaiah 9 or were you blown away and said oh my goodness if I would have known that I would have really preached it hard top of page 3 well he gives them the big-picture view of what's gonna happen now here's here's the problem here's the problem we have with this big-picture view of Isaiah we like the big-picture view kind of I mean we like that it exists but we think of a real helpful view is the glories coming this year not in 2,700 years it's this year and the glory is going to make my life strong now nice day goes well that happens sometimes but if you know the divine narrative and you're part of the people of God the long-term victories yours forever you're just not anchored in the big story of who you are and what family you're part of now Isaiah was so when he saw the big picture even though his own generation was troubled he was excited because he saw himself as part of the covenant community eternally and so whatever gain and victory happened even years down the road was his forever he anchored himself into that and some folks you know particularly you know Westerners were going now we want glory now or doesn't count and the Lord says well no really it does count you just don't see clearly you've got to see it the way Isaiah saw it and you will be encouraged even facing trouble and turbulence and military crisis in the future knowing it's only for a minute and the eternal glory that you're a part of and the family you're part of it's really your story and it's your inheritance and it takes a while for individual believers to shift into that where they see themselves in that larger storyline because until they do they think well pie in the sky glory down the road who cares and the Lord will say of course you care you just don't know who you are paragraph G let's move on to verse 3 of Isaiah 9 verse 3 now Isaiah gives three details that only come to fullness actually at the end of the age these details happen a little bit in past history but they only come together all of them together one time and so this is clearly has its ultimate fulfillment when the Lord returns although a lot of these promises have have short-term partial installments and partial fulfillments along the way but they're pointing to the grand glorious story and again Isaiah saying you see that story you built endure the crisis within a very very different perspective if you don't see that story then you're gonna be filled with gloom and you're gonna be enraged at God and enraged at the king and filled with despair because you see no hope you see no bigger storyline than the one right in front of you in your own small little world so he says in verse 3 he says he's talking to the Lord you have multiplied the nation there's coming a time where the nation of Israel will be greatly multiplied supernaturally it's gonna increase their joy number two detail they're gonna rejoice before the Lord where the whole nation will have a vibrant relationship with the Lord where they as a nation even up in the north in the burnout district in the north they're gonna be rejoicing in the Lord which we find that's verse 3 we find in verse 6 the Lord is that child who's born and that son who's given his name is Jesus this isn't just God in general they're gonna be rejoicing in Jesus of Nazareth verse 4 the third detail and these things are gonna really happen and they're not just gonna happen to Israel because what happens to Israel is a picture of what's gonna be happening globally and again we look we want to see the whole story we want to really catch the Israel story clear but we want to see the global story because these sort of things will be happening in Asia and Africa Latin America the islands of the earth so we're you know we're taking a step back we're looking at the storyline grasping details and hints from the only one who knows the storyline that's the king himself but here's the third detail verse for first one they multiply the nation number two they rejoice before the Lord this is Israel with a vibrant relationship with Jesus number four they have broken the yoke of the burden of the military oppressors now it's interesting not only are they gonna break the yoke that means no more military attack or oppression ever again ever again the yoke is broken forever this hasn't happened yet this is yet future and it's as in the day of Midian now Midian is the battle of which Gideon Gideon and Midian if you can remember those two together Gideon judges six and seven fantastic story there's the Midianites with this big army and Gideon has thousands in his army and God says your army is too big I want your army small and Gideon goes what are you talking about me the end of the story he goes the Lord says I want your army to be 300 and they can be hundreds of thousands it doesn't matter I wanted to be against all odds and I want you to go to battle with them and Gideon goes go to battle he goes yeah just go to battle blow your trumpet and everybody shout that's all you gotta do blow your trumpet and shout and take your little picture with your little fire in it