All right, last two weeks, I think it's been two weeks, we have been working on, well, it's been longer than we took a little break and then we came back to it. We've been dealing with David's, the covenant God made with David or the Davidic covenant. Now I listened to last week and it seems like when we were doing review from the week before, there was some some problems or things that may not have been remembered. So I'm going to go through some of this relatively quick. Hopefully we'll have at least some of this stuff we've reviewed now for two weeks down on the third week and then we can try to finish this up. But the main passage of scripture for God's covenant with David, if everyone remembers, is 2 Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 through 16. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 through 16. So if you want to make sure you have that open so that you can make reference to it. Remember David desired to build a temple for the Lord to replace the temporary tent-like tabernacle. since David himself lived in a house of cedar, it seemed only fitting that there be a more permanent building for the worship of God, but God revealed to Nathan the prophet that he had something far greater in mind for David, and that revelation is the Davidic covenant. Remember the way Ryrie put it, I talked about this the last two weeks, that it's very interesting that the way Ryrie describes it is, hey, David wanted to do this, but God had something greater for David, because the way most preachers handle it is David wanted to do it, but because of David's sin, David wasn't allowed to do it, right? And we talked about some of the problems with that perspective, because people will say, well, David was facing consequences, and we'll look, well, wait a minute. And then they'll extrapolate from that and then try to implement consequences on other people. And there's a couple of issues with it. First, David wasn't allowed to build the temple. And if you say it's because of sin, who did get to build the temple? Okay, right who had far greater sin right at least numerically speaking right and not only that David is given if if the if the Consequences are so bad that David can't build the temple you think then God wouldn't have used David to do what? Write scripture or here's a novel idea would not have made the covenant with him because Solomon built the temple and what happened to that temple and It was to Shroid. What happened to the covenant God made with David? It's forever, right? So clearly, David gets the better end of the deal from a human perspective. Okay, so just keep that in mind. We spent a lot of time with that. Now, again, 2 Samuel 7, 12 through 16, we looked at the promises related to David. Two main promises related to David. You can look at verse 12 and verse 16 for these two promises. What was the first promise to David? 2 Samuel 7, 12. Yeah, he would have a son who would succeed him. So we called this promise, the promise of descendants. He would have a son who would succeed him and establish his kingdom. That's 2 Samuel 7, 12. Second. All right, yes, that's the kingdom. David's house, throne and kingdom would be established. And what's the key word? forever. However, the covenant did not guarantee uninterrupted rule by David's family, though it did promise the right to rule would have remained with David's dynasty. The Babylonian captivity did, of course, interrupt the Davidic rule. But still, it's a promise forever. So, those were the promises related to David. Now, this is where we had a little problem last week. The promises related to Solomon. Look at verse 13, the first part of verse 13. 2 Samuel 7 verse 13, the very first part of it. What does it say? What's the promise here? Okay, and who is that referencing? That Solomon rather than David would build the temple, all right? So the first promise related to Solomon is the temple, all right? 13b, or the second part of verse 13. All right, the throne of Solomon's kingdom would be established forever. Please note that forever, forever. As it relates to the kingdom, not to the temple, but as it relates to the kingdom, there was a forever aspect. Then verses 14 through 15. Okay, I will continue, verse 14 and 15. Yeah, he will be chastened for his sins, but, not deposed. Everybody see that? So that's already anticipating that Solomon would commit Sin, right? So meaning, God is establishing a covenant with people who are sinners and he already knows they're going to sin. Now, remember this leads to a lot of theological discussion. I don't want to get too sidetracked because I want to finish the Davidic covenant today. Just remember, number one, if God makes a covenant with anyone, what is absolutely guaranteed is going to happen with the people he makes a covenant with. They will sin. If God supposedly chooses someone for salvation, what is absolutely guaranteed about the people He chooses for salvation? They're going to still sin, right? If God chooses a nation, what is absolutely guaranteed about the nation He chooses? Their sin. If He chooses someone for ministry, what is absolutely guaranteed will happen? They're going to sin, right? Because sin is Universal, it is perpetual, it is constant, it is frequent, it is just a reality. And so then the obvious question would be, could God fix that? Yeah, what could he do? First, he could remove the sinful nature. Yeah, he could do that, right? And a lot of times Christians talk like he does, but he doesn't, right? Now, that raises all kinds of theological questions. Why then does he not remove the sinful nature? I don't know. In fact, his real way of solving the problem, at least on this, on Earth, in this life, is to do what? Not to remove the sinful