Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, which prophesy the judgment on Babylon as a foreshadowing of the final judgment at the end of the age. He encourages believers to seek understanding from God about these prophecies, asserting that while some judgments have historical fulfillments, the ultimate fulfillment is yet to come. Bickle highlights the importance of recognizing God's sovereignty and the assurance of His promises to Israel amidst global turmoil. He also warns against being swayed by powerful leaders, reminding listeners that true security lies in trusting God's leadership. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to align their hearts with God's eternal perspective and to prepare for the realities of His coming judgments.

Now, remember when you're going through this passage, what I do, I'm urging you to do. I always ask the Lord all the way through it. Why do you want me to know this information? And why do you want me to talk about it? Why do you want me to tell people this information? And when you ask those questions, it's kind of the same question. Why do you want me to know it? And why do you want me to say it to people? You put yourself in the conversation where you begin to get a little bit of insight into kind of the why behind the what. Because we just have the what. I say, Lord, why do you want, why do I need to know this? And again, as I bring up that question to the Lord over and over and over, my understanding grows little by little. And I know the same will happen to you. And I know that's already happening to you. Well, we're in Isaiah chapter 13 and 14, Roman numeral 1, it's the judgment on Babylon. Now, Babylon, the judgment on Babylon in the ancient history is a type of the day of the Lord final judgment at the end of the age. Paragraph A, Isaiah prophesied, even in Isaiah 13 and 14, it's the final judgment. But the part I want you to understand, we're going to look at that, is that as you study different commentators, there's this kind of an intense energy in scholarship to take away the end of the age drama and to domesticate it and neutralize it and make it vanilla and put it in the past. I've read just all kinds of commentaries and so many of them in their scholarship, they want to anchor it in the past so it doesn't ever concern us in the future. And I just, again, as I've said this over the last few weeks, don't be intimidated by that. And yes, there were some partial fulfillments of these judgments in the past, but the totality of them are yet future. And we'll point that out as we go through this passage. Paragraph C, just a snapshot, historical overview. I gave you a lot more information here in paragraph C than you need to know right now. But basically, Assyria was the primary dominant power in the Middle East. We got that down. After Assyria, Babylon took their place, nearly the same geographic area, not exactly, but mostly. They became the main dominant military power in the Middle East. Then after Babylon, the same general area, who was next? Persia, nearly the same area. Then after the Persians are defeated, who's next? Alexander the Great, the Greeks. Then after the Greeks, same general area, then the Romans. So my point is, when you're reading the historical overview of these things, don't be tripped up. It's mostly the same area, just a new leader. And if you get the order, Assyria, then Babylon, then Persian, Persia, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Medes and the Persians together, then you got the Greeks, then you got the Romans. If you can memorize those four or five sequences, you have a thousand years of Old Testament history, it's the same basic geographic area. The reason I say that, I talked to different ones about this, and I go, Babylon, and their eyes kind of deer in the headlight, I don't know. I go, no, you know Assyria, right? Same area, just the next group over. Down the line, oh, that's not hard. There you have it, it's not hard. It really isn't hard. So this is Isaiah's, in his day, it was Assyria. A hundred years later, it was Babylon. He's prophesying down the road. He was saying there's, they knew who Babylon was, but they were not so powerful in Isaiah's day. They said, but they're going to get big and strong, but they're going to get, there's going to come a judgment upon them. Paragraph D, just a snapshot outline of the two chapters that we're looking at tonight. Chapter 13, verse 1 to 16, here's the main focus tonight. 16 verses. It's the day of the Lord judgments in the generation the Lord returns. These are the ultimate ones. Now it's talking about Babylon and again, in ancient history, a few of these happen, but there's yet a far more dramatic global dimension of Babylon's judgment. And it's the, it's a worldwide dramatic shaking of the nations when God judges Babylon. So that's verses 1 to 16. That's the main focus in terms of the forerunner message. Then after that, we find that in a very specific way, the judgment of not just the end of the age judgments, verse 1 to 16. I mean, for all the nations of the great tribulation, verse 17 to 22 is the end of the age judgments focused on Babylon itself. Then right after that, by the spirit of prophecy, Isaiah says, Israel, don't worry. All of your promises are good, are true. Yes and amen. And the other message, even as it for individuals, is that even when the judgments and the shakings of God increase and escalate, the promises of God for his people always remain true. Now here he's talking to the nation of Israel, but the principle is true. Wherever God has promised a geographic area or an individual, the shakings of God do not threaten the promises of God if the people of God are saying yes to the Lord's leadership. So he throws in Israel there and says, hey, don't worry. You're solid because the shaking is so severe. We'll see in a few moments that he, you know, some of the folks are going, wow, if everything is shaking, where do I stand? You stand secure. That's the message there. Then chapter 14, verse 3 to 23, this is really interesting, that Isaiah speaks a proverb, but it's really a taunt. He's taunting the future king of Babylon, and we find out it's the Antichrist. He's declaring a taunt against him. A proverb is what it says. He's mocking him, saying you look powerful and mighty, but after a short time, you'll be dead and in the grave, and you'll be weak as other men. So the message to Israel in context, don't trust powerful world leaders when God has judgment on them, and they end up as weak as everyone else, but trust the Lord. That's the message that Isaiah is giving to Israel here. Paragraph E, I just put those there just for your, if you really want to look at it, most of you won't at this stage of the game. It's some different commentator's views of how they're trying to remove this judgment and put it in the past, and I just want you to be aware of these, because you'll run into one or two of these in commentaries, and you might go, oh, no, he's got a PhD, and he said it was in the past. I'm just giving you the five or six main ways that different scholars try to dismiss all these judgments and put them in the past. Now, some of them say it's a little bit past and yet future, and I really appreciate the scholars who say that, but I just wanted to put a few of them down, a few of the judgments that happened in the past so you're