Isaiah chapter number 10. Isaiah chapter number 10. Now, I hope to be able to get through the end of the chapter. We won't. We want to start at verse 24. Isaiah chapter 10. Now, notice this. In chapter 10 and verse 2, you see the children of Israel being victims of the tyranny of Assyrians. In verse six, the reason that the Assyrians are coming after them is because the hypocrisy of Israel. Verse five, this is judgment meted out by God through the Assyrians, but in verse seven it says they're not even aware of it, and yet when it's all accomplished, they say it's because of our brilliance, our wisdom, our strength, and all that stuff. No one can stand before them. But then, in verse 19, the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them. Now, this is what happens when the judgment is passed. It's going to be desolation. We already looked at that. In verse 20, it says, And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth." This is going to be desolations, and then the judgment is going to take the majority of the children of Israel, and yet they're transformed, but it's only a remnant that's left. Now, we looked at that already in the last few weeks, so this chapter is a chapter of judgment, but look at verse 24. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manor of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease. and mine anger in their destruction the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb and as his rod was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manor of Egypt and shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." So after all this speaking of judgment, it's prophecy, isn't it? And yet they're experiencing some of it after all this judgment, then God gives them, which would be my title tonight, God's assurance to His own children. He's giving them His assurance. Now, We'll pause and pray and then go into this. And there's so many different ways to go on this. That's why if we're lucky, we'll get through about three verses tonight. But there's so much to say about this because it tells us about this holiness of God. It tells us about the justice of God, tells us about the compassion of God, and frankly, the tenderness of God, which we'll see immediately. But let's pray and ask God's blessing. Lord, would you bless us tonight? Lord, we thank you for the blessing with Brother Joel coming. But Lord, I thank you also for your comfort and your mercy with the loss of Mrs. Burrell. Lord, bless the whole family. Give them safety as they come here and comfort their hearts. But now, Lord, as we open your word, may our hearts be open to your spirit. May we understand and hear what you'd have to say in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we start this out, it's already been a chapter of great judgment, and that judgment is compared to Egypt, isn't it? And Egypt, they were under tyrants that didn't know the God of Moses, didn't know Moses, and they made absolute slaves out of the children of Israel, which would not be a lot of fun. But look at verse 24, Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt. You notice first of all the character of our God is, He says, O my people. He speaks to them in tenderness, doesn't He? Now, they gave him, just like all of us will do. We've given God more than enough reasons over and over and over again to forsake us, and he never forsakes us. In the midst of this, in fact, much of what we're going to look at tonight, in the midst of all that, you see the rebellion of Israel against God and his clear commandments. It's constant. And yet he still owns them as his. Oh, my people. Oh, my people. Despite their record of hypocrisy in verse 6. Don't you dislike hypocrisy? Their record of rebellion, of idolatry, of stubbornness. All the prophets that came before them, they put to death. And yet he says, Oh, my people. Oh, my people. You know, when people go the wrong direction, when people go the wrong direction, they're saved. They're just saved as anyone else. They make bad decisions. You're around them all the time. They make bad decisions. You know what happens to them? They'll start getting insecure about their walk with God. But who could be more insecure? Who should be more insecure than the children of Israel? And God calls out in tenderness, oh, my people. He pleads with them, doesn't he? He pleaded with them by sending prophets. Then judgment comes, and yet he pleads with them again. And really, he's telling them, hold on. This is coming to an end. Isn't that a blessing? We see that they're trying to come up, we're talking in the lobby about the peace accords in Israel, and it will probably be not quite as long lasting as how long it takes the ink to dry. Because all the rest of them have been the same way, haven't they? It'll be enough maybe to save face and appease Biden's legacy and appease Trump so he doesn't go in there and rain fire and brimstone on Hamas for taking the captives. There have been more than enough reasons for Israel just to be abandoned, and God doesn't abandon her. He calls her, oh my people, and notice disaffection, it's my people. All the reasons for forsaking and he never does, and this is spoken to them in the very midst of chastening. in