It’s probably not a name, but a “title.” (Much like “Pharaoh” is.) “Rabshakeh” I mean. Literally its definition is “great (or chief) cupbearer!” (Nehemiah, if you recall, was also a cupbearer for the King of Persia.)

This man, a godless heathen, pretty much does the talking in Isaiah chapter 26. But he is merely a representative, a “hired mouth,” for the King of Assyria. And we even know which King of Assyria, “Sennacherib.” Not a Hebrew name, and polytheistic to the core!

Verse 1 is bad news for the little Nation of Judah. “Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.”

Judah, under attack!

Notice a “great army,” exactly 185,000 soldiers we later learn. “And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.”

The very same place Isaiah had met King Ahaz of Judah years earlier. By that conduit, at the highway, where they cleaned their clothes. (A “fuller” was a professional “spot remover,” the counterpart to our modern-day “laundry services.”)

Then the verbal assault begins.

The Assyrians at first want “money,” to “back off” from Judah.

“Now therefore give pledges ($$$), I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.” Verse 9 of Isaiah 36.

Truly … “The love of money is the root of all evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10

More tomorrow, of course.

But Hezekiah is facing one of the greatest crises of his entire Administration.

Yet, in the end, God rescues His people.

I can hardly wait to show you!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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The promises of God!

Not just to us Christians, mind you.

But to Israel as well!

Including today’s Text, loaded with Jewish flavor …

“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:8-10

People coming to Jerusalem, to Zion! To see Jesus the King, the Lord of all the earth!

So many (at the inception of the Millennium, I believe) are coming that a Highway will be built to accommodate them all. (In the Atlanta area there is a broad four-land road named “Stone Mountain Freeway.” In Jerusalem such a thoroughfare will be called the “Highway of Holiness.” Not that the concrete is “holy” necessarily, but those who travel it have seen and trusted King Jesus, thus having been made holy, all their sins gone!) No one will get “lost” on this trip, either. Even a simpleton can follow these directions … to the House of the Lord.

And whereas Isaiah 34 described a land overrun by ravenous beasts … Isaiah 35 has them all tamed! Again, their Creator Jesus, has returned! The curse has been lifted!

Then Isaiah uses the word “redeemed,” describing these people, these “returnees.” New Believers in Christ our Lord. (This is the very first time our Prophet has employed this great word! Though the idea of “redemption” will proliferate in Isaiah chapters 40-66.) The “gaal” root in Hebrew suggests the beautiful Old Testament “Kinsman Redeemer” concept.

And “ransomed” tells us a “price” has been paid … to set people free! Liberty from the shackles of sin! And the grip of the late anti-Christ! The Blood of Jesus, God’s Son, what a Price!

Finally, as a result of being “ransomed/redeemed” … “joy and “gladness” return to God’s people. Simultaneously “sorrow and signing” flee away!

What a trade!

Hallelujah!

And we who are born-again will be with Jesus as these events unfurl! Witnesses to these great happenings!

And I suspect, rejoicing right along with Israel, saved Israel!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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This may be one of the “prettiest” Chapters in the whole Book of Isaiah! And in Hebrew, it has symmetry. In fact, these 10 verses are a divinely inspired Poem, exquisitely so! Again, we’re speaking of Isaiah 35.

It outlines well, into three sections. The first part showing nature (creation)in transformation. The second revels Salvation for Israel. And the third deals with road construction! And all of these point directly to the Millennium! When King Jesus rules on earth!

It is certainly, at least when compared with its foregoing context, a chapter of dramatic “reversal.”

Chapter 34 … devastation, ruin, chaos.

Chapter 35 … renewal, revival, deliverance!

Well, today let me begin by showing you some of the “highlights” of this ingenious Piece of Writing.

In verse 1 the desert (wilderness) is personified and “becomes glad!” Then it “rejoices!” Then it “comes alive!”

But the people too (Israel) will be thrilled! And strengthened. (I think when Jesus comes again.) “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” Verses 3 and 4, “save you!” What music to any languishing ear!

Then watch what happens. (A Foretaste of which occurred when Jesus walked the earth the first time!) “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing …” Verse 5 and part of verse 6, what miracles!

So many Jews … coming home! Being regathered! Wanting to see Jesus, Who will by then be their newly acknowledged Messiah! (After centuries of national blindness.) So many traveling back to Israel that … “A highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” A road (Interstate) is built to facilitate their return! Jesus as Chief Engineer!

And the chapter builds to an even more glorious climax. In verse 10 … but that will be (the Lord willing) tomorrow’s thought.

But let me at least show you that great “mountain peak” of the Poem … “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Wow!

Yes, Millennial to the core.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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We are in the middle of Isaiah’s sixth WOE. A series of judgments, pronouncements of doom, that encompass chapters 28 through 35 of this vast Book, today known as Isaiah’s Prophecy, Isaiah’s Corpus.

God has just pronounced doom (destruction) upon the little Nations of Moab and Edom. (They may merely be representatives of all the nations of the world, in the great Tribulation period yet to come.) Verse 6 … “For the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.”)

Birds and wild animals will inhabit that land, once so dedicated to a virulent hatred of Israel! Verse 11 … “But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it.”

God and nature, His very creation … “They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.” Verses 12-14 … land once bustling with people and their many activities! Even vegetation is involved now, “thorns and nettles and brambles.”

Did you know Isaiah’s prophecies were this precise regarding the animal and vegetable world? And I thought the Book of Job had a lot to say about God’s little (and big) creatures!

Now we come to our Text for today. Isaiah 34:15-16, more animals … “There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. SEEK YE OUT THE BOOK OF THE LORD, AND READ: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.”

Let me tell you what God just commanded. “Out of all these precise promises about animals (particularly birds) … study them, check them out in their entirety … and see if God has not kept His Word to the maximum!”

The challenge of today’s Text … go back and read Isaiah’s “Book,” his Portion in the Word of God! Read these (six) “Woes” carefully … and prove that “none of these (predictions, precise as they are) shall fail!”

Even down to the mating practices of these little creatures, particularly the vultures! “None shall want her mate.” If God’s Mouth commands something … write it down … it WILL come to pass!

Wow!

A Bible challenge to examine God’s Word, especially in the area of it’s prophecies (even the minute ones) and delightfully discover God always keeps His Word!

What a Lesson!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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This journey through the Book of Isaiah, though brief and sketchy, has been used of the Holy Spirit to teach me so many things. (You must realize that we are studying the “Prince of Prophets” here, Isaiah is the “gold standard.” The proto-typical Major Prophet!)

The theme that has so amazed me, repeated over and over, is God’s POWER over the NATIONS of the world! In fact, over His entire UNIVERSE, all creation!

And Isaiah chapter 34, its initial verses, again reemphasize that Truth. Read with me:

“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Isaiah 34:1-4

The word, if it can be divorced from it current stigma, is “sovereign!” God is LORD over all! “For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies.” Note the word “all” is used twice in this compound sentence. “All nations.” And “all armies!”

“Indignation” is translated “wrath” 23 times in the Old Testament, but also translated “foam” once, as if God is so angry He’s foaming at the Mouth! (Such illustrations are called “anthropomorphisms.” Depicting God in a way we humans can better understand Him. God does NOT literally foam at the Mouth.”)

“Fury” derives from a root Hebrew word meaning “hot.” Fiery indignation! And it is even translated “poison” 6 times in the King James Old Testament! God is that serious, punishing sin.

And what will Almighty God do to these wicked, wayward, rebellious Nations? (These verses will see full realization in years ahead, after the Rapture … during the Tribulation, at Armageddon! And though they are yet future,” they are so certain to occur that Isaiah pictures them in the past tense!) “He (God) hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.”

Wow, Isaiah continues …

Verse 3 … “Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.” A lot of blood! (Compare to Revelation 14:20 … “and their blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles.”)

Then the earth, still under God’s Supervision, is judged! Things fall apart, earth and space and even the “heavens!” Yes, nature is cursed too … because of rampant human sin! “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Isaiah 34:4, stars falling everywhere! (Compare to Revelation 6:12-14 … “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Same event … just through different eyes.

Yes, God is sovereign, all right. (The word is simply built upon a Latin preposition, “super,” meaning “above!” Then we English folks added the “reign” suffix, picturing a Monarch on his Throne.)

Sovereign … yet loving!

How loving? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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