Isaiah Chapter 64 "Prayer Offered." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org This chapter is a continuation from Isaiah 63. These people discussed here have said that they are holy and serving God, yet God has not been aware of it. Naturally the reason for this is that it is the Antichrist is the one they worship and they think he is Christ. In ignorance they are serving the false christ because they are Biblically illiterate. To put this in modern day terms, how could you be an architect if you could not even read a blueprint? The blueprint gives the dimensions of the structure to be built, and gives you the exact appearance of what it will look like when finished. It gives the costs and the problems you will face before you have even started turning the soil. Well that is exactly what our Holy Scriptures do for us. It lays out the complete structure of the plan of God, all the problems we will face, the costs, and the value after this plan when it is completed. So being Biblically illiterate causes one to stumble through life not knowing what is going on around him, paying the price for every one of those mistakes that are made, because he does not have the blueprint in hand nor in his mind. God has told us that when you do things my way, then I will bless you, but if you do it your, or another way, then you will be cursed. If you are ignorant of those if's, do's and don'ts, with all the other conditions, naturally you will not be able to be blessed when you don't even know how to save yourself through His salvation. Isaiah 64:1 "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence." To "rend the heavens" is to burst forth, and come down to earth. Then the "mountains" which is "nations" in the Hebrew text, would shake at thy presence. Jesus is coming very soon, and this is the action that shall take place at His coming. Hebrews 12:26 and 27 speak of this shaking that shall take place at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:25 "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him That spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven:" The one that you should not refuse is Christ, of course. The one that "spake on the earth" is Moses, and the words that Moses spoke gave us the law, and obedience to the law. However it is important that we learn to listen to the one that speaketh from heaven, who is Christ. Christ speaks to us through His Holy Spirit, and we listen to His Words when we read and study the Word. That is where our knowledge and understanding comes from when the Spirit of God is instructing us. The Holy Spirit is always present for He is in you and you are in Him. God's Spirit is the one that gives us the endurance to run the race that Paul is laying out before us, and it is He that will give us the victory. Hebrews 12:26 "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." In Moses' day, God shook the earth when He spoke, and He shook the earth again when Christ died on the cross and gave up the Ghost. However this is speaking of another time at the end of this earth age, when Jesus Christ shall return as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Though there will be a great shaking then, the final shaking comes at the end of the Millennium age, and the final judgment. Hebrews 12:27 "And this word, "Yet once more, " signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may ramain." Remember that the subject here is "the shaking that will come upon the earth". There is also a great spiritual shaking coming and if you are on the foundation of Jesus Christ, you will not be shaken when the rest of the world is shook off it's foundation. The one thing that "signifieth" are the signs and events that are given in His Word about the events of the final days, warning us of the things that shall come to pass. The "things that are made", or created are the physical things that are created to become the things of idolatry, and they shall all be shaken and covered over. We are living in a generation where there can be no excuse, for the things that are coming to pass were written in His Word, and we are to be watchmen for those signs and events that mark the coming of the false messiah, so that we are not deceived. Isaiah 64:2 "As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!" God's adversaries, who are the nations and peoples that have refused to believe God's Word and follow His ways, are the ones that this fire is aimed at. Back in Hebrews 12:28, and 29 we read. Hebrews 12:28 "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, where by we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear:" We don't deserve that "grace" or unmerited favor that we have in Christ, but we collect on it anyhow. When we have faith, and have become a child of God through our repentance of our sins in Jesus name, we are given that right by inheritance. Even though it is our right, we still have to reach out and take what is rightfully ours, boldly. We serve God because we love Him, and He loves us. Jesus Christ is coming and He is angry at the world, but that anger is not directed at His own. His anger is directed at all those that have rejected the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross, and chose in ignorance Satan the Antichrist, and the brief prosperity that Satan promises them. Hebrews 12:29 "For our God is a consuming fire." Many read this statement and become frightened, and for good reason if they have not repented of their sins. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him Which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The "consuming fire" is "God's glory present". God's consuming fire is the Holy Spirit that warms your heart, and protects you when the enemy comes against you. His Spirit will protect you exactly as it protected Daniel when he was in the lion's den, or the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. This verse signifies that God will protect His own. That same fire that consumes the world that despises Him, is the Holy Spirit that warms the hearts of those that love Him. That fire will burn with righteous indignation those that are Biblically illiterate. The burning is for a purpose, and not to just destroy them, but that each of them will know on the first day of the Millennium that Jesus Christ is the Living God. Isaiah 64:3 "When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence." This is looking back to the destruction of that first earth age, when the earth "became without form and void". In the Hebrew text it reads "tohu va bohu", to show that the earth was not created a void, but after Satan's rebellion in the first earth age, God destroyed it and caused the earth to become a waist and void. We can read also of this destruction in Jeremiah 4:23-28. Jeremiah 4:23 "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." This isn't the way the earth was created, but became after Satan's rebellion when one third of the created soul followed Him. This was the condition that the earth was left in after Genesis 1:1, and stated in Genesis 1:2. Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Jeremiah 4:23-28, and Genesis 1:2 are speaking of the same time period, when the earth was completely destroyed, and all forms of prior life, including man and the dinosaur were destroyed. This is not refering to the flood of Noah's day for it would be thousands of years later before Noah would be born. Man lived in the first earth age, and he existed as the angels do. When Satan rebelled, one third of all the souls rebelled and followed Satan, but in God's eternal plan, all souls must be born of woman, through the sack of water, and become flesh. Then in innocence and knowledge they each have the right to choose God or Satan, this is the purpose of the flesh age that we now live in. "The earth was without form, and void"; and when we take the word "was" back into the Hebrew Massorah text, it is # 1961 in Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. We read; "Hawah, haw-yaw; a prime root, To exist, i.e., to be, or become". The earth was not created in a uninhabitable from, but became that way. The earth could be millions or even billions of years old, but at the fall of Satan, it became a ruin. Jeremiah 4:24 "I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly." Jeremiah 4:25 "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled." Jeremiah 4:26 "I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." The souls that lived and existed on this earth lived in cities, just as we do today. God is saying that He destroyed every last one of them. To this day their pre-existence is scarce and untraceable. Jeremiah 4:27 "For thus hath the Lord said, "The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." When the earth lay in an state of complete destruction, God promises that He will not make a full end of it, and when we read Genesis 1:3 to Genesis 2:3, we see the seven days, or periods of time when God rejuvinated this earth to make it inhabitable to flesh man. Jeremiah 4:28 "For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." This is the first time God melted the mountains, and ended the first earth age. In that first destruction the stars in the heavens were gone, and the skies became black. We read in Genesis that after this destruction, God created these things all over again, as His Spirit moved over the waters and the heavens above. God is telling us here in Isaiah that I did it before, and I am going to do it again for those that are out of His will. Isaiah 64:4 "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." The question you have to ask yourself is, am I going to wait for the true Messiah? Or am I going to accept the false christ, (Satan)? Satan is coming first, at the sixth trump, whereas Jesus is coming at the seventh and last trump. It was the false christ that caused the first destruction that ended the first earth age, and it is that same false christ Satan that shall cause the destruction of this age of the flesh. Are you going to wait on Christ, or are you going to be like that bride spoken of in Matthew 24:19? "And woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" This is speaking in a spiritual sense, as they were suppose to be virgins, yet this bride was taken by another man before the true husband returned. They were taken in marriage spiritually to Satan in ignorance because they didn't know any better. Their traditions taught them to marry the first supernatural person that came, and not wait for the true Messiah. They were