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So you're there in Isaiah chapter 13 and we're continuing our study through the book of Isaiah and we basically finished up a prophecy from chapter 7 to chapter 12 and in chapter 13 you can see the obvious break or beginning of a new thought process or prophecy that's being said. Actually in chapter 14 it's going to tell us when this is being said because chapter 13 and 14 are connected and when you get into chapter 14 it talks about how this prophecy was given to him in the year that Ahaz died. So we already knew that chapter 6 was when Uzziah died and so basically Ahaz, he was giving the prophecy to Ahaz from chapter 7 to chapter 12 and then chapter 13 and 14 is in the year that Ahaz died. So basically right after this is when we're going to be getting into Hezekiah's reign. Now that being said let's get into chapter 13 here. There's two big things that I really see here. There's the idea of the Battle of Armageddon and the Day of the Lord. Those are two things that are really prominent in this chapter and again when you're looking at Old Testament passages it doesn't have to be in order as far as the events go because we actually start off talking about the Battle of Armageddon but then it will come back talking about the Day of the Lord. Now again when you're dealing with this obviously there's the main future application with the finale of everything but then there's just the application as far as when we're talking about Babylon here, this burden of Babylon, we're talking about the physical nation of Babylon that was destroyed a long time ago. But obviously we know that there's a Babylon that's mentioned in Revelation and so that obviously applies for the future as well. Actually you'll see a lot of parallels with Assyria. So it's interesting because who is oppressing Israel right now? Is it Babylon? No, it's the Assyrians. That's the whole point is the fact that Israel is going to be taken out by the Assyrians and at this point the northern kingdom of Israel has not been taken out by the Assyrians and the Assyrians have not come down to Judah to try to take them out yet. So we're actually a hundred or so years at least away from that because if you think about Hezekiah reign, his reign and then Manasseh reigns for like 55 years. Then you have Ammon and then Josiah but then you have 70 years of captivity before they come back into the land, before Babylon is going to be judged. So you're talking definitely well over a hundred years of time before we get to that point as far as what's being said. So this prophecy is way ahead of its time as far as what's going to happen and obviously it's outlying that perfectly. But you'll see a lot of parallels to Babylon's destruction and Assyria's destruction. So those that are memorizing Nahum, the book of Nahum is what? What's it called? How do you start it off? The burden of Nineveh, right? And how does this start off? The burden of Babylon. And Nahum is talking about Nineveh which is the capital city of Assyria being destroyed. And the parallels to that in the physical Babylon that's going to be destroyed after it and then the parallels to the physical Babylon, Nineveh and then the ultimate Babylon at the end, they all match up. But obviously when you're looking at this passage this is definitely written about that physical Babylon that was to come. Nahum was definitely written about how Assyria, the physical nation, was going to be destroyed. But all of that obviously has a future representation of that prophecy that's going to come in the future. So let's look at verse one here and I'm going to read the first five verses here. It says, The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos did see, lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones. I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoiced in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. Now I believe that this is actually talking about the battle of Armageddon. This is where God comes down and we come down with him down to this battle. And so you'll see certain things in here like where it says in verse three, I have commanded my sanctified ones. I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger. So who's he talking about? Well what's another way to say sanctified ones? Saints. That's what the word saint means. It's literally basically to mean someone that's sanctified. And so saints, and obviously we're not Catholics so we don't believe that that's only reserved to a certain elect group of Christians, but all believers are saints. All those that have believed on Christ have been sanctified through his blood. So that being said, we're talking about believers. He's basically commanding his sanctified ones and he's calling his mighty ones. And notice in verse four he's gathering all these nations. So the noise of a multitude in the mountains like as of a great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. So basically these nations are gathered together for this battle. Notice what it says in verse five. They come from a far country, who? From the end of heaven, even the Lord. So when you see that, we're not talking about the heathen at that point. We're talking about they, who are they? The sanctified ones. The mighty ones that are coming with God. Now go to Revelation chapter 16 because I want you to see where that term Armageddon is mentioned. It's basically a name for the place of where this is going to happen. So just to give you a little idea of what's going on in Revelation chapter 16, you have all these vials that are being poured out. And basically it's the wrath of God. You know, you have the trumpets, the vials happening. And I believe they're happening concurrently, meaning that you have a trumpet that sounds and a vial's poured out. You have a second trumpet sounds, the second vial's poured out. And when the sixth vial's poured out, so you have the sixth trumpet, which is the second whoa, right? Then you have the sixth vial that's poured out. That's what's going on in where we're reading right here. And basically he drives up to Euphrates. This is where you have that army of 200 million that are going out to kill men. And obviously a very frightful thing to think about. But in verse 15 there, so Revelation 16 verse 15 says, Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. So you've probably heard that term before, not just because you watched some movie about some asteroid coming to the earth and listen to some Aerosmith song. Basically Armageddon is a biblical term. And so