OUR LORD WHO GIVES US SIGNS OF IMMINENT DANGER

The five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboyim and Bela rebelled against the king of Elam who had dominated them for 12 years. In response to the challenge by his subjects, the king of Elam formed an alliance with the kings of Goyim, Shinar and Ellasar.

Genesis chapter 14 verse 9 - 10 records the five kings squaring off...

against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.

This passage describes a detail of what occured when the five kings formed battle lines against the four kings. 

When they met on the battle field, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled. Some men went through the valley of Siddim where a number of them fell into the tar pits that dotted the valley while other men fled to the hills.

In this battle against oppression, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah  had two options: To flee down through the valley of Siddim or to flee to the hills. Those who went down to the valley were trapped in the hazardous environment while those who fled to the hills were safe.

This event parallels the prophecy described by the Lord Jesus in Mathew chapter 24.

Here, there is a struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor but at a certain point, when a sign of the times occurs, a rapid retreat is required and in this case, Jesus directs people to flee to the hills and not to go down into their homes to get their things. The passage reads this way;

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.  Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

This fearsome scenario should compel us to always keep watch for the signs that our Lord has indicated for our safety and be prepared to take action.

Amen.

Reference resource: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com

OUR LORD WHO EXALTS THE HUMBLE

Isaiah 49 verse 11 says this;

I will turn all my mountains into roads,  and my highways will be raised up.

Preceding this verse, the scriptures speak about the Lord restoring his people out of captivity and darkness and then ministering to them who have been saved by feeding them and leading them by springs of water. 

It is in this context that the Lord declares that'll  His mountains will be turned into roads  and His highways will be raised up.

Reminiscent of this scripture are the familiar words out of Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3 - 4 that say this;.

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Here, the inversion of the landscape is described even more vividly where the things that are high are brought low and the things that are low are lifted up.

These passages are metaphors for the concept that the Lord Jesus, speaking to the crowds in Jerusalem in Luke chapter 14 verse 11, was teaching them;

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Lord, when He rescues His people and comforts them, will bring low the ones who elevated themselves and lift up the ones who humbled themselves.

This is why the Lord counsels His people this way in Luke 14;

“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 

If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE DAY IS NEAR

Isaiah chaper 13 verses 6 - 9 says this;

Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

This passage continues on from the description of the great massing of  the Lord's army in preparation for an assault on the strongholds of darkness.

As the day of action approaches, the reactions of the agents of darkness are recorded this way; Terror will grip them and pain and anguish will seize them. Their hearts will melt and they will writhe in agony. Their arms will hang limp and they will be aghast and their faces will be aflame.

As this event draws near, the prophet advises the people to wail for such is the day of the Lord.

A day of wrath and anger that will make the land desolate and the sinners in it will be destroyed.

Such a day must be prepared for by repentance and believing and trusting in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who died to pay the penalty for our sins that the wrath of God may pass over us and spare us from its destruction.

Amen.

OUR LORD PREPARES HIS ARMY

Isaiah 13 verses 1 - 5 is a prophecy that is laid over the framework of the corporeal world that points forward to an imminent spiritual reality.

Babylon, a historical foe of Israel, stands in for the systems of this world that stand in opposition to the people of God. The passage reads this way;

A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—those who rejoice in my triumph.

Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together!

The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war. They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the Lord and the weapons of his wrath—to destroy the whole country.

This scriptural excerpt speaks of the spiritual preparation of the Lord's people for the looming battle  between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.

Summons to prayer and intersession are increasing among God's people everywhere and the pursuit of the things of God are expanding among his people the world over.

Watch and continuously pray to be part of what the prophet Joel describes in Joel chapter 2 verse 2;

Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

Amen.

OUR LORD ON WHOM WE BASE OUR CONFIDENCE

Isaiah 36 verses 1 - 5 says this;

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. 

When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.

The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?"

The Assyrian army, having successfully captured the fortified cities of Judah, set its sights on Jerusalem but the city remained defiant and so the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent his field commander with a large army to confer with   King Hezekiah of Judah.

