Isaiah Chapter 48 "God's Controversy with Israel." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/location is provided by http://www.theseason.org Isaiah 48:1 "Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness." God is telling all the tribes to wake up and listen to what He is about to say. God even named them when He changed the name of Jacob to Israel. This is pointing to the fact that most of the Children of Israel, especially in our generation pray to the Heavenly Father, and they just don't mean what they say, nor do they have faith that God even hears their prayers. They walk around telling others how much they love Jesus, yet they refuse to get into the entire Word of God. They have been told that much of the Bible is not intended for their ears, and they would rather believe a lie, than the truth. We are coming to a close of this earth age, and the events prophesied in the entire Scriptures are taking place right before our eyes. Jesus Christ spoke of them in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, where the nations would line up in position for the final events. It is not time to play church, but it is a time to know and understand what our Heavenly Father is all about. To play church is a very dangerous thing because it makes you Biblically illiterate, and you don't know whether someone is lying to you or not. Today it is hard to tell the difference between the deceiver, the sorcerers, the enchanter, or the common preacher. Many tell you, "just put it into the offering plate, and you'll be alright, you'll be saved." The offering plate has very little to do with salvation, for tithing is something that comes automatic to the true believer. It has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation comes from the love of God, to know the Father for who he is and there is no other. So what God is saying here is that you call on Me and talk to Me a lot, but you don't mean it. Isaiah 48:2 "For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is His name." "The holy city" is the city of peace. They call themselves people of peace and even brag that they depend on God. Though they think they know the God of Israel, they have even forgot who they are, the children of Israel. Most Christians of the northern House of Israel have no idea in the world who they are or where they came from beyond a few generations. They are blind to their inheritance, and that blindness extends to their knowledge of who our Heavenly Father is. When they pray, they really don't depend on their prayers being answered, and they shouldn't for they don't have it coming. God blesses those that bless Him and helps those that help Him. God gives to those that are familiar with His promises, and have the boldness to ask in accordance with His Word. It is correct to say that when you repent, God will bless you. When you ask for that salvation in your initial step, God will bless you. After that first step you will either love Him and study to become a worker and can do type person that is worthy of your hire, or you will receive no blessings from God. Your faith is tied to your works because what you do shows where your heart is. James 2:17 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:18 "Yea, a man may say, "Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without they works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." " When we pass on from this life in the flesh, or at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at the seventh trumpet, our "works" are the only thing that will follow us into the Millennium age, and the eternity. Revelation 14:13 "And I herad a voice from heaven saying unto me [John], Write, `Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit [Holy Spirit], that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them' " God is saying that He wants more out of you when you become a Christian, He wants your works given to Him in love. Those works may include helping a neighbor, visiting the sick, singing or using your talents that God has given you for His glory. When you excel in the gifts you were given, who do you give the credit to, yourself or God? What was the purpose of your giving of those gifts, was it to glorify our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, or to get a momentary praise while in your flesh body. The works that are given to God are those that make up your garment that you will wear in the eternity. In the end, all of your works will be tested by fire to see exactly how they were given. God keeps record of our works, according to the intent of our mind. He knows what you were thinking when you did the work, and those works given for His sake will stand the test of the fire, all others shall be burned like the stubble and chaft of the fields. II Peter 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." We are living in the generation of the parable of the fig tree, and our generation will see the coming of the Lord, after the coming of Satan. At the time of Christ's coming, all elements which are the evil rudiments that go to make up this age of the flesh will be burned. "...and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Those works done in the flesh for the flesh sake will be gone. God wants you to have His blessings, and His Word will tell you how to receive them, and why He gives them. Isaiah 48:3 "I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass." The things that God has declared from the beginning the very foundation of this earth age is what is written in our Bible, His Word. God is telling us that every thing that He had stated that He would do, He has done. The events of the first earth age, the overthrow of Satan, and events of the second earth age of the flesh, the coming of Jesus Christ, the annointed son of God, to be born of a virgin, to suffer and die on the cross. We are living in a time when we can witness the events of the final generation of this age of the flesh, and the return of Satan and his fallen angels with all their deception. Everything that is happening has been foretold in His Word, and those that desire not to be deceived are those that will study the entire Word that God has declared. You can count on what is written in His Word. Isaiah 48:4 "Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;" God is saying that I knew you were hard headed from before I created you. You are a stiffed necked and proud people, and thick in the mind. Stop and consider the