(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, Isaiah chapter 45 continuing with very similar theme as far as Isaiah 43 44 and 45 all cover a lot of similar topics and just kind of what's what's contained within these chapters and We're gonna even continue You know roasting the Jehovah's false witnesses Because there's so much found in you know, and I knew this before You know We even got up to these chapters chapter 43 44 and 45 have so much great doctrine in it. That is so contrary to Jehovah's false witnesses that it's you know, it's just you can't help but preach through it and There's a lot here, but there's there's a lot more than just that so I'm not gonna focus like a Whole lot of time on that but there's there's there's still more points to be brought up in regards to that subject In this chapter as well, but I got a lot of things I want to get into it Let's just dig in right away. And before we even start here in verse number one, I want to back up to the like the last verse of chapter 44 and I didn't get go into this very much last week because I knew we were getting into it this week the Bible says there in verse 28 That saith of Cyrus he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem Thou shalt be built and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid and I just mentioned the fact that you know This is referring to Cyrus who is to come and he's going to continue talking about Cyrus now starting off in chapter 45 and We're gonna get this whole timeline, which is amazing to me that this is being prophesied Before any of this stuff even happens and Cyrus is prophesied by name it's one of the one of the few times that like the actual name of an individual is being prophesied about in in the past before things come to be Josiah was another Name that was prophesied in the book of Kings way way way early on going all the way back to Jeroboam the son of Nebat That that Josiah was going to come, you know hundreds of years later I think is three or four hundred years that went by before that prophecy was fulfilled by name And it's it's a very similar thing here with a not not quite as long of a time frame But a long time. I'm still like Well over a hundred years probably about 200 years I didn't do the math at all on this but but we're talking a significant amount of time before any of this would happen But let's keep reading here in verse number one of Isaiah chapter 45 Bible says thus saith the Lord to his anointed Now anointed means chosen Okay, it's someone that God has chosen and what we're gonna see here in a little bit Is that you know, I don't even think Cyrus is saved but God is using this man and what we'll see that I'll prove it to you a little bit, but God's calling Cyrus his anointed thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I Have holden so God's saying I am holding the right hand of Cyrus. I'm there I'm his right-hand man while he goes forward and and his subdueings is to subdue the nations before him so God is working with this Cyrus to Overcome other nations and to just win victories over other nations He says and I will loose the loins of Kings to open before him the two leaved gates in the gates that shall not Be shut now keep your place here Let's turn over if you would quickly to 2nd Chronicles chapter 36 Just to give you a Timeline of the events that happen I could briefly just mention them I'd rather just read through a little portion of scripture to see it in the Bible where Cyrus falls into Everything because Cyrus is a Persian king So what's gonna happen here Isaiah is prophesying Jeremiah is gonna prophesy, you know, we're they're prophesying many things, but the the next disaster to come for Israel for Jerusalem is Being taken captive by the Babylonians where they're gonna just be completely destroyed. The temple is gonna be destroyed they're gonna be you know slain and taken captive and everything else and They're gonna spend 70 years in Babylon and Before they're even gonna be allowed to come back and during that time you know Nebuchadnezzar is gonna gonna rule and then he's gonna fall and then there's gonna be other kings that come and take his place and you read through the different timeline of kings and Cyrus is actually part of the Medo-Persian Empire He's a Persian king and he's gonna be the one that proclaims that allows the Jews to go back into Jerusalem And to rebuild the temple that's destroyed We're gonna get a little bit scripture just just covering that in case you don't remember those things Look at verse number 15 and 2nd Chronicles chapter 36 We're gonna just read through this real quick Bible says in the Lord God of their fathers sent to them By his messengers now, this is talking about the children of Israel Before any of the captivity before this stuff God is sending Messengers and I wanted to go into this just a little bit because it's relevant to why I just preached on Sunday About the burden of America and you know, God sends his messengers to his people before doing anything He gives his people a chance to repent. He gives them a chance to get right but look at what happens here and this is what's important to just bear in mind as History might repeat itself As history does repeat itself Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes betimes means early and Sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy so God sending his prophets he's sending people to Prophesy to preach his word to warn them to tell them and what did the how did the people respond? How did his people respond? mocking Ridiculing, you know, just just treating Misusing the Bible says the prophets and the preachers and just berating them and mocking them and making a fool out of them and Imprisoning them and beating them up and doing all these different things. It says until the point where God's wrath He's just so angry with these people where the Bible says here that there is no remedy They're like there's no more fixing it. They had pushed things too far God. He's loving on them He's trying to warn him trying to give them a notice trying to let him know. Hey get right, you know I'm sending all these people to you But they just turn their neck reject reject reject where God just says Not now you done it now. I'm super angry I'm livid and and nothing you do at this point is going to help you This is what the children of Israel had done. They