nature, but to impute righteousness to sinners who still sin. which is a convoluted, like from a human perspective, even Christians struggle with that. We don't like that concept, right? We don't like that concept. We want that. This week on the, do I? No, well, even Christians have a hard time wrapping their mind around it, because even as much as they claim they believe in imputed righteousness, they don't like it. This week, the last couple of days on the podcast, it's all been about Charles Finney, Charles Finney, Charles Finney, Charles Finney, Charles Finney, Charles Finney. And Charles Finney, you know, many churches, whether they like it or not, they've been influenced with Finney's ideas about revival. Well, Charles Finney was a lost man. Charles Finney is in hell. Charles Finney was a heretic. Charles Finney, there was nothing Christian about Charles Finney. I mean, his theology is so abhorrent, it's not even funny. He did not believe in substitutionary atonement, did not believe in penal substitution, did not believe in salvation by an imputed righteousness, was a full-blown Pelagian. I could go on and on and on and on and on, okay? So he was a mess. However, churches everywhere you know are influenced by his thinking when it comes to revival. Now here's what's the weird thing, is many people, in fact, I've been listening to sermons all this week on Finney, and they will condemn Finney outright, that his theology is bad. But then when they start talking about salvation, they will sound like Finney, because Finney basically believed, unless you basically stop sinning, You're not saved. You have to keep the law in order to be saved. Well, preachers will say, you don't have to keep the law in order to be saved, but you will basically keep the law if you are saved, meaning you have to keep the law in order to be saved. Well, that almost requires, that's the same thing. Right, yeah, exactly. Well, that's pretty much Christianity today. And if you call that into question, then you'll be labeled a heretic. It's like, that's the problem. So, it's very important to understand how these things can play out. God chose people who were what? Sinners. He knew they were going to sin, yet he still made the promise with them. Because the promise was based on what? God's character, God's faithfulness, not man's. God does not save us. Everyone takes the idea that he's gonna save us to make us something. He saves us as really a trophy of what? His grace, not so much his transformative power, because the transformative power is seen where? and glorification. Now everyone thinks it's seen now, but every, what, you know, yeah, we could get into a whole discussion there, but just remember verses 14 and 15, God knows Solomon's going to sin, punishment is spoken of, but what will not happen? He will not be deposed. All right, remember that? Okay. All right, then, so does that get everything in concept? We got all of that? All right, great. Now, we started looking at Old Testament confirmation of the covenant. Now, there was a number of Psalms given, sometimes these are referred to as, basically, the way Ryrie puts it, all Old Testament passages that describe the Messiah as king and his coming kingdom, confirm the promises of the Davidic covenant. All the royal Psalms, for example, give more information about the Davidic kingdom. Now, he gives a list of these royal Psalms. I'm gonna argue, if you look at some of them, some of them, I don't feel I don't really know what he's using them for. Which Psalm did we look at? 89, so let's go to Psalm 89. We will look at this one. Psalm 89, because this one had the greatest potential of giving us some things. All right, Psalm 89. Tell me when you're there. All right, Psalm 89, verse three is where we started, right? And it says, I have made a covenant with my, Chosen, I have sworn to my servant, David. So now we know who the chosen one is, is David, right? Now is David chosen because he's more godly than everyone else? No, he's chosen because God decided to choose him, right? Did he know David would do all the things David did? Yes, all right. Your seed I will establish, verse four, forever, and build upon your throne to, all generations, all right? So there's this promise. Now, we could continue reading, look down to verse, Rari wants us to look at verses starting in verse 19. All right, verse 19, are we there? Then you spoke in a vision to your Holy One and said, I have given help to one who is mighty. I've exalted one chosen from the people. I have found my servant David. So once again, this is about the Davidic covenant, right? All right. With my holy oil, I have anointed him with whom my hand shall be establish my arm shall strengthen him the enemy shall not outwit him nor the son of wickedness afflict him i will beat down the foes before his face and plague those who hate him now before we go on remember we had a big discussion about this when we talk about praying, right? In the Old Testament, the prayers that are recorded are typically, or almost all of them, are prayers of whom? Jewish people, people who are a part of Israel, yes? And remember, in these covenants, are there not very specific promises made to Israel? Yes, and in many cases, those promises involve what type of things? land, provision, protection, and the destruction of their enemies. So if they pray in that line, or that type of prayer, they are not praying in a way that would violate God's sovereignty or will, it would be perfectly, they're praying in accordance to what has been revealed. And remember, we cannot do what? Take our concepts of prayer from that because those covenants are not made with us. Remember, I made a big deal out of that. And then continue reading verse 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. What two things are gonna be with David? Whose faithfulness? God's faithfulness and God's mercy. What do we all need? God's faithfulness, because we tend to be unfaithful. And what else do we need? Mercy, because we all constantly do what? All right, and my name, his horn shall be exalted. Also, I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of Those are very strong words, are they not? Continue reading, verse 30. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness I will not... Verse 33. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him." Now why is that verse 33 so critical to the Davidic covenant? Sin will not do what? Sin will not throw away the covenant. It does not do what? It does not discontinue the covenant. It does not remove the covenant. Now, why is this so important in eschatology? Right? Because the Davidic covenant has a lot to do with Israel. Do we not? Do we? Yes. Correct. Right? Now that means whenever we have this language that you can't come along and say, well, Israel didn't keep the covenant. So therefore what? God is done with Israel and replaced it with the church. We cannot say that. We cannot do that because God's promise for the covenant is even if they sin, he's going to do what? He's going to remain faithful. Again, look at verse 33, it's key. Nevertheless, my loving kindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. My covenant, verse 34. God will not violate his covenant. Okay, do you see that? My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips. It doesn't matter what Israel does, God is not going to do that. Verse 35, once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David, his seed shall endure forever, his throne as the sun before me, it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky. Now what does verse 37 sound very similar to? Verse 37 should remind you of a very important section involved in another covenant. The Jeremiah 31. Everybody look at Jeremiah 31 and find the verses that sound similar to that. They're not exact, but there is a similarity. There's a connection. Jeremiah 31. He's gonna make a new covenant. And I like the covenants I made with your father, the covenants made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And then he talks about, does he not talk about sun, moon, stars? Verse 35, what does he say? All right, so guess what? As long as the sun, moon, and stars are there, Israel is a nation before God. Now, why is that important? Because you could have said, well, Israel was, they didn't exist, but they still existed where? Before God, and God made a promise with them that he would do what? restore them, bring them back, make a new covenant with them, give them the land, and give them the promises. So therefore that promise, the sun, moon, and stars, is a constant reminder of what? Israel is still a nation before God. So you can't just say no, no, that's referring to the church. No, it's referring to Israel. The same kind of language is there. Now, Ryrie says this, Psalm 89, which we've just read, provides strong confirmation of the immutability of the covenant. It seems also as if God was anticipating, now listen, this is how Ryrie puts it, it seems as if God was anticipating the all-millennial claim that the kingdom promise should be spiritualized into the church when he said that even though chastisement for sin would come, the covenant would not be broken or altered. It's like God was already, the all-millennial argument doesn't work. Psalm 89 makes it very clear that even if sin occurs, what is God not going to do? Not gonna break the covenant. So, it's made with David and all those promises that relate to the nation of Israel itself, right? Does that make sense? I cannot stress that enough. God was anticipating the amillennial claim that the kingdom promise would be spiritualized into the church when he said that even though chastisement for sin would come, the covenant would not be broken or altered. God already knew the argument was coming and he already provided the scripture there. A number of passages and Isaiah also predict and describe the visible earthly kingdom promised in the Davidic covenant. Isaiah predicted the reign of Messiah on the throne of David and over his kingdom. Look at Isaiah 9, verse 7. Tell me what you find. There's a lot of scripture here, so we're going to be looking at a lot. Look at Isaiah 9, verse 7. We'll start in verse six. We know this passage, right? Very famous passage, Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. And what's going to happen? The government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. Next verse, everlasting father, or the rest of the verse, prince of peace, and then look at verse seven. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with justice from justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Now, what are your options with that verse? The first, let's do this. How would you prove Isaiah 9, 6, and 7 is about Christ? That's the first thing. How would you prove it's about Christ? That's the first challenge. How would you prove it? Nobody has an idea how you would prove that's about Christ? Okay, yeah, find me a New Testament reference where it's clearly about Jesus. It's gotta be either in Matthew or Luke, right? I bet you it has something to do with the birth narratives, right? Okay, I mean, we quote these every Christmas time, right? So I bet you that puts you somewhere between Matthew 1 and 3 and Luke 1 and 3. I'm just guessing. If your Bibles have cross-references, then I'm assuming they provide you a cross-reference right to the cross-reference. How about Luke 1, maybe 32 to 33? What does it say? Okay, that may