Flight ISA02 - Part A

Judah was able to look at a historical example of what not to do. And so they said, okay, we won't do it. Only for a while, they will do it later on.

And it will become their undoing. At the end of the program, Skip and his wife, Lenya, share about some helpful resources to help you dig into God's truth. We have Connect with Skip Heitzig app.

This is probably my favorite because you can take teachings with you to go. Go to the app store, go to Google Play, and get that little app. You know, it's funny. I was going to ask you which is your favorite, and then you threw it out there.

And it occurred to me, you like that app because it's on the go. Thank you, Skip and Lenya. Be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that shows what you can find great hope for today in Jesus' resurrection. It's pretty obvious that this world is filled with imperfect people.

And that's on purpose. God is into restoring human beings. You know, He could make perfect people and then populate heaven with perfect people, but He doesn't do that. He takes people who are dinged up, who've been beat up, bruised by time, damaged by sin, and He does a full resto job on them. Complete restoration. Celebrate the joy and beauty of redemption with The Morning That Changed Everything with Skip Heitzig. This DVD collection of six hope-filled Easter weekend messages is our thanks to you when you give $35 or more today to help connect more people to God's word and the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. Restoration is based on redemption, and redemption is tied to resurrection.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now, we're in the book of Isaiah as we get into the message with Skip Heitzig. It is the most often quoted of the Old Testament prophets in the New Testament. 21 times New Testament authors quote the book of Isaiah.

A little bit of recap. Jesus started His ministry quoting the book of Isaiah. He went into the synagogue in Nazareth and opened up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and read from chapter 61, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Words right out of the prophet Jeremiah. John the Baptist began his ministry quoting from Isaiah chapter 40. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

Where we left off last time, I didn't make it all the way through the 39th chapter so we're going to begin in chapter 28 and quickly move in that direction. But where we left off was a series of woes, which is a proclamation of judgment. When you say woe to somebody, W-O-E, it means look out.

What is about to come isn't great. Woe to you is a denunciation. Jesus used the term woe to you scribes, Pharisees, you hypocrites. John the Baptist used the word woe. The prophet Isaiah in a few chapters pronounces a series of woes as the nations are in parade before him to receive their woe.

But when you read a woe, it's like you want to also think of it in terms of, whoa, slow down a minute. Whoa, horsey. You may have heard about the preacher who bought a horse from somebody in his church. The guy said, well preacher, the horse that you're buying is very different from any other horse you've ever had or ridden. I've trained this horse with biblical commands. So don't think that you can say to this horse, giddy up. The horse won't go if you say giddy up. But if you say, praise the Lord, the horse will take off. When you want to stop this horse, you can't say, whoa, you have to say, amen. If you say, amen, that horse will come to a stop. Preacher said, I think I can manage that.

Thank you very much. Put down his money, mounted the horse, started riding off by saying, praise the Lord. The horse started taking off into a nice trot.

He was having a good time. As he was going out across the landscape, a little jackrabbit jumped out of the bushes and spooked the horse. So it went now into a full gallop toward a ravine with a 200 foot drop. The preacher panicked, forgot all those commands he was supposed to say and said, whoa, whoa, pull back on the reins.

Whoa, whoa, horse did not stop or slow at all. As he was getting closer to the ravine in the nick of time, he remembered the command and said, amen. And the horse screeched to a halt right on the precipice of that ravine and the preacher wiped his brow and said, praise the Lord. Well, tonight we're going to begin with some woes, some amens, some slow it down, some denunciation of judgment. Again, quick recap, chapters one through 39 is condemnation. Chapters 40 through 66 are about consolation.

That helps you remember it, condemnation and consolation. So the first part of the book is the prophet confronting nations, condemning nations, getting in their face. The second part of the book is about hope and consolation, not getting in their face as much as lifting up their arms, though both parts of the book have condemnation and hope. The second part of the book deals mostly in hope.

Now let me, because I always like to do this, whether it's with adults or kids, but I always like to boil things down to its simplest term. The whole book of Isaiah, all of it, chapters one through 66 could be summed up in a nutshell. And here it is, that God will purify and prepare Israel for the Messiah.

That's all of it boiled down to its irreducible minimum. God will purify true judgment and thus prepare Israel for its Messiah. For the first coming of the Messiah when Jesus comes to deal with sin, and for the second coming of the Messiah when Jesus comes to rule and reign with those who have been cleansed from sin. All of that is found in this book of Isaiah. In chapter 28, the prophet wants to get the nation's attention, so they don't go down the destructive path.

And so he gives a series of warnings. Chapter 28 verse one, Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim. Notice that word Ephraim. Now some of you I'm hoping by now will know what the word Ephraim refers to.