ignorant of the plan of God, and the signs and events of the times that they were living in. Can you wait for Him? There are two Christs coming and they will be similar in what you expect Jesus Christ to be, only one is a fake. The fake comes at the sixth trumpet, while the True Christ, Jesus Christ comes at the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet. At the seventh and last trumpet there will be a marriage also, just like there will be when Satan arrives, only those that were taken by Satan will stick-out just like a pregnant woman, and that is why Jesus said what He did in Matthew 24:19; "And woe to them that are with child,..." you will not be able to hide your spiritually whorish position before the true Christ, Jesus Christ. "To give suck" means that you are nursing along others into the service of Satan's kingdom, and to many Christians today, it will be in ignorance, because they are Biblically illiterate. If you can wait and hold yourself for that marriage to the True Christ, you simply cannot imagine the wealth of your inheritance that He has set aside for you when you do. Those of the elect will wait, for they have the knowledge in their minds. Isaiah 64:5 "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is countinuance, and we shall be saved." Those that remember Christ and His ways, are the ones that will rejoice and work righteousness. However, God is saying that He is "wroth", or angry with those that not only sin, but enjoy continuing in their sins without any thought of repentance. When we do sin even after we have been saved, and we come to our Heavenly Father in repentance in Jesus name, then He knows our hearts, and will continue to provide protection for us. Our Father sent His only begotten son to be born in the flesh for the sole sake of providing a way for anyone that desires to come back to Him. When we do, His Spirit touches us, and cleanses our hearts and minds, and in His love we are saved. Then, the wall that He builds around us will protect us from our enemies, and the ones that would do us harm, on every side. Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." When we are compared to our Heavenly Father, this verse is True. Anything that we may try to do without the love of God within our hearts and minds, is as filthy rags before our Father. In time, our flesh bodies will get old and weak with all the frailties of old age, and in time each of us will die. However, for those iniquities that we commit in the flesh, we will be held accountable even after we have left these flesh bodies. That is why we must be very careful that Christ's redemption comes through each of us. It is only through Christ redeeming blood and our repentance and faith in that finished work that our perfection can be brought about. Once we have repented to the Father in Jesus name then we are brought in kinship with our Lord Jesus Christ. This brings about our salvation, for we have accepted Jesus Christ's righteousness to be our own, because it was His blood that paid the price for our sins. Isaiah 64:7 "And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities." This is saying that God hid Himself from mankind when they started to place their salvation in the traditions of men. This is sin when you try to work out your own salvation other then the way that God provided. Jesus said in John 14:6; "I am the way the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." If you are Biblically illiterate, and call yourself a Christian, and have no desire to study God's Word, how in the world do you expect to face the spiritual warfare that will take place when Satan and his army of fallen angels control all nations on this earth?! God's way is His plan, and that plan goes through Jesus Christ, and it requires your waiting patiently for His return at the seventh trump. It requires the knowledge of the signs of the times and events that shall come to pass. This is why God had the prophets write those prophesies down so that we would not be deceived, and be taken in the wrong marriage. God did not intend for us to play games before our understanding the times we live in, and that is why it takes study to see those things. God will not hide his face from you, if you are deserving of seeing and understanding His Word. You will see Him through His Word. Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." If the potter doesn't like the pot, He can break the pot and start all over. He controls the clay and the wheel, and determines as to what He desires to make of that lump of clay when He forms it. Sometimes a clay pot has to be broken and taken down before it can be reshaped into something that He can use. God is the Potter, and we are the clay, made from the dust of the earth, and formed with the life soul that He puts into our embryo at conception. As that lumb of flesh clay grows and developes, sometimes the lump of clay thinks that it has more intelligence then the Potter, whose hands put shape to it in the first place. It doesn't matter how destroyed your life has become, God has the time and patience to take all those broken pieces of your life, and mend them into a beautiful and useful clay structure that can be used for His service. When your life is so shattered that you think that