aware of them, and you're not thrown off when you read a commentary, and they say, you say, yeah, yeah, right, we covered that a little bit. Yeah, I'm familiar with that, but that past judgment does not fulfill all of the details in the scope of what Isaiah chapter 13 prophesied, and that's happening, going to come in fullness at the end of the age. Top of page two. So the day of the Lord's judgments. Now, this is verse 1 to 16. This is the main passage we're looking at, or the main section of these two chapters. Now, this is far bigger than Babylon. Now, Isaiah introduces this passage as a burden, as an oracle against Babylon, but when we read the details, it's global, far beyond Babylon. When Babylon is shaken at the end of the age, the whole earth is shaken at the end of the age, and this is a snapshot of that shakening. Paragraph A, there's other biblical oracles that describe this same scenario of Babylon at the end of the age affecting the whole world being shaken at the end of the age. Here we have, I mean, Isaiah 13 and 14, and it's good to get these down because these are the main passages for Babylon at the end of the age. Isaiah 13 and 14, that's what we're on tonight, but you'll notice in paragraph A, Jeremiah 15 and 51 covers the same basic area, territory, but gives a little bit more detail and gives more nuances that Isaiah doesn't give. You know, Jeremiah's about 100 years after Isaiah, and he adds a little bit more to the global judgment of which Babylon is a centerpiece of it in Jeremiah 50 and 51, and the reason you want to know that, we compare the two chapters together. Now, we don't have time to do that tonight, but like, you know, in six or nine months we'll get to Jeremiah 50 and 51, and we'll cover the same territory, and we'll put a little bit more time on comparing it with Isaiah 13 and 14. And then you have Revelation chapter 16, 17, and 18, that brings Babylon again into focus in its end time judgment. So you put those passages together, and you get the whole picture there. Paragraph B, now when the Bible describes the end time, the final day of the Lord's judgments, because there are temporary, partial day of the Lord's judgments through history. A day of the Lord's judgment is when the Lord has an unusual, severe, dramatic intervention into history, releasing His glory or releasing His judgments. That's considered a day of the Lord. And there's several day of the Lord judgments, the partial ones through history, but they all point to the final, ultimate, big one related to the second coming of Christ. And look at a, just to paragraph E real quick, and I'll read the verses here, verse 6. It says, here's some of the highlights of a, of the day of the Lord. Here's some of the indicators, I mean, of the, not highlights, indicators is what I meant to say. Well, for the day of the Lord is at hand, verse 6. Verse 9, He will destroy sinners. Verse 10, the stars of heaven will not give their light. In other words, it has a cosmic, it shakes the heavens. The sun and the moon will lose their light. That's the ultimate final day of the Lord. But it's more than that, verse 11, it's global. Punishes the whole world. The whole world is in the grip of the final, ultimate day of the Lord related to Jesus's return. Verse 12, this is really graphic. He says, I will make a mortal more rare than gold. In other words, there will be so much carnage and death at that time that Isaiah says that there will be, it will be rare to see people alive. Now, I believe there'll be hundreds of millions actually, but compared to billions, the percentage will be small. And then verse 13, Isaiah says, talks about it shaking the heavens. That's the sky, the weather, the sun, the moon, and it's going to shake the earth. That's earthquakes, turbulence, natural disasters, all kinds of things of shaking the earth. So here in paragraph B, this final day of the Lord has these components, these indicators of it. Paragraph C, as I already mentioned, John in the book of Revelation, he describes the end of the age, great tribulation judgments, and they have all of these elements and components that are highlighted here in Isaiah chapter 13. Let's look at paragraph F, paragraph F. Now, the Lord is, we're getting right into the passage now. Paragraph F, Isaiah chapter 13, verse 1, the Lord is summoning armies around the earth to be instruments of his judgment. Now, we covered this in chapter, Isaiah 10, verse 5, where he said, I chose Assyria, this wicked, I mean, this really evil, wicked nation. I chose them to be my instrument to judge Israel. And that was really troubling to Israel because Israel says, the Assyrians, this big Middle East empire, they're more wicked than we are. How could you use them to judge us? And the Lord says, I am, but then I'll judge them afterwards. And here at the end of the age, the Lord is going to do this in a number of different ways. So let's read chapter 13, verse 1, the burden of the Lord against Babylon. So Isaiah highlights that Babylon is centered to what he's talking about, but he makes it very clear. It has a global scope that it's bigger than Babylon. But when Babylon is ultimately shaken, the world will be ultimately be shaken. The two of them go together. The global shaking at the end and the ultimate judgment on Babylon happen at the same time frame in context to proximity to Jesus's return to the earth. He says, verse 2, here's the Lord, lift up a banner on the high mountains, raise your voice to them, wave your hands. So God's telling whatever evil army he's going to use. He's telling them, make a big show, rally people to help you because I'm going to use you to bring judgment to other nations. But then I'm going to judge you for doing it. I don't mean judge you for judging the other nation. I'm going to judge you because you deserve it. But I'm going to use you between now and then. So he says in verse 2, lift up a banner, make a big noise, rally the nations behind you. Verse 3, now this is the counter. I mean, this is the offensive part for I have commanded my sanctified ones and I have called my mighty ones for my anger. These sanctified ones, these are nations he's going to use to punish other nations. Now, the word sanctified means holy. Now, the Lord's not saying they're holy in their character. He's saying they're set apart as vessels, as instruments of my judgment against darkness in the earth, even though they themselves are participating in darkness themselves. I have separated them and I've called them my mighty ones. And the Lord is going to use the Antichrist in this very way. And then he's going to destroy the Antichrist. He did this with Assyria, a very wicked nation. He used them as his vessel. He says they're mine. They're my tool. That's, again, a very offensive doctrine that God would use the wicked to punish the wicked. And he calls them his mighty ones. Now, he's not identifying any one nation right now or empire because he's going to use many different ones at the end of the age in different combinations. So he's leaving it undefined. He's saying that I am going to do this effectively. My anger is going to be manifest through them. Verse four, he's describing when a collection of armies are recruited and rallying together. It's like a multitude on a mountain. They have a great noise, tumultuous noise as these armies are gathering. I mean, the ultimate example of this