Isaiah, Chapter 2

Good morning. We're going to proceed into the second chapter passage in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 2, 1 through 4, and we'll divide it up into three sections in order to be able to handle it a little easier. We passed out an outline, and we'll be looking at this first part. So Isaiah chapter 2, here's where it sits in the outline. Just to summarize Isaiah 2, and you have this on your handout on page 1. The first verse is like Isaiah 1-1, which is basically an introduction.

The next thing we'll have here in 2-4 is about the coming of Christ, the second coming, where Christ will reign on the earth in what we have come to know as the Millennial Kingdom. And this is the part you read about later on in Isaiah that many folks are familiar with, where the wolf will dwell with the lamb, we frequently, because it rhymes a little easier, the lion and the lamb, but it's actually the wolf and the lamb. It's that period of time. We will in fact be returning to that in further description as we go through the book of Isaiah.

Verses five through nine are directed by the prophet Isaiah to the Jews who are there in Jerusalem and Judah at the time. And then verses 10 through 22 are about the coming tribulation period. In Revelation 6 through 19, specifically, a lot of the verbiage in chapter 6, especially at the end, comes right out of this portion of Isaiah chapter 2.

Now, timeline. This is also on page one of your handout there. Isaiah is, of course, within his own time, which is roughly seven centuries before the time of Christ. Chapter 2, verses 5 through 9, is addressing His own time. And the time right before Christ's second coming, the time called the Tribulation, a seven-year period of time, Isaiah 2, 10-22. And finally, Isaiah 2, 2-4, describing the Millennial Kingdom, the coming of Christ to reign upon the earth. So that's the timeline picture for Chapter 2. Now, let's go into the details a little bit. As we mentioned, we'll divide it into three sections, initially addressing verses 1 and 2.

Isaiah, the son of Amos. This is the title that we saw in Isaiah 1-1. And what's interesting is Isaiah shows up in this book as the son of Amos or the prophet. Quite often those descriptions, one or the other, and that's consistent also with a lot of the rest of the Old Testament references to Isaiah. The references to Isaiah throughout the Bible are very consistent. His own references to himself, other Old Testament references to him, and even the New Testament references.

Nobody has any question about who they're referring to. Everyone consistently refers to Isaiah, and it's like, oh yeah, I know exactly who you're talking about. We're not given any other person by that name, and perhaps that's one reason why it's so clear. There's no other Isaiahs that we're aware of in the Bible, so that makes it a lot easier.

One of the things we pointed out, the very first introduction that we made, was that he is very likely of the royal family, although not directly in the lineage of Christ, and his role as a prophet is repeatedly stated. He himself makes that clear, and others, as they record his identity, make that clear.

Now, he writes concerning Judah and Jerusalem. This is the same phrase we saw in 1.1, but it's going to be the last time we see that phrase. It is very clear when Isaiah writes, he says, it's about this people, and that people, and that city, and that country. So he spells out who he's talking about.

Now, Jerusalem is, of course, in the very heart of Judah, not just the middle, not just somewhere in the center, but in the heart of Judah. And it's a name, interestingly enough, that will endure forever. As we'll see here in a little bit, New Jerusalem will be the name of the place where All of us who believe, who have put our trust in Jesus Christ, will dwell for eternity. So get used to it. It will include ourselves and the saved Jews and Gentiles of other times.

Now, he says here, now it will come about, and other than the now, the it will come about phrase is a phrase that's sort of, as we've mentioned before, a Hebrew pattern of speech. And it's used a few dozen times in the Old Testament. Typically, it doesn't convey something immediate. That would be an unusual use. Most often, it means something that happens after some period of time, sometimes a lengthy period of time.

And what's interesting, too, is Micah 4, 1 through 4, and we mentioned previously, Micah lived at the same time as Isaiah, prophesied within the same time period that Isaiah did, and also prophesied within Judah. And the first four verses of Micah 4 are virtually identical to this passage we see here. Now, this phrase, the last days, Hal and I were talking about this over the phone, just kind of bouncing terminology back and forth. You've probably heard that phrase used a number of times.

