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Isaiah chapter 45, and we are continuing our study through the book of Isaiah here, and very similar stuff that's being said in here that was said in chapter 43, 44. And so you can definitely see that there's a theme going on as you go into these chapters. And honestly, chapter 44 is leading right into chapter 45, and you say, well, how do you know that for sure? Because it ends talking about Cyrus, and it starts talking about Cyrus in this chapter. So I actually want you to look at the last verse of chapter 44 there, just so you see what I'm talking about. It's talking about Jerusalem basically being inhabited again. And in verse 28 there, it says, that Seth of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built into the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. So that's how chapter 44 ends, talking about how Cyrus is going to cause Jerusalem to be built and the foundation of the temple to be laid. And so, go to chapter 45 there in verse 1, and we start off talking about Cyrus. So you can definitely see, when you see all this stuff about I am the Lord, and I am God, and there's none beside me in that language, and all that stuff that's being said in chapter 43, 44, 45, you know, it's the same thoughts that are being brought across here, okay? So in verse 1 there, it says, Thus saith the Lord, to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, I will loose the loins of kings. To open before him the two leave gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut and sunder the bars of iron. I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee, that though thou hast not known me, I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me, I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, and there is none else." So what we see here is Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed, and we see that he's called his shepherd in chapter 44 there, but when we see this anointed, obviously we can think of King David was the Lord's anointed as far as being king of Israel, and also Saul was the Lord's anointed. That was the big thing that David kept bringing up is that I cannot touch the Lord's anointed. I can't do that. Anointed is basically synonymous with being christened, so Christ, Messiah, anointed are all synonymous terms, so the Lord Jesus was called the anointed, and when that's quoted in the New Testament it talks about how he's the Christ, but also he's the Messiah, and those are just different languages saying the same thing. With that being said, that term anointed, or even Christ and Messiah, those things are, obviously when we think of Messiah and Christ, we're thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's none else that we would say, like, that's the Christ, but the anointed is used for David, it's used for Saul, and different things like that, but I'll say this, Cyrus is definitely a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see some of these passages, you'll see this allegorical picture of Cyrus. Now the one thing that you'll see here is that it says that he's going to open before him, in verse 1 there, open before him the two lead gates, and the gates shall not be shut. And if you remember, Jesus has the key of David, and the doors that he opens, no man can shut, and the doors that he shut, no man can open. And so you can definitely see how that would apply, even talking about the gates of brass, the cut and sundered, the bars of iron, and just seeing a lot of things that we could think about with the fact that, you know, Jesus, you know, they tried, they tried obviously to, you know, break his bands of sunder and all that, but the thing is that when he rose again from the grave, you know, he broke asunder those bars. If you think about when he went down to the bottom, you know, of the mountains, it says the earth with her bars was about me forever. Obviously when he rose from the dead, he broke those bars of sunder. Anyway, you can see a lot of allegorical stuff that's in here that's dealing with that, but in general, this is talking about Cyrus the man. Okay, this is talking about the king of Assyria here, and obviously there's some pictures of Jesus in there, but the thing that you keep seeing here that it says twice in verse 4 there, it says, for Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. And the thing that you see here is that Cyrus was not of Israel, okay, he was a Persian. So this is Cyrus the Great, and he was the king of Persia. And so if you know the timeline, Babylon after, you know, the 70 years of captivity, Belshazzar was destroyed by Darius, but if you remember that, it was the Medo-Persian Empire, and I believe King Cyrus was the king at that time, and then you had King Darius that was over Babylon or over the Chaldean area during that time, but Cyrus was, you know, the king at that time. Now, you could say, well, maybe Cyrus died the first year, and that's possible. You know, it doesn't change anything here that Cyrus is the king of Persia, but the idea here is that he was not of Israel, but I believe he saved, okay? And when I show you another place in Ezra here dealing with Cyrus, it'd be hard-pressed to think that Cyrus was not saved, just like Nebuchadnezzar. I believe, I don't believe Nebuchadnezzar was saved when he made that golden image, and he was having Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, like, bow down to the image, because he's talking about the spirit of the holy gods and all that, but then, later on, after he was humbled in chapter 4 of Daniel, I believe he ended up getting saved, okay? You say, well, how did he get saved? You know, who told him about it? Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, okay? So you know, if there was a good witness to have, it would be Daniel, but that being said, I believe Nebuchadnezzar got saved. I believe even Darius got saved, okay? And I believe Cyrus got saved as well, and these are Gentile people. These are people of other nations and other empires, and God is using Cyrus in a great way, and why is he doing this? Why is he doing it this way? Now the Bible talks about God setting up kings and pulling down kings, and so if you go through the book of Daniel to see how he sends forth, I believe, Gabriel and Michael, the archangel, to basically deal with these high up principalities and rollers of darkness and high places and all this stuff, to basically set up kings and to take down kings and all this. Now I believe that Cyrus was set up for this purpose of rebuilding the temple and, you know, basically bringing back all the captives of Jerusalem back into town, essentially. But it says in verse 6 here of Isaiah 45, it says, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, and there is none else. And you say, well, why did he do it this way? Well, King Cyrus was the king over Persia, okay? The Persian Empire. Now if you remember that Nebuchadnezzar was that head of gold, so he had Babylon, and then the Persian Empire was just a little bit more inferior, but it was like gold to silver, okay? The Grecian Empire was, you know, brass, and then you go into what I believe the Roman Empire was iron, okay? And when you think about precious metals, what's more valuable as you go down? Gold, silver, you know, bronze or brass, right? And then you go into iron, and then you have the iron mixed with clay. But that being said is that the Persian Empire is a little, you know, inferior to Babylon, but still at its time it was the superpower, okay? Meaning it was a world power, you know, and you think of Ahasuerus when you go into the book of Esther, and how I think it's 127 provinces, so I think that's what it is, so don't crucify me if I'm wrong about that, but basically he was the king over 127 provinces, and from all the way to India, okay? So if you want to know how far this Persian Empire went, it went pretty far, okay? So and then, anyway, not to give you a history lesson on the Persian Empire, but that being said is that why did he use Cyrus? Why did he use a man, you know, that didn't grow up in Israel and all that? But you know what this shows