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We're there in Isaiah chapter 17, and we are continuing our study through the book of Isaiah, and we are switching gears as far as the last two chapters. We were dealing with Moab, and now we're jumping into Damascus. Okay, so chapter 17, we start off the chapter with it saying, the burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Veroah are forsaken. They shall be for flocks which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. So it's very clear what's this chapter talking about. It's talking about Damascus being destroyed, the city being taken away, it's being made a heap, and you say, well, what is Damascus? Where is Damascus? Well, Damascus is the capital of Syria. Not a Syria, but Syria, okay? So I wanna show you that. You go to Isaiah chapter seven, Isaiah chapter seven, so back up in Isaiah there a little bit. So just so you know where we're at, even on the map today, if you were to look at Israel, you have Syria that's above Israel, right? You have Lebanon, you have Syria above that, and so just to give you an idea of where Syria's at, that's where you're dealing with there. But Damascus, it says in verse eight of chapter seven, so Isaiah seven verse eight, it says, for the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is reason, and within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that'd be not a people, so I've already covered that portion in that chapter, but basically it's saying that Syria, the head of Syria is Damascus, so basically the capital of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is reason because reason was the king of Syria, so it's just kind of giving that progression that reason's the king of Syria in Damascus, which is the capital of Syria, so when we're talking about Damascus, we're talking about the destruction of Syria, and obviously, know that that's different than Assyria, so Assyria, so Syria's still a nation, right? There's still a nation of Syria. Assyria, there is no, remember, there's no place that's like Assyria, okay? There's still people that will claim Assyrian heritage or Assyrian descendants, if you will, like the Assyrian empire, but basically there's no place that's like their home, if you will, but go to Amos chapter one, Amos chapter one, so after Joel and the minor prophets there, I just want to show you some other places where there's judgment pronounced upon Damascus, and so a lot of times you'll get some more information as far as why, so in this chapter here, it gets into that a little bit, but these other chapters will tell you some more information as far as why is Damascus being destroyed, okay? So in Amos chapter one, in verse one, just to start off there because it's always good to see where we're talking about or what's the timeline as far as this judgment's happening, because if you remember, Isaiah was in the days of, I'm just gonna look at the very first chapter there just to make sure I'm getting all the kings in there right, but Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, okay? So that's the realm in which he's preaching this, and then in Amos, he's prophesying during Uzziah, okay? So makes sense that Amos is around the same time as Isaiah as far as preaching goes, and notice what it says in verse one. It says, the words of Amos, who was among the hermen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash king of Israel two years before the earthquake, and he said, the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the habitations of the shepherd shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither. Notice in verse three, thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron, but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Avon, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden, and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Ker, saith the Lord. So we see here that there's a judgment that Amos is, that's how the book of Amos starts off, is starting to hit about Damascus. And, you know, obviously you can say, well, why? Well, it says, it says, you know, for these three transgressions and for four, I will not turn away because, so he's basically gonna say because of this, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron, okay? So basically they oppressed Gilead and they threshed him, you know, basically it's a analogy as far as how they basically scattered them, right? So you thresh something, you're basically separating it apart, okay? When you thresh wheat, what are you doing? You're threshing, you're getting rid of all the, you know, you're wanting the wheat part of it, but you don't want all the grass part of it, if you will. Now that's not the technical term, I'm not like a farmer here, but basically you're threshing out all the stuff you don't want, right? And so we see here that there's judgment in Amos on Damascus, go to Jeremiah chapter 49. It's interesting because Jeremiah 48 was talking about Moab, right? That whole chapter, Jeremiah 48 is talking about Moab, and then in 49 we see a judgment about Damascus. Now, one thing this will tell you is that if you think about it in the timeline as far as where we're at in Isaiah, you know, Isaiah 14 talks about that this vision was in the year that A has died. We don't really know if all this stuff was said during that time, right? Because obviously the whole book of Isaiah could have been written in one day, you know? That whole prophecy could have been in one day. It's kind of like Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy is 34 chapters, but that was all in one day, okay? So we don't really know in the timeline, but it's probably around A has his time, okay? And so when you read in Amos, you're like, okay, well, is this judgment gonna come in Isaiah's day, you know, the kingdom of Isaiah? Well, when you're reading about it in Jeremiah, you know that that's happening after Josiah, okay? Because, you know, in Jeremiah's time, he was prophesying during Josiah. It could have happened in Josiah's day, but we see that as a future application here. Now, it could be the fact that, hey, there's a judgment coming for Damascus, you know, in Isaiah and Amos, and that happened, but then there's another judgment coming on them in Jeremiah, but, you know, the idea of them not being remembered anymore is something that seems to be the case in Isaiah. So in Jeremiah 49 verse 23, it says, Jeremiah 49 verse 23, concerning Damascus, Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard evil tidings. They are