and just wave your little fire stick up there you know or whatever you do that and I will supernaturally destroy an army a vast army it's gonna be a supernatural victory against all odds so that's what verse 4 is telling us that Israel you're gonna break the yoke of military oppressors and it's gonna happen in the way it happened with Gideon against all odds suddenly in one day by the supernatural power of God when it's a thousand to one odds against you it's the battle of Midian that's the storyline of where we're going so even when we see the Antichrist rise up as he comes in great power and nations are trembling the believing community in the earth both Jews and Gentiles they can say it's gonna be like the battle of Midian the Lord is gonna come as the greater Gideon and supernaturally against all odds he's gonna triumph over the evil one like the battle of Midian so no matter how intense it gets this is our storyline this is our grid right here it's the battle of Gideon the battle of Midian is yet in the future and that's how God's gonna intervene and stop the Antichrist verse 5 it's gonna be such a successful route when the Lord does this against all odd victory they're gonna burn all the military equipment because there's no use there's no need for it because war will be over then so that's the good news verse 5 basically means the time is coming when war on planet earth Israel but we know it's gonna be war on planet earth is going to be over but verse 5 is talking about war is over verse 4 is talking about against all odds the people of God are going to be delivered by the greater Gideon the supernatural Jesus against the vast armies and he wins with no problem I mean they just blew a trumpet all they had to do and Jesus is gonna we find no from the scripture all he's gonna do is blow on the Antichrist and he will destroy him let's look at let me see paragraph H now the promises we've just looked at in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 a great light is coming verse 3 the land is going to multiply and they're gonna rejoice in the Lord verse 4 against all odds the battle of Gideon the battle of Midian God's gonna try it verse 5 all the military equipment's gonna be thrown away and cast aside because it's not necessary there's no more war how are those glorious promises going to happen verse 6 Isaiah says I was I've been waiting to tell you he goes it's in the most unlikely way a child is going to be born down south in Judah in the southern kit in the southern kingdom a son will be given and the government will be on this child meaning the authority to solve the problem of all the military conflict all of the peace problems all the natural resources all the supply of food and agriculture and everything the government to solve it all is going to be on the shoulders of this boy when they say a child is born see it's one thing for God to come to earth you know a lot of religions have you know a supernatural being an angel coming down or something like this and so you know in the Greek I mean in the ancient mindset they had the idea of the gods coming to earth but Isaiah said no it's gonna be born as a baby it's gonna be human they're going born I mean we couldn't bear the idea of God coming down but not conceived in a womb are you kidding me fully human yet he is the son he's the psalm to promised son at the rock father's right hand he is the son as well he's fully gone and the government the authority and the responsibility to solve all the problems in the earth so that there is no more war there is multiplication the nations are rejoicing in the Lord with Israel at the center of it and his leadership now here we got this on all the Christmas cards wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting Father Prince of Peace but I want you to understand these are titles related to Jesus's government in the end time conflict solving all the problems that's the idea now he's wonderful all through history but he's going to be seen as awesome to the nations you know the passage we look at last week he'll be seen as beautiful or wonderful absolutely strike wonder in everybody's heart the way that he solves the problems of the earth when he comes well he's not only wonderful just magnificent supernatural things he is counselor his wisdom every decision he makes is perfect he's mighty God he's got the power the Genesis 1 power to back up every one of his plans that he has the counselor he manifest the heart of the father he is such a perfect representation representation of the father's tenderness the father's desire for relationship the father's closeness and he's going to bring peace peace and safety and all of his decisions that's the man who is coming and he's going to fulfill all the promises in verse 2 3 4 5 the glory of the light you know the nation being multiplied rejoicing in the Lord the battle median driving out the enemy the yoke of the enemy being broken and thrown away forever page 4 well so now we got the really cool part of the story so now I say we're gonna be very brief on this part but