you, too, is that God didn't just want people of Israel to get saved. Actually, this chapter is just annihilating that idea that he was just, you know, just the Jews, I want to get saved, and it's just Israel. No, it's always been that he's not willing to get any should perish, and he'll have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That's always been the case, and he's making a point here that, you know, I'm basically setting you up, I'm anointing you, you're going to be a shepherd, you're going to do this, all this for me, and even though you didn't know me, right, you didn't grow up with these promises, you didn't grow up in Israel, you're a king of Persia, okay, and why is he doing that? Because from the rising of the sun and from the west, you know, so it's basically from the east to the west, they're going to know that I am God and there's none beside me, and Cyrus is the one that's going to purport that because, you know, he's king, so he can basically make these decrees and all that. Just like Darius did, he made decrees about, you know, not saying anything against the God of Daniel, and same thing with Nebuchadnezzar, with Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, you know, these kings have power to basically pronounce the Lord throughout the land. Now go to Ezra chapter 1, Ezra chapter 1, and I know we, you know, I kind of touched on this last week, but I was kind of going over anyway, but in Ezra chapter 1 here, Ezra's picking up where 2 Chronicles leaves off. Actually it's kind of repeating what, so 2 Chronicles, the end of 2 Chronicles and the end of 2 Kings, they kind of overlap into Ezra, so if you're reading the end of 2 Kings, you read the end of 2 Chronicles and you read Ezra, you're just like, all right, I got it, okay, Cyrus is going to make this decree, okay, and it just, you know, so it's just over and over again you see the same thing. But the point is getting across here in verse 1, it says, now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. So he's making this proclamation throughout the whole kingdom, remember, you know, Ahad or Erez anyway was over 127 provinces, and so this is going out to everybody, and what's he saying? It says, thus saith king, I'm sorry, thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth. Now I don't think he's just saying that, I think he's literally stating that God is the one that gave him all these kingdoms. He's the one that had him destroy Babylon, and that's where Jeremiah comes in, Jeremiah 50, 51, is that he's sending Cyrus, and he's sending the Persians, the Medo-Persian empire, right, the Medes and the Persians to go take out Babylon, and God is the one that gave him these kingdoms. Keep reading there, it says, and he had charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. So he doesn't just stop there, you know, you can just stop there and be like, he's charged me to build this house, so let's do this. But it says, who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God, which is in Jerusalem. That's what Cyrus is saying, okay? So he's not just stating, hey, go build the house of your God, no, he's saying, you know, to build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God, okay? And so he's declaring that the Lord, the God of Israel, is God, he's the God, okay? And we see that in chapter 45, where, you know, he's making a point that Cyrus is anointed as going to do this, making a point that, what's the whole world going to know? There is no God beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. This is what Cyrus is proclaiming as he's making this proclamation throughout the land, that he's going to go build this temple, and he's basically making a point, you know, he's charged me to do this, but by the way, he's the God. He is the Lord, the Lord of Israel is God. And you know, so I believe Cyrus is saved, okay? And verse 4, it says, whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. So again, it's talking about how Cyrus is going to make this proclamation, and it's stating that from the sun rising to the west. So where's the sun rise? In the east, okay? So it's basically saying from the east to the west, that this is all going to be known, it's going to be proclaimed, and it reminds me, you know, obviously since Cyrus is a picture of Jesus, you know, the anointed, the Christ, it says in Psalm 103, you don't have to turn there, but Psalm 103 12, it says, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And this idea of knowing, you know, knowing God from the east to the west, I'm actually getting ahead of my point, that's the reason I'm kind of stopping there, because I have another point that I'm going to make, and I want to get into that before I get to it. So the idea is the fact that his word has gone throughout the whole world, okay? And this chapter is really hitting on this hard, that Cyrus, the king of Persia, is making it known from the east to the west, and God is making it known from the ends of the world, okay? That he's God, and you need to be saved by him. These idols can't save you. If you want a synopsis, you want the abridged version of this? Idols can't save you, they're gods that cannot save the Lord. He is God, and he's able to save you unto the uttermost, okay? That is what this chapter is dealing with. But keep reading there in Isaiah 45, so there's a lot of different stuff I want to get to, so I don't want to just hang on all this too long, but in Isaiah 45 verse 7 here, notice what it says, I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things, drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together, I the Lord have created it. Now the thing that I see here, first of all, is what it says in verse 7. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. Now you say, what's your point here, okay? Well, you've got to be careful with using false arguments to prove God, or to somehow logic through who God is, okay? And there was this one argument, I remember, I can't remember if I was in college or I was out of college, but anyway, there's these cute things you see online where it's like this story that happened that never really happened, right? It's like, you know, this college professor who was an atheist, you know, had this class and basically said, there is no God, and you know, prove to me that there's a God, and then the student gets up and says, you know, and gives this logical argument, and the professor's just bewildered, okay? Doesn't happen, didn't happen, you know, prove to me that happened. It's just like someone made up this story to make it sound cool, like hey, this guy stumped this atheist professor, right? But the argument was, is that, you know, the idea that well, you know, God allows all the sin in the world, and all this stuff is going on, and if God's all powerful, why does he create, you know, all this evil and, you know, all this stuff, right? And the argument was, you know, in this stupid column, okay, and it sounds good if you don't know the Bible, okay, but it basically states this, okay, God is light, and it's not that God made darkness, it's the fact that God, you know, darkness is the absence of God. And God is good, and it's not that God created evil, it's just that evil is the absence of God in the world. And that sounds cute, okay? It sounds logical to a certain extent, you know, but what does the Bible say? It says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil, okay? The Bible says that he creates darkness and creates evil. Argument's gone, okay? And I don't care if that sounds good against a professor, but you know what? The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. And using type of arguments like that isn't going to win you anything, okay? Because here's the thing, the Bible says in Amos chapter 3 and verse 6, it says, shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people be not afraid? Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? You know, you better be careful because it says that the Lord repented of the evil that he said he would do unto Nineveh and he did it not. You know, repent means repent of your sins. Well then God repented of his sins there. Well evil always means sin, well then God was going to do sin to Nineveh. God doesn't create evil, then why does it say that he created evil? I mean, I'm sorry, yeah, he created evil and he created darkness, okay? Now he did not create sin, okay, he doesn't say that. But here's the problem, people equate evil with sin, but it's not the same. Evil, what's the opposite here? Peace, evil, right? You can see what's the opposite of light, darkness. So there's a time of peace and there's a time of war. And by the way, God is a man of war, okay? God is love, but he's also a consuming fire. You know, God is angry with the wicked every day and his indignation is what fuels hell, okay? So you've got to take God on a holistic manner. You can't just be like, well I like the light, the love, the peace, the mercy, the grace part of him, but how about the indignation, the wrath, and you know, God's wrath, anger towards sin and towards the workers of iniquity, okay? You have to take it all holistically. But here's the thing, we need to not just be coming up with these cute little arguments. You know what you need to do? You need to have the word of God in the tip of your tongue, okay? If you want to prove God, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And by the way, that atheist professor, the only hope for him to have hope and believe on God, it says that the power of God and the salvation is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to a Jew first and also to the Greek. It is not a matter of just getting into this logical argument about, you know, light and darkness, good and evil, and trying to reconcile that. No, sin entered the world and death by sin, and that is the state of affairs that we're in. But God did not create sin, but it does say that he created evil. And for you to say that he didn't create evil, you're contradicting the Bible. And do you think that a lie, okay, whether you know it's a lie or not. This argument of God didn't create evil, do you think that's going to win somebody over to God? You know, you may not know that it's a lie, okay, you're just ignorant of what the Bible says. And listen, I remember hearing that and I'm like, oh, that's cool, you know, and then I'm reading through the Bible like, oh, he created evil, well, I guess that doesn't work out. He created darkness, I guess that doesn't work out, okay. And so this is where, you know, we need to get off of our own wisdom. Get off of our own worldly wisdom and just get into what the Bible teaches, okay. Chapter and verse. When it comes to anything that you're trying to prove to somebody, chapter and verse. If the Bible's not using this argument of, oh, God is, you know, the absence of darkness, then don't use that argument. Why are you using that argument if it's not in the Bible? You know, use what Jesus used as arguments, go into the Gospels, study the Gospels, see what he said to these people, and then use that, you know, follow Jesus by example. But using this wisdom of the world, and you say, well, you use examples of soul winning like a gift. Yeah, because the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I didn't come up with that. That's just what it is. I'm just expounding what a gift is, okay. You say, well, you use things like, you know, the father-son relationship. Yeah, because except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. I didn't come up with that illustration. That's in the Bible, okay. So you got to ask yourself, when you're using these illustrations, you better be careful that you're not contradicting the Bible when you do it. And you say, well, how do I know I'm not going to contradict the Bible? Then use the Bible. Use the Bible illustrations, okay. So I just wanted to kind of stick on that for a second. It's just because when I see that verse, I automatically think of these false arguments people use. And it's always these cute little things that people will put on Facebook or it's like this little, you know, thread that you're reading that's not actually a real story. By the way, most of the things that you see where people are, you know, videotaping people like steal a bike or do this or that, it's all staged, okay. We're living in a theater, my friends. And if you think that's real, I got a bridge to sell you, okay. But that being said, is that a lot of stuff is like, oh, you know, this person went to this class and it's like this whole dissertation on it. I'm like, I'm not going to waste my time reading this because it's probably not even real, okay. Now, Isaiah 45 and verse 9 here, to move on from that, okay, the whole point of that is just stay away from these arguments and these philosophical arguments, Calvinists. You know, you think about this. Whenever you get into philosophical arguments that aren't bedded in Bible as far as here's the argument that the Bible's making, you tend to get off into false doctrine, okay. And Calvinists are probably one of the worst offenders of this where it's just like, well, you know, if only those that believe are going to actually get the payment for their sins, then why would Jesus die for everybody? You know, why would he die for everybody's sins? If he knows who's going to believe, then why wouldn't he just die for those that he knew would believe, okay. And it's just like, well, it's not true, okay. It's not what the Bible says. It says he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. He takes the death for every man and you need to stop and get out of these philosophical arguments that aren't in the Bible, okay, and just say, thus saith the Lord, he died for every man. Thus saith the Lord, he takes the death for every man. Thus saith the Lord, he's the savior of all men, especially those that believe. And be like, okay, then that argument falls apart. Guess what? He died for everybody that's in hell. He paid for the sins of everybody that's in hell right now and will be in hell forever, but he paid for their sins because they're without excuse. Now I'm going to get off on that. I said I'm going to get off on that as far as off that subject there. Isaiah 45 verse 9. Isaiah 45 verse 9 here, and this is talking about not striving with your maker. This is kind of a common theme that you see both in Isaiah, but especially in Jeremiah, you have that passage about the potter and the clay, and this is kind of that same thing as far as don't strive with the person that made you, okay, and it should be common sense obviously to not do this, but it says in verse 9, it says, woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. So he's basically saying, strive amongst yourselves, but don't strive with the maker, okay. Who are you to strive with the maker? Be like, why have you made me like this, you know? It's like one thing to be striving with the person next to you, you know, it's kind of like you're equal, okay, but he's just kind of giving you an illustration here obviously. It says, keep reading there, it says, shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou, or thy work? He hath no hands. Woe unto him that saith unto his father, what begatest thou, or to the woman, what hast thou brought forth? And it's basically, you know, what are you doing? You're like, what did you do, you know, and you're questioning the person that brought you into the world, you know, whether it's God who created you or whether it's your parents that brought you into the world, and you're like questioning that, like why, you know, what's going on here? And keep going, keep reading there, it says in verse 11, thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth and created man upon it. I even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all the hosts have I commanded. And really, I believe God, you know, it's kind of like Job where he answers Job out of a whirlwind, and he's basically stating, how are you going to strive with me when I literally stretch the heavens out? You know, I created the earth, I created the heavens, I stretched it all out, and you're going to strive with me? You know, that's kind of the notion that I get as far as like, you need to put yourself in