underlying point. Okay, primarily judgment, right? Restoration as well, but primarily judgment. So chapter 1 through 39 is primarily about why judgment is coming upon Israel, why judgment is coming upon the nations, right? For those who basically attacked Israel. And then we said, so chapter 1 through 39 is about why judgment is coming.

Chapter 40 to 66, primarily what do we say? Restoration, right? So chapter, again, we're not saying that every single chapter, every verse is that way, but generally speaking 1 through 39 establishes why judgment is coming. And then chapter 40 to 66 establishes why the need for the Messiah, why is the Messiah coming, right?

So if we were to kind of put it in another way, basically chapter 1 through 39 is the Old Testament, and chapter 40 through 66 is the New Testament, if you want to see it in a kind of broad picture. So if you skim through the 39 chapters, then by the time we come to the Messiah we're going to say, "Oh, it's great the Messiah came." But if you kind of wrestle through what He was saying, and wrestle through why judgment is coming, there's a reason why God spends so much time detailing why the sin, why the judgment, how the judgment is coming, what the sin looks like, what God thinks about the sin, right?

So that by the time we come and He begins to introduce the Messiah, that there is a clear answer to all of this problem, right? So if you don't know the problem well, you're not going to know the answer well either, right? If you skim through the sin, you're not going to, by the time you come to salvation, it's going to be like, "Oh yeah, He just saved us.

We were bad, He saved us because we were bad." Right? There's a reason why God spends two-thirds of the Old Testament talking about and studying through the judgment that's coming upon the world, right? The curses. So again, I know some of you guys are having a hard time going through Isaiah, you're kind of like, "Oh, I don't get it.

It's kind of all over the place." I told you from the beginning that Isaiah is like that. It's not organized thematically, like chapter 1, 2, 3 is this and 4, 5, 6 is like that. He jumps around. Even historically, sometimes He'll talk about something. Remember Isaiah chapter 6 is about the calling of Isaiah?

You know, you would think that would begin at the beginning of the book, but it actually happens in chapter 6. The whole book is like that. He'll just kind of interject thematically where He feels like it's the best place to come in. So if you feel like, "You know, I don't get the flow of Isaiah." Don't worry about it, okay?

Just know the chapters that we're studying, what is the theme of that, okay? And then hopefully later on, next time you read it, you'll see a little bit better connection. But from the beginning, if you try to swallow or digest too much, you're going to end up not catching even the smaller stuff, okay?

So if you're wrestling with that, don't feel too bad. Just kind of pay attention to what's in front of you. And another thing I want to remind you is that Isaiah is not one of those studies that if you come in not prepared, right? If you come in not prepared, just kind of you skim through it and you don't really know what's going on in the chapters that we're studying, it's going to be very difficult for you to catch because I'm not there going to say, "Look at verse 3 and what does that word mean and how it relates to this verse?" Because we're going over two, sometimes four chapters at a time.

And in the 30, 40 minutes that we have, there is no way that we're going to be able to do it expositionally like that. So I have to just assume that the questions that I ask you, you're wrestling, at least you know when I mention it that you know what I'm talking about, right?

So again, just as a reminder, there's a reason why the Bible studies have been divided that way so that you guys can take plenty of time to wrestle with it so that we can unpack what you wrestled with. But if you didn't wrestle with it before you came, when we unpack it, it's going to be a lot harder for you to grasp.

Okay? Just as a reminder. Now having said that, chapter 40 and on is a little bit easier. It's easier because it is, one, the theme is about restoration and secondly, there is a little bit more connection in 40 and on than there is the first 39 chapters. And we'll see that when we go.

Okay? Alright, so let's jump into chapter 34 and 35. Chapter 34 and 35 is connected to the previous chapters where it's talking about the judgment. Chapter 34, right, who's God's judgment directed toward in verses 1 through 7? Even though it is, if you look into details, it's probably related to the Assyrians.

But again, it's not just to them. If you look at the language, it's very public. He says, "Draw near, O nations, O hear, and give attention, O peoples." In other words, he's about to bring judgment, but this is not done privately. And it is not done in secret. He's telling the whole nations, what I'm about to do, I'm doing it very publicly.

