Lesson #27

ISAIAH 30:1-14
LESSON #27
PLANNING WITHOUT GOD

• MEMORY VERSE: ISA 30:18

• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
• THE YEAR IS 711 BC. HEZEKIAH IS KING OF JUDAH, THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM. THE NORTHERN KINGDOM HAD BEEN CONQUERED BY ASSYRIA 11 YEARS BEFORE (722 BC) AND TAKEN CAPTIVE TO BABYLON. THE PEOPLE IN THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH WERE FEARFUL FOR THEIR OWN FUTURE. THERE WAS A VERY STRONG POLITICAL PARTY IN THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM WHO FAVORED A MUTUAL PROTECTIVE ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT. WE CAN CALL THEM THE “EGYPTOCRATS”. (MY NAME FOR THEM!) IT IS THIS POLITICAL PARTY TO WHICH CHAPTER 30 REFERS AS “REBELLIOUS CHILDREN”. THE QUESTION WAS: WILL KING HEZEKIAH LISTEN TO GOD’S PROPHET, ISAIAH, OR WILL HE LISTEN TO THE “EGYPTOCRATS”?

• READ ISA 30:1-14 WOE TO GOD’S REBELLIOUS CHILDREN
• THE “COVER WITH A COVERING” (VS. 1) IS THIS PROTECTIVE ALLIANCE PROMOTED BY THE “EGYPTOCRATS”. REMEMBER THE PARABLE OF THE SHORT BED AND NARROW COVER IN ISA 28:20. THE ALLIANCE WILL NOT SAVE THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM FROM ASSYRIA. IT WILL BE TOO SHORT AND INADEQUATE. THIS IS THE WRONG ACTION JUDAH, THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM, COMMITTED THAT UPSET GOD.
• THE “EGYPTOCRATS” SENT A DELEGATION BY CARAVAN ACROSS THE DESERT, DOWN TO EGYPT WITH GIFTS TO THE PHARAOH TO SECURE THIS ALLIANCE IN THE EGYPTIAN CITIES OF ZOAN AND HANES.(6)
• “THE FLYING SERPENT” (6) = A SYMBOL OF EGYPT.
• WHAT IS GOD’S EVALUATION OF THIS ALLIANCE? (7)
• THE EGYPTIANS WILL BE OF NO HELP TO THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM.
• “THEIR STRENGTH IS TO SIT STILL”. (7)
• THE NATION OF EGYPT WAS WANING IN THEIR INTERNATIONAL POWER, MILITARY STRENGTH, AND POLITICAL UNITY. BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN INTERNAL POLITICAL DIVISIONS, IN THE EVENT OF AN ATTACK BY ASSYRIA, THEY WOULD BE SO DIVIDED INTERNALLY THAT THEY WOULD DO NOTHING AND JUST SIT STILL
• SPIRITUALLY AND SYMBOLICALLY, EGYPT IN THE BIBLE REPRESENTS WORLDLINESS.
• THE BELIEVER IS TOLD TO SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF ALL THE THINGS YOU NEED, THEY WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU. (MAT 6:32-33)
• THE MESSAGE: DON’T RELY ON THE THINGS OF THE WORLD FOR SALVATION, PROVISION, AND PROTECTION.
• THE WRITTEN PROPHECY OF PLANNING WITHOUT GOD: (8)
• ISAIAH TELLS THE “EGYPTOCRATS” TO WRITE DOWN HIS WARNING BECAUSE LIKE FORGETFUL CHILDREN, WHEN THIS ALLIANCE FAILS, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AND SEE THAT GOD WAS RIGHT.

• WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS THAT DESCRIBE “REBELLIOUS CHILDREN (BELIEVERS)”? (9-11)

• THEY DO NOT DEAL HONESTLY WITH THE TRUTH:
• THE TRUTH OF HISTORY.
• THE TRUTH OF GOD.
• THE TRUTH OF THE CURRENT REALITY.
• THEY DO NOT WANT TO HEAR FROM GOD.
• FROM GOD DIRECTLY.
• FROM THE PROPHETS SENT BY GOD.
• ISAIAH SAYS THERE ARE 10 WAYS TO PLAN WITHOUT GOD:
• HAVE A GENERAL ATTITUDE OF REBELLIOUSNESS.
• MAKE LIES A HABIT IN YOUR LIFE.
• DON’T LISTEN TO GOD OR READ HIS WORD.
• DON’T DISCERN TRUTH SPIRITUALLY BUT LOOK TO THE WORLD FOR TRUTH.
• DON’T LISTEN TO GODLY PEOPLE WHO SEEK TO COUNSEL YOU.
• LISTEN TO ONLY WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR.
• LISTEN ONLY TO DECEPTIVE PEOPLE.
• GET OUT FROM UNDER GOD’S PROTECTION.
• LEAVE THE CHRISTIAN PATH FOR WORLDLINESS.
• QUENCH AND GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT HE WILL STOP GUIDING YOU.
• WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS KIND OF REBELLION? (14)
• GOD WILL BREAK EVERYTHING ON WHICH YOU RELY SO AS TO HUMBLE YOU TO TURN TO GOD IN REPENTANCE.

• READ ISA 30:15-26
• WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THIS SECTION?
• WAIT ON GOD’S INEVITABLE JUDGMENT
• THE WAITING (18)
• THE DOUBLE ASPECT:
• GOD SAYS THAT HE IS WAITING TO BRING JUDGMENT. WHY?
• GOD PERMITS THE CONSEQUENCES OF MAN’S REBELLION TO CATCH UP TO HIM. THEN GOD IS THERE TO RESCUE THE MAN THAT COMES TO THE END OF HIS REBELLION AND REPENTS.
• GOD’S MERCY AND PATIENCE ARE EXAMPLES OF GOD’S LOVE.
• BELIEVERS ARE TO WAIT UPON GOD, WHY?
• MAN SEEKS IN EVERY WAY TO FIND HIS OWN SOLUTIONS TO HIS PROBLEMS.
• WAITING ON GOD SPEAKS OF AN ASPECT OF FAITH OR TRUST IN GOD.
• WHEN EVERY AREA OF MAN’S SOLUTION IS EXHAUSTED, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO TURN, BUT TO TRUST IN GOD. THEN MAN MUST WAIT BY FAITH IN GOD’S PERFECT TIMING, FOR GOD’S PERFECT WILL WITHOUT GOD’S PERFECT TIMING IS LESS THAN PERFECT.
• THE CONDITIONS FOR GOD’S GUIDANCE IN YOUR LIFE: (19-22)
• A SINCERE TWO-WAY PRAYER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD. (19)
• LOOK FOR GOD’S LESSON IN EVERYTHING, ALWAYS COOPERATING WITH HIM. (20)
  • GET RID OF ANY IDOLATRY IN YOUR LIFE AND WORSHIP ONLY HIM. (22)
• THE CONSEQUENCE OF GOD’S GUIDANCE:
• GOD PROMISES MATERIAL ABUNDANCE.
• GOD PROMISES THAT EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT.
• GOD PROMIES SPIRITUAL LIGHT IN YOUR LIFE.