Armageddon is the name of the place. Now, you know, just for Bible knowledge, you could probably think of this as far as I believe it's the same place when it talks about the Valley of Megiddo, okay? You say, why is that important to understand that? Because go to Joel chapter three, Joel chapter three, I believe that this is where there's a valley. There's going to be this valley where everybody's coming down to battle, okay? I mean, even if you think about the armies of Israel against the armies of the Philistines, right? They were on two mountains and they'd come down and meet in the valley. But in Joel chapter three, I believe that's what this is talking about. It's talking about this final battle, if you will, before you get into the thousand year reign of Christ. And I want you to see the similar wording, okay? So in verse nine, so Joel chapter three, verse nine, it says, proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, let the weak say, I am strong. Isn't that interesting? Because that's the complete opposite of what it says when you go into the thousand year reign, right? Right before you go into the thousand year reign, you have this battle of Armageddon or the marriage supper of the lamb, if you will, and he's saying, take all your pruning hooks and beat them into spears, take all your plowshares, beat them into swords, basically, it's time to fight. He's like, all right, Gentiles, get ready to fight, okay? And it says in verse 11, it says, assemble yourselves and come all ye heathen and gather yourselves together round about. So you see what happens in Isaiah chapter 13, he's gathering these nations together, you see what's happening in Revelation chapter 16, he's gathering the nations together to a place called Armageddon, okay? Then it says, thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. What did he say there? Mighty ones. What did he say in Isaiah chapter 13? I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. And then it talks about how they come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his England nation to destroy the whole land, you say, well, that's weird that he calls heaven a country, yeah, it's interesting because Abraham did too, right? He seeks a country and a city whose builder and maker is God, okay? So it's not out of the ordinary that he call heaven like a country, faraway country, right? And so what is this talking about? It's basically talking about how he's bringing his army with him from heaven, okay? Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 33, Deuteronomy 33, because when it's talking about I've commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, this is what I believe it's talking about. It's talking about how he comes with 10,000's of his saints, okay, meaning that he's coming with his saints to execute judgment, okay? In Deuteronomy 33, we see this concept and then we're gonna see it in Jude as well, so pretty much what do you have? You have God gathering his army and then he's telling all the nations, gather your armies, you know, basically suit up. Suit up, get everything you're ready to prepare, you know, for battle because we're coming after you. It's pretty much what's going on, okay? And actually, you're in Deuteronomy 33, I forgot to read the rest of Joel there. If you have your finger still in Joel, Joel 3, 12 says, let the heathen be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision, okay? So and if you remember Revelation chapter 14, you have the two sickles, right? You have the reaping of the earth because it's ripe but then you have this other sickle where it's reaping the vintage of the earth because it's fully ripe, meaning that it's rotten, right? It's basically meaning that you're reaping the wicked, okay? And what did they do? They put them into the wine press of the wrath of God. That same chapter talks about Babylon is fallen, is fallen, okay? And so you can see all this stuff connecting the dots. Again, Revelation is a lot more clear, okay? So when you go to Revelation and look at all this stuff, it's very clear what the timeline is but you can definitely see all these elements in Isaiah chapter 13. But in Deuteronomy chapter 33, notice what it says in verse 1. It says, and this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death and he said, the Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from Mount Paran and he came with ten thousands of his saints. From his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, I love the people. All his saints are in thy hand and they sat down at thy feet, everyone shall receive of thy word. So it's talking about his saints, coming with ten thousands of his saints. And if you think about Moses, Moses actually goes up to that mount twice and comes down twice. And you think about Jesus, he comes down twice, right? As far as he came down the first time, Bethlehem's major, and then he's going to come down and execute judgment upon the earth. Now go to Jude chapter 1, go to Jude and verse 14. So Enoch actually prophesied of this. So again, tell me that the prophets didn't know that much about Bible prophecy or different things like that, right? Enoch knew about what was going to happen here and prophesied of it, but it wasn't written until the New Testament. So Enoch is the seventh from Adam, so you're talking way before the flood and that this information was being said, being preached, being prophesied. And so in verse 14 there, he says, Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches with ungodly sinners have spoken against him. So why is he coming with ten thousands of his saints? To execute judgment, okay? So go to Revelation chapter 19 because this is where this takes place, okay? You say, well, I thought the day of the Lord was, you know, when he raptured us, yeah, there's multiple days of the Lord, by the way. There's many days of the Lord in the Old Testament that when he destroyed Babylon, guess what, that was the day of the Lord. When he destroyed Nineveh, guess what, that was the day of the Lord. And there's many days of the Lord, but what you're going to have is when Jesus comes back in the clouds, that's going to be a day of the Lord, the day of his wrath. And then when we come down on white horses, which I'm going to show you here, you know, that's the day of the wrath of Almighty God. Meaning, I'm going to misquote how it says it, but it says it a little differently than as far as like the day of Christ when we're going to see him in the clouds. And what people do is they mix this up with like the battle of Armageddon with when he's coming to rapture us, right, as far as the day of the Lord goes. So in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11, this is what the battle of Armageddon is. You can call it the marriage supper of the Lamb. Armageddon's the place, if you will. I would say that the marriage supper of the Lamb is what the battle's called, okay? Now, notice in verse 11, it says, And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. Notice this in verse 14. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Sound familiar to Isaiah chapter 13? You know, from heaven, from a far country in heaven, right? And then verse 15, it says, And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, and with it he shall smite the nations, and he shall roll with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Sound familiar with that sickle in Revelation chapter 14, where he's taking the sickle and he's taking the vintage of the earth and putting it into the wine-press of the wrath of God. And then in verse 16, to just kind of close it off there with that thought, and it says, And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. So in this passage, you see the fact that Jesus is on a white horse, right? And that we're coming on white horses. So everybody's on a white horse, right? We're coming down, you know, with Jesus, out of heaven, and notice what it said, you know, it talks about our raiment and all that stuff, but go to, or I'm sorry, go to Psalm 149, Psalm 149, because it talks about Jesus has, you know, a sharp two-edged sword that proceedeth out of his mouth. I think you can imagine what that is. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharp in any two-edged sword. The fact that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. He's called the Word of God here, right? It's very clear to say his name is called the Word of God, okay? Now I want to show you, because I believe Psalm 149 gives us more information as far as what we're doing, okay? Because in Revelation chapter 19, it doesn't really seem like we're doing anything, right? It looks like Jesus basically speaks the Word and, you know, destroys everybody. And, you know, that's pretty much what happens with the beast and the false prophet, but notice what it says in Psalm 149. Psalm 149, I'm going to read the whole Psalm here just for context. Verse 1, it says, Praise ye the Lord, sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp, for the Lord taketh pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. Notice this, and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written, this honor, have all his saints praise ye the Lord. So what did he say? He's going to come with 10,000 of the saints to what, to execute judgment upon all? And he says, this is the honor of all his saints that he gives to us. So not only does Jesus have the two-edged sword, we also all have two-edged swords in our hands, okay? And so this is a, you know, just a bigger picture as far as what's going on on the battle, you know, at Armageddon, the marriage supper of the lamb. We are coming down out of heaven, you know, this army going down to execute judgment upon the earth. And so when you read that story, for sake of time, I'm not reading all of Revelation chapter 19, but it talks about all the kings of the earth being there, right? It's all of them that are going to be destroyed, and everybody's going to be annihilated there, okay? Not everybody in the whole earth, but everybody that took the mark of the beast and everybody that was of the armies of the beast, they will be there and they will die, okay? And so I just like, you know, Psalm 149 really just showing a little more information as far as what we're doing there, right? So we know that we're on white horses with them, but we also know now that, hey, we have two-edged swords in our hands, and hey, he's given it, you know, so that we can execute judgment upon them, and we have that honor. He gives us that honor to do that. So that's pretty amazing to see there. We go to Isaiah chapter 13 again, because again, the first five verses, I believe you're dealing with this battle, if you will, okay? Now obviously there's the near future application with Babylon itself and how God can, is going to be talking about, ultimately in this chapter he's going to be bringing up the fact that he's using the Medes, okay, and the Medes and the Persians. He just mentions the Medes here, but if you remember in Daniel, in our study in Daniel that you have, you know, Assyria, but then you have Babylon, then you have the Medes and the Persians, then you have the Grecians, right, and those are the kingdoms that are really mentioned, but then there's a fourth kingdom of iron, which I believe is Rome, then you have the nation that comes out of that iron nation, the clay and the iron, right, and how you have the ten toes, which is like the ten horns and all that stuff. So but all I'd say is that the Medes are definitely coming next after Babylon, okay? Now in verse six here, I want to, this is really kind of showing, this is showing you the day of the Lord, okay, and this is where people have just misconceptions about the day of the Lord. If they read all the places where it says the day of the Lord, it would be very clear that we're not talking about some secret rapture, okay, because the day that we are taking, that we are caught up into the clouds, he's pouring out fire that same day, okay? So again, it's this token of the righteous judgment of God, meaning this is that for us the day of the Lord is salvation, but for the world it's damnation, okay? The same day that we are saved physically on this earth and we're raptured and we're given that resurrected body, we have that resurrection, the same day he's pouring out fire on the earth, okay? And so that's something that I think people look at, you know, the rapture and they get this idea of like this secret rapture and but when you look at every single place in the Old Testament that mentions the day of the Lord, it's always like wrath, darkness, gloominess, and so I wanted you to see the attributes of the day of the Lord here and let's see where it matches up in the timeline as far as the New Testament when Jesus is talking about end times events and see where you think this day of the Lord is at, okay? So in Isaiah chapter 13 verse 6, it says, How ye? For the day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty, therefore shall all hands be faint and every man's heart shall melt and they shall be afraid, pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth, they