I want you to see this is what's going to happen, and I want you to know why it's happening. Okay? His judgment that he's talking about here, obviously every judgment of God is harsh, but the judgment that he brings in chapter 34, he describes himself as someone who is enraged.

R.C. Sproul, I think it's in his book, Holiness of God. He describes the wrath of God in the Greek, the word is "orgay." And the word "orgay" is the word where we get the New Testament word, or the English word, "orgy." And the word "orgy" basically means an unbridled, unadulterated just lust.

Right? Emotion, and there is no filter, it's just kind of letting your flesh just have it. And R.C. Sproul describes that word "orgay," and that's the word that's described to describe the wrath of God is being revealed in the New Testament. And so when God talks about the wrath of God, just like he gives love, and he gives love to the fullest, his love is beyond what you and I will ever comprehend.

Right? To give his only begotten son. Well his wrath is just as intense. Right? His wrath is unlike any other kind of wrath that we've ever seen. And so that's why again, we say it over and over again when we talk about the cross, the cross is a perfect union of the intense wrath of God being satisfied by the intense love of God.

But if you take either side, you don't have the cross. If you minimize the wrath of God, it's like did the Son of God really have to be put on the cross? Right? Because if you don't understand the wrath of God, you won't understand why only Christ could satisfy the wrath of God.

So one of the questions again I asked about that is when we study about the wrath of God, we have a tendency to kind of skim over the wrath and get to the cross, and get to His grace. But again if you skim over His wrath and you don't fully understand that God is a jealous God, and then we come through certain parts of the Bible in the Old Testament where it is hard for us to understand.

We go up to the New Testament where He wipes out a third of the earth, a judgment of hell fire that is going to be forever. And it's just kind of hard to understand because the picture that we've created about God doesn't fit hell. But the picture that we've created about God doesn't fit hell because that's the God that we've created in our culture.

The God of the Bible fits the Bible because it's in the Bible. Or fits hell because it's in the Bible. Right? So we have to ask ourselves, like the things that disturb us, things that don't make sense to us, is that because the Bible is causing us to create this conflict?

Or is it because the God that I've imaged, the image I have in my head doesn't fit what I'm reading? Right? And if we're not careful we'll read through it and just kind of, "Oh it doesn't make sense. I don't understand it." So we just kind of skim over it.

Right? Never really diving into it. Never wrestling with it. You just kind of like, "Well this is who He is and we're satisfied with that." Right? And I think that's dangerous because there is so much emphasis about the wrath of God, about His jealousy, about His holiness, that if we just skim over it and just have a vague understanding of that, you're not going to have a clear picture of the cross either.

Like why was Jesus the only one? Why was the Son of God the only one who was able to satisfy the wrath of God? Right? Again, He's described here as someone who was enraged. His wrath has been filled to the brim. Right? So He's not simply talking about, "Hey you committed this particular sin and I'm going to punish you for this." He's talking about all the wrath combined.

It's just kind of gotten to the point where He's no longer holding back. He's going to just release His anger upon the nations. Right? So if you look at the description of all of this, He's not—it's beyond just like a momentary judgment. Right? In verse 6 and 7, what does it mean?

The Lord has a sword. It is stated in blood. It is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the donkeys or kidneys of rams. What is this imagery about this animals and sacrifices and what does that have to do with the wrath of God?

Anybody? Any kind of—like wrestled with that? He's talking about judgment that's coming. So what is verse 6 and 7? How is that related to His wrath? If you look at verse 6 and 7, this is not just talking about any animals. He's talking about sacrifices. Right? He said all these sacrifices are being made because why are they being made?

Why were they necessary? Because of sin. So He's saying the wrath of God is coming just like there was a need for the wrath of God to be appeased by the slaughter of these animals. Now God's judgment is coming because of this sin. Right? So as animals were sacrifices that needed to be given because of the sins of God's people, judgment is coming as a result of sins of the nations.

Right? So if you look at this, basically—He may not be saying this, but basically the only way that you can appease the wrath of God is by the blood sacrifice or by receiving the wrath of God. Right? He said the nation of Israel was given opportunity by faith when they sacrificed these things where the wrath of God is being appeased, ultimately obviously by the blood of Christ.