is when all the armies of the earth gather around Jerusalem to destroy Jerusalem, although they don't destroy Jerusalem. That's what they want to do. God gathers them and then God destroys them, but disciplines Jerusalem at the same time. So he's describing that when this there's this big momentum, this military movement, this massive amount of noise and activity in the whole earth is watching it. And they're like a banner on a mountain. They're making big claims and statements about victory. And this is what we're going to do. Verse five, Isaiah says, when these kind of strategies of the Lord are unfolding now, they've happened through history, but we're pointing at the end of the age. That's where it comes to fullness. And that's what we're locked in on. They will come, verse five, from a far country, even from the ends of the earth. And the Lord unashamedly, he says it again. He goes, these are my weapons. These evil armies are my weapons, my instruments to wake the nations up. Though they are human armies and even evil ones, and they're attacking other nations. The Lord makes it clear that he's the one judging darkness. Now, these armies might think it's them, but the Lord says, no, I'm only using them as a puppet in my hand. I am sovereign over it. My leadership is steady. I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm not too late. I'm not too early. I'm not too severe. I'm not too lenient. But the Lord will use the least severe means to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest levels of love. That's what the word of God makes clear. The Lord will use the least severe means, though the means are very severe, they're as least severe as possible. The Lord says, if they were any less, they wouldn't get the job done. I want to wake the nations up. I want to raise up people who respond in righteousness. He wants to purify the church. He wants to bring Israel to salvation. He wants to drive the wickedness off of the planet. He's doing all of these things together. And he's going to destroy the whole land. He says he's going to trouble the whole land, meaning here, the whole earth. Let's go to the top of page three. Now, the most graphic example of when the Lord says in verse four, I'm back on the page before. I mean, I say 13 verse four. He says, I'm going to I'm going to bring together the kingdoms of nations together. And here in paragraph three on the top of page three, the ultimate gathering of kingdoms of nations together as God's weapon is the ten nations that are going to be in alliance, a coalition, and they're going to give themselves to the Antichrist. These are ten powerful nations in the area of Russia and the Middle East and North Africa. That's what those ten nations are. And those nations are identified in Ezekiel chapter 38 and several other places. And we'll look at that at another time. But they're Middle East nations, North Africa, a little bit East Africa, and then around Russia and the surrounding nations around that. Those nations, ten of them are going to come into a coalition and do this military alliance and unity with one another. Like we look at it now and it looks, you know, pretty tenuous. They'll never get unified, but they will. And they'll have the strongest military resource, the strongest army, the strongest economics, the best weapons, the best technology, the most money of any coalition ever. Look at what it says here in Revelation chapter 17. And these ten kings, which you saw riding on the back of the Antichrist, they will hate the harlot Babylon. They will hate into the age Babylon. They will burn her with fire. Now, here's the interesting thing in verse 7. God put this in their heart to be unified so they would fulfill his purpose. The Lord says, you wicked nations, I'm going to unify you and let you have a full sense of this amazing momentum and strength and power. It's only going to last for a minute because I'm going to use you to destroy Babylon. And then I'm going to destroy you when it's all said and done. So Revelation chapter 17, verse 18 makes it clear. They are going to destroy the harlot. That is the woman, the Babylon, the great city, this great... Because Babylon's going to rise again and be established in the generation the Lord returns. Just like the Lord caused Jerusalem to come out of the ashes and become central in world news. Babylon, the ancient city of Babylon is also going to be restored just like Jerusalem was. And many Bible scholars look at that and they go, that's impossible. Well, that's what they said about Jerusalem for 2,000 years. And then, you know, in 1967, dramatic things begin to happen. And now Jerusalem's at the center of the world drama. But Babylon's going to be brought to that place too. And redemptive history really is a story of two cities, Jerusalem and Babylon. In collision with one another. And we're going to see the restoration of Babylon and then their full judgment at the end of the age. And it's one big dramatic storyline that God's going to use it in order to awaken the earth in righteousness. Let's look at paragraph G. He goes on now. He's describing in Isaiah chapter 13, verse 6 to 8. He's describing what that global day of the Lord, that global judgment of all the nations, what it looks like. And it's so graphic. You know, when I look at this, I go, Lord, why do you want me to know this? Why do you want me and others? I don't mean just me. Just why do you want us to say this to people? This is so graphic. I know the, when I read this, it has a certain impact on my heart. And I think it will have the same impact on you. It's alarming. And when you get used to this storyline, I don't know whenever you're used to it. But when you get more and more familiar with it, because it's so surreal. It's just so out there. It's not even real. Once it becomes a little more familiar and real. We conclude, there's two things that always come to my mind. I have to have an eternal perspective. There's no other way. If this is where things are going, ultimately, I have to be anchored in eternity. And that's part of what this message is meant to do to the body of Christ. It's said over and over, though much of it is neglected. And I don't mean callously and with a bad heart. But it's just so graphic and intense. Most of the body of Christ in the earth is really not familiar with it. It's just, again, surreal. It's something way over there that really, it's not on anybody's mind, really. But as I read this more and more, I go and I run into it in Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Book of Revelation and Jesus said it. And, you know, Amos said it. Joel said it over and over. Little by little, I begin to say, Lord, this is, I got to adjust my view of the future. Things are really, it may not happen in my lifetime, but this is where human history is going. You are going to confront wickedness and oppression face to face in an open way in the nations. We're so used to 6,000 years of human history. Do you not doing this dramatically? You've done it here and there a few times over history, but not very often and not at this level. You're going to do it once. But when I get familiar with this, it really shifts my paradigm and it really makes me think there's nothing else to get anchored in besides eternity. And, of course, we all know that, but these kind of descriptions, they shift me. They kind of act like