And in the Old Testament, it has the sense of the last days being the time when the Messiah will come or right before that, the tribulation period. It's in the New Testament where we begin to see a bit of a shift and that there is some use of it, not exclusive, but some use of it as the time until the Messiah comes. So, in the last days may refer in the New Testament to the time that we actually live in, our own time.

Alright, the mountain of the house of the Lord was a phrase that Isaiah uses and it's also found a couple other places. Micah, again a contemporary of Isaiah uses it. And this is the house of the Lord, is the temple. This is the temple that Solomon had built. The mountain of the house of the Lord is Mount Moriah.

When we think of a mountain here in Colorado, we've got a whole different idea in mind. He's not thinking of putting some temple on top of something like this, okay? So that's one thing we've got to get clear. When he says mountain, erase this idea out of your mind. He's not meaning that, okay?

This is from a map of Jerusalem drawn in the late 1800s and I'm going to use it because it kind of simplifies fairly well what the issues are. This is the area that had been initially built by David and this area over here had been built up by the time of Isaiah.

They had built off over to Mount Zion. Here is Mount Moriah where the Temple Mount is now and which is the same general location. where Solomon's temple was built and where the temple was built that continued into the New Testament era. This is the Mount of Olives to the east, where Jesus spoke to the disciples. It's on the side of the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane was, where Jesus was arrested, and the Mount of Olives also being the place where Jesus ascended from. He came over the Mount of Olives in what is known as the Triumphal Entry, so a very pivotal location. Here is Mount Zion sort of across a small valley, if you will. And frequently, the reference to Jerusalem would be to Zion. And that's a pattern we'll see often in Isaiah.

I'm going to show you another picture in case maps aren't the way you think. That's one of the things that Nancy and I have found. We get along just very well. But one of the discoveries we've made is that I think in map terms, Nancy thinks in terms of specific directions. and there's no overlap, so I'll do this just in case.

This looking to the west here is this view. This is a picture we've shown before, which is an artist's reconstruction of what Jerusalem would have looked like during the time of Isaiah and King Hezekiah. This would be Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, and then over here, Mount Zion, sort of to the southwest area and across a little valley. All right, now, this mountain, the house of the Lord, which is central to the Jewish view of things, the house of the Lord will be, so what does this will be tell you? It's future, right?

Will be established as the chief of the mountains. Now, when you think of the mountains here in Colorado, what do we have, some 50 plus 14ers? We're not even getting close to that elevation here. The chief of the mountains will be raised above the hills.

Now, this is a Hebrew poetic pattern. I want to make that clear. Notice that one of the things we said about a Hebrew poetic pattern is, will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills, that this is a kind of a restatement here of the first line. So that's one of the ways that the Hebrews would have their Hebrew poetic pattern.

They would state something and then restate it. We like to rhyme words. If the words don't rhyme, we get kind of disturbed by that. It didn't bother the Jews at all. They wanted the meanings to rhyme, not the words. So this is a Hebrew poetic pattern.

He's not really talking about an increase in elevation. He's not making this like Colorado's mountains or Mount Everest or something like that. But he's talking about elevating it spiritually, elevating it in terms of prominence. That's the way he is speaking of this chief of the mountains raised above the hills.

So what is a mountain? What does he mean when he uses this word mountain? The Bible often refers to mountains literally, and so we'll see that reference, but here there is a figurative sense. It's the way that Daniel used it in chapter 2 verse 35, a kingdom of great prominence where Christ reigns over the earth.

This is what he's talking about when the mountain where the house of the Lord is will be elevated He's not talking about all of a sudden this mountain goes 50,000 feet high, but instead that this is prominent and focal in the view of everyone. That's the use here in Isaiah. He's looking at the area where the temple is suddenly becoming a focal point for everyone, the Jews and the Gentiles included, as we'll see shortly here. All the nations will stream into it.

