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Isa 17:8-14 This Is The Portion o​f Them That Spoil Us, And The Lot of Them That Rob Us

Isa 17:8  And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
Isa 17:9  In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
Isa 17:10  Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
Isa 17:11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Isa 17:12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Our Creator is in the process of completing His creation. His final creation is not​, was not​, and was never intended to be a physical creation. This physical realm is just a necessary evil step in the completing of His spiritual creation. The process required to accomplish and produce a new spiritual man requires that "every man" first be a corrupt and wicked "man of sin". Only after this "man of sin" is revealed for who he is will "the new man" begin to be given life within these "corruptible... earthen vessels" into which we must all first be placed by our Creator as He continues His work of "conform[ing]... every man... into the image of His Son": ​

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many breth

Php 3:21 Who will transfigure the body of our humilation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to Himself." (CLV)

Our old man was never "in the image" of his Creator as these verses make so clear:

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The word 'created' is in the aorist tense, and should read 'creates him' or 'is creating him'.

This is the beginning of what we first are,​ and this is the beginning of what He is doing:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The churches of this world teach that Adam was created in a perfected state from which he fell when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, after the serpent persuaded Eve "You will not surely die". But that is not at all what scriptures teach. The fact is that the scriptures actually teach that the creation is an ongoing process, and that the physical realm of the events which occurred in the Garden of Eden are but the first steps in making mankind in the image of "the One creating him".

Col 3:10  and having put on the new, having been renewed in full knowledge according to the image of the One creating him, (LITV)

The Concordant Version captures the sense of the Hebrew which tells us what Christ was doing with His creation in the Garden of Eden. The fact is that nowhere are we ever told that God made man in His image, rather this is how the Hebrew actually reads:

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.

Adam is being created in the image of God, but that creation and that image is "the image of God", which Adam never possessed as the "marred... vessel of clay" he was in the Garden of Eden. These are Christ's own words concerning this "vessel of clay" stage of His creation:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Here we are clearly told that as the vessels of clay, which we all are, we are "marred in the hand of the Potter".

There it is for any and all who are hungry for the Truth of the scriptures. "God... is... creating man in His image". Nowhere are we told He has already done so. God did not create Adam in a perfected form from which Adam fell. Rather God created Adam in a "marred" condition from which God is in the process of delivering Adam, much like a hen lays an egg from which she will,​ through the 'magic' of controlled heat, deliver a chick which will grow up to be just like her - 'in her image'. "The first man Adam" was not at all created in the image of God because God is not a "vessel of clay".

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 So also it has been written, "The" first "man", Adam, "became a living soul;" the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. (Gen 2:7)
1Co 15:46 But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man was out of earth, earthy. The second Man was the Lord out of Heaven. (Gen 2:7)
1Co 15:48 Such as is the earthy man, such also are the earthy ones. And such as is the heavenly Man, such also are the heavenly ones.
1Co 15:49 And as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (LITV)

God is not "earthy", rather He is heavenly. God is not physical or "natural" and cannot be seen with physical "natural" eyes. He is instead spirit and as such can only be seen with spiritual eyes.  That is why we are plainly told that He is "invisible" to the natural man:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

What God is doing with mankind is "understood by the things that are made", but He Himself is "invisible", and what the scriptures actually teach is that there is only one person in all of the universe who is, at this time, "the only begotten Son of God". He alone truly has been "made in the image of God", then He "emptied Himself" of His invisible heavenly glory to come into this human "valley of... death", for the explicit purpose of setting an example for all those who after Him are in that process of being "made in the image of God", made of invisible spirit:

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Yes, it is true that "now are we the sons of God", and it is even now true that He "has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son". But these blessings​ are ours at this time only in down payment, "earnest" form:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

"The redemption of the purchased possession" is given us only at the resurrection from among the dead, so we are told:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

"The holy spirit of promise" is what gives us the hope of being in that "blessed and holy... first resurrection":

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

When were we called to be in either resurrection? At what point was Christ and His Father aware of those who "first trusted in Christ" (Eph 1:12)

In complete accord with the fact that God's creation is an ongoing process, which, from "before the world began",​ included a "marred... vessel of clay" which was never to begin with intended to "inherit the kingdom of God", we are plainly told:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