had pushed God to the point of no return to where now he's gonna bring his fury and they're gonna be judged and This will happen to his people if his people are not careful no matter who those people are anyone who's saved anyone who is God's people or could be considered among a nation that's bringing forth the fruits thereof right his people, you know watch out when When you start mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and misusing the prophets because that wrath will come again verse 17 Therefore he brought therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees Who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no Compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age He gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God Great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his princes all these he brought to Babylon this is somewhat the carrying away that they spoiled them they took everything brought into Babylon verse 19 and they burnt the house of God and Break down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels They raised the city. They completely just destroyed destroy the temple Just take all the riches take all the goods and and you know break down the walls Completely destroyed verse 20 and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia and That's that's so they're captive until the reign of the kingdom of Persia Which is where Cyrus is going to come in verse 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah Until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate She kept Sabbath to fulfill threescore in ten years. So this is talking about Jeremiah prophesied hey, we're gonna be captive for 70 years and then once that's accomplished they're gonna they're gonna come back verse 22 now in the First year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished the Lord Stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and Put it also in writing saying thus Seth Cyrus king of Persia All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me and he hath charged me To build him in house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah Who is there among you of all his people the Lord has God be with him and let him go up now turn if you would to Ezra chapter 1 So they're taking captive, you know, they weren't listening they go into captivity in Babylon they're there for 70 years and then Cyrus comes into power and Has he just makes this proclamation to go and rebuild Jerusalem all according to The Word of the Lord and we have an Isaiah chapter 45 before they even begin to be taken captive Many many many many many years before they go into captivity He's already prophesying about Cyrus who's going to bring them back out of captivity It's I mean, this is this is why the Bible is the Word of God Right because these things are prophesied in advance and it's just it's an awesome thing Ezra chapter 1 verse number 1 about us is now in the first year of Cyrus King of Persia that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia They made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying thus says Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven Hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him in house at Jerusalem Which is in Judah who is there among you of all his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem Which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem and Whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth Let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts Beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem So again, we see a little bit more into his proclamation to go and rebuild Jerusalem now Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 45 One of the themes within chapter 45 and for chambers 43 44 and 45, you know, what does God keep saying? I am the Lord there is none else. There's no one beside me He keeps on bringing up how the idols are fake and he's fake gods He's gods that can't save and I'm the Lord glorify me and how powerful and mighty God is and who he is and he's the one who declares the beginning from the end and he's the one that does all these things and And We see here God again showing himself to be the only true God by declaring these things about Cyrus before they even come to be because earlier we saw he's talking about the idols going Well, let them declare what's gonna happen. Like what let them bring good or evil. Let's see Let's see what these idols can do these false gods. Well, I can't do anything because they're not real So in God's own proof of himself He's saying, you know now he's giving more evidence just showing He is the true God that the Lord God of Israel Reigns and is the true God in heaven in earth, you know of all creation Child verse number two in Isaiah 45 the Bible reads I will go before thee and Make the crooked place is still in in reference to Cyrus, right? So we say I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and son of the bars of iron and I will give thee the treasures of darkness and Hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I the Lord Which call thee by thy name and the God of Israel, so God is leading Cyrus here and Without him even knowing much Like about the Lord that he's saying I'm gonna lead you through here. I'm gonna give you these treasures of darkness So the treasures of like the kings of the world that have these secret treasures and stuff He's like I'm gonna give you all these earthly Treasures because he's conquering, you know, all the all the all the nations and stuff So he is receiving all this all the the power of these cities that had been under the control of the Babylonian Army or government is now going to be under the Persian rule and And Cyrus is is receiving now these treasures darkness. He says I'm gonna give you all this stuff just so that you know That I'm in charge just so that you know who I am Just so that you know that the Lord which call thee by thy name and the God of Israel Verse 4 for Jacob my servant's sake and Israel mine elect. I have even called thee by thy name I have surnamed thee look at this though thou hast not known me He's like I've done all this stuff for you Even though you don't even know who I am at all because God will pick and choose whoever he wants to To get his will done now. I don't think that Cyrus stayed unsaved But my point is