Not just a person, not just a tribe, but an entire nation. And it's speaking about the northern kingdom. Do you remember how we have said a few times that Israel split north and south, 10 tribes up north, two tribes down south. The 10 northern tribes were called Israel, but sometimes they were called by its biggest most principal tribe of the 10, Ephraim. So here Ephraim doesn't mean a person, doesn't mean a tribe, means the northern kingdom of Israel called Ephraim.

Woe to them, it continues, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys. To those who are overcome with wine, behold the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with his hand. Now Isaiah the prophet was a mouthpiece of God principally to the southern kingdom called, anybody? Judah. Two tribes down south go under the name Judah, the 10 tribes under the name Israel or in this case Ephraim. So Isaiah is a prophet mostly in Jerusalem, mostly to the southern kingdom of Judah. However, he is using the northern kingdom as an example of what not to do.

They were drunk, they were debauched, they were idolaters, they didn't listen to previous prophets and they went into captivity of the Assyrians in 722 BC. It continues verse 3, the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. Now with that in mind, go to the next chapter, chapter 29 verse 1. Here it says woe to Ariel. You go who is Ariel? The word Ariel means lion of God or hearth of God or altar of God. It is a pseudonym like Ephraim that represents the north. Ariel is a pseudonym to refer to Judah, the southern kingdom. Now that becomes unmistakable if you read to the chapter by the time you get to verse 8, it's unmistakable that he's referring to Zion because he mentions the name. So he's speaking here about Jerusalem and Judah. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city where David dwelt.

Now we know that's Jerusalem. Add year to year, let feast come around, yet I will distress Ariel. There shall be heaviness and sorrow and it shall be to me as Ariel.

Again, the word means lion of God or altar. So it's as if to say this altar will become an altar of blood because of the destruction that is coming upon the southern kingdom. I will encamp against you, verse 3, all around. I will lay siege against you with a mound.

That is an army, a siege mound. And I will raise siege works against you. So we have two woes in two chapters. Go to chapter 30 verse 1.

Here's another one. Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel but not of me. And who devise plans but not by my spirit that they may add sin to sin. Who walk down to Egypt and have not asked my advice to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.

Let me tell you what's going on. That northern kingdom Ephraim knew that the Assyrians were strong and were about to take them captive. So they sought friendships, alliances with other nations.

They bought them off. They looked for strength and help from Egypt, though that didn't work because they were taken captive in 722 B.C. And the king down south, so that's the northern kingdom, the king down south, Judah, the southern kingdom, is a king by the name of Hezekiah.

He's going to be mentioned in the next coming chapters. Hezekiah's advisors told him to go get help from Egypt, like the northern kingdom tried to do. Like look, the Assyrians are now after us. They already took the northern kingdom. You need an ally, man. You need help.

And so go pay them some money and let them be your strength. When Isaiah the prophet found that out, he said bad move, bad form, don't do it. Israel tried that and they failed. The Assyrians took them over. Sennacherib, the ruler of Assyria, made Israel its vassal state. If you, like them, trust in the flesh, trust in the arm of the flesh, trust in Egypt, you too will fail.

Here's the principle. The southern kingdom of Judah was able to learn from somebody else's example. Now, they will learn from it. They will obey what Isaiah the prophet said, but only for a little while. It was George Santayana, who was an historian, who said those who fail to learn from history are doomed to relive history. Judah was able to look at a historical example of what not to do. And so they said, okay, we won't do it.

Only for a while. They will do it later on and it will become their undoing. Now, I'm following this because a verse we're about to read is going to make more sense. What is the antidote to trusting in the flesh? Trusting in God, trusting in the Lord.

Let me even go deeper. More than just trusting in the Lord, it's waiting on the Lord. You see, when the enemy surrounds you and you don't know what to do and you're tempted to go get help from worldly means, sometimes you're tempted to act and to react, you just need to stop and wait. Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord. Look down to verse 15. For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning, that is don't go to Egypt, come back, return to your land and return to your Lord. In returning and rest, you shall be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength, but you would not.

You see, your hope doesn't lie in running toward Egypt and getting their help. It's being quiet. You know, here's God's children. They're so anxious and God the Father is saying, stop, rest, wait, wait on the Lord. Maybe that's a word from the Lord for you tonight. You're anxious.

Something's coming up this week or next week, a surgery of somebody you love or your own. A possible interview that might end a job or something and you are tempted to go out and act in the flesh and not wait on the Lord. Jesus said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. So he's telling them, stop, just wait, just rest. Look at chapter 31 verse 1 again. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord. So they're tempted to look for earthly help to fix their problem.

Now, I want to fast forward using this principle. Remember how we've talked about a prophecy that is fulfilled immediately, but it becomes a template to a greater fulfillment later on. In the end of days, things are going to get so bad in the world economically, in terms of natural catastrophes that occur, that the Bible predicts a ruler will come on the scene that will seem to have all the answers. He goes by a number of names.