it is impossible for to correct, when you call out to Him in repentance in Jesus name, His love for you can and will make you a new creature in Christ. Christ's blood bought the potters field, where the old broken pottery is thrown. Christ blood, through your repentance, can put you back together. Isaiah 64:9 "Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy People." This is not an example of a prayer that you use for salvation. You do not have to beg for forgiveness to the Father, and this person is a little out of touch with the instructions of the prophet. Had He been in touch with the ways of the Father, he would have known that this is not the way of God. What this is saying, is the state of mind of the world today. The point that is made here is that; "you made us and now you owe it to us to give us salvation. You are our Father, so provide for us." It is stated in the manner of a spoiled child demanding something from his parents. Isaiah 64:10 "Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation." This is looking to the time coming very shortly when Satan and his hoards of fallen angels, along with his children the Kenites, sit in Jerusalem making a spiritual desolation of the world. "Desolation" as stated here, in the Hebrew tongue is "astonishment". That time is when the desolator who is Satan sits in Jerusalem and says the abominable things that he will say to deceive the people, and that fixes this verse to the time of the sixth trumpet, when Satan is upon the earth. Isaiah 64:11 "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste." The Kenites will see to it that when the false messiah sits there, and declares himself God. The sanctuary will be polluted and laid waste when Satan is there, as recorded in II Thessalonians 2:3, 4. II Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition," Jesus Christ is not gathering anyone to Himself, or is He coming here to earth "except there be a falling away first". The word for "falling away" in the Greek is "Apostasy". Jesus told us in His revelation to John, in Revelation 9:11 that "Apollyon" is one of Satan's names, and this name is derived from the word "apostasy". The word "perdition" means "one that perishes". Satan and Satan only has already been condemned to die [to perish] by God. Satan's judgment day has come already, and he will have no part in the great white throne judgment that comes at the end of the Millennium age. Satan has been judged and he has been sentenced to death "perdition". Ezekiel 28 covers this judgment. Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth and their will not [NOT] be a gathering of the saints to Christ until the "son of perdition" [Satan] be revealed first. Satan is coming with supernatural powers that God will allow him to have, for the sake of deceiving those who desire to be Biblically illiterate. Satan will come at the sixth trumpet with lies and deceiving wonders that would fool even the elect, if it were possible, but it will not be; for the elect knows that we will not see Christ in these flesh bodies. Those tricks and supernatural acts that Satan will do, playing the role of Jesus Christ, will cause the great apostacy that shall cover the earth. Paul is telling you in his letter here, don't look for Jesus Christ's return, until after you have seen Satan sitting in Jerusalem, doing and saying those abominable things [declaring himself to be God]. If you don't know the signs of the times, you will worship Satan in ignorance. II Thessalonians 2:4 "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." This is the "abomination of desolation" that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:15, when He was quoting from Daniel 9:27. Satan is the one who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped. When he comes to earth, He will sit in the temple which is on the "side of the north", and He will let the world know that He is God. This has not happened yet, but it will, and if you are living in the flesh today more then likely you will see the day that this comes to pass. There will not be a rapture as many are placing their hopes in that fairy-tale. That tradition of men is the very thing that shall cause many Christians to be taken in the wrong marriage. They are like the five foolish virgins that liked to sleep, and did not have enough oil [spiritual truth] in their lamps or minds to see them through to the very end. They could not wait for the true marriage of the bride of Christ, but were taken by Satan in the marriage of harlots at the sixth trumpet. Does the rapture theory still look inviting to you? If it does, friend, your in a heap of trouble. This is Paul warning you to be watching out for the Antichrist, for he is a copy of exactly what you expect of Christ. The Antichrist [Satan] will have supernatural powers, and he will come first, before our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole purpose of Paul writing this second letter to the Thessalonians was to warn the church, the bride of Christ, the people of today of the errors in teaching that were brought about from the first letter that wrote to them. The things of II Thessalonians 2:1-4 must take place before Christ return to earth. Let's continue a little more in this chapter. II Thessalonians 