The Way-An in-depth study of God's Word with Paul Orr

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We now begin the second half of Isaiah. We go from an emphasis on the judgment of sin to restoration, deliverance and the grace of God. This portion of Isaiah is referred to as the book of consolation.

We begin by hearing God speak words of comfort to His people. These are words of great tenderness and power. These words are spoken directly to the heart of His people. 

In spite of all that Israel is guilty of, they are still God's people. God is a covenant keeping God. God chose Israel and made a promise to them. God will absolutely keep His word. His word will never ever fail.

A second voice from heaven speaks to God's people. They are to prepare the way for the entrance of the glory of the LORD. Paths are to be made straight. Any obstacles that would impede the entrance of the King must be removed. The glory of God will be revealed, and all the earth will see it.

There are questions that sits before us today. Is the pathway to your heart straight before the LORD? Are you completely surrendered to God in order that His glory will be revealed in you? 

Jesus is alive! Stay true to Jesus Christ and His word. Keep your hand to the plough and don't look back! Jesus is coming again. His return is at hand. There is no doubt because the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. May our hearts always cry out, maranatha, come quickly Lord Jesus!

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The focus of Isaiah now pivots. Up to this point the focus has been primarily on the Assyrian threat. Starting in this chapter the focus will now look ahead to the coming Babylonian empire as the times of the gentiles will be established.

In this chapter we have a great lesson set before us. King Hezekiah was indeed one of Judah's greatest kings. In obedience to God's word, he did many great things as recorded in the scriptures. However, in this chapter we see how greatly great men of God can fail. In the light of an awesome personal victory and a great word from the LORD, pride slithered in and Hezekiah transgressed greatly before the Lord.

At the same time, we see the greatness of God. God's grace, mercy and longsuffering is beyond our ability to comprehend. God comes to Hezekiah, speaks to Hezekiah and forgives him. God is ever faithful as He displays His greatness and glory by working in and through His frail and flawed servants.

Hezekiah, in faith, won in the battle but lost in the victory. How many win in the battle only to sadly lose in the victory.  Andrew Bonar tells us that we must always be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.

We are living in the great battle of the last days. However, we have been given victory in Christ Jesus. Are we living in the victory that we have in Jesus?  We live in the victory of Jesus through humble, faithful obedience to His word. We live the victory in Jesus by denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus. We live in the victory of Jesus by putting our hand to the plough and never looking back. Now more than ever, we need to be living in the victory of Jesus. Are we living in the victory of Jesus?

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In this chapter, Hezekiah is face with a personal crisis. Isaiah the prophet has just delivered to him a word from the LORD. The God's word that Isaiah delivers, declares that Hezekiah's current sickness is a sickness that will lead to death in the immediate future. God, through Isaiah, tells Hezekiah to get his house in order.

Hezekiah hears the word of God through Isaiah. His response is to pray. He prays with sincerity, determination and great bitterness of soul. Desperate times make for desperate prayers.

God hears Hezekiah's prayer and answers his prayer. Hezekiah is healed of his incurable sickness and his life is extended for another 15 years.

Hezekiah's response is to write out a beautiful psalm to the LORD. This psalm opens up with a lament and closes with a great declaration of commitment and praise to God.

In this lesson we see Hezekiah's great response to the word of God. We also see his response to God's answer to his prayer. What a great lesson and example for us all. 

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God now answers Hezekiah through His prophet Isaiah. God's word through Isaiah is in response to the prayer of Hezekiah

God speaks both to the king of Assyria and Hezekiah. To Hezekiah, God tells him that  Jerusalem will be delivered and God will also sustain them in the aftermath of Assyria's defeat. The same is true for us today. God will deliver us from all our enemies and God will most certainly sustain us.

To the king of Assyria, God first ask him if he actually knows who he is reproaching and blaspheming. God reviews his awful pride. God reminds the king that He is the infinite, self-existing almighty creator; that the king of Assyria only accomplished what he did because God ordained it. Nothing happens apart from the sovereignty of God. God Knows all. He knows the rage of the Assyrian king against Him. Because of this rage, God will now defeat the entire Assyrian army and send the king back to Assyria the same way he came. 

We finally get to verse 36 where an angel of the LORD metes out God's judgement upon the Assyrian army by killing 185,000 soldiers in a single short night. There is little detail give. So much has been said leading up to the judgement of God, yet only one verse is given to the description of God's judgement. Once God's judgment is poured out, there is nothing left to be said.

There is so much in God's word that warns us of the judgement that is to come. There are signs everywhere confirming the authenticity of God's word. Yet when His judgement does come, it will be sudden, thorough and complete. There will be no escape for all those who have rejected Jesus Christ and His word.

For us as the remnant church of Jesus Christ, we must always be aware of the days that we are living in according to the word of God. Furthermore, we must know God's word. Even more, we are to live in obedience to God's word. 

Maranatha

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Hezekiah recieved the report from his leaders concerning all that the Assyrians had declared. His response was dramatic. He tore his clothes, repented and humbled himself. He then sought to know God's word in this dire situation.

The Assyrians then doubled down on their blasphemous rant against God by putting it all in writing. Their desire was to intimidate and frighten Hezekiah thus causing him to turn away from God. However, the affect was just the opposite. 

Hezekiah turned to God. He put before God all the evil that the Assyrian's had written against God. Hezekiah then prayed an incredible prayer of faith before God.

In this recorded prayer we have before us one of the great examples in scripture of prayer and how we should pray. Much money has been spent on books meant to teach us how to pray. Countless hours have been spent by so many reading the many books in order to learn how to have a better prayer life. Yet the Bible remains the greatest book concerning prayer. This passage in God's word is one of the great passages that show us how we should pray. If you truly want to learn how to pray, simply go to the scriptures and study all the prayers of the saints who have gone before us.

