ISAIAH LESSON 37

     We will begin this lesson in Isaiah 33:1 "Woe to thee that
spoilest, and thou [wast] not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and
they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to
spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; [and] when thou shalt make an end to
deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee."

     This is just another way to say, whatever you sow, you will reap.
In this particular instance, this is saying this to a country, rather
than an individual. We can safely assume that Isaiah is specifically
speaking of Assyria here. The countries that spoil other countries in
battle can expect the very same treatment in return.

     Isaiah 33:2 "O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for
thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time
of trouble."

     This statement is not to Assyria or about Assyria, but is a
prayer of Isaiah. Isaiah is praying for his country, as well as
himself. The saddest thing about being a prophet, is that they see the
danger even before it is there. In a sense, they suffer twice. Once
when they see it in vision or dream, and once when it actually
happens. Isaiah knows how badly they need the grace of God.  He is
fully aware that the only way of escape is in the salvation of God.

     Isaiah 33:3 "At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the
lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered."

     The people flee from the enemy, and are no match for these
Assyrians. When God reaches out His hand, the tables are turned. No
nation is able to fight against God and win. These nations are afraid
of God {even if they do not recognize Him as their God}. When God
rises up, they flee in defeat.

     Isaiah 33:4 "And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the
gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts
shall he run upon them."

     They fled from God so quickly, they had no time to gather up
their spoil from the nations they defeated. They left it behind in
their hurry to get out. When locusts are turned on a field, there is
nothing left to harvest.

     Isaiah 33:5 "The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he
hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness."

     We have said over and over that the LORD fights for Jerusalem
and, also, for His people. Zion can mean Jerusalem, but it, also,
symbolically means His church. When God's people repent, and turn to
Him for help, He saves them every time. The LORD is seated in heavenly
places. He is exalted above the earth. He is the Judge of all the
earth. It is His righteousness that fills the church. These people and
the Christians have no righteousness of their own. It is the
righteousness of Christ that fills Zion {church}.

     Isaiah 33:6 "And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of
thy times, [and] strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD [is] his
treasure."

     The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We find God's
blessings on Israel, when they follow the teachings of the LORD.
Wisdom is a gift from God. Knowledge is accumulated learning. I have
repeated many times in these lessons, the only way not to be deceived
in the end times is to accumulate all the wisdom and knowledge of the
Scriptures we can. Those who are not really familiar with the
teachings in the Bible will be deceived. The strength of our salvation
is in Jesus Christ who is the Word of God.

     Isaiah 33:7 "Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the
ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly."

     We see a little more detailed explanation of the first 6 verses
here. Judah has many valiant warriors. They see the futility of trying
to make peace with the world. All of their strength and power
{without God's help} will just bring defeat.

     Isaiah 33:8 "The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth:
he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth
no man."

     To a worldly man, previous peace treaties mean nothing. How long
will it take Judah {and us} to realize our strength does not lie in
our own abilities? The only strength capable of taking care of this
evil world force is God. Covenant, of course, is speaking of an
agreement. The Spirit and the flesh will never keep covenant. This is
like the Jew and the Arab today. One represents flesh, the other
Spirit. There can be no real peace in the world, until Jesus brings
peace. In the end times, there will be a 7 year treaty between the
Arabs and the Jews. It will not bring true peace, however.  Jesus
brings the only true peace to the world.

     Isaiah 33:9 "The earth mourneth [and] languisheth: Lebanon is
ashamed [and] hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and
Carmel shake off [their fruits]."

     This is speaking of how wide the destruction is. Languisheth, in
this verse, means droop. There is no possibility for this very
fruitful land to produce anything in this confusion. Lebanon, which
usually produced beautiful, strong trees, possibly, had them
destroyed, as well. Without God, all is lost.

     Isaiah 33:10 "Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be
exalted; now will I lift up myself."

     The LORD will rise up and fight for His people. What a shame, He
must lift up Himself. When all else fails for Judah, God rises up and
saves them. There must be an impossibility with man, before the LORD
can do a miracle on our behalf.

     Isaiah 33:11 "Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth
stubble: your breath, [as] fire, shall devour you."

     This is speaking to the enemies of Judah and the enemies of the
Christian. The weapon they formed against God's people shall turn on
them and destroy them. Their own breath shall destroy them.

     Isaiah 33:12 "And the people shall be [as] the burnings of lime:
[as] thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire."

     Lime burns quickly, but puts off a terrible odor. This reminds us
of the destruction at Armageddon, where the stench will be so bad.
Thorns cut up and burned would burn quickly, as well. I believe this
is speaking of the quick destruction.

     Isaiah 33:13  "Hear, ye [that are] far off, what I have done;
and, ye [that are] near, acknowledge my might."

     Everything that happened in the Bible was not only for the people
it was happening to at the time, but as an example for us, as well.
The following is one example of that. II Peter 2:6 "And turning the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned [them] with an
overthrow, making [them] an ensample unto those that after should live
ungodly;" Isaiah says, whether you are far away, or near, acknowledge
the might of Almighty God.

     Isaiah 33:14 "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath
surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"

     Sinners in Zion {Jerusalem}, and the church now, must take heed.
A "hypocrite" is one who says he believes, but does not live like he
believes. He says one thing and does something else. In the verse
above, the word "hypocrites" means soil, in a moral sense. God is a
consuming fire. We cannot deceive Him. He knows what we believe. Many
will stand before Jesus, who call themselves Christian, and He will
say, "Get away from me, I never knew you". Judgement begins at the
house of God.

     Isaiah 33:15 "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh
uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his
hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of
blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;"

     Now, we see just who will be saved. Those who walk with Christ on
a daily basis shall be saved. We must live the salvation we have
received. These people of Jerusalem are the same. They must walk and
talk uprightly on a daily basis. We are what the condition of our
hearts are. Taking bribes is for the hypocrite, not for believers. We
must stay on the narrow path which leads to everlasting life in Jesus
Christ our Lord.

     Isaiah 33:16 "He shall dwell on high: his place of defence [shall
be] the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters
[shall be] sure."

     When we dwell on high, we are living in the presence of the Lord.
The Rock of protection, spoken of here as munitions, is the Lord. He
is the Bread of life. He actually was the Manna which fell from heaven
to feed them. Look, with me, at what Jesus said about this. John 6:58
"This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers
did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live
for ever." Jesus is, also, the Water of life, spoken of in the verse
above. Jesus Christ our Lord is our Bread, our Water, and even our
Life.

     Isaiah 33:17 "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they
shall behold the land that is very far off."

     This is a prophecy of Messiah who will reign as King. This is
speaking of the beauty of the King of kings, when He comes in power
and great glory to the earth. His beauty is so great, it cannot be
compared with mortal man. The far land, here, could be speaking of the
vastness of the land He will reign over.

     Isaiah 33:18 "Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where [is] the
scribe? where [is] the receiver? where [is] he that counted the
towers?"

     Not only will every eye see Him, but terror will befall those who
denied Him. The scribe, receiver, and the one who counted the towers,
had their eyes on things of the earth. They had overlooked the
weightier things of the Spirit. They feel terror, because they
rejected their Messiah.

     Isaiah 33:19 "Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a
deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, [that
thou canst] not understand."

     This is speaking to God's people. They would not see these
foreign oppressors again. God won the battle. The people received the
victory. Jesus won the battle over the devil for you and me at
Calvary, too. We must accept His free gift of victory for us. There
will be no foreign languages. We will all speak the same language in
the New Jerusalem.

     Isaiah 33:20 "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine
eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle [that] shall
not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be
removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken."

     The "solemnities", in the verse above, probably are speaking of
such things as Passover, Sabbath etc. The tabernacle that shall not be
taken down has to be after the time of the destruction of the temple
about 70 A.D. This prophecy leads far into the future, even unto now.
This could be speaking of the everlasting nature of the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It could, also, be looking to the time when God
will remember their iniquities no more. The tabernacle that shall
never be destroyed is in the New Jerusalem which comes down from God.
We read about that tabernacle in Revelation 15:5 "And after that I
looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in
heaven was opened:" Revelation 21:1 "And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and
there was no more sea." Revelation 21:2 "And I John saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:3 "And I heard a great voice
out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and
he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, [and be] their God." This is that everlasting
tabernacle that we read of in the Scripture in Isaiah above.

     Isaiah 33:21 "But there the glorious LORD [will be] unto us a
place of broad rivers [and] streams; wherein shall go no galley with
oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby."

     This is speaking of the river of clear water of life. Revelation
22:1 "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

     Isaiah 33:22 "For the LORD [is] our judge, the LORD [is] our
lawgiver, the LORD [is] our king; he will save us."

     We can see from the following Scripture who the Judge is.
II Timothy 4:8 "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at
that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing."  Jesus is our Judge. Jesus is our Lawgiver. Jesus is our
King. Jesus is our Salvation. Put your trust in Jesus, and He will not
fail you.

     Isaiah 33:23 "Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well
strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the
prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey."

     The earthly strings that had us tied down, will be no more. Judah
then, or the Christians now, cannot sail their ship to safe port. Our
strength is in Jesus.

     Isaiah 33:24 "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the
people that dwell therein [shall be] forgiven [their] iniquity."

     There is no sickness, nor suffering in this city we have been
reading about. Revelation 21:4 "And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away."  Jeremiah 31:34 "And they shall teach no more every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD:
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest
of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more."
                          Isaiah 37 Questions


1.  What is verse 1 saying really?
2.  Is this spoken to an individual, or to a country?
3.  What country specifically is Isaiah speaking to?
4.  What is verse 2?
5.  How does a prophet suffer worse than an individual from his
    prophecy?
6.  The people fled at what?
7.  What caused the enemy to scatter?
8.  What does the comparison of the locusts say to us in verse 4?
9.  Where does the LORD dwell?
10. He filled Zion with what 2 things?
11. What does verse 6 say is the stability of thy times?
12. What has the author repeated in these lessons about deception in
    the end times?
13. Why will the world not keep covenant?
14. Who represents the flesh and the Spirit in our society today?
15. Describe what has happened to them in verse 9.
16. Who will lift up the LORD?
17. What happens to the weapons formed against God's people?
18. Verse 12 is speaking of quick ___________.
19. Quote 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 6.
20. What is meant by the word "hypocrite"?
21. Where does judgement begin?
22. Describe what the walk of a Christian should be like.
23. Who is the Rock of protection for the believer?
24. Quote John chapter 6 verse 58.
25. What is verse 17 a prophecy of?
26. What are the "solmnities"?
27. Where is the tabernacle that shall never be destroyed?
28. Where do we read that the tabernacle of God is with men?
29. What waterway is verse 21 speaking of?
30. Quote Isaiah chapter 33 verse 22.
31. Who is the righteous Judge?
32. Quote Revelation chapter 21 verse 4.
33. Quote Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 34.