faint-hearted. There is sorrow on the sea. It cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth himself to flee, and fear hath seized on her anguish and sorrow. Sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left? The city of my joy. Therefore, her young men shall fall on her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, said the Lord of hosts, and I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad. So we see similar things that are said, you know, dealing with the punishment and all that stuff as far as Damascus here, and what you gotta understand, Arpad, that name should sound familiar. If you know where Rapture Key, it keeps listing off these names, right? And Arpad is one of those places where he's like, they didn't deliver, you know, their gods didn't deliver the king of Assyria out of their hands, okay? And I'll show you later on that the king of Assyria actually takes out reason, okay, and actually kills the king of Syria, okay? Now, I believe that's a judgment, but I don't believe that that's like their final judgment, if you will, right, meaning where they're completely annihilated, completely taken out, completely, you know, just desolated as far as being this powerful city. Now, the thing to think about here, too, when you're dealing with this chapter is it starts linking in Israel, right? It's kind of weird because you're like, well, why is Israel kind of like linked up with them, or why are they kind of associated or kind of being talked about together, if you will? Well, you may not have noticed, you may already know this, but that's where Israel came from with Syria, and I wanna prove that that that's where they came from, that's the country they came from when they came out to come into Canaan, right? So Canaan, where Israel is at, right, where the nation of Israel's at, that was Canaan, right? It was a strange land, then God gave it to them, okay? But that's not their original country, that's not where they came from, okay? Now, we know Abraham came, they came out of Ur of the Chaldees, right? But the Bible states here, go to Genesis chapter 24, Genesis 24, it's very clear that actually their kindred were in Syria, okay? Now, it's possible that they came from Ur of the Chaldees and came into Syria and they were Syrians, but think about this just on a level of languages, right? So Abraham was a Hebrew, okay, and you obviously have the Hebrew language, but the Syrian, does that sound familiar to when you're in the Book of Daniel? Or actually when you're talking about Syria coming after Jerusalem, they're talking about talking in the Syriac tongue. Now, Syriac is synonymous with Aramaic, so those are all Semitic languages, okay? So Hebrew kind of stemmed into Aramaic, they're basically both about the same, okay? They're differences, obviously, but they're pretty much the same alphabet, right? And a lot of the words are the same, all that. And so Syriac, or the Syrian language, you can obviously see that, okay, that makes sense, they're all speaking the same languages. And so, but in Genesis chapter 24 and verse four, this is where Abraham is sending his servant to go find a wife for Isaac, okay? And notice what he says to his servant, it says in verse four, "'But thou shalt go unto my country, "'and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.'" So he's saying, go to my country and my kindred, and where did he go? Well, go to chapter 25 and verse 20, Genesis chapter 25 and verse 20. Now, obviously, in chapter 24, we see the whole story with Rebekah and Laban and all that. Like, Laban is Rebekah's brother, right? And then you'll see the story with Jacob and Laban, which is then Jacob's uncle, right? So, but in verse 20 here, it says, "'And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife, "'the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian, of Padenarim, "'the sister to Laban the Syrian.'" Okay? So, we know that Rebekah was what, a Syrian? And where did he say to get his, a wife for Isaac from his kindred, from his country, okay? Now, go to Deuteronomy, if you don't believe that, go to Deuteronomy chapter 26, because you can straight up say that Israel is a Syrian, okay? Well, it doesn't say Israel is a Syrian, okay? So, don't take me wrong there, but it's very clear from this verse that that's what it's saying, okay? So, what's the point of this? Well, I just want you to see the close link of, you know, basically, of Syria and Israel, okay? Basically, Syria is where their roots are from, okay? And so, there's this link of Syria, or Damascus and Israel, which is gonna make sense when you see that the king of Israel is linking up with Damascus, right? It's kinda like their brethren, you know? And so, now, in Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse five here, notice what it says. And thou shalt speak, and say before the Lord thy God, a Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty, and populous, and the Egyptians evil and treated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. And you can read this, but it's talking about Israel, okay? But notice that it says, a Syrian ready to perish was my father, okay? So, what is that saying? It's basically saying Syria is the father of Israel, right? The Syrians, okay? So, I just want you to see that link, so when you're reading through here, and you see them kinda linked up, and it's kinda talking about their judgment together, like the northern kingdom of Israel and Syria, and how they're basically linked a lot there, you can understand why, okay? But go back to Isaiah chapter 17, Isaiah chapter 17, because we'll see that linking up of Ephraim, or the northern kingdom in Damascus. So, in Isaiah chapter 17 and verse three, it says, the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. Notice that, the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. So, at this point, we've been talking about Damascus, right? For two verses, but basically, we were talking about Damascus, but now we're bringing in Ephraim, right? And it's basically saying, the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. So, not just the capital city of Damascus, but he's basically saying, hey, of all of Assyria is linked in with this, and then it says, they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, said the Lord of hosts. Now, that sounds good, okay, doesn't it? You're kinda like, it's gonna be like Israel, it's gonna be like the glory of Israel, but you gotta keep reading, you gotta get the context of what he's about to say. It's kinda