Isaiah, Chapters 47-48

47 and 48, and we'll be looking at making some changes from what we originally announced even last week and reviewing this and looking at what the scene looks like ahead. We'll be taking the month of December then to cover this passage from Isaiah 52.13 to 53.12. Three verses at a time. Alright, now into the passage here Dave, 47 and 48, those chapters in Isaiah. Let's start off with the first one.

Can you imagine that? And this deals with the message to Babylon. This is the empire of Babylon. Now, keeping in mind here that this Babylonian empire had not even begun. It was, by the time Isaiah was writing, almost a century away, and yet he was focusing on it.

So we've got some dates here to give you time references. And these dates, by the way, are BC. You know what BC stands for. It stands for Wayne and Sue. I'd have no idea why that does, but that's the way it is. Anyway, so here's the Isaiah chapters here, and it's 47 to 48, just probably a little after 700 BC. I can see Doug shaking his head.

Anyway, the Babylonians take over the Assyrian Empire almost a century after Isaiah's writing. So Isaiah's long gone home to be with the Lord for decades by the time this takes place. But he's writing about it almost a century ahead of time. The Babylonians took over this area that goes from what is now Kuwait, through the middle of what is now Iraq, down into the southeast corner of what's now Turkey, and into the area that is Israel, Jordan, and even a part of Egypt.

Baghdad, as we keep hearing in the news, is located right here. Babylon is just to the south, basically, of Baghdad. Now, the Babylonians, as we introduced last week, they attacked Jerusalem ferociously. And their approach was to carry off the people of Babylon and to destroy Jerusalem. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, took the people of Judah and hauled them off and moved them to the area around Babylon. So we even have some of the Psalms talking about being by the rivers of Babylon and crying for what they once had and what they've lost, what they've lost sight of. You imagine the entire population. We introduced it last week this way to give you a comparison. It would be like walking from Denver to the Mississippi River. And we said, of course, you know what your feet think about that point in time.

Then Cyrus. Now, Isaiah had mentioned that. Cyrus would come in and take over as a Persian, would take over from the Babylonians. So Isaiah is talking two empires ahead. And he would take over the Babylonian Empire, oust them overnight. The Babylonians, they were overtaken so quickly, they didn't even have a chance to fight, not even to warn anybody else to fight.

So finally, Cyrus ordered for the Jews to return, came in 538 BC. So he issued the order then that anyone who wanted to could go back to their own land, and those who wished to do so, he would help by not only sending them there and allowing them to go there, but even helping fund the rebuilding.

So he sent many of them back. A number of them stayed, but many of them went back. So you imagine, okay, after walking 700 miles, you're going to walk 700 miles back. And there were some who made the trip both ways. Kind of amazing. You know what the feet thought. Okay. Now, into our passage here. 47a. Now then, hear this, you sensual one who dwells securely, who says in his heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, nor know loss of children. Isaiah, in saying this, detailed Babylon's worldly viewpoint. He was saying, this is the way Babylon looks at things, right?

If it feels good, do it. That was Babylon's philosophy. Funny how that stuck around for a while. In Babylon, the thought was, if it feels good, do it, even if it's somebody else's expense. Matter of fact, if you're extra cruel, that's even better. If it feels good, do it. It doesn't matter how it feels for them. If it feels good for you, do it. Cruelty was especially pleasurable. Strange?

But that was part of their mindset. Babylon felt militarily secure. We mentioned last week, Isaiah prophesied that Babylon would be overtaken in spite of having bronze doors and iron bars across every single one. When Cyrus came in, he just smashed right through the gates and even bypassed them in a number of cases.

Then this statement, I am and there is no one besides me. This is a statement very much like the Lord Himself used earlier in Isaiah. in the chapters just before, it says that they viewed themselves as God. They say, I am God and there is nobody else. I'm in charge.

I call the shots. Babylon had gotten into a place of feeling so much like they were in control. They knew what was happening. They knew what was going to happen. They had all the power. Anybody else who tried to challenge them, they were profoundly cruel to those. And so they felt like they had the shots.

I'm God. I just decide what happens and that's what happens. That's it. They viewed themselves as God. Here is what Isaiah had said just a couple chapters earlier. The Lord is saying this. From a good standpoint, but it gives us an insight into how the Babylonians saw things, that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no God, no one besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. This was looked at as an evangelistic, evangelistic verse, but the Babylonians took it the other way. They said, no, They said, we are the Babylonians, and we're the ones who are in charge, and we are the ones who do everything, and we call the shots, and we are invulnerable. They expected no losses. He says, I will not sit as a widow, nor no loss of children. They expected no losses. They were invulnerable. They couldn't be touched. I am just fine, they said.

As a cultural insight, the passage that comes out of Genesis 38 gives an account of Tamar. Tamar was twice widowed and there was great concern in her case for ongoing material provision that was basically throughout the biblical culture. A widow was one who had a difficult material provision prospect just from the ability to get needs met. And so that was one part of the threat here that Babylon wasn't looking at. They were saying, I have all the material things that I need. I can't be touched. I've got all that I need and there is no question I'm going to be provided for.

The other was having descendants. And we can see instances, for example, Hannah, who had Eli, was one who was concerned about having descendants. We hear about Abraham taking things into his own hands to make sure he had descendants. So there was a concern throughout biblical times in these two things. And that's what Isaiah is referring to. 47.9.

But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells. When will they come? In one day. And they did. Cyrus came in, he blasted through, he came through so fast they couldn't get word fast enough into the middle of the city. They ran towards the middle of the city, took over with almost no fight at all. The soldiers were entirely unprepared, had no idea someone would come through like they did.

Isaiah predicted it a century and a half ahead of time. Exactly how it happened, you can read about it in Daniel chapter 5. The king was having a grand party In the middle of Babylon, meanwhile, was this warning on the wall that Daniel wrote about. And this warning on the wall was, even though it was warning, not warning enough, Cyrus came blasting into the city, overcame them. And that was it for Babylon. The Babylonians, because it mentions here powers of great spells and sorceries, they had strange occultic practices.

One of the things they would do is slaughter sheep and bulls and look at the liver. Isn't that odd? Here is a clay liver map. that archaeologists have found, where they would have certain areas of the liver marked out, and you put pins in it to mark out what certain characteristics of that liver are like, and they predict the future and tell what is wise to do, based on how the liver looked. Really strange people.

But that was the character of a lot of their sorceries and spells, and just an example. Babylon would lose its longevity as an empire, and its material provisions overnight. They would lose it all. The abundant appeal to sorceries, the assumed great power, because he actually mocks it here, the assumed great power of the spells turned out to be absolutely powerless. Imagine that. We're so powerful, we're taken over overnight. We're so powerful, we don't even lift a sword. They were completely taken by surprise. All the assumed powers that they had did absolutely nothing, and all this great knowledge they had from sheep livers, and other things, did nothing for them.

I don't know about you, but cheap livers just don't comfort me all that much. The next thing in verse 10, you felt secure in your wickedness and said, no one sees me. No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you, for you have said in your heart, I am and there is no one besides me.

Babylon felt it was secure because of its secret wickedness. There have been in our, even in our country now, groups and organizations that take great pride and exert great power based on their secret characteristic, their secretive characteristic. And when he points out, that's no power, that's nothing. He says, I the Lord know everything. So what do you think you have?

Babylon was proud and dependent upon its so-called wisdom and knowledge. It was a lot of this wisdom and knowledge that Daniel and his friends were trained in, described in the book of Daniel. And so the Babylonians were very proud of this, but they were actually fooled by it, spiritually and in every other respect, even militarily. They were fooled by what they thought was wisdom. They were fooled by what they thought was knowledge. They thought they had power when they were powerless. Here again, they underscore, I am. There is no one besides me. They thought as God. They thought they were in control. They thought they called the shots.

But evil will come on you which you will not know how to charm away. So, all right, these soldiers are coming here. Is that time to drop your sword and do an incantation? Probably not. It's not going to work. Disaster or fall on you for which you cannot atone. You can't say, hey guys, why don't you hold up your invasion while I go do a sacrifice and do some strange occultic practice. No, it's not going to work. And destruction about what you do not know will come on you suddenly.

And that's exactly what happened a century and a half later. The history books record that. Now, 4712. Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to profit. Perhaps you may cause trembling. Try to stand on the spells that you think are so powerful. When that fateful night comes, when you're about to lose it all, try to stand upon those sorceries that you think are so great. Maybe you'll get somewhere with it. Maybe you'll cause them to be afraid. Wait! Don't throw that spear at me. I've got to poke this sheep liver first.

God threw Isaiah. What does he do? He mocks all these appeals to the occultic powers and sorceries. You may recall the account of Elijah with the 450 prophets of Baal. And what does he do as the prophets of Baal are trying to get the attention of their deity?

He says, a little louder! Maybe you'll get their attention. Just scream a little louder. Cut yourself a little more. Isaiah is doing this here. He's mocking them. Your powers won't help you. Do you guys get it? These are practices that they had depended upon and grown in for centuries. Do you realize that a lot of these practices had been in place for over a thousand years? They had been developing them, honing them, fine-tuning them, in order to supposedly make them more effective. Isaiah mocked Babylon's expectation to continue and to pull in the world's wealth. We've got it all. We can do it all. We can make it happen. We know everything. We've got the power. You are wearied with your many counsels. Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moon, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.

Got a couple of pictures here of some of the images that were common in Babylon. They had these towers, quite a few of them even in the city of Babylon itself. Many of them were as much as a football field and a half tall and massive amounts of stone brought into the place there. It put them about a football field and a half higher so that they could look at the stars better and be closer to the celestial powers.

And so they had that with which to view the moon and the stars and the planets. There's an engraving here, a kind of a relief, where it shows an astrologer giving advice to the king with the moon up above there, giving an astrological forecast to guide his kingdom for all the good it did.

She says, you're wearied with all your counsels. Let those astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict the new moon, stand up and save you. Did it? No. He's mocking them. Babylonians had every kind of counsel and guidance. Again, the book of Daniel reveals the appeal to these counselors.

Hey guys, I had this dream. Tell me what happened. Hey guys, this is about what's to take place. Tell me what I need to do. All sorts of counselors and spiritual guidance. Gee, it seems to me like we're in that spot too. Lots of spirituality in our culture. Notice that? All kinds, all sorts. Matter of fact, you can pick and mix and match anything you want.

And people do. They're accredited with originating astrology in the Eastern Hemisphere. These guys have been doing it for a long time. They are famous. They are practiced. The astrology that has come into our own culture, the astrology that went into China, started here from the historical studies that we can find. These guys, if there's such a thing, were good at it. They had it down.

The astrologers would stand in their temples. So what does he challenge them to? Stand up. Will these astrologers stand up and save you from what will come upon you? Go ahead and stand up on the tops of your temples. Go ahead and stand up in front of the king. Let them go ahead and do what they do. Not going to help. Not going to help. Here they would stand on top of the towers. He said, let them do it. Let them go ahead. Do whatever they think is going to do best. It won't do any good.

They're relying on someone other than the Lord. But before we say all those stupid Babylonians, or those foolish Babylonians, maybe it's something to take a look at here. What comes through loud and clear from this passage is that they depended upon everything but God. Everything but the Lord.

Everything else. all kinds of different practices. We do this, we do that, we've got that covered, we know about this, we've got this practice to do this, and we've got a redundant practice to cover just in case that other one doesn't work. And we've got this power and this ability and we're profoundly cruel and we like that. So they've got all these things that make them think that they've really got life under control. The whole world under control as they see it.

They depended upon everything but the Lord himself. They invented fake spirituality of every kind. Of course, we don't have that problem in our culture, right? We have, actually, in our own culture, all sorts of man-made religion. Lots of man-made religion.