he's able to use these people because when you see his proclamation and stuff He's declaring that the Lord is God like that He is the true God I do think he came at conclusion But I don't think he came at conclusion until after God had already done all these things for him where he finally Realized and opened up his eyes because God's saying I did all this stuff for you before you even knew me Before you knew anything about me. I chose to use you and The reason I even make it make a point of this is that God uses who whoever he wants to Whether they're saved or not to perform his will and I'll just give you like one example of this in in John chapter 11, you don't have to turn if you don't want to but Just so that you also understand that you know when the Bible uses the term servant Just because it says the word servant that still doesn't mean that that those people are saved God refers to his servants being saved or unsaved many times He refers to save people being a servant absolutely But he also refers to unsaved people being his servants as well when God uses a wicked King to do his will and to bring Judgment against people he'll refer to those people as his servants. Why because they're doing what he wants them to do Because they're serving him it does nothing to do with their own salvation It just has to do with the fact that he's in charge and they're serving him Whether they even know it or not, and I think there's a really good example of this in the book of John We're gonna read about Caiaphas who is a false prophet Who is one of the main people responsible for killing the Lord Jesus Christ and rejected Christ and never turned to Christ, okay? but he was still used of God as You know even as someone who spake the Word of God Now in John 11 verse 49 the Bible says and one of them named Caiaphas being the high priest that same year Said unto them ye know nothing at all Nor consider that is expedient for us that one man Should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not so he makes this statement and Then the Bible says the narrator says the Holy Ghost says in the next verse and this spake he not of Himself so when he made this statement that wasn't like his own Doing it says but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus Should die for that nation and not for that nation only But that also he should gather together and one the children of God that were scattered abroad so When God chooses to use someone he chose to use this guy because he was the high priest to make that statement It wasn't because he was so special or he was so good, but if God wants to use someone for his purpose he's he's able to do that and The reason I'm making a point of this is because we don't need to get so hung up like some people want to get hung Up on you know for example. We believe the King James Bible is a Word of God It's perfectly preserved in English for us today, but then people get hung up on well What about King James? Huh was King James saved or was he this or was he that or was he was a sodomite? You know the the the translators You know they were these Anglicans And I don't even think they were saved or what you know they really want to focus in on each one of the the individuals But it's it's pretty pointless Because if it's God's will to preserve his word Which it is by the way which is evidence in the Word of God itself that God is the one responsible for preserving his word He can use whoever he wants to as the instruments to do so He could use Caiaphas as his instrument to bring forth his word if he so chooses as he Specifically did in John chapter 11 now in this case. I think it's kind of in use my own personal thoughts about Caiaphas here I Think that he probably had a different understanding of the words he was saying When he made this statement because he said that don't you know or consider that it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not I Think that his interpretation or understanding of that when he said that was well. Hey, so what if we have to kill one guy? Because it's gonna help us keep our power and keep our place because all these people are going after Jesus This is at the time when they're conspiring to kill him He's saying don't you know that's just gonna be better for us anyways Like for the Jews as a people because all these people are going after him and you know He's gonna cause all this problem problems for us and we're gonna lose our authority and our place from the Roman government So he's saying don't you know what's just best for us to be able to just let this guy You'll let this one guy die. So that so that's good for us. I Think that's what he was probably thinking and again, this is you know my opinion Whereas the prophecy is it is expedient that one man should perish For the sins of the whole people right for the sins of the world That that Jesus Christ should come and die in the cross. See that's the message that God was getting across through his word Just because Caiaphas couldn't understand that doesn't mean he still wasn't used of God as his servant because it was God's will that he would that he would say that or be the one to deliver that and In a similar fashion, you know we see Even King Cyrus or any other King, you know throughout history that we see being used of God can be used for God's will so we can't get too hung up Especially on the things like the translation or things like that. Just going to go. Well, what about this person? You know, it doesn't matter ultimately ultimately, it doesn't really Matter because the translators weren't even the ones giving us the Word of God first of all they were just doing the work of translating it from one language to another and Second of all if God gave them wisdom As he can give to any man Then why not? So anyhow, I wanted to point that out. Let's keep it go back to Isaiah 45. There's a lot more things I want to get into here. I Just think it's amazing that God does all this prophecy You know so far in advance and even calls out Cyrus by name a future king They haven't even gone to captivity yet and he's already talking about their return and who's gonna do it Verse Five I Am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee though. Thou has not known me 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 He's making the claims taking the claim early and making it known hey, I'm telling