[10]     

 

Chapter 10      The World Trade Center Towers fell on “9/11.”  And many people’s “world” fell    with them.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
                  1^st John 2:15-17

In the Bible, “Egypt” is often used as a symbol for “the world and all of its things.” During the Exodus, God moved Heaven and earth to bring His people out of Egypt – not only out of the nation called Egypt, but also out of the worldly value-systems that the Bible calls “Egypt.” When God brought Israel out of all that, He didn’t just turn them loose to “do their own thing” – God set His people free to worship Him. And He made this clear to His people when He told them,

And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

Leviticus 26:11-13

As we saw in chapter three of this book, God’s people did not always give their Amen to His promises – including this one. Time after time, they chose the world and its values over their own God. Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, the people of Israel had once again set their hearts on the world and its “things.” And the God of Israel, ever-faithful to His covenant people, sent His prophet Isaiah to call them back to a true worship of Himself.

The following passage of Scripture is a warning from God: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. This warning holds true for all of God’s people – not just the Jews of ancient Israel, but also to the Christians and Jews of today. Please read through this passage as a whole; then we’ll go through it verse by verse. And then, in our next chapter, we’ll explain how the warning of Isaiah 30:1-25 applies to America today.

1  Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

4  For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

5  They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6  The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

7  For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

8  Now go, write it before them in a tablet, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

13  Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

14  And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.

15  For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning (to Me) and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

16  But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift horses; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17  One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

18  And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19  For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22  Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23  Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24  The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that [must lower their ears to the ground in order to get at the scrub-grass] shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

25  And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Isaiah 30:1-25

 

Verse 1  Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

The children of Israel were already in trouble because they had rebelled against God by trusting in themselves instead of Him.  To get out of trouble, they asked for man’s advice instead of going to their God for cleansing and forgiveness. The term cover with a covering literally means “to pour out molten metal to form an idol, and ask that idol to pour out its protection over you” – thus adding the sin of idolatry to the sins they had already committed.

The phrase but not of my Spirit is a foretaste of the words used by the prophet Zechariah to explain how God always works through His people: Not by [your] might, nor by [your]  power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6b)

 

Verse 2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

The “rebellious children” had been exposed as lovers of the world (Egypt) rather than worshipers of God. The shadow of Egypt is Isaiah’s way of pointing out the foolishness of anyone who makes such a choice. The Apostle John tells us the same thing in 1^st John 2:17: The world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he who does the will of God abides for ever.

Verse 3  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

This is Isaiah’s way of saying, “You only get the rewards that are offered by the one you put your trust in – and none of the rewards that Pharaoh (or any other world leader) can offer you will have the slightest value in the Kingdom of God.” The Apostle Paul restates this Spiritual truth in Romans 6:16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are ... whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Verse 4  For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

Isaiah puts the world/God issue into perspective by asking God’s people, “Why would Pharaoh help you anyway? He’ll let you come crawling to him, and send a few petty government officials to meet you at insignificant border towns like Zoan and Hanes.”

Verse 5  They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

Isaiah goes on say, “I have already told you, Surely the princes of Zoan are fools. (Isaiah 19:11a) But even those fools will take one look at you and say, ‘What good are those people going to do for us? We rule the world; but all they have is an invisible God. If we let the likes of them take part in our world-system, all they’ll do is drag us down to their level.’”

Verse 6  The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 

We see this verse almost as a joke. Isaiah is asking, “Do you actually think that the ruler of the world and all its systems is going to load up all his wealth on donkeys and send it to you?” 

Verse 7  For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

Isaiah reminds Israel that Egypt was powerless against God when it came to the showdown at the Red Sea. Pharaoh had sent his entire army to keep God from taking the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses looked at the onrushing mass of Egyptian troops and confidently said to God’s people: Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. (Exodus 14:13,14)

Verse 8  Now go, write it before them in a tablet, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

“The time to come” – as we shall soon see – was on the morning of 9/11/2001.

Verses 9-11  This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

This – as we shall see in the next chapter – was a picture of America, right up to the morning of 9/11/2001.

Verses 12-14  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.

This segment of Isaiah’s prophecy began to be fulfilled in America on 9/11/2001; and it will continue to be fulfilled as long as the people of America continue to despise the Word of the Lord.

 

Verse 15a  For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning (to Me) and rest (in Me) shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:

This is God’s call to everyone who despises His Word and His ways to repent – even at this late hour – and turn back to Him.

Verses 15b-17 And ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift horses; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand (of you) shall flee at the rebuke of one (of your enemies); at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

This is the fate of those who will not repent. They will be hunted down and persecuted by the same worldly powers that they put their trust in – and then they will be held up as examples of foolishness for all the world to see.

Verse 18  And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

As always, God gives us a choice: defiance or repentance; blessing or cursing; life or death. As always, God will give us all the time we need (but not all the time we want) to come to the right decision; His Word assures us, in 2^nd Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us‑ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Verses 19-21  For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

This is a picture of the kind of life that God wants to pour out on America – the moment we, as a nation, come to repentance.  

 

Verses 22-24  Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

This is the “if ... then” offer that God is making to America right now. If we will despise and destroy the idolatrous “coverings” described in verse 1 of this chapter, then God will bless America with a superabundance of His goodness that will make the rest of the world exclaim, even as David exclaimed in Psalm 118:23, This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

Verse 25  And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

This verse sums up God’s promise to America. First, the towers will fall with great loss of life. And then God will pour out rivers and streams of waters – a vivid description of the waves of Spiritual Truth that will wash over America, leading millions of our people back to the pure worship of the living God!

Everything in the prophecy of Isaiah 30:1-25 has already happened.

America did turn away from the God who blessed her, and turned to the love of the world and its “things.” This is what we’ll be talking about in our next chapter.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center did fall, on the morning of September 11th, 2001. The whole world saw it happen, on live TV. 

And on that same day – 9/11/2001 – just as Isaiah prophesied, the rivers and streams of waters began to flow in this nation that had been so thirsty for the Truth of God. Even now, the people of America are beginning to see – and to understand – this great outpouring of Spiritual Truth that will wash away the lies of spiritual Egypt, just as God drowned the armies of natural Egypt in the Red Sea.

Some of those rivers and streams will be poured out – and will be explained to you, clearly and practically – in the following chapters of this book. Our prayer for you at this time is: