Mike Bickle emphasizes the relevance of Isaiah's prophecies from 700 BC for today's leaders and nations, particularly in the context of spiritual blindness and the dangers of making covenants with worldly powers instead of relying on God. He highlights the three woe oracles that Isaiah delivered, lamenting over the leaders of Israel who compromised their covenant with God for political alliances, warning that such actions lead to destruction. Bickle draws parallels between the historical context of Isaiah's message and the contemporary situation, urging listeners to recognize the importance of trusting in God's leadership amidst societal pressures. He concludes with a hopeful reminder that despite the impending judgments, God's glory and beauty will ultimately be revealed, leading to restoration and salvation for those who remain faithful.

Well tonight, we're on session 9 Isaiah the forerunner message in Isaiah chapter 28 and 29 now these two chapters go together Now one thing that I want to constantly remind you of Though we're reading the prophecies from Isaiah 700 years BC. So 2700 years ago It's easy to read these and go. Wow must have been something back then But the message is 2700 years ago We're given to a small number of people and the Holy Spirit knew that the messages were for The large audience in the generation the Lord returned though There were hundreds of thousands affected by this There are hundreds of millions in the generation the Lord returns affected by this So when we look at this message don't kind of think well, that's history. No, this is Word of the Lord for Israel for America for leaders in the body of Christ Marketplace leaders. This is word of the Lord stuff for right now so try to get the 2700 years ago thing out of your mind and say the Holy Spirit was thinking of the end story Even when he was giving deposits along the way it's culminating in the end in a grand crescendo So as I read these and I asked the question Lord, why do you want me to know this the Lord saying cuz this is what? I'm really emphasizing in this hour even more than an Isaiah's hour Because the numbers were much much smaller than it affected in Isaiah's day Now it's not hundreds of thousands. It's hundreds of millions paragraph B and these two chapters which go together Isaiah was addressing the spiritually blind leaders of Israel the political leaders as well as the spiritual leaders So we can think of political leaders in our nation It's not just Israel because remember Israel's the center of the storyline But whatever is the Lord's doing in Israel? He's doing in the nation's in a different measure in a different application, but it's the same themes And whatever he's pressing to Israel. He's pressing to the nation's as well both in terms of promising glory and Also his discipline and his judgments So the spiritually blind leaders the political ones and the spiritual ones and the economic leaders of the day Now in this three two chapters, there's three particular oracles and an orc I mean a woe oracle where Isaiah lamented with a woe his heart was pained this wasn't just data that he was making known a Woe oracle it got into his heart It was real people in their real lives being under pressure and being challenged by God as well as by the enemy And he really it really got into him and the idea that there were three woe oracles in this one present with this one passage I Felt like the Lord's saying don't ever separate the truth the negative truths from a heartfelt connection to it Okay, paragraph C. We got an outline. We're not going to go through all of that but uh paragraph C the the first is a woe and There's three woes as I mentioned Isaiah is lamenting over the leaders of Israel. Remember Israel's the north Judah is the south because there was a civil war. So the north is Israel and they were always Compromising and the south was Judah where Jerusalem where David was and so that's the kingdom of Judah but right after the Warnings in the negative look at chapter 28 verse 5. There's the positive The Spirit of God says I want you to know the beauty of the Messiah is going to be openly revealed across the world. I Look at that. I go. Wow, then right after that in chapter 28 verse 14 to 22 This is one of the real poignant heavy parts of this passage That the leaders of Israel made a covenant of death a covenant with death And that covenant of death it's on the enemy's heart to bring that up again in the generation the Lord returns So this isn't just an ancient warning that passed away. It is going to have a contemporary application in Israel and in the nations of the earth and So well, you can read the rest of it there that goes back and forth between the negative I'm gonna deal with darkness to head on and the positive I'm gonna restore and recover So Isaiah goes back and forth the positive the negative and the reason that's important to know Is that a lot of groups are focused only on the positive and some groups not so many are focused only on the negative But the prophetic spirit that the Holy Spirit I mean the prophetic burden of the Lord is positive and negative We can't pick one or the other because it's not the truth without both elements involved paragraph D What Isaiah was doing here and I and I feel this I feel this in my heart About contemporary leaders in the nations right now. He wanted to convince the leaders of Jerusalem Not to look to other nations for their safety for the national safety He was convincing them Don't go down to Egypt and make a covenant to try to get out of pressure with Assyria Or don't wheel and deal with Assyria and compromise and make a covenant with them to kind of buy your way out of trouble Don't do that call out on the name of the Lord and We look back and say well, that's kind of neat and but the Lord's saying I'm saying the same thing to America I'm saying the same thing to Israel right now now right now the most normal paradigm in any nation is to make Political alliances with nations to get out of trouble and this is what Isaiah was resisting. I mean with great energy I look at today and I go Isaiah You just would not have fit in well at all today Whether in the US scene or the Israel scene or the international scene because he kept saying Cry out to God walk out the covenant with God and don't get into a compromising Covenant with any nation because you think it can make you better if it makes you compromise your covenant with God Now the reason Isaiah was so energized about this in Jerusalem down south. That's where Isaiah lived out in Jerusalem down south Because he saw the trouble up north because remember the Civil War happened about 200 years earlier And the north and the south have been divided for about 200 years and they stayed divided They never got healed Because the the north went into judgment was scattered in the nations and never returned actually and that's that's what's referred to as the lost tribes the ten lost tribes of Israel are scattered in the nation somewhere, but Isaiah because it happened in Isaiah's lifetime when they got scattered up north and he's down south saying guys the same thing's gonna happen to you down here that happened to them up there because they Compromised the covenant with God to make covenant with nations and they didn't call out to the Lord and you're in the same