(The Word for Today) Isaiah 1:24 - Part 3

Welcome to The Word for Today. The Word for Today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament.

And for those of you who wish to follow with us in your Bibles, we'll be picking up today with a topical presentation entitled, The Judgment of Judah, and now beginning with Isaiah chapter 1 verse 24. Here is Pastor Chuck with today's message. How is the faithful city become a harlot? The nation of Israel was to be as a bride unto God, and she was to be faithful unto Him as her husband.

The worshiping of other gods was looked upon as spiritual fornication or spiritual adultery. The worship of Molech or Mammon or Ashtoreth was equivalent to spiritual harlotry. And so the faithful city, the city of God, Jerusalem, it's become a harlot.

It was full of judgment. Righteousness dwelt in it, but now murderers are dwelling in it. There was once a beautiful city.

It was noted as the city of God, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole world. But now murderers, and your silver has become dross. Your wine is mixed with waters.

There is a dilution and the pollution. Your silver is filled with dross. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves.

Everyone is looking for a bribe, and he's following after rewards or bribery. And thus true judgment isn't coming forth. They judge not the fatherless, neither do they cause of the widow, do they allow the cause of the widow to come to them.

A perverted judicial system. The judicial system was no longer the place of righteous judgment. There was a system of favoritism that had developed.

There's a system of bribes that had developed. The whole system had become corrupted. And therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

Now notice the first Lord there is capital L, small o-r-d. The second one is all capitals L-o-r-d. It signifies there are two Hebrew words that are translated Lord.

The first one, capital L, small o-r-d, therefore thus saith the Lord, is Adonai. And it is the equivalent to a title of Lord. And Adonai is a title.

It is one who is the Lord over a person. The second, all capital L-o-r-d, indicates that it is a translation of that Hebrew name for God. It is the Y-h-v-h tetragrammaton that is unpronounceable.

But according to most scholars, the pronunciation is probably Yahweh. So to read this more literally, therefore saith the Lord, Yahweh of host. And Yahweh of host is a familiar term in the Old Testament.

And it is usually in reference to the host of the heavenly angelic beings. The mighty one of Israel. Now we had the holy one of Israel earlier.

Now he is the mighty one of Israel. Ah, he said, I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies. The word ah could be translated shame on you.

I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies. But the tragic thing is that his people had become his adversary. His people had become his enemy.

And I will turn my hand, he said, upon thee. And I will purely purge away your draughts and take away all your alloys. Now here is looking to the future.

It's dark. They've gone as deep in the pit as you can go. And yet God is making a promise now of the future.

The future when he will turn his hand upon the people again and thoroughly wash away the draughts. The silver had turned to draughts. I'll wash away that draughts, God is saying.

And I will take away all of the alloy. And I will restore your judicial system, your judges as at the first. And thy counselors as at the beginning.

And afterwards you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. That day will come, God said. And I will restore.

Remember back we find that God's saying that he will restore. And here is that promise of restoration. And then you will be known the city of righteousness.

And Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together. And they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

And so the judgment on the one side, on the other side, God restoring the people. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired. These groves that they planted and developed for worship of their false gods.

You will be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be as an oak whose leaf has faded in the garden that has no water. And the strong will be as a rope and the maker of it as a spark.

And they will burn together and none will be able to quench them. Now as we get into chapter two we have the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It's another prophecy but still centers around Jerusalem and Judah.

Notice the time of this prophecy. It is important. It shall come to pass in the last days.

When is that? We're coming to them. I think we're there. I believe honestly with all my heart that we're living in the last days.

And thus this prophecy is just slightly ahead of where we are right now. We are right on the edge of this prophecy being fulfilled. And basically this prophecy deals with the glorious kingdom age when Jesus Christ comes again, sits on the throne of David in Jerusalem and the whole world is worshiping him.

But before that day does come it will be preceded by a great tribulation that is going to come upon the earth. The great tribulation that will culminate in the battle of Armageddon. So Isaiah begins first of all the prophecy of the Lord sitting upon his throne and the nations gathering together in Jerusalem unto him.

But then he will go back and deal with the horrible tribulation and the purging of the earth that must precede the coming again of Jesus Christ. So it will come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house there in Jerusalem, Mount Zion, shall be established in the top of the mountains of Jerusalem and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye.

Let's go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Glorious days.

We're going to have some trips to Jerusalem just to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to him teach us of the ways of God. And so the invitation is, Come, let's go to the house of the Lord, to the mountain of God, the God of Jacob, and let him teach us of his ways. The Lord will dwell amongst his people.

Glorious, glorious kingdom age. Jesus is reigning and he will judge among the nations and he will rebuke many people and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Oh, house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Glorious invitation. Glorious day.

Glorious time. We look forward to this. You know, people say, Oh, you know, doom and gloom prophecy.

No, no. Prophecy is hope. The hope of the glorious future.

Doom and gloom is what's happening in the world today. It's what you're getting every night on television. That's doom and gloom.

What's glorious is that Jesus is going to come and they're going to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and they're going to study war no more. They're going to take the military budget and divert it to agricultural development. It is the military budgets that have created the havoc with the economies of both the Russia and the United States.

And so he points to this glorious, glorious day. There's going to be peace like a river. Righteousness will cover the earth like waters cover the sea.

But before that can happen, there is a necessary purging of the world from the evil and from the wickedness. And so he then speaks about the great tribulation that is coming to try men who dwell upon the earth as a purging process of God to prepare the world for the return of Jesus Christ and the establishing of God's kingdom. And so he declares, therefore, thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves and the children of strangers.

