By this, the iniquity of Jacob will be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin. When he makes all the stones of the altar like caulk stones that are beaten out to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand. So full repentance requires a full turn to Christ, pulverizing all that belongs to idolatry.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now here's Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 27 with this edition of Cross Reference Radio. The devil will be locked up during the kingdom age. In that day, the devil will be locked up and wickedness will be way down. Verse 10, Let grace be shown to the wicked, and yet he will not learn righteousness.
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. I love this verse because it is so practical. Grace and kindness is wasted on some people.
They trample it. They take kindness for weakness. They take kindness for opportunity to exploit you. They take kindness for folly, for stupidity. Look at that guy.
He's a con artist or a crook. They're counting on your kindness so that they can unleash their craft of wickedness. Hebrews makes this comment of whom the world was not worthy. So this is quite a, you know, just not going to stay on this verse much longer, but it's a verse that all of us should be familiar with because I don't want grace to be wasted on me, be it from God or the righteous. Verse 11, Yahweh, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people. Yes, the fire of your enemies shall devour them. And so the prophet says, it's not going to go well for them. Judgment's going to befall them, that kind of behavior. And if you know somebody like that, then maybe there's an excellent verse to point it out.
You show your kindness and you just turn on me and bite the hand that feeds you. Verse 12, Yahweh, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our works in us. Well, Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. And the Bible in such agreement as it flows through from Genesis through. I have the Gospels pinned on my documents and I have Genesis and Revelation because you just have to go back to them all the time.
There's so much there. Today's Jews, they're not ready to embrace the prophetic certainty of Scripture. We are. When we say Maranatha, we believe in the prophets. We believe what the Scripture says about the future.
And we've embraced it. And sadly, many Jew and Gentile do not. Verse 13, O Yahweh, our God, masters besides you have had dominion over us, but you only we make mention of your name. So Isaiah, of course, speaking of those who love the Lord, not speaking of those who are into idolatry, he's saying, you know, we've suffered a lot of abuse from conquerors, but we don't bow down to them. Ahaz can do that. He can go to Damascus to see an altar.
Ooh, I want that. But the righteous don't do that kind of stuff. We don't look at the world and say, now what are we doing?
Hopefully we don't. It's tricky. Anyhow, it can be tricky. Verse 14, any hay. That's what the hay salesman said. Verse 14, they are dead. They will not live. They are deceased.
They will not rise. Therefore, you have punished and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. Yeah, well, it's going to contrast this to verse 19 when he talks about the righteous will live. And this is the wicked that are determined to be wicked. And Isaiah's going to show some impatience, proper impatience with this behavior before God.
They're going to be gone forever. So what? A person has these great achievements in this life. There's a guy that climbed El Capitan, this mountain, this big rock with no ropes or hammers, spikes, none of it. Just climbed it, free-handed. No one else has ever done it. Others may have tried.
They won't get another second chance. But when he dies, it's not going to come up in heaven. I saw that. That was really impressive.
That's not going to come up. Well, many of the people who have made many of these achievements are not going to heaven. So the point of it is, what am I doing that's going to survive the judgment?
Separating the wood, the hay, and the stubble from the gold, the silver, the precious metals. Verse 15, you have increased the nation, O Yahweh, you have increased the nation. You are glorified. You have expanded all the borders of the land. Now this is end times, because certainly they were losing land in his lifetime.
But he is emphasizing that in the millennial reign, Israel's territory will be expanded. Verse 16, you notice how many times he starts off with Yahweh? He's just loaded with this Jesus, Lord Jesus. There was a song we used to sing back in the 80s, Jesus, just the mention of your name. I think Jimmy Swaggart, I think it was his song. I know you had some problems, but man, he put me in the spirit, his songs. I was begging for money, he could take me out just as quick.
So, just go figure. But anyhow, you have increased the nation, O Yahweh, you have increased the nation. Verse 16, we read that, Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. As a woman with child is in pain, verse 17, and cries out in her pangs. When she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in your sight, O Yahweh.