One of the things we pointed out when the Jews were taken over by Alexander the Great, a great many of them, especially outside of Israel, were kind of brainwashed with learning Greek. And so after about a generation, they said, we don't even understand our own Hebrew scriptures.

And so a number of scholars began translating the Old Testament into Greek. So when I make reference to the Greek Old Testament, That was a translation made some two centuries before the New Testament era. It was made between the Testaments, if you will. So, here's this word, nations, and it's the Greek word in the Greek Old Testament, ethnos. We get our word ethnic, and ethnicity, and related words like that.

And when we think of nations, we oftentimes think of political systems. That was a secondary level of understanding. When the Jews used this word, they were thinking more of the mass of different people groups. And that's what they're thinking of here as well.

A number of places in scripture, the word nations is used, and the Jews would think of it as Gentiles. It's, we're the Jews, and those are the nations. That was their way of thinking at it, and that's how Isaiah is speaking here. The nations, the ethnos, all the ethnic groups around the world, this is what Isaiah is trying to communicate, will be coming to and focusing upon Jerusalem.

That's also what you see in Isaiah 66, verse 12. That comes up as well. There are a number of passages where the same theme is repeated, and I've included several here and you've got it in your handout as well. Here's Psalm 67, verses 1-5. Start with verse 2, that your way may be known on the earth, your salvation among all the nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For you will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. And that in the Greek New Testament is ethnos. All the ethnic groups.

This is the picture of this coming millennial time. or they will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. So here's, Isaiah has used the description of this mountain with the temple on it, and here's the Lord's own description of it. My holy mountain, okay? His own description of it.

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, that is, the offspring of Jesse being David, and the Son of David being Christ the Messiah. This word, like, here, is the mountain of the house of the Lord, or it's like the mountain of the house of the Lord. What we see in Isaiah 2-3, as we'll look at here in a bit, is the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Not just the Jews, not just the people who live in Israel, and right now that isn't even the case, but the whole earth, all the nations, the people who are in it. And finally, This word nations is, in the Greek Old Testament, ethnos, all the ethnic groups. That's what's being described, all these ethnic groups from all over the earth. The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord in all these different groups.

Here's Jeremiah, another prophet after the time of Isaiah, and he says, at that time, so it's the future, they will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. How about that? The name of it, the throne of the Lord, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem. the ethnos, the ethnic groups. Then here is Zechariah, so many peoples and mighty nations will come and seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem to entreat the favor of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of Hosts, in those days ten men from all the nations, all the ethnic groups, listen to this, will grab the garment of a Jew saying, let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you. How about that? Can you imagine people doing that now? Right now there's a whole bunch of people who would like to erase the nation of Israel. And many of them hate them. Now you see a time coming when everyone will say, you're a Jew, let me go with you. I understand the Messiah is in your land. I understand the Messiah reigns in your capital. Please let us go. Real different, isn't it?

Many peoples and nations, the Jews, similar to what we see in the Isaiah passage we're looking at, Even the New Heavens and the New Earth will include some of the same description. Here's Revelation 21. The nations, and that's the ethnic groups, will walk by its light. The it and its that occurs in this passage here refers to, as you look in context, to the New Jerusalem. So this will be in the New Heavens and the New Earth, continuing on in that same pattern. Here's Isaiah 2-3 now.

Many peoples will come. This is a Hebrew term that basically the Jews would listen to and they would think in their minds, well that term, many peoples, that's the same as the nations. That's the ethnos. They would see that as equivalent. As a matter of fact, both those terms are translated ethnos in the Greek Old Testament for this passage. They would both see it as equivalent terms.

They will come and say, come let us go to the mountain of the Lord. Here is the same thing we saw in that prior passage where ten Gentiles, ten people of the nations would grab a Jew because they would say, come take me to your Messiah. Now look what it says here, come let us go to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach.