check, son. You know, it's kind of like that idea of not questioning God, okay? And you say, well, you know, who would do that? People do it all the time. And Christians do this all the time, when they question why things happen, or why, you know, you're in the state that you're in as a Christian, and they question God, okay? They question his motives, they question, you know, why is this going on? But in the end, you have to just submit yourselves, commit your souls unto Him as unto a faithful Creator, the Bible says. And you know, that's what it says in First Peter chapter four, and the idea here is that you don't know the big picture, you don't know everything that's going on. All you should really do is just say, Lord, it's in your hands. I'm going to trust what you're doing, I'm going to trust that you know what's best. And in the end, just know this, that the glory of God is greater than all of us. And the bigger plan is greater than all of us. And listen, that's not to diminish that He cares for us and loves us, okay? But in the end, you know, if I get taken out early, or something happens to me, or whatever, and I don't get to do what I think I should be doing, ultimately, if God gets the glory, and you know, the kingdom of God is more enhanced because of that, that's the way it should be, okay? And you know, I'm just, you know, the Lord's tool, if you will, I'm the potsherd, He made me, He can use me however He wants. And we need to stop thinking that, hey, we need to drive this ship, and more so just say, hey, Lord, where do you need me to be, okay? And we have free will, and we have liberty in Christ, but in the end, you know what, we should be saying, not my will, but the Lord's be done. And just let that be, and not be questioning everything that He does, okay? That's easier said than done, you know, when you're in those situations, and things are going awry, and things aren't going your way, and all that. But really, in the end, we need to just, you know, put it in the Lord's hand, put our trust in Him. Now I'll go to Isaiah 45 there in verse 13. I believe this is a strong correlation with Jesus. I do believe we're still talking about Cyrus, okay? So again, when you're reading through these passages, you have to understand that there's the like, the now application of what's going on, right? It's interesting because Isaiah is talking about something that's way in the future, right? Because Isaiah is, you know, he just got done dealing with Assyria, let alone Babylon, and Babylon hasn't even come to really destroy anything yet, or take anything captive, and he's talking about stuff that's going to happen 70 years after, okay? So this is a future prophecy that's not really dealing with the people in Judah or Israel at that time, but it's more so centered on Cyrus, but I do see a correlation here as far as how this pictures Jesus as well. Verse 13 there, it says, I have raised Him up in righteousness. I will direct all His ways. He shall build my city, and He shall let go my captives. Not for price, nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts. So this is definitely talking about Cyrus, right, because he's going to, you know, obviously give the commandment to rebuild the temple, and I'm going to show you, go to Ezra chapter 1, where he brings back the captives, okay? So there's the captives that are in Babylon or in Chaldea, and he has them go back, okay? And this is where Ezra and Nehemiah take place, right, as far as, you know, Ezra is really where you have the temple being rebuilt, Nehemiah is where the wall is being rebuilt, right? So you have a different king when you're in Nehemiah, when they go back to rebuild the wall and the city and all that. With that being said, is that Cyrus is what kick-starts this thing, as far as the temple being built, and Haggai and all that's in there as well. But in Ezra chapter 1 and verse 8, it says, Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithradath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sesh-ba-zer the prince of Judah. And the reason that I'm saying this is because he's giving commandment to Mithradath the treasurer, and Mithradath is using Sesh-ba-zer to do this as well, to number these people. Verse 11 there of chapter 1, it says, All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these that Sesh-ba-zer bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. So it's talking about how they're bringing all these vessels back. Remember that all the vessels were taken out of the house of the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar took it out to begin with, and then 11 years later, it was completely annihilated, okay? So all the treasures were already taken out before the temple was destroyed, and so Cyrus is giving this decree to build the house of God, but he's saying, hey, take all this stuff back, and he's taking all these people with him. And verse 1 of chapter 2, it talks about all the people that are going to be going back with it, okay? Verse 1 there, it says, Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city unto this city unto his city, yeah. And so basically chapter 2 is just giving you this long list of people that are going to go back into Jerusalem, okay? So what did it say in Isaiah 45, verse 13, it says, I have raised them up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives. Notice this, not for price nor reward, said the Lord of hosts. Notice that Cyrus just does this, right, and he's basically giving them this blank check to take all this stuff and do this, you know, you read later chapters about it as far as how he grants them to get trees from Lebanon and all this stuff to build the temple, and he's not doing it for price or reward. He's not saying like, hey, I'm just loaning you this, he's just giving it to them freely. And you can say, well, how does this apply to Jesus? Well, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 7, it says, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. So when you think of Jesus, and then it goes on the fact that he rose from the dead, he, you know, descended into the deep, and then he rose again from the earth, descended into the lower parts of the earth, and ascended up far above the heavens. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how the death, burial, and resurrection, and the idea is that he did it not for price nor reward. Why? Because for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, so that any man should boast, meaning that we have been set free from captivity, and what are you talking about? You mean from the holding chamber down in hell called Paradise where Abraham's bosom? No, I'm talking about that we're in bondage. We're in dead and trespasses and sins, and we were, you know, spiritually in prison before we got saved, and when we got saved, we were set free from captivity, and Romans, you know, five, six, you know, all that is dealing with that, okay? So for sake of time, I don't want to get into that, but it talks about being in the bondage of sin, but now we're set free, you know, and all that as far as being saved from our sins, being saved from hell, and all that. So that being said, you can definitely see this allegorical picture of Cyrus, you know, he's the anointed. He calls him my shepherd, okay? So if you can't understand when it says anointed, shepherd, and the fact that he's going to, you know, bring the, I'm sorry, what is it? It says he shall let go my captives not for price nor reward. I mean, you can definitely see that picture of Jesus there, okay, and the fact that he's not doing it for price or for reward, that means that you don't pay for it. It's free, okay? The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's the free gift, the Bible says, and so that is a great picture there, and read through Ezra and see and show me where Cyrus is like, all right, time to pay me. Nope, he just says go do it, you're granted to do this, and here's all the stuff you need. What do you need? And it's an amazing picture when you think about it on that level. Now obviously, you know, when you're reading through him it says, it's talking about him