I'm gonna give you the broad strokes and it didn't you want to study it not that you could study it all between now and next week but you're just saying note to self I'm gonna make some time to study this because it's the script again it's it's the end time script is embodied in these little cameo shots through history you put them all together and you got a far more clear script at the end and again our goal isn't to have to like look at every point go now that's good and and and and I know all about that and I've lived in that I still live in that season but it really works when you close your eyes and you can because you're familiar with the information and you can say Holy Spirit how's this working you're talking to the Lord you're in worship and the pieces start coming together and your heart gets encouraged it's just layers and layers of dullness and unbelief get exposed and then we're empowered and then the storyline gets in us then when the trouble happens we actually are anchored because the storyline isn't just a mental thing it got in us somehow because we fought it through we meditated on it we searched it out that's one of the reasons I think that the Lord puts it all through the Bible he says I don't want you to have a quick kind of drive by look at it I want you to search it out because if you search it out it's gonna mark you and if it marks you it's gonna stabilize you in pressure you're gonna have understanding if it marks you I don't want you to get it one minute I want you to wrestle with it I want you to think on it I'll give it to you but come after it and in that process is gonna mark you and then it will stabilize you and you will stabilize others with understanding and confidence and faith well he goes on it's his judgment on Israel now he's back to the group up north the Northern Kingdom he goes you're still my covenant nation but you guys are really stepping over the line I mean they were worshiping demons burning babies they were oppressing the poor I mean they were really really bad they were just telling God we want nothing to do with you really I mean we really don't and the Lord says well the problem is I want everything to do with you so I'm in covenant with you so I'm gonna wake you up you're not gonna like it but when you when you come to your senses you're gonna be glad I woke you up that's kind of the father storyline so Isaiah starts and he talks about the message that he's gonna he sent to him this is verse 8 for the Lord sent a word against Jacob it's fallen on Israel all the people will know it Ephraim and Samaria it's in their pride they make this statement the bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild them with hewn stones the sycamore trees are cut down but we will replace them with cedars verse 13 for the people do not turn to the Lord the very God who is striking them they won't turn to him and seek him and repent so what is going on first I want you to catch this that verse 8 the Lord says I've sent the word I've already sent it over and over I've sent it to Hosea I sent it to Amos those were prophets that came just a little bit before Isaiah maybe a decade or two before and they were saying all of these things these were not new words that and and what a verse 9 of Isaiah says all the people in Israel know it because they've been preaching at Hosea and Amos for some a couple decades everyone knows the storyline so you can't say you're uninformed he goes the story has been sent it's been given out clearly he sent it that the the word of the Lord against now notice this he gives four names the word of the Lord against Jacob Israel Ephraim and Samaria now you'll notice the paragraph a be all four of those names speak of the same people I want you to get that paragraph B look at paragraph B Jacob is Israel because Jacob had 10 12 sons 12 tribes 10 of them went together so they call those 10 Jacob they also call the Israel Ephraim why that was the biggest tribe it was the most prominent so sometimes instead of saying Israel they say Ephraim because that was the biggest group sometimes they say Samaria because that's the capital city like saying Washington DC like in Washington DC they decided which would mean America has decided so when you see those names don't be thrown off by them they were very common names all four of them for Israel now paragraph D here's their pride their pride is just out of control they said the bricks when the bricks fall down when we build a wall with mud bricks and when the military invasion comes Isaiah that you're warning us about and you say it's gonna get worse and worse and they tear down the brick walls it's okay we'll replace the mud brick walls with costly expensive stones we'll get the best stones we'll make it bigger and better and stronger you wait and see Isaiah said that that's not really the right attitude we build our houses with sycamore wood and lumber and if the enemy comes and tears it down it's okay we'll get cedar twice as expensive twice as strong more beautiful we'll have bigger and better homes we're not afraid