like when Ecclesiastes sets you up, you know, in chapter 11, it's like, hey, young man, you know, live it up. I'm paraphrasing, doesn't say that. But it's like, basically, live it up, do all this, but just know this, that judgment is gonna be at the door if you do it. So, it's kinda like, oh, man, it's telling me to do all this, and then it's like, boom, hits you with judgment. And so, it kinda does that here a little bit, where it's kinda like saying, hey, they're gonna be like the glory of Israel, okay? Notice in verse four, and in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob, so it's gonna explain what that is, shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn and reapeth the ears with his arm, and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet, gleaning grapes shall be left in it as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the utmost fruitful branches thereof set the Lord God of Israel. So, you cannot understand what he's saying here. Basically, it's gonna be made thin. So, basically, it's not saying that there's not gonna be anything left, okay? But it's gonna be very scarce, right? It's kinda like you see a tree and you're like, oh, I see a couple pieces up there, right? But it's not this fruitful tree, okay? And that's what it's basically saying is that it's gonna be made thin and it's gonna be made lean, okay? And it's linking that to Damascus saying, hey, you're gonna be like Israel, but Israel's gonna be like this. So, it's showing you, okay, here's what's gonna happen to Damascus. Now, we know Damascus is still a place, right? Because in the New Testament, we're gonna see that Damascus is still there, right? It's not just completely annihilated like Nineveh or other places in the Bible like Sodom and Gomorrah, right? So, it's not like Moab, right? We were reading about how it's gonna be made like unto Sodom and Gomorrah. Here, it's basically saying, hey, you're gonna be very lean, you're gonna wax lean, you know, or, you know, wax lean, you're gonna be thin, right? I'd like to be thin, but that's hard. So, that's not what it's talking about. But in verse five there, I'm sorry, in verse, actually, what I wanted to show you is go to 2 Kings 16, 2 Kings 16. See, why are they combining Israel or Ephraim? And I don't believe it's by coincidence that it's mentioning Ephraim because it's showing you here that it's not talking about the southern kingdom, okay? So, a lot of times when you're looking in the Bible and you see Israel, well, that could be talking about either or, right? Because it'll even call like Ahaz, who's the king of Judah, king of Israel, okay, which is not wrong because obviously Judah and those tribes that are down there are Israel as well. But most of Israel is in the northern kingdom, okay? But a lot of times it'll refer to it as Ephraim. But when it says Ephraim, it doesn't just mean the tribe of Ephraim, it's meaning that whole northern kingdom, just like when it says the kingdom of Judah, that's not just Judah, that's also Benjamin, right? And that's also the Levites and all that stuff that are down there. And so, you know, when it mentions Ephraim here, it's showing you really clearly that you're talking about the northern kingdom and Syria, okay? So, in 2 Kings chapter 16, we're gonna see Ahaz here, which makes sense because in Isaiah 17, where should we be at in the timeline of Kings here, right? You should be in the timeline of Ahaz if this is chronological, okay? Now, all these burdens, I don't believe, have to be in chronological order, right? Because when you're in Jeremiah, a lot of those things are just kind of like, it's almost like an appendix, it's like here's some burdens at the end of it. But I believe it's semi, I believe that these burdens probably were prophesied either in Ahaz's day or in the beginning of Hezekiah's day, right? So, I think that that's probably where you're at in this timeline anyway, which makes sense when you see what's going on with Ahaz in Syria here. So, in verse one here, so 2 Kings chapter 16, verse one, it says, in the 17th year, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 20 years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, his God, like David his father. So, he wasn't a good king, okay? Now, his son, Hezekiah's gonna be a good king. But it says, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Notice in verse five here, then reason, sound familiar? Because we're talking about reason, you know, the king of Syria, you know, reason's the head of Damascus, right? So, reason, the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. Now, I preached this whole thing already when we were talking about Ahaz and everything that went down. So, obviously, God didn't allow them to actually take out Jerusalem, although a lot of people in Judah died, okay? So, it sounds like, when you're reading this passage, it sounds like he didn't do much, but they killed a lot of people of the southern kingdom of Judah. And a lot of that had to do with Ahaz's wickedness and, you know, not being a righteous king, but basically saying that they could not overcome him. Ultimately, they didn't win, they didn't take over Judah. But notice in verse six here, it says, at that time, reason, king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria and drave the Jews from Elath, and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day. So, Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent it for a presence to the king of Syria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it and carried the people of it captive to Ker and slew reason. So we saw that, right? We saw that in Amos that talked about that, how they were gonna be taken captive to Ker, okay? And so this very well can be, you know, talking about this event right here, okay? Now Jeremiah might be talking about another event in the future, right? So you can think about Amos, Isaiah, talking about this event here in 2 Kings, chapter 16. And then Jeremiah's like basically saying, hey, you know, you're gonna be feeble from now on. And that happens with Egypt as well, okay? Well, you know, you see that in Ezekiel, talking about Egypt, how it's not gonna be a powerful nation anymore. It's gonna be a nation, right? But it's basically stripped from being this world power that used to be, it's basically this feeble nation that's not really powerful anymore. And the same thing is happening with Syria, okay? And if you thought that Syria and Assyria were the same, you can't get that from here, right? Because you