truthfulness of this verse. Isaiah 48:5 "I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, `Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.' " This is so true of the church world today. They say, "I knew it all the time, my church system promised me that it would come to pass". Christians today put more faith in their denomination then in the God's holy Word. They set up their false doctrines and images of what God is and has to do, and then put all their faith in those traditions that they ave built with their own hands and minds. Remember back in Isaiah 46:1; "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle:" "Bel", or Baal are the things that they create with their hands to use for worship, while "Nebo" are the images and doctrines that they create in their minds, and expect because they thought of it, God must respect it. This is why you want to be familiar with God's Word, because what will take place in our generation will be the way that God spoke it, and not according to the idols and images that man creates for himself. The true church is where God's Word is taught according to it's true meaning. It is not where stories and dogma are taught from man's imaginations. A church house that is filled with the traditions of men is not a house of God, but is a synagague of Satan. The types of churches of Smyrna and Philadephia in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 knew how to tell those that were fake from those that were not. Those two churches knew how to identify the Kenites and their false doctrines. Revelation 2:8 "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; `These things saith the First and the Last [Jesus Christ], Which was dead and is alive;" Revelation 2:9 "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but ar the synagogue of Satan." Those that call themselves Jews and are not are the "Kenites". They entered into the house of Judah during the time of the captivity in Babylon, and took over the records keeping of the Levite scribes, as we read in I Chronicles 2:55: "And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez [Jerusalem]; the Tarathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab." We know from Ezra 8:15 that the Levitical priesthood had been taken over by the Kenites or Nethinims. Ezra stopped when he had departed Babylon for His return to Jerusalem, and took account of all the people and materials that were going with him. Much to his surprise there was not one Levitical priest, they had all departed, and in their place were these false priests, the Kenites. How can you re-establish the temple practice, when the only ones that could perform the duties of the priest must be born of the Levitical priesthood. Quite obviously we see that many things of the Word of God were being changed, to circumvent the Word of God. Substitutions were being made by those Kenites in charge of the scribes and priests duties, to replace the instructions of God's Word. Though we are told that their traditions conform to God's Word, it is obvious that the very suggestion is nothing but a lie. Ezra 8:15 "And I [Ezra] gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days; and I viewed the People, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." There was not a member of the entire tribe of Levi in the entire forty three thousand returning to Jerusalem, however the Kenites, or Nethinims comprised almost half of those calling themselves "Jews". These Nethinims or Kenites are the sons of Cain, the offspring of the sexual union between Satan and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They have the mind of their father Cain who was the murderer from the beginning. Jesus knew them when He faced them and told them why they could not understand the teaching Jesus was giving. John 8:43 "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear My word." John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies." When Jesus addressed these priests and Pharisees, He knew them for who there were. Jesus identified them as the offspring of their father who was a murderer from the beginning. Then he identified them with their true father the devil, who is Satan and the father of lies. Jesus knew them from the thoughts in their hearts and minds. He also knew them as the ones that would come and take Him and put Him to death. The reason that they wanted to kill Jesus is that the Word of God written in the Scriptures went against their traditions, and it was their traditions that were being taught in the Temple of God, the House of God and people were starting to see the liars for what they were. It is the traditional thoughts of these Kenites, and their offspring that have infiltrated into the Christian churches, and this is what is being accepted as the truth, when in fact it is a lie. This is the reason that we are to study God's Word so that we will not be deceived in these latter days, for God is telling us that shortly the entire world will come to believe the lies of these Kenites, and come to think of their father Satan as the true Christ. This is why God is saying through Isaiah: Isaiah 48:6 "Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them." You have had the Word that I declared unto you, and read it, but those things are hid from you. Why? Because you would rather chase after the traditions of men than seek out the truths and hidden things written in His Word. Historically, God had just told these people of Israel about Cyrus, only Cyrus wouldn't be born for one hundred and thirty seven years. He told them of the captivity that they would go into, and yet they didn't believe Him. The warning to Babylon was that Cyrus would end their empire, and Babylon also didn't believe them. This was a type to us living in the final days of this generation, and the warning to us is that Babylon is coming, yet Christians prefer to rely on their own imaginations rather then going to the Word of God and preparing for the second coming of Christ. The one world system of Mystery Babylon of Revelation is in our daily lives, while the hidden dynasties that draw God's people in to that system is a reality. Yet God's people continue to follow traditions rather then the warnings of God. God has declared every event that shall take place through the prophets, and the church world is telling their people that those warnings are not to be read with understanding. Isaiah 48:7 "They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, `Behold, I