of judgment we're not afraid of crisis Isaiah was saying man you you are out of control you have no idea what you're talking about so I got a little bit on that here in page four so let's what the problem was is they wouldn't repent they wouldn't stop and seek the Lord and the problems were escalating but beloved look look at America right now look at Israel right now look at Egypt right now look at the UK look at Russia look at China there's more and more moral depravity there's more and more in your face God with your moral standards and more and more hubris and confidence in who they are to be mighty and stand strong it's happening all over the earth I mean America's leading the way but so are those other groups I mean it's like we will do what we want with the sanctity of life and sex and marriage we don't care what anything God says we are in control and God says no no and the pressures are intensifying and intensifying and yet nations are are are kind of doubling down in their resistance against God just like Israel and in God would say go read Isaiah 9 I'm never changing I am the God of Isaiah 9 I have the glory planned but I'm not going to change my standards and my definitions of what love are I am gonna hold the line on him that's what Isaiah 9 is about well paragraph G he goes on in verse 11 to 19 he talks about how military invasion is gonna keep increasing and it's gonna paragraph 1 it's got to create a a breakdown in the political infrastructure then that's gonna cause a trouble for the orphans and the widows in the helpless of society then that's gonna escalate to social anarchy and chaos and then after that there's gonna be wildfires burning the land all around those are is the description Isaiah gave and you can just look at the newspapers of across many nations and these kinds of things are happening and yet Isaiah says they won't they won't seek the Lord they say we get busted we'll get together and build it twice as strong as it was before verse 21 look at paragraph G verse 21 here's a phrase that's used four times in this passage this is a terrifying phrase he uses it three times to Israel and one time to Judah it's it's the refrain it's a prophetic it's terrifying if you know what it means he gives this statement of their sin and his judgment then he says for all of this this judgment the God just gave in in light of their rebellion in light of all of this his anger isn't satisfied his anger is not turned away but his hand is outstretched still that means bad outstretched to trouble them more and each time the trouble the sin got worse the judgment got severe they double down and four times God says for all of this my anger isn't gone even though I gave you judgment but rather my outstretched hand is going to bring greater intensity to get your attention four times in a row I have that in paragraph two here and this is literally like a a prophetic statement over many nations in light of all of this you think you can rebuild everything you really your society is caving in your social infrastructure is broken you're on the verge of military crisis you got wildfires all the nation's hurricanes earthquakes social anarchy and the nation's not bowing down to repent he goes in the light of all this God's telling through Isaiah he says I never changed this is the storyline for every nation of every generation but into the really pay attention to Isaiah 9 top of page 5 well he we're gonna skip this mostly Roman numeral for he looks at Judah you know cuz Isaiah is down in Judah prophesying all this he's prophesied about Israel and the people of Judah they're shaking in their boots and he says what do you think I'm telling you this I'm not up there telling the Israelites I'm down here in Judah I'm saying in front of you why he's saying because I want you to understand that if God will do that to the covenant people up north because they are your brothers you've been fighting for 200 years but they are your covenant brothers if God will do it to his covenant people up north he will do it to his covenant people down south and if God will do this in the days of Isaiah he will do it at the end of the age if God will do this in Israel he will do it in America he will do it in China he will do it in Russia because he never changes he has one definition of love he is love he never moves away from love that's his agenda to fill the earth with the glory of God the light of the gospel the light of that Son and that King that Prince of Peace which is love well look at Roman numeral 5 now he looks over and he says okay Judah I skipped the Judah part it went over real fast but he said Judy you better listen and learn because you're next and Judah's kind of trembling but now we're on to Roman numeral 5 now he says now let's talk about the big elephant in the room the issue nobody wants to talk about verse 5 Assyria okay instead of Assyria you want to make it personal put Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler put Stalin put Mao Zedong put a dictator that we know up close and personal in history I mean like