literally have Assyria, the king of Assyria killing the king of Syria, okay? So, but he slew reason, okay? And this also is a chapter that shows you, this is actually the first mention of the word Jew in the Bible, is in verse six there. So what's going on in this story? You have Syria and Israel going to war against Jerusalem, right? Going to the war against Judah or Jerusalem, the city, right, they're besieging it. And it says they drained the Jews from Elath. So this false argument that, well, everybody of Israel's a Jew, false. Abraham was a Jew, false. That wouldn't make any sense because his son, you know, his grandson, right? Great-grandson, would have been Judah, right? Which is where that term comes from. So you can imagine why he's called Jews because it's the southern kingdom of Judah, so. And what was that place called when Jesus was walking on the earth? Judea, right? So the Jews, it was representation of the country that they represented, which also was then synonymous with the religion, right? So because the state religion, if you will, was biblical, you know, believing in Christianity, right? Because obviously they believe on the Christ. Then that's what it was associated with that name. So sometimes when it's talking about a Jew, it's just talking about someone that's from that place, right, it's a geographic place. And at other times it's talking about what they believe, you know, their religion, if you will, okay? But just something to remember that, hey, that's the first place it's mentioned is in 2 Kings, okay? So it's not like Abraham was a Jew and Isaac was a Jew. No, they were called Hebrews, okay? You know, and it's interesting too because there's not a book of the Jews in the New Testament. It's called the book of Hebrews. So, but all that to say is that this chapter just puts all that to bed that a Jew is anybody of Abraham or anybody of Isaac or anybody of Israel for that matter, because those different tribes, you know, that were the Northern Kingdom were not called Jews, okay? Now, a lot of them came down and became Jews, meaning they became part of that nation down there, right? So when Hezekiah, you know, there was revival and, you know, different Kings of Judah actually caused a lot of them to come down and stick with the true God and not worship idols, and not worship other gods, okay? Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 28, 2 Chronicles chapter 28, because you say, well, why is God, you know, judging Damascus, judging Israel? Well, they're all worshiping over false gods, okay? So the Northern Kingdom of Israel, you remember how it started? How that split, you know, after the split, right? What was Jeroboam's modus operandi? Is the fact that, hey, I don't want them going down and worshiping God in Jerusalem, because then they're gonna basically like Jeroboam and they're gonna be like, why are we doing this? We should all be a part of this nation because this is our religion, all this stuff. And so he said, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna set up two golden calves, one in Dan and one in Bethel, you know, it's too far for you to go down to Jerusalem, go over here and worship. These are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt. That's how the Northern Kingdom of Israel started off, okay? Was with that, idols, okay? And Damascus had idols as well. And in 2 Chronicles chapter 28, notice what it says. Notice how that affected Judah, okay? With Ahaz particularly. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 28, verse 22, it says, and in the time of his distress, did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This is that king Ahaz. For he sacrificed unto the gods Damascus, which smote him. And he said, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore I will sacrifice to them that they may help me, but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel, okay? Now, it's interesting because Damascus just got taken out, right? And then when he was up there, he saw this altar and he came back and said, hey, you need to fashion this altar, and he took all this stuff out of the house of God, and I'm like, just logic here, right? What he's saying is that because they were destroying me and time passed, you know, I'm going to worship their gods, but they just got annihilated, right? So why would that be the gods that you would pick, right? Wouldn't you pick a serious gods if you're going to pick some gods to worship, so it's not very intelligent, you know, as far as what he's doing. Obviously, it's stupidity to worship other gods and worship idols, but that's, you know, a lot of the reason why I believe the northern kingdom and Damascus was taken out is because of idol worship, okay? And go back to Isaiah chapter 17 and verse seven because he's going to mention that, okay? That's exactly why he's taking them out, okay? Because if you remember, you know, you say, well, Siri, you know, do they believe in the true God? Well, let me ask you this. Did Abraham just like was the only believer around, you know, when he came out of his country? You know what I mean? Like that was it, you know, and then everything stemmed from him. Or do you think that there was other people that believed in the true God? Especially if it's this kindred and all that. You know, I believe Abraham was saved before he left because it says by faith, he went out, right? And he came into a land, you know, a strange land. And so, and he departed as he was said. And so I believe he was a believer before he even left, okay? Which means that someone had to be a believer to win him and someone had to be a believer to win that person. And obviously the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that chain's never been broken. And so Syria, even when they went to, when Jacob went to Laban, right? And obviously with Rachel and all that, they were claiming to believe in the same God, okay? They were blessing and praising God, all this stuff. But then obviously they had idols that were on top of that. They had basically this supplementary idol worship that was there, okay? Because just because someone has idols doesn't mean they're lost, okay? Now obviously if they believe that that idol has anything to do with their salvation, they're lost, right? But people that are saved could technically worship idols. Solomon's a case of that, okay? Solomon is a great case of that. And the fact that he was the wisest man on earth, all that's said about Solomon, and Jesus said, there's a greater than Solomon here, I don't