who knew me not, obviously we're not talking about the Lord Jesus at that point, right? So when you're reading through this passage, there's obviously places where you're definitely talking about the man Cyrus who was not of Israel and all that. Jesus was of Israel, right? He was of the tribe of Judah, okay? He knew God, and he said, and he even said to the Pharisees, he's like, if I tell you that I don't know you, I'd be a liar like unto you, okay? Because he's making a point, he's like, you don't know the Father, and if I say I don't know him, I'm going to be a liar because I do know him. And so obviously Jesus knows the Father, and so that doesn't apply to him, it just, that applies to Cyrus. Go back to Isaiah chapter 45 there as we continue on here, and this one says in verse 14, this is Isaiah 45 and verse 14, it says, Thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans. Men of stature shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine. They shall come after thee, and chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee. They shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God. And again, I believe you're dealing with Cyrus here, okay? Now obviously, if Cyrus is a picture of Jesus, you can definitely see how that makes sense, right? Because when Jesus was here on his ministry, obviously his ministry was to the house of Israel, okay? But you had Grecians, and Syrophinicians, and Syrians, and all these people that were coming in saying, you know, we've heard of your fame, okay, and we know that God is in you, right? And you say, well, was God in Jesus? Yeah, because he says, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. And obviously the Holy Ghost was in him as well, but he is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so yes, God was in him, he is God. But that being said, is that this reminds me of another passage, go to Zechariah chapter 8, where it talks about surely God is in thee, and again, you can see how when Cyrus is making his decree, and it's great that he's building the house of God, okay, and he's making his decree to build the house of God, but you see all this other stuff that's coming in where people are coming in to be servants unto Cyrus, right, because he says that God, the Lord God, has given me all the nations. And all these people are coming in to basically be servants unto Cyrus, and they're saying, you know, I just want to see what it says exactly so I don't mess it up here, it says they shall make supplication unto thee, saying surely God is in thee. So they're coming to him and, you know, basically inquiring of the Lord unto Cyrus, the king. And so, you know, this is definitely, you know, a great king, Cyrus the Great. And Zechariah chapter 8 here in verse 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Okay. So you can definitely see how that correlates, you know, with like Cyrus. Now Cyrus wasn't a Jew, but if Cyrus is a picture of Jesus, Jesus was a Jew, right? And he even says in John 4, verse 22, talking to the woman at the well, the Samaritan, it says, You worship, you know not what, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Now Jews, it's just meaning like Judea, okay? And it's just basically saying that's where the truth is at, okay? That's where the house of God is at, that's where the truth is at. They'd be like saying, salvation's of the independent Baptist, okay? And by and large, that's true, okay? Because by and large, that's where most people that believe right on the Gospel is where it's at. But if you want to spiritualize it, the Bible says in Romans 2, Romans 2 and verse 28, it says, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. So when you say salvation's of the Jews, well are we talking like just physical circumcision Jew? Or are we talking about a Jew spiritually? One that's circumcised in the heart, one that's a believer, okay? And not what the Bible says, those that say they're Jews and are not but do lie, but are the synagogue of Satan, okay? And so that being said, you can definitely understand how they're coming and taking hold of them and saying, you know, I know that God is with you. And by the way, the 12 apostles, Jews, okay? So you can imagine that they were taking hold of Paul, they were taking, he wasn't one of the 12, but you know what I'm saying, he was a Jew too, and Peter and John taking hold of them and saying God is with you, okay? So you can definitely see how that applies. But I believe they were doing that with Cyrus because of this proclamation and the fact that he was making this temple and it was a big deal, okay? It's a big deal because everybody knew about it and are probably wondering why in the world is he making all this ado about this temple in Jerusalem and taking all these people back in and bringing them back into their country and what is this all about? And obviously you can see why God used Cyrus to get his word out and when you get into, you know, what I would call the meat of this chapter is where it says look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved. And so the big overarching plan here is that everybody will hear about this and everybody will be inquiring about the Lord, seeking out the Lord and getting saved, okay? So go to verse 15, so Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 15, and I'm just trying to hit on some points here and you say well, you didn't answer some of these, you know, there's other portions of this that maybe I was questioning, I just don't have enough time to go through every little detail that's going through here. I'm just kind of hitting on some of the big points that are in this chapter because this chapter is packed, to be honest with you, as far as just different things to really touch on. In verse 15 it says, verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel the Savior. They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. Now when you first read this, you're like, what, you know, like why is it saying that you're a God that hidest thyself? Well you have to understand that, you know, obviously you need context as far as what's going on here because later on he's basically going to say I haven't said anything in darkness or in secret, okay? So he's going to basically state that he hasn't been hiding his message, he hasn't been hiding who he is, okay, but why is he hiding himself and what's he hiding himself from, okay? Because the question you have to ask yourself, I mean this is a true statement, okay, verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, okay? And in context, what's it go into? It's talking about these people that are makers of idols, okay? Now look at Isaiah 59, I believe this will kind of give you, you know, some idea as far as what it's talking about here. Because the big thing in this chapter is that I am God and there's none else and all these gods and idols that you make, they can't save you and they're not really gods, okay? That's kind of an overarching theme and obviously idolatry is a sin. I mean the second commandment in the Ten Commandments is about idolatry, okay? And obviously the first commandment, you know, and that are very closely related, right? Because if you're worshipping this idol, you're not having God, you know, no other gods before God, okay? Now in Isaiah 59 here, in verse 1, it says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear, okay? So context here, when it's saying that thou art a God that hidest thyself, it's not saying like he hides himself from everybody at all times, okay? So you can't just take this holistic, like, you are a God that's just constantly hiding yourself from everything, okay? That's not what it's talking about. In context, he's talking about the fact that you're sinning with your idolatry and that's hiding God's face from you, okay? He's not hearing you because of your idolatry. And you say, well, he's talking to, you know, the heathen, you know, he's talking about these Gentiles, right? You know, they're all idolaters. How about Cornelius, okay? Cornelius was not an idolater, and he was praying to God, and God heard him and sent him Peter, okay? But this can also