you this right now So that you understand and know full well that I am the Lord and there's none else there is no other gods There's no one else that can do this. It's me because sometimes people might think too. Oh well you know these Persian people Maybe it's the Persian gods They're the right gods because now they're in power and they're ruling and you know whatever whether it be the Romans or the Persians or the Greeks or whoever God saying no no no I'm telling you that I'm the one doing this so it's not any false God that they're worshipping That's bringing them into power I'm the one bringing them into power and God gets all the credit and glory this way saying you can't describe it to the to the might of Cyrus himself to his own personal Glory and and and anything else that he might have done in his own personal accomplishments God saying I did it and I'm telling you that I'm going to use him so that way when it happens The whole world will know that this has been prophesied and go wow that's amazing the Lord is God Because only God knows these things God decided to bring Babylon down and lift up Cyrus a Persian who like I said at the time I think he's probably not even saved, but you know again That's that's not really the point of whether or not personally He he was saved, but he did all this for his own namesake and for his people's sake verse number seven I form the light and create darkness. I Make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things And you know the Bible's these are this this could be a hard statement for some people I don't have a proper understanding of who God is First of all one says evil as you know I want to make sure it's clear in everyone's minds. It's not talking about sin Right now evil doing evil things can be sinful But the word itself does not automatically imply sin, so God's not like some sinner. He's not doing wickedly But he is doing evil because he's bringing harm, so that's why he contrasts evil with peace So he says well I could make peace or I could bring evil which is gonna be harm or war again So if God's angry to bring war against people he's bringing evil upon them Maybe he's gonna bring him peace and and and bless them and give them length of days. He does that as well So God's able to do both. It's not God isn't only doing what we consider to be good things And that's why I say we consider be good things because God bringing evil is still a good thing coming from the Lord Because God's judgment is good The judgment the Lord is a good thing It's just not a positive in the way that we think about it right, it's not it's not nice. It's not a it's not pleasant It's not it's not you know necessarily comforting, but it it really your God's justice is comforting You just got you just got to look at it Understand understand it. I guess not even look at right. You just got to understand it right, so Anyways, God's saying he does all those things verse 8 drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness Let the earth open And let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it now real briefly We're gonna get into some more prophecy I believe that there's going to be more references going forward from here into the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, so not only the return of the children of Israel out of captivity from Babylon into their into their home into the New Jerusalem to create Jerusalem again in the temple, but also another future prophecy of the millennial reign of Christ with With Jesus Christ ruling and reigning and I think that this is foreshadowing The The rapture the Saints resurrecting from the earth So let's read that verse 8 again drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down Righteousness let the earth open and let them bring forth Salvation and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it. It's very colorful language It's very poetic, but I think this is referencing that now if this verse was just in here by itself without what we're gonna read To come you can be like pastor burns I don't know if that makes sense, but as we keep reading just keep that in mind because there's a lot more evidence I think that's going to show us that this is Going to be referring to this time as well verse number nine says woe unto him that striveth with his maker Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth shall the clay say to him that fashion at that What makest thou or thy work he hath no hands, you know, it's sorrow and woe unto the person that's gonna fight against God You want to fight against God made you You can't fight against God made you You can't fight against God It's only gonna bring you to yourself misery and hurt and and nothing good You know people that that get all bent out of shape and angry at God and everything else. What are you gonna do to God? Like it's so futile What's the point? You can't do anything Woe unto him that striveth with his maker verse number 10 woe unto him that saith unto his father What beget is thou or to the woman what is thou brought forth, you know, the the child is questioning like like Well, what do you think you're doing? He's like, well, who are you? I Brought you forth. You don't come and and point your finger at me, right? And this is the way that God feels about people were gonna point their finger at him You should be thankful that you were brought forth. You should be thankful that you were given life You should be thankful that God made you who you are Instead of pointing a finger at God. Why did you make me like this? And you know, this is good for people who might have been born into this world with disadvantages Right, it's it's not your place to question God and get angry at God and say God why did you make me like this? And it doesn't matter what it is. I mean you could be you know, we're paralyzed blind deaf, you know learning problems, whatever Anything that may not be complete Hey God made you the way that you are and it's not your place to be questioning God as why he made you the way you did and to argue with him and fight against him Except the way that he made you except that there's a greater purpose the way that God made you for a reason and you know Everyone was created for his pleasure So everyone's capable of bringing pleasure unto the Lord regardless of your physical You know, what whatever problems deformities anything