People concoct things. As a matter of fact, there are Christians who like to combine that. Sometimes I wonder if they're Christians. There are people who call themselves Christians who like to combine that with some man-made religion. Combinations of the two. I've run into people who call themselves Christian Buddhists. I talked to a fellow who was of a Hindu background. He says, I believe in Jesus. Dr. Bhanu Dave. I talked to him for hours.

Man-made religion. Stuff that human beings cook up. There have been religions that have been invented in the last century or two. Man-made religions? Yeah. How about addictions? Addictions are gods. Something else calling the shots in our lives. Money. Or anything that money buys. Yeah, that'll do. Or we come up with laws to live by. I put live in quotes. The laws are a ministry of death. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 says. We also have fake spirituality of every kind. Lots of different sorts.

People will say, I just believe in myself and some angels. I just believe in myself and those little crystals over on the shelf. I believe in myself and that little glass pyramid that I bought at the store. I believe in myself and this little experience that I had this last week.

You see, the Babylonians just bought the sin nature's line. And the key thing is the sin nature sells itself however it wants, nasty or nice. Have you noticed that? That's an important thing to note. The sin nature does not always show itself as awful as it can be. The Babylonians, they were pretty awful. They were. Profoundly cruel. But the sin nature basically doesn't care what it sells you as long as it's itself. Naughty? Nice? It doesn't care. Nasty? It's all fine.

As long as it's entirely dependent upon self. That's what the sin nature, the nature inherited from Adam, sells. That's what the sin nature does. Depend upon everything but God. Everything, anything, it doesn't matter. Think about all the different things that people depend upon.

Sometimes it's pretty bizarre. Ever talk to some of these sports players and look at what they consider lucky? Well, I've got my lucky underwear. Hope they've washed them, but oh well. People depend on all sorts of things. And a lot of times they'll take little concoctions of this and that and put those together. Oh, I depend on this and this and this and this and this and this. Everything but God. And yet those very same people will say, well, you believe in God? Oh, that's just a crutch. Hey, guess what this other stuff is? The message of the Word of God?

Depend upon God for everything. Depend upon God for everything instead of everything but God. Upside-down difference. That was the Babylonian problem. They depended upon everything else but God. As believers, we're called to depend upon God for everything.

And you know, mixtures of those two don't work. Mixtures of those two don't work. Have you discovered that? Scripture calls for us to depend upon Him and Him alone. and not to try to mix and match. It doesn't work. Scripture doesn't point to it either.

Now, let's go on to the chapter 48 passage there, the one that Gene selected out for us. So we've covered this one, let's look at this next one. Now here are the Jews, they're at the end of their exile, and now they're to come back. Now they're to come back from Babylon and head back to Jerusalem and rebuild. So what is Isaiah telling them there? Go forth from Babylon. Flee from the Chaldeans. Declare with the sound of joyful shouting. Proclaim this. Send it out to the end of the earth. Say, The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. Now, a couple of things to point out. This word Chaldeans is an alternate term for Babylonians, and Jacob is of course Israel, God's people.

Now, this verse says that though there were many Jews who remained in Babylon in the time of exile, they were supposed to go back to their land. Even by New Testament times, more than two-thirds of the Jews still did not live in Israel. More than two-thirds of the Jews, to put it the other way, lived outside of Israel. So a great many of the Jews stayed in Babylon. A great many of them didn't go back to the land even they were supposed to. But look what the message is here. Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Get out of there! And instead, many of them stayed. I'm sure some of you are thinking, that's a long walk. I don't want to do it. They didn't want to go.

They were to proclaim the return as the Lord's redeeming of the people of Israel to God's glory. It was God's redemption for them to return back to their land. God setting them free by the instrument of Cyrus who took over the Babylonian Empire overnight. In verse 21, they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts. He made the water flow out of the rock for them He split the rock and the water gushed forth.

Why would Isaiah talk about this? If you were concerned about, hey, I got to go back there, that's 700 miles. Who's going to take care of all the food and water and everything else we need along the way? What's Isaiah pointing to? Hey, I've done this before. Don't worry about it. I can take care of you guys. You'll get back there. You're supposed to go back there. I'll take care of the details. Just go.