Right? But He says that wrath, that whatever is not placed on Christ is going to come upon the nations. Right? Again, I mentioned this again, and you guys can talk about this later, but this question basically is where all throughout Isaiah up to this point, where Isaiah has been vacillating between God's judgment, His restoration, judgment and restoration.

Right? And in fact, you can probably summarize the whole Bible as these two themes. Judgment coming because of sin, but God having mercy for these sinners. But His mercy isn't just, "You know what? I'm just going to forgive all of you." It's those who come to repent. Those who receive the cleansing blood of Christ.

Right? And He vacillates back and forth. And as I mentioned before, if you minimize the wrath of God, you will minimize the grace of God. Right? If you don't talk about hell, heaven isn't going to be as accurate. Right? Because it's in contrast. Right? His love and His anger.

His grace. Right? And His judgment. They have to be understood side by side. Right? You can't say, "Oh, that building is really tall." But it's really tall in comparison to what? To the other buildings. Right? You put that in Grand Canyon, it doesn't look that big. Right? But in comparison to other buildings it's big.

So His grace is always coupled in comparison with His wrath, and vice versa. Right? Because that's how the Bible revealed it. Who or what is God's judgment directed towards? He says, "All those who went against Zion." So Zion, obviously, the immediate context is talking about Israel. But in the larger context when we talk about the judgment of God, including the Gentiles, it's His church.

It's His kingdom. Right? So again, this wrath is not simply against one nation. Even though Assyria is in the picture, again, we said that the larger application is to the whole world. So it seems like the greater application is the end times. And Edom, in verse 9, is the focus of the judgment.

Right? Edom is a sister nation to Israel, but it has hated Israel more than any other nation. In fact, I think it's probably true that the worst enemies were at one point good friends. Right? And something went wrong. You don't have enemies that are far away. Right? Typically. Because they don't know you.

There's not enough interaction to hate each other. Usually enemies are people who are close by. And so the Edomites were kind of like sister nation to Israel. And they were the constant antagonists to the nation of Israel. So oftentimes Edom is mentioned to represent all the nations that went against Israel.

Okay? What is the duration of the judgment and what is its significance? The punishment is severe. It is nonstop. It is night and day. Again, this is not just a slap on the hand. And it sounds a lot like the white throne judgment of Revelations. Once the judgment happens, that is the final judgment.

It is not a momentary judgment and then restoration. This judgment that he's talking about is everlasting. It is permanent and it's forever. Verse 13 and 17. What does the gathering of different animals by the Spirit have to do with God's judgment? Again, as it states in verse 11, a plumb line is a way to measure for accuracy.

This description of the animals is a measurement of emptiness. So let's look at verse 11. It says, "But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of the confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness." In other words, he's describing, like the judgment is so thorough that these animals can just kind of roam free.

Because there's no human. Right? So Israel, again, is described as a field that's not cultivated where there's wild animals and they're just roaming around but there's no human to cultivate it. Immediately I think about the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve is forsaken. Adam and Eve was created to be caretakers of the land and because of the sin they're cast out and is no longer taken care of.

And that's the kind of picture that I see where God's creation is intact but the caretakers are not there. Because of judgment. So again, over and over again, chapter 34 is talking about the severity and the intensity of God's wrath and His anger. And He's making sure that He's not just angry.

He's burning in anger. He's enraged. Right? He's not simply looking at the world and, you know, again, oftentimes we see a picture of God only, and I'm not saying this is not accurate or it's not true, we only see a picture of God as the prodigal son's father. Right?

Who's just waiting, waiting for sinners to come, waiting for sinners to come. But the Bible also describes a God who is enraged in anger. Right? Again, this is not just me. Read the scripture. The scripture describes God who is holding back His wrath but when the time of grace is finished and He allows Himself and He says, "Okay, there's nothing holding Him back anymore." He said, "The wrath of God is going to be revealed." Like ultimately with nothing holding Him back.

Right? And so at the very end when He comes, He's not only coming to save and redeem mankind, He's coming where as the cross absorbed the sin of mankind, that wrath, that whatever was not placed on Jesus is going to be upon mankind. Right? And that's also a picture of the Bible.

It's not just a picture of the father, prodigal son, just waiting, waiting, waiting. He's also that same God who wiped out the earth. Right? And only eight people remained. Right? He said, "That's that same God. The same God who came and just wiped out Jericho." Right? These people are under ban because they're all going to be under judgment.