like that that that could have happened God wants you to use The best of your ability to serve him and that will make him happy verse number 11 Thus that the Lord the Holy One of Israel and his maker and you know another we brought this up I brought this up last week the Lord the Holy One of Israel and his maker showing there again the aspect of the Trinity how God exists in three persons because it's referring to To one and then like another there with him God the Holy the Lord the Holy One of Israel and his maker ask me of things to come concerning my sons and Concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth and created man upon it I even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded I Have raised him up in righteousness and I will direct all his ways Now He starts in verse 11 he says ask me of things to come concerning my sons Concerning the work of my hands come any me, but then he's gonna shift from plural to singular Okay from sons to I believe the son in verse number 13 Is I have raised him up in righteousness and I will direct all his ways he shall build my city and He shall let go my captives Not for price nor reward Set the Lord of hosts and again, I think this is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ who's gonna come and build God's holy city and He's gonna come and let go The captives right freeing leading captivity captive freeing the captives bringing freedom bringing salvation And now when it says here not for price no reward. That's not talking about like paying a ransom What this is talking about is he's not doing it to receive a price or reward right so Jesus Christ offers himself up selflessly For our salvation to free the captives He offered up himself not in order for him to gain some reward in doing that He wasn't doing it for his own benefit. He did it for our benefit. This is why it says they're Not for price nor reward said the Lord of hosts First 14 thus that the Lord the labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans men of stature shall come over unto thee and They shall be thine they shall come after thee in chains They shall come over and they shall fall down Unto thee they shall make supplication unto thee saying surely God is in thee and there is none else. There is no God now The Labor of Egypt the merchandise of Ethiopia, you know all these Heathen lands and coming in and bringing forth honor and glory unto the Lord. I Don't know of any time in history after the children of Israel, you know rebuilt Jerusalem that these nations were going and serving the Jews and Proclaiming the Lord to be God and bringing in their wealth and bringing this stuff and saying there's a Lord you know This is why I think this is talking about the the millennial reign of Christ because that is going to happen when all the nations of the earth are going to flow into Jerusalem where Jesus is going to be ruling and reigning and Everybody is going to know that there is a Lord that reigns and that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of our Father. We'll get to that in actually just a little bit in This sermon but they're gonna come in he says surely God is in thee and there is none else There is no God finally showing that people are gonna realize who the true God is and it sounds here kind of like Everyone's gonna know who the true God is writes listing off these specific Ethiopia Egypt historically have just been very wicked heathen peoples and lands and and even symbolically are just not Ever known as like godly people now, they're all gonna realize who the Lord really is and bringing in their goods verse 15 Says verily thou art to God that hidest thyself O God of Israel the Savior So acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior during I believe during his millennial reign is what we're seeing here verse 16 They shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them They shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord With an everlasting salvation you shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without end and this is just talking about the Eternality of that salvation saying you will never be ashamed never be confounded and at the time of the middle reign of Christ That is true that God's people will never be ashamed or confounded like ever again in this world until that happens There's going to be times where we may not be ashamed of Christ But where the world will bring his people God's people to shame right the world will have dominion over God's people But not during the millennial reign of Christ or any time after that where they won't be confounded, you know world without end That's never gonna happen Verse 18 for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens God himself that formed the earth and made it he hath established it. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be Inhabited I am the Lord and there is none else I'm going to take a quick step here away from the main theme that we've been going through Just to point out this phrase where the Bible says That he created the earth. He didn't create it in vain like for no purpose. It says he formed it to be inhabited Now keep your place here and turn back to Genesis chapter 1 because there's there's people who believe in false religions of like this the the Mother Earth religion and The the wicked New World Order religion that's going to tell you that there's overpopulation And that we need to limit the amount of people and you know, we're gonna see You when we go to our camping trip, you look at if you take a drive out to the Georgia Guidestones You'll see the the the wicked satanic Plan an agenda to have a low population And to try to keep the population of the world under I forget what the number is that they have. It's like some really small number 500 million and it's like yeah, why don't you start with killing yourself? Do the world do the do Mother Earth a favor and kill yourself then? I'm sure that I'm sure they're not gonna be the one no, no, no, no, we gotta kill other people Yeah, why don't you just believe in you know, truly believe in what you what you're spouting off there We need to do our best. Well, then go ahead Eat a bullet Show show by example But no they want to go and kill other people is what they want to do But That's not what God created the earth for he didn't say now be careful with how many children