trajectory right now and The leaders of Jerusalem said Oh Isaiah, just calm down a little bit. Let's be practical. He goes. No, look what happened up north Yeah, but they were really bad. You know, we're not that near so bad Paragraph II now like this is the same principle. I say it almost every session Is that what this is true? Not just in Isaiah, but in all 16 of the prophets of the Old Testament prophets that many of the prophecies had a partial fulfillment that Was within the generation or two of the prophecy and they call that a near fulfillment. It was a partial local one and Many of them have a distant a far global fulfillment in the generation of the Lord returns so there's a partial fulfillment that's near within a generation or two and Then there's a distant fulfillment in the generation of the Lord returns and the prophets I don't know that they knew this but by the Holy Spirit's orchestration There are key phrases all along in the prophecies that you know, it's for the end of the age because it didn't happen 2700 years ago or 2,000 years ago. There's key qualifiers Like it will touch the ends of the earth things like that. All nations will tremble things like that Israel will be saved and cry out to God. There's things like that to give indications that that is for the generation. The Lord returns So paragraph 1 under e these the two real heavies is that there was the the Assyrian scourge this whip because remember the the superpower of the day was a Syria and a Syria was a Big part of the current Middle East nations. It was you know Constructed differently, but it was Syria Lebanon Jordan Iraq Iran ish Turkey. It was that geographic area They were the superpower of the day a Syria. They've long been destroyed as an empire many years ago But they were the superpower for about 300 years and they were Marching through the Middle East. I mean they were a terror to everyone and they were cruel I mean they were evil evil people and they were they they Brought torment and cruelty wherever they went. Here's what Isaiah saying Guys in the south leaders in the south the Assyrian whip and scourge has gone in the north It's coming down here. If we don't get right with God, it's coming down here to wake us up and Then secondly, not only is Assyria gonna march through the southern which is called Judah through our southern territory It's gonna get more specific they're gonna have a siege around the city of Jerusalem they're gonna surround us to destroy us now as they're saying this the leaders of Isaiah's day are going like I Say that happened up north. It's not gonna happen here and Isaiah said it is gonna happen here But here's the reason we care about this because it's the same storyline of what the Antichrist is gonna do The Antichrist is gonna march through Israel, but not only Israel he's gonna march through many nations I mean we read the script and we see Israel but read it carefully He's gonna be marching through many nations So don't you know one guy said well if I'm not in Israel, at least I won't you know Be in the middle of what the Antichrist is doing. I go. What do you think? He's gonna leave the nations alone He's coming after all the nations. He won't succeed but that's what's on his heart But at the end of the in the generation the Lord returns the Antichrist will be Established in Israel. He will surround Israel a siege around the city Jerusalem to try to destroy it Just like the storyline of Isaiah 28 29. It's gonna happen again, but more intense So don't read Isaiah 28 29 and say I don't really get history So I don't need it read it as tomorrow's newspaper as the future This is the storyline that's going to unfold again And and I think it's unfolding in the days not long down the road I think as I've been saying for four years I think there's people alive on the earth today that will see it with their eyes. Maybe it's the two-year-olds Maybe it's the 20 year olds. I don't know I don't know what age but I think that there are people that will actually see this storyline unfold The paragraph F the good news is The Lord says it throughout the prophets and even here in Isaiah 28 29 that the bad guys are defeated the Assyrians lose the people of God that say yes when and the Lord says that about you know, He says the negative and negative but he says yeah But the glory is coming the remnant will be saved the people that cry out to God will walk in victory and The and the and the evil empire of the Antichrist will be overthrown because the total defeat of a Syria back then was a type and a picture of the total defeat of the end-time of Syrian The Antichrist is the end time a Syrian the end time Pharaoh the end time king of Babylon He's the he's the fullness of what these other ones were a a smaller picture of in their generation top of page two Okay, let's look at we're gonna go through some of this pretty fast the first woe and this first woe He starts off and he says woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim. What? Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower? Ephraim is Israel it's the North Kingdom Because Ephraim was the largest tribe up there so they sometimes called it Israel and sometimes called an Ephraim It means the Northern Kingdom he says the crown of pride of the Northern Kingdom is about to be smashed and In Isaiah's time a few years after this prophecy. That's when this the Assyrian superpower marched in to the north took Thousands of I mean, I don't know the number but it took the population out of the land and put them in prison and work Camps all over the Middle East and Israel never in the north never recovered. I mean and when when Isaiah said the the Ephraim is a fading flower he meant The glory of the north because that Northern Kingdom was so strong and it was prosperous It was mad a mighty army and it was very admired by nations around He said no, it's over and they said now the north is too strong. It's too powerful. It's too rich It can't be over. He said the flower is gone and he says at the very core. This is not a small thing He said the spiritual and the political leaders up north. They're alcoholics I mean specifically that was the issue. They're drunkards He says the spiritual leaders are drunkards And he says and they're making horrible decisions in that spirit of stupor with alcohol Now this is a really important point Because in Luke chapter 21 verse 34, I don't have that on the notes Jesus Identifies drunkenness as one of the two or three main things Immorality and drunkenness and another thing or two that is gonna capture people in the end time storyline because they're gonna look to Medicaid to self-medicate to get pressure off of them but drunkenness is not a small thing and it was drunkenness even more than the Idolatry and the immorality and the covetousness of the bitterness and the injustice that set the whole dominoes Going down the trajectory of horrible decision-making but he points that out then he says in verse 2 This is terrifying. The Lord has a mighty and a strong one He says he's God's raising up a mighty and a strong leader or empire. You could put either one. He means a Syria he goes drunken stupor proud Northern Kingdom you're so into your own pleasure in a way You have no idea the hour of history you're in and you're making terrible decisions before the Lord Because