(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) But look, we are there in Isaiah 14 and look at verse number 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? The title for the sermon tonight is Lucifer, son of the morning. We're introduced to of course Lucifer or Satan as we know him and the way we're introduced to Satan in this chapter is in parallel with the king of Babylon. Now this is a continuation of chapter 13 which started with the burden of Babylon. Instead of continuing the same prophecy and in this chapter just like the former chapter Isaiah is all over the place. I mean it all makes sense when you understand the Bible as a whole but he's speaking about Babylon of that day, he's speaking of Babylon of the future he's speaking of the king of Babylon, then he's speaking of Lucifer, then he's speaking of the Assyrians and then he's speaking of the Philistines and so in this there's a lot to break through this chapter and I hope I can make sense of all this for you. But before we start commencing there in verse number 1, we are in the 14th chapter of Isaiah so what's the 14th book of the Bible? Second Chronicles, alright so please keep your finger there and come with me to Second Chronicles chapter 6 come with me to Second Chronicles chapter 6, Second Chronicles chapter 6 and what we're going to read here is of King Solomon after the construction of the temple, remember that was his responsibility he left by his father to construct a new temple and so in Second Chronicles chapter 6 we have King Solomon do a sermon, he preaches a sermon and then he begins to pray to the Lord, he dedicates the temple to the Lord God and this is what he says in Second Chronicles chapter 6, look at verse number 12 first, it says and he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands, drop down to verse number 14 and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like the in the heaven nor in the earth which keepeth covenant and showeth mercy unto thy servants that walk thee with all their hearts and so, you know, he's speaking about their desire as a nation to walk with all their hearts toward the Lord God, now drop down to verse number 36 now he says, look, if we as a nation don't have our hearts toward you Lord alright, you know, then he speaks of being taken into captivity and all these things but look at verse number 36, it says, if they sin against thee, for there is no man which sinneth not, and thou be angry with them and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near, and so he's speaking about this potential this might happen because this was spoken of Moses, that if the nation were to turn their hearts away from the Lord, they'd be taken into captivity, and of course we're talking about the burden of Babylon, we're talking about the fact that Babylon took Judah into captivity, but he says this in verse number 37, yet if they bethink themselves in the land, whither they are carried captive and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, we have sinned, we have done amiss and have dealt wickedly, if they return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul in the land of their captivity whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gave us unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou has chosen and toward the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. And so this is a prayer that Solomon gives to God for the entire nation. You know, Lord, if you're so angry with us and you take us into captivity, Lord, if we just turn back to you with all our hearts and we pray toward your city, if we pray toward the land which is what we saw of Daniel, remember Daniel was in Babylon captivity and he prayed, he opened his windows, he prayed toward Jerusalem and he says, look, if we as a nation did all these things, could you please bring us back you know, back into the land and you'd forgive us of our sins. So when we start Isaiah 14 and verse number 1, come back with me to Isaiah 14 verse number 1, we have this prophecy being played out it says, for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land and the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. Alright, so this is speaking again of the prophecy that yes, Babylon will take Judah into captivity but there is a coming of time when God will allow them to return back into the land 70 years later. Now, just like last week just like the previous chapter, we are going to see this you know, speaking of Babylon of that day and the captivity of that day and all of a sudden we're going to be transported to the millennial reign of Christ, okay and we'll see that immediately actually. But before we see that in verse number 2 I want you to notice that it says here, and the strangers shall be joined with them. And so this is speaking of people that are not of the nation of Israel being joined together with Israel as they come back into that land. Now keep your finger there, come with me to Luke chapter 13, come with me to Luke chapter 13 in the New Testament, and while you're turning to Luke 13 I'm going to read to you from Ephesians chapter 2, we've got a lot to get through in this chapter, okay, so if I speed through a little bit quickly, forgive me, you can always go back to the sermon and listen to the references then. But you're going to Luke 13, I'll read to you from Ephesians to 11, which says, Wherefore remember that ye been in the time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. And so what we see here in the New Testament, the Gentiles before they were saved they were called aliens and strangers. What we see in Isaiah 14 it says, the strangers shall be joined with them. And so this is why Ephesians 2 continues in verse 13, it says, But now in Christ Jesus, ye who are sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. And so Jesus Christ breaks the division between Gentile and Jew, brings us as one people, shared people, shared of the commonwealth of Israel, and that's of course in Ephesians 2, speaking of the spiritual nature. That we, once we're saved, there is no difference between the Gentile and the Jew, or the Greek and the Jew, or male and female, we're all one in Christ Jesus, there's not like a better people versus a lesser people in Christ Jesus, we're all made one. Now you're looking at Luke 13 which doesn't speak of this in a spiritual sense, but speaks of this in a physical sense. In Luke 13 28 Jesus Christ says, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. That's speaking about the unbelieving Jews. Then it says in verse number 29, And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And of course this is speaking of the millennial reign of Christ, when he reigns from Israel, when he reigns from Jerusalem and Judea, strangers will be joined together with him from the east and south and west and north in all places because everyone