The same God who created hell. He created hell. And that God is the God who is coming. Right? And again, I think that's why if you've never read the book "Holiness of God" I strongly encourage you to read it because when we have a skewed perspective or imperfect perspective of who He is, right, because our generation or I don't know, then even His grace isn't going to seem amazing.

It's just going to be grace. Right? I think it's extremely important for us that we have an accurate picture of how the Bible describes God. And chapter 34 makes sure that we get that. We get that. Okay? Okay. We're not going to go through this right now for the sake of time because I want to get through all of it.

Chapter 34 is about the wrath. Chapter 35 is about restoration. So those of you guys, hopefully you read through, you know that chapter 36 through 39 is about history, specific history. Right? So chapter 1 through 35 is about judgment and then again, vacillates back and forth to restoration. So He ends with promise of restoration.

Right? What is the promise, what is promised from the coming of the Lord? First it says vengeance. So the first thing that we think of is wrath. I think every Christian, there should be a tension. There should be a tension when we think about His second coming. Because as much as second coming means our life and it is our glory, it means judgment for mankind.

Right? It means judgment for people that we may care about, our co-workers. It means judgment to everyone who does not confess Christ. Right? So I think every Christian, in one sense, we ought to be longing for Him and that should affect the way that we live. But there also ought to be a sense of dread.

Because when He comes, He says He's going to come in His full vengeance. Right? I think there's a reason why when Paul was going out and he's saying he prays that the gospel may spread rapidly. You know, he knows the sovereignty of God. He knows that God is completely in control.

But at the same time, he knows the consequence of not knowing Christ. Right? He knows the consequence of when He does come. So humanly speaking, there's a sense of urgency. He wasn't just living casually. He lived so that the gospel may spread to the remotest part of the world as fast as it can.

It's not like, "Oh, God is sovereign, so therefore let's not worry about tomorrow." Right? He's the one who teaches about the sovereignty of God and yet He lives every single day. Right? With that sense of urgency. And I think this has something to do with it. Right? Knowing that His coming isn't just Santa Claus coming to pass out candy.

He's going to come in His full glory. And His full glory always means grace and judgment at the same time. Right? If He doesn't come in His judgment, that's not His full glory. His full glory means every part of who He is is going to be glorified. Right? His grace and His wrath.

He will also come to save. Right? Open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. Lame shall walk and leap like a deer. Tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. So if you notice all of this, that it's not just they see. Right? It's not just that they hear.

It's that lame aren't just going to walk. They're going to leap for joy like a deer. Right? People who couldn't talk and all of a sudden, you know, they're talking. He said, "No, they're going to be singing for joy." So just as vengeance is intense, His wrath is intense, so is His restoration.

Right? So when we say that God is a jealous God, that every part of Him is intense, right? Just as salvation is intense, so is judgment. What do you think the highway called the way of holiness is in reference to? Okay. I want you to think about what highway, like when you think of highway, what do you immediately think of?

I mean, the only reference we have is highway. Right? If you thought of something else, I don't know where you're from, but the only highway that I know of is five, the freeway. I was thinking about other numbers. I can't think of anything. Just five. Right? We think about that, but think about at that time when they said highway, what they would have meant, because obviously they didn't have cars.

Right? They didn't have nice roads. In fact, nice roads didn't come until when? Huh? Yeah, until the time of Rome. Right? There weren't nice roads. It was basically somebody would travel down this mountain, and if enough people took that road, the grass started to die, and then the roads started flattening out, and that became the best road.

So even the best of roads weren't that good. Right? It wasn't the Romans until they came, and their empire was so huge, and they wanted to make sure that their soldiers were able to get to wherever they needed to get to as quickly as they could. And that was one of the keys to their success.

They made roads for military purposes. And all of a sudden, it became, like once the roads got connected, people were able to exchange commerce and go back and forth because of these roads. None of that happened until the Romans came in. Until then, even if you wanted to, let's say if you lived here, and you wanted to go over there, you had to take all of your supplies and go over this mountain, go over the terrain, through the woods, rivers, whatever, to get to the other side.

