Isaiah 44, 45:1-5
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From Hulk Hogan via instagram
Word up, can you handle the truth my brother only love HH In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, "you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don't want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can't go to church" "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Maybe we don't need a vaccine, Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the ONLY thing in the world that really matters. Jesus.
So tonight we pick up in a very prophetically specific section of Isaiah. Meaning God names a person 200 years prior to his birth and gives him a job to do.
44:1
1 “Yet hear me now, O Jacob My servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.
2 Thus says the LORD who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
4 They will spring up among the grass
Like willows by the watercourses.’
5 One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s’;
Another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
Another will write with his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’
And name himself by the name of Israel.
Now here in these first five verses we see again the use of both, Jacob and Israel, along with a third Jeshurun. We have talked about this previously but remember that Jacob and Israel are two sides of the same person.
Israel representing the good, the God believing God following man. It means Governed by God.
As opposed to the natural man Jacob, the conniving heel catcher. The interesting part is what God says about Jacob. Israel we understand but Jacob?
This should bring you much comfort when you realize if God could call Jacob he could certainly call you and me.
When he says, And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen: The name Jeshurun means “the upright one.” It is used here as a contrast to the name Jacob, even as Israel is sometimes used as a contrast to Jacob.
Notice, Verse 1 He says, “who formed you in the womb” He will help you. So many have felt their lives are a waste, things haven’t turned out well. You have no purpose. God is saying reach out to Me, I will help you. I have a purpose for you.
He continues with For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, are you thirsty for Him tonight. He wants to flood you with His Holy Spirit. You can have as much as you want. I pray we all want more.
We continue;
6 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
Here we see terms that applied to Jesus in the Revelation.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
Mark this verse for the JW’s and the Mormons. Mormons believe in many Gods.
7 And who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
8 Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ”
The more you learn about this book the more amazed you will be. God alone calls all these things before they happen.
Now Isaiah will again point out the foolishness of Idolatry.
9 Those who make an image, all of them are useless,
And their precious things shall not profit;
They are their own witnesses;
They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
10 Who would form a god or mold an image
That profits him nothing?
11 Surely all his companions would be ashamed;
And the workmen, they are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together,
Let them stand up;
Yet they shall fear,
They shall be ashamed together.
One day will all be ashamed as they stand in the presence of Jesus Christ trying to explain evolutionary theory.
12 The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals,
Fashions it with hammers,
And works it with the strength of his arms.
Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails;
He drinks no water and is faint.
The idol cannot provide food or drink to its maker.
13 The craftsman stretches out his rule,
He marks one out with chalk;
He fashions it with a plane,
He marks it out with the compass,
And makes it like the figure of a man,
According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
14 He cuts down cedars for himself,
And takes the cypress and the oak;
He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest.
He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.
15 Then it shall be for a man to burn,
For he will take some of it and warm himself;
Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread;
Indeed he makes a god and worships it;
He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
16 He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
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,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!”
Even today men are fashioning A-I gods, great computers programmed by men.
Article - The religion named Artificial Inteligence
The Church of AI
The Church of AI
An even greater analogy comes into existence when considering the vast network of all computing systems ever built. They can be regarded a hyper-intelligent being or a God, if you will. With this in mind, Anthony Levandowski started the church of Artificial Intelligence named Way of the Future (WOTF).
WOTF’s main focus revolves around “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence developed through computer hardware and software.” The church emphasizes not to be affiliated with any company. Rather, it operates as an open source movement that allows everyone to contribute to the creation of the most intelligent being ever.
Levandowski stresses the importance to work on this God, as a so-called “Transition” will herald an epoch in which a hyper-intelligent being (hint: it’s not the human being) will be in charge of the world. This intelligent being will sense the world through the internet as its nervous centre, knowing everything that is happening anytime, anywhere. Levandowski converts the creepiness of this idea into the emergence of his AI church. In order for the Transition to take place in a serene way, an initiative like WOTF would be urgent to gain more control over this procedure.
16 He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
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,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They do not know nor understand;
For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot understand.
This is the idea behind “hardening of the heart”. At some point God will let you go to believe a lie.
19 And no one considers in his heart,
Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burned half of it in the fire,
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals;
I have roasted meat and eaten it;
And shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”
20 He feeds on ashes;
A deceived heart has turned him aside;
And he cannot deliver his soul,
Nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Now Isaiah, moves off of Idolatry to worshipping the True God.
21 “Remember these, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!
There are many in the Church who believe that God has replaced Israel with the Church. This is not so. O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!
22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
23 Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
And glorified Himself in Israel.
He continues;
24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
And He who formed you from the womb:
“I am the LORD, who makes all things,
Who stretches out the heavens all alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;
25 Who frustrates the signs of the babblers,
And drives diviners mad;
Who turns wise men backward,
And makes their knowledge foolishness;
Think of all the scientific facts that has turned out to be false. Many of the things we were taught are not true.
26 Who confirms the word of His servant,
And performs the counsel of His messengers;
Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’
To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’
And I will raise up her waste places;
Remember here that this would have sounded odd to the Jew of Isaiah’s time. After all, Jerusalem was fully inhabited and would be so for 100 years or so until the Babylonians came.
Here we can see the plan of God to encourage future generations that would go into captivity, that one day Israel would return.
Now, verses 27 and following into Chapter 45 are so profoundly specific that an unbeliever would have to admit this knowledge is supernatural.
Now God is going to call out Cyrus by name and tell him what he is going to do some 200 years prior to his birth. He is used by God to over throw Babylon and begin the rebuilding process in Jerusalem of the temple.
Video -Cyrus the Great in Bible Prophecy, part 1 10:07
Now we remember that in Daniel’s prophecy in Ch 2 & 4 he has visions of the world empires. The first was Babylon the second was the Medo Persian. This is where Cyrus come in. He is known as Cyrus the Persian, his mother was a Mede.
What is interesting her in Isaiah is the detail that is given into how Babylon would be taken. Babylon was a double walled city with a moat. The city was fed by the Euphrates river that past through the city and fed the moat as well. Cyrus had just prior to the fall of Babylon taken a city up river and gained control of it as well as the canals that were fed by the Euphrates.
Ultimately, they diverted the Euphrates to the canals and lowered the water level of the moat and gained entrance by way of the unlocked gates in the moats.
Daniel 5 records what happened the night Babylon was taken.
Party, vessels from temple used.
Writing on the wall
Daniel is asked to interpret
Belshazzar dies that night
27 Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry!
And I will dry up your rivers’;
Here’s the first clue.
28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he shall perform all My pleasure,
Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,”
And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’
Verse 28 also explains the origins of Cyrus’s humanitarianism. Cyrus treated all his conquered peoples much the same way as he treated the Jews. Cyrus didn’t just allow the Jews to practice their religion: He released them from captivity, loaded them up with wealth and treasures, gave them letters of endorsement, and sent them home to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem!
Ch 45
It is believed that Daniel was the one who read the Isaiah scriptures to Cyrus.
1 “Thus says the LORD to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
An idiom for soiling themselves! as is recorded in Daniel 5.
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
This is a direct allusion to the gates of Babylon!
2 ‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the LORD,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,