apply just to Christians in general and the fact that, you know, the ears are, it says the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, but his face is against them to do evil, and the idea is that if you're just in sin and you're not doing what you should be doing, you're breaking God's commandments, he's not just ready to answer your prayers. It's not that he doesn't know what you're saying or doesn't know that you're saying this. It's just the fact that he's hiding himself from you as far as he's not there to just be at your every whim because you're literally breaking his commandments, and you know what? The Bible is basically stating that if, hey, if you're going to be righteous and keep his commandments, then his ears are going to be open unto your prayers. Why? Because, you know, you're doing those things that are pleasing in his sight. And so that's what the Bible teaches, that one of the prerequisites to have your prayers answered is that you're keeping his commandments and doing those things that are pleasing in his sight, and if you're not and you're just committing all these sins and breaking all these commandments, then you can't expect God to hear you when you're calling out for him. And that's why it's always interesting because people are always, you know, they're in sin and they're like, why doesn't God hear me? Why isn't he answering my prayers? It's like, well, maybe you should get right with God first, and then maybe he'll hear what you have to say. Now obviously when it comes to salvation, you know, his hand is not shortened that it cannot save, right? Meaning this is that if you're in sin and you call out to God for salvation, he'll hear you, okay? What we're talking about is physical salvation here, and this whole passage is talking about, you know, basically coming out of captivity and all of that, you know, as far as like a physical salvation from a foreign entity of some sort, right? And even, you know, you think of Daniel who prayed this prayer saying, forgive us our sins and, you know, basically bring us back into the land and if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, you know, and you think of 2 Chronicles 7, 14, and the fact that then I will hear you and hear your land, right? You have to turn from your evil way and turn from your wickedness and then he's gonna heal your land and he'll hear from you from heaven, okay? And that's a whole sermon for another day. I would just turn there and show you 2 Chronicles 7, 14. That's your homework, okay? 2 Chronicles 7, 14 is your homework to couple with this passage here. Isaiah 45 verse 17. I don't want to make the same mistake I made last time where I was like literally going over by 10 minutes. I look up at the clock and it's like where it's at right now and then I look back up and it's like 10 minutes after or something like that, so I need to keep it rolling here. In verse 17 here, like I said, this is kind of where the meat is in my opinion when you get down to verse 17 here and it says, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. He shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. This is a great verse, okay? Because for some reason people think when you say saved that's temporary, okay? Saved is past tense first of all, okay? It's not being saved. I've done been saved, okay? But the idea here is that not only does it say saved, you know, shall be saved in the Lord with everlasting salvation and that's where we have everlasting life, eternal life, we'll never die, we're going to live forever, right? The idea we'll never perish, we'll never go into condemnation, we're passed from death into life, like all these things that are said over and over and over again, but it really comes out of this. We have everlasting salvation. When we get saved, it's everlasting. It's not this temporary deal and it says you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end and this verse is packed because this is where in the Bible it says, the scripture has said, whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Says that in Romans chapter 9 and 10, but it also says in 1 Peter chapter 2 that whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded, okay? And so it's getting both there. It's basically saying you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. You know what that means? Is that for eternity you're not going to be ashamed nor confounded. It's not a matter of like you get saved and then you're not going to be ashamed and confounded for a little bit, okay? You get saved, you're going to have eternal life for a little bit, which is an oxymoron first of all, but second of all, when it says whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed nor confounded, that's not just a certain time period. That's world without end and by the way, that phrase world without end is only mentioned in two places right here and in Ephesians chapter 3. Go to Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3. So let me put the bet a little bit of dispensational stuff here right now because you've probably heard these like ages, right? We're in the church age, brother. Or even they'll take it as far as like well we're in the Laodicean church age. We're not just in the church age, you know, that's kind of like an all-encompassing thing, but we're in the Laodicean, we're in the lukewarm church age, okay? And you know you had Ephesus and Smyrna, you know, they were doing some great things in the beginning there, but then now we're in the Laodicean church age. No, there's no such thing as church age, okay? There's the New Testament. Let's use biblical language here, okay? There's the New Testament, that's what we're in. And we are in local churches and we're a local New Testament church. That's what we are, okay? And we are a part of the holy nation which is all believers and we are part of the royal priesthood because Jesus Christ is the high priest after you order to melt his neck forever. And we are king, he has made us kings and priests in him, that's why we're the royal priesthood, okay? That's where we're at right now, okay? But this church age garbage, and it goes into like, well that was the law age or something like that. And you're like, dispensations will be like, you're messing it up, I don't care, it's all garbage, it's not in the Bible, okay? There's not like this time of grace with Noah and then the time of faith with Abraham and then there's the time of the law, you know, it's like, I just hope you're in the right age because I don't want to be in the one with the law because good luck with that. But it's always funny because these people that believe this age stuff, we're in the law of grace and they're like, well, you know, we're in the law of grace now, so it's just by grace. It's like, yeah, that just sounds like Calvinists because the Calvinists are always the elect. You never meet a Calvinist that's not the elect, right? But in verse 20 here, it says, Ephesians 3 and verse 20, it says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Throughout all ages, okay? In the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, okay? So let's say there were these ages of like dispensations, right? It's saying that glory is going to be unto the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, okay? So what's this church age? I guess that's every age, okay, because don't get me wrong, you know, that term like you have the Golden Age and you have the Bronze Age, you know, people use that terminology and I understand what they're doing with it, okay? But what dispensationalists do is it has to do with like different forms of salvation, okay? So obviously you had the order of Melchizedek, which was like a different administration, if you will. You know, they didn't have the law of Moses. They weren't doing the Levitical priesthood with all these different customs. Then you had the Old Testament, which was the Levitical priesthood. Then you had the New Testament, which does away with a lot of those Old Testament customs. But here's the thing, you know what's never changed? The Gospel. The Gospel's been the same since the foundation of the