Right? So when the Bible talks about how God's going to bring, and He's going to bring a holy highway. Right? So think about it from their point of view. The word highway literally means road lifted. Right? Because literally that's what that means. Right? So if a Jew was reading this in his language, highway, he would have immediately pictured a road that's lifted up.

Right? And so that's the picture that's given. It's like when Christ comes, that this road, and what does this road lead to? To God. Right? This pathway that was difficult to get through, maybe impossible, maybe there was a mountain between you, maybe there was a deep valley that you couldn't pass.

And when He comes, the path to His glory is going to be paved. It's going to be high. It's going to be the best road. Remember we talked about that, the cities of refuge? That these particular cities were spread out, that no matter where you were in Israel, that you had a clear sight of one of these cities, and that every road was the best roads in Israel were always the ones that led to the cities of refuge.

Right? And who were the people that these cities of refuge were made for? Accidental killing. So think about how often do you think that happened, that six different cities were built on top of a hill, and best roads. He said to carve down hills, and fill in the valleys, and make the best roads.

So how often do you think this happened that God would say, that make these cities, dedicate all your time, money, and energy to build these cities. I'm thinking this road probably was not taken that often. Right? I don't think that was a happen, like every two days, like where's he running?

Oh he just killed somebody. You know, I don't think that was a common occurrence. Right? Because I think that that was built for the purpose of, again, as a shadow to teach us that the refuge, at the end of it, the high priest, who we know as to be Christ, that he's the protector once you get to that city.

I think all of that drama, and all of that money spent on the road was for the purpose of teaching us in the New Testament that the best roads, right, the best roads that he prepared for us to get to our refuge, Christ, was built. And that was the city of refuge was a shadow of that.

Right? And I think it was for that purpose. You know, I think the pragmatist would have seen that and said, like, really? Dedicate all our money for that? You know what I mean? There's poor people that can't go from one village to the other and you're going to make us build this on top of the hill?

Right? But again, all of that was to prepare to teach us about who Christ is. So when the Bible talks about that, again, today we think about roads and, you know, think about, like, oh it would have been great if we invented the car, you know, 200 years ago.

200 years ago your car would have been absolutely useless. Think about how many things needed to be invented before a car was able to be used. If you don't have roads, the car's useless. Right? Oh, you can go 80 miles per hour. Where? Right? At Grand Canyon? Like, where are you going to go 80 miles per hour, 100 miles per hour?

If you don't have the roads, it's absolutely useless. Right? So all these things have to happen. So today we think about roads and we take that for granted, but without these roads, we can't go to where we want to go. Right? And again, it literally means raised roads. So all that stuff that would get in the way of your carriage or, you know, you walking, said it would be raised so you would go right above all of that.

Right? Now was there a road that was like this? The only roads that we know of in Israel before the time of Christ was these roads, cities of refuge. Right? The only roads that were dedicated for that purpose, to go somewhere that far, would have been these. Right? So again, you know, we're not going to take some time to study, but I really encourage you, if you have time, to study the cities of refuge and what he teaches on that, because it's meant to highlight who Jesus is and what he means to us in the New Testament.

Okay? And I know, I don't know who was here when we, we went through that years and years ago. I'm assuming if you were here you forgot, and most of you probably don't remember. Right? Or you weren't here. Okay? What causes the sorrow and sighing to flee to be replaced by singing and rejoicing?

Right? Presence of the Lord, when he comes in his full glory. Right? This is not what he brings, it's not that he's going to make things right, it's just his presence. When he comes, this is going to happen. It is no different today. I think about all the problems and all the things that we pray for, all the things that we long for, in the end, if you have deep fellowship with Christ, for whatever the reason, it makes it right.

Right? All of a sudden you can bear it. Like all the loneliness, all the pain, all the frustration, but for whatever the reason, when you're near Christ, all of a sudden you can endure it. That things make sense. Right? And I'm sure you can testify that too. Like, you know, when I met Christ, all the anger and bitterness, hatred, just overnight, it made sense.

It didn't fix all my problems, but it made sense. Right? Because I knew that God was in control. Right? So, again, it's described when he comes, simply by his presence. Right? Simply by his presence. All the ramification of sins, all the curse is going to be reversed, simply by his presence.