shall be amazed one at another, their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. So it doesn't sound like it's a secret, it doesn't sound like it's like where did they all go, left behind, planes are crashing everywhere, everybody doesn't know what happened to it. I'm always, you know those movies, there's not that many safe people, don't worry, you probably wouldn't even notice it. But go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, because there are certain things here that we see, about the day of the Lord. First of all, it's destruction, but we see there in verse 8 something said about pangs and sorrows and basically of a woman in travail, that's interesting because the New Testament does liken it unto that. So in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 1, it says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Well there you have it, I mean, that means that we'll never, you know, it's just going to happen and nothing else happens before that, right? Comes as a thief, but notice what it says in verse 3, it says for when they say, shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Sound familiar? About the day of the Lord, about the travail of a woman, the pangs and sorrows that come upon a woman, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you as a thief. You know, it's interesting that it uses this correlation because, you know, when my wife got pregnant, I didn't all of a sudden, you know, when the due date came, be like, man, I didn't even know you were pregnant, you came as a thief, right? And, you know, it starts off the chapter saying, you know, of the times and seasons, brethren, I have no need that I write unto you, okay? Because when Jesus gives the timeline and stuff that's going on, when he says, when you see these things begin to come to pass, know that it is not even at the doors, okay? So it's not saying that you'll never know that it's coming soon, right, or that it's ever going to be at hand, but what the Bible does say is that, hey, that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition, okay? So we know that there's certain things that have to happen first, okay, to know that you're in that season, right? But when you, if you don't know the day or the hour, you know, because the Bible says no man knows the day or the hour, right, of the day Lord of his coming, okay, well I've never known the day or the hour of my children being born. You know what, they give you a due date, but it's never been that day, let alone the hour, good night, can you imagine them trying to do that? I mean unless you're having a C-section where it's like basically elected like this is when it's going to happen, but a normal natural birth, that's not the way it works, right? You don't know what day it's going to be and I'd like to know the person that actually it happened on the due date that they said, okay, because it's never happened that way. They're always early, first of all, but anyway, but that'd be ridiculous for me to say, man, I didn't even know you were pregnant. And I know there's some anecdotal evidence of some overweight lady out there that didn't know she was pregnant and then went into the hospital and had a child, okay? I know that's happened, okay, I know there's crazy things that happened, but that is not the case in most cases, right? Most people realize they're pregnant and they'll know that there's a season, right? And if I said to you, I don't know the day or the hour of, let's say I didn't know the day or the hour of the retreat, but I said this, but it'll be in fall. Well, I know it's not going to happen in June, right? I know it's not going to happen in July, why? Because it's the wrong season, right? Summer has to come before fall, therefore, I don't know the day or the hour, but I do know the times and the seasons, okay? So don't let people get you, you know, in that thought process, well, I was coming as a thief, what did it say about us? We are not in darkness, brethren, that the day should overtake us as a thief. So guess what? If it, if that means, if the day Lord coming as a thief in the night means that it could happen at any moment and that you're not going to know when it's going to happen, then God's rebuking you here for that, for not knowing, okay? So he's basically saying it shouldn't take you at any moment, if that's the case, okay? So all that means is that, hey, if you're watching, then you're going to see the times and the signs that are coming, okay? You're going to look around and be like, no, that, hey, this stuff's starting to be fulfilled, or you're at least going to be watchful of it, okay? Because you see things and people are like, all right, this is the beginning of sorrows, this or that, and, listen, unless there's world war going on, I'm not going to say it's the beginning of sorrows yet, because that's what starts off the beginning of sorrows, okay? And I know things have not been fun in America recently, but I do not believe that this is the beginning of sorrows, okay? And so, if anything, this is like a warm-up trial run, you know, as far as things getting bad, but there's got to be world war first, okay? But if they keep doing this race-baiting garbage that's going on right now, then you're asking for civil war, and listen, our country is not racist, but the media wants them to think that we're racist, and that we hate black people, or they hate us, and they're trying to divide through that. When the Bible says that all nations, it says of one blood he hath made all nations, and God is not a respecter of persons. You know what, if people would just get into the Bible, then all this race garbage would go out the window. But you know they're doing this because they're trying to divide, they're trying to get people to fight against each other, and when our country's divided, then that's going to cause other things as far as going into war with other people. So, could it happen in our time? Yeah, I definitely could, but I don't believe we're in the beginning of SARS yet, but I'll say this, you see world war, you see famines, you see pestilences, you see earthquakes in diverse places, we won't really know for sure, though, until you see that abomination desolation. But you see the abomination desolation, that's what Jesus says, when you see that, and you see these things begin to come to pass, then you know that it's not, even at the doors. Okay, now, where did I leave off there? Yeah, go to Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24. Notice