yeah because as long as it's Assyria if they're real far away we don't know we don't care and it's Babylon we don't know we don't care they were evil cruel godless demonized men that were bloodthirsty and God says this most terrifying thing verse 5 Assyria wicked Assyria you are the rod in my hand I put you in my hand verse 6 just plug your ears on verse 6 I mean I read verse 6 I go but I mean that's why I love this stuff because it just it shakes me it shifts me it's this is real because it's gonna happen again but it's gonna be a man far more powerful than Hitler or Stalin or Mao Zedong and China those kind of guys wait the Antichrist says I verse 6 will send him to an ungodly nation and the ungodly nation he's talking about right there he's talking about Judah he goes I've already sent Assyria up north but I'm sending him down south and Isaiah saying this and the guys down south where Isaiah lives in Jerusalem where they're saying I thought you were one of us he was I am but I'm a kingdom of God guy first and Assyria is coming after us in the south the north is trembling and broken but he's coming after us but this idea that God would send Assyria to an ungodly nation Israel would say and Judah would say well they're more ungodly than we are and God will say yeah I know I'm gonna discipline him really bad when I'm done with them he is more ungodly but he's exactly what I'm gonna use to completely get your attention and this idea I think this is one of the most offensive doctrines in the Bible that God exercises his sovereignty to raise up evil men to afflict his people and then he breaks those evil men and he makes them pay for what they did because it's their own evil that he God didn't make him do evil but the evil they have he gives them more space to do it and then he judges them this is one of the most difficult doctrines as long as the Antichrist is just a name you know the mark of the beast is a movie it doesn't matter he didn't have a name and a face and he's some guy far away and you know cool but when there's a real man and he's really killing people and God's prophet saying God raised him up I just praying that you guys are the voice time behind they're making handouts and helping you guys say all that stuff and I don't know that I'll see it in my day but I want to be the handout guy helping other people say that because that is going to be intense that is I can't think of anything more intense than that but he says this a number of times in the prophets he says it about a Syria he says it about the king of Babylon he says that about several other ones he goes I raised them up they are my tool oh that's because look at those four six I gave him charge to seize the spoil of my people to steal all of their property to steal their money and to steal their crops Wow I gave him charge to take the prey take prisoners from your land God you let him take us prisoner yes Lord I thought we were on the same team we are but I relate to my people on my terms and I'll have a kingdom of love and I am preparing the earth for love and I want my people connected with this and so I'm gonna stir the righteous and the wicked in this process he says I'm gonna give him charge for six to tread them down like Meyer I'm gonna give this evil man the authority to put his boot in the back of their neck in the mud and tread them down look at this I go Isaiah no in the name of Jesus I believe the word but Isaiah I'm sure it's the word so help me anyway I'm just saying those verses make me tremble I don't look at those it's kind of cool what say just go say that somewhere verse 12 and when the Lord has performed all of his work on Mount Zion Mount Zion and Jerusalem is the same I mean all but I mean they're overlapped when I prefer perform my work in Jerusalem meaning when I've used him to get your attention and discipline you when the Lord says when I perform my work that means I woke you up by discipline because Judah was almost as sinful as Israel was he goes then once my work is done and you wake up I'll judge him I'll destroy him and move him from the earth but not till he's performed my work in Jerusalem Jerusalem I'm coming after you now because I've seen you see what I did in Israel and Israel was decimated you're next but if you repent if you will agree with me none of this has to happen now again that's the message we say to Jews and Gentiles to Americans Europeans Asians Africans Latin Americans this is a message that forerunners will say from this chapter here paragraph C Isaiah then describes the nature and the extent of how he's going to judge a Syria he breaks all that down paragraph top of page 6 will bring this to a close here the next part chapter 10 word verse then we're just kind of breezing through chapter 10 give you a broad strokes Oh verse 10 chapter 10 verse 20 to 27 is really encouraging but it's encouraging with a kind of an asterisk he says I'm gonna restore Israel that's kind of the overall that's really good and I'm gonna restore a remnant this is kind of his main message because look at verse 24 he's talking