the leadership literally was given over to drunkenness The Lord has a mighty and a strong army or King. It'd be one in the same Now look what's gonna happen because this is gonna happen again is the reason Because it's a Syria back then. It's the Antichrist Empire in the days to come and this Army will come after you in the north like a hailstorm a tempest of hell a terrifying fierce storm of Hell stormy a destroying storm and a flood of a Flooding rain is gonna come there's gonna be floods and storms and hurricanes. It's gonna come in this I mean not the way he's not talking about weather pattern. He's talking about the fierceness of the army That's going to attack them in the north It says it's gonna bring you down to the earth and it's gonna be by God's hand. That's disturbing Because the Northern Kingdom they were in covenant with God, but they were not faithful to the Covenant He goes God's gonna bring you down. Look at paragraph three that it was the hand of God Working using the evil Assyrians again, one of the most offensive doctrines in the Bible is that God uses evil leaders and empires to Discipline his people to wake him up then he disciplines then he destroys the evil Empire that he used God is the prime mover in Historical events, but he always not always but usually has secondary causes, you know We look at nations coming and going the Lord says I'm pulling the strings behind nations They have a certain liberty to do what's in their heart and their wickedness But they're all flowing into a master plan of producing what I want at the end of the age He says but Israel is going to be trampled verse 3 and the drunkards of Ephraim They're gonna be trampled in a military way underfoot. And of course that happened in 721 BC It's one of the big dates in Israel's old time history I mean the Old Testament history 721 is one of the two or three biggest most important terrible terrible dates Okay paragraph B right after this horrible news Now Isaiah is talking to the leaders in the south and he's taught he's describing the north and they're going. Yeah, they're bad guys You know, we've been in a civil war with him for 200 years and we've always known they were bad But Isaiah is setting them up to say yes The north is bad because Isaiah is gonna turn on them and say you're doing the same thing as the north That's where it's going. I'm getting ahead of myself But they didn't know he was setting them up he was getting them to agree with them Isaiah was getting the southern Jerusalem leaders to agree with him that God was just and what he was doing in the north Then he was gonna turn around and saying but that's what you're doing, too And the same trouble is coming fast forward 2700 years This is the message God is saying not just to Israel but to nations of the world He said you're not paying attention to my leadership You're indulging you're in drunkenness and immorality and all kinds of other things and you're and you're your decision-making is poor And you don't know the trajectory that you're in Because so many are stuck in that paradigm. They don't even think it's weird or wrong But you need a fresh look like from the Isaiah prophetic spirit to catch the freshness of Though it's common and widespread it is serious and it has consequences before the Lord Because the Lord cares for love and righteousness to go forth in the nation. Look what he says in verse 5 But in that day the Lord of hosts the Messiah Jesus He will be seen as the idea as a crown of glory He says Ephraim was a crown of glory meaning they did well for some years But the real crown of glory isn't Ephraim or Judah. It's a man He's beautiful he is the diadem of glory in the kingdom and He's gonna reveal himself in his beauty and his glory to the remnant and the remnant are always the people that say Yes that keeps saying yes to him and then verse 6. He's gonna restore Justice that's what's on his heart. But the part I really like about this verse I have here in paragraph B that Isaiah emphasizes the Messiah's beauty being openly revealed in the generation of the Lord returns and of course what happens in fullness when Jesus appears in the Sky is happening in part right now, but in an increasing accelerated way Meaning the Holy Spirit is focused on the beauty of the Messiah Look at this a crown of glory a diadem, which is a crown a crown of beauty so he will have Authority as he manifests his glory and his beauty to the nation's now He's gonna do that in fullness when he returns but the Holy Spirit whatever is gonna happen when Jesus returns in the positive sense, it's Escalating the measure of it is increasing the closer we get to his return So as an individual I look at these prophecies and as a shepherd as a pastor Three times Isaiah says that I have the passages there chapter 4 verse 2 and 28 5 and 33 17 Three times it says in that day. The beauty is going to be the main storyline the beauty of the Messiah So I do 1 plus 1 is 2 I'm gonna focus on the beauty That's what the Spirit is about to unfold in a new measure the beauty of the Lord Let's look at Roman numeral 3 Now here in verse 7 to 13. He's gonna turn the conversation on the leaders of Jerusalem in verse 7 he says but they also and The they also when you study it in context He's not he's looking at Jerusalem saying you guys now not just Ephraim up north are drunkards. You're drunkards You also you're in the same pride you're in the same delusion because these guys were powerful political leaders They were economically wealthy. They were had honor in their social status and they got intoxicated by their position and their pleasures and they just thought life would always be like it was and Isaiah says no, no they also Have erred through wine and through intoxicating drink and I think it's important that we don't just look at this and say well you know make sure you don't drink too much. I mean, that's a good thing, but and Drunkenness is will be yeah, I think it is already but it's going to increasingly be a major stronghold even among people in the kingdom of God Luke 21 34 Jesus said that when the snare goes forth across the whole earth He says make sure you're not ensnared by carousing or immorality or drunkenness Make sure you pay attention to those two don't self medicate Rather engage with the spirit and connect with him Don't get out of your pressure through immorality or through drunkenness or drugs or some mind-altering type of way Okay top of page three well these Leaders these priests and prophets in Jerusalem. They don't like what Isaiah is saying at all He's saying you priest you prophets because you're false prophets because I mean Isaiah was a prophet down in Jerusalem I mean he was one of the truth of the Jerusalem prophets but he's talking to the prophets and the priests and the teachers and He's saying you guys are deluded in your compromise and your drunkenness in your immorality You're not teaching the truth. You're just building up your own profiles and these guys are upset. So in paragraph D They these false prophets and teachers there they mock him and they're mocking Isaiah here in verse 9 and 10 and They're saying I really like it. How a constable paragraph II. I just took it like we're near word-for-word from him He said these let me read paragraph II then we'll go back and read D the passage The drunken