Most of us call him the Antichrist, though he goes by about 50 different names in total in the scripture. He is going to persuade people that he is the solution to their long awaited questions and problems. He'll bring them out of suffering. He'll bring them relief. And the world will follow him. Jesus put it this way, I come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. Another will come in his own name, him you will receive. I think he's speaking about that coming ruler that the world, even Israel at the time, will gravitate toward.

Just like they were wont to do in the ancient times with Egypt. By the time we get down to chapter 35, Isaiah looks well beyond the current status of the nation of Assyria or Babylon, well into the future, past what the Bible refers to as the great tribulation period on the earth, past the tribulation to the coronation of the Messiah he has already mentioned, into the kingdom age. Now notice some of these predictions of drastic changes that will occur. Chapter 35 verse 1, the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them and the desert our ears should perk up. The desert shall rejoice and shall blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellence of Carmel, that is Mount Carmel when you go to Israel will be there. And Sharon, the plain of Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.

These are areas known for their agriculture and their prodigious, verdant production of crops, just beautiful landscape, the trees, the cedars of Lebanon, etc. So there seems to be a prediction of some radical changes on the earth, a change in the hydrological cycle, that areas that are normally non-productive and barren, desert, will be very, very productive, that there will be geographical and topographical transformation taking place. Now, a huge portion of the American Southwest, of which we are a part, is desert. Imagine the stretch, say, from Barstow to Tucumcari, looking like Kauai. Come on!

Bring it on! Just the desert blossoming forth like a rose. Now, we're told that some of these desert areas are even growing, they're expanding. Not only that, but the eastern part of California, even up toward the north, part of eastern Oregon, part of eastern Washington, these are arid areas. There's lots of deserts in the world. I think Isaiah wasn't thinking of Barstow to Tucumcari, though, do you? I'm thinking he's thinking of the Negev, of the Sinai desert, of the great American Arabian Peninsula, those sand dunes. From Edom or modern-day Jordan all the way to Iraq is, I mean, it makes Rio Rancho look lush. There's only stones, there's not even plants to grow, not even little shrubs to grow. I know because I took a 25-hour taxi from Amman Jordan to Baghdad, ancient Babylon, 25 hours one way, and the only comforting thought was this passage.

One day, this place ain't gonna look like this place. This place will be transformed like the prophet said. Then, verse five, it goes on, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the dumb shall sing, for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. That wraps up Skip Heiseck's powerful message for you from the series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Now, here's Skip and Lenya as they share about some helpful resources to help you dig into God's truth. The nation of Israel strayed from following God's counsel and commands and experienced dire consequences.

Skip, it's important to live our lives in obedience to the Lord, and we can find His full counsel and His word. We have some excellent resources so our listeners can dive into the truth of the Bible. Can you share some of those with us?

I'll share six of them with you. Number one is connectwithskip.com. Go to that website, connectwithskip.com. You can access over 3,500 sermons, verse-by-verse teachings to any book of the Bible.

I have people all the time who say, I always go to find out what you have to say about this, because it's very rare to find a whole Bible commentary in an oral form like that. So, that's connectwithskip.com. Then, number two, there's YouVersion. These are devotionals on the app YouVersion. So, if you go to YouVersion as a Bible app, you can find a devotional on marriage, one on temptation, one on developing a thankful heart, another on theology. Go there and get into the word that way. Then, number three, we have Connect with Skip Podcast.

You can subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or Google Play. Number four, we have a YouTube channel, Lenya, the Skip Heitzig YouTube channel, and that has gained so much popularity and people are able to access and view the teachings of the word right there on YouTube. Number five, we have Connect with Skip Heitzig app. This is probably my favorite, because you can take teachings with you to go.

Go to the App Store, go to Google Play, and get that little app, and you can go through any part of Scripture. And then, number six is something we call DevoMail. That's devotional email. And DevoMail is simply truth delivered right to your inbox.

So, just go to connectwithskip.com, and you'll get instructions there. You know, it's funny, I was going to ask you which is your favorite, and then you threw it out there. And it occurred to me, you like that app because it's on the go. And if you don't know my husband, he's kinetic energy nonstop.

So, anything he can do on the go is a good thing. Skip on the go, Heitzig. Thank you, Skip and Lenya. We hope this conversation with Skip and Lenya challenged you to keep pursuing God and His truth. Now, we want to share about an exciting way you can help encourage others by keeping teachings like today's broadcast going strong. We invite you to give today to reach even more people. Just visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or call 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Thank you. Come back again tomorrow as Skip Heitzig reveals more about Isaiah's life of ministry, and you'll be inspired to keep living boldly for the Lord. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.