you have Because you might run out of resources on the earth They got ever say that one time. No, in fact, he says the exact opposite In Isaiah 45 he says hey, I formed this to be inhabited. I want this earth to be filled I want there to be people here. I want there to be animals I want there to be things in my creation thriving on this earth Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 the Bible says and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have Dominion over the fish of the sea by the way God inherently gave mankind Authority over the beasts of the earth And it's pretty irritating that we have to you know, you have to go get permission to go catch a fish out of a lake From some other man when God's like look I've given man the authority to have Dominion which means control Over the animal so man can do whatever he wants Ultimately over the animal kingdom because God has given man that authority in that power You don't you don't put animal rights on the same level as human rights Because they're subservient we have Dominion over them We have Dominion over them Now obviously I'm not for just abusing and torturing animals and doing weird things and stuff like that that psychopaths do But we have Dominion over him we have control over it He says let them have Dominion over the fish of the sea over the follow the air over the cattle over all the earth and Over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth So God created man in his own image in the image of God created him male and female created them look at verse number 28 and God blessed them talking about the man the man and the woman and God said unto them be fruitful and Multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it He says go out be fruitful Now, I mean if you have any type of plant or crop or you know fruit or anything you want it being fruitful I mean you want to producing as much as it could possibly produce, right? Right an apple tree you better believe I want as many apples that thing's gonna you know, it's producing once a year I want to get as many as I can out of that thing or oranges or lemons or whatever it is I want to get as much as possible. Well, this is the way that God feels he's telling man and woman Hey go be fruitful multiply not Stay static try to make sure you have 2.2 children so that there's no overpopulation. You could maintain a zero growth. No multiply Multiply populate There's plenty of space on this earth And You know, ultimately we never have to worry about there being overpopulation. I mean if you ever driven around Even just the United States. There are so many places That are just not inhabited like at all I Mean it's in You know the people who fall for this are the ones who live in the inner cities in their apartment complexes and never leave the city and Think oh man, this is terrible. We got so many people everywhere and so much pollution everything Why don't you just go outside for a while drive out into the country? Well, go move out there and realize wow There's actually like a whole bunch of open space where I don't even have to run into anybody for you know you could go walking around and and be all by yourself for a while and Keep moving and still keep being by yourself. There's plenty of places to go but God intended for this habit for the the earth to be Inhabited and he gave us dominion over everything and Go back if you would Isaiah chapter 45. There's a short commercial break from the main theme of the of the chapter Verse number 19. I Have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not under the seat of Jacob seeking me in vain I the Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right Assemble yourselves and come draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save Tell ye and bring them near Ye, let them take counsel together Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time have not I the Lord and again, he's just asking a question Well, who is who's already told you about the things to come? Haven't I the Lord am I not the one who's told and foretold things that were gonna happen in the future? He says and there is no God else beside me a just God and a savior There is none beside me all three chapters. I mean he's saying his statement over and over and over again It is clear there is no other God it is clear who God is and who the Savior is Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else And I love that phrase there look unto me and be ye saved Salvation by grace through faith Clear as day all throughout the Bible Old Testament New Testament all you have to do hey It's only that you look and live right look unto me and be saved Just as Moses in the wilderness held up the serpent right the brazen serpent anyone who was who was bit by a snake and had that poisonous venom and was was basically at a death sentence because because of that that that venom they just had to look and Live Look to that cross That's the message right there verse number 23, I've sworn by myself The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return That unto me Every knee shall bow Every tongue shall swear now that sounds familiar doesn't it? Those of you that might read your Bible a couple times There's two places that we're going to look at that reference this But I want to point this out and remember I mentioned the very beginning that is another one of those passages about Jehovah's Witnesses well Is this not the Lord speaking in Isaiah 45 right? I mean they they're gonna say so we're gonna say this Jehovah, right? So when it when verse 23 says I have sworn by myself who's talking there. I just want God God is sworn by himself right That unto me Every knee shall bow so every knee is gonna bow unto God and every tongue shall swear well turn if you go to Romans chapter 14 And then we're also going to turn to Philippians chapter 2 because those are both the references that we're going to Look at the the knees bowing and the tongues confessing or swearing what we see here in Isaiah chapter 45 We're start reading in verse number 8 of Romans chapter 14 Bible says for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore die We are the Lord's now. You know isn't this even similar to the context We're reading as a 45 of you know not say anything back to the maker. You know woe unto him. That's gonna you know Fight against his maker or say why have you made