• READ ISA 30:27-33
• THE PROPHETIC ASPECTS OF THIS MESSAGE ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF REBELLION AGAINST GOD AND THE BLESSINGS OF GOD’S GUIDANCE:
• “THE GREAT SLAUGHTER” (25)
• FIRST FULFILLMENT:
• BECAUSE KING HEZEKIAH LISTENED TO ISAIAH’S COUNSEL, THE ALLIANCE WITH EGYPT WAS NOT MADE IN 711 BC. THEREFORE, JUDGMENT WAS POSTPONED UNTIL THE BABYLONIANS CAME AND DESTROYED THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM IN 586 BC.
• SECOND FULFILLMENT:
• THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AT THE END OF THE TRIBULATION IS “THE GREATEST SLAUGHTER”.
• THE DOUBLE ASPECT OF GOD’S SEVENFOLD LIGHT (26)
• THE LIGHT OF CHRIST AT HIS COMING, SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, WILL BE 7 TIMES GREATER THAN THE SPIRITUAL DARKNESS OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD.
• REMEMBER THAT THE NUMBER 7 IS SYMBOLIC FOR “COMPLETENESS”. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IS WHEN THE LORD “BINDETH UP THE BREACH OF HIS PEOPLE AND HEALETH THE STROKE OF THEIR WOUND.”  (26) (ROM 11:25-27)
• THE SEVEN-FOLD LIGHT OF THE MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST:
• WILL THIS LIGHT OF THE MILLENNIUM BE JUST A SPIRITUAL LIGHT OR WILL IT ALSO BE A PHYSICAL LIGHT?
• PERHAPS IT WILL BE BOTH!
• THE LIGHT OF THE FIRE OF GOD’S ANGER IS ALSO PICTURED HERE (27-33).
• WHO IS FINALLY BEING JUDGED IN THIS SECTION?
• THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD.(28)
• THE ASSYRIAN THAT IS A PREFIGURE OF THE ANTICHRIST OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. (31)
• ALL THE NON-BELIEVERS THAT FOLLOW THE ANTICHRIST INTO THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AT THE END OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. THESE PEOPLE WILL FIGHT AGAINST THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
• “TOPHETH” (33) = A LOCATION
• PREVIOUS TO THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH, THIS WAS A VALLEY SOUTH OF JERUSALEM WHERE HUMAN SACRIFICE WAS OFFERED AND BURNED TO THE GOD, MOLECH.
• AFTER THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH, THIS VALLEY WAS CALLED THE VALLEY OF HINNON. IN NEW TESTAMENT TIME, THIS SAME LOCATION WAS CALLED GAHENNA. IT HAD BECOME THE GARBAGE DUMP FOR THE CITY OF JERUSALEM. JESUS USED THIS PLACE AS A VISUAL EXAMPLE OF HELL WHERE A CONTINUAL FIRE BURNED THE TRASH OF THE CITY. IT WAS A PLACE INFESTED BY VERMIN, RATS, INSECTS, ETC. IT WAS A PLACE OF FOUL SMELLING GARBAGE.
• THE ANTICHRIST (CALLED “THE KING” IN VS. 33) AND THE FALSE PROPHET ARE THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, ENDING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD.
• THE GARBAGE DUMP OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WOULD BE THE FUNERAL PYRE FOR THE ASSYRIAN INVADER AND THE ANTICHRIST.

• APPLICATION:
• IN THIS CHAPTER WE SEE THE BLESSINGS OF FOLLOWING GOD AND THE CURSES OF FOLLOWING WORLDLINESS. ALL MANKIND, AS WELL AS ALL LEADERS, MAKE THESE CHOICES DAILY, TO EITHER FOLLOW GOD OR FOLLOW SATAN.
• THEREFORE, WE ARE WARNED AS TO THE CHOICES WE MAKE IN LIFE.

HOMEWORK
ISAIAH 31
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• APPLICATION OF ISA 30
• FROM THE LAST LESSON, EXAMINE “THE 10 WAYS TO PLAN WITHOUT GOD”
• ARE YOU GUILTY OF MAKING DECISIONS ACCORDING TO ANY OF THESE 10 WAYS?

• ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU AND DETERMINE THAT YOU WILL “WAIT” ON GOD FOR HIS GUIDANCE.

• PREPARATION FOR ISA 31
• READ ISA 31:1-9
• THIS CHAPTER CONTINUES THE WOE UPON THE “EGYPTOCRATS”. THEY ARE THOSE WHO COMPROMISE THE TRUTH WITH WORLDLINESS (EITHER BELIEVERS OR NON-BELIEVERS).
• THE JEWS ALWAYS FACED THE TEMPTATION OF GOING TO EGYPT (WORLDLINESS) FOR HELP. (NUM 11:5,18)
• READ ISA 29:13
• READ MAT 15:7-14
• READ JER 6:10-16

• WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE “EGYPTOCRATS” (REBELLIOUS, WORLDLY PEOPLE)?

• WHERE IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY TODAY DO WE FIND THE “EGYPTOCRATS”? (2JOH 1:7,9-11)

MEMORY VERSE: MATTHEW 24:4