that is in Christ Jesus will be part of that reign of Jesus Christ we're going to rule and reign with him those thousand years. And so I want to show you just how we go from modern day Babylon for Isaiah to future Babylon and then the millennium because just before Christ begins his millennium, future Babylon is destroyed in an hour. Now come back with me to Isaiah 14 and verse number 2 and verse number 2 solidifies that we're talking about the future millennium reign because it says in verse number 2 And the people shall take them and bring them to their place and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids and they shall take them captives whose captives they were and they shall rule over their oppressors. This has never happened in history where Israel became, took their oppressors into captivity. And so God is saying here there is coming a time when Israel is going to rule over their oppressors and of course that's the millennium reign of Christ. Christ is going to rule from Israel and he's going to rule over all the nations of the earth. That's why it says in verse number 3 that thou was made to serve, that thou shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say how have the oppressors ceased? The golden city ceased. So the king of Babylon has been referenced here and you need to just keep all of this in mind. Yes the king of Babylon here is speaking of present day Babylon. This is a proverb, this is a prophecy toward him but his fulfillment is in the millennial reign of Christ. And when I talk about Israel in the millennium just as a reminder from last week, I'm not talking about modern day Israel, I'm not talking about Christ rejecting Israel you know we certainly don't believe that when Christ comes on a white horse they're all automatically going to get saved. That's not how salvation works in the Bible. Salvation in the Bible is by hearing God's word and believing God's word. Someone has to hear the gospel and put their faith and trust in the gospel in order to be saved. No one gets saved by seeing Jesus come on a white horse no they need to receive and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Israel that we're talking about in the millennium are the Old Testament saints when there were twelve tribes of Israel and there were saints and those that were saved of course they're going to rule and reign in the millennium with the rest of us, with all the strangers in terms of the Gentiles and the foreign nations in that time. But when Christ rules he's going to rule from all the earth. Now notice that the king of Babylon here is referenced as, or Babylon as the golden city, the golden city. Now you may recall when the prophet Daniel of course was in captivity under Babylon and he was able to interpret a dream or a vision of Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon was represented by a statue but also by the golden head you may recall that vision or that dream. Well come with me now, keep your finger there come with me to Jeremiah 51, I want to show you something else about how Babylon is referred to as this golden city. In Jeremiah 51 please, Jeremiah 51 we have Jeremiah who's preaching against Babylon how Babylon's going to be destroyed by the Assyrian empire in Jeremiah 51 verse number 7 Jeremiah 51 verse number 7, the Bible reads Babylon have been a golden cup in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunken. The nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. So we see here Babylon referred to as a golden cup and within that cup of course it's an alcoholic beverage that makes all the nations of the earth drunk because Babylon was a kingdom, he was a kingdom over many other nations and of course the wickedness and the filth that was in Babylon they had an influence over other nations and affected them in the same way. And of course that should remind you if you know about the book of Revelation, I'll just read it to you in Revelation 18 verse number 1 it says A cage of every unclean and hateful bird. This Babylon in Revelation 18 is future Babylon to come, but then it says in verse number 3, for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And so end times Babylon, once again a world empire, the wickedness and the filth is going to affect the nations and the kings of the earth that are under the power and authority of Babylon. Now the reason I read all of that is because to show you just the connective tissue in the Bible, the golden city, the golden cup and the wine that's within the golden cup, and again end times Babylon referring to that woman, that whore with this cup that causes the nations to keep fornication and drunkenness with her. And so this is why Isaiah is such a tricky book, it's because you've got all these layers that are coming into fulfillment, it's like, oh man, what are we referring to here? We're talking about modern day or current day Babylon for Isaiah, we're talking about future Babylon, like there are all these questions that get asked, and again as your pastor, as the preacher, I hope I can give a good indication of what God is speaking about, but of course to show you the parallels in the Bible. Because truly, when the Bible speaks in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. And when it comes to that idea it's the fact that nations and people are the same. Like I know technology has changed and we have cars and we have the internet, but the heart of man is the same. And powers are the same, powers rise and powers fall, kings become prideful and then they get taken down, I mean we see a cycle all the time throughout history again and again and again because we're still human beings, we still have a sinful nature, and what the Bible just shows us is the fact that history repeats over and over and over again. But there will come an end to the wickedness of Babylon and that will come with the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So come back with me to Isaiah 14 in verse number 5. Isaiah 14 verse number 5. The Lord have broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. This is referring to the millennium. Where the Lord's going to have power over all the earth. It says in verse number 6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke He that rule the nations in anger is persecuted and none hindereth. So those that smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke is Babylon. And the spirit of Babylon It says here that that will be destroyed because in verse number 7 it says the whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They break forth into singing. This has never happened in the history of the world. There's never been a time when the entire world is at rest and is that quiet. There were wars and there were rumors of wars and this is going to continue until the time of Christ. When Christ comes on his white horse, destroys the