think you're talking about a reprobate, okay? That wouldn't make any sense to say, well, Solomon was great, even though he was a reprobate, but I'm greater than that. Well, I hope so, like if he's a reprobate. But he's obviously not. He was a saved man, very wise man, right? But he got into idolatry and obviously his wives caused him to go into that, all that stuff. And but in Isaiah chapter 17, verse seven, notice what it says. It says, at that day shall a man look to his master and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. So he's basically saying, hey, this is coming on you, okay? And there's a reason for it, okay? It's not the fact that God just loves just destroying everybody, okay? The fact is is that a lot of times, he'll take out nations and it'll bring everybody down a peg for a reason, to get them humble, right? To get them to get away from the stupid idolatry that they're in, okay? And so in verse seven, it's basically saying that they're gonna have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And it says, and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands. So he's basically saying, you know, you're not gonna look to that anymore. And his eyes shall have respect to, I'm sorry. I'm like, this is the wrong verse here. It says, and he shall not look to the altars, the works of his hands. Neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images. And that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation. Because thou has forgotten the God of thy salvation and has not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore, shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips. And in the day, shalt thou make thy plant to grow. And in the morning, shalt thou make thy seed to flourish. But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. So notice, who's this chapter addressed to? Damascus, okay? And it's saying about them, it's saying, you've forgotten the God of your salvation, okay? So I believe that Syria was not like the most godless, like basically completely separate from knowing who the true God is, okay? And he's basically saying you've forgotten that and he's linking them with Israel. He's like putting them all in the same camp and saying your glory's gonna be like Israel because Israel's gonna be made thin. And if you think about like where this happened with reason, Israel's in the next chapter taken out, right? Second Kings chapter 16, you see Syria taken out, right? Chapter 17, Israel's taken out and completely taken captive. So it makes sense that this chapter's talking about that and talking about how they're linked together in this and the glory of Israel is gonna be like the glory of Damascus, all this stuff is going down. But he's linking also the fact that, hey, you've left the God of your salvation. And the thing is too, you need to understand here is that he's the God of thy salvation to the whole world. This isn't something where in the Old Testament it was just to this one nation. When did it switch, right? As far as, well, they came from Syria and then they made this nation in Canaan, right? They went into Egypt. So it's like the God of, I'm only the God of this nation and just following these people around, but it was just one man at one point. Now it's the fact that he's the God of salvation for the whole world and whatever nation would believe on him, he's the God of that nation, right? Now he chose Israel for a purpose, right? He chose them because they were the smallest and basically it's kind of like the little in your own sight type of mind, right? Kind of like Saul, you pick Saul, which is interesting because Saul is an allegory of Israel, right? The physical Israel and David's the allegory of the New Testament. But the idea is that he picked them for a reason for a certain purpose, right? That through that seed Christ would come, okay? And so there's a whole reason for that, but ultimately he still wanted everybody to get saved and he wanted to be the God of anybody that would believe no matter what nation that you're in. And it says, it's interesting here where it talks about this plant. Now those of you that farm might know this, but I had to look it up, okay? So it says, therefore shalt thou plant, in verse, at the end of verse 10 there, plant pleasant plants and shout set it with strange slips. I'm like, what in the world is that talking about? Is that like talking about, you know, automatically I'm thinking of like, is it like a slip thing that you put like to hold it up? But I looked it up and like potatoes have slips. Like they're kind of like these things that grow off. So like, if you're wanting to grow certain things like sweet potatoes, actually, I went down the rabbit trail of YouTube and I was watching this video of this guy. You know, like when you do potatoes, a lot of times you just like cut, you have little spuds that you put into the ground and then they grow into big potatoes, but you can't do that with sweet potatoes. You have to literally grow the slips. And so it's kind of like, you see a potato, everybody's smiling at me that knows what I'm talking about. They're like, you didn't know that? No, but you have to like grow this. Like you put it in water and then there's like these little vine things and plants that grow out of it, right? And then you take and pull those off and then you plant them, okay? And so that's what it's talking about here, but it's talking about strange slips because this isn't, he's basically saying, hey, you're gonna plant this, it's gonna grow, but this is what's gonna happen, okay? So it sounds good, you know? But then you kind of have that strange slip which is like, what is this strange, you know? And then it says in the day that thou shalt, in verse 11 there, thou make thy plant to grow, in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish, but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. So it's basically saying, you're gonna get this harvest, but it's gonna be a day of grief and desperate sorrow, meaning like as soon as this harvest comes, you're gonna be annihilated, basically is what it's saying. And so it sounds good, it sounds like, oh, okay, we're gonna have all this stuff and then it's like, boom, in a day, in that day. When you have the harvest, when you should be rejoicing over the harvest, you'll be in, what it says here, in grief and desperate sorrow. Because a lot of times in the Bible, the harvest is likened unto a time of rejoicing, right? That's why we have a harvest party in the fall. Because it is