Isa 23:1-6 As At The Report of Egypt, So Shall They Be...At The Report of Tyre

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Isa 23:1-6  As At The Report of Egypt, So Shall They Be... At The Report of Tyre

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
Isa 23:2  Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Isa 23:3  And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
Isa 23:4  Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

In the physical realm, this is a prophecy of the destruction of Tyre by King Nebuchanezzar, and later the Tyre of the island about half a mile off the coast is destroyed by Alexander the Great. This prophecy had an outward fulfillment in the days of Ezekiel:

Eze 29:17  And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 29:18  Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
Eze 29:19  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
Eze 29:20  I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 29:21  In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Tyre is destroyed and Egypt's destruction immediately follows. When that happens, then the Lord "will cause the horn of [His] Israel to bud forth.

So the burden of Tyre is pronounced upon her here in Isaiah:

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
Isa 23:2  Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.

Tyre works very closely with Zidon and with all her daughter cities of the world to increase her profits and her influence throughout the outward world as well as  the world within us. This prophecy is repeated in another form in Ezekiel 28. "The pride of life" is alive and well within Tyre, outwardly as well as within us:

Eze 28:1  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Eze 28:3  Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
Eze 28:4  With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Eze 28:5  By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Eze 28:6  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Eze 28:7  Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Eze 28:9  Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Eze 28:10  Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 28:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 28:12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Tyre's "traffic" (verse 5) and "the multitude of [her] merchandise"(verse 16) have made her rich "in the midst of the sea", but her riches cannot deter the judgments of God:

Isa 23:3  And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.

Tyre is made rich "by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river." Her revenues come to her via "great waters the seed of Sihor." Ezekiel 28:2 tells us Tyre is situated "in the midst of the sea". What are we being told? What is the meaning of "great waters"? This is what we are being told about the extent of Tyre's influence:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Lest we miss the point about the universal influence of this "great whore", the Lord tells us plainly:

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 what is this 'Sihor', also called 'Shihor'? The name appropriately means 'dark'. This name appears three other times in scripture, and those verses will help us to see who is being referenced here in Isaiah:

Jos 13:3  From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:

1Ch 13:5  So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

"...The waters of Sihor... in the way of Egypt, [and] Sihor, which is before Egypt", tell us that the waters of Sihor are the waters of Egypt, apparently the waters of the Nile which served to make "the way of Egypt" the envy of the world in her day. Spiritually speaking they are "dark" waters, and they are the same as "the way of Assyria".  Both are the opposite of the way and the waters of these "rivers":

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

We all know what coming up out of Egypt typifies. Coming up out of the darkness and slavery of "the great waters, the seed of Sihor" in Egypt is just an earlier, less mature part in our book of coming out of Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. Babylon is the symbol of a later, more mature form of the enslavement of the Lord's Israel to an even greater darkness and an even greater slavery to "the waters of Assyria... the rivers of Babylon" (Psa 137:1):

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

Jeremiah parallels "the waters... of Egypt" with "the waters of the river... of Assyria", and 'Assyria' is the same as 'Babylon, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth'. Why does Jeremiah mention Egypt and Assyria in the same breath? The reason is that these are the two places where Israel served as slaves. Egypt comes first because it symbolizes our slavery to our flesh as "a child". Assyria and Babylon are later because it is within that great harlot that we are ensnared by all of her doctrines which appeal to our flesh and thereby enslave "the souls of men".

Ezekiel 28  could be a duplication of Isaiah 14  if we just replace the name 'Babylon' in Isaiah 14 with the name 'Tyre' in Ezekiel 28. Once again "the dream is one" (Gen 41:25-26), and Tyre is just another symbol of the grip that false religions have upon Adam. The religions of this world are spiritual whores who want to "eat [their] own bread and wear [their] own apparel, but [they want to be] called by [God's] name":

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

And this is what the Lord tells us about these "seven" daughters of the "great whore" which is the religions and false doctrines to which we have all been enslaved, and to which the religions of this world are still totally enslaved:

Isa 14:13  For thou [the king of Babylon] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Now let's read Jeremiah 2:18 again, and this time let's notice what the very next verse tells us about the fruit of the waters of both Egypt and Assyria:

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Jeremiah asks us, "What have [we] to do in the way of Egypt, and in the way of Assyria?"  Then he answers his own question informing us of the fruits of drinking the water of Sihor and the waters of the river of Assyria:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

We have demonstrated the Biblical parallels between the king of Babylon in Isa 28 and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 14. Both are symbols of our later slavery in captivity to the doctrines of "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth":

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

When Tyre is destroyed, she is ashamed and mourns the fact that she can no longer travail and bring forth any more children, young men, or virgins. Notice how the same thing is said of Babylon when she is suddenly unable to function as an influence throughout the world as she has for so long.