Now this is very interesting. Who is going to do the teaching? The God of Jacob. This is also a reference to the Messiah, but he makes no mistake about it. This is the God of Jacob that is going to teach us. He is the one who is seated on the throne. I bring that up because a few weeks ago I mentioned to you right at the Sunday message that I was going to be visiting with a rabbi the next morning. Well, I have visited with this rabbi. One of the things that he said that was real interesting that conflicted with this. This says that he, God, is the one doing the teaching, right?

One of the things he said, he says, well, we believe in messianic times and they will come. Messianic times will come, but it won't be God. It will be just a human son of David, a descendant of David. It won't be God. What does this passage say? It says God. But that also confirms something else he told me. I told him that I was real interested in Isaiah.

He says, we don't want to talk about it. He says, we don't talk about Isaiah, we don't talk about Daniel, and we don't talk about the Song of Solomon. And he says, people read Daniel and Isaiah and they think too many Christian things, so we just don't talk about it. And they read Song of Solomon and they think romance, so we just don't talk about those books. Interesting discussion I had with him. But it runs in conflict with this passage we're looking at right here.

Because right here it says here's the Messiah and it will be God himself that will do be doing the teaching Jesus Christ is deity and that's why Jesus would repeatedly say I am the Greek a go a me meaning I Am self-existent. I am the one who lives in eternity. I am the bread of life. I am the Good Shepherd. I Am the way the truth and the life all those statements bearing witness to Jesus claiming deity, even to the point where at certain places the Jews picked up stones because they said, you're claiming to be God. Was he? Yeah, exactly. The Gentiles will be motivated to come to Jesus Christ the Messiah. Isn't that something?

Right now you can hardly get the Jews to get motivated about it. It's one thing in my conversation with the rabbi, he says, we don't have time for talking to the Gentiles a whole lot. I was glad that he spent time with me, but We don't have time to talk to the Gentiles a whole lot. He says we have enough trouble just getting the Jews' attention. Because a great many of them are not interested in the things. So, at any rate, the Gentiles will be motivated to come and to be taught of the Lord.

Isn't that something? You will have people who will say, you know, you're going to Jerusalem? Oh man, I've got to do that too. And they will jump at the opportunity, streaming into Jerusalem. Not screaming, streaming. They will look to the Lord instructing them. In the Millennial Kingdom, the Gentiles will live by the law.

Now, when I say that, what I mean is not that they will carry out the law in the same way that the Jews will. They don't have that authorization. But they will look to the law and learn things from it, including, as we can, how the law points to Christ. Because after all, as Paul said, The law was given as a tutor to bring us to Christ. It will serve in that capacity. Then Isaiah 2, 3, for the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Right now, as the rabbi communicated with me, they're having a hard time getting the Jews interested. Here will come a time when the Jews will, every one of them, and we'll see here shortly, will be very interested, and also the Gentiles, greatly interested. This is a, well, how do I say this? Hebrew poetic pattern, let's just leave it at that.

So this teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ will flow from Him during this thousand year reign, that's from Revelation 20, 1-6, from Mount Zion, from Jerusalem, that is from that area. And one of the things we're going to find frequent reference to is Mount Zion will be used often as a synonym for Jerusalem throughout the book of Isaiah. So, the teaching from the Lord Jesus Christ will flow from Jerusalem, from the Lord Jesus Christ's teaching there, not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. In verse 4, He will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples.

There's a Hebrew poetic pattern. And, like we saw in verse 3, it will be God who will be doing this. Jesus Christ is indeed Deity. I think that's why my rabbi friend didn't want to talk about this stuff. It's a little bit too close. The Hebrew poetic pattern points to the nations, or also many peoples. So these are equivalents there.

And this is, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning forks. That's a Hebrew poetic pattern. And this is a favorite of world peace groups. The UN even has a swords into plowshares program. You look up on the UN website, I was checking it out. Various people will use this terminology as if human beings could do it. As if us human beings are going to pull it off and make it happen.