So he tells the reason why God has forsaken them. And that is because they introduced Eastern religions. And also they took them from the Philistines.

They began to follow the religions of the Philistines. So that is happening here. And the United States is being invaded by pagan religions.

Soothsayers like the Philistines, they please themselves and the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold. Neither is there any end of their treasures.

Their land is also full of horses. Neither is there any end of their chariots. They're strong from a military standpoint, but their land is also full of idols.

And so they are weak from a moral standpoint, for they worship the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made. That is a description of materialism. People who are worshiping materialism.

And surely here in the United States with our fancy cars, our fancy homes, and our fancy fancies, the things that men make with their own hands, you know, there is that worship of materialism. I've got to have. And the mean man bows down, and talking about the idols, and the plain man, and the mean man is their plane.

He is bowing down to the idols. It seems like the idolatry is so widespread that the plain man is bowing down to the idols, and the great man humbles himself before the idols. He too bows and humbles himself before the idols.

Now, during this time when God's judgment will be poured out, it's going to be fierce. And God said, enter into the rock, hide in the dust for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. For the lofty looks of man will be humbled, and the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

For the day of the Lord, and this is the day of judgment, the day of the great tribulation, for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and they will be brought low, upon the cedars of Lebanon, and the high and the lifted up, and upon the oaks of Bashan, and upon the high mountains, and upon the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, upon every fenced wall, upon the ships of Tarshish, upon the pleasant pictures, or the idea there is the pictures of desire, or lustful pictures, pornography, if you please. And on the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols he shall utterly abolish. But they will go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth.

This day of judgment is coming, and it is interesting that God says they're going to go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth. In the book of Revelation, during the sixth seal, we find that the people of the earth, even the great people of the earth, cry unto the rocks and the mountains, and they say, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the Lamb, for the day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? God is going to shake the whole earth. And many of the prophets speak about this tremendous earthquake that's going to take place during the great tribulation period, where the Lord said that everything that can be shaken will be shaken, so only that which cannot be shaken shall be left, when God arises to shake the earth terribly.

And so the earth is going to be going through a tremendous convulsion, nature, tremendous convulsion during the great tribulation period. And in that day, man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they have made each one for himself to worship, he'll cast them to the moles and to the bats. Your gold and silver will be useless.

In fact, we read in Revelation during the great famine period, during the great tribulation, that it'll take a bag of gold to buy a loaf of bread. It'll be worthless. They will go to the clefts of the rocks, to the tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth.

And so twice this phrase, to shake terribly the earth. Isaiah speaks about it again in chapter 30. Haggai speaks about it in 2.6 and Hebrews 12.26. You read the same thing.

So cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils. That is, don't rely upon man. He's frail.

Man is as frail as his breath. And when you speak about man's breath, you're talking about the frailty of man. You're just one breath away from death.

And you're speaking of frailty. So don't trust in man. Cease from trusting in man whose breath is in his nostrils.

For wherein is he to be accounted of? How can man help you? When this whole geological convulsion takes place, the earth is shaken terribly. When everything that can be shaken is shaken, only that which cannot be shaken. What can't be shaken? My faith in Jesus Christ, my trust in him.

Everything else will be shaken. You've been listening to part three of Pastor Chuck Smith's study in the first chapter of Isaiah as he continues his verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible. Pastor Chuck has been focusing on the judgment of Judah.

As we come to a close in today's program, we'd like to address the Halloween season that is soon approaching. The dawn of the with violence, occult mysteries, and evil. At the same time, our political and spiritual leaders talk of a new era of global peace.

And yet there is a disturbing rise in crime and immorality. For this reason, the word for today presents the Pagan Invasion series, a set of documentaries that will educate Christians to the dangers associated with Satan, cults, and paganism that have become a part of our culture. Issues discussed include new age religions, secrets to mind control, government conspiracies, Satanic cults, and deceptive theories being implemented all over the world.

As Christians, we must be informed and use discernment to prevent this from happening in our own lives and be ready to give an answer for our Christian faith. And when you order the Pagan Invasion series, the word for today would like to bless you with the Why CD absolutely free. This CD is an evangelistic message by Pastor Chuck Smith containing a song by Danny Donnelly and a witnessing track designed to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Again, it's free when you order the Pagan Invasion series. So if you would like information on the Pagan Invasion series, also, if you would like to order a copy of today's program, simply ask for tape number C-3242 when you write or call. Once again, that's tape number C-3242.

Our address is the word for today. Post office box 8000 Costa Mesa, California 92628. Once again, that is the word for today.

Post office box 8000 Costa Mesa, California 92628. We can also be reached by dialing toll free 1-800-272-WORD. Once again, that is 1-800-272-9673.

And for those of you who would like to visit our website, you can do so at www.thewordfortoday.org. Well, coming up next time on the word for today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah. That's coming up next time on the word for today. And now with a few closing comments, here is Pastor Chuck.

And I pray that in this year to come, we might truly seek the Lord with all of our hearts. That we will really find ourselves on our knees before the Lord more and more as we pray for our leadership and as we pray for the conditions of our nation, of our community. And I pray that the Lord will draw you unto himself into a deeper commitment to the things of God than you've ever experienced before.

That you'll realize how empty and unfulfilling are the things of this world. And you will devote your life to those things that are eternal. That we'll be brought into harmony with God and the purposes of God which are always eternal.

And that we will begin also to live for the eternal values. May the Lord be with you, watch over you this week, and draw you unto himself in a rich fellowship. In Jesus' name.