a time of rejoicing, you know, you have all this stuff, you have pumpkin everything. So I don't know if that's what they had back then, you know, in Israel's day. Pumpkin spice, you know, I don't see that in the Bible. But the idea of like harvest and being a joyful time, obviously even with the harvest is likened unto the end of the world and the reaping and dealing with the resurrection and all this stuff, right? But it's basically saying, in the harvest, it's gonna be in a day. When you're reaping that, it's gonna be a day of grief and desperate sorrow. So it's not a good thing, okay? If you learn anything, you learn about what slips are, okay? So there's a lot of that stuff where you'll see, you'll like, what's a pestle? You know, like talk about these things like threshing wheat and like pestles and all this stuff. And people that do that stuff, they're like, oh yeah, of course that's what that is. And I'll read certain things and I'm like, well, I know what that is because I do that in engineering, right? Or I do this or that. And so a lot of times these aren't archaic words. It's just not your real house, right? It's not what you do. It's not something that you know a lot about. And so that's the only place slips are mentioned, by the way, so. But I read that anytime I see a word where I just don't see it mentioned anywhere, I'm gonna talk about it. So it's like the besom of a destruction. You're like, what's a besom? It's a broom. So, you know, things like that. Now go to Isaiah chapter 45, because I was wanting to touch on this as far as the idea that he's talking to Syria, he's talking to Damascus and says, you've left the God of your salvation. You've left the God of your strength. And, you know, he's pleading with them and talking to them as if, hey, you were my people. You were someone that should be following me and you left that. And notice what it says in Isaiah 45, verse 22. It says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. See, the true God and salvation is not just, it's not just all-inclusive to one group, right? I mean, any religion that teaches that you gotta be this group and it's gotta be, you know, like no one else can be a part of that. If you're, you gotta be this race, you gotta be this or whatever, right? Then that's a false religion, okay? Because the true God wants everybody to get saved. He's not willing that any should perish. And that's not just a New Testament concept. And you say, why do you keep hammering on that? Because that's what it seems like Baptist churches, for some reason, whether intentional or not, seems to be propagating. And I think a lot of times it's just the fact that they don't know. And therefore they're very vague about it. And it's like Israel was God's people, Israel this, Israel that, and that no one else got saved outside of that. You know, like there's no one saved. Everything was out just pure darkness. No one got saved outside of Israel and that was it, okay? But yet the Bible teaches, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth. And also, go to Luke chapter four. It's interesting how in the New Testament, the Syrians are being brought up. And, notice in verse 27, so Luke chapter four and verse 27, and it's talking about, you know, like in Elijah's day, he was sent unto Zareptah, but not to anybody in Israel. And he's making a point, which is what I'm trying to make here, right? Is the fact that Israel thinks that they're like special to the point where it's like God didn't care about anybody else, he only cares about them, okay? But Jesus is saying, listen, in Elijah's day, there was a lot of widows. But I only sent Elijah to this one widow in Zareptah, which is not of Israel, by the way. But then he says about Elisha, it says in verse 27, so Luke four, verse 27 says, and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elishus, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. Now Naaman was the captain and the host of Syria during that time. Now, what we're reading as far as Damascus being destroyed was later, right? Because you're dealing with, you know, in like the beginning of 2 Kings with Elisha, okay? And so, but, so you're talking about a top man, and it's interesting too because Naaman also said, if you remember the story, he tells Elisha, he says, listen, I may have to go into this false god, you know, the house of this false god because of the king, and he may have me, you know, like lean on me, meaning I'll have to like bow down with him, right? It's basically like, he just, he's like using me to help him up and down, if you will, and he's like, please don't regard that. So here's a guy that's like in a place of idol worship, but he's not regarding it, he's not like thinking that's his god, right, after. So I believe Naaman got saved, okay? And, which obviously, you know, represents, you know, the cleansing of leprosy, represents the cleansing of sin, all those different things, but Naaman the Syrian. Go to Matthew chapter four, Matthew chapter four. I think sometimes when you understand that Syria's very linked to Israel, as far as it's the father, right? Our father was a Syrian, okay? If that's where their roots are from, it's from Syria, then you understand this when you see how, hey, Syria was really looking into Jesus when he was walking on the earth, okay? Not to mention the wise men, right? You know, the wise men from the east, but they came, you know, to seek the King of the Jews, okay? So it's not like these nations before the New Testament were just, no one believed, no one was seeking the true God. But in Matthew chapter four and verse 23, it says, and Jesus went out, I'm sorry, went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner of diseases among the people. Notice this in verse 24. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him, so notice that, his fame went throughout all Syria and they came unto him. It says, and brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those which were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic and those that had the palsy and he healed them. So he didn't just reject them, right? These were not of Israel. But Syria also was where Israel came from at the same time. But notice how they came and got saved. And so you see that even in the New Testament, or basically bringing in the New Testament there, so you have the Old Testament name in the Syrian, you have the tail end of the Old Testament with Jesus, and he's healing all these people from Syria. And then it's also interesting that one of the greatest churches that started up the New Testament was in Syria. Go to Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. But Antioch, Syria. Antioch, Syria was a staging point for Paul's missionary trips. That was his home church. And that's where he would come back to and then he'd go back out to the mission field. Antioch, Syria. And by the way, guess where Saul, who is called Paul, was headed when Jesus met him. Where was he on the road to? Damascus, which obviously is what we're talking about in this chapter here. But in Acts chapter 11 and verse 25, it says, And it came to pass that a whole year, they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Now that's not a small detail. That they were called Christians, the first place they were called Christians was in Antioch, Syria, at the church of Antioch. It'd be like, where's the first place you were called a Baptist? That would be a significant place. But how much more Christian? Christians only mentioned three times in the Bible and this is one of them. And obviously, that's the moniker everybody takes is Christian and they were first called there in Antioch. And I don't believe that's just because, it had to be because of their works. It had to be because of what they were doing and what they were pushing forward as far as the work goes. Go to Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one, because Paul talks about his conversion and he talks about where he went at the beginning. So Paul, when Paul got saved, he didn't just go into Jerusalem and be like, I'm gonna get me to unto the great men of Jerusalem. That's not Paul's testimony as far as like, what happened after he got saved. And so this is in the New Testament. So we saw that name in the Syrian was in the Old Testament. In Matthew four, we're coming at the tail end of the Old Testament. So Jesus is the mediator of the New Testament and he's talking about, and he's healing people from Syria. And then Galatians chapter one here, notice what it says in verse 15, it says, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. So he's gonna explain what that means, not conferring with flesh and blood. Neither went out to Jerusalem to them, which are apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. So he's basically saying, you know, when I, he was on the road to Damascus, he got healed and he didn't just go back to Jerusalem. He went into Arabia, then he came back to Damascus and then he went to Jerusalem, okay. And so he spent time in Syria before, you know, he went to Syria, went to Arabia, came back to Syria and then he came into Jerusalem. It says then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days, but of the apostles saw I none, saved James the Lord's brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Afterwards, I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. So basically he just came there and just abode with Peter for 15 days and left. And he went back to Syria, which is, you know, which I believe went back into Antioch. And it says, and was unknown by faith unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ before they had heard, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed and they glorify God in me. And then in chapter two, it says 14 years later, right, he went up to Jerusalem because there was a problem. It wasn't even the fact that like, hey, I wanna go up to Jerusalem. It's like people were coming down from Jerusalem saying you gotta be circumcised to be saved. And he's like, I better go figure out what's going on up here, you know. And so just to show you that Syria, hey, even in the New Testament, there's revival going on in Syria. So you can understand why God's judging them and linking them with Israel. Ultimately, the Syrians do great things for God in the New Testament. And so go back to Isaiah chapter 17. Isaiah chapter 17, we'll end the chapter here. So Isaiah 17 and verse 12 here, notice what it says. It says, woe to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the seas and to the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters. The nation shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them and they shall flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold, at evening tide, trouble, and before the morning, he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us and the lot of them that rob us. So ultimately, Isaiah is preaching about this burden, but it's talking about Judah, right? It's talking about the fact that, hey, people that spoil us and rob us, this is their end. Because you think of like Syria and Israel were coming after Judah and same thing with Babylon and Syria, these things that we've already been hitting on, Moab, as far as these judgments that are coming upon them, the whole point of these burdens is talking about what's gonna happen to these nations that have been persecuting God's people. And so when you look at this, obviously, this was written to Judah and this was written to that nation, but ultimately, spiritually speaking, this is written to us about enemies that would be against us, the spiritual application, because those nations are long gone as far as all that stuff's concerned, all that stuff's already happened, most of it, right? Obviously, there's future prophecies that are in there, but what I'm saying is that the physical prophecies and burdens that were gonna happen in the near future have already happened, but spiritually speaking, we should look at this and say, hey, that verse where it says this is the portion of them that spoil us and the lot of them that rob us, that is a promise to us, okay? And you can definitely see this stuff talked about in the future, as far as, notice that it says, it talks about these nations being like the noise of seas and like mighty waters, and this is another place where, go to Revelation, go to Revelation chapter 12, and I'm gonna read Deuteronomy, or not Deuteronomy, but Daniel chapter nine, where it says, the end thereof shall be with a flood, and at the end of the war, desolations are determined. And so there's this flood that's mentioned that Daniel 11 talks about it as well, but you say, well, what's a flood? What's that got to do with, all right, is there gonna be this flood of water as far as, it's just gonna be a big rainstorm, all the dams are gonna break loose, and whatever, it's just gonna flood everything. Revelation 12 says something similar to that, which I obviously believe links up with Daniel as well, but in Revelation 12, verse 15, it