something there in Isaiah 13 about the sun not giving her light, right? In verse 10 it says, for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, and the sun shall be darkened and is going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Sound familiar to when the day of the Lord's gonna happen? So you know, the pre-tribulance is gonna have to answer this one, because what are we talking about in Isaiah chapter 13? The day of the Lord. That's what it says in Matthew 24 and verse 29, immediately after the tribulation, ouch. That after really hurts, doesn't it? So immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. So let me ask you a question. If the day of the Lord is encompassed in the fact that the sun is darkened, the moon is not giving her light, and the stars are falling from heaven, if that has to happen, you know, during the day of the Lord or before the day of the Lord, and all that doesn't happen until after the tribulation, then ask me this, how does the day of the Lord come before the tribulation? So and this isn't the only place, you know, that shows this, but you say, well how do you know this is the day of the Lord? Well go to, keep reading there in verse 30, it says, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Well, it sounds like the Lord's coming in the clouds and he's gathering together his elect. Well, that's the Jews. It's garbage. It's the election of grace. We are the elect. We are the chosen generation, the Bible says. We are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. By the way, in that passage where it says that, he's talking to those of Asia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Galatia. So we're not talking about Jews, we're talking about believers. Because it's the elect, it's the chosen, whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free, whether, we're all one in Christ Jesus. And we're all heirs according to the promise because we're in Christ. Now, go to Revelation chapter 6, just to show you that furthermore, to show you that, hey, the day of the Lord doesn't happen until after the sixth seal is opened in Revelation chapter 6. So the sun and moon darkening, that is your basically compass to figure out where the day of the Lord's at. So you keep seeing that, the day of the Lord, and you see this association with the sun and moon darkening. And I'm not going to turn there, but in Joel chapter 3, you see it, then Joel chapter 3 is quoted in Acts chapter 2, talking about the same thing, that the sun and moon are darkened before the great and terrible day of the Lord come, or until the great notable day of the Lord come. And so it's just saying this over and over and over again. So Matthew 24, sun and moon are darkened. So what's the day of the Lord? When Jesus comes in the clouds, and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is very clear on that. Revelation chapter 6 is also where this is happening. So Matthew 24, 29 and Revelation chapter 6, those are parallel right here, as far as what's going on. In Revelation 6, 12, it says, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth, even as a fig tree casted her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand. So what are we talking about? The day of his wrath. That's happening in Revelation chapter 6, after the sun and moon are darkened. That's when Jesus is going to come gather together. And read Revelation chapter 7, when there's a great multitude found in heaven that came out of great tribulation. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on there, and how all this fits together. So the day of the Lord is very clear, and in Isaiah chapter 13, we really see what is the day of the Lord associated with. When you go to Amos, it talks about what is the day of the Lord to you. Meaning that, for the majority of the people on the earth, it's bad news. Because we know that few there be that find it, many are lost. Many are called, but few are chosen. Meaning that God wants all to get saved, but only few get saved. That means when Jesus comes back, there's only a few that's going to be the ones that are going to be raptured, that are going to be in the resurrection there, with obviously all the dead in Christ. And the majority of people on the earth are going to be here for the wrath of God. Now go back to Isaiah chapter 13, Isaiah chapter 13. Now this is where it's clear that this is not just talking about the physical Babylon being destroyed. Again when you see this day of the Lord coming on Babylon, that's talking about the physical Babylon as well. So when it says the day of the Lord is at hand, that necessarily isn't talking about where we're at right now. Because he's talking to Ahaz, and he's talking about the physical Babylon as well. Now in Isaiah chapter 13 and verse 11, notice what it says, it says I will punish the world for their evil. Notice the worldwide punishment here, it's not just one nation, it's not just Babylon. And it says in the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. So the one thing I want you to see there, to just notice is that hey, he's punishing the whole world here. That's very evident when you're reading Revelation, it's talking about, it gives you percentages of the world that are being destroyed. So when God pours out his wrath, it's not just on Babylon, it's not just on that one nation. Now Babylon is singled out when you get to the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial and basically saying Babylon has come into remembrance and it's completely annihilated, okay. I'm going to get to that when we get to the end of the chapter here. But in verse 13 there, we see him talking about shaking the heavens and the earth. So notice what it says in verse 13, it says, therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger. So what does the day of the Lord sound like to you? But wrath and anger, the vengeance of the Lord is what's going on here. Verse 14, and it shall be as the chaste row and as a sheep that no man taketh up, they shall every man turn to his own people and flee everyone into his own land. Everyone that is found shall be thrust through and everyone that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished. Now this is where you're tying into what's going to happen with the Medes going into Babylon, okay. Meaning that, obviously I don't believe that God's armies are ravishing women and doing this, okay. Meaning that this is obviously where you have the weaving in of, he's talking about what the armies that he's going to use. Meaning that God uses Babylon to destroy