me thus hey look whether we live or die We're the Lord's we belong unto him. He made us. We're here for his glory For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living But why does thou judge thy brother? Why does thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ for it is written as I live saith the Lord Every knee shall bow to me and Every tongue shall confess to God so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God now. It's saying here Okay, we are gonna give ourselves Account unto God he says as I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me, but where does this happen? When is this taking place? What's the event verse 10 says standing before the judgment seat of Christ? Christ is gonna be in the judgment seat, which is where you're going to be bowing and confessing to God and Giving account of himself to God And who's God Christ it's a judgment seat of Christ You're gonna be bowing before Christ, and if that's not enough for you to see that right if you're saying well I don't know if as a person. I'm still Joe was witness I don't think that's all I think that's just God standing there And you're bowing to God and and that's not Jesus even though it's a judgment seat of Christ well turn to Philippians chapter 2 Because the Bible gets even clearer about this Verse number 5 Philippians chapter 2 the Bible said let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who? Being in the form of God wait what Christ Jesus who being in the form of God Yeah, Jesus Christ being in the form of God that not robbery to be equal with God why because he is God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men He took upon him why because he existed eternally before he became a man Not as Michael the Archangel But as Jesus Christ the Son of God as the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us And he chose to make himself of no reputation God who had glory with the Father in heaven in eternity past humbled himself To come to this world make himself of no reputation Took himself on this form of a servant made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even a death of the cross He gave himself for us now Because he did all this because he showed All of this love all of this self-sacrifice Everything that Christ did this is why verse 9 says wherefore God also hath highly exalted him when it says the God there is talking about the Father hath exalted the Son and Given him a name which is above every name that the name of Jehovah. Oh wait. No, that's not what it says There's a name that's above every name What is that name? That the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven of things in heaven and Things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord To the blasphemy of God the Father or Jehovah no to the glory of God the Father Look according to God's law anyone that would bow down and Confess that some person is Lord is God The boss the king the king of kings would be blasphemy if it's not God And would not bring glory to Jehovah at all Because it would be breaking the first two Commandments Not Commandment number one is broken if Christ is not God if you're gonna bow down and confess the name of Jesus and Every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Why is it glory because Jesus is God Now I want to just move on just to the next verse here Just Because I think since we've looked at Isaiah 45 with the reference of unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear I already started to demonstrate why I believe there's references and prophecies of the millennial kingdom to come inside of Isaiah chapter 45 Romans 14 that also quotes this passage is literally talking about the judgment seat of Christ which happens at the millennial reign After the rapture is when is when God gives out the rewards, okay? That happens in the same timeline So then when we look at Philippians 2 and so about every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father I still think it's talking about that same Time frame right at the judgment seat of Christ because look at verse number 12 and people get really confused about this verse And I understand why because of the way it's written in English here that that you know it I Get why people understand, but let's just read the verse real quick wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed Not as in my presence only But now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling So it could be a confusing verse and look I never thought this taught work salvation But for a long time I was confused about just because you know those of us who are saved we know that it's not based on our works at all and You look at this and on the surface you just go on like well That's kind of a weird verse work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What does that really mean right? I've never been like well. I guess it means we got to work for our salvation. No That's stupid Because the Bible clearly says that salvation is not of works right so when it's talking about here. I'll work on your own salvation It's using a phrase That just is not well known to us today. Just in general with its usage in Familiarity, but it's not something that you need to do mental gymnastics to either to figure out either You think of the way that I think about this is This way you know one just work out if you just think of like exercise Now I don't believe that's exactly What that means but when you think about like to work something out if you're like working through something and working out you exercise something You're gonna be exercising your salvation Because we have this gift of eternal life We are going to face The judgment seat of Christ where we are going to answer to God for the things that were done in our body So the things that we do that are good. We're gonna get rewarded for and we're gonna be presenting all that we've done So when it's saying to work out your salvation, it's okay. You're saved now do something with it like work it out Use your salvation use your you use the fact that you're a child of God to bring work Forward in your life to work it out. So you know I say work it out. You know I could use the word exercise I don't think that's a literal synonym for what this is saying here, but in the sense that you kind of understand that like Well, yeah, I'm gonna do something with my with