So the whole point of salvation is to open the door to get to him. Right? So, again, when we come to the New Testament, if we celebrate the open door, and you don't fellowship with him, because the gift of salvation is Christ, and if we proclaim that it's Christ, and we sing that it's Christ, but we don't come to him, you miss the whole gift of salvation.

Right? Because the point of salvation is Christ. It's to love Christ, to fellowship with Christ. If his presence is what fixes the problem of sin, right? You miss the whole point of salvation just to say, "Look at that wide open door. Look at what Jesus did." And you celebrate the Gospel because you're celebrating what happened.

Right? It's just like going to Grand Canyon and celebrating the picture. You know what I mean? Instead of enjoying Grand Canyon, you're just looking at the pictures. "Look how awesome this picture is." But the whole point of it is you're there. Right? So if we do not take advantage of the fact that the door has been opened, we can commune with him, we can talk to him, we can pray to him, then you miss the whole point of salvation.

The whole point of salvation is not simply going to heaven. Right? The gift of salvation, of heaven, is because heaven is the unadulterated presence of God is in heaven. So we get a taste of that here, we get the full meal when we get to heaven. Right? But it has to start here.

If we really knew what it was. Right? Alright, so chapter 36 to 39, I'm just going to go over it real quick. I'm not going to go into too much detail. Because it's strict history. 36, 37, 38 is against Israel's threat. Assyrian threat. So obviously, hopefully you had some time to read it.

Historical background. It's almost identical. It's placed in three separate places. In King's Chronicles and here. Chapter 39 is in reference to because remember what Hezekiah does? Right? Hezekiah kind of gets excited because he's delivered from Assyrians. And then he thinks like, oh it's safe. And then he lets them in.

Not realizing that once they get a taste of, oh this is what Israel has. Eventually they are going to come and covet that. And then come and take it. Right? So the prophecy is about the judgment coming. Right? Now you're delivered from Assyrians, but now you're going to be judged by the Babylonians.

So that's how those four chapters break out. Right? So up to this point, up to chapter 37, 38, the Assyrian invasion was a broad background behind everything that we've been talking about. Right? So now Isaiah gives a historical record of what happened during the time he prophesied. So again, you don't need to know all the details, but just kind of as a broad reference, historical background.

This is what's going on. So what you read in chapter 36, 37, 38, and 39 is kind of the historical background of what we were talking about in the last chapter 1 through 38. Okay? So the theme right here is the name of the guy that comes. His name is Rabshakeh.

That is not his actual name, but a title. He's a high official or commander in the Assyrian army. So it's a title. It's not a name. So a commander of the Assyrian army is coming, basically mocking Israel, saying, "Why do you think? We've conquered everybody else. Why do you think that you're going to be safe from us?" And the whole dialogue between him is to put fear into Assyria, saying, "Don't trust Hezekiah." And so again, the theme of this section is, "What is the confidence in which you trust?" And so Isaiah is using what he's saying kind of as a springboard to describe, "We'll tell you what we trust." And that's a revelation in these historical passages, is Isaiah revealing that this is what Israel trusts or should trust.

So one of the great battles for Hezekiah during his time was the temptation to make defensive alliance with Egypt. So he saw the Assyrians coming. He saw what he did to his neighbors, to Syria and to the northern kingdom. So the only other superpower at that time, because Babylonians were not a superpower yet, until they conquered the Assyrians, right?

So the only other superpower at that time were the Egyptians. Now Egyptians were not as powerful as the Assyrians, but if they were going to ally with anybody to get help, Egyptians would be the only ones. So that's why, remember, Isaiah keeps saying over and over again, "Why are you trusting in man?" Right?

"Why are you trusting in chariots?" Because they kept on making allegiance with other nations to protect themselves from a greater enemy. And so that's kind of like the historical context. And so that's why he's saying, he says, "Oh, these Egyptians, they're dogs. We can rip them apart, they're nothing." Is that where your confidence is?

Right? So Isaiah is discouraging Hezekiah to not put trust in man. And we see that over and over again in all of his writings up to this point. Right? That theme over and over again. Why do you go to these other human beings? All they are is just other human beings.

They're just idols. Why would you put confidence in them? So the whole point of Isaiah's writing is, "Don't put your trust in them, put your trust in God." But if you say to me, "We trust in the Lord our God." Meaning like, "Okay, so are you putting trust in Egypt?" Right?

