And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
As we know from previous discussions, the light is understanding, the fire and flame destroys the darkness and burns up confusion, and the briers and thorns are the ignorant “experts” who infest and have overgrown the institutions of teaching and leadership. The title is Isaiah 10:17, a chapter that begins speaking “woe” to those decreeing unrighteous decrees and prescribe grievousness, turning away judgment and making God’s people those they prey upon and rob. It goes on to tell of the LORD visiting these unjust men and taking away their glory, which verse 11 then tells us is because of the idols they created and set in God’s place. It is against these men the Assyrian is sent, who is the rod of the LORD’s anger.
The name Assyrian, said to mean step or degree, is from the Hebrew word ‘ashar, meaning to go forward, as an advance, and which the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says means progress. In a pattern, it is telling of the communist movement that now calls itself progressive, which has been brought to a point where it openly reverse defines and vilifies all our national foundations and seeks to replace them.
In prior discussions of Revelation 17, we have seen these patterns described as the unfaithful woman (God’s people in confusion), the ten horns (the communists), both riding the beast of confusion (Babylon). We are told in verse 16 the ten horns (communists) hate the woman (church), makes war against her and causes her desolation, which is the same thing spoken of in Isaiah 10 of the Assyrian and God’s people.
In the prior post, we discussed Satan divided and against Satan, and because of it his kingdom (confusion) shall not stand. These two entities are those spoken of above, and the LORD uses the name Satan for its Hebrew meaning, which describes those who are in open revolt and resistance against God’s plan of rescue and salvation.
(FYI: people are asking who is behind the caravan of want-to-be illegals heading toward our southern border. It is these two groups, and for the same Satanic reason. Their consistent and only objective is to cause chaos and confusion, with the hope of overwhelming and crashing the system. They are hoping, with the help of their allies in the fake news media, to portray and manipulate the good nature of our American culture, to Progress their plan of destroying and replacing it with their utopia – Gehenna.)
Isaiah 10
1Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5 O Assyrian [communists – ten horns], the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think so [he is blind to the fact he is merely a tool, a product of nature and nature’s God]; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
8 For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? [Verse 8 thru 11 speak of all the idol worshipping nations already overcome and destroyed – and the proud and arrogant enemy saying the stronghold of the elect remnant will fall in the same way.]
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the LORD has performed his whole work [of enlightenment] upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
13 For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14 And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
15 [Thus says the LORD] Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shakes it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no [dead] wood.
16 Therefore shall the LORD, the LORD of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
17 And the light [understanding] of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers [the spiritually wicked in high places] in one day;
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul [mind] and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon [put their trust in] him that smote them; but shall stay upon [put their trust in] the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the LORD God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
24 Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt [the captivity and making us – the producers – their bond servants].
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
26 And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb [when the LORD removed the head that has impoverished His people]: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt [when the sea that had been divided return to one and covers them in destruction. (Do they really not see what they have walked into? Too insane with hate to realize reality.)]
27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
28 He is come to Aiath [heap of ruin], he is passed to Migron [precipice – see 1 Samuel 14 – which tells of the precipice {only other mention of Migron}, when in verse 24 we are told Saul’s unrighteous decree, which led to his disobedience to the LORD’s command]; at Michmash [the hiding place] he has laid up his carriages [his armor – as with Johnathan’s hidden armor bearer]:
29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba [the hill – in the high places]; Ramah is afraid [the place where Samuel anointed David king – and the LORD’s Spirit which left Saul came upon David – 1 Samuel 16:13]; Gibeah [the hill – the highness] of Saul is fled.
30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim [those who these spring of water have come]: cause it to be heard unto Laish [as a lion’s roar], O poor Anathoth [as an answer to your prayers].
31 Madmenah [the dunghill {Gehenna} – where Beelzebub, the ruler of the dunghill, rules] is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim [of their fortified places] gather themselves to flee.
32 As yet shall he remain at Nob [in his high places] that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon [their glory] shall fall by a mighty one.
This full end is spoken of in verse 22 above as the consumption decreed, and in verse 23 as the consumption determined. Both the words decreed and determined are from the same Hebrew word, charats, meaning to bring a decisive cut, as in a right dividing of the word of God. The word rendered consumption in verse 22 is killayown; a word only used one other time where it tells of when the eye of God’s people has “failed.” It comes in Deuteronomy 28:65, as a result when God’s people do what was warned against in verse 58, saying, “If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, The LORD Your God.”
Deuteronomy 28
58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, The LORD Your God;
59 Then the LORD will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
60 Moreover he will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave unto you.
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon you, until you be destroyed.
62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to naught; and you shall be plucked from off the land whither you go to possess it.
64 And the LORD shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, even [dead] wood and [dumb] stone.
65 And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the LORD shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing [killayown] of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
66 And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have none assurance of your life:
67 In the morning you shall say, Would God it were even! and at even you shall say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of your heart wherewith you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
68 And the LORD shall bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spoke unto you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
The eyes consuming away is written of in Zechariah 14:12.
Zechariah 14
1 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives [the source of the anointing], which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. [the anointing dispersed in this word to all the earth]
5 And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal [the elect remnant]: yea, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah [when Jehovah was the strength of the] king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with you. [“I and the children God has given me are for signs and wonders among His people.”]
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light [understanding] shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light [when the understanding {eye} has failed He shall send understanding].
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. [As it is!]
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba [the hills] to Rimmon south [the false ones who have exalted themselves, and standing at the right hand to resist the LORD’s work] of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel [until it is seen as the favor of God] unto the king’s winepresses [in this word of God as His corrective wrath].
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth [and their mouths shall be stopped].
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt [the captivity] go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The LORD; and the pots [filled with these waters] in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot [filled with His waters] in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite [an enemy as Cain, “who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”] in the house of the LORD of hosts.
The word translated as “consumption” in Isaiah 10:23 is kalah, meaning the full end. It is the word first used in Genesis 18:21, rendered “altogether” in telling of when the LORD heard the grievous cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, and went down to see if it was “altogether” according to the cry.
Genesis 18
14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but you did laugh.
16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether [kalah – is worthy of a full end] according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men [the two angels the LORD sent in His name for this purpose] turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
We know Peter answers the question above in verse 23, saying in 2 Peter 2:9, “The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” (He leads them out from among them.)
Peter tells us in the beginning of 2 Peter 2 the unjust men he is speaking of are the false prophets, and their destruction comes as the deny the LORD at His coming, and are the leaders of those who speak against this truth. Can it be any simpler to understand? The chapter ends telling of these same men receiving this knowledge and turning away from it, to their vomit and wallowing in their mire (where nothing is clear).
2 Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily [will create images from their imaginations] shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of [this] truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the LORD.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: [by] the dumb donkey speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the [false] prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
The point Peter is making above starts in ending chapter 1, which tells of the men of God who spoke only when moved by God, and earlier saying their words, which we follow, are not cunningly devised fables. This is a contrast to what he then says about the false teachers among us. When he references Balaam he is speaking in this context of what the LORD told him after he saw the angel standing in the way with his sword drawn. “And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men [the gatekeepers]: but only the word that I shall speak unto you, that you shall speak.”
These men as dog returning to their own vomit is also referring to what Daniel tells happens in the middle of the week, that causes the sacrifice (preaching the knowledge of God) to be cut off. He tells us this brings in the overspreading of the abominations (idol worship) that causes the desolation until the consumption (kalah) determined (charats) is poured on the desolate. (see Daniel 9:27 below)
Daniel 9
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I set my face unto the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O LORD, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O LORD, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
8 O LORD, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9 To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed your law, even by departing, that they might not obey your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand your truth.
14 Therefore has the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O LORD our God, that have brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten you renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O LORD, according to all your righteousness, I beseech you, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications, and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate, for the LORD’s sake.
18 O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our supplications before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies.
19 O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name.
20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined [charats].
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation [kalah], and that determined [charats] shall be poured upon the desolate.