2:5 "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" Paul is reminding them. II Thessalonians 2:6 "And now ye know what withholdeth [that which restraineth to the end] that he might be revealed in his time [own season]." "And now", is Paul's reminder to them that they did talk about this. Who then is this one that would "be revealed in his time"? Remember that the subject is still the "son of perdition", who is Satan, the Antichrist, the serpent or what ever name you want to give him. Satan is "revealed in his time" or season when he commits the acts spoken, by committing the "abomination of desolation" which is his representing himself to be God while sitting in the temple in Jerusalem, and having the entire world believe it. All that is except the elect that have the sealed in their foreheads [minds]. II Thessalonians 2:7 "For the mystery of iniquity [lawlessness] doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." There is no mystery around when this will take place, for we will know his methods of operation [withholdeth], and the signs, the seasons, and the times of Satan's arrival to the earth. If you are in the Word of God and not following these "one verse Billies", you will know when to expect the Antichrist. You will also know within 84 hours when to expect our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan's reign on this earth is not for seven years, or three and one half years, but for five months, the time of the locust, as recorded in Revelation 9:5, and ten. The mystery of lawlessness is the mystery of iniquity. "He who now letteth will let" in the Greek should be translated; "He who holds fast [katcho] will stand." The ellipsis, or "omission from an expression of a word clearly implied"; "There is one who hold's fast", instead of repeating the verb, "will let". However, "katecho" is a transitive verb, and an object must be supplied also. So if the subject in verse six is Satan, then the object must be his position in the heavenlies [see Ephesians 6:12], from which he shall be ejected from heaven by Michael as recorded in Revelation 12:7-9. "Out of the way" in the Greek text is "out of ek", or "the midst". It is the same expression used in Acts 17:33, and I Corinthians 5:2. Many "rapture theorists" claim this one "who letteth" is the Holy Spirit, and when He is "taken away", then the Antichrist will come. By reversing the role fo the characters in the verse here, and attributing what is Satan's to the Holy Spirit, you have a whole new doctrine, and it is called the "any moment" doctrine. It is this false doctrine that is better known as the "rapture theory". It is dangerous to play around with a foreign language; when the flock relies upon the shepherd for the truth, and when the shepherds are ignorant of the truth and rely of their men's traditional teaching for their foundation, the flock is not fed. It is Michael that who "holds fast" on to Lucifer [the Antichrist], and Michael will continue to keep Lucifer held until the appointed time, spoken of above. That time is appointed by God. Then Satan will be released at the appointed time and God will give Satan the keys [authority] to release his fallen angels and they all will be cast to the earth as is recorded in Revelation 9:1-10. Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels," Michael is the "he" who letteth form II Thessalonians 2:7. Revelation 12:8 "And prevailed not; neither was there place found any more in heaven." The war takes place in heaven, and that is where Satan will be until the appointed time by God. There are Satanic spirits in the world today, but they are not the fallen angels that are spoken of here. Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon [Satan] was cast out, that [that is the transitive verb of II Thessalonians 2:7] old serpent [this is the role that Satan played in the garden of Eden], the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world [except for God's elect]: he was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." This is when Satan will physically appear on earth as a man with his angels. This is the time of the Antichrist's coming and we must know when this time is by when these prophetic events take place. This is why we must continually watch Jerusalem, for that is the place of his coming and his rule. Isaiah 64:12 "Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?" You know He will if you are outside of His Will. In fact God has promised that He would, and that is why we must come out of confusion. The traditions of men are setting the people of the world up to accept the confusion and deception that Satan shall bring with him, and that is why it is important for us today to know the truth from His Word, and study to put on the whole armor of God. The warfare that Satan brings with him to the earth is a spiritual warfare, and is fought with lies, words, and half truths. It is fought with dark sentences which are the twisting of the truths of God's Word. The bullets are ideas and precepts that are accepted because the person hearing them are destroyed by them. That is why it is important to prepare ourselves with the whole world of God, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.
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