he says all my people in Zion that's Jerusalem so Isaiah is talking to Judah right now down in Jerusalem he's not talking to the north because the north is in a military conflict he's not going up there and they're not they don't have email and they don't have cell phones and you know so he's down south undoubtedly some of his message gets up there just because of the human movement back and forth but verse 24 he's talking to the people in Jerusalem that Zion and he says verse 20 he goes in that day now whenever we have an in that day passage and Isaiah uses that term more than anybody by far more than anybody the in that day passages is the time when God shows his power in an unusual way but power for judgment or power for deliverance either way it's when God shows his power in an unusual way but the in that day passage though they are moments of unusual demonstrations of power in history I mean power that's beyond the norm of judgment or a victory or they are pictures they are cameos of the end of the age drama so whenever you see in that day almost every time I don't know of an exception there might be one exception but stop and say okay it was a snapshot in Isaiah's day of unusual power of judgment or liberty or deliverance but it's a cameo it's a snapshot of what's coming he says in that day the remnant of Israel will depend on the Lord they will return so that's national salvation this is fantastic verse 22 here's the negative the remnant idea is positive and negative it's positive because God says I will save some it's negative because he goes the remnant is not the majority like oh you want God to say just the nation when he says the remnant he means not the majority are going to respond it's a less than majority no one knows the number but the word remnant means a smaller response to God than we want but a remnant means but they will respond and so you kind of go like hmm you know eventually the whole nation gets a but in all the nations of the earth there's a remnant of people responding to the Lord and the Lord says I'll have a people in Israel I have a people in all the nations of the world and the remnant will return but here's the phrase look at this verse 22 ouch the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness and what the Lord is saying to Isaiah is I have decreed a certain amount of destruction and trouble for Jerusalem I've decreed a certain amount but in my wisdom it's gonna overflow with righteousness when you see the big picture it will produce righteousness you might not see it but in my wisdom I have decreed trouble that's gonna result in righteousness and that's the phrase we just looked at a few moments ago in verse 12 when he said I'm doing my work on Mount Zion and then when I'm done with my work on Mount Zion I'll wipe out the the Assyrian the Antichrist once I finish doing my work through him of disciplining them then I'll get rid of him that phrase that's one of God's prophetic statements that he decrees destruction and destruction there might be many definitions of what that might mean but it's trouble it's trouble and he decrees it with an overflow of righteousness because the big picture fruit when the whole story is told righteousness comes out of it in his wisdom for that decree is proven as wise he says verse 24 Oh Zion Jerusalem don't be afraid of Assyria don't be afraid of the Assyrian he's not your trouble he will strike you know that but don't be afraid of him they're going well he's gonna strike us we know your trouble is me I am your trouble not as I could get rid of a Syrian one minute I want you I want the nation's I want my glory in the earth I am the trouble if you won't say yes to me and if you say yes to me then I will show abounding mercy but at the Assyrian is the wrong storyline he's just a rod in my hand that I'm using and again this is gonna be a narrative that the forerunners will keep bringing to the center of the national and international conversation that the problem isn't the Antichrist at the end of the day it's God's zeal for glory and love to fill the planet and that's a good problem meaning he won't back down and we love that he won't he says I will stir up a scourge I will whip him he goes in my timing and I will overthrow him like I did the Gideon story I'll do the Gideon story on him I will do the Gideon story on him and in that day verse 27 I'll break him too I'll break everyone that resists my nation and my people but not until my decree destruction has righteousness flowing out of it well I think we covered it all and there's a few more thoughts here and you can look at it at your own time so uh well let's just end with that let's just stand before the Lord you got the guts to clap for that one man you're some no I look at this like a lord I want to do this I just like oh yes Lord I want to do this but in on my flesh I don't want to say that stuff do you well guess what you're being trained to do you're being trained not just to say it but to train the next generation to say it but it's not just the negative it's the glory but it's not just