the midst of chastening, and yet they're not forgotten. When they're being chastened by, I mean, you could see yourself with someone that is that far away from God, from what they know they should be doing, and from what they should be listening to, and they attack the messenger, they're undergoing a great deal of judgment, it would be easy for us as humans to forget them. But God doesn't forget them. They're not forgotten. that identifies them and their place as Zion. Now, it doesn't matter if you name Utah Zion National Park. That's not Zion. The Bible talks about the people of Israel on that land over there in the Middle East, okay? They're not being replaced. That's the key to understanding the prophecies of the Bible. But in verse 24, he says, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwells in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. Be not afraid. So he speaks to them with affection. And then he says, don't be afraid. Do you realize when you sin, chastening is certain. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth. That's Hebrews 12. Whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth. You know what correction does to children? It gives them security. Little children don't have the capacity to analyze things and know to cross the street when cars aren't coming. They just flit from here to there and when problems come or they get lost or they think they're lost and it might be they're only 50 feet away, they're insecure, aren't they? And they make noise and try to demand your attention. Well, it's the same with God's people as well. The children of Israel know that their God is God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And yet I am sure that they would be insecure in their attitudes in many respects. What chastening does is reminds us that God notices us. And kids will misbehave just to see if you care enough to notice, I know from teaching school. I know for my own kids. Their chastening is certain, just as Egypt and the chastening there was certain. What did they suffer in Egypt? Verse 24, it says that he'll smite thee with a rod and lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt. What was the manner of Egypt? Well, it was slavery, it was oppression, it was cruelty. You know, it's hard to imagine people being cruel one to another, and people can be more cruel to their own people than you would ever imagine. I mean, some of the slaveholders were blacks themselves. Some of the oppressed people of many nations today, it's people selling their brothers and sisters into captivity, and that's what's coming across the southern border, isn't it? We can be awfully nasty to each other. That's what they suffered in Egypt. That's what they're suffering under the king of Assyria, under the Assyrians. And God still says, hey, don't fear. Don't fear. Remember this, this is a chastening that's going to have its end. It will have its end, won't it? Now that brings up the very important subject matter of children. Look at Proverbs 19, and this is true for us as well as adults. Proverbs 19, and these are verses certainly not unfamiliar to any of you. You've leaned upon these verses as you raised your own children. Because Proverbs 19, and it says in verse 18, chasten thy son while there is hope. Do you understand that means that chastening comes to an end? There's a time when it's too late to chasten. You chasten them early, you chasten them betimes. In other words, you try to make the chastening not only fit the crime, but be quick so that children are taught to think. Children that are restrained verbally don't think. They don't have to. Because if they get a little bit too far online, someone will bark at them. You've trained them that they don't care anything, so they keep going, you bark at them three or four times, and after about eight or nine, they just say, okay, dad means business. Chase, we know that, we've all experienced that, we've watched that. Chasing thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. In other words, it's not going to be a pleasant thing to endure, is it? It says, he that endures chastening. Nowhere does the Bible speak of abusing them. That's not what it's talking about. It's chasing. It's funny that God invented an extra padded place for chastening, didn't he? While there's hope, Leontes souls spare for his crying, and then it speaks of a man of great wrath. A child that's not chastened is very likely to end up being a man of great wrath. Why? Because after a while, you can't restrain them verbally. And they get madder and madder, and they put a bigger fit on until they wear you out, and they've just been trained to have a temper. That's all it amounts to. Now, notice the other one. Chapter 23 and verse 18 of Proverbs, 23 and verse 18, the Bible says, The Bible says, that's not what I wanted. 