This begins the sprawling global judgment that is coming.
And it does sprawl. The righteous will see it. For example, during the great tribulation period, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, they're going to see it. And they're going to be telling people about it. And some of those people that they tell will be tribulation coming. Others will be doomed because they will mock them and not believe them and run off and get the mark of the beast and it'll be too late for them.
Today, Pastor Rick will be teaching from Isaiah chapter 23 on this edition of Cross Reference Radio. This is the time when the church would be working on their nets, their fishing nets, on the debris from offshore tire, that causeway to offshore tire. That causeway, the debris that was put there by Alexander the Great. And it's still there to this day. It's still part of the tourist stop to see. Look at that. You see those big blocks of stone?
Alexander the Great put those there so he could get out to offshore tire. But they'll leave out many times unless they're, of course, Christian. They'll leave out that this is what Ezekiel prophesied hundreds of years before it took place.
So there we go. Again, Ezekiel 26, 28. Amazing, literal accuracy for the fulfillment of what the prophets said. Verse 13, Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, this people, which was not Assyria, founded it for wild beasts of the desert. They set up its towers. They raised up its palaces and brought it to ruin. Of course, when they raised up not, they erected it.
They tore it down. They used these siege towers to overcome whatever fortifications the Babylonians had. This is before Nebuchadnezzar. And they tried to make it so it would never rebuild. But it did rebuild and it ended up being built up so strong that they conquered the Assyrians in time. And so he says, verse 14, Well, you ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste. Well, if the Babylonians could not resist the Assyrians, you will not be able to either. Verse 15, Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot. Verse 16, Take a harp, go about the city you've forgotten harlot, make sweet melodies, sing many songs that you may be remembered. What do you make of that in your devotions? This is a lot of work to get, but the key is in it. You've forgotten harlot. That's the key. It's not what she used to be.
She's got to use the song and the instrument just to get attention. And the prophet is saying, that's you, Tyre. Your glory is going to fade and the time is going to come where you won't be able to drum up business. And again, that has happened to the city. The seventy years, a fixed period, well, that's about how long the Babylonians were in power under Nebuchadnezzar. Well, the kingdom he started, but that's about how long it was.
That fits perfectly. We have no reason to doubt the total accuracy of those numbers. We just don't have the fixed dates.
They didn't write down the date from here to here. But we have enough historical information to understand, hey, that's not far fetched at all. And by faith, we know it's accurate. Verse seventeen, And it shall be at the end of seventy years that the Lord will deal with Tyre. And of course, we think of Israel had a similar judgment on her.
Judah did. She will return to her hire and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. And so I mentioned earlier that she didn't just go away. She would rebuild, but the glory would not be what it was each time.
It was less and less and less until finally it became an insignificant village. And of course, the Lebanese have taken it and they have built it up. But it's I don't think any of you stayed awake at night figuring how you can go visit Tyre. Anyway, verse eighteen. Well, I guess you know you might say, well, I'd like to see Rome. I'd like to see the Colosseum. I'd like to go to Turkey and see modern cities that were part of the seven churches. But you probably don't say, but I'd like to go to Tyre.
But the deeper students would want to go there and see that debris there in the Mediterranean Sea. Okay, verse eighteen. Her gain and her pay will be set apart for Yahweh.
It will not be treasured nor laid up for her gain will be for those who dwell before Yahweh and eat sufficiently and for fine clothing. This is messianic and it is also part of the repatriation of Israel. Ezra 3.7 talks about the Jews hiring the Sidonians and those from Tyre to bring materials in the building of Zerubbabel's temple, which would be the second. Solomon's temple having been destroyed and Zerubbabel comes back seventy years later and they begin building, rebuilding the temple. Then it stops because of the protesters. Yeah, they had to deal with those two. So anyway, the work stopped with God raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and they excited the people to do what they were supposed to do through good preaching.
How forceful are right words? It says Ecclesiastes and the people rebuilt the second temple. Now we come to Isaiah chapter twenty four and passing from the judgment of this maritime super power of the day, Tyre, we now come to the judgments on the whole earth. And the prophetess is again telling the Jewish people our God runs the world. Why are you worshipping these local gods?
Why are you worshipping this junk? Eventually, he's going to use the language that is connected to the Tower of Babel and Genesis without coming out and saying it. But if you know your scripture, you'll pick it up. If you don't, it doesn't mean you don't know the Bible. But if you pick it up, it's because you're familiar with what it says about the flood of Noah and the Tower of Babel. So I start off with Psalm two, verse four. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. Yahweh shall hold them in derision. And you know, people don't want to believe that.
But eventually some do. We call them converts. Anyway, the judgments in this chapter will point to the Great Tribulation period, as described in Revelation six through nineteen. And this, in fact, chapter twenty four to twenty seven of Isaiah, some of the scholars call the Isaiah's apocalypse. The revelation of Isaiah concerning end times, showing the downfall of not only those on earth who were against God, but the spiritual powers also. Let's look at verse one now.
Isaiah twenty four. Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants. Well, there he introduces the judgment of God. This begins the sprawling global judgment that is coming.