a catalyst. They move me closer in that direction. And then the second thing that comes to mind when I study this is it makes me question whether I really believe in Jesus's leadership. Like, is this really the Jesus that I will love, worship, and die for? A Jesus that would do this? Because a lot of believers have just never really landed that. They're just like, Jesus, like, we love you. You're nice. You love us. And he is nice and he loves us. But this isn't really on his mind as far as they're concerned, but it really is. And it's not going to go away because we don't like it or understand it. So I look at these passages and I get really sobered and I go, I got to live for eternity because, I mean, nothing is going to last really that isn't anchored in eternity. And do I really trust your leadership? Do I trust that a king that does this can really be doing it for love? And I've had to wrestle through that as I've studied these end time chapters over and over. And it's really a gift of God because it makes you realign because you're only realigned in that direction little by little. I don't think that you make giant steps. I think you make baby steps forward. But as the years unfold, I'm becoming more confident that a God of love could actually deal with darkness in this kind of zeal without contradicting love. But if folks have no grid for the Messiah's leadership involving this and it begins to escalate, they will be so troubled at his leadership. So I think it's critical that even now, I mean, I look at this, I don't have any glee in it at all, but I have confidence he's doing it so that love would increase on the planet. And I would rather little by little align my life and my heart and mind to these realities by studying these passages than just wait until things escalate and then just take my best chance at figuring it out in the midst of the heat. And again, I don't know that I'll even see it in my day. I might, I might not. But the body of Christ must grapple with these passages and not leave them just to the back, you know, back in the corner of the house somewhere in the closet tucked away where you never pay attention to it. Well, let's look at this. Well, verse six, for the day of the Lord is at hand. Let's talk about globally. He's got to hold the nations accountable for resisting his leadership. He's been silent for many, many years and silent in the scripture when it says the prophets say, God, you're silent. It means he's not intervening with the judgment that is appropriate. The judgment that is deserved. He's holding it back. He's silent. But there's a day when he won't be silent and it's going to shock the earth and the Lord could say, I was just being patient. You deserve this long time ago. The way that you have cast off my leadership, the way that you cast off what who I am and my claims of love and my agenda that has zeal is made known here in these day of the Lord passages. So verse six, well, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It will come as destruction from the almighty. All hands will limp. People will have such a sense of helplessness. People that aren't connected to the king of the Messiah. They don't know the king. They don't know what he's doing. The description is that they will like have such a sense of helplessness. They will lack strength to even respond. I mean, you've seen times just, you know, or heard of them or watch them on documentaries or maybe experienced it a little bit in your life where a crisis happens and it's so jolting and alarming that people don't have strength to even respond or react. That's how Isaiah is describing this final three and a half years of natural history before the Lord appears in the sky. The hands will be limp. Every man's heart will melt. They will be afraid. Jesus even talked about that in Luke 21 verse 26. He said men will faint because of fear. Now they're talking to people who don't have a relationship with the king. The people that trust his leadership that believe his promises. It may that are anchored in eternity that they know there's a reason that love is being produced. Righteousness is increasing. They have a very, very different perspective at this time. But he's describing here, Isaiah, people who are disconnected from the king and from information of what he's doing at that time of history. It says pangs and sorrow will take hold of them. Now, one of the reasons sorrow will take hold of them because of the death of loved ones more than that, but that will be the ultimate sorrow. They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth. Now, this this picture of the pain of a woman in childbirth, Jesus used that picture about the Great Tribulation. Jeremiah used it and various other prophets used it as well. And it's not an exaggeration, but the globe will have this kind of traumatic moment for this three and a half year period. And and even as things are ratcheting up and escalating and things are intensifying, I believe in the a couple of decades leading up to this time, we're going to see more and more of this kind of severity and people thrown off and fear increasing. And that's why the body of Christ has got to be more anchored in relationship with knowledge of what he's doing, with why he's doing it, where what the result is, where it's going, and that love is going to triumph at the end and that we're anchored in eternal values. Let's look at paragraph H here. He gives the purpose and the worldwide nature of these judgments. Now, this verse nine, it really picks up. I mean, when when you read this, ask yourself, does this offend you? If this happened in your lifetime, would you be offended at the Messiah? Would you be offended to Jesus or in the midst of this? Could you with confidence declare that his leadership was perfect? And so, you know, again, I read these and that's right where I go. I want to line up. I want to kind of like doing exercise. I want to realign my spiritual muscle, my spiritual perspective little by little by interfacing with him, according to these chapters. Even now, verse nine, behold, the day of the Lord comes. It comes with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate. He will destroy sinners from the land. Now, the sinners that are in view, we have knowledge from the New Testament, the ultimate, Revelation chapter 13, it's the Antichrist Empire, but it has billions of people participating. And the Antichrist Empire, they have covenanted themselves to worship him and to be arch enemies of Jesus, the God of Israel and the Word of God. And without knowing that context, it's a little hard to really grasp why the severity and the zeal the Lord has. But picture several billion people. You know, look at our, we look at the anger that's in our culture right now. In the last two, three years, two years, the anger that's increasing. Look at that anger taken a hundred times more intense with tremendous hatred of Jesus and everything related to Jesus. And it's in a couple billion people. It's across the earth. That's the context of which this is taking place. I mean, we're troubled by the anger already going. This is like, we're so intense. You know, I've talked to people. I feel the same way myself. I can't even watch the news hardly. I'm just tired of people yelling at people. It's like, I don't even want to do it. You know, I'll read some stuff, but I don't want to hear