Jer 25:1-14 Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, [is] My Servant

[Study Aired November 28, 2021]

Jer 25: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
Jer 25:2  The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Jer 25:3  From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7  Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

The first thing we need to establish is to whom this prophecy is primarily addressed. We are told:

Jer 25: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

In our study of Jeremiah 3, we established that “all the people of Judah” are symbolized by the younger of two harlot wives of our Lord. The elder harlot wife is named ‘Aholah’, and the younger, more lascivious wife, is named ‘Aholibah’. Since we want to always remember that “[we] are the man” who has sinned against the Lord, we must acknowledge that we are both these adulterous sisters. Aholah, the elder sister, symbolizes the northern kingdom of Israel, and Aholibah, the younger more lascivious sister, symbolizes the southern nation of “all the people of Judah”.

These two adulterous sisters typify our decent from the position of “carnal babes in Christ” into the proselyte who is “twofold more the child of hell (Greek: ‘Gehenna’) than the Babylonian ministers who have proselytized us.

Here is the link to that study explaining who Aholah and Aholibah symbolize: The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 3:9-19, Part 2 – Only acknowledge Thine Iniquity

The stubbornness of our old man knows no bounds. To demonstrate this point, let’s consider the length of time this prophecy of Jeremiah spans. Jeremiah began to prophesy against the people of Judah in the reign of Josiah the father of Jehoiakim. Josiah is called the best king Judah ever had:

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Jeremiah’s prophecy began “in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign”, and Josiah reigned 31 years.

2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

Jeremiah had been a prophet in Judah for 18 years when Josiah died at the hands of Pharaohnechoh.

We are told that Jeremiah lamented for Josiah:

2Ch 35:25  And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

When Josiah was slain, the people made his son Jehoahaz king, but he was an evil king and reigned only three months before Pharaohnechoh replaced him with Jehoiakim his brother.

2Ch 36:2  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

The prophecy of this chapter therefore takes place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah. Jeremiah’s prophesied 18 years in the reign of Josiah, through the three months of Jehoahaz’s reign, and now the prophecy of this chapter is given to him in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. It is therefore coming to him three months into his 23^rd year of prophesying in the name of the Lord to the people of Judah:

Jer 25:2  The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Jer 25:3  From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

If we analyze the number “three and twenty”, three is the number of the process of being judged, and twenty is 2×10, two signifying ‘witness’ against our old man and ten signifying the flesh of our old man.

Numbers in Scripture – Three, the Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment
Numbers – Two
Numbers – Ten

Jeremiah was certainly not the only prophet of his day. Here is a prophet who was slain by King Jehoiakim during the time of Jeremiah:

Jer 26:20  And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23  And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

As Jeremiah makes so clear, everyone who fears for his life and returns to Egypt will still lose his life, and those who give up their lives and remain in the Lord’s hand will keep their lives:

Jer 26:24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

This principle is twice repeated in the doctrines of Christ in the New Testament:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

That way of thinking makes no sense at all to our natural man who is made to want to preserve his life in this world. For this very reason, the prophecy of Jeremiah, that God is in the process of sending us into Babylon, is rejected by “all the people of Judah”:

Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7  Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Our evil ways and worship of other gods is for one purpose: “that ye might provoke [the Lord] to anger”, and His anger brings us hurt from Him. The details of that “anger [and] hurt” are a major part of the revelation of Jesus Christ within our lives. If we are given to see the work of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, climaxing in the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God in our lives, then we will understand that the captivity of “all the people of Judah” by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, foreshadows and signifies our unwillingness to even acknowledge that we are slaves to “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the 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.