world. It's Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He is the Lamb that was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifesting these last times for you that your faith and hope might be in God. And the idea here is that this world without end, like I said, when you see these phrases, okay, like world without end, you know what that's doing? It's pointing you back, okay? It's pointing you back to something. Because the only, like I said, the only other place that this phrase, world without end is used is in Isaiah 45 verse 17, which says, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end, okay? You say, well, that's talking about Israel. Yeah, it's interesting because Ephesians 2 just got done telling you that you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, but now you're fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God, okay? And the idea there is that the middle wall of partitions has been broken down, and you don't have to be a part of a physical nation to be a part of Israel, okay? And by the way, if you be in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise? What part of the history do you lie in? If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are of that seed and you're heirs according to the promise, and you're of Israel, okay? Now go on from that, okay, and honestly, that whole sermon could be preached on that subject right there in verse 18. So Isaiah 45 verse 18, I just love this passage. I love this passage because it says that salvation is everlasting. It says that it's world without end, that you're not going to be ashamed nor confounded. So it's just showing you that eternal security of salvation. But then it also goes into the fact that, hey, this isn't just for the Jew, okay? And the falsehood is that, well, in the New Testament, it's not just for the Jew. But you know what people think today? This is what the mainstream is. The Old Testament was just all about Jews getting saved. The New Testament's not about Jews getting saved, it's just about Gentiles getting saved. That's the logic today. That we don't need to preach the gospel to the Jews, they already have their covenant. They have the Old Testament, that's to the Jews, okay? You see how backwards that is? When the Bible teaches that from Adam to the end of the world, it's been about everybody getting saved from the same gospel, whether Jew nor Greek, whether barbarian, Scythian, bond-free, male, female, it's always been this way, okay? Now in the New Testament, we don't have to deal with this whole circumcision thing and being a part of this nation and being at this temple that's at this nation and keeping these feasts. That's what's been done away with. But the idea of salvation, that's always been the same, okay? And world without end, it's eternal salvation. Now in Isaiah 45 verse 18, it says, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it, He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret and in a dark place of the earth, okay? So he's setting this up, basically saying, I formed and created everything. By the way, I created to be inhabited. So this whole idea of like the world's overpopulated, you can go pound salt. God made the earth to be inhabited and if He hasn't come back yet, then guess what? It's not full yet, okay? And if you think the world is overpopulated, go out to the Midwest, you know, go to Wyoming and Montana. I'm sure my brother could tell you that. It's not overpopulated out there. And you think, well, West Virginia, you know, you guys are just spread out there. You don't know what's going on. We're not the most spread out state, okay? We're not the smallest state in the union. There are some spread out areas in this country. You know, if you live in New York, you're living in a bubble where you're on top of each other, okay? Here's my advice to you. Move, okay? If you're crowded, move. And you know, that's my advice. Now in verse 19, it says, I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I said, not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is none God else beside me. I just God and a savior, there is none beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is none else. Now what set this up? Cyrus, the king of Persia, with his proclamation to the whole world and over his whole kingdom and over, I mean, if you're, like I said, 127 provinces probably, right? Or at least somewhere around there because the Haduaras had that, that all these people are hearing this and God is saying throughout all this, look unto me, all the ends of the earth and be ye saved. This is not the New Testament, by the way. I know that it sounds like the New Testament, but that's because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am the Lord, I change not. And by the way, it's the same gospel to Abraham, the same gospel to David, and the same gospel to us. And it's always been that way. And you say, well, why isn't it saved in all those other passages? Well, the Bible talks about the fact that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and obviously there was scripture that was written for certain reasons, right? And God who had sundry times and divers manners spake and time passed unto the fathers by the prophets. And so there was a lot of stuff that was spoken and the gospel was being preached and being revealed from faith to faith before this and you know what, not all of it was written down. But we do have Genesis 15, where it says Abraham believed in the Lord and it was counted in him for righteousness. And we have many other places where it talks about trusting in the Lord and believing in the Lord and everlasting salvation that's in the Bible, but it was also spoken. And by the way, there wasn't a printing press back then, so not everybody just had a Bible on hand, okay? Actually, most people didn't have a Bible on hand until the King James Bible was translated. Is it a coincidence that the printing press was coming out that same exact time that the King James Bible was being translated? I think not. But at the same time, you have to understand that things were being spoken. How about this, you know, the idea here is that look unto me all the ends of the earth and be saved. Go to Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 reiterates this point that the gospel was not just being preached to those of Israel, that it was being preached to the whole world. And listen, the purpose of God having a covenant with Israel was for them to be a light unto the world. That was the reasoning. Obviously that he was going to come through that lineage and he was going to be the Savior of the world through them and all these covenants were to picture his coming, right? The promises, the covenants, all this stuff, right? Were going through them, but ultimately they were to be a light unto the world. And ultimately they failed at doing that and the New Testament is better, okay? In Romans chapter 10 verse 16 it says, But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Uzziah said, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world. What is that talking about? The feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. That's what that's talking about and it says that their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world. You're like, well, you know, but all the prophets, they were just Israel. Really? Jeremiah? Really? Isaiah? How many times have we seen where he's prophesying against other countries? You know, from Babylon, Egypt, to Moab, Edom, all those different places. Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Really? Ezekiel did the same thing. You say, well, what about Daniel? Daniel was in those countries preaching to the Chaldeans, preaching to the Medes, and preaching to the Syrians. Or, I'm sorry, yeah, the Persians, not the Syrians. And how about Jonah? What's the whole book of Jonah about? Who's he preaching to? Jews? No. Nineveh, which is the capital city of Assyria. So you know what? It really comes down to this. Bible ignorance. When people think that in the Old Testament, God didn't care about other countries and didn't care about other people, he cared about them more than the prophets did because Jonah wanted Nineveh to burn. And what did God say? Shall I destroy, and I forget how many people it said, like 120,000, I forget what it, maybe it was 600,000. Anyway, it was like the scores. That's what I have in my head, it's something scores, the amount of people that were in Nineveh and they said, should I, you know, that can't discern from the left hand to the right, should I destroy them and all so much cattle? He's like, if you don't care about the people, do you at least care about the cattle? You know? It's like some people, you know, they get attached to those little piglets or something like that, or they get attached to, you know, the little goats. But the idea there is that God cared about the Ninevites. He cared about the Assyrians and didn't want them to be destroyed. And that's why he sent Jonah to begin with. And so, you know, this is something that's been a theme throughout the Old Testament. Maybe you just missed it because, you know, the Zionism stuff stuck in your head. By the way, Genesis is not anything to do with Israel besides when you're talking about Jacob the person and his 12 sons. So what was going on for those first, you know, couple thousand years of time before the flood and then, you know, as you're going up into getting into Egypt, I mean, it's just like God just changed his mind. He's like, I care about all these people, but not anymore. And yeah, anyway. Go to Isaiah chapter 45 verse 23, getting down to the end of the chapter here. And we see a famous verse that's quoted in the New Testament here in verse 23. It says, I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess. And that's the famous passage here. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear, I'm sorry, did I say confess? Shall swear. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. And if you think about this, remember we're talking about Isaiah being like this mini Bible. Isaiah 45, what book would that correlate with but Romans, okay? So Isaiah 40 would be Matthew, Isaiah 41 would be Mark, and so we get to, you know, Acts, Romans, right? So the last chapter would be Acts, this would be Romans, and guess what, this is found in Romans chapter 14. Go to Romans chapter 14. And so I haven't done this with all these chapters to try to link it in with whatever book it's associated with, but this one's just blatant that, hey, this is in Romans. But also, by the way, it says that the word, by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. What is that talking about? Well, in Isaiah 55, I should turn to Romans 14, Isaiah 55, 11 says, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Okay, so when he's saying it's not going to return, he's basically saying it's going to happen. Okay? Now, this does not mean, you know, when people say, well, you know, they hear the word and they're going to get saved. Okay, that's not what it says, okay, because people have free will. And so what it's basically stating is that God said it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If he says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear, that's what's going to happen. It's not going to come back void. And by the way, if he says you have everlasting life, that means you have everlasting life, and it's not going to be temporary life, it's not going to end, okay? The word has gone out of his mouth, and, you know, as he said, I swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever at the order of Melchizedek, you know, as he says, you know, when he's stating this, it's going to happen. But in Romans chapter 14, verse 9, it says, for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living, but why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at naught thy brother, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So you say, well, this is just talking about Christians. Well, he says, first of all, that he's the Lord of the dead and the living, but he's also going to judge the quick and the dead, okay? And there's going to be a judgment for the dead, and there's going to be a judgment for the living, okay? Judgment seat of Christ is for the living, and judgment for the dead is the great white throne judgment. And so obviously I believe every knee will bow whether they're saved or not, okay? But the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, okay? I believe that's every knee, okay? And so every knee, whether those that are dead that are going to be standing at the great white throne judgment or whether it's us standing at the judgment seat of Christ, that we will be bowing the knee, and we will be confessing the Lord Jesus, right? We'll be confessing that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and I have no problem with that. So that's going to be a great day, honestly, when that happens, but we will be judged according to what we've done in the body, whether it be good or bad, dealing with things that are eternal or temporal in this life at the judgment seat of Christ at the end of the sermon for another day. And let's finish up Isaiah chapter 45 here in verse 25, or I'm sorry verse 24, the end of the book here, or end of the chapter, I'm sorry, in verse 24 it says, Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. So the first thing you see in verse 24 is I think of Philippians chapter 3 where it says that I may be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is through faith of Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, but that which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, okay? And the idea is that, you know, it's not the righteousness of the law, it's not our righteousness, it's his righteousness. So these people are saying that in the Lord have I righteousness, okay? So salvation is just being spelled out for you. It's the everlasting salvation. It's through his righteousness that we're saved and we're looking unto him and be saved. Look and live, right? Just like the serpent is lifted up in the wilderness, even so shall the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life. And that's the case. You look at the serpent, you look at Jesus and live. And then you get into verse 25 there where it says in the Lord shall, I'm sorry, in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Now I'm going to hit on this a little more when we get to Isaiah 59 because I'm really going to get into Romans chapter 11, okay? So this is where it says and so all Israel shall be saved, okay? And I believe it's pulling back to this where it's saying that, but then it's pulling back to Isaiah 59 where it's talking about, you know, the deliverer shall come to Zion and all that, okay? So I kind of want to save that for that sermon when we get to Isaiah 59, plus I'm out of time anyway. So, but the idea here is that all Israel is talking about, they are not all Israel which are of Israel, okay? And we're talking about the difference between physical Israel and those that are saved, those that are justified by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and that's the difference. But we'll hit that when we get into Isaiah 59 because I'm really going to harp on that one because that's where it's being quoted from in Romans chapter 11. So I don't want to hit that too hard in this sermon anyway. So but that's Isaiah 45, definitely a lot of interesting stuff in there and just stuff that you could preach a lot of sermons on for sure. But I love the book of Isaiah and we're chugging along through it, we still have a little bit to go. 66 chapters, it's over a year. We haven't got to a year mark yet, so but let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, thank you for your word, thank you for the book of Isaiah and thank you for these chapters, especially in chapter 40 through 45. It's just been really awesome to see a lot of these passages that maybe we haven't thought about or just delved deep into, but Lord just praise you be with us throughout this week, be with those that aren't feeling well or that can't make it today and be with us as we meet up again on Sunday. And Lord we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.