says, and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth, and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So if you know the timeline there, you're dealing with going into the Great Tribulation, there's this flood that happens, but it doesn't prevail over the world, which I believe is talking about world war, and basically stating that going into the Great Tribulation, you've just gotten out of a great world war, and then the Antichrist is set up to make peace, and now he's not going after the whole world, he's just going after Christians. That's where you get into the Great Tribulation, and so it's the difference between going after the woman and going after the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. So it's obviously showing you that we're not just talking about mankind now, we're talking about Christians, okay, which are obviously of mankind. But also, you could definitely see how this could be talking about the Battle of Armageddon. You don't have to turn there, but Revelation 16 talks about it, that he gathers together to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, and he's gathering together these nations, these kings, and so all these nations and kings are gonna be at this Battle of Armageddon, and then we're gonna be fighting, we're gonna come down on white horses. Even at the very end, you can see the same thing, talking about the fact that Satan's gonna be loosed, and he's gonna bring together his armies against the saints. And so it's something that kind of repeats itself, if you will, but ultimately, what it's stating is that God is going to rebuke that flood. So when it comes to that flood that we see in Revelation 12, it talks about the earth opening up and taking it out, but when you deal with the flood, if you will, of nations and the armies and all that stuff, in Revelation 19, Jesus takes that out with the sword of his mouth. Go to Nahum chapter one, Nahum chapter one, because we were memorizing Nahum, so I'm gonna keep bringing this up. Usually when we think about God rebuking the sea, we think of him physically rebuking the sea, right? Because that's obviously what Jesus did when he was here on the earth. This is a great deity verse to show that, hey, God rebukes the sea, Jesus rebuked the sea, ergo, and he said, and they basically admitted it. They're like, you're the son of God, which means he's God, okay? But think about this now and the aspect of these many waters that are, the noise of them, okay? And another aspect with that is the majority of the world is wrong, okay? The majority of the world is not godly, but they're noisy and they're propagating their wickedness, and he's gonna silence that one day, okay? But if you look at it as far as nations, armies, a flood, and I've showed you that already before, but this is just another place that shows that. In Nahum chapter one and verse two there, it says, God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Notice verse four here. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry and drieth up all the rivers. And what we see, you know, when we're talking about, you know, in Isaiah there, it talks about how God shall rebuke them, what the nations of waters, right? The multitude of waters, which represents nations, okay? And so he's gonna rebuke that. It says, Bashan languisheth and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. And you can even see that there because he's talking about nations. He's talking about places, right? He's not just talking about the sea and rebuketh the sea, which obviously God does and he can, but it's symbolizing how he's gonna take out the nations, how he's gonna rebuke the nations, okay? And going on from that, it says, The mountains quake at him and the hills melt and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his wrath? I'm sorry, the fierceness of his anger. His fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him. Notice in verse eight, but with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do you imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end. Affliction shall not rise up the second time for while they be folding together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. And he's basically saying these multitudes of nations, the noise of them, you know, you think about the noise of the chariots, you know, jostling one against another and all the different things you can think about when it comes to nations, war, and the idea of just the fierceness of that. But he's saying, I'm gonna rebuke that. I'm gonna rebuke that and I will destroy them with an overrunning flood. You know, they're gonna come at you with an overrunning flood, I'll destroy them with an overrunning flood. And at the end of this chapter in Isaiah chapter 17, it's saying this, this is the portion of them that spoil us and the lot of them that rob us. It's saying that's their end game. So we're on the winning side. But it looks like we're not, you know. If you were a betting man going into it not knowing the end, you'd be like, yeah, they're gonna lose. And actually, in Revelation, it says that he's gonna prevail over us, okay, the antichrist. But who ultimately wins? We do. They can win battles all day long. And you know what? The wicked people in this world can win battles all they want in this world, but their time's coming. And we know their end game. We know what their end will be. And ultimately, God will sweep them with the besom of destruction. He will destroy them. He will rebuke them. And he will destroy them with an overrunning flood. And I just love how these things overlap. But Isaiah chapter 17, the burden of Damascus, just some interesting stuff in there. If you learned anything, you learned what a slip was. So, but anyway, let's end with a word of prayer today. Father, we thank you for today and pray that you'd be with us throughout the rest of this week. We thank you for the book of Isaiah. And just help us to understand it. Help us to not just know the story, but to know how we can apply it to our lives and how it'll help us in our studies. Also, just spiritually speaking, Lord, I just pray that you'd speak to us through the book of Isaiah. And Lord, we just thank you for that. Be with our families. Be with those that aren't feeling well in our church, those that are dealing with different conditions, physical conditions, and all that other stuff, Lord. I just pray to you to heal them and just be with the members of our church. Lord, we love you. And pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.