Nation won't be warring against another nation again. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is going to decide what happens. It won't be a matter of who's got the most powerful weapon or the most potent army. It will be, what did Jesus say? That's the decision. And that's what happens. Human beings won't pull it off by themselves. And we won't make Christ come by trying to make things like that millennial time. Not going to get there. The reign of Jesus Christ on the earth will be a time marked by a peace this world has never seen.

And Christ will be, as we'll see in Isaiah 9-6, the Prince of Peace. The name Jerusalem means habitation of peace, and that name will be fulfilled. Certainly now Jerusalem is not a habitation of peace, literally, is it? No, not by any means. Just look at the headlines over this next week if you want to check that out. It is not the habitation of peace, then it will be. Then it will be, because the Prince of Peace will reign from there. This passage may be leaving you with a few lingering questions, a few head-scratchers.

One of the things we've taught as we went through the book of Ephesians and through Colossians is that we have died to the law, that's Galatians 2.19 and 20 passage, we have been redeemed from the law, and the law was put out of commission with regards to the church, those in the church. So then, Why do we read about the law being put back in the future, and why is Jesus Christ the one teaching it? If he's the one that died to put it out of commission and to take it out of force for the church, what's going on here? And why do we read about another temple being in Jerusalem?

There isn't one now, there hasn't been for almost 2,000 years. Why another one? What's this all about? We're not done. We've got more lingering questions. We read about the Gentiles, the nations, and the Jews, and the coming millennial kingdom. There are saved Gentiles and Jews who died before then, and then where will the church be? How about you and me? Where are we going to be? Where will Abraham and Moses be? And what about David? How about Esther? And how about the Apostle John and Lydia and Philippi? And what about us? Where will we be? How do we fit into that picture?

And then the next question that comes up, the law, who's redeemed from it? If I've been redeemed from the law, here's a Galatians teaching, if I've been redeemed from the law, if the passage we talk about here, having been redeemed from the law, having been put out of commission, those are found in the letters to the churches.

These passages that we studied those in apply to the church, which has a special position. The church is a body of Jews and Gentiles. who come to faith in Christ during the time from the Pentecost until the Rapture, the time when the Lord takes the Church out of the earth. In between those periods of time, Jews and Gentiles alike who put their trust in Christ are brought into this different body called the Church. Now, for the ethnic Jew who has not been brought into the Church, God's intent was that they live by it forever. You see several references to that. What exactly that means at different times, we'll take a look at here in a minute. But nonetheless, that was the original intent.

The Jews in the Millennial Kingdom that we'll continue to read about, because we're going to read about the Millennial Kingdom all as we study for Isaiah into the very last chapters. They have a major advantage at that time that they have never had before. They didn't have in the Old Testament times. and look at Jeremiah 31 31 look especially what we have there in blue address to them this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my law where within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people have the Jews had that opportunity in the past has the law been something where the Lord put it on their heart no look at Verse 34, the rabbi is going to be out of business. They will not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

How about that? The Lord will put it on their heart. It won't be a question of, are you kosher, or do you believe, or anything like that. It will be an of course. Absolutely. It won't be a matter of studying the Torah for hours. It will be here. They will know it. Each one. Down to the least. Here is another related passage in Ezekiel. Look at the highlighted material in blue.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you. and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you'll be careful to observe my ordinances."

The Jew, because of God's writing the law in their heart, because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, then, not in time past, but then, will walk obediently. They just will. Now, here's what this means. The Jews of that time will follow the law from their heart, because the Holy Spirit within them will cause them to obey the law all the time.

Israel will be in the land of Israel. There won't be any question about it. Jesus Christ, the one in whom we have put our trust, Jesus Christ will be their Messiah reigning from the city of Jerusalem over Israel and all the nations of the earth, all the ethnic groups. He will teach the nations, but the Jews will have no rabbis. You don't need them. A rabbi is not a priest. A rabbi means teacher. If they don't need to teach one another, they have no use for a rabbi.