armies of the antichrist, then he arches in the new millennium and there will be peace on the earth. Thank God finally there will be peace and quiet on the earth and it says they break forth into singing. There will be joy, there will be rejoicing in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Now even though we have Jesus Christ ruling over former oppressive powers or ruling over former Babylon's of old It's not like when Christ reigns, yes he rules with a rod of iron, but it's not that other people are going to be oppressed like the kingdoms of the earth. There's rejoicing. We see people breaking forth into singing. At some point the entire earth is going to be rejoicing. There is great peace, great prosperity when Jesus Christ rules on the earth. What I want you to think about in light of this is our personal walk with God today, our personal walk with Jesus Christ today. You know, Jesus is supposed to rule in our lives, isn't he? You know, sometimes, and rightly so, we preach against lordship salvation. We would say that you've got to make Jesus the Lord of your life. In other words, you've got to obey every commandment in order for you to be saved. Every instruction, that's a workspace gospel. We know that salvation is a free gift paid for by Jesus Christ, his blood sacrifice. But now that we are saved, Jesus Christ is our Lord. Now you won't obey him 100% correctly, but he expects us to obey his word. He is our Lord. We are under his rule. We are his people. He has bought us with his blood. But he doesn't rule us with oppression. The Christian walk should not be something that just brings you downcast and every time you fail, every time you say, I'm a horrible person. The reason I say that is because I've seen this in my life. I've seen Christians who go to church and they're just always downcast and I've failed this and I've failed that and I've failed my Lord. So has everybody else in the church this week has failed the Lord. There isn't anybody in the church today that will say, this week I never sinned against the Lord. I've never done anything wrong. We've all messed up. We've all done something wrong. Does God just want us to walk in oppression? No, God wants us to break forth into singing. God wants us to be at peace. He's our Lord. He's the Prince of Peace. He gives us a peace that the world cannot understand. He gives us the ability to go before him in prayer every time we're burdened, every time we go through difficulty, every time we sin against the Lord and we fail him, we're able to go to him, speak to the Lord, the Lord doesn't turn his back against us. He gives us peace. He gives us rejoicing. That ought to be the Christian life. Not this oppression, all these rules in God's Word, the Ten Commandments, there's so many rules I can't obey. Of course you can't obey them all because you're not perfect. But we're on a journey. We're trying to live a holy life. We're trying to serve the Lord God with our life and truly if you are being led by the Lord if you do view him the right way, look, Jesus does not oppress you. He gives you clear instructions. He warns us against sin so we can live a life that is pleasing to our Lord God, a life that will not hurt us more than necessary. There are hurts in life but of course if you sin against him you're going to add further hurts and further damage to your life. He gives us direction. But let us be people that even though we're under the command of our Lord God, that we're not walking around like we're oppressed people. Being a Christian is such a horrible thing. Being a Christian to me is the most liberating thing. I'm saved. I know where I'm going. I know any time I mess up I can go to my Lord and ask him for help. How liberating is a Christian life? I've got the Creator to help me and to guide me on every step of my life. And so that should be your Christian life, one of joy, one of rejoicing. And of course we see that play out in the millennial end of Christ. Let's continue to verse number 8. Now the thee here is Babylon. Let me explain to you in a minute why. And the seeders of Lebanon saying thou, that's Babylon, are laid down or destroyed. No fella is come up against us. So nobody has come to cut down the trees. Like the trees are symbolic of the nations. And so ever since Babylon's been destroyed we have no one, no nations that's oppressing us. We have no one against us. No one's trying to chop us down. Now that can only be true in the millennium. Because after Babylon was taken down it was the Assyrian empire. And then after the Assyrian empire it was the Grecian empire and so on and so forth. So again this is speaking of the end times. When Babylon of the end times is finally destroyed there won't be nations oppressing one another in the millennial end of Christ. This is also speaking of Satan though. And this is the thing that you need to understand. Babylon here is also representative of Satan. Because look at verse number 9. It says, hell from beneath is moved for thee. Now I mentioned thee in verse number 8 is Babylon. And yes, the thee in verse number 9 may very well be the king of Babylon. I do believe that is the, I guess the first application, but a secondary application and the greater application as we keep going through these verses it's speaking of Satan. It says, hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. It stirs up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. So just take my word for it right now that this is speaking of the devil. Because we're going to get to that in a moment. But if this is speaking of the devil and it says that hell is moving to meet the devil at this point in time could you say that Satan has been to hell yet? No. Because hell is moving to meet the devil. Okay? So this is something that must be understood and I'm sure our church understands it very well because I've taught it so many times. But hell is not the kingdom of the devil. The devil does not rule in hell. That's not his like power base. That's not his kingdom. It's nothing like that. It's nothing like what you see in the chick tracks. You know the chick tracks many times I read them when I was young and I had the impression by the chick tracks that when people go to hell they've been tortured by the devil and by Satan and his devils. Because that's what chick tracks show. Like someone gets cast to hell and you've got some devil with his pitchfork tormenting that soul. No, no. In hell is where the devil and his angels are going to be tormented. This is the punishment of the devil. I actually used to think hell was like this wicked ungodly thing but now I understand it's God's wrath which is righteousness. Like it's right for the devil to go to hell and to be tormented and for that to be his end. That's righteous. That's God's righteous judgement. And so when I understood that by God's word I had a completely