Isaiah 17

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Isaiah 17:1-14 (KJV) 

1 The burden of Damascus. 

Behold,

 Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, 

and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Damascus is made up of a sizable old city, divided into the market area, Muslim area, Christian area, and a small Jewish area. The modern city is mainly gray with little green, and most of the modern buildings are influenced by Syria's weak economy. There is a university, many museums, and embassies.

What is unique about Damascus?

Founded in the 3rd millennium B.C., Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. ... The city has some 125 monuments from different periods of its history – one of the most spectacular is the 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads, built on the site of an Assyrian sanctuary

 Damascus is religion as we know it!

What can I learn from that as a personal lesson?  I take away from this verse, that no matter how long I have been in existence if I do not heed t the Word of God I will be destroyed.

2 The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken:

 they shall be for flocks, 

which shall lie down, 

and none shall make [them] afraid.

God speaks in terms of what he knows will happen even if it doesn't happen until 5000 years later.

Damascus reminds me of religion as I know it.  Religion has been in operation since the beginning of time.  Cain's behavior toward God's instructions was arrogant.  He took God's instructions and told God it does not take all that.  As long as I give"AN" offering, it should not matter.  Religion responds the same way. Just do something right as long as it is in the bible.

For me to focus on Damascus as many prophecy teachers teach and see it the way they see it and I do not see myself in the mirror, reading this chapter, I will become disconnected from the heart of God for my life.  If I do not see my own life in this chapter, I will not change.

Jesus said we are the city.

Aroer is a city but not well known.

Is God saying I will deal with the large religions and the tiny storefront churches that take His Word out of context?

 3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, 

and the kingdom from Damascus, 

and the remnant of Syria: 

they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, 

saith the LORD of hosts. 

The cities that are known to fortify with artillery and military gear will be no more.  It will not matter how strong you have made yourself known.

God will destroy the kingdom of religion.

The same thing that God used to correct the children of Israel, will be the same judgment He will use to correct His church today.

4 And in that day it shall come to pass, 

[that] the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, 

and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 

The stuff that religion has made known to us will be very weak and what the church of our day displays about God will be nauseating to people who want the real things of God.

5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, 

and reapeth the ears with his arm; 

and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. 

When God comes and instructs His ways, He will remove most of what has been taught by religious leaders.  Only the extremely hungry will pick up the pieces that will be left because they are so starved.  Religion for the most part is greed for gain, however, there is a very small amount of seed incorporated in its teaching.  Jesus said the Pharisees taught but they did not do as they spoke.  The message in this passage of Jesus is saying, a hungry person will eat the little they drop or speak and it will suffice until they learn better food is properly served by those who do and say what the Word of God said.

6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, 

as the shaking of an olive tree, 

two [or] three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, 

four [or] five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, 

saith the LORD God of Israel. 

Religion is so selfish until it makes the Word of God hard to reach.  Those who are trapped in it but still want more of the Word of God will get very little if they do not pursue other pastures.

7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, 

and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

One day everyone will see how frail religion is and see that there is more to life than religion. 

8 And he shall not look to the altars, 

the work of his hands, neither shall respect [that] which his fingers have made, 

either the groves, or the images. 

They will see that all they thought was absolutely nothing because times will manifest to be hard.

9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, 

and an uppermost branch, 

which they left because of the children of Israel: 

and there shall be desolation. 

Religion will be forsaken.  Jesus said we are the branches.  Without the nutrients that only the Word of God can provide we are dried up.  Jesus said I am the vine and we are the branches and my Father is the husbandman.  He owns both me and man.

10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, 

and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, t

herefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants,

 and shalt set it with strange slips: 

Religion has been extremely careful, conservative, guarded, meticulous in the way that it brainwashes God's people.  It seems pleasant but it is far from the plan of God.

Religion teaches us to forget God and rely on our own strength.  If we learn the do's and don't of what we practice, we will never need God and His Word.

11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow,

 and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: 

[but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. 

Religion works very early and it makes the people of it grow,  it also makes the members multiply but in the end, it will only be a sad time of mourning and grief.

12 Woe to the multitude of many people, 

[which] make a noise like the noise of the seas; 

and to the rushing of nations, 

[that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 

God is saying sorrow to members of denominations and churches who refuse to teach God's Word!  When God says Woe!  He stresses STOP!!!

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters:

 but [God] shall rebuke them, 

and they shall flee far off, 

and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

God will rebuke the church for ignoring His Word. 

14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; 

[and] before the morning he [is] not. 

This [is] the portion of them that spoil us, 

and the lot of them that rob us.

In the time of relaxation, the world will be troubled; by morning religion will be nonexistent.  This is what God's people who refused to adhere to His Word will be paid that did not teach His Word and this will be the outcome of those who robbed us.  Jesus said you have made my house a den of thieves.