"We conquered everybody else. Why do you think they're going to help you?" Well, maybe you're trusting in your God. Right? So basically he's mocking them. Right? Wasn't Hezekiah the one who took away your high places? So what were the high places? (Audience) Worship of other gods. Worship of foreign gods.

And sometimes they worship Yahweh there. God strictly prohibited them to worship in high places. Remember when the kingdom splits? Right? The sin of Jeroboam and sin of Rehoboam. And these are the two sins that kind of followed these two kingdoms. So what was the sin of Jeroboam? The northern kingdom.

Yes. Well what did they worship? Calf worship. Right? He created a calf worship. He set up a temple in Dan and then said, "This is your God. This is Yahweh." Right? And so that was the sin of Jeroboam. And that led to idolatry. Sin of Rehoboam was the sin of worshiping in high places.

So they were still worshiping God, but it wasn't prescribed the way that God wanted them to. Right? So typically the high places were all the idol worships took place. So Israel basically took the worship of Yahweh and said, "We're going to worship here." Just like the pagans do. So they were following, they were worshiping Yahweh, but they were worshiping in the model of the pagans.

And so God always detested that. And remember even the good kings, He says, "They did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, except they did not put away the high places." Right? Hezekiah, when his revival came under his leadership, it was thorough. He got rid of that too.

Right? So he's saying, so the commander is saying, the Assyrian commander is saying, "Well if you worship God, right, and you put your trust in Him, wasn't Hezekiah the one who prohibited you from worshiping Him in the high places?" In other words, he's mocking him. He's like, "He won't even let you worship God." Even though that was for the purpose of rightly worshiping God.

Right? So in other words, he's kind of poking holes. Almost like Satan talking to Eve. Did God really say that? You know? God doesn't want you to be wise like Him. And so he's kind of like Satan putting his, "Oh, isn't He the one who prevented you from getting to your God?

Why would you put your confidence in Hezekiah if He won't even allow you to get to Him?" Right? So again, he's mocking what Hezekiah did and hoping that he would put some fear into them. In fact, in the next passage, in verse 10, he actually says, "Well if you're going to worship Him, you know, and you have confidence in Him, your God is on my side, not on your side." Right?

"He must be on my side because look at all of this stuff. Look at our power. Look at all the other nations that we conquered. So your God could not possibly be with you, but your God is already with me." So he's basically just kind of, you know, this is a false prophet just going and just planting seeds of doubt, of fear.

Right? But how do they respond? He said, "They held their peace." Right? He says that they don't say anything. You know, Hezekiah instructs the commanders on the wall, "Don't respond to him." Right? Basically he's a mad dog barking. Right? If you engage him, you're going to get bit. Right?

"Don't engage him. Just stay silent." And so what does he do? He goes into prayer, chapter 37. Chapter 37 is him seeking the Lord. Again, Hezekiah truly was a man of God. He was like any other man. You know, even though he brought reform, he prayed to God. You know, when he was fearful, he ran to Egypt.

And Isaiah is saying, "No, don't go to Egypt." Right? "God's going to deliver you." And so in trouble, he turns to the Lord and he prays. And specifically God says, "Because you prayed, I will answer your prayer." Right? So think about that. You know, in God's sovereignty, I think partially the reason why we don't pray, partially, is because we believe in a sovereign God.

Do I really need to pray? Right? He knows my needs even before I say it. So do I really need to wrestle and struggle since God already knows? Right? Again, in this case, I mean, God loves the nation of Israel. His whole point was to deliver. Right? And yet He says, "Because you prayed, I will answer you." Right?

So it's God's, part of God's sovereign predestined will that He will respond when we pray. Now how does that work? I'll tell you after Bible study. Right? Because I figured it out. I don't know. But that's what the Bible says. Right? I don't know how it works. I just know that that's how it works.

Right? You know, I endure all things for the sake of the elect. If He elected them, why endure? But that's what He says. God has ordained our work, our preaching, our perseverance, our prayer to accomplish His purpose. And again, you see it working out. Right? So again, God promises deliver because of His prayer.

And then chapter 38 and 39. Again, I'm not going to get too deep into this. In fact, I'm not going to get into it at all. Right? Because it requires a lot more discussion than what I'm going to be able to say. Hezekiah prays. And when does this happen?