23, 18. That's not the one I want. Verse 13, I guess it is. Withhold not correction from the child. And that's all chasing is, correction. For if thou beatest him with a rod, now that sounds like abuse, doesn't it? It's not abuse. If you beat him with a rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with a rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Think about that. Now we think of honoring our fathers as the one commandment with promise. Your days may be long in the earth. Of the 10 commandments, one of them gives you a promise, not a punishment. It says if you honor your father and your mother, your days will be long, you'll live long. Here is a simple principle that if you properly chasten your children, you'll deliver their soul from hell. It's a spiritual thing. That's why it's a spiritual fight for everyone who's enduring chasing. That's why I've turned you to Leviticus 26, 41, that before they ever got into the promised land, Solomon told them, when he sanctified the temple, he said, if in the land of captivity, your proud souls are humbled and you accept the punishment of your sins. You know what the mark of repentance is? When you acknowledge you deserve it. I'm going to heaven because I know I deserve hell, and I took God's remedy for it. You acknowledge the justice of your punishment. So you'll notice these and many other verses about correction, and that's all this is with the Assyrians. It's God using a nation more wicked than Israel to chase an Israel and get their attention, didn't he? Well, it's far better to have listened, but it's beyond that now. So he gives them assurance and settles it, first of all, on tenderness, his tender address to them as my people. Now, secondly, notice the endurance he expects. In verse 24, once again, Be not afraid of the Assyrian, he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee after the man of Egypt for yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. He tells them to endure. Blessed is the man that endureth chastening. There are times when you have to endure. You endure the fruit of your own behavior. Once again, look at Galatians chapter number six. Now, this is certainly not new. It's nothing profound. Galatians six, it says, it says, Verse seven, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. Now we almost invariably take that negatively. If you sow the flesh, you'll reap corruption. But it's true the other side too. Because if you sow to the spirit, you'll, of the spirit, reap life everlasting. But in other words, there is a consequent to our behaviors. We want to make sure our behaviors give us the right consequence, don't we? And what's at stake is we're acting as if we're mocking God when we go ahead in rebellion and do what we're not supposed to do. That's exactly what brought upon us Isaiah in chapter 10, all the things, the judgment that's coming upon them. Their chasing here is likened to Egypt. And yet the deliverance, it's gonna be, it's a little time, it says in verse 25, yet a very little while. I'd be glad to hear that, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? A very little while. You know what makes the coming? We're talking about Jesus' return. You know what makes it precious? Could happen at any second. People get, okay, it's gonna happen on this, I've seen it. It's gonna be September 24th of whatever year, or April whatever, of some year. And that day comes and goes, and they just either change their prognosis, or they just try to disappear. You don't set the date. But if you could set the date, you know what would happen? Because of our hard wicked hearts, we would live for the world as long as we could and see them coming and then get right. Which is not even genuine, is it? It's not even genuine. Chastening is likened to that in Egypt, yet the deliverance then is a pattern for the coming deliverance. Chastening is set to end. Now, look at Isaiah 26 and verse 20. All of this fits together, we're just going through chronologically as far as the chapters are written out, which is not always chronological, but Isaiah 26 and verse 20, come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. In other words, it's God's indignation. Bear with it until it's had its perfect fruit, its perfect work. How many times, and Joel, I'm sure could give you a testimony. I think he came back the worst for wear from the military. I don't want to give his testimony. He came back probably when the mouth is engaged before the brain is fully engaged. Okay? And I think he might have had some scars. I don't know that. I haven't asked him about that. I've gotten that impression. You know what happens? Sometimes those kinds of things make you a whole lot wiser than you were before. Remember what it says in Romans 13? That the governor sent to punish evildoers is the minister of God to thee for good. When God uses these people as his chastening hand, it's for your benefit, even though he chastens them in turn. He uses them to chasten us. It's said to Anna, look at Daniel 11. This is interesting too. In Daniel 11, I preached through Daniel, it's been a few years, but I'll tell you, Daniel is so much fun to go through. Daniel 11, and look at verse 36, it says this. It says, and the king, this is Nebuchadnezzar, shall do according to his will. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done. In other words, the king's going to rebel as long as he can until the judgment is complete. Now, there's another verse I want there, and we'll have to come back to that. That's back in chapter four, I think it was. Daniel chapter number four, because I wanted you to see this one's Nebuchadnezzar. What verse is that? It says, maybe it's verse 34, at the end of the days, Nebuchadnezzar had been grazing with the cattle. I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Now I think the verse, verse 32 is the worst verse I wanted. They shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee. Now notice this, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. You know what concluded Nebuchadnezzar's chastening? When he figured out, wait a minute, God rules in the affairs of men. Now isn't that a great comfort to know? Yeah, four years ago it was a little hard to embrace that when we had a man who really defied the principles of God and His Word. And now we have a different one coming in. We're not expecting him to be a savior. but he's not defying the very simple principles of God. You know what we do know in either case? God rules in the affairs of men. God rules in the affairs of men. Maybe we've seen some people wake up that wouldn't have. At any rate, the chasing is set to end. The end of God's indignation is coming. God's anger then, in the last part of 25, mine anger in their destruction, God's anger is redirected then. Now, number three, look at verse 26. And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manor of Egypt. That means there was first the endearment, the tenderness that God spoke to them, the endurance he told them to have, it's going to come to an end. And now there's going to be the punishment of the punisher realized. Remember what they did? They said, it's our power. Our wisdom did this. Your gods are no different than the other gods. And they couldn't stand before us because we're going to mow you down like all the other gods. There comes a payday when God chastens them then too. Why? Because he doesn't just overrule in the affairs of his chosen people, Israel, and amongst the people that name the name of Christ. He oversees the realms of this world. the kingdoms of this world, God stirs up a scourge. That's where I wanted to read Daniel 4.33, where God rules in the nations of men. God stirs a scourge. It's a scourge of justice. Remember this, Israel was always held to a high standard. In Romans 3 and Romans 9, what advantage then hath the Jew much every way? Chiefly to them were committed the oracles of God. I love this book, don't you? David wrote a whole psalm, the 119th psalm, 176 verses, I think. I think there are three that may not directly refer to the words of God. And yet when David sinned with Bathsheba, God said, why do you despise me and my word? Why? Because the words are plain and simple. Really, the Ten Commandments, the law, the law that brings us to Christ, it's not hard to understand. Don't lie. Don't steal. Love your wife. I mean, those aren't hard things. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand those, but we have all kinds of ways to getting around all that stuff, don't we? And certainly David shows that because he knew the words of God and yet he violated two of the commandments, didn't he, at least. So God stirs a scourge for them, a scourge of justice. Israel was held to that high standard. It's the word of God that we lift up and we love, don't you though? I mean, you can watch me. I almost never put any book on top of my Bible. Ah, that's just a book and all that. It's a book, yes, but it's the word of God and it's a living book. Because my reverence for this book, I'm not making a doctrine out of this. Every once in a while you'll see something up here, but typically I do not do that. I love this book. And the greatest thrill of life is being able to study this, usually for more time than most people get to. and yet the word of God was given to Israel, and this is where they ended up. Captivity to the Assyrians. Israel's held a high standard. She is chastened as a hypocritical nation, verse six. It says, I will set them against a hypocritical nation. They have God telling them his will, and they just immediately either ignore it or find a way around it. You know, you've heard of a Sabbath day's journey. They determined, though the Bible doesn't say this, they determined that a certain distance from their home is as far as you could go on the Sabbath day. You've heard that. Well, the way they got around that was they take a little packet of earth from their front yard and take it that far away and set it down there. So now they've got another distance to go. That's not the intent of the law, is it? The Bible can be completely clear, and even the best of men will try to find a way around it. It's terrible, isn't it? She is chastened as a hypocrite, but now this Syrian is going to answer to the same God. This is going to be God's scourge of righteousness. A powerful evil nation is going to have to answer for their behavior. Verse 26, the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock. It's going to be a powerful nation that, that is going to be chastened by the Holy God that brought about the chastening of his own people. Men don't need help to do evil, do we? Men have a way to figure out a way around what the Bible clearly says. and that's what spiritual men have to watch out for. Make sure you don't get sloppy about the words of God. Well, God gives a parable to let