knew them.' " Have you ever known anybody that is a know it all? Their traditions and teachings have told them what they should know and that is all they chose to know about God's Word. They have their system all figured out, and they don't want their minds clogged with any more of God's Word. They don't care to know the future, because they believe that they will not be here when Satan comes. They are going to fly out of here to some distant location, and have a grand party until the time of Satan is over. Their minds are in a fairy-tale world, and they are being prepared by Satan's people to be ushered instantly into Satan's religious system. The Word of God is the future, for that which has been shall be again. There is nothing new under the sun. The Word has gone forth out of our Father mouth, and it shall be exactly as it is written. What has taken place is a type of what we shall see again. We are to find peace of mind in the facts and promises of all of His Word. Isaiah 48:8 "Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from the time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb." God knew that there would be false childhood, false birth of a new age, false teachings that would build false hopes. Those things that are built on those false traditions and teachings are treacherous for they will leave those that are deceived by them with nothing but stubble and chaft, ready for the fire to burned. Isaiah 48:9 "For My name's sake will I defer Mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off." We can see the love of God here, for God could just wipe us all off the face of the earth for the evil that man is doing to himself. We know that what is happening today greatly angers God, and is in defiance of His Word. In many places on the earth today, mankind has become insane, and barbaric to one another, even to the point of calling their actions of God. Their morals are little more than that of the animals, and they could care little about their own brothers and systers. The competition between Christian denominations and churches is the height of ignorance, for it is one hundred and eighty degrees out of God's Way. People fall under silly traditions and pick up slogans that they will die for, yet they have lost sight of the love and Word of God. There are some slogans that are worthy to die for, such as "God bless America", "In God we trust", and in the cause of dying for ones country. It is worthy to defend our nation from those that would take our right to worship from us. Isaiah 48:10 "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." "I have
refined thee" - 6884 tsaraph- to
smelt, to refine, to test "I have
chosen thee" - 977 bachar- to
choose, elect, decide for "Affliction" in the Hebrew text means "humilitation". God chose His people and made a promise to father Abraham. He told Abraham that they would become very numerous, and if God would have wiped them out, God's Word would not have held true. This covenant that God gave Abraham is given in Genesis 17:4-9. Genesis 17:4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations." Genesis 17:5 "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee." Genesis 17:6 "And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." Genesis 17:7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Genesis 17:8 "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Genesis 17:9 "And God said unto Abraham, "Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations." Friend, God has not forgotten the promise that He gave to Abraham. He knows where each of His people are, and where they migrated to even to this final generation. Genesis 48: 20 tells us that this covenant promise was passed on to Isaac, and Jacob, and then onto the two sons of Jacob, (Ephraim & Manasseh) of which, Ephraim would keep the promise. Many today think that it is the House of Judah, and the tribe of Judah that holds the blessed promise, however, their conclusion is from a lack of knowledge of the Scriptures. Hosea 1:10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured not numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, `Ye are not My People', there is shall be said unto them, `Ye are the sons of the living God.' " Jesus Christ rose from the dead to become the living God, and those that are called the "sons of the living God" are called "Christians". Most Christians in the world today do not know their inheritance as a people and in their ignorance they give the promises that God made through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, over to the tribe of Judah. Judah was given the right to rule and the scepter [the law], while the blessing of land, numerous people, and many nations to the offspring of Ephraim and Manasseh. God is saying through Hosea that the Christian nations and peoples will receive the blessing right in the lands that they posses; "in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My People." Isaiah 48:11 "For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake, will I do it: for how should My name be polluted? and I will not give My glory unto another." God is saying that if is for "Mine own sake" that I will keep My promises and the covenant that I have made with them. God will not allow His name to be polluted in any manner, and if He wiped out the House of Israel, and destroyed the covenant promise it would be a reflection that He could not keep His Word. God is not going to allow you to say that your system gave the blessing that God fulfilled in His covenant. This is why God is going to let the events of our day happen exactly as He spoke those prophecies in His Word. It is written completely through the mouth of God through His prophets. Isaiah 48:12 "Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He; I am the first, I also am the last." God is telling you and I that there is no one else like Him. He was here from the beginning, and he will be everlasting. There is no break in the existance of God, ever, He has always existed, and will continue to be. In the name "I am" God is telling us that He will be whatever He desires to be, and to whomever He choses. There is only one eternal way, and that is our Heavenly Father's way. Isaiah 48:13 "Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together." Nature itself will listen and respond to God's wishes. Mankind goes along completely void of the spiritual forces that are going on around them, however nature and His animal kingdoms