It is ordained by the Lord that only great tribulation such as was not since man was upon the earth will wake us up to our stubborn rebellion against the words of the Lord’s prophets:

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

It is this “great tribulation” which is described in the seven plagues which “fill up the wrath of God”, and begin to drag us out of Babylon:

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Twice the Lord tells us, “Ye have not hearkened unto me… that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.” Those words appear to put the onus for our deaf ears and our evil works upon us. However, these words of the Lord are the same as the words of Joseph to his brothers who sold him as a slave into Egypt:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Many years later he even acknowledged that they meant what they did to Him “for evil”:

Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

While both of these sections of scripture appear to the natural man to say that Joseph’s brothers are responsible for their actions, the holy spirit tells us otherwise. Look at the very next verses in Genesis 45:

Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20 tells us the exact same thing:

Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

When Joseph says “God meant it unto good”… the pronoun ‘it’ refers to the evil Joseph’s brothers did against him by selling him as a slave into Egypt. It was God who made them do that evil deed “after the counsel of His own will”, as with all other deeds of mankind, good and evil:

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

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Very few are even given to see that Joseph told his brothers it was not them who sold him into Egypt, but it was God. Even those who do see that it was God who made them do that evil deed tell us that this is an exception to the rule, and God intervened only in this one instance and perhaps in a few other instances. Is that true? Is the hand of God in the story of Joseph an exception to the rule? What do the scriptures teach concerning the extent of the hand of God in the affairs of mankind? Let us “let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom 3:4).

Here is what scriptures teach concerning the extent of the hand of God in the affairs of mankind:

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

“I make peace and create evil” confirms what Joseph told his brothers… “it was not you that sent me here, but God…”

God’s sovereign hand over all evil is also declared in the book of Daniel:

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.

God is ruling in the kingdom of men “and setteth up over it the basest of men.”  If it really were God who sent Joseph into Egypt, if God makes peace and creates evil, and if He ‘sets up over [this world] the basest of men”, then the fact is that He really is working “all things, [the good and the evil], after the counsel of His own will”, which is exactly what He tells us.

Let’s repeat that verse which tells of the extent of His intervention in the affairs of mankind:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The Lord is working “all things after the counsel of His own will”, yet He tells us, “Because ye have not heard my words…  I will… send… Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, [a very evil man whom the Lord calls] My servant, and will bring them against [My own people] … and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them.”

Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

The natural man knows nothing about the keys to the kingdom of heaven and therefore does not understand the principle involved in the Biblical statement which tells us that Truth is only to be found in “the sum of Thy word”:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

We are not told, “Some of your words are true”. What we are told is that Truth, the mind of Christ, who is “the Truth” is to be found only in “the sum of Thy Word”. In other words, we must make ourselves familiar with the overall message of scripture, “line upon line and precept upon precept” concerning any subject if we really want to come to know the Truth of Christ and His mind on any matter.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

It is not “them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts” who wrest and twist the word of God to their own destruction. It is those who cannot acknowledge that they are or ever have been spiritually “carnal… babes in Christ” who do so. Such people cannot acknowledge their own spiritual blindness, and yet they are today’s spiritual leaders. They are the modern-day Pharisees whose “blindness remains” and who have never so much as heard of a “carnal babe in Christ”, or that Christ came “that they which see might be made blind”:

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.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees [symbolizing modern denominational ministers] which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The Lord’s people of Jeremiah’s day typify the Lord’s people of this day. The church at the time of Christ typifies the church of today, which would even now be the first to say, “Crucify Him”. They do not understand Christ simply because they are not given the ability to hear and perceive His Words:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

They are not given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Our fate, and the fate of every man is in the Lord’s hands. If He wills to do so then He softens our hearts and makes us fearful of disobeying Him, and makes us subject unto His commandments. If He wills that we be rebellious then all He has to do is to harden our already rebellious carnal mind, thus giving Himself the occasion He is seeking to destroy our old man:

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Our sins were prophesied by the Lord Himself:

Deu 31:27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
Deu 31:28  Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
Deu 31:29  For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Our own experience of rebelling against the Lord, and being blessed to be judged in “this present time” and having our own self-righteous old man begin to be destroyed in ‘this present time’, is a type and a shadow of what the Lord will do with all the rest of mankind following the short season of rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”. When we “do evil in the sight of the Lord” it gives the Lord the “occasion [He is seeking] to provoke Him to anger through the works of [our] hands”, as Moses prophesied we would do “in the latter days”. Our rebellion has given the Lord the occasion He seeks to deal with our old man and to begin his destruction within us in “this present time”. So, the Lord’s words through Jeremiah apply to us first “for [our] good”:

Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land [The Lord’s own people] shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

This is exactly what the angel with one of the seven last plagues in Revelation 19 tells us he himself has kept:

Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Here is a statement in “the sayings of this book” concerning the Lord’s people who are being judged in this present time:

Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

If we have ever hated the doctrine of Christ, and we have all done so, then we are guilty of hating those who brought us that gospel, and in that sense, we are all guilty of the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of the blood of Christ Himself.

After the Lord has sacrificed nations for our sakes and after He has used self-righteous Babylon to deceive and betray us, then she and all the self-righteous kings over whom she has reigned will also be judged by the Lord:

Jer 25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Isa 43:3  For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Isa 43:4  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
Isa 43:5  Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

The word translated ‘perpetual’ in verse 12 is the Hebrew word ‘olam’, which is demonstrated to be the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘aion’. Here are four New Testament quotations from the Old Testament where the Hebrew word ‘olam’ is translated in the New Testament with the Greek word ‘aion’:

Old Testament:

Psa 112:9  He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time]; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

Quoted in the New Testament:

2Co 9:9  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age].

Old Testament:

Psa 45:6  Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time]: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

Quoted in the New Testament:

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age]: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Old Testament:

Psa 110:4  The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time] after the order of Melchizedek.

Quoted in the New Testament:

Heb 5:6  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age] after the order of Melchisedec.

Old Testament:

Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time].

Quoted in the New Testament:

1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age]. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Judgment begins at the Lord’s own house, and His elect must come out of His unfaithful wife to begin to become a “chaste virgin espoused to one Husband” (2Co 11:2). In that process of “coming out of her”, Babylon is being judged within us.

Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

This all has an outward, “will be” application for this world, but this judgment of Babylon must take place spiritually first within us as the Lord’s true and faithful ‘house… [His] wife… [His] sons’:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

There we have it. The Lord’s elect are called “My people… an espoused virgin… the house of God [and] sons of God”. Indeed, we are all of those things as it serves to fulfill His purpose for us.

Let’s read Jeremiah 25:13-14 again:

Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

Here is the New Testament version of these verses:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The words “every man’s work” here includes the works of the Lord’s elect, just as “no man” includes the Lord’s elect in:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Both the Lord’s elect and “every man’s work” shall be tried by the same fire. That fire is the Word of God:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

There is a “thousand year… kingdom of our Lord and His Christ” between “the resurrection of life” for the Lord’s elect, and “the resurrection of damnation (Greek: krima, judgment)” for all the rest of mankind.

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.

Notice that this judgment against the Lord’s own people has already been twice referenced here in this prophecy:

Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Jer 16:9  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

“The voice of the Bridegroom” is the voice of our Lord Himself, and “the voice of the bride” is the voice of His bride, His elect, His espoused virgin, who speaks for Him in this world. Their voices are no more heard in “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”. Their voices are no more heard in the churches and religions of this world. The Lord has taken away from Judah and Jerusalem the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

“Seven women” are mentioned in the first verse of the next chapter of Isaiah, which simply serves to confirm that “the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water have been take away from Judah and Jerusalem, and as Jeremiah puts it:

Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land [The Lord’s own people] shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [the completely apostatized church] 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.

Then in chapter 33 the Lord has dragged us out of Babylon. He has begun the process of judging that great whore within us, and we have begun the process of returning to Him with our whole heart.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

“Return the captivity of the land, as at the first” is to bring us back to the Lord with the pure heart of the proselyte who is made “twofold more the child of Gehenna” than the self-righteous Babylonian ministers who were used of the Lord to first bring us to see our need for a savior.