different idea of what hell is. That's God's anger. That's God's righteousness. That's God's wrath. That's not Satan's kingdom. So hell is preparing to meet the devil. And yes you can express that to be the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon would be probably king Belshazzar which is Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. Because king Nebuchadnezzar believe it or not got saved. Praise God for someone like that. But when Babylon was overrun it was king Belshazzar. And so this may from a first application or primary application be referring to that king but as we keep going this is very clearly speaking of the devil. Now let's keep going there. Verse number 10 it says, all they shall speak and say unto thee. So who are all they? What we saw earlier. The thrones of all the kings of the nations. So look I guess you could argue to say this is poetic language or something like this. But I think this is literal. Like I think when the devil is cast into hell all the kings that have died and got to hell are going to be looking at the devil. And say these things to the devil. Verse number 10. All they that shall speak shall say unto thee. Thou also become weak as we. Thou become like unto us. All these former kings, all these former oppressors Hitler and everybody else down that line. Are going to be looking at the devil in hell and going what? Are you just? You're suffering in hell like us? Like you're being brought down to hell like us? You've been made weak like us? What? Like you know it wouldn't surprise me that on the earth they probably accessed the power of the devil to have some level of pressure and influence and now the same false god that has given them strength on the earth is as weak as they are. As destroyed as they are in hell. Verse number 11. Now this is where you start to see well it's about the devil but it's also about the king of Babylon because it says in verse number 11 Thy pomp. That's like the pride you know. Been lifted up thy pomp is brought down to the grave. So now we have a reference to the grave. Now a grave is where you put bodies. Dead bodies right? Look Satan is a spirit. Satan is not going to have a grave on the earth as such. So we see it's sort of like the king of Babylon and it definitely is the king of Babylon. Probably King Belshazzar. But it's also about the devil because what we can gather out of this is that the devil is the one that gave King Belshazzar or Babylon a lot of its power. And so the Bible speaks of the devil or Satan being the god of the earth. And we know that when Jesus Christ walked the earth and he was tempted in the wilderness, the devil, remember that? He offered Jesus Christ the kingdoms of the earth. How can the devil offer Jesus the kingdoms of the earth unless he has power over those kingdoms? For it to be a temptation. These are the temptations. If the devil has no power and does not have the ability to give power on the earth then how is that a temptation? Well we see the devil definitely has power over the kingdoms of the earth. He's the god of the earth. But the king of Babylon is also being brought down here to the grave. It says, and the noise of thy vials, the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee. This could be a reference to worms in hell or this just could be a reference to maggots in the grave. You know, eating away at the dead body. But then look in verse number 12. If you just think this is just King Belshazzar or some king of Babylon. Verse number 12 it says, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? So this isn't just a king on the earth that's dying a grave. Now we see again God speaking of the devil and using the king of Babylon as a picture or a shadow of Lucifer. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? Now I need to point out that it's so important that we read from a King James Bible. Look, I went to a Christian school, it was a Baptist Christian school high school, and I think I've shared it before, but they were NIV only. Like they were NIV only. Use whatever you want. They were NIV only. I brought, because I had a King James Bible as well, I brought a King James Bible once to a, because we had like, one of our subjects was religion, so I brought it to the religion class by accident. I couldn't find my NIV, I couldn't find it. So I grabbed my King James Bible, you had to have a Bible in class. And I got in trouble by the teacher for having my King James Bible. At that point I realized, oh, the school is NIV only. But anyway, this is what made me take that NIV, and I was attached to it because I read so much of it, and I was given it as a gift by my parents or whatever it was, I can't remember if someone gave me a gift. I had an attachment to the NIV, and even though I started to see all these problems with that translation, it was this doctrine that made me finally just take that Bible and throw it in the bin. Now, I'm going to read to you from Revelation 12, 7. Sorry, I'm going to read to you not from there. I'm going to read to you from Revelation 22, 16. You know where I'm going with this. But Revelation 22, 16 says, And the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. So according to Revelation 22, who is the morning star? Jesus. That's a title that is given to Jesus. No, that's fine. When you read your King James Bible, Jesus is the morning star, and the title that is given to Lucifer in verse number 12, Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning. So yeah, both have the word morning there, but one is the morning star, and one is the son of the morning. So it's referring to two different titles, one given to Jesus, the morning star, and the son of the morning given to Lucifer. But the NIV, when you read Isaiah 14, 12, the NIV reads something like, How art thou fallen from heaven, O morning star? That's how the NIV reads it. So the NIV would correctly, in Revelation 22, 16, call Jesus the morning star, just like the King James Bible does. But in Isaiah 14, verse number 12, the one that is fallen from heaven is the morning star, who is Jesus Christ. And Brevin, even though I started to see all the missing verses and that worried me, and I started to see the blood of Christ being removed, or the name of Jesus being removed from the modern translations, it was not until I saw this that I said, wow, the Bible that I'm trying to read from and the Bible that I've been appreciating is of the devil. The devil doesn't want you to think that he's been kicked out of heaven, but the devil would love you to believe that Jesus has fallen from heaven. And that woke me up. Now, I had a look at what some of the most popular Bible translations in English are as far as Bible sales. I don't know if you knew this, but there's basically a new Bible that's very popular these days. It's the Christian Standard Bible. Has anyone heard of that one