are in turn to God and His forces. Isaiah 48:14 "All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans." God is asking you, What man has written a book that tells you accurately of God's creation, and the ages that were and are yet to come. There is none beside His Word. God has spelled out for us the actual facts of things that were to come, and most of them are history to us today. We can read of those prophecies, and check it out for ourselves as to whether or not God keeps His Word. God is speaking of Cyrus here, and to the fact that Cyrus will do exactly as God is prophesying that he will do. Cyrus is a type of the future Messiah here, and Cycrus will do his pleasure on Babylon. Cyrus is going to show no pity on Babylon, and when he is done with Babylon they will not exist as a nation, but will be part of Cyrus' Persian kingdom. We are going to be living through the Babylonian kingdom of the end times and we are to make sure that we are not drawn into the Babylonian system of our day, which is to say, confusion. Isaiah 48:15 "I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous." God spelled out exactly how Babylon would come into being and what would take place under Nebuchadnezzar, all the way to Belshazzar's final night on this earth. Then on the appointed tie, the handwriting was written on the wall and Babylonian's kingdom came to an end instantly. The king of Babylon also brought down at the same time. Just as the coming of Cyrus was well forecasted ahead of time, so also are the events that bring the one world system into power, and give their authority over to Satan. However, at the appointed time Jesus Christ, who will be the type of Cyrus, will also come to earth and in one night, bring an end to the entire system of Satan's new world order. Satan will be removed by Christ, just as Belshazzar was removed by Cyrus. When the seventh trumpet sounds, the entire world of the flesh will be done away with, and God shall make the new Millennium age a prosperous time. Isaiah 48:16 "Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent Me." This is Isaiah speaking here in this particular verse. Isaiah is telling you to wake up and listen to what God has told him to say. Isaiah 48:17 "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; "I am the Lord thy God Which teacheth thee to profit, Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." If you are listening to the imaginations and traditions of men, rather than God's Word, it is no wonder that you are not profiting from His Word. God's Word teaches us to profit in all ways. When we learn to follow His health laws we profit with better health, and when we learn to follow His commandments, we learn to receive the blessings that he gives and also have a better relationship with our neighbors. We even profit when we know the events of the end times, because we learn what to expect in the world around us, and what is a good investment and what we should stay away from. In a spiritual sense, we also learn that Christ is the only way, and that in Him our souls will profit. From our resting in Him, we can have peace of mind, and everything else that God will shower down on us. This is why it is important to know our Lord and how to please Him; for when we are in His will and follow the instructions from His Word, He will make it profitable for us. Isaiah 48:18 "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:" God is saying that if you would have just listened to My commandments, and obeyed them, I would have brought peace of mind to flow over you as a river, and My righteousness to flow over your life like the waves of the sea. However, look at you and the things that you have chosen for yourself. Isaiah 48:19 "Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me." Isaiah 48:20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, `The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob." God is urging us to flee from Babylon, and flee from the ways of the Chaldeans. Get out of the systems of the world order and establish yourself as one of God's redeemed. Our Messiah is our Kinsman Redeemer, and He desires to set you free from the bonds of this world. We do this by asking Him to do so, and believing that He will do it. God has given you free will, and He will do nothing to interfere with your choices, unless you have asked of Him first. Learn the promises of God, and the conditions that are attached to them, and ask God for His help, in Jesus name. Isaiah 48:21 "And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: He clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.' " Back in the wilderness, God took care of His people and caused fresh waters to flow from the rocks when they were thirsty. He provided them with manna and quail when they were hungry. God provided for their needs, and even today He will provide for you in the same manner if you will but ask. He loves you, and He desires that you will free yourself from the bondage that the new world order is placing upon you. The people of the children of Israel are not lost, and to this day a offspring of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah, still sits on the throne over Ephraim, and the coronation of the kings and queens of England are still crowned over the stone of scone, or Jacob's pillar, identifing them in this final generation. Isaiah 48:22 "There is no peace, saith the Lord unto the wicked." The wicked is anyone that does not follow God's Word. One of the most wicked things in the world is to be Biblically illiterate, for it is a disgrace to allow yourself to be chasing after every wind of doctrine and tradition in ignorance. The way that you prevent becoming involved in this wickedness is to study our Heavenly Father's Word, and following the instructions written there. You cannot find peace of mind in the confusing doctrines of men, or in a world which finds itself corrupt and emersed in greed, lies, deception and drugs. Your salvation and hope is in the living Word, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father loves you, and He has redeemed your soul with the blood of His only Begotten Son. That is why He asks you to come to Him by your faith in the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. Jesus becomes our Kinsman Redeemer when we repent in Jesus name, and by faith accept the peace of mind that only the Father (the Father of our souls) can give.
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