it. And I just could have this whisper in my thinking. It's only the beginning of the beginning of the beginning. The Lord is not overdoing it. He gets the context of that hour in a way we don't. But I'm using these passages to, again, to kind of bring myself over there little by little saying, Lord, what do you know that I don't know? And what is it? Well, there's a whole lot that he knows. I don't know. But what is it that you know about that context that I need to know is a better way to say it. Why do you want me to know the severity of this? And why am I supposed to say it? And what's the conversation among the redeemed related to the negative? I mean, we know the conversation related to the positive. I mean, the glory of God and the great harvest and the perfection of the church, the end time bride. I mean, that's fine. But we need to know the whole counsel, the intense negative and the intense positive and how they work together. Anyway, verse 9, Behold, the day the Lord comes with a wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate. He will destroy sinners from it. Again, that's several billion, I guess. I mean, I don't know the real number. And the Antichrist empire, it's a global empire. They've covenanted to worship him. And therefore, by default, to declare war on Jesus and his purposes and his kingdom. Verse 10, The stars of heaven will not give their light in this time that the whole earth will be in the drama, even the created order. The sun will be darkened. The moon will be darkened, etc. Verse 11, I will punish the earth for this, not casual kind of lazy unrighteousness where they kind of a little overdo this, a little bit overdo that. Now, there will be a determined wickedness among multitudes of people in the earth. And the Lord says, verse 11, I'm going to halt their arrogance because their competence and wickedness is rooted in their arrogance that my word does not matter. My authority is not to be trembled before. That's the arrogance is the root of their confidence. And you see it in the culture already, even among believers who are joining kind of a cultural dialogue of we don't need the word of God. I mean, look, there's no problem with it. Let's get free. And that that's really that that's that confidence in sin is actually rooted from God's point of view in their arrogance. Says in verse 12, he says, when I'm done with it, I'm going to make mortal people more rare than fine gold. And the reason because so many hundreds of millions, even billions are buying into that mindset and that posture of heart of wickedness. Verse 13, I will shake the heavens. Again, that's the weather patterns, as well as the stars and the constellations and the sun and the moon. I'll shake the earth. That's earthquakes, natural disasters, all kinds of things. Because I'm going to shake the air so intense at the very end that it will move the earth out of its place. And I will do this in the day of my fierce anger. Now, Isaiah, a couple of chapters from now, we'll get there in a few weeks. He says it again, actually says it over and over throughout the book of Isaiah. And I say, Lord, why are you saying this so often? And I think the answer is I want you to grapple with it. I want my people to think on it. It's not a whisper. It's not a little peripheral thought at the side. I've said it over and over throughout the prophets, Old and New Testament. I want this. I want my people to begin to grapple with this and prepare themselves for my leadership that involves this kind of zealous intervention into human history. Look at Isaiah chapter 24. Behold, the Lord will make the earth tremble. I mean, empty. This is talking about the same time frame. He will distort its surface. He will scatter its inhabitants. That's his natural disorder, distorted service. That's the earthquakes and hurricanes, et cetera. Verse three, the land or the earth, by the way, the Hebrew word land and earth is the same word. And so sometimes in a passage, it's talking about the land and other times the very same word, it's the earth. And you have to know through the context what's when he's talking about. But here it's clearly when he says the land, he's talking about the earth, the whole earth he's talking about. He makes that clear throughout this context. The land or the earth shall be emptied and plundered. I can't say entirely emptied and utterly plundered. That's just, I'm just inching my way forward here. Okay, verse five, the earth, why? Is defiled under its inhabitants. Billions of people, verse five, are transgressing the laws of God. Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth. Again, it's this thing that God's word doesn't really matter. Psalm two, verse three, the kings of the earth, they want to drive the word of God, verse three, out of the culture. They see the word of God as bondage. And when again, we're watching this dialogue increase in the nations in Psalm two, where they want to drive the word of God out of the culture. But Psalm two, verse five, God, David said, but God's going to distress the nations in his deepest pleasure. He's not okay with this conversation. And again, I've seen believers being coaxed into a real soft position to join kind of a popular side of the dialogue. And they don't realize the Lord is deeply distressed over this. He's, I mean, the Lord says, I will deeply distress you in my deepest pleasure. And he's describing it. God is not passive. He's patient, but he's not passive. He's not neutral about where the nations are going in this spirit of quote, liberty. That's defying his word. He's angry about it. He's not okay with it. And so the reason I say that, because as I read these passages, that it emboldens me to stand with the Lord's side because he's more intense about it than people think because he's patient and he's silent, meaning he's not manifested judgment. We assume Psalm two, five, he doesn't have deep displeasure, but he does. And Isaiah here is giving us a little bit of insight into that deepest pleasure. Verse six, the curse has devoured the earth. The inhabitants of the earth are burned. Few men are left. And I think that's percentage wise. Few are left. Book of Revelation tells us, this is the beginning of the final three and a half years. There will be a war. There will be a world war in that one world war. One fourth of the earth will die at that time in a short period of time. Then a revelation nine verse 15, then another third die. I mean, the thing intensifies. And, and again, we look at that. We think, wow, this is like really real. This is the creator of the planet. This is the redeemer of the kingdom of God. This is our savior. This is his action. This is his leadership. And again, I read these and I go, Lord, I just, when you left your restraint off a man, because some of these judgments, the Lord's lifting his restraint. He's letting nations hit each other. And he's using a nation as his own weapon of vengeance against another nation. Even though he's against the nation, that's bringing judgment to the other nation. He's going to lift his hand. He's going to allow a nations and their wickedness to even go back and forth as vessels of his own wrath. Paragraph I, he said, man, this is pretty intense. Well, we did Isaiah two. I mean, we had, you know, the nations coming to Jerusalem. Isaiah four, the branch of the Lord is beautiful. We had Isaiah nine, the