before? Okay, you've heard of it. It's pretty new. It was first produced, I think, in 2004, and then it had a revision in 2017. So it's a very modern Bible in terms of, this is probably why I'd never heard of it before, but it's like, I don't know, like second or third bestseller of last year, for example. And of course, the Christian Standard Bible would of course have what here? Morningstar once again. Morningstar being kicked out of heaven, Jesus Christ. And so that translation is gaining speed, but again, it's just another translation of the devil. You know, tricking you from thinking that it's, you know, Jesus being kicked out of heaven rather than himself. Now, the ESV is another very popular translation as well, the English Standard Version. The English Standard Version doesn't refer to Lucifer here as Morningstar, but it refers to Daystar, O Daystar. So it reads something like, how they have fallen from heaven, O Daystar. Now there's a problem with that as well. So come with me to 2 Peter chapter 1, come with me to 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 19. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 19, please. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 19. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 19. So the English Standard Version wants you to believe that the Daystar is being kicked out of heaven, okay, rather than the Morningstar. But then in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 19, it says, That's referring to the Word of God, the Bible and Jesus Christ. Who is the Word of God? Jesus, another title given to Jesus, is the Daystar. So the English Standard Version goes, well, the other translations have the Morningstar being taken down, let's take down Jesus by another title, the Daystar. I mean, why would you read these wicked translations? If you've got a copy at home, please just take it, burn it, don't sell it on eBay, don't give it to someone else, just put it on the barbecue, give it to Les, Les has a good barbecue, he's got a video of all these Bibles being destroyed, give it to Les and he'll burn it for you on the barbecue, okay, so please stay away from those modern English translations. Alright, now, what we saw in Isaiah 14 was Lucifer being, or falling from heaven. Now, I'll give you some other thoughts here, if you come with me to Luke chapter 10, come with me to Luke chapter 10 in the New Testament, Luke 10, verse number 17, Luke 10, 17. Now, I don't know exactly where I stand on this issue, but in Isaiah 14, with Lucifer falling from heaven, I believe that probably already happened, okay? But it depends on what you mean by falling, okay? If you look at Luke 10, 17 for example, this is a time when Jesus Christ commissions 70 apostles to go out and preach the gospel. And he says in Luke 10, 17, So Jesus sees Satan fall from heaven. Alright, now, come with me to Job please, Job chapter 1, Job chapter 1, Job chapter 1. So the language that we see in the book of Luke, the language that we see in Isaiah is Satan falling from heaven, okay? Now, I'm going to share my thoughts with you, please, don't take my thoughts as God's word. Okay, I'm just going to share my thoughts with you. But come with me to Job chapter 1, verse number 6. Job chapter 1, verse number 6. It says, So they're presenting themselves before God in heaven. And who's in heaven with them all? Satan, okay? So does Satan have access to heaven? Yeah, he does, okay? Verse number 7. So where does Satan spend most of his time? On the earth. Walking around. Trying to cause whatever havoc he can do, right? He's walking around, like going around like a roaring lion, the Bible tells us, right? Seeking whom he may devour. And so that's where he primarily is. But every now and again he has access to heaven and he goes to heaven. The Bible also says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. That's another title given for Satan. He accuses the brethren, believers, to God. And we see that in the book of Job. Because in the book of Job, God speaks to Satan. He says, oh, have you seen Job? He has a faithful man, you know, and all these great things about Job. And then Satan, the accuser, says, well, that's only because you blessed him. Right? If you take anything away from him, he'll curse you and all these things. And, you know, so that's sort of Satan's role. He goes around accusing the believers before God in heaven. And so the fact that we see Satan falling, the word in there is falling. It's not that he got cast out of heaven. And I'll show you in a minute why that is. In fact, come with me to Revelation 12 now. Come with me to Revelation 12. So, I'm probably leaning a little bit more this way. That there are multiple times that Satan falls from heaven. One of the times we're going to be reading about that in Isaiah 14, most likely the very first time that he fell out of heaven. But the idea that I get from this brethren, again, this is just my thought. Please, you know, don't crucify me for something. Is that Satan's going around causing problems, you know, being a headache, finds sins and problems with believers, then goes to God and, oh, did you see brother so-and-so do that? Did you see sister so-and-so? Did you know I blessed up at the church last week this happened, right? Trying to accuse whatever, you know, the brethren before God. And I get the idea that God's like, you know what, just get out of here. Shut up and get out of here. And it's just, he falls from heaven, like, time and time again. And he's back on the earth again trying to cause problems. Then he goes back to heaven, like, again, and then, you know, as the 70 are out there preaching the gospel and they have power of the devil, of the devils and demons, again, Jesus says, look, I saw Satan fall from heaven. And so you could take it one way and I might lean more toward this way, that it could be that Satan is doing that and God has enough of him in his presence and just, he falls from heaven time and time again onto the earth. But then in Revelation chapter 12, verse number 7, we have one final time when Satan falls from heaven. But this time, instead of using the word falling from heaven, it's been cast out of heaven, okay? And in Revelation 12 7, so this is still a future thing to happen. And there was war in heaven, verse number 7, Michael and his angels fought against a dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not. Look at this. Neither was their place found any more in heaven. So again, the devil has access to heaven, right? But now, no more place is found for them in heaven. Verse number 9, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And so this final casting out is not so much, again, the language is a bit different from falling from heaven, which was in Luke and Isaiah to being cast out of heaven and again being reinforced that that means no further place