May we all, like Hezekiah, pray prayers of faith as the enemy rises up and surrounds us. We are helpless but God is able.

Maranatha

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We continue to look at chapter 36 which lays out before us an incredible picture of the spiritual warfare we will face and how we are to respond to it according to the scriptures

Judah is surrounded and under siege by a massive international army. Judah has no resources left. They have every reason to give up. The only thing they have left is their trust in God.

The enemy speaks both to the leadership and to the people. His speech is designed to invoke fear and quickly discourage all who hear his voice. He tells them not to be deceived by God's word, not to listen to God's word and do not let God's word persuade you in any way. The enemy always seeks to have us first doubt the word of God and then deny the word of God. His method is conversation and his primary weapon is deception.

The enemy preys on a fearful, hopeless, helpless people. He offers economic security, comfort and safety. All of this he truly is able to offer. However, the cost is high. The cost is freedom. The price tag is that we must worship the enemy in order to receive all that the enemy offers. But in the end, all that the enemy offers will burn.

We must keep the walls of our lives secure and never allow the enemy to breach them. We are never to enter into conversation with the enemy. We do not negotiate with a sworn enemy committed to our destruction.  And by all means, we remain true to Jesus Christ and His word, trusting God to remain faithful to His word, knowing that God will defend us as He has promised abundantly in His word.

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We now come to a historical break in Isaiah. The next four chapters will bridge the first half of Isaiah with the last half. Chapters 36 and 37 give a fitting conclusion to the first half. In these two chapters, all that Isaiah has said up to this point is validated. Chapters 38 and 39 will be a springboard for the final chapters of Isaiah.

We begin by seeing the massive Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem. They are in a helpless, hopeless situation. Every resource and advantage has been stripped away from them. The only resource left that can defend them from the Assyrians is God. And God will most certainly deliver them.

For us, there are great lessons to be learned and applied to our lives. We will see the insurrmountable odds that the enemy can bring against us. We will see the spiritual warfare that comes against us from the enemy. We will see how we are to fight these brutal spiritual battles. But most important, we will see the faithfulness and ableness of God.

The battle belongs to the LORD. There is not a foe who can stand against the LORD of Host. We belong to God and the victory has already been won. We simply need to put on the full armor of God, stand strong in the faith we have been called to, know God's word and obey God's word. In so doing, we will see the incredible victory that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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We have been away on vacation and so there has been a brief break in the teaching from Isaiah. During this time, I was able to review our current world situation as it relates to God's word and the prophesies found in His word.

Now to try and look at all the things going on at the ground level would be absolutely impossible. So much is happening so quickly.  There is a convergence of biblical prophesies being fulfilled daily. No one can even begin to keep with explosion of prophesy fulfillment in our day.

We will take a look at things from the 30,000-foot view. This will give us a strong biblical perspective. We will not know all the details at the ground level but when we do become aware of ground level details our understanding of them will be solid because of our strong biblical perspective.

The bottom line in all of this is that Jesus is coming soon. Know God's word. Obey God's word. Keep your hand to the plough and don't look back! 

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Beginning Sunday May 5th, we have changed locations and will meet on Sundays at 10 am. If you are interested in joining us either live or on Zoom, please contact us at the above email address.

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We now come to the conclusion of the first half of Isaiah. It is a fitting conclusion as we once again look in vivid detail at the millennial reign of Christ to come. It is a time longed for by all of Israel since God's promise to Abraham. It is a time that all true followers of Jesus long for. A time of true peace, true prosperity and true fertility throughout the earth.
 
Jesus will not establish His glorious kingdom until the final judgment of God is complete. This theme runs throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. It is a theme made crystal clear by all the prophets. Judgment will always come before the glory. 

Isaiah brought encouragement to the remnant believers of his day. His words should bring encouragement to the remnant believers of our present day. 

God promised and delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians in 701 bc. God promised and returned a remnant of jews from Babylonian exile in 539 bc. God fulfilled all of his prophecies, precisely and exactly, concerning the 1st coming of Jesus. He has fulfilled His promise to Israel concerning their rebirth as a nation. God's word is true. We have every reason to believe that God will fulfill all of His promises concerning the 2nd coming of Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, although we live in a world  were we are outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy, we have every reason to be filled with hope. Yes the enemy desires above all else to completely destroy us. But in spite of all this, we have hope. Christ in us the hope of eternity. Let us all look up. Our salvation draws near.

Maranatha!

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Beginning Sunday May 5th, we have changed locations and will meet on Sundays at 10 am. If you are interested in joining us either live or on Zoom, please contact us at the above email address.

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First, we would like to wish every follower of Jesus Christ a blessed and joyful resurrection day. It is great that the death and resurrection of our Savior is proclaimed throughout the world. May God by the power of His Holy Spirit open the hearts and ears of those who are so desperately lost in their sin.

In this study, we take a vivid look at God's final judgment, Armageddon. It is a brutal and grueling scene. This is what awaits all those who have denied God, rejected His Son Jesus and risen up as bitter enemies of His chosen people, Israel. What we look at is awful, devastating, bloody and real.

Isaiah declares that what he is saying is God's word, and it is. God's word is certain. God's word will never fail. God, through His word has made crystal clear the final judgment that is coming soon. Everything taking place throughout our world today declares the authenticity of His word.

May God use us all in these last days to further His kingdom. We have been raised up at such a special time in human history, may we be all that God has called us to for the glory of His Son Jesus.

Contact Paul at [email protected]
Beginning Sunday May 5th, we have changed locations and will meet on Sundays at 10 am. If you are interested in joining us either live or on Zoom, please contact us at the above email address.