not be perfect, but that's pretty close. Would you not agree? Okay, I think that's pretty, I mean, we could probably maybe find a couple others, but I think that's about as close as you can get. So Luke 1, 32 through 33 should get us pretty close to there, right? Right? How about Luke 2, 11? I'm just looking at Luke. Okay, all right, not exactly, but there's a child will be born, get us somewhat close to that, right? Okay, yeah, I think that gets us close. I've got some more cross-references here, but I think that gets us close. So what we need to establish is that the New Testament clearly would say Isaiah 9, 6, and 7 is about Jesus. Can we agree to that? Alright, so everyone should agree. I'm a millennialist. Pre-millennialist? No, no millennialist. It doesn't matter what, you know, well, that'd be a non-millennialist. Post-millennial? It doesn't matter who. Everyone can agree that Isaiah 9, 6 through 7 is a prophecy about Jesus. Can we say amen? Amen. Okay, all right. Then, so when we see these phrases, and the government will be upon his shoulder, see that in verse 6? And then in verse seven, where it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it. Those phrases, you've got two options. What are your two options in how to interpret those promises, those prophecies? You've got two options. Okay, you either make it, somehow this deals with the church. I'll give you three options. The church, right? Well, you're kind of, I mean, the church is literal, but you're replacing Israel and you're making it about the church. Two, you can say, well, this only refers to a spiritual kingdom. He's gonna rule and reign over a spiritual kingdom. Or three, you have to acknowledge, well, however he's ruling and reigning over a spiritual kingdom, this is also speaking of a literal kingdom, right? Over a literal kingdom. And if it's speaking over a literal kingdom, then what are your options with it? If it's speaking of a literal kingdom, what are your options? Okay, well, if it's a literal kingdom, we know it's not now. Did it happen in the first coming? No. Is it happening now? No. So therefore, if it's a literal kingdom, it's gotta happen in the future, all right? So just make it very, we have to understand, you're only limited with a certain number of options there. We know that didn't happen literally, right? Now, we can say this. How did the Jews at the time of Jesus understand the promise? Lateral in fact they were looking for him to set up the kingdom. Then, now, where is the most important passage on this entire discussion? Is there a passage of scripture that would clearly indicate Jesus didn't see the church as a fulfillment, he didn't see a spiritual kingdom as a fulfillment, he seemed to indicate that there, he put it this way, he has a perfect opportunity to stop all of the debate, but he does not. Where is that famous passage where Jesus has a great opportunity to fix all of this, and he doesn't fix it? The book of Acts, look in the very first part of the book of Acts, right before he ascends to the Father, he's asked a very specific question by his disciples. And what did the disciples ask Jesus that would relate to Isaiah 9, 6, and 7? At this time, will you restore the kingdom of Israel? Now, has Jesus already talked about a spiritual kingdom in the Gospels? Yes. So Jesus could say, wait, wait, wait, wait. The kingdom's already been restored. It's a spiritual kingdom. But he doesn't say that. Does he say, hey guys, guys, guys, there's no more kingdom. There's the church, which is getting ready to be established. He doesn't say that. In fact, what is his exact words? It is not for you to know. He doesn't say it's never going to happen. This would be the time to stop it, right? What does He say? It's not for you to know. The time or the dates. But does He tell them what? But the Holy Ghost is going to come upon you. You should be my witnesses. Where? Jerusalem. All right, so he does not in any way, he could fix the whole debate right there, could he not? That is Acts chapter one, what verses? Six and seven. And Isaiah nine, you should have a cross reference to Acts chapter one, six and seven. So when it says that his government, that his kingdom, You know it's clearly an earthly kingdom. The disciples knew it was an earthly kingdom. Even after all of Jesus' preaching, right before He ascends, they're asking, what? Where is it? And Jesus does not say, guys, stop worrying about it. No, no. He just says, it's not for you to know the time, or the season, or the date, or exactly however, depending on your translation. Does everyone see that? I cannot, look, of everything we've talked about when it comes to the covenants, that verse in Acts chapter one, those two verses, are critical. It stops the whole argument. There shouldn't even be an argument anymore. The fact that there's still an argument means that even a verse like that doesn't solve the theological disputes. Anyone have any questions about that? Yes, no? Everyone understand the significance of it, right? What does Isaiah 9, 7 indicate? Everyone go to Isaiah 9, 7. Just quote the verse. What does it indicate? A child is coming. Government will be on his shoulders. And in verse, There's going to be no end to his government, right? He's going to reign on David's throne. There's going to be a kingdom. There's going to be a government, there's going to be a kingdom, and there's going to be a throne. Everybody see that? So that child, who Isaiah is promising, which is Jesus, is going to be ultimately the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. Because he's going to rule and reign on David's throne. He is of the seed of David, right? He comes from Davidic line, and his throne will reign and rule forever. And