He's giving them the example that the Lord will be faithful in the midst of this. This is actually recorded twice. We're going to look at the first one of these, but Exodus 17, 1-6 and Numbers 20, 2-11 are two instances where the Lord provided water in the place where they didn't have any by breaking open a rock. Now, so what's Isaiah doing? He's looking backwards about 700 years to the time when the rock was broken in order to provide the water, right?

So let's think about this for a minute. We don't want to get hypothetical. Have you ever been really, really thirsty? Ever had that? I mean really thirsty. This is like living in Nevada, right? So Nancy and I have, not all of Nevada's like that, but you get the idea. This is what the Jews are faced with, is a very dry place in some of those areas. And so they're looking at, hey, are you going to take care of us?

Isaiah is assuring them, yes I will. So, he points back to this wilderness journey, the Exodus time. And so it says Exodus up there in English and then the Hebrew down there. In case your English is a little rusty, there's the Hebrew. Okay? All right. Oh, wait a minute. You can't see that. There. Okay. It doesn't do any good for me to point to this thing, you know? Alright. Here's Exodus 17, 1-3. Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of sin, that's quite a name, according to the command of the Lord, and encamped at Rephidim.

And there was no water for the people to drink. That's nice. Do you realize how many people that there were? some estimates, as many as three million. That's a lot of water you need. And even having a few large jugs just doesn't cut it. You have a lot of people that need a lot of water.

Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and they grumbled against Moses and said, Why now have you brought us from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" It's not only the people, but the animals. So, here you are.

Here's the Exodus. They've been through this crossing the sea. And now they're at Rephidim, which is right near the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, near Mount Sinai. So here they are at Rephidim, and it's hot, and they are thirsty. Very. So here is a picture.

Doesn't look like a lot of water there, does it? Here's Rephidim, where Moses struck the rock and water came out abundantly, providing water miraculously for all of Israel. So here's how the next part of the story goes, the rest of the story. So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, What shall I do to this people? to this people. Interesting. A little more and they will stone me. A little more.

Then the Lord said to Moses, pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And they were able to all have water. The people, lots of them, thousands and thousands of them, had plenty of water from striking the rock. Behold, I will stand before you thereof, the rock of Horeb, and you shall strike the rock with water, and water will come out of it that the people may drink. God was faithful to provide and actually abundantly gracious. Here is God's provision of something that they desperately needed.

There was no substitute. Moses couldn't say, gee, I don't have any water. Here's something else. How about some crackers? No, it's not going to do it. Moses couldn't come up with any alternates. You've got to have that water. Now, we took a look backwards 700 years. Let's turn Isaiah around. You like that? Anyway, that's confusing. Let's not go too much or you'll get dizzy. All right.

Let's have them look forward 700 years. Okay? And 700 years, here's Paul writing to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 10. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All right?

So let's take first a look at that. Now, which sea is this? So you know the story about how Moses parted the Red Sea, right? There's the Red Sea. And it got parted like that, right? That's how it happened? No, probably not. No, Moses extended his hand and his staff in part of the waters in the sea, and the Lord led them with a cloud there to deliver them, the people of Israel. And so this is what Paul is writing about with Moses. And the people were under the cloud and they went into the sea. They were identified with Moses as Moses went through the waters.

Next part, verse 3. And all ate the same spiritual food. Now was it physical food? Yes, but it was spiritually provided. It was spiritually provided, just like the provision before was spiritually provided. The food was spiritually provided. Now, verse 4. And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.

This is something we talked about in our first Peter elective here this morning. At times, the New Testament will provide insights to the Old Testament that are not immediately evident in reading the Old Testament context. This is case in point. Here he says, and the rock was Christ. That's not something that's immediately evident from reading the Old Testament passage, but an insight that Paul gives us here. Here's an example that is carried over also in the New Testament.

The rock was Christ, the source of the living water. John 4 is the account of Jesus with the woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob. And taking from some key verses there, we have this. shall never thirst, but the water that I give him will become in him a well of water, springing up to eternal life." Now, I have an 1869 photo here, and the reason is not just because I like old photos, but because they built up so much junk around this well, you can't see it anymore. So that's why the old photo.