with my salvation. I'm gonna. I'm gonna exercise. I'm gonna use it or You know maybe a better words have worked out that were for us to understand I don't mean to correct a Bible because I'm not but for our understanding like finish out your salvation like like finish out strong Right you're working out to the end You're keeping to work with your salvation so that you can reap the rewards at the judgment seat of Christ This fits perfectly again with the context. He was just talking about every knee bowing and This is what we do do works for is For the rewards, it's for the benefit When at the judgment seat of Christ because it's not for our salvation To be saved from hell It is to receive rewards from the Lord so You know work out your salvation by the way does not mean work for your salvation And That's evidenced by so many other verses that just would contradict that understanding anyways but I thought it's interesting because of because of the context and because of what's being used about every knee bowing and Being at the time of Joseph Christ, maybe that'll help you to be like oh, yeah I see that how that fits in there perfectly let's go back and finish up Isaiah chapter 45 Verse Number 24 the Bible says surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength even to him shall men come and All that are incensed against him shall be ashamed you know again when when When Jesus is in charge? You know the people who are against him are gonna be ashamed and Those who are saved those in righteousness. They're gonna be Glorified and coming to him and they're gonna be the ones reaping the benefit You know you're gonna be the one building and planting and no one's gonna take it away from you And you're gonna be inheriting what the you know what the heathen has built for you That's when things are made right verse number 25 says in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and Shall glory now There was one other verse in this passage that I didn't spend any time on because I knew I was going to get to this at the end and It has to do with these statements about like Israel and The salvation of Israel, and I'm trying to find Where that was Oh Verse 17 So verse 17, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation right just like in verse 25 And the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory so there's some people out there that have this this Notion that well all the Jews God's not done with the Jews I've not done with Israel and they're talking about the physical seed of Abraham That when they read passages like this they think the Bible is talking about these literal physical seed You know physical Jews that have these promises, and they're all going to be saved and it's going to be this great Revival of the Jews coming to the Lord and everything else, but that's not what these verses are talking about All throughout Scripture what you can see when the Bible is talking about Israel just in general generically It's generally usually to refresh referring to God's people like the people that are that are called by his name Like his people the people that would Generally speaking should be ones putting their faith in the Lord the Lord is their God. They are God's people That's what this is talking about so when you when you Understand it just in that easy to understand context and with the the Value of the New Testament saying they're not all Israel which are of Israel Like they're not all counted for the seed everyone who's a physical Jew doesn't mean they're saved It doesn't mean they're anything special Just like John the Baptist said thinking not to say within yourselves that we have Abraham our father God is able these stones to raise Up seed in Abraham like it doesn't even matter at all if your physical see that's not what matters and it's never been what mattered It's always been the teaching of the spiritual Israel of those who are God's people and God yes used the nation for his purpose But you know what? He took it. He took it away from him. He took away his blessing He took away his power and and using that group of people To bring forth his word and and to you know where all the prophets were coming out of and the oracles of God He said, you know what I'm taking away from you and I'm gonna give it to a nation who's bringing forth the fruits thereof And it's that simple and that's what God did So when we see these prophecies or these statements about Israel, but Israel shall be saved. You're always gonna notice this in the Lord But Israel shall be saved in the Lord verse 17 says verse 25 says in the Lord Shall all the seed of Israel be justified That's the key phrase there in the Lord Because all of Israel so-called Israel who is not in the Lord is not going to be saved They have to be in the Lord Which by the way, the New Testament teaches if you're in the Lord, you're Israel That you are a citizen of the Commonwealth of Israel by being in the Lord and That's what it's always meant I Was just talking to brother Jesse about this the other day about people who were Foreigners joining themselves to be Israel like in Esther it says, you know many people the land join themselves to Israel They weren't Jews But they became in the Lord became God's people and actually ended up getting an inheritance among the Jews Because the Lord was their God and they made themselves Jews Because the Jews wasn't a it didn't have to be an ethnic thing it wasn't a racial thing it wasn't something that was by just by by genealogy but by being in the Lord being a part one of God's people so Understand that that is key to understanding the promises about Israel, especially in the Old Testament is just knowing who Israel really is And what God's talking about with his people? It's a it's it's his people. It's the people who are saved the people who are in the Lord It's part rides ever were to prayer dear Lord. We love you. Thank you so much for your word Pray that you please just continue to Open up our understanding so much great truth here Lord it's hard to get to everything that you've packed into these chapters and I pray that you would please just continue to open up our understanding and help us just to not falter in our doctrine and our understanding Lord and Teach us the right way help us to continue to improve and learn and grow and that you would guide us and lead us In Jesus name we pray. Amen