Deuteronomy 28, that we looked at, gives the blessings. This was in the handout for last week. I have not included it here, but it was in the handout for last week. Deuteronomy 28, verse 14 verses, lists the blessings for the Jews. They are all earthly blessings in the land. You will be blessed, blessed, blessed, if you diligently obey. The curses, if you do not obey, you will be cursed, cursed, cursed, and it will all be on earth, in the land. And, notice, it's not 14 verses. It goes all the way from verse 15 to verse 68 with the curses. It's a little lopsided.

But guess what? The Jew during the millennium, is he going to have a problem obeying? No. So guess what? He gets blessed all the time. All the blessings, none of the curses. That is amazing. How about that? He gets blessed all the time. Now, how about we in the church?

Are we blessed all the time? Yeah, we've already been blessed, Ephesians 1-3, with every spiritual blessing. So the Jew in the Millennium will join in the continuous blessings. There will be different blessings, but continuous blessings. They will enjoy all the blessings promised by God. Read Deuteronomy 28 verse 14 verses. All the time. For them, they can forget the rest of it because there will be no disobedience from it. They will have the Holy Spirit to cause them to live out the law and therefore will be blessed with all the blessings and none of the curses.

The Millennial Temple, as we see described in Scripture, Ezekiel 40 through 48, will be huge, a massive structure. This is a map of the Millennial Temple based on Ezekiel 40 through 48. Huge in dimension. It was a few football fields in length, each dimension during Jesus' time. It would be about a mile square during the time of the Millennium. Here is Israel's land in the Millennium, and look what it includes. Part of Iraq, part of Syria, virtually all of Lebanon, and portions of Saudi Arabia, countries that Couldn't imagine Israel having claim to it right now.

During the coming millennium, the Jews are going to live out the law by the Holy Spirit, which will cause them to walk according to the law of Moses. The Gentiles, the nations, will live by continuing access to the teaching of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth. Ongoing. Jesus Christ will be not only the King of the Jews, but King of Kings. We are the kings, other kings, other nations, and Lord of Lords, ruler of all from Jerusalem, from Israel. The Gentiles will come to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, our Lord, through the Jews.

They'll come through the Jews' land, as one passage put it. They will want to grab onto a Jew and say, take us, show us your Messiah, introduce us. We would love it. We would love it. Millennial Jews and church saints How shall they, and we, then live? The Jews are going to live according to the Mosaic law.

While Christ will be their king, it will fulfill the promise made to David about 4,000 years ago. It will fulfill what was told to Mary before she birthed Jesus. Fulfill those precisely. The church saints, however, are not called to live by the law. And not only do we read that repeatedly in the New Testament epistles, but also Psalm 147, 19 and 20 says that Israel was the one to whom it was given.

We are to live by Christ our life. For the Jew it will be Christ our Messiah. For us, it will be Christ our life. It will not be living out the law because it's written on our heart. It will be living out His life because He is in our heart. Hear the difference? It will be God's empowering. That's something we saw repeatedly in the book of Ephesians and in Colossians. It will be God enabling the believer. Is that somewhat similar to what the Jews will have? Yes, but different as well. They will have the law written on their hearts. We will not.

We will have Christ's life living through us. We've been identified with Christ in the ways that we've mentioned in the past. Crucified, buried, raised, ascended, and seated. Those identifications are unique to church saints. We have no indication at all that the Jews of other times have that same identification, nor the Gentiles.

So now we have these questions sort of answered. Now, I've got a chart here. This is on page six of your handout, if everything came about as I expect. And you may be looking at it and thinking one of two things, maybe both. You may be thinking, Vern, have you lost your mind? This looks like a wiring diagram for the space shuttle. You may be a little shocked at it, but don't worry. What we're going to do is narrow it down. We're going to zero in on this little portion of it, and we're going to point this out.

