• lived in ; he was married and had two sons. He was told for three years to walk around stark naked. The message was to show Judah that they were naked and shameful before God. • Jewish tradition tells us that he was the cousin of King . Which means he was of royal seed. And he did have access to the King (Is 7:3). • Jewish tradition tells us also he was sawn in half with a wooden saw by the wicked king Manasseh (Martyrdom tradition (Mishna): (Heb 11:37?) Justin Martyr, 150 A.D). • 2Chrionicles 26-32 describes the times when Isaiah was prophesying. • Isaiah prophesies about: The Virgin Birth; fall of Lucifer; John the Baptist; Antichrist; and prophesies concerning Jesus Christ (). • Most of what we know about the Millennium is from Isaiah.

Chapter 17 The burden against . “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of are forsaken; They will be for flocks Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. 3 The fortress also will cease from , The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of ; They will be as the glory of the children of ,” Says the LORD of hosts. NKJV

4 “In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of will wane, And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. NKJV 5 It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, And reaps the heads with his arm; It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain In the Valley of Rephaim. NKJV 6 Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches,” Says the LORD God of Israel. NKJV 7 In that day a man will look to his Maker, And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, The work of his hands; He will not respect what his fingers have made, Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars. NKJV

9 In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough And an uppermost branch, Which they left because of the children of Israel; And there will be desolation. 10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, NKJV Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; 11 In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow. NKJV 12 Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! NKJV 13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14 Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us. NKJV Revelation 19 19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. NKJV • “To us, this brief chapter is the most difficult one of all the sixty-six chapters of Isaiah.” (Bultema) • “Although the prophecy is a short one, it probably ranks as the most obscure chapter in this entire section.” (Wolf) • “This is one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole .” (Clarke) Chapter 18 Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, Which is beyond the rivers of , NKJV 2 Which sends ambassadors by sea, Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, To a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide.” NKJV 3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it. NKJV Revelation 13 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. NKJV 4 For so the LORD said to me, “I will take My rest, And I will look from My dwelling place Like clear heat in sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” NKJV 5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect And the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks And take away and cut down the branches. 6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey And for the beasts of the earth; The birds of prey will summer on them, And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. NKJV 7 In that time a present will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth of skin, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide—To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, To Mount . NKJV “A model of the Ark of the Covenant (known as the Tabot) is taken out of every Ethiopian church once a year for 24 hours and paraded during a procession in towns across the country. It is part of a festival known as Timket -- the holiest holiday on the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian calendar. The country is not just the cradle of civilization, it has played a significant role in the formation of many of the world's top religions. It is not only the location of the biblical kingdom of Sheba, it is currently believed by some to house the Ark of the Covenant. CNN The story is told in the Kebra Negast (in Ge’ez language, Glory of the Kings), Ethiopia’s chronicle of its royal line: the Queen of Sheba, one of its first rulers, traveled to Jerusalem to benefit from King Solomon’s wisdom; on her way home, she bore Solomon’s son, Menelik. A few years later, Menelik went to visit his father, and on his return journey was accompanied by the firstborn sons of some Israelite nobles—who, unbeknown to him, stole the ark and carried it with them to Ethiopia. When Menelik learned of the theft, he reasoned that since the ark’s frightful powers hadn’t destroyed his retinue, it must be God’s will that it remain with him. It was then presumably kept in the islands of Lake Tana for about four hundred years and finally taken to Axum, where it was kept safe for more than two thousand years. WND