I'm chuckling because I've learned that women don't like men to talk about pain in childbearing. It's like, you don't qualify. It's like, you weren't there. Maybe I'm the only one that feels that way.
I don't think so. I think some of you are afraid to say, Amen, brother! Anyhow, coming back to this. So, in times of trouble, the Jews will turn to God under great stress and pictures of women in labor. The problem, as he's going to go ahead to point out, is not going to produce the results without God. Of course, labor pains are directly linked to mankind's disobedience. You can't say, well, it's linked to the woman.
That is, too. But he sinned also, and he's just as guilty. They were both driven from the garden. He didn't say, okay, Adam, you don't have to go out so far.
She has to go way out. They were both just as guilty, and he more so. Verse 18, we have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind. We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen. So he's saying, we failed as your people.
We did not carry out our commission to show that you are God of the earth. The Jews had become just so disgusted with the Gentiles that they weren't even interested in reaching them. And that's what's going to come out in Paul's day. Paul's preaching, and once he mentions the word Gentiles, they riot it again.
Just the mention of the word Gentile in their own Bible. You would think you could go up to them today and say, in your own Bible, you are rebuked for this behavior. That's the benefit of going verse by verse through the Bible. You don't get to skip. It's tough sometimes, but you don't get to cherry pick.
Well, you can if you skip over it, and then your conscience is bothered. Verse 19, your dead shall live. See, this is the righteous now, in contrast to earlier. Together with my dead body, they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust.
For your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Well, Daniel said in Daniel 12, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. So there's going to be that resurrection of the just and the unjust. Isaiah is, in contrast to verse 14, saying, Israel, the righteous, the remnant, in that day, the righteous will live, and they will live forever. I'm going to live. They're going to live.
Israel will live. So it is a verse of promise. Job, he introduced this very thing.
I don't know about introduced. That might be a bit much, but he certainly preached on it. He says, For I know my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall see. So Job knew that there was going to be more after this life. When he says my flesh, he's not talking about, because this body's not fit, it will go away.
But his glorified body, that's what he is commenting on. Interesting, when Peter and John and James saw the Moses and Elijah, the Mount of Transfiguration, they didn't know who, how would they know who they were? They never saw Moses.
They have no pictures around. Look at that guy, look at him. There's Moses taking a selfie.
There was, how would they know? Well, this God imparts knowledge. It's why I won't have to go through those rookie sections. I hated the first day of school as a kid. I thought, you got to meet everybody, teachers smiling at you.
I'm like, why are you smiling at me? You must want to alone come the first grader. Kindergarten, sorry. Verse 20, come my people, empty your chambers and shut your doors behind you. Because snakes can get in if you don't shut the door. If you live in the country, you learn that. You get a little pamphlet when you leave New York. Where are you going?
Virginia, okay here. Keep the door shut or else snakes will get in. Okay, maybe you've never had a snake in your house. It is as close to hell as you can get. Okay, so shut the door behind you. Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is passed.
And so we know he is speaking and we don't have time to unfold all of it. This Matthew 24, Jesus talks about refuge for the righteous Jews. Petra in modern day Jordan, the kingdom of Jordan, is likely one of the places that they will flee.
For who knows what reasons it will be a refuge. Zephaniah, Zephaniah says, seek Yahweh, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld his justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh's anger.
And so this is a global anger he's bringing in. Jesus said the same thing. You better hope that it doesn't come on the Sabbath and you better hope your righteousness is put together. So that's what the prophets are saying. Verse 21, For behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth, for their iniquity the earth will also disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain. So this is again, you picture a bear in a cave and you aggravate him.
He comes running out. Now it's too late. It's happening now.
It's too late. That's kind of the picture he's giving us here. The earth will be punishing for violating the covenant of God with humanity. We covered this earlier in Isaiah. It goes back to Genesis 9. That Noahic covenant that demanded the sanctity of life.