leaders mocked Isaiah for the simplicity and repetition in which he was presenting the Lord's messages They scoffed at his preaching as though it was Sunday school Moralizing, you know Isaiah said trust God Love justice forgive people show kindness. They go. Okay. Okay, we went through, you know, we go with the religion class We got it Isaiah and Isaiah wouldn't back down and they scoffed at his remarks as Sunday school moralizing appropriate for infants But it was irrelevant We're educated powerful men who know the art of politics and we know the international intrigue and we know international Financing but Isaiah kept addressing them like children saying trust God Don't compromise and they go really that's what you got to tell us Come on get with it. Give us something more than what you're giving and so in verse 9 They're mocking Isaiah. They say whom will he teach knowledge? Who will he give his message to? Oh, I know To the babies weaned from milk to the children's church. That's who Isaiah will preach at Those drawn just from the breast the the two and the two-year-olds. That's it Isaiah here give up verse 10 now verse 10 is an interesting verse I've read it through several different commentaries and they all agree that verse 10 is impossible to Really? Interpret in a right way because there's lots of phrases and syllables that it's like babbling of a child That's what the the the false prophets are saying. Yeah, babble you say little simpleton little things You're so naive like give precept on precept give your ABCs Give your one two threes your lineup online give a little here a little there paragraph F Isaiah nor the Holy Spirit was amused at their mockery and So Isaiah says, okay Because the Holy Spirit gave him the answer. He says so you think my stuff is babbling stammering like a little baby Stammering lips. That's what I am like to you, right? I'm naive. I don't get it. I tell you to trust God obey God press into God. Yes, you don't get it. He says, okay so if my Babbling stammering lips is all that you will listen to verse 11 God's gonna speak to you through stammering lips and what he means is the Assyrians They're gonna come with a foreign language You can't understand if you think I babble you wait till God speaks to you through the other babblers He says he will get your attention and they will they have verse 13 But the word of the Lord to those leaders was God will give you line on line little here little there but through the Difficulties of the trouble of the Assyrians attacking you if you won't take the word of the Lord Then you will learn little by little line by line in the face of difficulty and very very harsh Circumstances because you won't take my simple word you call it babbling God's gonna babble to you through foreign languages. You're gonna be in prison camps and you're not gonna understand anything They're saying so that was pretty strong Response back to them. So I just want you to understand that passage But here's the real one of the reasons I'm sharing it to you with you. Is that Isaiah I just picture him as a messenger. I mean we're messengers. That's what that's what we aspire to be faithful witnesses of the truth Here's Isaiah the premier messenger Not just his generation when I look at all of church salvation history very few had the Prophetic revelation of Isaiah Isaiah had more about the end time storyline I mean John the Apostle in Revelation was different But Isaiah actually had more than John John's was just different and I look at this guy, but in his generation he was mocked as a as a as a teacher with babbling stammering lips that was naive that nobody could make any sense of because it was too simple and so my point is this and 2nd Peter 3 3 I don't have that on the notes that passage 2nd Peter 3 3 Peter says first of all know this and that's so interesting that he says first of all I've always been troubled by that. He goes first of all, here's what you should know about the end times like okay What would that be? Jesus is Lord. We have the power of God the blood of Jesus prevails He goes first of all you kind of wait. What's he gonna say? He goes know this mockers will come If you don't know that the mockers will come with a familiar face with an honorable faith They'll steal the courage right out of your heart There will be a handful of them there and you'll be standing alone and you'll find yourself with nothing to say Intimidated Peter said you better know you'll face mockers everywhere you go And so that's what Isaiah faces here is giving one of the most important words for that hour And they just threw it right back at him and says you don't really get anything You're a simpleton. You don't get the complicated nuances of real life Isaiah Get with that because we're not going with you. We know the Bible we're going our own direction and Isaiah I mean he had a group that was with them you find that in Isaiah chapter 8 there He talks about a company of people that were together But it wasn't very large and I look at the guys like Isaiah and I look at some others through church history I think man it takes courage and we got a lot of good friends in unity going in one direction But I mean imagine some of those guys throughout history that stood nearly alone in the face of mocking So I just wanted you to get just a snapshot of that in here because mocking is part of the assignment Mocked by people with a Bible heritage Not just mocked by the the atheist, you know down the road, but mocked by the guy with Bible knowledge That's who was mocking Isaiah Okay, let's go to Roman numeral four bottom of page three Now this is really Intense this to me is the most in well This is there's a couple most intense parts, but this is the intense of the intense. How's that? verse 14 He really picks up steam here and he's talking to his generation But beloved prophetically, he's not just talking to a couple hundred thousand people that would be affected in his day There are hundreds of millions that will be affected by that in the days around the corner down the road Verse 14. He says hear the word of the Lord You score Scornful men who rule in Jerusalem. I mean he's focused on Jerusalem because up north It's already the the die has been cast. They're already hardened in their heart No, almost no one's repenting the north The judgment is coming because they will not respond to anything and it came even in Isaiah's lifetime but in the south there was still a chance for change to happen and And he has a kaya by the way in 2nd Chronicles 29 has a kaya was a contemporary with Isaiah and has a kaya led a reform they had a a Season of revival in Isaiah and has a kaya's day in 2nd Chronicles 9 so it really Isaiah really did make an impact in that day and there was change even in his generation and The heavy stuff didn't happen till afterwards until after their day and so they it did make a big difference But here's the word verse 14 it applied in Isaiah's day, but it has tremendous Application in the in the days to come It says verse 14 hear the word of the Lord You scornful men who rule in Jerusalem Here's what you say in your heart verse 15. We have made a covenant with death and We have made a covenant with Sheol Sheol's hell to the to the underground world to the grave and we're in agreement with it and When the overflowing