them know what's coming. It's like Egypt. It's been like Egypt. Here, the end of this verse is lifted up after the manner of Egypt, but it starts with something more recent, the slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Orb, which we're looking at on Sunday nights. What was the slaughter of Oreb? It was not according to their might. Remember, it was down to 300 men. And yes, the rest of the army came with them, but their victory was won by 300 men. But they all died. The enemy. right down to the kings. They brought them in and put them to death and called the name after the name of that king. In other words, this is what the Assyrians have to look forward to. They're going to be exterminated just like Orab and Zium. And just like their history tells them when they were captive in Egypt, God's going to swallow them up like a flood, because that's what happened to the army. Now, look at Exodus 14. Look at Exodus 14. All this fits together as you think about this, meditate upon this. Exodus 14, verse 13, the top of my page says, Pharaoh pursueth them. And they go across the Red Sea. Look at verse 13. And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not. Well, no, you need to get the context. Look at verse 12. They were hemmed in on both sides, and the Egyptian army was behind them. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. They have a mountain on both sides, the Red Sea in front of them, which is not passable, and the Egyptians behind them, ready to exterminate them. And Moses said to the people, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians, whom you've seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. That's a long time. You're scared of these people. You're never going to see them again for all of eternity. You've been afraid of them. So when God says, When God says, I'm going to chasten you like Oreb and Zeab, they can expect extermination. Now, what's interesting in this context is, look at verse 17. It came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest, peradventure, the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. So God diverted them from the land of the Philistines because they would have lost heart. Instead, boxed them in and just merely parted the Red Sea. And it's a little bigger than in Disneyland. Okay? He parted the Red Sea. You know what that would have done to those people? For the next 400 or 500 years, they remembered the deliverance at the Red Sea. That would make an impact on your life, wouldn't it? and God protected them from losing heart amongst the Philistines. Instead, they got to watch their oppressors exterminated, and those were, in fact, the ones, the tyrants that oppressed them, and now the Assyrians are doing the same thing, and God assures them that punishment is coming, and it's going to be just like at the rock Oreb, not because of the might of Israel. Certainly, it's complete deliverance, right down to the kings, and we've been seeing that on Sunday nights in Judges chapter seven. Isn't that interesting? So the children of Israel would know all those things. Those would have been the legends that parents handed down to their kids, and certainly the word of God. But in verse 27, shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and this yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. God removes the burden of the Assyrian. God removes it. Now I know in that Red Sea, you would have been frightened just like all the rest of them. You're up against it, there's no way to turn. I can understand enduring the heavy hand of the Assyrians, but then God says, just hang on, it's coming to an end. And it's going to come to pass that I'll take away all of the burdens. Remember those pictures of the end of World War II? Remember those pictures? Where a man just kisses, a soldier coming home just kisses a woman on the street. They didn't mind. They were all excited. He didn't know her. Why? They were so excited that the war was over. What is it going to be like here when God removes the burden It's the burden, it's as in 9-4, the oppression that the Assyrians brought with them. Judah was still a tributary. They weren't completely exterminated until Hezekiah revolted, and then God destroyed the armies of Sanballat. But I'm sorry. Yeah, I think it's Sennacherib, I'm sorry. But the yoke is destroyed. because of the anointing." Now isn't that interesting? His yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. They were anointed as a kingdom of priests, weren't they? Of prophets, priests, and kings, and the holy place that was special to them all. God protects his own. He chastens. When a man chastens his son, when you follow the example of God, he held out as long as he could. He didn't want to have to chasten his people. When he did, even in the midst of chasing, it's about over, son. It's about over. He is there with affection, compassion, and nothing but a consideration for the well-being of the child. And it's because of the anointing. God protects his own. Spiritual Israel, that is the church, has the anointing from him too. Look at 2 Corinthians 1. We'll have to close. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 21. is a chapter that speaks of God's comfort, 2 Corinthians 1.21. Now he which stabbeth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. He has anointed us. Anointing prepares you and sets you aside for special work. Just think about that truth. When you got saved, that same anointing is spoken of in 1 John 2, 20 and 27, speaks of our anointing. The immediate context there is the Holy Spirit within us. God gave us His Holy Spirit. We are set aside for work. That's why the Bible says we're the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. You don't have to have a temple that's full of purple and blue and scarlet gold and the aroma of cedar and all that stuff. You don't need to have that. That temple is right here in my heart. and God sets us aside for a purpose. That's why Romans 12 uses these words, I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that you present your body's living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Why? We're not our own, we're bought with a price. We're His. We're His. Imagine that, that God would so work that we are His. and he finds strife and rebellion in our hearts all the time. That's why I like the one song, well, all the songs tonight, but I like the songs that speak of consecration. Revive us again, we didn't sing that tonight, but songs like that, revive us again. Israel has an anointing from him and so do we, don't we? You know what you conclude? God cares for his people, maybe even especially in chastening. And you remember probably the first time you had to deal with your very young child with their rebellion. Oh, sometimes it was just a tweak, wasn't it? That's not really what chasing with a rod is all about, but I always believed if you got their attention very early, you didn't have to do this much very long. Once the kids know that no means no, it doesn't mean maybe, or it doesn't mean wait. When they figure out that no means no, it's a much happier home. And when we figure out with God that no means no, you don't even always understand why. Kids don't. But when you just go ahead and take God as a word, you find out it's a lot better, don't you? Judgments do come. And even if you were to look a little cynically, judgment came upon Job and he did nothing to deserve it. Did he? But how many generations of people now have been blessed by reading God's mind through this time of Job's trial? And by the way, he's still coming. And this last verse is 2 Thessalonians 1. I guess we're talking about this out in the lobby and didn't realize that I'd already written this verse down. But 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 8, it says, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord. No, that's first. I want 2 Thessalonians 1.8. Excuse me. It says in verse seven, and to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. You know, he's still coming. He's still coming. When Jesus comes, yes, he'll come and take his bride home. but then he'll come again for Israel, who is the father's wife, set aside for a while, and though only a third will be left, he'll come and remove, just like this passage says, only completely and ultimately, he'll remove the oppression of the world around him. David was saying to me Sunday how in the Garden of Eden, There was a fence around it, a gate. That means there was land outside the Garden of Eden. Well, yeah, there was, wasn't there? And there was a cherubim guarding that gate so that it would deny, it explicitly says so that Adam and the rest of humanity would not have access to the Tree of Life. Who would like to be 10,000, or well, 6,000 years old today in the body you had then? Age, we feel it in just a few short years, don't we? I wouldn't want to have eternal life in a dying body, would you? No. But there was an outside. I'm certain that the part outside the garden, God planted the garden. I'm certain that the land outside that was tainted by sin just as we see it today. I don't think it was inside the garden. but was tainted by sin on the outside. And Romans 8 says, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. In other words, man's sin even messed up the creation, didn't it? Even did that. Well, you know what? The kingdom of heaven is a millennium. And they will have to come, the nations will have to come to Jerusalem to worship and acknowledge the King of Kings and Lord of Lords if they want rain and to be able to eat the next year. Remember that? Zechariah 14. Well, Jerusalem is the center of that kingdom. There's a whole lot of nations outside that that see that from a distance. It's quite similar to the Garden of Eden, don't you think? And they'll have to have access to that so they can have rain on their lands and be able to eat the next year. Because there will be very much a millennial rain of Jesus on the throne of David. In that day, you'll find the vast majority, way more than majority of people, will be unregenerate people who can visibly see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and be judged by his emissaries in righteousness, and they will rebel at the perfect justice and holiness of God. Revelation 20. It's all fascinating to me. It's just fascinating. And I'm just so glad that God loves even me, aren't you? Let's pray. Lord, sure, thank you for your goodness tonight.