Assyria and he's going to use the Medes and the Persians to destroy Babylon. But in most all these cases, especially when he's destroying Israel, right, or destroying Judah, he basically uses them but he said you went too far, okay. And this is where I believe the Medes go too far and every time God uses a nation, he's basically unleashing them on there but he's not putting a governor on them as far as what they do, okay. And so they a lot of times will go way too far and that's why God's like, all right, you're next, right. And so, but go to Hebrew chapter 12 because this idea of him shaking the heavens and the earth, okay. Hebrew chapter 12 is showing you the dichotomy of the Old Testament and New Testament, okay. Obviously the whole book of Hebrews is doing that but it's physically talking about Mount Sinai where Moses was on the mountain and they were too afraid to even come close to the mountain and it's talking about how the mountain shook, right, he shook the mountain and all this stuff that's going on when Moses was going up to get the law and all this stuff. And notice in verse 25 it says, see that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, talking about Moses, right, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. So it's the dichotomy of Moses to Jesus, okay. Jesus is the mediator of the New Testament and that's what's said in this chapter. Verse 27 it says, in this word yet once more signified the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that, did I miss the part where I said, did I read 26? I missed 26, sorry. I knew I missed the verse. That was the verse I was trying to get to. Verse 26, whose voice then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven and this word yet once more signify the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire, okay. So obviously we're talking about God, you know, judging the earth with fire during that time too but he's obviously talking about, when he's talking about shaking the heaven, the heavens and the earth, right, he's not talking about heaven where God's throne is at, okay. And he's kind of talking about it, he's like, we're not talking about things that cannot be moved, okay. We're talking about things that can be moved and it's basically telling you, hey, if you thought that it was, you know, terrifying when God shook the earth back then, you know, wait until he shakes the heavens and the earth, okay, and you can obviously see that idea. I mean, good night, there's wormwood, the mountain coming out of the sky, you know, the star, you know, and then the mountain that comes down which obviously I think is like an asteroid or something like that that's gonna hit the earth that's gonna cause a lot of problems. And so you have a lot of crazy stuff happening in the sky, I mean the sun and moon are smitten and the stars and all that stuff's going on and so you see that it's not just stuff going on in the earth, it's stuff going on in the heavens as well, okay. And you know, scary stuff to think about what's gonna happen and now praise God, we won't be here as far as when God's pouring out his wrath, you know, aside from the fact that we're gonna be coming down for that final battle, if you will, to kind of cap everything off and the finale, right. The finale of all of God's wrath is when Jesus himself comes on a white horse and we come with him to execute judgment and just completely annihilate those armies, okay. Now going back to Isaiah chapter 13, we see again more so going into the immediate future, notice in verse 17 it says, Behold, I will stir up the meads against them, which shall not regard silver as for gold, they shall not delight in it, their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, their eyes shall not spare children. So remember when we were talking about, you know, like dashing your children and all that we're talking about what the meads are gonna do to Babylon, okay, and this is a warning and a burden that's going out to Babylon saying, hey, this is what's gonna happen to you, okay. Now go to Daniel chapter five because I want you to see where this happens at, okay, just to show you that this comes true. So this happens in Daniel chapter five with Belshazzar, so Daniel's belt to Shazzar and Belshazzar is the king of Babylon at this time, so we're past Nebuchadnezzar and I believe after Nebuchadnezzar you have evil Merodach, okay, and then you have Belshazzar, okay. So Belshazzar's here, this is where they drink out of the vessels of God and I've already preached on this when we were going through the kings as far as how he pictures the antichrist and just showing how he doesn't humble himself like Nebuchadnezzar did and all that. Now in verse 25 there, so Daniel chapter five, verse 25, it says, and to give you a backstory, this is where he sees the writing on the wall, you know, the man's hand comes out and he sees this writing, okay, it says in verse 25, and this is the writing that was written, Minni, Minni, Tikal, Upharsin, this is the interpretation of the thing, Minni, God had numbered thy kingdom and finished it, Tikal, thou art weighed in the balances and are found wanting, Peres, thy kingdom is divided and given to what? The Medes and Persians, then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom and that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, so literally that same night that this was going on and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old, so who took it? The Medes, okay, so we know that the Medes was that little horn that was in front and then the bigger horn was the Persians, so the Median and the Persian empire and the Persians really were the ones that ruled after that, okay, because we have Cyrus the Persian that basically takes over and all that. Now, so I wanted you to see that, that you have that physical aspect that, and when you're dealing with the ravishing of women, I believe you're talking about what happened with the Medes, you know, what the Medes did to the Babylonians, okay, so I'm not justifying that, I don't believe that, you know, you need to justify that as far as what's going on there. Now, the last thing that we see in this chapter is the fact that Babylon is never gonna be inhabited again, so go to verse 19 of Isaiah chapter 13, Isaiah chapter 13 verse 19, it's never inhabited again, and this is definitely something that is just true, I mean, Nineveh was the same way, Babylon same way, and that future Babylon, if it's America, which I believe, if it happens in our day, then it would be in America, right, because