But in those days, it was still visible and evident and had not been disturbed that much from the time when Jesus and the Samaritan woman were there. This is a view inside. The well I'm going to see the entrance at the outside. This is a view on the inside. Okay again an old photo To get things undisturbed or less disturbed Now revelation 2217 the same message comes forth The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come But the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

I I agree. Continuing appeal. There is continuing appeal to this living water. There is continuing appeal to recognize here is water miraculously supplied. Here is water that is living water. Here is water that is entirely by the Lord's provision. A water that we could not come up with of our own. is kind of an artist's picturing of it, just to perhaps bring it across, that Christ himself is that living water, the water of life without cost. Notice, without cost, what is that? Oh, that sounds like grace, doesn't it? Grace. You want to pay for it? There's no way to pay for it. But if you want it, it's free. You can't buy it, but it's free for the taking. The water of life without cost. and all drank the same spiritual drink. They were drinking from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ."

Now in verse 22, "'There is no peace for the wicked,' says the Lord." And by the way, I ask Jeanne to only read that one verse, because both of the passages I pick, they end with something negative. I don't intend to end negatively, but that's how it comes out if you just read it. Now, this is not about there is no peace for the wicked, because that's bad grammar, and it's also not true. But no, it's no peace.

Isaiah delivered this message again in verse 21 of chapter 57, when he wrote, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. It is a consistent message. It's also a consistent message throughout the scripture. In Old Testament times, this was meant in earthly terms. That is, militarily, there's no peace. Things are just riled up and upset. Here, we saw in Isaiah chapter 26, this verse.

The steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace, or we mentioned that the Hebrews said, peace, peace, double peace, because he trusts in you. Paul brings it across this way to the believers at Thessalonica. Notice that the Jews looking for peace was a circumstantial peace, often in their mindset. But Paul points to, no, this is a peace independent of circumstances.

Have you ever experienced that as a believer? Ever been in a situation and it's from outside circumstance viewpoint from what's apparent on the outside, this is upsetting. And yet you find yourself, or maybe you've seen another Christian, gee, they should be really upset.

How come they're not? I shared previously, I was on a flight from San Francisco down to Palm Springs on a business trip, and the plane was a small plane, and it was a horrific storm. Almost everybody on the plane was screaming. And the gal sitting next to me asked me, why aren't you screaming? She was puzzled.

But this is the baffling thing about the kind of peace that Paul's talking about here. It's a peace the world doesn't understand because it doesn't depend on the circumstances. Paul says, in every circumstance. There was a lot that Paul experienced in Thessalonica. I mean, he got basically run out. And the people there were having a tough time.

We read in Acts 17, 1 Thessalonians 2, 1 gives more indication of it. Galatians 5, 22. It's the Lord who is the source of this peace, and the Lord alone. Think of this, our fellowship with the Lord of peace, the living water, our Redeemer, to bring together some of the thoughts in these passages. The Lord redeemed us at full price. He invites us to fellowship with him. He invites us to drink liberally, as much as we want, whosoever will, of this water of life.

We don't have bottles of it in the lobby. No, it's the Lord himself. We don't have to go anywhere to do that. We don't have to rush off. We don't have to go anywhere to do that. Because we're already seated right there in the heavenlies with Him. Right there. We're already seated there with the very Lord of Peace, the Lord of Glory, the One who is the Living Water. We don't have to go somewhere or do something. We can share in fellowship and enjoy that Living Water, the Lord of Peace, right now. Let's talk to the Lord of Peace right now.

Lord, we thank you in the circumstances that each one of us is in and the things that we anticipate that we can count upon that fellowship with you. We can count upon a peace that the world doesn't understand. We can count upon a satisfaction of that thirst of heart this world does not know. We can count upon You having redeemed us and placed us, having placed us, Lord, right there with You, seated there with You in the heavenlies. What privilege we have. What awesome fellowship we have. Peace the world doesn't comprehend. Living water the world does not understand because of You, because of what You've done. We thank You for it. In Jesus' name, Amen.