Hezekiah gets sick and God says, "You're going to die." When does this happen? During the siege. Right? During the siege. God says, "He's going to die." So I'm thinking maybe Hezekiah is thinking, "You can't kill me now. I'm the king and I have to protect them. If I die now, who's going to lead them?" Maybe he's thinking about all of this.

And he's pleading with God. Maybe it wasn't just that he was afraid to die. Maybe he was just reading into it. Right? But this happened while he was under siege and he prays to God to prolong his life. And God delivers him. And how many years does he add to his life?

Fifteen years. Right? So we can get into all of that. It's like, wait a minute. God said he was going to die and he didn't die. You know, is that God's will? What is God's will? Right? I think R.C. Sproul probably does the best job in describing that. I forget which book that's in.

But do some research. It's in there. I forgot where it is. Right? I think he describes it as God's expressed will and his hidden will. Right? I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Chapter 39. Hezekiah foolishly shows all the treasures. So basically the foolishness of Hezekiah is, now that, again, this happens after the Assyrians are conquered.

Right? He's relaxed. Right? And so now he feels safe enough. He's like, hey, you know, now that Assyria is out of the way, we want to make friends with the Babylonians. So what was the sin? Was it because he was boasting? Right? Was it because he was proud? I think behind it, Hezekiah had the same reason why he was trying to get alliance with the Egyptians.

Now the Assyrians are gone, you know, was it going to hurt allying with the Babylonians? They are the ones who seem to be coming in power. So this may have been a political maneuver to get alliance. And this is exactly what God was prophesying against. Don't put your confidence in man.

And this seems like that he was beginning to open that door. He's like, oh, since these guys are gone and God delivered us from them, so he allows the Babylonians to come and shows them all of this. Like, oh, why did you do that? And it was such a grievous sin that they come in, they see all the treasures, and they covet it.

So when they become super powers, hey, remember all that treasure that Hezekiah showed us? And they come in and they get all of that. So they take the most choiced things in the land, even the people and the cattle, all of that, and they take it into Babylonian, all because of this sin.

Right? Because you open that door again. And so, you know, again that's where chapter 39 ends, and then we'll jump into chapter 40 next week. But again, this is the sin of mankind. You know, we talk about sanctification, and this is at the core of sanctification. Our constant dependence and glorifying of man over God.

Romans chapter 1. Constant dependent and reliance and glorifying of man instead of God. Walking by sight and not by faith. If you really think about it, God has one lesson. God has one lesson. If you remain in Me, you live. Apart from Me, you bear no fruit. Right? And fruit is not just, you know, you have life and then there's, fruit is kind of like the decoration.

The fruit is life. Right? Fruit is not just like, oh, okay, you have a great tree, and then some trees don't have fruit. No, if you don't have fruit, it's a dead tree. Right? Bad tree, bad fruit. So He's talking about you cannot bear fruit. He's not simply talking about evangelism and memorizing Scripture and you know, like mission work.

He says if you don't have fruit, you don't have life. So when Jesus says, "If you don't abide in Me, you cannot bear fruit." He's saying, "If you don't abide in Me, you can't live." Right? So that's the same lesson. Look at Israel. Go back and read the Old Testament, New Testament, all through the Revelation.

It's the same lesson. If you abide in Him, if you are near Him, there's life. If you're away from Him, there's death. Right? So again, that's, again, Hezekiah is making that mistake. It's like, now that he feels safe, it's like, oh, okay, let's connect with the Babylonians, not knowing that that's going to lead to destruction.

Okay? All right. Chapter 40, I almost, I was tempted to just do Chapter 40 this week because it's one of the, my, Chapter 40, 41 is one of my favorite chapters in probably the whole Bible. I have a whole testimony behind Chapter 40 I'm not going to get into.

But if we did that, it would take way too long. So I strongly encourage you, especially those of you who have been kind of wrestling, like, oh, this is too hard. Chapter 40 is not hard at all. Right? Just read it for what it is. It's one of those passages that you probably want to just memorize, Chapter 40, 41.

And so take some time, like really do quiet time through that, and really like be saturated with it so that when we dive into it, it would make a lot more sense to you. Okay? All right.