is going to be found for him in heaven. So the other position that's out there is, well, this is all the one and the same, falling from heaven. Is him being cast out of heaven in Revelation chapter 12? And the way you would explain that is basically there are many times prophecies of the future are spoken about in the past tense because, and we've seen this many times already in the book of Isaiah, it's spoken about in the past sense because as far as God is concerned, it's already happened. Because God is outside of time. And we see God speaking prophecies like that many, many times. Things are still to happen, but he speaks about in the past tense as though they've already happened. And so that's the other position that's out there is that the falling from heaven is the casting out in Revelation chapter 12. But if you were to ask me for my personal opinion, I'd lean more toward the fact that the devil gets up to heaven, God has enough of him and he falls from heaven again and again, whatever, how many times that happens and then eventually God just, that's it, I'm done with it. And his place is not found any more for him in heaven. Okay, so that's a couple of ways to understand that passage. Come back with me to Isaiah 14 verse number 13. Isaiah 14 verse number 13. So why did he fall from heaven? Well, verse number 13 we get the idea here. It says, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exert my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. So again, the pride, the attitude. Look, the devil, Satan, you know, he was at the anointed cherub according to Ezekiel. His desire is to be God. And this makes perfect sense because, you know, when the antichrist receives his power, he's brought out of the bottomless pit, the Bible says he's given power by the devil. And immediately the antichrist, what does it say? He wants to exalt himself above God. He claims to be God. He has the same attitude, you know, as Satan does. This pride, this loftiness being lifted up, you know, thinking himself to be God. And you know, this attitude exists in the world. Again, you probably come across this when you go too soul-willing. Have you ever come across someone say to you, well, I am God. Or I am my own God. Or we're all God. You know, you're kind of God. You're God. I'm God. The tree is God. All of creation is God. You know, that idea, that philosophy comes straight from the devil, from the antichrist, you know, from the devil, from Satan. But again, what we see there in verse 15, yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. Okay, so the devil is going to hell. Okay, now come with me to Revelation 20. Let me show you when this happens. Revelation 20 and verse number 1. So what I'm trying to say to you, brethren, is the devil spends most of his time on the earth and he has access to heaven every once in a while, you know, whenever the Lord allows him to do that. But he's not yet been to hell. He will be brought down to hell. Okay, that will happen. And we'll read about that in Revelation 20, verse number 1. It says, Till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season. So when is he brought down to hell? Just before Jesus Christ begins to rule for that thousand years. That's when he's thrown into hell, or the bottomless pit. At the end of the thousand years, he comes out of the bottomless pit, he has one final attempt to overcome Jesus Christ on the earth, and then God takes him and casts him into the lake of fire. Okay, so that's going to be the end of the devil. But, back with me to Isaiah 14, verse number 16. Isaiah 14, 16. It says, They that shall see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee sane. Is this the man that made the earth to tremble? That did shake kingdoms? That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof? That opened not the house of his prisoners? So they're going to look at Satan in hell, you know, all these kings that have died and gone before, you know, and they're thinking of all the wars of the earth, they're thinking of the power they've been given by the devil. They've got this idea of this powerful devil, you know, this powerful influence on the earth, and they're going to look at the devil in hell and go, is that all you are? Like, you know, the other false idea that, I've never had this idea, but the other idea that's out there in the world is that the devil is just basically like the yin yang of God or something like that. Like, you know, God is all good, and the devil is all bad, and there's like this equal balance of power on the earth, good and bad, and, you know, look, it's not like that at all. Like, God doesn't even have to deal with the devil. Like, what we saw in the book of Revelation there is God just sends an angel, you know, which is a polyon or a baton, you know, a baton. And that angel has the power to take a chain, tie up the devil, cast him into Bolin's pit, you know, for a thousand years. Like, the devil compared to God is so insignificant. Like, he's truly nothing. Yes, he has power on the earth today, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Like, the devil's going to attempt to throw temptations at you, he's going to attempt to persecute you and hurt you, but you need to remember, yes, I guess the devil has power, more is stronger than you in the flesh, but we are saved people with the Holy Spirit of God living within us. We truly have nothing to fear. That's what the Bible teaches us is just fear God. Fear God, keep his commandments. We can't see the spiritual realm. We can't see how the devil is trying to hurt us and attack us. That's God's business. I'll leave it with God, you know, and truly as God's people, we should be aware of the devil, we should beware, we should understand he's out to hurt us, but we truly should not fear him. Only fear God. Only fear God. But these kings of the earth are going to look down upon him and go, man, that's all you are. Like, you're nothing. You know, we trusted in you, we depended on you, and here you are in hell burning to hell with the rest of us. What verse am I up to, brethren? I think 18. Yeah, 18. All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory. Everyone in his own house. Now, we're going from the devil back to the king of Babylon, which is probably King Belshazzar. I'll explain to you what this means. So the kings of the nations, it says lie in glory. So it's talking about their dead bodies. And by lying in glory, what it means is that they were given like, you know, huge funeral parades and, you know, probably a gold casket or something like that. They're given, their death is one of glory. Then it says this, everyone in his own house, that's basically everyone in his own grave is the reference there. Then it says this in verse 19. Again, speaking of the king of Babylon, but thou art cast out of thy grave, like an abominable branch. So of course, King Belshazzar, I believe it's King Belshazzar. You know, the Bible doesn't make it crystal clear that it is, but I just believe because it's speaking of the destruction of Babylon and of course it was King Belshazzar at the time when Babylon was overrun by the Assyrians, I believe it's speaking of, sorry, by the Medo-Persian Empire. Sorry guys, if I've said Assyrians instead of Medo-Persian Empire, forgive me. There's a lot of information here. But it was King Belshazzar that was overrun. And then he lost his life, you know, when that happened. And so what it's saying here is that his body is going to be taken out of his grave. Like later on. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword that go down to the stones of the pits as a carcass trodden under feet. So this is not uncommon where you might take the body of a dead king, dig it up, take out the body, and just desecrate it further. Okay, and they're going to take a sword and just, again, just hit, you know, stab that dead body with a sword. They're going to, it appears maybe being like that body's been stoned. That carcass is going to be stepped upon. Okay, and again, this is speaking of not the carcass body of the devil, because it's a spirit, but it's speaking of the King of Babylon. But again, you can see how Isaiah's prophesying of the Babylon that now is and the Babylon to come and the King of Babylon as a type of Satan, and of course Satan then being cast into the bottomless pit in the future. And then in verse number 20, Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. So the body's not going to be buried amongst the kings anymore. It's going to be just desecrated, left to waste. And it says the seed of evildoers, again, the seed of the King of Babylon, shall never be renowned. Because they end up, you know, when one empire is destroying another empire, not only do they kill the king, but they kill the families and the children of that king. And so, essentially it's saying here that your children are never going to be remembered. They're never going to achieve great things. And then verse number 21, Prepare slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, save the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, the remnant, the son and nephew, saith the Lord. So the family of King Belshazzar is going to be completely destroyed, completely wiped out, okay? Verse number 23, I will also make it a possession for the bitten. Now the bitten apparently is a type of bird. But, the bitten might also be some type of rodent. Okay? So bitten in our modern English is a type of bird. But it could be, this is referring to some type of rodent, okay? And then it goes, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom, that's a broom, of destruction, save the Lord of hosts. So God again is saying I'm going to destroy Babylon, it's going to be laid waste, and all that's going to reside on animals, and I'm going to, like a broom, I'm just going to sweep it off and it's going to be desolate, okay? So again it's very clear that we're speaking of historic Babylon here. And then verse number 24, The Lord of hosts have sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. So what God is saying will come to pass. Like nothing's going to change this prophecy that he spoke of. Verse number 25, That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from of them, and his burden depart from of their shoulders. Now, this is going back to a time of King Hezekiah, okay? When Assyria took the northern kingdom into captivity, and then the Assyrians attempted to take Judah into captivity, remember that, okay? And Jerusalem was besieged as a city, okay? God is saying he's going to break the Assyrian off the land, they're not going to overcome. Now what we saw, we're looking at Isaiah 14, and the 14th book of the Bible is 2 Chronicles, okay? So come back with me to 2 Chronicles, and this time chapter 32. 2 Chronicles chapter 32, we've already seen this story in former chapters, I've already covered it before, but I want to show you how we've gone from Babylon, we've gone from Babylon in the future, now we're talking about Assyria, which was before Babylon, okay? So it's one of these challenges once again in the book of Isaiah. You've got to go through it slowly, you've got to realize, what are you preaching about, Isaiah? Like, where are you going with all of this, okay? 2 Chronicles 32, verse number 20. 2 Chronicles 32, verse number 20, we're back to King Hezekiah the king here, okay? It says in verse number 20, And for this cause Hezekiah the king, who was a good king by the way, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos, prayed and cried to heaven, because they were worried about the Assyrians. Verse number 21, And the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his God, they came forth of his own bowels, slew him there with a sword. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. Now, we read this earlier in previous chapters in 2 Kings 19, it covers the same story. But I just want to show you here that 2 Chronicles, the 14th book of the Bible also speaks of the fulfillment of what God's speaking about here in Isaiah 14. So back to Isaiah 14 and verse number 26. Isaiah 14 and verse number 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disanal it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. Remember, previous chapter, the burden of Babylon is this prophecy. And so all of this is sort of coming together, and once again God is speaking that this is going to be fulfilled, nothing's going to change this, the Assyrians are not going to overcome Judah, Babylon will take Judah into captivity, but they will be delivered later on, and again, all as a picture that there is a Babylon of the end times that will oppress the nations and oppress the people of God, but that same Babylon will be destroyed and we're going to be resting in peace in the millennial reign of Christ. And during that millennial reign of Christ, Lucifer is going to be in hell for a thousand years, burning in the fires of hell. So I hope you can kind of understand what is the purpose of, like, we're going throughout history, different powers, and again all of this is just God telling us that there's come a time where God's people and the entire earth will not be oppressed. Where kings will not be lifted up. Satan will not be lifted up and esteemed. No, the one that will be lifted up on the earth is Jesus Christ, on the earth, and all nations are going to be at peace and rejoicing in his reign. Verse number 29, please. Now, verse 29 is almost it almost has nothing to do with, like all the rest of the verses, almost have nothing to do with what we just covered, okay? It kind of still does, though, because it's still about the topic of oppression, okay? But, verse 29, Rejoice not thou whole Palestina. Now, the land of