the glory it's the negative if we don't tell the whole story we're not telling the truth a lot of folks got a little angry spirit so they overdo the negative a lot of folks are running a popularity contest for their ministry so they only tell the positive and maybe God commissions people to do one or the other certainly he could do that but I'm just talking about the general way of man one group's little mad so they overdo it the other group is trying to get applause and a crowd of you know everybody happy so they overdo it the other way again God might have somebody just zeroed in on one verse the other as their commission but I know it's for me in my house I want to tell the whole council I want to tell the whole story Lord here we are before you we say yes to your leadership Lord Isaiah 9 and 10 is still out there a little bit we want to get it we want to get it I ask that you bring this storyline together and this beloved community of people Lord as they wrestle through it help them bring the story together beloved it will come together in a few minutes I mean maybe some months but it will come together they're really well so Lord I ask you for the spirit of revelation I ask for the spirit of impartation that's what the spirit of courage the spirit of faith for love faith for love faith for glory we love your leadership Jesus Oh oh we love your leadership we declare your wonderful counsel you are the prince of peace over the town you are the eternal father in the story you are the man of peace over the town you are wonderful minister over the town you are God we one voice sing it hallelujah you are God we lift up one voice be lifted up you are God we you are God we lift up one voice sing it Wonderful God, eternal God, we lift up one song, to our God we lift up one voice, singing hallelujah, to our God we lift up one song, to our God we lift up one voice, singing hallelujah, to our God we lift up one voice, singing hallelujah, to our God we lift up one song, to our God we lift up one voice, heading toward our home. These 5 names, wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, Prince of Peace, again every one of these names represent an aspect of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to convey in this message of His leadership. It's about His government solving the problems of darkness in the earth, confronting them and solving them. So I want to pray over this issue of wonderful and counselor. What I mean by that is out there in the nations, people say, I just don't agree. I don't like this. And you want to say, I want to be able to answer that. I want the anointing to make His leadership look wonderful. It is wonderful, but I want to be able to communicate it's wonderful. Or people say, I don't think this plan is going to work. And you say, I want the ability, the anointing to communicate the counselor. I want to be able to answer the skeptics that think it won't work. I want that anointing of the counselor. Or the people who are just angry at it. I want the anointing of the wonderful. Now that's something that stirs your heart. You would like prayer. I want to pray for those two things. I want you to come up here if you would like prayer for me. Beloved, because we've got to confess an unbelieving world and church. I don't mean we, but I mean millions of forerunner messengers have to do this. But I ask for the anointing to make His plan look wonderful. To the skeptics, to the cynics. To show Him as wonderful. I ask for the anointing of the spirit. Wonderful in the eyes of skeptics and unbelievers. Holy Spirit, I ask you to come. Holy Spirit, I ask you to come. Lord, I ask you for the anointing in dreams, visions, songs, blogs, dramas. Make it look wonderful. The anointing to make the man of the plan. The clarity of its wonder. Oh, to see Him as wonderful. Let us sing the anointing. Lord, we stand with you, wonderful counselor. Your plan is our plan. So make His glorious glory. I'm going to ask you. Grace. We can make Jesus. We can communicate His wonder in the plan. The man in the plan. That's what He's doing. Holy Spirit, we ask you. We ask for impartation right now. I ask for dreams, visions, dreams. I ask for impartation tonight. God, I ask for creative music that communicates your wonder. The wonder of the plan. The wonder of the man behind the plan. I ask you God for that. The release of your glory in this room tonight. Fire. Lord, release your fire in this room, I ask you. Release your glory, Lord. Give us eyes to see. Give us ears to hear. Our hearts that would know you. Lord, help us. Come and mark us even now, Lord. Visit us with power tonight. Come and rest on us, Lord. Give us a grace with dreams and visions, even in the night. Fire, living understanding, Lord. Spirit of wisdom. Holy Spirit, we need you. Escort us. Escort us into this greater story, Lord. Spirit of wisdom, open my eyes again. Spirit of revelation, open my eyes, yeah. Spirit of wisdom, open my eyes again. Spirit of revelation, open my eyes. Spirit of wisdom, open my eyes again. Spirit of revelation, open my eyes, yeah.