Prince of Peace and Isaiah 11, all the redeemed brought back. We're here in Isaiah 13 now. There's just, that's just where it's at. So I'm looking at this. I'm looking for some Isaiah two, you know, nine, four stuff here. And there's a little bit, chapter 14, verse one and two has got a high spot, but the Lord say, no, I want you to grasp the details of this, the intense negative and the intense positive. Don't go one or the other. Eat the scroll, take the whole counsel of God. Paragraph I, verse 17. Now he's telling them, he says, behold, I'm going to stir up the Medes. Now, you know, the term, the Medes and the Persians, the Medes and the Persians were unified together. The Persians became the dominant power. So in some ways you could hear in verse 17, say the Persians are the ones that destroyed Babylon. Because remember Assyria is the biggest world empire. Then Babylon defeated them. Then the Persians, the Medes and the Persians defeated Babylon. So he's saying in verse 17, this is a year, over a hundred years ahead of time. He says, I'm going to raise up Persia or the Medes to, again, that's the nation right next to Persia, which is modern day Iran, by the way, the Medes and the Persians are modern day Iran. I'm going to use them to bring judgment to Babylon, which is modern day Iraq. It's Iran and Iraq again. I mean, that's the storyline that's continuing to unfold. Verse 19, he says, I'm going to bring the glory of Babylon. I'm going to judge them. But in verse 19, he takes it beyond. He says, I'm going to cause Babylon to be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And verse 20, he says this very intense statement that actually never has happened yet. You got to pay attention to verse 20. He goes, when I'm done with Babylon and this judgment, Babylon, which again is Iraq, will never be inhabited again. This area. Well, actually, he's talking about the city of Babylon. It's just one city, not the whole nation. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation. So we know from this verse, verse 19 and 20, that Babylon wasn't destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah in ancient history, that they were destroyed in some ways, but very minimal compared to this. And it's not true that they were never inhabited. These judgments are still pointing to the end of the age. These are judgments yet to unfold. So Isaiah, he's saying, yeah, there will be judgments in ancient history and 100 years from now, they're going to get a severe judgment, but it's not the totality because Babylon is going to rise up again at the end of the age. And they're going to be right in the center of the global judgments when the Lord distorts and shakes the whole earth. Top of page four. Well, here's our positive verses. Right in the middle of it, verse one, for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. And again, the Lord says, with all this carnage and disruption and attack and nations against nations, even the Lord using evil nations against evil nations. It says, I'm gonna verse one, I'm going to have mercy on Jacob, which is Israel. And I will choose Israel. And what he's saying there, I'm going to reaffirm and reassert my sovereign choice on Israel at that time. I will openly display my choice of Israel in the midst of the carnage and the shaking. I'm going to settle them in their land and Gentiles will be joined with them. And there will be Gentiles or strangers, it's called, but it means Gentiles here. They will cling to the house of Israel. This is a very interesting idea. Verse two, and then the house of Israel will possess these Gentiles as servants and maids. And they, these servants and maids, they will live in the land of Israel. And so what's happening here is that again, the Lord is saying that when the shaking happens, my promises to rebellious Israel, I'm going to show myself true and I'm going to redeem Israel. And he's saying, oh, my beloved people, individuals through history, even though you've had hard times, even though you have found yourself in compromise and sin, I'm not giving up on you. I'm going to come after you just like I did Israel. And my promises are real and sure and true. So there's a personal application we can find right in the midst of this. Although there's national applications for Israel as well. And he says this little point about the, I mean, not little point, but this unusual point, we don't hear this much. Gentiles will cling to the house of Jacob. It doesn't say they'll cling to the Messiah because the Gentiles will love the Messiah all through the millennium. That's repeated over and over and over the prophets. But here they're hugging Israel, the nation of Israel, the clinging. That means like an embrace. Paragraph B. And there's this, here's my theory on it. You could read that later if you want. But I think that there's so little land, geography, land mass in Israel and all the Jews from the earth that survived the great tribulation are going to be brought back to the land. I mean, all of them. And the land is going to be full. And it says the population of Jewish heritage is going to multiply greatly. And there's not going to be much room for Gentiles to be there. So I mean, just the land mass, I mean, just practical math. But there's going to be, here's my theory, because it looks like that this is an oppressive attitude of Israel. Like, hey, Gentiles. Hey, Goyim, I'll make you my servants. You know, get in the back of the line and serve. I don't think that's really the attitude that's going on here. I think there's some Gentiles that are so in love with what's happening. They say, can I be one of the few that can live in the land? You know what? I am so grateful to do this. I will take the menial task because it will be such an honor for me to do this, to be in the land with you. That's what I think the attitude and the posture of this. I don't think it's a downer against the nations. I think there's only a very small amount of room for the Gentiles. And Israel has just become unified, the north and the south. The tribes of Israel are unified. And they only want Gentiles there. I'm just speculating now at this, who are grateful and serving and helping in the unity that's happening in the nation. That's just kind of a little personal little view of that. Okay, now look at chapter 14. Now, verse 3, Isaiah switches gears from end time Babylon to the king of end time Babylon. And there's a proverb, other translations say a taunt, a mocking song or a poem against him. So after Isaiah has described the judgment of the city of Babylon, that's going to be raised up again before the Lord returns. And when the city of Babylon gets raised up again, it will be a sign and a wonder. Again, a lot of Bible scholars, they think now that can't happen. But for 2000 years, they said the same thing about Jerusalem. But both cities will have a recovery in the generation of the Lord returns. And they will be at odds with one another. And they'll be at the center of world drama. And so there's a lot on that. And we'll look at that at some of the other chapters in the days to come. I mean, there's quite a bit of clarity about that in the Bible. If you take the prophecies at face value, which we do. So when Babylon becomes, that city gets reestablished, I think it will be a, it will be a Dubai plus one. It will be a city born like, like in the desert ish. And