King Hezekiah sent out a delegation of palace functionaries to meet with the Assyrian field commander. 

On behalf of king Sennacherib, the field commander asked Hezekiah's delegation to relay back to their king this  immortal question;

"On what are you basing this confidence of yours?"

The Assyrian army  was puzzled because the intelligence gathered by their agents did not reveal any reason why Jerusalem would believe that they could fend off the Assyrian attack.

As far as they could tell, there were no allies marching to their aid and there were no reserves of soldiers and supplies that could detected.

The Assyrians were so mystified that they  decided to asked king Hezekiah himself what card he had hidden up his sleeve.

The Assyrians, instead of dealing with Jerusalem in a professional, military way, undertook to jeer at the idea that Jerusalem's trust in the God of Israel would make a difference in the outcome of their attack.

They blasphemed the living God saying that it would be ill-advised to base any confidence on Him.

The Assyrians were wrong.

By the next morning, the Assyrian army of 185,000 men,  was dead and their King, Sennacherib, retreated to where he came from where he was killed by his sons.

The question was, "On what was Hezekiah basing  his confidence?".

He was basing it on the Lord God Almighty.

Amen.

OUR LORD IS NOT MOCKED

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked and captured all the fortified  cities of Judah and was preparing to take Jerusalem. Sennacherib sent his field commander to advise Hezekiah, the king of Judah, to give up the defence of the city and surrender.

Using the principles of psychological warfare, the field commander of the Assyrian army loudly told the people of Jerusalem not to listen to Hezekiah their king when he advised them to trust in the Lord their God to rescue them.

Sennacherib's representative proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem that no nation had been able to resist the power of Assyria and so their city would be destroyed because even their God could not save them.

When Judah's representatives returned to Hezekiah with the words of Sennacherib, he was deeply distressed and sent palace functionaries and leading priests to consult with Isaiah the prophet.

Isaiah chapter 37 verse 4 - 6 records the message that was sent to Isaiah and Isaiah's response that he received from the Lord. The passage reads this way;

It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 

This passage reveals a breath-taking reversal of fortune. 

Hezekiah's message to Isaiah indicated that the Lord would have heard the ridicule that the king of Assyria had hurled at the God of Israel through his field commander.

Isaiah responded with a word from the Lord gently assuring Hezekiah not to be afraid of the words of intimidation from Sennacherib.

Then came the hairpin turn;

The Lord said that the reason they were not to be afraid was that the underlings of the king of Assyria had blasphemed Him.

This verdict from the Lord God almighty resulted in the existential deletion of Sennacherib and his army. 

That night, an angel killed the 185,000 men in Sennacherib's army and Sennacherib himself returned to where he came from where he was soon ignominiously killed by his own sons.

Such was the end of those who deigned to arrogantly blaspheme the Lord God of Israel.

Let us fear the Lord, for who can overturn His verdict and who can resist his judgement?

Amen.

OUR LORD FROM WHOM WE SHOULD SEEK DISERNMENT

Isaiah chapter 39 verses 3 - 5 speaks of an occasion  where Hezekiah,  king of Israel, hosted  an entourage from Babylon that had been sent with a message of good wishes concerning his recovery from an illness.

Hezekiah obliged the visitors and showed them the treasures of Israel and all the armories. 

When the men had gone, the prophet Isaiah arrived and confronted the king. The passage reads this way;

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

When Isaiah learned that everything in Israel's treasuries and armories had been revealed to the strangers, the prophet immediately spoke a word that all that the envoys from Babylon had seen would be carried away to Babylon including the people of Israel and even the king's own descendants.

This passage warns us of how strangers of unknown intentions should be handled with caution and spiritual council should be sought before engaging them. If Isaiah had been on location to give insight on the intentions of the visitors from Babylon, the error of making all of Israel's resources and strengths known to Babylon would not have occurred.

The prophetic gift of discernment would have been brought to bear by the experienced prophet of the Lord and access to the secret things of Israel would have been limited.

Let us bless the Lord who makes available the gift of discernment that can convey the underlying  spiritual drivers of persons and events and give warning of danger.

Amen.