First, let's take note how Babylon is the habitation of all the false religious doctrines, which slander the name of a loving heavenly Father:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Now let's notice how much our old man and the friends of our old man miss him when he is destroyed within us and when Babylon's grip upon mankind is destroyed:

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Tyre and Babylon are both symbols of a religious spiritual harlot who "says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow" (Rev 18:7).

Her destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is the outward physical fulfillment of this "burden of Tyre", but the spiritual fulfillment of this event within us is our own judgment which will in time "cause the horn of [the Lord's spiritual] Israel to bud forth" and in time it will also give us "the opening of the mouth" to cause the whole world to know that Christ is the true king of "the kingdoms of this world":

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

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.

Utilizing "the dream is one" principle, we have seen that Tyre and Babylon are both symbols of the Lord's own apostate Israel, which in turn symbolizes the apostate Christian church. The similarities of actions of the two kings, the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, are as striking as the similarities of the actions of the corn and the cows in Pharaoh's dreams, where we learn of this Biblical principle of "the dream is one".

Let's take the time to take note of the revelation of this principle in:

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

"The dream is one" is a Biblical principle which must apply throughout all scripture. The lean cows and the thin, blasted ears of corn are both symbols of who we are. They are symbols of the kingdom of our old man who devours us and is none the better for doing so. The well-fed cows and "the seven good ears" symbolize the mind of and doctrines of our new man who is destroyed by our old man, as we destroyed Christ before we were given to die with Him. Yet it is through that destruction of the Truth that we are judged and learn to die with Christ so we can then be saved from death.

This is how Christ explains this process:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

The seven lean years symbolize our starved, dying process, but the stored up grain symbolizes the life that comes out of that famine of the words of God. When the famine has run its course, then the corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, and life comes through that death just as the Lord's words teach us.

In Isaiah 14 we are given a "proverb against the king of Babylon". We are told his pomp is brought down to the grave because he said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven... I will be like the most high." Then we are told, "Yet you shall be brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit."

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

In Ezekiel 28 we are told "[your] heart is lifted up, and you said, I am God..."

Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Then the king of Tyre is told the same thing as the king of Babylon:

Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Eze 28:9  Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Eze 28:10  Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Tyre is no more Babylon than corn is cows. Yet in both cases the two are "one dream", and in both cases the message is the same. The kingdom of our old man must be destroyed before the kingdom of our new man will come forth out of that death, just as Christ came forth out of the grave as a "corn of wheat [which had] fallen into the ground and died".

Neither of these chapters say a word about any spirit being such as Satan. Both chapters deal with "a man" whose "heart is lifted up" and who "say[s] in [his] heart, I am God." Both men are "brought down to the grave" and are destroyed as types of our old man who makes all those same claims while he, too, "sits in the temple of God" claiming to be God:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he [our own old man] as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

It is an over simplification of scripture, but it is still true that from Genesis 1:1 to Rev 22:21 it is these two men who are in view. All scriptures actually concern themselves with nothing more than our old, "first man Adam", and our new man, "the last Adam":

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

With this understanding, let's now look at our last three verses for today's study:

Isa 23:4  Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Here is how "the sea... bring[s] forth children". Here in the New Testament is the exact spiritual opposite of verse Isaiah 23:4 along with the fruit of the children who "rise up out of the sea":

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.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

But here we are being told that Tyre will be destroyed and will no longer produce any children. The report of her destruction is likened to the report of Egypt's destruction. Our old man is destroyed as Christ is being birthed within us. When the Lord delivered Israel out of Egypt He destroyed Egypt in the process. Yet it still took the death of the firstborn of Egypt to bring Egypt to her knees, and even then this symbol of our old man still wanted to enslave and destroy us:

Exo 10:7  And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

Exo 12:29  And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Exo 12:30  And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

At this point, Pharaoh and his people were now moved by great fear to cast Israel out of Egypt and to pay them to leave:

Exo 12:33  And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.
Exo 12:34  And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Exo 12:35  And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
Exo 12:36  And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

But as a testimony to our stubborn, rebellious nature, Pharaoh could not leave well enough alone, and he still thought he could somehow overpower the Lord and again enslave and destroy us. Pharaoh is our old man, and his predestined doom was very near:

Exo 14:8  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9  But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

Exo 14:27  And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:28  And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
Exo 14:29  But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Exo 14:30  Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

The parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; all of this was reported to the nations in the land of Canaan and their hearts melted.

Jos 2:9  And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:10  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
Jos 2:11  And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

What does all of this mean to the kingdom of our old man within us? Here is what it means to Tyre and all her daughters:

Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Conversely Christ within us can rest and rejoice in His strength and in the comfort of His Words. "If God [is] for us who can be against us?"

This is the positive side of Isaiah 23:5-6:

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is our study for today. Next week we will see that the outcome of the war in our heavens against the kingdom of our old man has already been determined and written down for our comfort and  our admonition.

Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.