Palestine, or the nation of Palestine, they do have the same root word, okay? But, Palestina here is not modern day Palestine as we know it today. Palestina here is the Philistines. Okay, we know that the Philistines were, like, a main enemy of Israel over the years, okay? So it's saying rejoice not all Philistines, okay? Because the rod of him that smelt thee is broken, for out of the serpent's roots shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. Okay, so let's understand what he's speaking about. In verse number 28, he mentioned that King Ahaz died, okay? So during this time, the Philistines are subject to Israel. Okay, Israel had victory of the Philistines, okay? But because King Ahaz died, the Philistines are thinking, okay, is this our chance now? Is this our chance to defeat Israel, or to defeat Judah, all right? Is this our chance to come out of, you know, their oppression, as it were, okay? And so that's why it's saying, look, don't rejoice. Like, the Philistines, this is not a time for you to have power and victory over Judah, okay? Because out of the serpent's roots shall come forth a cockatrice, which is another serpent, which is King Hezekiah. Okay, like, you're not going to, this is not your chance to defeat Judah, okay? And then he says in verse number 30, And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety, and I will kill thy roots with famine, and he shall slay thy remnants. If you try to go up against Judah, you're going to be slain. You're going to be defeated. So God's warning the Philistines not to rise themselves up against Judah in this time. But they try, they do try, okay? This is why, then we get to verse number 31. Now, this coming from the north as a smoke could be King Hezekiah. Again, if you were to ask this from my opinion, this could be Hezekiah, and you can read about this in 2 Kings 18. But this also could be Babylon, because Babylon also overran the Philistines when they grew their kingdom. And many times in the Bible, when speaking of Babylon, it's speaking about the nation of the north. And so the fact that it says here, for they shall come from the north a smoke, it could be Babylon. But again, based on the previous verses, this could also be Hezekiah, okay? You choose. You read it, you let me know what you think, okay? Then verse number 32, What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation, that the Lord have founded, sorry, that the Lord have founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it? So once again, God is saying, look, my hand is upon Zion, which is Jerusalem, on Judah. I'm protecting Judah. I've protected Judah from the Assyrians. I'm going to bring back the people of Judah from captivity, from Babylon. And you, Philistines, you think this is your chance? No. You try to go up against these people, you're going to be destroyed as well, okay? So in many ways, those last few verses from 29 to 32 are not really related to Babylon directly, but the same idea is there. God is showing that He wants His people to not be oppressed. Okay? Again, many times in the Bible, God warns, gives opportunities, chances, and the lesson that we want to take out of this, brethren, is that God warns us in His word about our lives, that we should be living lives that please God, that are holy, okay? When we sin, it's very unlikely for you to just be chastised by God immediately when you sin against the Lord. He's long-suffering, He's merciful, He gives you chance and time and time and time again. God does not want us to be under bondage of sin. God does not want us to be oppressed by the world. You know, we have liberty in Jesus Christ, and brethren, just the big lesson that we can take out of this for us is that truly, the devil wants to hurt us, he wants to accuse us, he wants to stop us from serving the Lord, but brethren, if we just set our eyes on the Lord, and even when we fail, just like we saw in verse number one, even if we're not doing right, it says in verse number one, for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land, and the strangers, and look, that's speaking about all of us, shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And so brethren, we have this wonderful opportunity when we do mess up, when we do fail, when we do sin against the Lord, that we can go before our Lord and confess our sins, and he's always going to forgive us. He's so righteous, he's so forgiving, our Lord God is so loving, even when we spit in his face and we sin against the Lord, he's so loving to forgive us, and we need to remember that God gives us time. He gave the people of Judah time. He warned the people of Judah. He told them about the powers, the oppression that would come from these other nations, but every time they would turn their heart to God, they would pray, they would seek his face, the Lord would deliver his people. And brethren, I don't know what kind of oppression and difficulty you might be going through today in your life, what kind of persecution and troubles and conflicts and what sins might be, you know, have power in your life and you're struggling to overcome that sin. Please, always have your face toward God. Please have your heart always toward him. Like, don't get to the point that I've seen in my life so many times, Christians get so discouraged, so, I failed once again, and then they're far from the Lord, because they're so ashamed to go before God and walk with him once again. Brethren, look, our Lord is so merciful, he's so forgiving, like I said. And if God is able to, even King Nebuchadnezzar gets saved. You can look at this in another time. But even a wicked king, the king of Babylon, where they're worshipping false gods and of course Satan has given Babylon some element of power and control as well, even a king like Nebuchadnezzar can get saved. Boy, the fact that we're saved, and we're children of God, and God promises us that we're going to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years, doesn't that just encourage and motivate you to always be walking in the Lord? Like, not only has he saved us, he has such a great future ahead for us. And brethren, look, let's not blow our chance. Like, this is the life that he's given us. Like, this is the life where we can serve him and earn rewards. This is the life that God has given us to lay up treasures in heaven. We are part of a kingdom. You know, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We came to that kingdom the moment we got saved. So, you know, let's appreciate him. And once again, you know, when you're far from the Lord, look upon him. He wants to forgive you. He wants to walk with you. And we just serve such a wonderful, merciful God. And I just praise God that he's going to wipe out these wicked kings and these wicked nations. And what an exciting time to live with Jesus Christ in that thousand years. Okay, let's pray.