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

It is of utmost importance that we take note that it is the Lord who “causes” the voice of he bridegroom and bride to cease, and it is the Lord who “causes” the voice of the bridegroom and the bride to return to the streets of Judah and Jerusalem:

Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever:  and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

The comforting message for us is that it is Lord who is “the author and finisher of our faith”, and He will finish the work He has begun within us:

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is a great relief if we are given the faith to believe these words and to rest in “the author and finisher of our faith”.

That is our study for today, and here are the verses for our next study where we will learn that no one can avoid drinking of the cup of the wine of the Lord’s wrath:

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
Jer 25:20  And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jer 25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
Jer 25:22  And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
Jer 25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
Jer 25:24  And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
Jer 25:25  And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 21 Discussion

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Isa 5:8-15 Therefore My People Are Gone Into Captivity, Because They Have No Knowledge

Isa 5:8  Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
Isa 5:9  In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
Isa 5:10  Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
Isa 5:11  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
Isa 5:12  And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
Isa 5:13  Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
Isa 5:14  Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
Isa 5:15  And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

Our study last week concerned the wild grapes brought forth by the Lord's people whom He had given every opportunity to produce good fruit. We ended that study with the Lord answering His own rhetorical question 'What more could I do for my vineyard than what I have done?' His answer was to tell us what He is doing to His vineyard.

Here are the last three verses from last week's study:

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.

So the curses which are being pronounced in today's study are our Lord's words, which are elaborating on how and why the Lord is "lay[ing] waste" His own "vineyard... the house of Israel" who, when they should have brought forth judgment, instead they produced oppression, and when they should have produced righteousness, instead caused a cry to come up from those who were being oppressed by God's own vineyard, His own people Israel.

We are God's vineyard. He is not talking to people who do not hear or understand to whom He is speaking or what He is saying. He is speaking to those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God. These words are speaking to you and to me, about you and me, if we "know His voice".

Ezekiel was told to "show the house to the house":

Eze 43:10  Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

So let us hear what He is saying to His vineyard about His vineyard, His people, and in doing so let us be ashamed of our own iniquities and contrast our old man with the pattern of the new man, Christ within us. That is why God is showing His vineyard to His vineyard, and why He is showing His House to the house of Israel:

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 12 Discussion

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Isa 3:1-5 The Lord Takes Away From Jerusalem The Whole Stay of Bread and Water

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

The word 'for' connects what is about to be said here in chapter 3 with what has been said in the previous first two chapters. This word 'for' is translated from the Hebrew word

H3588
כּי
kı̂y
kee

A primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix)indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjugation or adverb; often largely modified by other particles annexed: - and, + (forasmuch, inasmuch, where-) as, assured [-ly], + but, certainly, doubtless, + else, even, + except, for, how, (because, in, so, than) that, + nevertheless, now, rightly, seeing, since, surely, then, therefore, + (al-) though, + till, truly, + until, when, whether, while, who, yea, yet,

As you can see the Hebrew word 'kiy' is "a particle... indicating causal relations of all kinds..." So the "causal relationship" of what we are about to read is connected to what we just read the Lord is doing to His people in chapters one and two. In those two chapters God informs His people of their rebellions against Him:

Here is the theme of chapter one:

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

In verse ten He calls His own people spiritually 'Sodom and Gomorrah':

Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

In verse 15 He tells them that because of all their rebellious, sinful ways, the day is coming when they will cry out to Him, and He will refuse to hear their prayers to Him:

Isa 1:15  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

But all the Word of God is the story of what God is working in mankind like a Potter working with clay. It is all about what He is doing, and He wants us to know that all that happens is what He is doing to us. This is a message He wants to make perfectly clear beyond any doubt in the mind of those He is calling to be coheirs with Him in the Kingdom His Father is giving Him, and which He in turn gives to us (Luk 22:29). So we are informed of the depth of His sovereignty and the depth of His works in our lives. This is the depth of His Sovereignty:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Pro 16:3  Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The very formulation of any thought whatever, "and the answer of the tongue" expressing that thought "is from the Lord". And lest we miss the whole point, we are emphatically told "The Lord has made all things for Himself: yes even the wicked for the day of evil", which is the "the day of the Lord... the day of His wrath... the day of judgment" with which so very much of scripture concerns itself. So in verse 18 God entreats His people to come to Him and receive of Him the fiery chastening their own sins have brought upon them. The King James hides the meaning of what God actually says in that verse, and because this verse is quoted so much, we will go back over what we learned about it.