The second coming of Christ will include church saints, tribulation saints, Old Testament saints, and angels. The church saints will be those who have died since the day of Pentecost up to the time when the Lord takes us home, or those who are alive when the Lord takes us home. They will be taken up to be with the Lord, and to be with the Lord during the seven-year tribulation time, and then brought back when the Lord comes again. The time in the heavenlies, and the time brought back, and the time thereafter will be in new bodies. That'll answer, where's Peter gonna be during this millennium that Isaiah writes about? Where's Paul gonna be? How about the saints in Ephesus that Paul wrote to? Where are they going to be?

How about Lydia of Philippi, the first believer along the river who became a believer? Then there's this 1 Thessalonians 4, 14 through 17 passage that says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, do you believe that? Okay, if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. and moving down to the last part of that passage, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Where are we going to be forever? Always be with the Lord. Okay? Always. Wherever that is. Where is He? Wherever that is, that's where we'll be. Okay? So this answers the question, where are saints going to be?

Certainly, during the tribulation period, we've got Revelation 6 through 19 describing, and then finally in 19 and 20, the Lord's second coming. and the reign of Christ on the earth for a thousand years. We will be with the Lord. And then the next one, how about the Tribulation Saints? That during that seven year period of time right before the Lord reigns, during the millennium, the Tribulation Saints will be those who have died during that period of time and then will come back in new bodies. resurrected bodies. There'll be those who died during the four horsemen, the seven trumpets, the seven bowls, all that time, the beheading that's talked about in scripture. And they will come back with the Lord.

So that's spelled out. We also have the Old Testament saints. This talks about, here's Adam and Eve driven from the garden. And this is the room that is believed to be where the Last Supper was held, and where the Day of Pentecost began. This is called the Centacle, and you can go visit it now.

Those who died from the time of Adam and Eve being driven to the Garden up until that time before the Day of Pentecost, all those, whether Jews or Gentiles, either one, they will be brought back bodily in resurrected bodies during that time, joining with us, joining with the Tribulation Saints, coming back to Earth.

Can you imagine that? So that answers some questions. But where's Noah going to be? There, with us, coming back with us. How about Abraham? Can you imagine? Here we are, coming back with Abraham. Hey, tell me, Abraham, while we're heading down here to planet Earth, how was that? Or, about Moses, or Isaiah, those people.

Then there will be angels. Angels who will join us during the time when we will be with the Lord in the heavenlies, while time on earth will not be very nice. Angels who have been given various assignments during that time to come to earth. Those angels will come as well. Great armies. So here's Isaiah 2, 1 through 4. As we look at it, here is Isaiah.

He is writing and naturally we would expect he would have a Jewish focus. He's going to say what's going to happen Jerusalem? What's going to happen in Israel? What's going to happen on the earth? He's going to answer those kinds of questions. He does so not with just a purely earthly perspective, but indeed with a spiritual perspective. Nonetheless, he is thinking about things on planet earth in terms of the impact.

But for us, who are church saints, it's our place to be ever mindful of to be aware of this Lord, whom the Jews will call their Messiah, and the Gentiles will stream to learn from Him. But for us, not waiting till then, but now He is our life. Now He is the One whom we behold. Not just waiting to behold, we behold now as we see Christ Jesus in His Word. We behold Him and are thus changed from glory to glory. So we behold Him, not waiting.

The Jews are waiting. Just like this fellow was saying, and of course there's a lot that he doesn't understand, but he says, I'm waiting for messianic times. I'm waiting for it. I'm looking forward to it. We're not waiting to behold him. We behold him even now through his word. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this indeed, we can count upon so much that you have done for us and you continue to do for us and that you will do for us. And we thank you for what you've revealed to us. And we see you indeed are not letting the world just bang itself out however it happens to come out randomly. But indeed, you have a great plan for it all. And in that, your plan includes having us be already blessed and walking with you in fellowship and by your life. Thank you for all you've done. In Jesus' name, Amen.