And it does sprawl it. The righteous will see it. For example, during the Great Tribulation period, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, they're going to see it and they're going to be telling people about it. And some of those people that they tell will be tribulation converts. Others will be doomed because they will mock them and not believe them and run off and get the mark of the beast. And it'll be too late for them. I will say that I believe there will be some that will get that mark involuntarily, quite possibly, and not be held accountable.
You say, who? Well, there'll be people that maybe have handicaps, severe handicaps. And they'll be, you know, forced. Well, we want to track them.
We'll inject them with the chip. And God is wise enough to know that person didn't ask for that. It's the ones that, with glee, worshiped the beast in his image.
Though they will, that's the point of no return. So, coming back to this, Romans chapter one. We know this verse. We try to tell it to unbelievers about those who exchange the truth of God for the lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen.
That's what Paul says. Now, you say, well, who does this today? Well, indigenous people are notorious for worshipping creatures. And not only here in America, but right now, you know, it's known as the American Indian. Their culture, there's an element there that wants to preserve their cultural worship. And they'll worship the bear, and they'll worship the eagle, and whatever it is. This is creature worship.
You're praying to something that was created by the creator. And that is idolatry. And that is sin. Now, if you tell them that, you better make sure you're led by the Spirit. Because they're not going to take it easily.
Or, anyway, it is what it is. Isaiah 13. Behold, the day of Yahweh comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger. To lay the land desolate, and He will destroy its sinners from it. And so the prophet is trying to tell people, God's not joking.
This is real what I'm telling you. And the devil will come along and say, come on, he's merciful. He's abundant in mercy. He'll twist the scriptures. And that's when you could say it is also written. That's what Jesus did to him.
It is written also. Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger. Has not God, being God, the right to hold people accountable, who thumb their nose at Him? Revelation 16.1. And then if you say, boy, that's cruel, God's sending people. God just supports their decision to not be around Him. Don't go blaming God for His judgment. Revelation 16.1. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. Paul of Isaiah 11 is concerned with that, too. And these are warnings.
So no one will be able to say, huh, how was I supposed to know? Well, I sent the prophets to you. I sent the born-again Christians who you despised.
I sent them to you. Verse 2 of Isaiah 24. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with the master, as with the maid, so with the mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the creditor, so with the debtor. Isaiah, we got it.
We got it with the first two. Verse 3. Typical preacher. And the land shall surely be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word. I love the prophets.
They're like, God said it. That's it. Moving on.
I'm going to beg you to believe me. Let me show you all these ways it could happen. Verse 4 of 24. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish. So there it is. The prophets say, I'm not letting these guys go because the Spirit of God is upon me and he's telling me that arrogant people will be dealt with.
People who have a larger opinion of themselves, far larger, large enough to look down at everybody else. And this is what so much oppression comes from. You know, what do you think Saddam Hussein had in mind when he had, you know, people of other tribes tortured?
You know, what do you need to go into the details? Torture is torture. Horrific deaths, slow and painful, just because they weren't from his tribe.
Keep them under control. What kind of arrogance is that? Instead of going and saying, hey, we want to build up our country and take care of our people, he's killing off people, just as an example, so you can look at Gaddafi. Killed in the streets, what a shameful death for him. Beaten to death in the streets by his own people. How much arrogance did he have?
Just Google a picture of him and you'll see it. Anyway, neither rank nor wealth nor pedigree nor power will be able to deliver from God's judgment. The arrogant scientists, politicians, authors, preachers, whoever, those and their truthless followers are served a warning. That's the mercy of God. Verse 5, the earth is also defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant. Well, God is saying this is the problem. You break laws that are put in place to protect other people. You don't care about other people. You won't play your music as loud as you want. I don't know why it's not legal to throw a hand grenade at somebody's boombox. They're going to bless you with it.
Too bad here in the country, but it's here. And the city is maddening. So what covenant, the everlasting covenant, is he talking about? He's not talking to the Jews only. He's talking to mankind. Well, this covenant is the refusal to be in fellowship with God and it goes back to Genesis chapter 9. And God included the nations when he said, I'm not going to flood the earth again and wipe it out with water.
I'm going to give you a rainbow. Now remember, when he said that, there were just eight people on earth. Noah and his family. And they represented all of humanity and the covenant was with them. That covenant immediately followed God's repeated prohibition against bloodshed, improper bloodshed, because there are times where, you know, the execution of people is part of civil law. But in Genesis 9, verses 4 through 6, God goes into, I don't want to see this bloodshed, this people murdering people, for whatever reasons.
And then he links that to, I'm promising you I'm not going to flood the planet with water to wipe it out because of this corruption and violence. Remember, we talked about that Sunday from Genesis chapter 6. There were these power brokers on the earth and they had so much power, the corruption was out of control, the violence was out of control, and God said, if I let this continue, wipe out humanity.
They're self-destruct. And then it was repeated at the Tower of Babel. So the laws, the statutes, the covenant, are related to the rainbow. It's not just, okay, God's not going to flood us. No, there's a little bit more to the story. God is saying, I don't want this violence.