has he established that literal kingdom, throne, and government? No, he has not. And how do we know it's literal? Even the disciples understood it to be literal. And when the disciples said, is it now? What did Jesus say? It's not for you to know. He does not say it's not going to happen. He could have solved all the theological dispute right there. Does everyone understand the significance of that? Yes, okay. Now, look at Isaiah chapter 11. Look at Isaiah chapter 11. This is taking longer than I anticipated, it always does. We still got plenty of time, all right? We've got, well, I mean, yeah, this text, there are so many scripture passages here. Clearly, Ryrie wants to make a huge deal out of this, all right? Look at Isaiah 11. We're gonna have to read these. Some of these, I'd just like you to look up. Well, hang on, let's not jump, let's not read into it yet. Okay, all right, Isaiah 11. Maybe the whole chapter, all right? Maybe he wants to read the whole chapter here. Wow, okay, this may take us forever. All right, let's at least start working through it and see. I thought he wanted us to read verses, but no, he wants us to read entire chapters here. So this may take a while, but let's go through these as quickly as we can. All right, the first one is chapter 11. All right, let's see what we can find here. Verse one, there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. That's Isaiah 11 verses 1 through 2. How do we know who this is referencing? Yeah, but how do we know who it's referencing? Well, what's always the go-to way to answer that? Okay, does the New Testament quote Isaiah 11, one through two? The answer is, is there a cross-reference? Okay, look at it and see. Tell me what you find. See what cross references you can find. Tell me what you find. All right. How about Acts 13? What do you see in Acts 13? Maybe verse 23 possibly? I'm not saying it's there. I'm just throwing out options to get you looking. I think 23 maybe? What does it say? I don't think that's a cross-reference to Isaiah 11.1. That goes back to Isaiah 9. That's a great one for Isaiah 9. How about the Acts one? Was there anything in Acts 13? How about, let's see, 23 possibly? Okay, that's kinda, I mean, it's not perfect, but it does say, a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse. That seems to be, that's going back, demonstrating who's gonna come from that. Jesus, right? That seems to make it very clear, correct? All right, it doesn't use the same language, but it's very similar. It's getting us to the basic facts. Can we agree to that? Right, it connects Jesse to David to Jesus, which this is what Isaiah 11 is referring to, all right? Does that work? Everyone feel halfway okay with that as at least a possible connection? I mean, we could do more work, but I think that gets us close, right? All right, now, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, all right? What do we have in the New Testament that would say the spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus? How about Matthew 3.16? Tell me what you find there. Maybe before Matthew 3.16. I don't know if that Matthew 3.16 will actually work, but we'll try it. That's the baptism, and then what descends upon Jesus? The Holy Spirit, does it not? Okay, so the Holy Spirit was upon him, right? Okay, so there's Matthew 3.16. How about John 1.32? Not in John. The baptism is not recorded in John, is it? I mean, I could be wrong. John 1.32. Okay, it's not recording the baptism, but it's John's testimony that what happened. The Spirit came upon Jesus. I can give you more verses if you need them, alright? So, what can we say? We have Acts to connect Jesse to David to Jesus. There's Isaiah 11-1. There shall come from a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of the roots. Now the term branch is a term for the Messiah. I could prove that if I need to. The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon him. Clearly the New Testament identifies that. So can we say with some assurity, with some certainty, that Isaiah 11.1.2 is referring to Jesus? Alright, now once we know it's referring to Jesus, now what do we do? What is it going to say about Jesus starting in verse 3? Follow carefully why I'm spending so much time on this. Are you ready? Are you ready? His delight is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. Okay? Now, that means he's judging something deeper than external. He's going to the heart. Jesus clearly makes that obvious in the Bible. But with righteousness, he shall judge the poor, decide with equity the meek of the earth. Now look at the next part. What shall he do? He shall strike the earth with a rod of his mouth and with this breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist. Now wait a minute. Did that happen in the first coming? Some will spiritualize that and say that happened through his preaching and that this is figurative. But what does that verse sound like? What does that sound like? Revelation one. 19, everybody go to Revelation 19 and see if that sounds very similar to that language. Find the things in Revelation 19 that sounds like Isaiah there. Revelation 19. I know this can be tedious, but this is the only way to do this properly, okay? I could just sit here and just read off the connections to you, but then that doesn't do you of any value, because you'll forget it five minutes from now. But hopefully, when you're looking it up yourself, you'll remember it for 10 minutes. That's somewhat of a joke, but yeah. Revelation 19. Okay. Okay, and does it say anything about a name or any of his clothing or anything there? Oh, he shall smite the nations. Isaiah says, strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. Okay, now you can say, well, it says a sword, it's different. It's giving a very similar idea, right? With his breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. Do people die? Are people slayed? Yes. All right. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist. I don't know if it refers to him as righteous or faithful there. I don't know if it refers to him as righteous or faithful in Revelation. And Isaiah says, right. Okay. Righteousness he judges. Okay. Does the same thing about faithful? I don't think it does. There we go, all right. Ladies and gentlemen, there we have it. Okay, so now, why is this significant? We've established that this is Jesus, and now we're establishing these are things he did not do in his first coming, but Revelation does what? Seem to describe that that's what he's going to do in his second coming, and so therefore, we know we're on to something, okay? Now, look at verse six. After this destruction, what does verse six say in Isaiah 11? The wolf shall dwell with the lamb. What else shall happen? The leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. Their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Something absolutely transformative is going to happen in 6 and 7. That's not in the church, ladies and gentlemen. That's not describing the church. The church is filled with what? Fighting, arguing, enemies. That's not the case. So, but this seems to occur when? When does verse 6 and 7 seem to occur? Or, you know, when does verse 6, 7, and 8 seem to occur? Right after Jesus comes back. What happens in Revelation after 19? What happens in chapter 20? Oh, we have the establishment of the millennial kingdom where he rules and reigns for a thousand years. Continue reading in Isaiah 11. What's going to happen in verse eight? The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den and they shall not hurt nor destroy and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That did not happen in the first coming and that has nothing to do with the church. That is a reference to the second coming when what is established? The Davidic kingdom is now ruling Iran. What happens in verse 10? Oh, in that day there shall be a root of Jesse. Who's the root of Jesse? It goes from David to Jesus, right? Who shall stand as a banner to the people for the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people. Who is that referencing? Israel. And does he name actual places? Assyria? Egypt? Pathros, depending on your translation? Cush? Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea. So what else is going to happen? After God destroys all the enemies, which is Revelation 19, there's going to be a complete transformation of everything. Who's going to stand as a banner for all people? The root of Jesse, which is Jesus. And then what's going to happen? The Lord is going to recover all of his people. Now look at verse 12, he will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from where? the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim, but they shall fly down upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west. Together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall lay their land of Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon shall obey them. The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt with his mighty hand. He will shake his fist over the river and strike it in the seven streams. and make men cross over dry shod, there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who will be left from Assyria as it was for Israel on that day that came from the land of Egypt." Simply put, what is God going to do? He's gonna recover his people and they're gonna flow in like on a highway directly back to Israel and then who will be ruling and reigning? The root of Jesse. That is all promised and that's all a part of the Davidic covenant and when will it be fulfilled? The only place we can find it in the Bible is, don't tell me the church. That does not describe the church in any way, shape or form. I don't care what Matthew Henry has to say. Where does it happen? In Revelation 19 and 20. What happens in 19? He destroys the enemies. What happens in 20? He establishes what? A thousand-year reign. What happens to Satan during that thousand-year reign? He's bound, and all the promises to Israel are fulfilled. You see how important Isaiah 11 is to the entire system of eschatology? But while he's not done, he wants us to go to Isaiah 24. He wants us to read large portions of Isaiah. But see, if I just give you the reference, let's be honest, if I just give you the reference, what would you do? You would write it down, it'd be in your notes, and you probably would never go home and read it. So that's why we have to do it in church, okay? So I know it's two long chapters, and we'll try to go through these quickly. We got Isaiah 24 and 25. This is a lot of verses, okay? So we'll go through it quickly and see what we can find, all right? Maybe it will be significant, maybe it will not, all right? Everybody ready? All right, let's start in verse 24, verse 1. All right, Isaiah 24, chapter 24, verse 1. Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste. distorts its surface, scatter abroad its inhabitants. It shall be as with people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with the master, as with the maid, so with the mistress, as with the buyer, as with the seller, as with the lender, as with the borrower, as with the creditor, to with the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the Lord has spoken His word. Okay, something sounds significant's going to happen here, right? What exactly it's referring to, let's continue. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish. The earth also is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left. This is speaking of some absolutely catastrophic judgment. Does that not what it sounds like? I think so. The new wine fells, the vine languishes, all the merry hearted sighed, the mirth of the tempering ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of harp ceases. They shall not, I mean, you can just, everything sounds like a total, complete destruction and judgment. Does that sound fair? Is a good way of describing it? What happens in verse 14? They shall lift up their voice. They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord. They shall cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify the Lord and the dawning night, the name of the Lord, God of Israel and the coastlines of the sea from the ends of the earth. And we have heard songs, glory to the righteous. But I said, I am ruined, ruined, woe to me. The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously. Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear and the pit. and the snare are upon you, O inhabitants of the earth, and it shall be those who flee from the noise of fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes upon the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare, for the windows from one not high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open." I mean, all of that just sounds horrible, does it not? Right? Look at verse 21, punishment on the high ones. They will be gathered together, verse 22. They'll be shut up in the prison. The moon will be disgraced. The sun will be ashamed. The Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and Jerusalem and before his elders graciously. So you have a little bit of hope at the end. Right? The end, who's going to be reigning? The fear of the Lord of hosts will reign. The God of hosts will reign. But before that, all that destruction. What does all of that sound like before you get to verse 23? Sounds a lot like what you read in Revelation. Even before Revelation 19. I mean, you're losing a large portion of the earth in those passages, are you not? People are being slaughtered, people are being killed by the plagues, right? I mean, it's just massive destruction, is it not? Things happen to the moon and the sun, right? All that stuff happens. Okay, so that sounds like a lot of that. Now, what happens in verse 25? Or verse 25, chapter 25. Oh Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name for you have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithful and true. That sounds very different than 24, does it not? Sounds very different than 24. Yeah, 24 is all about judgment. We get a little hope at the end of 23 and all of a sudden 25 breaks out into what? Praise. For you have made a city a ruin, a fortified city a ruin, a palace of foreigners to be a city no more. It will never be rebuilt, therefore the strong people will glorify you. The city of the terrible nations will fear you, for you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress. a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, from the blast of the terrible ones as a storm against the wall. You will reduce the noise of aliens as heat in a dry place, as heat in the shadow of a cloud. The song of the terrible ones will be diminished." Once again, it's praising God for what? All of this destruction is coming on some people, but it's obviously not coming upon whom? The people doing the praise! And I think Israel would make the most sense obviously here. This is not the church. And in this mountain, what mountain is that mostly referring to? Probably Mount Zion, right? Probably we would say Jerusalem, correct? The Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things of morrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He's gonna remove a veil, okay? He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces. Okay, now, does verse eight sound familiar? Well, 1 Corinthians 15 definitely talks about death, where is thy sting? But that should lead you to a different place. Revelation, okay? Go, yeah, find it in Revelation. Yeah, is it 20? Is it 21? Tell me where it is. Find it. 21-4. Literally, that's Isaiah 25-8, ladies and gentlemen. That's literally Isaiah 25-8. All right, now, what would be the question? Now, if you're dealing with amillennialists, they've already spiritualized passage after passage after passage, said it's not Israel, said it's the church, well then what would be the question that we'd have for an amillennialist? Is Isaiah 25a literal? And what would be the answer? Yes, well if that's literal, the rest of it has to be literal, or I don't even know how to read the Bible, right? And it will be said in that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him and he will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Now remember, Isaiah is written to whom? Who is Isaiah 2? Look at, go to Isaiah 1, chapter 1, verse 1. This is to Israel and Judah. There's no question who this is to, right? So then these, why are these promises? Because what was Israel facing at that time historically? Judgment, right? Judgment. Destruction. And what could that make them feel like? God has forgotten, God has abandoned. What is God's promise over and over and over? I have made a covenant, I will keep that covenant even if you are unfaithful. And how does this promise, how do all these promises manifest themselves? In Revelation 19, 20, and 21, where you have the destruction of everyone, the establishment of a kingdom, Israel being returned, and then everything being made right, all right? Look at verse 9, and it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. See, in that day, you're gonna say, this is our God, we have waited for Him. Have they been