We are even told that this "experience of evil",​ which is a marred clay vessel of sinful flesh and blood,​ was given to "the sons of humanity" by God Himself for this specific purpose:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

So Adam ate of the tree because it was determined "before the world began" that Christ would come into this realm of death,​ known as dying flesh and blood, for the purpose of judging mankind and teaching mankind His righteousness:

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

That is what "thy judgments" produce in "the inhabitants of the world", whether it is the judgment which is now on the house of God or the judgment of the "great white throne" with its accompanying "lake of fire". All judgments are the Lord's chastening for the stated purpose of teaching "the inhabitants of the world... righteousness":

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Understanding all of this we will begin our study,​ and I am including the last verse from last week'​s study:

Isa 17:7  At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 17:8  And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

Any time we read the phrase "that day" the first thing that should come to our mind is the day of the Lord's wrath and His judgment upon the kingdom of our old man within us first, as it will eventually be upon the outward kingdoms of this world when they will "become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ":

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Rev 11:18 demonstrates that the day of God's wrath upon the kingdom of our old man is also "the time of the dead, that they should be judged". It is a very dark and dreadful day for the kingdom of our old man:

Isa 17:9  In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
Isa 17:10  Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

In the day of God's wrath and His judgment upon the inward kingdom of our rebellious and stubborn old man,​ all of the "cities" of our old man are "as a forsaken bough" except for what the Old Testament calls 'a remnant'. In verse 9 "an uppermost branch, which they left because of "the children of Israel", refers to "the very small remnant", spoken of throughout this prophecy of Isaiah, and it is just another Biblical phrase for God's​ chosen few. It is another name for 'the new man, God's elect few'.

Here are but a few examples of this "uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel":

Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Isa 10:20  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. 
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

"Plant[ing] pleasant plants" only to discover we have "set it with strange slips" is just another way of revealing to us that our "righteousnesses" are as "filthy rags" before God.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

When our self-​righteous, rebellious old man claims the name of Christ while stubbornly refusing to "do the things [He] says" (Luk 6:46), this is what God tells us He thinks of our own self​-​righteous efforts to serve him as we see fit instead of being obedient to Him and serving Him in the way He commands us to serve Him:

Pro 21:4  An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

All of our righteousnesses, everything we attempt to do to please God is rejected by Him if we stubbornly refuse to listen to and be obedient to what He tells us to do in His service.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This is what Christ told Israel before they had even gotten to the promised land:

Deu 12:28  Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Our attention had better be toward what "is good and right in the sight of the Lord [our] God", and not what we want to do to please Him. We are nowhere given the liberty to serve God in the way we see fit. Rather we are commanded, both in the Old and in the New Testament, to do "what thing soever [Christ] command(s) [us]... to... observe... and to do". We are commanded, "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it":

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

This is what our efforts to serve God as we see fit produce:

Isa 17:11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

We can plow and "plant pleasant plants", we can work hard and "make the seed to flourish", but even "the plowing of the wicked is sin", and when we come to the harvest we will discover that our "pleasant plants" are nothing more than "strange slips". We planted what we thought were good grapes,​ and we find out they are worthless wild grapes. Verses 9-11 are simply a repetition of what the Lord has already told us in:

Isa 5:1  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5  And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6  And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

You and I are "the vineyard of the Lord of hosts". It is we who have oppressed Christ and have produced the cries of oppression when He was looking for righteousness and judgment.

If we are granted to see ourselves for what we are in this age, then we will not be judged in the age to come:

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Co 11:30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

"If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged... with the world." Being judged with the world is the subject of our last three verses:

Isa 17:12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and [woe] to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Let's break down the symbolism in these verses. Why is "the multitude of many people" likened unto "the noise of the seas"? Why is "the rushing of nations" likened unto "the rushing of mighty waters"? The answer to these questions is that throughout scripture the nations and the multitudes of humanity, with all of the Babylonian religions and false doctrines which deny and rebel against Christ and His sovereignty in the affairs of the nations of this earth, are always referred to as "the sea" or as "many waters" as demonstrated in these verses in the book of Revelation:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