it's a modern city that will eclipse anything that Dubai is and will become a world economic and religious center of the most modern state of the art. Everything will be there. And the Antichrist will have his designs on that city, just like he'll have his designs on the city of Jerusalem as well. He'll be playing back and forth between those two cities. And there's a, there's a lot more to say about that at another time. But let's look at what, what this taunt is about the King of Babylon. Now the Antichrist is the final King of Babylon. The Antichrist, I mean, Babylon, the King of Babylon through history is a type of the Antichrist. But the Antichrist at the end of the age will really be the King of Babylon. And he'll be more than the King of Babylon. He'll be a king of a number of things, but he will be the premier authority over Babylon. And so that's who I believe Isaiah is talking about here. Says verse three, it shall come to pass in that day. It's talking to Israel. Verse three, when the Lord gives you rest from all of your oppression, that's again, and when the Lord returns, when the Lord gives you rest from your fear and your hard bondage, which you've been serving the Gentile oppressors. Verse four, in that day, you're going to take up this proverb. So when is the day when Israel is at rest and free from all their hard labor that's related to the Lord's return? So that's still yet future. In that future day, Israel is to take up this proverb against the King of Babylon. Well, again, there needs to be a Babylon to be a King of Babylon. And there will be a Babylon and there will be a King and it will be the Antichrist. And here's what they'll say. How the oppressor has ceased or he's died and how the golden city, the Revelation 17 and 18, that glorious great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. It says in Revelation 17, verse 18, Babylon is the glorious city. How that golden city is going to cease. Look at top of page five. OK, let's go down to paragraph D. Let's pick up the the text again. Oh, how the oppressor has ceased. That's the Antichrist. How the golden city has ceased. That's Babylon. Verse five, the Lord has broken the staff of this wicked man. Verse six, he's the man who struck the people with a continual stroke. Like he's the one man that when he struck the nations, he never backed down. He struck and struck and struck again. So he's describing who this King of Babylon is. He ruled the nations in his anger. But when he was finally judged and defeated, the whole earth was brought to rest at his demise. Matter of fact, it's not only the whole earth will be brought to rest when this king is his demise. The whole earth will break into singing. Now, there is no King of Babylon in history where this took place. OK, let's look at Roman numeral five. Let's look at paragraph B. And you could just read some of the extra stuff here later if you want to. There, paragraph B, they are astonished. The other leaders down in hell. This is the taunt. It says, verse nine, hell from beneath is excited about you. Antichrist, when you're when you are judged by Jesus and cast down, hell beneath is excited to meet you at your coming. Matter of fact, all of the other dead leaders, wicked leaders, all the chief leaders of the earth are stirred up. Verse 10, they will speak and they will say to you. Now, this is pretty intense. Oh, mighty Antichrist, you are as weak and pathetic as we are down here. Your pomp and your arrogance, where you seemed invincible when he was in the earth in Revelation 13, it says he will seem invincible. He will seem nobody can stop him. They will say that pomp and that arrogance brought you down. The actions that your arrogance took you to brought you down to hell. The maggots are spread under you and the worms cover you. In other words, what a king, a very victorious king is victorious in battle. And the Antichrist will have more military victories than any military leader in history. And a lot of the great military or the famous military. I don't know if any of them are great when I think about them. They're all pretty mean dudes. But but whenever the famous military leaders of history die, they have these very elaborate tombs in these very, you know, elaborate honor and all this stuff. And they're telling him down in hell, when you get down here, there is no tomb. There is no stone, no memorial. The maggots was what you're going to lie down on them. And you're going to take your rest on the worms. That's where you are. There's no honor for you. The nations are not going to sing your praises. The nations hate you. And now we see how weak and pathetic you are. Without demonic power, empowering you like you had when you were on the earth. I mean, this is quite a time. Now, the reason God is telling Israel this because God wants to a Jewish prophet. He's saying, don't you dare accept that man when he looks like he's strutting across the earth and power because many Jews will, just like many Gentiles will. Don't you dare accept him. He's coming to nothing. When that demonic powers lifted off of him after three and a half years, he will be weak. He will be a weak and worthless little skinny man down in hell, like all the other little ones. And just weakened and without any power whatsoever. Paragraph C. Now it goes on and talks a little bit more about him. It says, oh, verse 12, how you have fallen from heaven. Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning. Now this fallen king, this king of Babylon that they're going to taunt. He's identified as Lucifer. Now, of course, we know the double reference here is to Satan's fall from heaven, but reflected in the Antichrist fall from prominence when he was sent down to hell. But the real point is we're not going to, we're not going to buy the Antichrist's power and his persuasion because he's nothing at the end. And we see this, we see this taunt. We can see through all of the genuine power that's on him, I mean, those demonic, it's real power, but it's very temporary. And when that power lifts off of him, he will be as weak and pathetic, just like all the other men down in hell. How have you fallen from heaven? Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning. How are you talking about the Antichrist now, as well as Satan? It's the both. And it's the double reference. How you are cut down to the ground. You who weaken the nations. Verse 13, for you said in your heart. And there's the famous five I wills. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars. I will sit in the mount of the congregation. I will ascend above. I will be like God. Now I have written here in the notes, the Latin Vulgate uses, the word there is actually the day star. And they translated it to the Latin to the word Lucifer. But it's really the word day star. And day star is really the title of Jesus. He's the bright and morning star. But the Antichrist is the false, bright and morning star. And the Latin word there is Lucifer. That's not his technical name or his Hebrew name or whatever. It's just a Latin translation of it. Now, Paul picks up on this very language when he's describing the Antichrist. Look here in 2 Thessalonians. He says the Antichrist is a man of sin. He exalts himself above everything related to God. He sits as God. This is the very language of Isaiah chapter 14. He shows himself that he is God. I mean, Paul is purposely quoting Isaiah chapter 14, describing the Antichrist. And again, the point of it is, is that when we see the whole drama unfold, we see the end of the story. And we're not near so intimidated and captured by the momentary power and threats and prominence that emerges in the world unity and the unholy momentum that will seem like the world is in unity and it's going in direction. And they're casting off the word of God. And the earth doesn't need God. And we're winning. And God says, you wait and see. I am angry. I'm about to break into history. I'm going to expose the whole thing is false. And those that are loyal to me, those that are stood with me, those that have taken their side together with me, they will see through all of it as it's unfolding, because these prophetic scriptures, they kind of pull the veil back and give us a sneak peek. Just a little bit, but enough to embolden us. So we're not offended by the judgments. We're not captured by the by the false, the hype of the ungodly narrative. We see through it and we say, worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. We're with you till the end. Amen and amen. I'll just end with that. Well, let's stand before the Lord here. I just want to urge you as worship teams come up here. There are so many descriptions, this graphic. Yet it is still almost completely unfamiliar in the converse. It's almost absent in the conversation of the church. But there's so many descriptions. I've asked the Lord, why so many? Because the hesitancy and the neglect in the body of Christ is so great against these passages. The Lord just piled them up to show that he really means us to understand these so that we're not thrown off when they really happen, because he's really going to show himself this zealous against darkness and this committed to love and righteousness. Father, we come before you even now. Lord, we say that we want to learn. Lord, I want the next generation to be anchored in the true biblical narrative, to see through the hype, to see through the smoke, to get anchored in eternity under the leadership of the lamb. So Lord, I ask you even now that you would raise up messengers, you'd raise up men and women that can see more clearly even now. We're going to worship for a few moments and then we're going to open up the altar for those that would like any type of prayer and ministry. All this for you. Jesus, we trust your leadership. All this for you. All this for you. Lord, shift our paradigm. Let us see the future, the glory and the trouble more clearly. Let us see like you see. Give us a revelation of your seal for long. All this for you. Father, we say all is for your glory. Lord Jesus, all is for your glory. Jesus, we love your leadership. All this for you. We trust in your leadership. We want to see what you see and feel what you feel, Holy Spirit. All this for you. All this for you. You have our support. We trust in your leadership. All this for you. In all the things that you may have, your leadership is good. In all the things that you may have, over time, all is for you. All is for you. All is for you. Oh, your leadership is good. All is for you. All is for you. We're covering this because you're human. You're thinking, oh, man, this is so unsettling. I need the Lord to touch me. Lord, I love you. I love your word, but I'm unsettled by this. I need your grace on me because we can't interpret this and carry our heart right without grace. If the Lord doesn't help us, we cannot steward this information without supernatural help. And so if that's you, well, I mean, all of us need that, but if you're tonight saying, I just feel unsettled. I need a touch of that supernatural help tonight because I can't steward this information on my own just in my natural thinking. Even with my devotion towards the Lord, I need help. I'm going to invite you to come up. I'm going to ask for grace. Supernatural help to steward this. Steward this information. It takes more than dedication to steward this. It takes supernatural help. I want to ask for your breath. I ask you for the release of your breath, Lord. And I ask you for hope. Lord, release mercy. Release grace and peace, even now I ask. Lord, I ask for grace all over the room tonight. Peace, abundance, give us strength right now. I speak grace, grace over minds and hearts. Paul said that grace will guard the mind and the heart, the mind and the emotions. I ask for grace that guards the mind and the emotions. Grace to trust that your ways are good. Let us see you, see you. Let us see what you see, Lord. Release your peace. I speak peace right now for every single person in this room. I release peace right now on every person in this room. Release it on us now. Father, we cannot steward this information without your help. Lord, release the wind of your spirit in this room right now, we ask. Lord, you come to show us your beauty, what's in your heart to do. We want to join in with you. We want to be a part of your story. We say yes to your leadership, Lord. We trust on this day. We say yes, we say yes, we say yes, we say yes, we say yes, ♪ Oh, yes it ain't me, you understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, I say yes, it ain't me, understand ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ It ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ ♪ And I say yes, it ain't me, even when I don't understand ♪ ♪ I say yes, it ain't me, your ways are higher ♪ The Holy Spirit encounters tonight. Lord, I ask all over the room, you would touch our bodies, our minds, our hearts. Tonight would be a time of encounter in the Holy Spirit. Lord, you're here, you're present with us. So we say, breathe upon us, heal our bodies. Encounters, release the fire of God in this room in Jesus' name. Lord, release dreams and visions. Holy Spirit encounters all over this room, I ask. And release your glory tonight. Lord, all over the room, in the bleachers, all over the room, release the glory of God. Right now, we ask. ♪ We have faith that you're listening, we have faith ♪ That you're here among us. You're here tonight, glorious Jesus. And we say yes to God. We ask for miracles, healings, deliverances, breakthroughs in lives tonight, right now, tonight. ♪ Release your glory, release your power ♪ Lord, release your glory and your power. ♪ Cause our hearts to burn ♪ Lord, tonight, cause our hearts to burn. We say yes to your promises, we say yes to your promises. We want more tonight, Lord. Lord, before we leave this building, we want more tonight. By the Holy Spirit tonight. We are born. Doesn't you die, we surrender all to you. And we say yes to your words, Lord. We say yes to your promises. We say yes to your will, Lord. We say yes to your will. We say yes to your promises. Tonight, right now, by the Holy Spirit. Release your power, Lord. Even now we ask. To your promises. Ask for financial miracles, physical healing, Holy Spirit power, even now we ask. We say yes to your promises. We say yes to your will. We say yes to your promises. We say yes to your will. We say yes to your promises. We say yes to your will. We say yes to your promises. We say yes to your ways, we say yes to your promises. Come on, I'll serve anyway, just let me see your beauty. Oh, put me anywhere, just put your glory in me. Come on, I'll serve anyway, just let me see your beauty. Oh, put me anywhere, just put your glory in me. I'll serve anyway.