scourge passes through the nations It won't come to us. So what's going on the leaders of Israel? They made a covenant With one of the nations whether the the commentators debate some say it was with Egypt And that's a good reason why it would be Egypt and others say not know the covenant was with the Assyrians that they made a agreement with the Assyrians a Compromising agreement where they agreed to this and that if the Assyrians wouldn't attack them And so it was a copper It was a it was a covenant with them to submit to them on their terms And so some commentators say it was a serious some say it's Egypt to me It doesn't matter to me which nation they made the agreement with here's the idea They were in trouble because the Assyrian superpower was on their doorstep breathing down their neck And they either went down south to Egypt said hey, let's work together Or they went to a Syrian said hey, we'll be one a year. We'll be on your team You know, we won't do the covenant with God things so big We'll kind of get on your team either way it goes They made a covenant and it was a covenant with death. And here's what the Assyrians told them The Assyrians told them that if you make this covenant with us when our Scourge passes through the land when it comes through the land here It's not going to affect you at all. They ask the scourge that we're gonna bring through the land We're gonna bypass Israel. We're gonna show kindness to Israel and the Israel Israel leader said, okay, that's really good you know, you're gonna show kindness to us and You're gonna keep your covenant with us. Well, this is the same deal The Antichrist is going to offer the nation's the other and Israel The Antichrist is going to offer a covenant with Israel and says I won't trouble you when I marched through the nations we'll be on the same team and This is the same type of covenant that the leaders of Jerusalem made 2,700 years ago either with Syria or Egypt one or the other again the commentators debated and it doesn't really matter That's the idea. They didn't trust God. They didn't cry out to God. They made a covenant a political alliance with men for their safety That's the problem and they said at the end of verse 15 when the overflowing scourge meaning when the mighty military invasion happens They'll march through countries and rape and pillage and burn and Steal but they won't bother us because they promised us they wouldn't Verse 16 Isaiah says thus says the Lord the covenant is with the Messiah Not with a Syria or Egypt thus says the Lord. I lay in Zion a foundation stone. I Have the foundation for a sure covenant with you and whoever Believes in my covenant and my Messiah whoever believes Will not act hastily notice that in verse 16. That's a really key verse They will not act hastily because if you're in fear and the Antichrist and all the different Threats and panics are emerging and you're not anchored in a covenant with a transcendent God You'll be tempted to act hastily like okay. I'll sign the dotted line. Okay. I will agree. Okay I'll change my doctrine. Okay. I'll be quiet on these things from now on and under panic and fear people act hastily and That's what the leaders of Jerusalem did because they didn't lay hold of verse 16 The stone that was laid in Zion of which the New Testament there's like 10 verses that tell us that's Jesus That's the promise of the Messiah. We all know that passage Verse 18 Isaiah goes on to say I want you to know your covenant with death He's saying this sarcastically. He goes this covenant you made for protection. It's gonna bring death to your nation You should have made your covenant with God and took your chances of being radical for God and faithful for God You should have done it that way. You should have been faithful to the Lord but instead You made a covenant with death and he says in verse 18 It's going to be annulled The bad guys aren't going to keep it. They're not going to keep their deal. They're gonna betray you Your agreement with hell she'll is not gonna hold up under pressure They're gonna turn on you and they're gonna burn you and kill you And he says and when the overflowing scourge that military violent invasion Marches through the nation's it will pass right through Israel. It will trample you to the ground Now he's the only one saying this and these leaders. They're prosperous. They have social status They have all the privileges and powers and society and all the you know, the pump and circumstance They look at him say you're crazy What do you mean? No, we we are have political intrigue. We're sophisticated negotiators We can outsmart the people that were in covenant with we're making deals. We're smarter than them Isaiah said in verse 18 when the overflowing scourge That's the military invasion with violence passes through it will trample Israel to the ground when it happens Verse 19 and as often as it goes out, it will take you Morning by morning and the later it says day by day night by night It will pass through the land and it will be a tear just to hear the report of what's happening You'll be terrified hearing the news of what's happening by this broken covenant. That's how bad this guy is Top of page four. Let's look go down to Israel will make a covenant with the Antichrist Let's go to the end of the age because this I I mean the scenario that of the generation the Lord returns Because this Isaiah 28 covenant of death is going to be reenacted better in a far bigger level And it's not just with Israel. It's going to be with with many many nations are going to participate in this not just Israel This is an issue that our nation your nation that nation every nation will face this not just Israel Just so happens that Israel's the center of the storyline here And so again what happens to Israel is what we see happens in other parts of the world as well And just in a different measure Well, it starts here. We're gonna start here in Daniel chapter 9. Most of you know this passage Daniel chapter 9 Says that he the Antichrist will confirm a covenant and he'll Confirm a covenant with many and many means many nations not only Israel Some people read this and only see Israel and I see the Middle East. I see Europe. I see America. I see Western nations this is a covenant that brings peace in the Middle East that brings the problem of terrorism of International Biological problems of food problems of cash problems of of terrorist problems it's a covenant that brings everybody to the table and working together and This covenant will be confirmed for one week Well in the Old Testament language, they spoke of a week of days Which is seven days we say that or they spoke of a week of years, which is seven years so when somebody said hey, I'll see you in a week in the ancient world you had to say a week of days or week years and Typically, you'd probably know just by the tone of the conversation But he was talking about he's gonna make a covenant for a week of years for seven years But here's the problem Everyone's gonna be happy with the covenant. Everyone's gonna be rejoicing but in the middle of that seven year period the middle of that week He's going to bring sacrifice to an end in Jerusalem, which means He's gonna break his deal with Jerusalem because part of the deal is he lets them have Animal sacrifices in the temple when