And I want to make an arrangement here. And of course it's wasted on some, but not all. When you see people have a mock rainbow celebrating perversity, you understand how important the true one is. Satan can pick it out. Satan could identify Jesus in the synagogue for who he was.
No one else did. We know who you are, the Holy One of God. Well, if that was true, then why weren't all the Jews recognizing this? Satan knows what's going on.
So when you see that fake rainbow missing a color because they can't get it right, it's a mockery in the face of God. And God says, when I made that covenant with humanity about not flooding them, it was based on morality. It was based on not shedding blood, doing violence, and going against my will.
There's so much packed into that. What are you going to say? Okay, God said there's no bloodshed, but I can steal from you as long as I don't kill you? That would be irrational.
It's connected. You cannot just chop it up and say, okay, I can kill, but I can't, I mean, I can't kill, but I can steal, or I can burn down your business or something. No, you can't do violence. So anyway, that's the best I can do with verse 5 on what covenant is he talking about. That's the only covenant I know that concerns humanity.
All the others were given, in the Old Testament that is, all the others concerned with Israel. And so now verse 6, therefore the curse has devoured the earth and those who dwell in it are desolate, therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned up and few men are left. Now the great tribulation period, and here fire is mentioned in this, therefore the curse has devoured the earth. Second Peter chapter 3, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. The same idea that the prophet was saying to Tyre, you're going to be judged and there'll be nothing left. Peter continues verse 12 of 2 Peter 3, looking for that hastening and coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. So he presses that fervent heat part and we come back to verse 6 of Isaiah, therefore the curse has devoured the earth and those who dwell in it are desolate, therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned up and few men are left.
Well Jesus said, were those days not shortened, nobody would survive. The idea of man not surviving is in scripture. The only thing that protects man from self-destruction is God. And of course man thinks he's cute, he knows nuclear weapons, which you've got to have, somebody's going to have them.
If that's the case then I want more than the other guy. But a volcano can put out a lot more than a submarine. The tsunami can, I mean there are things in creation that can do a lot of damage without people helping it along.
A virus can do a lot of damage without people. So these are out of our control. God's judgments, they will depopulate the earth, few will be left, Matthew 24, 22, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened because he doesn't want to wipe Israel off the map. Verse 7, and elect in Matthew 24, 22 is Israel, whereas you get to it in other places, context will tell you, could be just those who are saved. Verse 7, the new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh, like I just did, I wasn't even intentional, I just did it.
I must be a prophet. Anyway, coming back to this, the mirth and the tambourine ceases, good, because tambourines can be annoying if the person doesn't know what they're doing. The noise of the jubilant ends of joy and the harp ceases, a harp. No, you never even see anybody with a harp case.
I mean, you need a forklift or a dolly to bring that into the building. But it's incredible, you see somebody playing a harp, it's like, wow. Anyway, it's kind of funny, which would you rather? Play that with your child, or would you rather, somebody who could play the spoons or somebody who could play a harp? Somebody who could play a tambourine or somebody who could play a violin?
It could be a lot of fun. Anyway, and insulting, could be insulting, got to be careful. Where were we? The new wine languishes, the jubilant ends, the harp ceases. Verse 9, they shall not drink wine with a song. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of confusion is broken down.
Every house is shut up so that none may go in. Well, pause here for a minute. Remember, Isaiah, he was part of the upper crust of society. He was in and out of the palaces.
He would have been very conscious of the elite social gatherings, the partying and all the wine and the good foods in the upper crust of society. And I think there's some jibes at that in that section. Not that there's anything wrong with enjoying nice things, certainly there's nothing wrong with that. But when you do it at the exclusion of what God wants, then it becomes a problem, and that's what he is calling out because God promised he'd bless his people with these things in the land of milk and honey. But they just said, okay, I got the milk and honey, now please, Lord, beat it.
That's what pretty much happened. Anyway, verse 11, there is a cry for wine in the streets. All joy is darkened.
The mirth of the land is gone. Verse 12, in the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction. Verse 13, when it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
Food will be scarce. That's what verse 13 is saying. The whole thing is tribulation centered. He's gone past just Judah, and he's dealing with the earth, and he's saying, it's going to be great tribulation, such as the world has not seen. And so this is why some of the scholars call this the apocalypse of Isaiah, or Isaiah's apocalypse. A mini book of revelation, in the sense of the tribulation that is coming.
The city that is mentioned here, it could refer to humanity, the world system, but more likely Babylon, and all that that means, because we know it means more than just the ancient city, though the ancient city would never rise again, Jeremiah went out of his way to make that clear, and we'll come to that a little later on. Let's move forward now to verse 14. Just remember, there's a lot more that can be said about all these verses.
You owe me. Verse 14, they shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Okay, so now there's a shift here.
The scene shifts. Well, let's finish verse 15. Therefore, glorify Yahweh in the dawning light, the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, in the coastlands of the sea. Looking at verse 15 first, the dawning of the light, well, that would be to the east, and the coastlands, the Mediterranean, that would be to the west.
And so he's, you know, he's pretty clever, this Isaiah, and how he poetically covers the area that he's addressing, from east to west, you could say. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.