The very thing that we see discarded on high levels of government. They don't want to believe that once conception in humans. In a human, when conception takes place, it's not yet a human. That's what they want to believe. But, if an eagle does it, if an eagle has an egg, it's an eagle. They say, no it's not. It's an egg.
A little salt and pepper. You know, it could really be a nice thing here. So they are hypocritical. What that covenant was in Genesis 9 was the right to live.
That people have a right to live. And as you cover, go through the laws in Deuteronomy, God is not tolerant of murder. Murderers get murdered. Well, they get killed. Murder implies, of course, illicit bloodshed. We now come to verse 27. It's a short chapter.
And if we don't do it now, it will be disconnected from the next session. So, verse 1, Isaiah 27. In that day, Yahweh, with his severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. Leviathan, that twisted serpent.
And he will slay that reptile that is in the sea. What is Leviathan? It's a large amphibious creature. It speaks of members like his legs. So, some say, well, he was a crocodile.
I don't believe that. I think he was a dinosaur of some sort. I think he's extinct. This actual creature, they're gone.
Loch Ness might be one. Anyway, Job talks about him a lot in Job chapter 41, verses 1 through, I think, 11, something like that. And we have one quote from Job on that. God reminds, evidently, the village people tried to kill one of these things, and he represents this undefeatable evil. He's a real creature, but he represents, metaphorically, Satan and the chaos that he brings.
And so, evidently, the village people tried to kill one of these things, and it didn't work well. And God says, lay your hand on him. Remember the battle?
Never do that again. That's what he says, Job 41, 8. So, this immense power, and I mentioned earlier, you have a fear that becomes like a Leviathan.
It's undefeatable, it feels like. God understands that and works with us through it. And because you're not happy and giddy the next morning, doesn't mean you're in retreat. Satan would like you to think that. It's pretty disappointing to hell when they've thrown everything at you. You're trembling, but you're still trusting God. Because he has got nothing else after that.
You just have to go through it, but you're winning. But note the triple description of the Lord's sword. Severe, great enough, and strong.
Severe, great, and strong. Versus the triple description of Leviathan. Serpent, serpent, reptile.
Yeesh. That was the idea. So, and again, I think he was a dinosaur of some sort. We all get a Leviathan at least once in our life, that dreadful monster. Revelation 20, he laid hold of that dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan. And there's a difference between the two.
Well, they're united, but there's some distinctions. And bound him for a thousand years. And so there you see the Bible referring to this dragon. I believe there were fire-breathing dragons.
Why not? There's bomber beetles. I mean, they shoot out skunks.
What is that? Electric eels. I mean, not eels you plug in and go, eel. But, I mean, got me some weird things in creation. Look at this other stuff, look at the fish with the light in front of its head, what is that?
Nobody should have free electricity if I can't have it. Lightning bugs. I mean, come on, you just, okay, it's jelly. But, because I used to dissect them as a kid, what is that? Phosphorus on the beach. I mean, you just keep going on with these weird things in creation. I had no problem believing fire-breathing dragons.
We covered that in Job. Anyway, Leviathan, he's fleeing. Satan will be in full retreat. He's twisted. Pride did that to him. He wasn't created twisted. He was created an anointed cherub. Judas was not created a betrayer. He was not chosen to be the betrayer. Christ knew he would.
Would give him every chance not to be, knowing the outcome. Still was Judas' call. It says here in verse 1, He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. Well, this goes back in understanding this is a picture of Satan. He will bruise the heel, that is the crucifixion.
But he will bruise his head. That is the death blow given to Satan. Genesis 3 15, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, he's speaking to the devil, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. So the age of conflict, which was announced by God in Eden, he's announcing to mankind at the beginning of sin, now you've got conflict.
And you've got conflict with the spiritual world. But you're going to win in the end. I'm going to win in the end.
