Isaiah 21:13-17—The New Civil War Part II

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Psalm 33:12

In April of 2017, I sent out notes on Hosea 4:6a detailing the New Civil War that we are engaged in. Nearly two years have passed now and I think it is time to review the subject. The censorship of Christians, conservatives, and libertarians that I warned was coming is here now, while the real haters continue to be promoted. Anyone who questions the new world order is a target. For example Mike Adams, aka the Health Ranger, has been threatened by Apple with the removal of his app from their App Store unless he removes certain articles from Natural News. Natural News deals mainly with issues related to health and diet, but two topics they do not want him discussing are abortion and satanism. Before we continue with Part II, however, let’s look at our text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

Father, give us understanding as we read your word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Isaiah 21:13-17
13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest* in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented [ie came before] with their bread him that fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
Isaiah 21:13-17

Dedanim, Tema, and Kedar were all tribes in Arabia. There are two possible origins for Dedan. Dedan was the name of a grandson of Abraham through Keturah (Gen 26:10) as well as the name of a grandson of Cush (Gen 10:7). Dedanim is the plural form of Dedan. That Isaiah uses the plural form may be a reference to both stems of Dedan. Tema and Kedar were both sons of Ishmael. There is an oasis city in the desert in northwestern Saudia Arabia called Tema (Tayma) that gives us a clue to where the tribe was in Isaiah’s day. Isaiah said that within a year there would be an attack. Tema will give bread and water to those who flee from the enemy. Isaiah’s prediction came to pass in 716 BC when Sargon invaded Arabia.** (According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, Tiglath-Pileser III [aka Pul, 2 Kg 15:19] attacked Kedar in 738 BC.***)

A recurring pattern can be seen in the burdens that Isaiah gives to the nations. Kingdoms rise and fall. God’s message to the Jews and the Gentiles is the same. In verse 12, Isaiah told Dumah (part of Arabia) to return. Isaiah’s contemporary, Hosea, told Israel the same thing. The key word in Hosea’s prophecy is return. God exhorts nations to return and come to Him but they refuse so He has to judge them. In the case of Israel, although she did at times in her history return to God eventually she fell so far away from Him that He gave her a bill of divorce (Jer 3:8). By the time Isaiah gave his prophecy, Israel (ie the Northern Kingdom) had passed the point of no return and was already falling prey to the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom would vacillate for another hundred years before falling to the Chaldeans.

The regions in this section of Isaiah have played major roles in world events in our day. Saudi Arabia and Jordan have worked in concert with America to prosecute a war against Syria. We have discussed this at length in previous studies but if you are just joining us you can find a primer on the subject in chapters VII and XIV of Dragon Slayer Jesus Christ. If you watched the State of the Union address last week you know that the president wants to bring an end to America’s involvement in Syria, as well as Afghanistan.

For his efforts to bring an end to our seemingly endless wars, and for frustrating other plans of the new world order, the president continues to be attacked by the deep state and their public relations apparatus, the mainstream media. The Senate Intelligence Committee recently disclosed that they have no evidence of Russian meddling in our last election. However, after two years of non-stop coverage of the investigation, instead of reporting the findings of the committee, the ‘mainstream’ media suddenly halted their coverage of the topic with deafening silence. The findings of the committee seem to indicate the Special Counsel’s investigation is unnecessary. Meanwhile, instead of admitting that taxpayer dollars and precious time have been wasted on this canard, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) has doubled down and announced he will be looking into every aspect of the president’s life, both financial and personal, while ignoring the way the FISA Court was turned into a political weapon.

America, it seems to me, is a nation much like Israel in Isaiah’s day. Israel had wandered away from God but He exhorted them to be reasonable and repent. (Isa 1:18) We have a choice to make as a nation. We can accept a new direction of peace and bring an end to the wars in Syria and Afghanistan. We can turn back to the God who made us great. We can follow the example of Kentucky and start teaching the Bible in schools again, as Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia are attempting to do. We can reject the fake science of Darwin as a growing number of scientists are doing. We can reject socialism, which is more or less just another name for communism, which is a philosophy that says there is no God. Or, we can embrace war and socialism. However, if we forsake God He will forsake us. (2 Chron 15:2) A model for how this works can be seen in the two countries of South Korea and North Korea. These two places have people with the exact same genetic makeup who speak the same language. According to the Heritage Foundation, South Korea “has become a high-technology, industrialized, trillion-dollar economy.” South Korea is a free country. It was believed that by 2020, South Korea would surpass France’s standard of living but they probably have already. By the same index, however, North Korea has less freedom than anywhere else in the world and “has faced chronic food shortages since the mid-1990s.” Why the difference? Because South Korea is a Christian country, and North Korea is a communist country.