he stops that he's violating the covenant That's code for he broke the covenant when he goes no more of your ancient Jewish religious to forget it I am now God and you have to worship me and the you know, the Conservative Rabbinical Jews are gonna say what you just broke your covenant with us And so that will be the way that it's broken. Okay paragraph see paragraph see here Paul the Apostle talks about this and he says he talks about a time at the end of the age where he says they will say peace and safety and Then sudden destruction the nation's will be saying peace and safety because they will be a covenant There's gonna be an international covenant. That's gonna break peace and safety all around the nation's But Paul said don't buy it when you hear the news of peace and safety He could have went back to Daniel 9. This is only gonna last three and a half years Trust me that man that made the covenant with all these nations that great international man of peace He's gonna pull his mask off and he's not a man of peace. He's a man of war He's gonna betray Israel and every other nation that made a covenant with him He says that suddenly instead of peace and safety. It will be a short-lived peace and safety Sudden destruction will come like labor pains upon a pregnant woman and They shall not escape now the they he's not about they so about people outside of the faith When it says they shall say peace and safety. It's people who don't honor the Word of God because when this Peace and safety emerges from a Middle East covenant Bringing the nations together and Israel's happy the prophetic church is going to be saying no It's the devil and oh my goodness the nation's youth for three and a half years will say the devil What are you talking about? You Christians you pray for unity and peace now we have it and you say it's the devil and Christians will actually who say that will be regarded as enemies of the state they'll be regarded as of Troublemakers in a very very serious way. They'll be going wait. We got peace for the first time in Ever and you guys are saying it's the devil. Are you kidding me? Because we know it's only gonna last three and a half years I mean the fact that God gave us this information is really nice I mean, it's really helpful because we won't be deceived by it But it's a burden because for three and a half years you have to own the truth of it Before the truth is made known and that's gonna be a Real challenge for the forerunners because they're gonna be telling people don't buy it Don't buy it. He's gonna pull that mask off. Well Israel made the covenant. They all made the covenant paragraph D we find out in Daniel that the Antichrist He uses this covenant to get a stronghold in the land of Israel. He actually sets up his headquarters in Israel The Antichrist because he's a friend of the Jews. He's the friend of the Arabs. I mean, he's the man of peace He's the solution. He brought the answer. They made a covenant with him And look it says here in Daniel 11 verse 45 He's gonna set up his palace or his his headquarters is There in in in Israel go ahead and turn to turn to top of page 5 Everything will look good for a little while There'll be a short season of peace peace and safety everyone's saying peace and safety except for the prophetic church And again and when people buy into the peace and safety they'll be making deals and signing their life onto things, too It's not just they'll say peace and safety. Leave me alone. They'll say peace and safety join us now You think well, why wouldn't we join it because we have the prophetic scriptures. We know what's going on Verse 8 of Ezekiel Ezekiel 38 really teases this out Let's talk about in verse 8 that in the latter years or in the generation the Lord returns The Antichrist will come into the land of Israel so he's going to come into the land of Israel and Here but notice in verse 8 at the end Israel is dwellings in safety now Israel's not in safety now Why are they in safety because a covenant has been made? Well, they have peace and safety all as well But Isaiah said it's a covenant of death. It's a covenant that's gonna bring death to your nation The only covenant that's reliable is the true Foundation stone in Zion that tried and tested stone. That's the only one we can trust That's the one we build our life on that precious foundation stone laid in Zion that's right in the middle of this passage of Isaiah 28 Well here Ezekiel goes on and explains he says you verse 9 Antichrist You'll come like a storm you with all your armies many peoples that means nations Many armies will be with you. You'll have an evil plan. They see you as a man of peace, but you'll have a heart of war You'll come into Israel verse 11 You will say in your heart. I will go up against a land notice unwalled villages Israel has unwalled villages because they have peace they don't have to have the military Functioning like they did before they could use their money to develop the infrastructure of their nation Not their military the peace treaties are real. It seems like Verse 11 you will go to a peaceful people. That's the land of Israel. That's not Israel right now They dwell in safety. This is after the covenant and you will stretch out your hand against them Okay, let's look at Roman numeral six now verse 21 Israel makes this covenant of peace. This is now put your seatbelt on you're not gonna like verse 21 in the natural. I Like it in the spirit by faith, but I don't like this in the natural. It just makes my stomach hurt verse 21 and 22 Now it's in the same flow. That's why it's a lament. That's why Isaiah is saying I'm lamenting. This is whoa I hurt my stomach my belly hurts Telling you this this is this is the real deal He says verse 21 now, it's in context to making the covenant of death He's talking still to the leaders of Jerusalem. And again, the same conversation is gonna be told again I mean again 2,700 years ago, but it's tomorrow's newspaper not literally tomorrow, but I mean in the in the days ahead verse 21 The Lord will rise up in power like at Mount Perazim and I'm out Perazim The Lord rose up in power with King David and he had a supernatural victory over the enemy The Lord will be angry like at the Valley of Gibeon same thing King David the power of God came and helped King David and Israel won against the enemies God's gonna rise up in the same power that he did in the life of David and he delivered David from the enemies He says but here's the deal God's gonna be angry like in those days and he's gonna do his work He said it's an awesome work. Although the word awesome Isn't probably the best translation. It's a terrible work. It's a Work not also like wow, cool, dude. Awesome. Not like that It's like terrifying like stopping your tracks awesome In the negative sense it he will bring to pass his act and Isaiah paused. He says yes God's unusual act and the leaders of Jerusalem who are making this covenant with Foreign powers and denying God and casting off his leadership. They're going What is this unusual act that he's gonna rise up in power like he did in the days of David He said here it is verse 22 Don't be mockers Because if you continue to mock Well, they were mocking Isaiah, but Isaiah didn't care so much Isaiah cared more they're mocking the truth of the prophetic word of the Lord He goes