July 4, 2009

• Isaiah background by Pastor Don

  The first thing that Pastor Don did for this Bible study was to tell us that there is a mystery between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.  This was in answer to a question from last Friday’s Bible study that we did not get a chance to discuss.

  Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

  Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was^b]’> son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. “Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’

  When satan and his minions were cast from Heaven, then not much was left on the earth that wasn’t destroyed by the devil.

  We looked at a few passages from the Bible.

  Isaiah 14:18-20 All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named.

  Including some that sound remarkably like Christmas trees, which God equates with idols.

  Isaiah 44:17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says,

  Jeremiah 10:3-5 For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.

  The customs of people are futile, they love their customs even though they are not biblical.  Some of the customs and traditions are birthed in the full force of idolatry.  We relabel it, love it, and choose not to change it. That does not mean that God changes His mind about them.

  2 Peter 3:5-9 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,^a]’> on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

  The Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of God are not separate.

  Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

  These are the names of the Spirit of God.

  Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

  If it is a word of warning don’t do it, fear God more than our traditions.

  For God:  Do not is DO NOT; don’t is DON’T.  God hates certain things.  God does not change His opinion because it is unpopular.  “IT IS WRITTEN”  Jesus had no problem upholding “IT IS WRITTEN.”  What does the Word say?  Everything we have or do, check it in the Word and see what thus says the Lord. 

  Take the Lower seat.

  In two places God uses 1000 to represent years.

  Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.

  2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

  We are in the sixth day if you calculate the missing years from the Jewish calendar.

  We are in the Jewish year 5769 – but people have calculated that there are 240 missing years in Jewish history – this is determined by when they started counting the rule of kings, of years not counted during exile, etc.  That makes this really the year 6009 – definitely the sixth day.  God does not have to complete all of the 6th day to begin the end times.

  We are close to the 70th week of Daniel, it can come at any time.

  Daniel 9:22-27 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: “Seventy weeks^b]’> sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street^YouToMe