Likewise, the explanation for America’s success is our historic commitment to God. There is nothing different or exceptional in the DNA of the people who built America over the last 242 years. The same DNA strain existed in Europe, where during the dark ages people were so foolish that they actually put animals on trial. The dark ages were the result of taking the word of God out of the hearts and hands of the people. Yet, despite all the efforts to ban the Bible, once Johann Gutenberg invented movable type there was no stopping the Renaissance. Protestant England made the Bible available in English as new translations in other languages swept across Europe. These translations were added to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but the Reformation took root nonetheless. New philosophies on good government were born that influenced the founding fathers, yet according to America’s historian, David Barton, the Book most quoted in the proceedings of the Continental Congress was the Holy Bible. There is something special in the DNA of the Bible and it is what made America great. When America honored the Bible we led the world in all the right statistics.

In The New Civil War Part I, I mentioned Craig Sawyer and the documentary he was spearheading at Veterans for Child Rescue. Unfortunately, it appears this project has been sabotaged from the inside, yet Sawyer has vowed to keep working on the project. Notwithstanding, positive things are still taking place in this regard. For example, there is a new sting operation you probably have not heard much about because the media ignores it. It is called OPERATION BROKEN HEART, and it is a dragnet for child predators. There was an operation by the same name in 2014, but it only resulted in a couple hundred arrests. However, early in 2017 a new Operation Broken Heart netted over 1000 alleged child sex predators. In 2018, a subsequent three-month phase of Operation Broken Heart resulted in over 2300 new arrests. This is just one aspect of the many positive steps we have taken in the right direction over the last two years. However, unless we return to God as a nation, even the positive course corrections we have seen will be too little too late. I believe our only hope is a God-sent revival. That is what we need to pray for.

We are in a war alright, but we wrestle not with flesh and blood. The talking heads along with the rest of the deep state operatives are not the real enemy. There is a spirit behind them. His name is Abaddon, (lit the Destroyer). He was a murderer from the beginning. Because he is a murderer, they are openly telling us now that they want to murder babies (after birth). If they want to murder babies you can bet they want to destroy us too. The serpent is subtle, but his techniques are effective. If there was ever a time that we need to put on the whole armor of God (Eph 6), that we may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand, that time is now.

As you probably know, there was a major development today relating to our topic. I believe the president was right to declare a national emergency in order to close our open borders. People who come here legally and are naturalized make the best citizens and we need more of them, but to allow people to pour in virtually unvetted is sheer madness. Despite what the Sanballats and Tobiahs of our day say, it was God who created the nations and determined … the bounds of their habitation (Acts 17:26b). God is a nationalist.

In closing, it was Yoda who said, “Wars not make one great.” Even a muppet in a kids movie knows that endless wars cannot make us great. The founding fathers knew it too, and they were against foreign entanglements. Let’s return to the old path, wherein is the good way, and walk therein. I hope I have given you some things to think about. All this is irrelevant, however, if you have not received Christ as your personal Saviour. It is merely rearranging furniture on the deck of the Titanic. If you have not received Christ you need to get that settled before you do anything else. It’s not complicated. Just pray to Him and ask Him to save you. (Romans 10:13) If you do that He promises He will. (If you do that drop me a note. I would like to hear about it!)

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.
John 3:16

Father, your word says that if your people, which are called by your name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek your face, and turn from their wicked ways, then You will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Please move your people to prayer and repentance and bring revival, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

PS: For the final judgment that will come upon Arabia, see Jeremiah 25.
PPS: Remember to pray for the president. (1 Tim 2:1, 2)

*   From the Pulpit Commentary: In the forest… shall ye lodge. The word used is commonly translated “forest;” but Arabia has no forests, and the meaning here must be “brushwood.” Thorny bushes and shrubs are common in all parts of Arabia. The general meaning is that the caravans will have to leave the beaten track, and obtain such shelter and concealment as the scanty brushwood of the desert could afford.
**  Halley’s Bible Handbook, p 296.
*** Encyclopedia Judaica, sv Kedar.