This "beast" is the Biblical symbol for all of mankind in rebellion against their own Creator.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CLV)

These words are inspired by the same spirit which had told us this hundreds of years earlier:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Satan is called Leviathan in the book of Job,​ and we are told "he makes the sea like a pot of ointment... one would think the deep to be hoary", because we are also told in Psalms that Satan was made for the specific purpose of playing in the sea:

Job 41:31  He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
Job 41:32  He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
Job 41:33  Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
Job 41:34  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride

Psa 104:25  So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Psa 104:26  There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

The angel who shows us the revelation of Jesus Christ tells us in no uncertain terms what the meaning of the sea and of "many waters" is:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

So "the noise of the seas" and the "mighty waters" of Isaiah 17:12 represent all the nations of the earth within ourselves​ and outside of ourselves. Verses 13-14 tell us of their relationship to Christ and His Christ and what the result is ​of that relationship:

Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

The nations will rush upon Christ and His elect "like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them". These words have had an application to God's elect in every generation since Christ. These words happened to the people who lived at the time they were penned by Isaiah, but neither those people, nor​ Isaiah knew their spiritual meaning.

The New Testament scriptures make this fact known to us on two separate occasions. First the apostle Paul tells us:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

That verse alone could be construed to mean that 'these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition also', but the Lord wants us to know that is not how we are intended by our Lord to understand that verse. Peter makes clear that the lessons of the Old Testament were not  for the benefit of those who lived at that time, but they are meant only to minister to those who are in Christ:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

We each know how these words of Isaiah 17:13-14 have transpired inwardly within our own lives.

​These words had an outward application for the time in which Isaiah penned them, but ​they also have had an inward application within the lives of each of God's elect since the time of Christ, and they will have both an outward application to the time immediately preceding the millennium, and again at the time of the final rebellion against Christ and His Christ "when the thousand years are expired" and the nations will one last time attempt to push God off His throne to their eonian chagrin and their destruction.

This is what is proclaimed at the beginning of the millennium:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

So here once again the book of Revelation confirms the prophecy of Isaiah. The Lord has shown no mercy to the kingdom of our old man within each of us. That brute beast was made to be taken and destroyed, and his destruction within us is our very salvation:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

None of us know​ exactly how He will accomplish the destruction of those who "destroy the earth", but we know that it will happen,​ and the sovereign God will give the kingdoms of this world to "our Lord and His Christ", and He "will destroy them which destroy the earth".

Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

"Us" is not ancient Israel, "us" is "the Israel of God" (Gal 6:15-16).

"​Us"​ is the overcomer of Rev 2:26-27. "Us" is:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

This is where the apostle learned that the Lord will yet "shake not the earth only, but also heaven":

Hag 2:6  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
Hag 2:7  And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

"This latter house" is you and me and all in whom Christ dwells. [It is] the general assembly and church of the firstborn".

That is our study for today. Up to this point we have seen ourselves in our own flesh as Edom, Moab, Ammon, Syria, and the Philistines and Assyrians.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will begin to be shown who we are as those nations of the world who are nowhere near Israel. In our next study we will begin to see ourselves and our old man as the Ethiopians, who, according to the scriptures and secular historians, had conquered Egypt and were a very great power on earth in the days of the prophecy of Isaiah:

2Ch 14:9  And there came out against them [Asa, King of Judah] Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

This event was quite some time before Isaiah's day, but it serves to demonstrate that Ethiopia was a great nation at that time, and like Egypt, Ethiopia was not related to Israel except through Noah, who was the father of all nations.

The point being made is that our old man, being "the vessel... made of clay (Jer 18:4), of the dust of the earth" (Gen 2:7), is related both to "the earth... and the sea":

Rev 5:13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

These nations which are within us are nowhere near Israel, and they have no ethnic connection to Israel, yet they, too, are subject to the judgment of God upon our old man, and they will be our subject in the next few chapters of Isaiah.

Next week, Lord willing, we will begin with Ethiopia:

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Isa 18:2  That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Isa 18:3  All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4  For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Isa 18:5  For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
Isa 18:6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Isa 18:7  In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.