This is the oft quoted King James Version:

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

The way this verse is translated in the King James version would lead us to believe that, as the spiritual Job we all are, God granted Job his ungodly desire to reason with His Creator, and to attempt to convince His own Creator that there is a much better way than His way:

Job 13:3  Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

And how did that turn out?:

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

God does not "reason" with us. We are even admonished:

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

So we saw that the entire phrase "and let us reason together" is translated from the one Hebrew word H3198 - yakach.

Here again is that verse with its Strong's numbers:

Isa 1:18  Come^H1980 now,^H4994 and let us reason together,^H3198 saith^H559 the LORD:^H3068 though^H518 your sins^H2399 be^H1961 as scarlet,^H8144 they shall be as white^H3835 as snow;^H7950 though^H518 they be red^H119 like crimson,^H8438 they shall be^H1961 as wool.^H6785
Isa 1:19  If^H518 ye be willing^H14 and obedient,^H8085 ye shall eat^H398 the good^H2898 of the land:^H776

Which actually means to be "chastened... rebuked, [and] reproved".

H3198
יכח
yâkach
yaw-kakh'

A primitive root; to be right (that is, correct); reciprocally to argue; causatively to decide, justify or convict: - appoint, argue, chasten, convince, correct (-ion), daysman, dispute, judge, maintain, plead, reason (together), rebuke, reprove (-r), surely, in any wise.

Indeed that is the way it is most often translated:

H3198
יכח
yâkach
Total KJV Occurrences: 58
reprove, 16
2Ki_19:4, Job_6:25-26 (2), Job_13:10, Job_22:4, Psa_50:8, Psa_50:21, Psa_141:5, Pro_9:8, Pro_19:25, Pro_30:6, Isa_37:3-4         (3), Jer_2:19, Hos_4:4
rebuke, 8
Lev_19:17, 1Ch_12:17, Psa_38:1 (2), Pro_9:8, Pro_24:25, Isa_2:4, Mic_4:3
reproved, 4
Gen_20:16, Gen_21:25, 1Ch_16:21, Psa_105:14
plead, 3
Job_16:21, Job_19:5, Mic_6:2
reason, 3
Job_15:2-3 (3), Isa_1:18
rebuketh, 3
Pro_9:7, Pro_28:23, Amo_5:10
reproveth, 3
Job_40:2, Pro_15:12, Isa_29:21
appointed, 2
Gen_24:14, Gen_24:44
correcteth, 2
Job_5:17, Pro_3:12
reprover, 2
Pro_25:12 (2), Eze_3:26
arguing, 1
Job_6:25
chasten, 1
2Sa_7:14
chastened, 1
Job_33:19
convinced, 1
Job_32:12
correct, 1
Psa_94:10
correction, 1
Hab_1:12
daysman, 1
Job_9:33
dispute, 1
Job_23:7
judge, 1
Gen_31:37
maintain, 1
Job_13:15
rebuked, 1
Gen_31:42
wise, 1
Lev_19:17

This oft quoted verse should really read. 'Come now, receive the chastening [detailed in this prophecy], saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'

The rest of chapter one details our chastening judgment ending with these words:

Isa 1:31  The strongest among you will disappear like burning straw. Your evil deeds are the spark that will set the straw on fire, and no one will be able to put it out. (NLT)

Chapter two began by describing the ultimately comforting fruit of the judgments of God:

Isa 2:1  The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

In our studies we discovered that the abrupt change in tone from verse 5 to verse 6 cannot be understood without understanding that verese 6 begins with another bad translation. I will not review that entire study other than to remind you that the first word of verse 6, the word 'therefore' and the word 'because' in that verse, are both translated from the same Hebrew word, 'kiy', and that the verse would read much more accurately, reflecting the sovereign work of God, if those two words were simply transposed.

Here is the King James version of that verse:

Isa 2:6  Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

Using the word 'therefore' in the first instance connect what is being said, but it make it appear to be God's reaction to Israel's sin instead of making Israel's sins and iniquities to be the logical progression of what God is doing with Israel.

This translation much better reflects the Truth being presented to us in this prophecy:

Isa 2:6  Because thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, therefore they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

Transposing those two words helps us to bear in mind the truth and depth of the sovereign work of God upon His creation, as declared in these two verses:

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

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

The rest of chapter two is encapsulated in these few verses:

Isa 2:17  And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 
Isa 2:18  And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
Isa 2:19  And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 

We are now back to  begin our study in chapter 3 where the very first word is the same word we transposed in chapter two, verse 6:

H3588
כּי
kı̂y
kee

A primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix)indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjugation or adverb; often largely modified by other particles annexed: - and, + (forasmuch, inasmuch, where-) as, assured [-ly], + but, certainly, doubtless, + else, even, + except, for, how, (because, in, so, than) that, + nevertheless, now, rightly, seeing, since, surely, then, therefore, + (al-) though, + till, truly, + until, when, whether, while, who, yea, yet,

Once again this verse, too, would read more powerfully and much more accurately by replacing the word 'for' with the word 'because'.

Here is that verse in the King James Version:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Let's replace 'for' with 'because' and see how that affects the message of this verse:

 Isa 3:1  [Because], behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Either 'for' or 'because' are permissible translations denoting a causal relationship. But the word 'because' puts God's sovereign work much more in focus, than the word 'for' which makes it appear that God is reacting to what Israel did, rather than "working all things, [including removing the whole stay of bread and water form Jerusalem] after the counsel of His own will" (Eph 1:11).

I tell the story of the reaction I got from one of my grown sons when I shared the truth of this verse in our weekly fellowship for the first time. I had been shocked at the reality of what I had read, and I had given it a lot of thought before I myself could accept the depth of what I was seeing.

In presenting what this verse is saying I simply agreed with what the Lord says here, that "the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water" has been taken away from God's apostate, harlot (Isa 1:21), people whom He labels spiritual "Sodom... and... Gomorrah" (Isa 1:10). Then I emphasized the meaning of what the Lord is telling us. I said, 'What the Lord is telling us here is that not one single doctrine of fallen Jerusalem, spiritual Sodom and Gomorrah, is true'.

My emphasizing what was right there before our eyes, and is now right here before our eyes, was just more than my son could receive at that time. All I was doing was agreeing that 'the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water' has been taken away from the all the churches of the great harlot system, given the spiritual name of "Babylon the great" in the book of Revelation, and my son said "Dad don't say things like that. That just is not true". So I stopped and challenged him, as I do anyone, to name just one doctrine of the churches of Babylon, which has not been tainted with her heresies. His answer to that challenge was "Dad, we all believe and agree that Christ died for our sins". So I asked him, 'Which Babylonian Church teaches that Christ died on the cross, and was actually dead? Do they not rather believe that Christ had an immortal soul which could not and did not die?' He had to confess that the churches of Babylon as a whole, do not teach that Christ actually died for the sins of the world. Instead what they actually teach, in the vast majority of cases is that only His body died, and He Himself, as an immortal spiritual body, was either in hell preaching to spirits in prison or else He was in paradise with the thief on the cross, and it was only His physical body that was hanging on the cross.

But the point being made is that Israel had rebelled against Him,"kiy" , meaning "because" God had taken away "the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water", just  as Israel was replenished from the east and had become soothsayers like the Philistines "Because [God] had forsaken His people..."