And you will win too if you stay with me. Psalm 74, You broke the head of Leviathan in pieces, as he will bruise his head. That's an understatement. Gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
So that is a thorough victory. Some think, well no, this is Assyria and Babylon. It could in a lesser sense, but it's the devil. Verse 2, In that day, sing to her a vineyard of red wine. Verse 3, I, Yahweh, keep it. I water it every moment, lest any hurt it.
I keep it night and day. This is in contrast to Isaiah 5, where Israel was divine, that became wild. No matter what the Lord did, it did not cooperate. Now, the Lord is taking care of this vine. It is end time Israel, post-tribulation. The Bible speaks of three vines, really. One is the people of Israel, as here and in Isaiah 5. Christ and his church, John 15. I am the vine, you are the branches. And then, that lie-loving world, great tribulation society, Revelation 14, 18, refers to them as the vine of the earth, and they get judged. And so, in verse 6, we'll get on seals that this is Israel he's talking about. Verse 4, Fury is not in me, who would set briars and thorns against me in battle.
I would go through them. I would burn them together. So, the time of Israel punishment will pass. The fury will not be in the Lord, judging them.
We've been reading so much about them being judged. The briars and the thorns, the enemies, the obstacles, they'll be burned up. Isaiah 10, 17, The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his holy one for a flame. They will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day.
And so, the consistent, that we know through that consistency, these are the enemies being burned up. Verse 5, O let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. And so, submit to God and there will be peace, Romans 5, 1. Verse 6 now, Those who come, he shall cause to take root in Jacob.
Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. Well, that's Genesis 12, verses 1 through 3, in being ultimately fulfilled in the kingdom age at the end of the great tribulation. So, you have, of course, the present age of grace, the church age that we are in. Then comes the rapture, Maranatha, Lord come. That's the second coming of Christ. There will be three, when he came with Mary.
But anyway, and then after the rapture, the great tribulation period for seven years, and then Christ comes again, we will be with him, and that starts the kingdom age. Verse 7, He shall, has he struck Israel as he struck those who struck him, or has he been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him? God is saying here that, I judged Israel, but I judged those who I used to judge Israel even harder.
That would be Babylon and Assyria, and Nazi Germany, you could add to that list, a few others. Verse 8, In measure, by sending it away, you contended with it. He removes it by his rough wind in the day of the east wind. Verse 9, Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin. When he makes all the stones of the altar like caulk stones that are beaten out to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand. So full repentance requires a full turn to Christ, pulverizing all that belongs to idolatry. Verse 10, Yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness. There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down and consume its branches. When the boughs are withered, they will be broken off. Women come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore, he who made them will not have mercy on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
And so here is a lot going on. Ultimately, the city is going to be a ghost town. Which city? Some say it's Jerusalem, some say it's the Assyrian. I don't know that we can actually pinpoint it all, but I know we come away with this.
The women are gathering the dead parts that have withered and they're using it in the fireplaces. That's the idea behind the women coming and setting it on fire, versus going and setting the fields on fire. But when we get out of this, therefore he who made them, that is God, will have no mercy because they're impenitent. And he who informed them will show them no favor.
That's the consequence of judgment. Verse 12, that's why, you know, the terror of the Lord is a serious thing. Verse 12, and it shall come to pass in that day that Yahweh will thresh from the channel of the river to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered by one, all you children of Israel. And so this will be from Iran to Egypt.
That will be Israel's territory. A lot of verses we could cross reference. Verse 13, so it shall be in that day that the great trumpet will be blown. They will come who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship Yahweh in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
So the trumpet is the assembly of the troops. It's a figure of speech used here to come and feast. These are those survivors in the great tribulation that God can do something with.
The ones that were just adamant in their unbelief, He will judge and take out. Let's pray. Our Father, again, a lot of information, a lot of inspiration, things that can excite us, to remind us that we look forward to your return.
In Jesus' name, Amen. 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.