waiting? Yeah, but they've been waiting. They're still waiting, right? This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. From on this mountain, the hand of the Lord will rest. Moab shall be trampled down under him. As straw is trampled down from the refuse heap, he will spread out his hands in their midst. As a swimmer reaches out to swim, he will bring down their pride. Together with trickery of their hand, the fortress of the high fort of your walls, he will bring down, lay low, and bring the ground down to the dust. All their enemies are going to be destroyed. And then look at what happens in verse 26, chapter 26, verse 1. In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah. 24 and 25 is about the destruction of basically of all of Israel's enemies. They're all going to be destroyed. Everything's going to be destroyed. But who's going to be preserved? Israel. And they will then rejoice and there'll be no more tears, no more pain, no more death. Now, you see why Israel could pray a certain way. All right, now, we have to stop there. We still have, this is all, these are all the passages that we have to go through yet. We have to read all of Isaiah 54, all of Isaiah 60, all of Isaiah 61, most of Jeremiah 23, most of Jeremiah 30, most of Jeremiah 33, most of Jeremiah 20 and 21, Ezekiel 37, Daniel chapter 7, Hosea chapter 3, Amos chapter 8, and Zechariah chapter 14. Now, it sounds tedious and not fun, but the reason we have to do this is for what purpose? Because there's an entire theological movement out there who says, hey, this covenant has nothing to do with Israel, it's all for the church, and don't take that literal, don't take that literal, don't take that literal. So the only way to combat it is to do what? Go read it! And we already saw in the midst of all of that, that promise of no more pain, no more death, no more tears, all millennialists will interpret that to be literal. Well, how can you in the middle of all of that say that's literal and everything else is somehow figurative and it's about God and the church defeating our enemies spiritually? That makes literally no sense considering the entire book of Isaiah is written to whom? He's writing about things concerning Israel and Judah, not concerning the church. So what do they have to do? They have to go to Isaiah 1.1 and basically say, when it says concerning Israel and Judah, that that's not really Israel and that's not really Judah. Do you understand how ridiculous that is considering the rest of that verse does what? What does the rest of verse 1 do in Isaiah? Well, it names actual kings, not of the church, okay? Literal historical kings. So it's almost like it's anticipating what's going to happen. The whole thing falls apart. Now, I could just give you the reference, but what we'll do is next week, we're just gonna work through the references. It may be tedious, but then nobody can come and make, look, if we had a Matthew-Henry commentary, every one of these passages, he would be saying over and over, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church, the church. And I know some will argue, well, all you may say is the Millennial Kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom. I know we need a balance, right? But I can tell you this, it's far more likely to find the Millennial Kingdom than I'm gonna find the church in a book that's not even about the church. Okay? So I think the Millennial Kingdom makes far more sense because the Millennial Kingdom is all about whom? Israel. It's about Israel. Everyone seems to forget that. The Millennial Kingdom is about whom? Christ ruling and reigning over Israel so that what can be fulfilled? Covenant promises can be literally fulfilled to the literal nation in which they were made. That makes sense, right? Because if God doesn't literally fulfill those, then what? God is a liar. Or we have to change our entire hermeneutic and don't interpret anything literal. And if I don't interpret anything literal, then, I mean, when amillennialists read Isaiah, do they interpret that a virgin will have a child literally? Yes. Do they interpret all those verses about Jesus' first coming as literal? Yes. And remember what we read here, some of the amillennial quotes? Well, you can interpret it literal if it's already happened. but you can't interpret it literal if it hasn't happened yet. What kind of hermeneutic is that? Hey, so then what would be the question? Well, then why is all the promises when they were made that hadn't happened yet, so nobody should have interpreted them literal when they first received the promise? Well, then you can't blame the Jews for not believing a virgin had a child. The text would infer what? Believe what I say as literal. When he promised that they would go into Babylonian captivity, was it literal? When he promised they would go into basically Egyptian captivity. Everything he promised happened literally, so then why would you then say, well, if it hasn't happened yet, I can just interpret it as figurative. That's a bad hermeneutic. But that's why we're going through the passages, because if I just give them, everyone will write them in their notes and no one's going to actually read them. So my job is to make sure that here we actually read them. All right. I know it's tedious, but I don't know a better way. All right. So we'll stop right there. All right. Lord God, we come before you this morning. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to look at these passages that we may not look at. I know we're reading through them quickly. or trying to make just basic summaries. Lord, help us really write these down, consider them, and make reference to them frequently. We ask this in Jesus' name. God's people said.