don't be mockers. Lest your bonds be made strong For I have heard from the Lord of hosts. He is Determining a destruction upon the whole earth he says God is gonna move in power and He's going to bring an unusual destruction of the earth, but the unusual act isn't that it's global that's Unusual for sure because that's never happened in that way except for the days of Noah but it's unusual look at paragraph three because what we're gonna find out in the next sentence or in a couple sentences is that the Unusual that God says I'm gonna use the power I manifest in David's ministry in his life That same glorious supernatural intervention, but I'm gonna use it against you not to deliver you And they're looking at Isaiah and they're saying what God says it's an unusual act because I'm gonna scatter my people By the hand of the Assyrian invasion I'm gonna scatter he already scattered the north or he was about to but the the Assyrians even troubled the south It wasn't to the degree of the north But the records say 200,000 people were were displaced even in the south. I don't know how true it is, but that's what historical records say that God's unusual work It's unusual because God delights to deliver his people and when God talks of an unusual work He's gonna allow his people to be overcome By an evil army now in Habakkuk chapter 1 that's the verse here About a hundred years later Habakkuk says the same thing. He says God's gonna do an unusual thing. You're not gonna believe it He's gonna use the the Chaldeans or the Babylonians the Chaldeans the Babylonians the same people He's gonna use Babylon wicked Babylon to discipline Israel That's a hundred years later with Habakkuk, but a hundred years earlier with with Isaiah. He's gonna use the Assyrians Assyrians is the superpower of Isaiah's day Babylon is the superpower of Jeremiah or Habakkuk or Joel's day and the idea is God's going to discipline his own people using the hand of an evil Empire and This is and the Lord the point is in the whole storyline when it unfolds God Uses the Antichrist to discipline the earth then destroys the Antichrist. That's the most Horrible in our natural thinking thought we could have in terms of God's leadership But it's very clear that God Raises up the Antichrist to allow men to do the evil that they want to do He gives them liberty to do the evil in their heart Then he cleanses the planet from evil, but he lets evil have its day first But in the context of letting evil have its freedom limited freedom not total freedom, but a lot of freedom God is using that atmosphere to cause people to choose righteousness in a very hostile environment But the righteousness of the love will go deeper than ever before So God will produce an end time harvest a purified church And he lets the human race go as far into darkness as they want then he drives darkness off the planet and for billions of years He said this is this is the story of the human race, but he's giving a little prototype I mean a little snapshot of this in Isaiah's day that God is gonna do this unusual work Go ahead and turn to top of page six Now he says the unusual work Roman numeral seven. I'll just do this real brief Because it kind of says the same thing over and over so I'll just be brief on this Isaiah 29 is just elaborating on what was said in Isaiah 28 He says well, let me tell you now the unusual work that God's going to do verse 1 Woe to you Ariel Woe to you Ariel. Who's Ariel? Ariel is a prophetic name that Isaiah while the Holy Spirit is giving it giving to the city of Jerusalem It's the city David lived in they said we're not Ariel. We're Jerusalem Isaiah says right now. I'm proclaiming over you. Your name is Ariel in the spirit. It's a prophetic Declaration I have down in paragraph B The world word Ariel means either the Lion of God. That's the positive or there's a negative it means the altar where this sacrifices are burned and Isaiah is using it in the negative sense He goes Jerusalem You will be an altar of burning before it's over like, uh, I read that I go Ariel Don't know only say Ariel the other way because there's you say a positive or you say it negative I mean you can use the positive or the negative meaning Let's go back up to paragraph 8. Woe to you Ariel, Jerusalem Woe to you Ariel the burning altars in essence. That's where you're going when the Assyrians come to you Yet I will distress Ariel and though the Assyrians didn't finish off the southern kingdom, but a hundred plus years later Babylon did all of this what Assyria did in part down in the south a Babylon did in fullness Nebuchadnezzar he came and burned the city to the ground and the Antichrist at the end of the age is never going to succeed in Jerusalem, but he's going to surround Jerusalem he's gonna attack the Jerusalem. He's gonna try to set Jerusalem the people on fire He's he's gonna succeed a degree but he's going to be stopped and the Lord is going to intervene and overthrow him and then the glory of God's gonna fill the Earth and the devil's gonna be thrown in prison and then it's gonna be glorious after that Let's go back up to paragraph a the bad news Woe to you Ariel. Whoa, cuz this is this is a declaration even not just Isaiah's day It's that was an echo in Isaiah's day. It's a it's a far stronger word in the generation. The Lord returns It's the same storyline. I Will distress you Ariel verse 2 There will be heaviness and sorrow now. There's other passages. God will bring a great harvest in Israel, too There's gonna be tremendous miracles and signs and wonders And so one passage highlights the negative another passage highlights the positive. That's why we have to have it all together Look at verse 3. This is like disturbing. I the Lord verse 3. I will camp around you I am gonna lay a siege around you you're going you wait Jerusalem's your city What do you mean you are going to lay a military siege around us though? It's just I'm gonna wake you up and I'm gonna cause you to cry out to me and He says I'm going to do this and you're gonna be brought down to the ground and you're gonna be Refigure your entire life. You're gonna refigure everything out when your way of rebellion Is it going to bring the desired fruit that you wanted to bring? paragraph C He goes on. This is the good news. I'll just summarize see he goes by the way I'm gonna destroy your enemies too. He goes I'm gonna wake you up and Discipline you but here in verse 5 to 8 he goes I'm gonna destroy the people who destroyed you the multitude of the nations that come against you. I'm gonna fight against them So I'm not fighting against you to leave you on your own I'm fighting against you to wake you up. Then I'm gonna destroy the people that hate you, but I really love you That's what this is about Now people that are saying yes to the covenant This isn't how the Lord talks to them But this is a covenant nation that's saying we don't want anything to do with Jesus We don't want to do with righteousness We don't want your ways We want to be like the nations that we're gonna trust the nations to save us and the Lord says no no No, I love you Jerusalem. You are the city of the great King forever I'm gonna redeem you but I'm not gonna force you to love me I'm gonna create a situation where I'm gonna remove a lot of your options and you're gonna choose The spirit of grace and