Isa 2:6  Because thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, therefore they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

I will be reminding us from time to time that this message of the sovereignty of God is relayed to us in no uncertain terms when Isaiah laments in this very prophecy:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Just as in chapter two, when speaking of how thorough the idols of our hearts permeate our lives, here again is chapter three the depth of the oppression of our idolatrous, adulterous ways is also made manifest to us in these words:

Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,

This is what we are told is the extent of our idolatry at this stage of our experience.

Isa 2:8  Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
Isa 2:9  And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

"The mean man... and the great man", means the small and the great within us bow to worship the idols of our beastly, rebellious carnal heart.

Here is how this is expressed in the book we are told we are to read, hear and keep" (Rev 1:3):

Rev 13:15  And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image to the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead;
Rev 13:17  and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man [Greek, anthropos, mankind]: and his number is six hundred and sixty and six. (ASV)

Our next verse continues expressing the extent of this spiritual starvation which God places upon our apostatized heart, and the depth of our natural desire to please ourselves and to cling to the idols of our hearts, including the idol of our heart which insists on having some things in common with the great harlot, out of whom we are commanded to come and from whom we are told He has taken the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water so that we can have nothing in common with her and her heretical doctrines. That desire to be accepted of the harlot and her place and honor in this world extends to every part of our lives:

Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

The worship of ourselves and of the doctrines we want to believe is all pervasive, and it excludes no part of our rebellious lives. But disobedience to God cannot prosper because it has its own destruction built into it, and death is the fruit of that disobedient nature of our old man and his beastly kingdom. When we "sow to the flesh" we reap corruption and death, and this is an integral part of the work God is performing within "every man" in the day of each man's appointed judgment.

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

"The day" which declares what is our works is "the day of the Lord, the day of His wrath, the day of judgment", which begins at the house of God (1Pe 4:17).  We are blessed above all men to see the death and destruction of the kingdom of our old man in this age, instead of having to wait until after the millennium, as the vast majority will.

Here are the early fruits of our rebellious ways against our heavenly Father. Here are the fruits of our service to the idols of our hearts:

Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 

There are physical families in which the parents have no concept of God's order. In some such families the parents are so solicitous of their children that it can honestly be said that the children rule their parents. No undisciplined child is capable of making decisions which are good for the family as a whole simply because we are all, by nature completely self-centered. The result is total chaos and a completely dysfunctional family which is doomed to failure as a family. Internally we just naturally commandeer the throne of our hearts and minds, and we just naturally rebel against our spiritual Father and our spiritual mother, and we reap the fruit of that rebellion, which is what happens in any undisciplined family or nation, spiritual or physical:

Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 

This verse is very easily understood just as  it reads, but here is it's spiritual application which takes place even in families where the parents teach their children to think of what is best for the family, and what is best for the world around them. This is the spiritual application of this verse in the lives of all those who know Christ and want only to be obedient to Him:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 
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.
Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 
Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

"Shall not have gone over the cities of Israel" is a spiritual inward statement telling us that we will be struggling against our own flesh within the kingdom of God, the cities of Israel within us (Luk 17:20-21). Christ said this of Himself:

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

In other words, Christ also struggled against His own flesh until "the third day". He Himself had not gone over the cities of Israel until "the third day", when He was then perfected and had gone over all the cities within the kingdom of God within Himself. But we should never conclude from any of this that Christ did not "know the truth" (Joh 8:30-31). That is not what "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come" means.

Here is another example of the spiritual meaning of "every one... shall be oppressed... by another, and every one by his neighbour:"

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 
Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

"The people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor, because they were never taught by their harlot mother to show consideration for the law of God, much less others. We have all been made by God to err from His ways, and our hearts are at that time hardened from His fear (Isa 63:17). This entire prophecy is about all the mechanics of how a loving heavenly Father is working all things after the counsel of His own will, which 'will' is in the end for our good:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: