Nathan Jones (2:37)

Yes, Yes. I was wearing an eye patch. The last video. That. That's the one thing about us doing just audio podcasts is that you don't have to see me looking all pirate. You can just use your imagination. But, yeah, man. Brothers. Praise the Lord. Got some lens replacements. The surgeries, the. The technology is there now. You know, I'm still waiting for the zoom and infrared and X ray settings to kick in, but, yeah, brother, haven't had to use classes or contacts in the last few weeks, so I'm just praising the Lord for that. And after a whole life of having pretty thick glasses, it's. It's really a. I guess, freeing. It's very freeing to. To have this. So praise the Lord. I'm just very thankful for it. And thanks for following up on me. And. Sorry, I'm not a pirate this week.

Vic Batista (3:23)

Not this week, Nathan. That's why we love the. The blessing of technology. You know, I've been in healthcare now over 30 years, working on life support, anesthesia, all that kind of stuff, but every time I'm in and out of the hospitals, I'm just blown away by the technology, these. These robots now, the modern things that they can do to our bodies and eyes in terms of surgeries. So I'm just so blessed that you're able to. To see and so many other people. Nate, my. My granddaughter just had heart surgery, like, about a week and a half ago, and she's not even a year old. And because of the technology, that she was able to recover within days. And it's just amazing what a blessing that is.

Nathan Jones (4:06)

Praise the Lord. I mean, really, you think about it, how we have thousands and thousands of years of sickness and death, and how much of that can be prevented with their modern medicine, or how much would it be prevented? You know, if you think it's our medicine a thousand years from now in the millennial kingdom, I mean, it just blows my mind. And of course the Lord can heal us, but he can also send us to the right doctors or get us the right medicines, too. So there's multiple answers to prayer. It's such a blessing to hear about your little grandbaby. I'm so glad she's doing better.

Vic Batista (4:36)

Oh, thank you, Nathan. Yes. And that's why we're grateful for what God does. And also for those that are just tuned into our program, if you're new to our program, we thank you for being part of it. We also thank those of you that send us information back that you're watching and you're tuning in. But Nathan, maybe somebody is new to our program and they don't have the resources or how to get a hold of us. Might you be able to share that with them?

Nathan Jones (4:58)

Sure. You can catch us at christ in prophecy we.org. ooh, beautiful music. Yes. Christin prophecy.org it's the Bible prophecy teaching ministry of lamb and lion ministries. Our mission is to proclaim the soon return of Jesus Christ. So if you've been following this ministry for the 45 years that since Dr. David Reagan founded it in 1980, then you should be blessed because I sure have. And that's why I joined the ministry 18 years ago. And Vic, also as evangelists. And so along with Tim Moore, we proclaim the soon return of Jesus Christ. So check us out. Christin prophecy.org oh, thank you so much, Nate.

Vic Batista (5:37)

And yeah, check that out. Just wonderful resources for you, Nathan. One of the things that we enjoy about the this ministry is the opportunities that we get to share through the word of God. And you and I took an adventure through a the book of Isaiah. And at first glance we were like, do we really want to tackle this? It's a pretty long book. But, Nathan, here we are in chapter 40.

Nathan Jones (6:01)

Wow. So, okay, getting up to 66 then.

Vic Batista (6:06)

Well, we're almost there. I mean, it's just. It's just giving people hope, Nathan. Giving people hope that we're already up to chapter 40.

Nathan Jones (6:13)

Well, you know, if we've been averaging about a chapter a week, so, you know, that gives us about 26, 27 more weeks. So probably by late summer, I would say we'll be a done Isaiah, don't you think?

Vic Batista (6:24)

Oh, I hope so. And hey, we're not in a rush. If the Lord decides to come back, we'll. We'll. In our time, we'll. We'll finish it in heaven, brother.

Nathan Jones (6:34)

I'd rather. Yeah, let's go to Isaiah himself and let him teach. That would be wonderful.

Vic Batista (6:41)

Oh, that's fantastic. And of course, to our listeners who always have a lot of fun here through the program, we invite you to get your bibles ready as we continue in this amazing book of Isaiah as we look at chapter 40. So, Nathan, always we find in the book of Isaiah that some of these prophecies are near, far and future, and some are applicable for Isaiah's time, some even our time, and some are for the future time. But the, The. What we notice is God is involved with his people, Israel. He's working through them. He's challenging them, encouraging them, and also discipline in Them. And in today's chapter, we're going to also see some amazing things that are going to unfold as we look at Isaiah, chapter 40. So, Nate, would you be able to open us up in chapter 40, verses 1 5, and I'll do verses 6 through 11.

Nathan Jones (7:27)

Oh, yes. Okay. Vic and I'll be reading from the new King James Version, verse 1. Comfort. Yes, comfort, my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Vic Batista (8:10)

Verse 6. The voice said, cry out. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers phase. But the word of our God stands forever. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountains. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Verse 10. Behold the Lord. God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his works before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. What a beautiful passage. Right, Nate?

Nathan Jones (9:20)

It is. It's got comfort, but it's also got a lot of prophetic elements to it. And of course, Vic and I have been teaching for a long time now what's called prophetic perspective. It's this view that the prophets in the Old Testament were given prophecies, but they didn't know when these prophecies be fulfilled. Sometimes they had, like Vic said earlier, a near fulfillment, sometimes a farther fulfillment, like, say, during Christ's first coming. But other times, the prophecies go way into the future. And that's what we're seeing in the very beginning here with verse two, where it says, okay, you Israelites can get comfort now because there's this Prophecy will come in the future, the distant future, that the fighting that Israel has had to do will finally come to an end. You know, Vic, Israel has had a long, long history of wars. And since they. The day they got back together as a nation, like What a miracle. May 14, 1948, Israel was besieged by all the Arab nations around it. And ever since 1948, they continue to be besieged, even up to the Hamas and Iran and Hezbollah wars that we are, the 12 day war that happened recently. You know, there's going to be a time though, where Israel's warfare is coming to an end. And so the Lord says, okay, Jerusalem, which is a representation as the capital city of all the people of Israel, your time of suffering is coming to an end. Why? Because God is finally going to forgive them for their sins.

Vic Batista (10:51)

Nathan. I love that. And when I continuous read the word comfort, I mean, who doesn't need comfort? Not only the nation of Israel, but we as people, we as a nation. Right now, this, this week, we're in. We. We're in. We need. In. Excuse me, in need of comfort. We. You probably heard about the shooting of the National Guard this week and the, the. What happened there. And you and I, our children, they. They serve in the, in the military. Your son and my son. And when you hear of these tragedies of someone being killed and the whole nation cries, and we need the comfort of the Lord to give us wisdom and to help us because we see so much tragedies. Right, Nate?

Nathan Jones (11:33)

Oh, yeah. I mean, both that were shot by that Islamic extremist were in their early 20s. The woman died and the man still. Unfortunately, I don't have the names pulled up at the moment, but he's in critical care as the time of this recording. And so that's this ongoing war with Islam as Islam tries to conquer the world. We've got wars in Europe between Russia and Ukraine. We got, last I checked, there was 37 wars listed around. That means a thousand or more casualties. So obviously there's a lot more strife, a lot more conflicts than the 37, but it just continues forever. And so like the ancient Israelites, we cry out, lord, when is war going to end? And the Bible prophesies that it will end when Jesus Christ returns to set up his kingdom. He'll set up a time period, a thousand year kingdom, as Revelation 20 tells us, where there will be no war whatsoever. Matter of fact, no one will even train for war. There won't be a military budget. So I'm looking forward to that day. Just as the ancient Israelites are. And as it brought comfort for them and is meant to bring comfort for them today, I think, brother, it brings comfort for all God's children because we look forward to the day when war has ceased.

Vic Batista (12:46)

Oh, praise the Lord and Nathan. And again, the one that who's going to bring that peace and comfort is the prince of peace, Jesus Christ and Nathan. That's always been the hope, according to the word of God for people to recognize that when Jesus started his ministry, many did not recognize. And I love hearing Nate because it has this prophecy from the lines up with John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew, where it says there in Isaiah 40, verse 3, the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. You and I have been still proclaiming that today to prepare the way of the Lord that he is coming soon.

Nathan Jones (13:27)

Oh, absolutely. I mean, why? When is he coming? Well, it comes after verse two. Israel's iniquity is pardoned. In other words, their great rejection of God, of his son, Jesus Christ. Where the Lord then sent them out into the world just in fulfillment of the the prophecy that Moses gave in Deuteronomy 28:30, that the Jewish people would be expelled from their land for a period of time. What the Lord says here in verse two, she's received double for her sins. So the suffering, tremendous suffering and pogroms and the holocaust and being exiles wherever they went, the Jewish people's punishment for their sin is coming to an end. And we read that in the New Testament too, in Romans chapters 9 through 11, where Paul teaches that there will be a time when the Lord will remove his hand of judgment against the Jewish people. And when that happens, then what do we get? Like you said, that voice crying in the wilderness. This is a prophecy. It is a far fulfillment. That's the John the Baptist was the one who fulfilled that prophecy. But it's also a prophecy that has a farther fulfillment, and that's that the return of Elijah before the Messiah returns. Elijah is supposed to return. Now, John was like Elijah and Jesus said he fulfilled that part of the prophecy. But we know the two witnesses who witness in Jerusalem the first half of the tribulation. One of them will likely be Elijah the prophet, and so he will be crying out too. And then we get to verse four when it talks about every valley is going to be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. And in other words, that's a prophecy about how one day Jerusalem will be the capital of the World and all the lands around it will be flattened so that the roads of the nations can go up to Jerusalem and the people see Jesus in his kingdom. So, brother, a lot of prophetic perspective here. Lots of prophecies at lots of different times, but they're all meant to give us hope.

Vic Batista (15:25)

Oh, Nathan, Absolutely. And that's why the book of Isaiah is just so fascinating. And those of you that are tuned into a program, again, you're tuned into a truth to set you free. Bible Prophecy Edition Big Batista, Nathan Jones Bones. As we're looking at Isaiah 40, Israel's comfort, and Nathan, it's just filled with amazing prophecies. And when individuals read Isaiah, those that are able to read through the Bible, these prophecies will just start bubbling up and sort of coming together in all these intervals. So you made a great point, Nate. Again, some of these are applicable for Isaiah's time, some even our time, and some even for a future time. And as we Continue Noticing verse 12, we see some other amazing verses and revelations that are brought to us here in chapter 40. Nate, would you be able to pick us up there in verse 12 through verse 16 in Isaiah, chapter 40, and then I'll read from 16 to 24.

Nathan Jones (16:19)

Absolutely. I do want to make one point. First is that Isaiah 40, verse 8, is in my top 10 favorite verses in all the entire Bible. It's the this. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Brother, that just every time I come across that verse, it just bowls me over. The very fact that everything that we know today is going to be gone, but God's word will be forever and ever and ever. And so it's like investing. You invest in something that has eternal value or something that only has 10 temporary. We put so much of our time here on earth on the temporary, when it's God's word that's the eternal and that's what we should invest in.

Vic Batista (17:03)

But, Nathan, and what a great point. And I did have a little asterisk next to that one because I am in full agreement with you. The Word of God is just amazing.

Nathan Jones (17:13)

It is. It is. All right, well, let's do more of the Word of God, verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, Measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him, with whom did he take counsel and who instructed him? And taught him in the path of justice, who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as small dust on the scales. Look. He lifts up all the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor is be sufficient for a burnt offering.

Vic Batista (17:58)

Verse 17. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted by him less than nothing and worthless. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? The worksman molds a grave image. The goldsmith over spreads it in gold, and the silversmith cast silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution, choose the tree that will not rot. He for himself a skillful workman. He prepares a carved image that will not totter. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth is. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to do, to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth. When he will also blow on them, and they will wither, and with the whirlwind will take them away like a stubble. Nathan, what an amazing passage there regarding the God that we serve and the amazing things that he has created.

Nathan Jones (19:33)

Yeah, it really reminds me of when you read the Book of Job. And Job is challenging God. He wants to know why he's going through so much suffering. And God answers, not with a direct answer, but by saying, hey, did you create the universe? Do you have all knowledge? You know, again and again he asked Job these questions. Let's compare here. I am the God of the universe, all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent. And you are a tiny little man, trust me, is basically what God's saying. And that's what he's saying here.

Vic Batista (20:03)

He.

Nathan Jones (20:04)

He's saying, look, mankind are like tiny. The nations that we think are so mighty are like are grasshoppers. People spend all their time following idols, whether they're of gold or money or fame or whatnot. But he's saying, no, I am the God of the universe. I am the Eternal. You can trust when I tell you that your time of suffering is coming to an end. When I set up my kingdom that is meant to give you comfort. Trust me, Trust me that these dark, terrible Times are coming to an end because I am God. It just, it's mind blowing when you get that right perspective of God, isn't it, Vic?

Vic Batista (20:41)

Oh, Nathan, I tell you. And this passage, it just blows you away when you consider the wisdom in it, the questions that are being asked today. People, sadly, they don't believe in creation. Many they believe in evolution and they believe in all this other theories. But here the Bible clearly tells us how it all took shape. How God created all things. Verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? How big is the hand of the Lord, Nate? How big is, is our God?

Nathan Jones (21:17)

I mean he's. He could make it a universe and we, we could barely understand a county or a state even, but a planet, a galaxy, a universe. I mean for God, he's so incredibly big. And yet you wonder then why he spends time on us if we're so tiny, if we're so insignificant. But the Bible teaches again and again that we're not insignificant because God made us in his image. We are like his children. We're meant to fellowship with him forever. We're meant to grow and flourish and become more and more throughout all eternity and become more God. Like God, not gods themselves, but more like his image, more like his character, his. His noble character. And so brother, I. I look forward to that. And it's meant to be comforting. Again, this is what this whole chapter is comfort for God's people. And we can know that, be comforted and be assured in it because God is as great and as awesome as he is. It guarantees that that prophecy will come to pass.

Vic Batista (22:21)

Oh, I love it, Nathan. We use the term a lot of time and that's just a drop in the bucket. I wonder where that came from.

Nathan Jones (22:29)

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, it really is. Isn't puts the proper perspective because I think as humans we elevate ourselves and we lower God trying to make our brains just can't grasp God. So we bring him down and elevate ourselves up. But God periodically throughout the Bible reminds us that even our great nations are like grasshoppers. We're small, we're tiny, we're like ants to God. And yet at the same time he still loves us. It gives us the proper perspective and hopefully gives us a heart of worship towards our Heavenly Father.

Vic Batista (23:07)

I love that, Nathan. One of the wonderful things that I love about technology is that it finally catches up with the Bible to show that how, how amazing God is. You know, we have the International Space station, we have SpaceX, we have all these things. And they finally discovered Isaiah, chapter 41, 22. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants like grasshoppers. I haven't been to outer space. Hopefully in our time. We will, Nathan. But it would be nice to sit up there and see what God had already foretold.

Nathan Jones (23:40)

Yeah. You know, and it's. We got people today who are following silly YouTube videos saying the earth is flat. And we go 2700 years in the past and Isaiah is already describing the earth as a big circle, like a sphere. And so the science has always been there. It's just, you know, we tend to think we're getting smarter and smarter, but sometimes I think we're getting dumber and dumber.

Vic Batista (24:03)

Yeah. And that's why, Nathan, we look at some amazing discoveries and a lot of those individuals discover things through the word of God. Before, people thought the earth was flat. Right. But yet the Bible spoke that the world is a sphere circle. And so many explorers went out not in fear that they were going to fall off the edge of the cliff and discover so many lands.

Nathan Jones (24:30)

Absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's, it's mind blowing how much science is in the Bible. The Bible obviously isn't a scientific textbook, but it gets its science right. And why? Because God created the universe. He knows how things work.

Vic Batista (24:44)

And that is, that's why we love and trust the word of God. And Nathan, not only that, but we continue in verse 25 there in Isaiah and another amazing passage, I'll read verses 20, 25 and 27. Name. Maybe you can read 28 through 31 in case someone doesn't have a Bible.

Nathan Jones (25:01)

Sure.

Vic Batista (25:03)

So Isaiah continues in verse 25. To whom then will you liken me? Or to whom shall I be equal to? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things. Who brings out their hosts by numbers. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. None one is missing. Why do you say oh Jacob and speak of Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. And you just claimed it. Excuse me? And, and you just claim is passed over my God.

Nathan Jones (25:41)

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak. And to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

Vic Batista (26:13)

Nathan, again, a little asterisk on that verse as well. Isn't that a wonderful verse?

Nathan Jones (26:18)

Yeah. Isaiah 40, verse 31 is again, one of these key verses here, almost every devotional you'll ever read. Matter of fact, our director, Tim Moore, is coming out with a devotional called High Flight. And that's his key verse right there. Isaiah 40, 31. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Folks, a lot of times we. We look at that and say, well, that's poetic. You know, God's just saying, you know, if we put our faith in him, we'll have spiritual strength. But it's actually talking about how in our future selves, when we get our glorified, eternal bodies, we will never be tired again. We'll never know fear or sickness or sorrow. We'll have perfect strength going forward. Brother, as you and I get older and older, I'm very thankful to know one day that. That not only does the Lord strengthen our earthly bodies here, but our glorified bodies will be defined by strength.

Vic Batista (27:18)

Oh, Nathan, what a great insight you just shared. I love that wonderful reality, Nate, that there will be a time where we will no longer grow tired or weary. The world around us has a way of wearing us down. And, Nathan, I totally am looking forward to that day when the Lord renews our strength. Also, it reminds me, Nathan, as we've been reading this chapter, just how amazing God is. And also Proverbs, chapter 30, verse 4. They're the words of a girl when they were asking about the Creator God. And I love that because some, even today, we see creation, we see all of what is being done around the world. And people wonder, how did this all come about? Well, it wasn't by chance. If there was a Creator, and we know him by name, and his name is Jesus. And Proverbs, chapter 30, verse 4. The words of a girl, he says, who has ascended unto heaven or descended, who has gathered the winds in his fist, who has bound the waters in a garment, who has established all the ends of the earth, what is his name and what is His Son's name? If you know it, isn't that awesome, Nathan, that we get to know who that is?

Nathan Jones (28:32)

Absolutely. I mean, this our great God of the universe, because he is so great and so beyond us, knew that the only way to relate to humanity is to become one himself. So God sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to take on the form of the man, to be both man and divinity all at the same time. And so that we could relate to him. You remember as a kid you used to hear the story about how do you relate to a colony of ants? Well, you must become an ant yourself to connect with that colony. Likewise, God sent his son to be a man, to connect with us, to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. And then Pete death by resurrecting himself from the dead. And when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, our sins, that enmity we have against God for rebelling against him is forgiven. And we can have that comfort and peace that Isaiah 40 has promised us.

Vic Batista (29:27)

Thank you, Nate. I love that. And if that's you and you come to recognize, well, I really don't know God in the way that the Bible speaks that about him. Maybe you don't have a personal relationship with him. Maybe you've wondered where all this came from and you finally realizing that there is a Creator. Well, we want to encourage you. There is a path to the Lord. There is a path to heaven and it starts with his son, Jesus and a relationship with him, like Nathan said. And maybe you are out there and you are wondering if God cares about you. If God knows you well, he does. But he's waiting for you to come to him. He's a gentleman. He doesn't push his way into anyone's life. But he wants to be invited in. Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. Whoever opens the door, I will come in and dine with him. And maybe that's you. We want to give you an opportunity to come to the Lord, even right now, to allow him to enter into your heart and to change you. And you can do that from wherever you are with a very simple prayer. You can pause for a minute and just join us and call on the name of the Lord. The Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So just call on Jesus, say, lord Jesus, I recognize that I'm a sinner and God, right now I ask you to forgive me for my sins. I want to invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart to be my Lord, to be my Savior and to be my friend. And from this day forth, I want to follow you, Jesus, in your name. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. And it's as simple that maybe you pray that prayer meant it from your heart. Reach out to us. 3, 059-929-537. We'd love to pray with you, or you can write to us@webministeramlion.com and again, we would just rejoice with you in the wonderful decision that you made to follow Christ. So, Nathan, all the wonderful promises that we just read here in the Bible

Nathan Jones (31:14)

are those who trust in the Lord absolutely. That comfort can be yours, too, once you've accepted Jesus Christ as your savior and your sins are forgiven.

Vic Batista (31:23)

Praise the Lord and, well, we ran out of time for this segment of our program. We thank you all for being part of today's program. Big Batista Nathan Jones saying goodbye. May the Lord bless and keep you. May his face shine upon you. Have a wonderful week.

Evangelist (Unspecified) (31:38)

The good news is finally here, friends. Listen to me. This is serious business. What the world needs today is Jesus. The Bible says in John 3:16 that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.