the glory of God you're gonna say yes to me Well Paragraph F will end with this and ended in that day. Here's how the story ends of Isaiah 28 and 29 In that day verse 18 the deaf will hear the blind eyes will open. This is spiritually Israel the blinders will be lifted and thousands will come to salvation Thousands the millions will come to salvation But it's not only blind eyes and deaf ears spiritually there will be healings and there's quite a few passages Related to the generation of the Lord returns of tremendous healings of blind eyes and deaf ears and paralytics walking, etc verse 19 God says my plan works I promise you the humble will increase in joy and Their joy will be in their relationship to Yeshua to Jesus their joy won't be in their superiority over other nations Verse 20 for the terrible one the Antichrist at the end of the age, but the terrible one would have been this Syrian In Isaiah's generation and then a hundred years later would have been Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian in Jeremiah's generation The terrible one will be brought to nothing He goes it works verse 22 my plan does Jacob will no longer be ashamed Jacob means Israel When he sees his children It will be the work of my hand you may criticize me Israel for my leadership in the way I'm orchestrating it But when the picture comes to fullness you will see the work of my hand That your people will hallow my name and the nation of Israel will be saved and they will fear the name of the Lord And they will be filled with joy and we will live together forever in love. So that's the plan Amen, let's stand before the Lord Lord we want to get this We don't want to go on some Ferry ride buddy trail of fantasy about the future We want to be girded with clarity and insight In our hearts set on love and moving in the power of God So we know what's going on as these things unfold in the day in the decades ahead Father here we are before you Burning with the Holy Fire Father we say yes to you Coming on the clouds In the glory of the Father Coming with an army of angels Burning with the Holy Fire Coming on the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father Coming with an army of angels Yes Father we say yes Lord we say we want understanding We don't want to Oh Lord even in this day, we don't want to act hastily Oh It's you Here we are Lord before you From the rising of the sun to its setting out of sight Oh I want to hear what the Spirit is saying Don't let us be overtaken by the spirit of the age Scarfers will come in the latter days we know We want to be with you We don't want to be offended Yes we come with you Jesus we want to know you and your plan We want to know your heart Lord you can say the hard things to us Lord we won't turn away Open our eyes We will do what you will say Open our eyes We will do what you say Open our eyes We will do what you say Open our eyes We will do what you say Open our eyes We will do what you say Open our eyes ♪ Lord, we are listening, Lord, we are listening ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening to you ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening, Lord, we are listening ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening to you ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening, you speak out of time ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening, Lord, we are listening to you ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening, you speak out of time ♪ ♪ Lord, we are listening to you, Lord, we are listening to you ♪ I'm gonna read this passage here. It says that you have said, Isaiah said to the leaders, we have made a covenant with death. But the Lord says, I lay in Zion, a stone, a foundation, a precious cornerstone, a trusted one. Whoever believes in him will not act hastily. Oh, chief cornerstone, chief cornerstone. We choose this day to listen to you. We choose today to bring with your heart. We choose today that we will serve you. We choose today that we will believe you. I'm gonna raise up leaders that train and equip people not to act hastily. As the darkness increases, part of our mandate is to train young people not to act hastily. As the darkness accelerates. ♪ We wait upon you, Lord, we wait upon you, Lord ♪ We wait upon you, Lord. We wait upon you, Lord. We will raise up the people, the people who will be faithful to your word, to your ways. Who will wait and will carry with you the darkness. Those who would decline, they're here to hear. Even in the face of opposition. Even in the face of fear, no matter what, no matter what. Yes, Lord. Raise up your people who are faithful to your word. Raise up those who are faithful to your word. Waiting, praying, watching every day. Yes, you are your friend's God. Considering the word, praying into your heart. Waiting, watching, waiting, watching. I just want to open up the ministry time for people that in your heart you just say, I just feel kind of weak and wobbly and weary right now. I mean, I love Jesus, but I just don't feel as strong as I used to feel before in my heart. I just feel like I need renewed and I need a touch tonight. That's you, I want to invite you to come up. That's a normal way to feel just in the everydayness of the warfare against the kingdom of God, where your heart just feels not quite like it used to. You say, I just need a touch of the Holy Spirit tonight. I need to feel strong again in my spirit. I have come and go over the years. Some seasons much stronger, I feel, than other seasons. I want to invite you to come up and ask the Holy Spirit to rest on you. Just renew you in the Holy Spirit. Lord, come and touch us by the Holy Spirit. Lord, come and touch us even now, Lord. Breathe on us, Holy Spirit, I ask you. Strengthen us in love. Just tell me one more time that you love me, God. Speak in a way that I can hear it. And let us see it and let us feel it. Let us feel your love, the power of your love. Tonight, Lord, let us feel the power of your love. Show me, tell me that you are sovereign. Divine in my heart. Lord, strengthen us by your love. The joy of the Holy Spirit, Lord, I ask you. Bring me back to that first love, release me. The joy of the Father through the Spirit. Come and release us by the Spirit, Lord, I ask you. Refresh your sons. Renew your daughters, oh God. Refresh your sons. Renew your daughters. Refresh your sons. Renew your daughters. Refresh your sons. Renew your daughters. Refresh your sons. Renew your daughters. The joy of the Lord will be your strength In the time of testing, in the time of trials The joy of the Lord will be your strength In the time of testing, in the time of trials The joy of the Lord will be your strength In the time of testing, in the time of trials The joy of the Lord will be your strength In the time of testing, in the time of trials The joy of the Lord will be your strength In the time of testing, in the time of trials Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to pray Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to say Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to say Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to pray Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to pray Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to pray Holy Spirit, tell us what to say When we don't know what to say