we are the Babylon of the world, we are the world kingdom, the world power, if you will, and verse 19, it says in Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees, excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, was Sodom and Gomorrah ever inhabited again? They don't even know where it's at, I mean, I watched this documentary where they're trying to figure out if they can find out where it's at, okay, and they find like, well, we found some ashes over here, so maybe it's this, okay, but no one really knows where it's at, okay, so, anyway, going off of that, you can definitely see the correlation there with why it would be destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah, when it's like the days of Sodom when Jesus comes, like it's the days of Noah when there's violence on the earth in those days. In verse 20 there, it says, and it shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there, and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places, our palaces, and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. So this is obviously a huge devastation to talk about Babylon in that near future, but also in our future, go to Revelation chapter 18, Revelation chapter 18. Now I know, if you remember, I preached that sermon on cryptozoology, and some of you weren't here when I preached that sermon, but talking about satyrs, and this is definitely a correlation here. Now Revelation chapter 18 is talking about the destruction of Babylon, okay. Revelation 17 talks about who Babylon is, talking about the seven-headed dragon with ten horns, meaning that Babylon has moved locations, right, because you had Egypt, which was a Babylon, then you had Assyria, which was a Babylon, then you had Babylon of, you know, Chaldeans, right, so that was Babylon, then you had the Medes and the Persians, that was a Babylon, then you had Grecians, which was a Babylon, then you had the Romans, which was a Babylon, and you're gonna have the final kingdom, which, where the ten kings give it unto the Antichrist, which will be the final Babylon, if you will, okay. So that's why it says, you know, five are fallen, one is, and one is yet to come. So when John wrote that, who is the one that is? Rome. No question, Rome was the empire in John's day, so that means there's one more to come that's gonna be this world power. Now in Revelation chapter 18, we see this, you know, coming true that there's gonna be this destruction of Babylon. So Revelation 18 verse 1, it says, and after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. So if you remember in Revelation 14, it says that, right, but it's basically a prophecy saying, hey, it is fallen, and when the Bible uses that terminology of present tense, there's no going back, okay. You know, when he sent Jonah to Nineveh, he says, you know, it will be destroyed in 40 days, or I forget, I might be forgetting that, but I think, I thought it was 40 days. But he didn't say Nineveh is fallen, right, he didn't put it in that present tense like it's established, right. And so that being said, when he says this, there's no repenting, right, there's no sending a preacher there and let's get this, you know, sorted out, and Nineveh eventually became that way, right, because if you look at Jonah, in Jonah, Nineveh was redeemed, right, and God didn't destroy it, but then you get to the book of Nahum, is there any redemption there? No, Nineveh is being destroyed and completely desolated, okay. But again, remember seeing the doleful creatures, and what is this meaning that just basically animals are going to live there. Who here has saw the video of like the animals roaming the streets in different areas because of the lockdown, right, there's, you know, just in different countries there's like different types of animals roaming the streets and monkeys and like different things, you know, depending on what country you're in. And so, yeah, I mean, when you, when you're not, when it's not inhabited, everything takes over, I mean, the forest will come back in, you know, all the trees will cover everything and all the animals will come back and inhabit it, so that's basically what it's saying is that, hey, people aren't going to inhabit this place, it's going to be animals, they're going to be inhabiting it, but you did see that satyr there, okay, so again, I want to point this out in verse two here. What is that satyr? Well, this is what I believe it is, verse two, it says, and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the Great has fallen, has fallen, and it has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit in a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. So it's interesting because we're talking about the same thing, we're talking about Babylon being destroyed, and in Isaiah chapter 13 you're dealing with the fact that you have these beasts and you have these birds, owls, and in another passage it talks about vultures and different things that are going to be there, those are not fun birds, okay, meaning owls are pretty rough, okay, we went pheasant hunting, was it, the owls are the ones that like decapitate pheasants, isn't it, wasn't that what they were saying, I know hawks do that, but the owls are pretty vicious too, and vultures, you don't need me to tell you that they're not eating berries, okay, so when you're talking about pretty messed up, you know like, I don't want to say messed up birds, but you know what I'm saying, they're carnivores, they're not just eating worms, I guess worms would be a carnivore thing, is that meat, I don't know, so I wouldn't consider it meat, I guess it's got protein, but bugs do too, right, anyway, all I have to say is that I believe when it's talking about the satyrs, because in another place it talks about the satyrs crying unto their fellows, but there's two things mentioned in Revelation talking about devils and unclean spirits, right, or every foul spirit, I'm sorry, and I talked about that, actually go to Isaiah 34, I'll show you another place, because Isaiah 34 does talk about the day the Lord, or it talks about Babylon, I'm sorry, being destroyed, and you see this term satyrs, so satyrs only mentioned a couple times in the Bible, Isaiah 13, Isaiah 34, and so that's my cross-reference, I believe when it's talking about satyrs, it's talking about devils, okay, and when you look at verse 13, Isaiah 34 and verse 13, it says, and thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be in habitation of dragons, in a court for owls, the wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyrs shall cry to his fellow, the screech-owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest, okay, so again, when I preached this a while back, if you remember, if you look up what the term satyr even means, it means like this half goat, half man creature, okay, and if you think about the devil, he was the covering, I preached a whole sermon on the devil, the devil, Satan, what was he made, what was he, he was the cherub that covereth, what did the cherub look like, well, the cherubs had four different faces, right, one of them's a man, one's an ox, one's a lion and one's an eagle, but they have calves feet, okay, so, and then they have hands as a man, and they have four wings, right, so obviously this creature is a pretty interesting looking creature, so it's interesting because that, like a goat, how it's associated with the devil, you know, even in our modern world today, you have Bathomat, is that how you say its name, who cares if I'm mispronouncing that, but it's that satanic statue of the half goat, it's like a goat head, you know, but it's a human, like torso, and you know, it's just wicked, right, but if you think about this, when at the very end, what does God do, he separates the sheep from the what, the goats, and the goats are, I mean at that point you're dealing with reprobate, you're like rejected people at that point, okay, you know, because everybody's dead, you know, everybody's already died physically at this point, and so you can definitely see that correlation with it, now whether there's these like half goat, half man looking creatures that are roaming around at that time, I don't know, and I don't know, because here's the thing, devils, devils are not in our physical world if you think about it that way, now they can possess physical animals, okay, we know that to be true because they possess like the swine, and then they just, you know, went off the cliff and killed themselves, and they can definitely possess people, okay, so but what they look spiritually like, you know, we don't really know, we know that the devil can look like a serpent, could look like a dragon, he can look like, you know, like the cherub, the covering cherub, now maybe he only looked like that until he fell, you know, we don't know all the information that goes on with that, but going to Revelation chapter 18 to end here, I just want to prove to you when it's talking about it's not going to be inhabited, that is what it says about that Babylon at the very end, okay, now that's pretty much given, right, because when Babylon's destroyed, what happens next, you have the Armageddon and you have the Mary suffered a lamb, and then you have the thousand year reign, so obviously when he kills everybody that's of the army of the beast, but what I believe that means is that that thousand years, that land is not inhabited, so if America is that Babylon, I believe for a thousand years this whole land will not be inhabited, and then you're just going to be the new heaven, new earth, and at that point everything is renewed, and so, you know, who knows what the world's going to, you know, like the world may be really big and there's going to be no more sea, so obviously it's going to be different, so you're not going to have like the nation of America, you know, you're not going to even know where that's at, even if it was, you know, still there, but all I have to say is that in Revelation chapter 18 and verse 20 it says, rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her, and a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all, sound familiar? Shall not be inhabited at all, and in case you missed it, and you think well what does that really mean? Well, look at verse 22, and the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee, 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. So, yeah, it's not going to be inhabited, people aren't going to be doing business there, nothing's going to be going on there at all, and so it's going to be completely annihilated. But when you go through the Old Testament and you see Egypt, or you see like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and these different places, you see a lot of cities that are completely annihilated and completely just no one's inhabiting that place anymore. You know, when you think about like Egypt, you have like Cairo now, but that wasn't the Egypt city that was, when that was completely taken out, okay. If you look at where like the, you know, Moses and them would have been, it's like down south on the Nile, and it's not inhabited, you know, it's like, it's basically an archaeological site, you know, where people dig and try to find the tombs and different things like that. And then Nineveh, same thing, Sodom and Gomorrah obviously, obviously that's not talking about Babylon necessarily, but it is talking about the destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah. And so Revelation, I'm sorry, Isaiah 13 has a lot about Revelation in there, doesn't it? You have the battle of Armageddon, you have the day of the Lord, and the destruction of Babylon, you know, all that's in Revelation. And in chapter 14, we'll be getting to, you know, a lot about the devil and him being cast into hell, which, guess what, is in Revelation chapter 20. But, I'm sorry, Isaiah 13 and 14 do go together, so it picks up where it leads off here in chapter 14, so when we get into that next week, you know, where you're just going to be picking up, still talking about Babylon, but more so talking about the king at that point, okay. So that's where we're going to get into that as far as the king and things that are going on there. So let's end with a word of prayer. The Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for the book of Isaiah, and just pray that you'd help us to learn it, help us to use it in our everyday lives. Lord, we just thank you for it, and just so many deep truths that can be found in here. And Lord, just pray that you'd be with us throughout the rest of this week. I pray that you'd give us strength, keep us healthy, and Lord, just be with us with our jobs. I pray that you'd bless there. And in this time of unrest and unsettledness and just things that are going on in the world, just pray that you'd keep us safe and keep our church safe and all the families here and all the brethren in the world and in our nation. Lord, just pray to keep all of them safe, and Lord, just pray that you'd help us to win more souls to you and help us to bring glory to your name in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.