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END TIMES TEACHING

MAHER-SHAL’AL-HASH-BAZ
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Isaiah 8:3 “Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Call his name Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz.’”

 

I bet you are wandering what that name means, don’t worry is on the margin of my Bible, here what the meaning of this name is:

 

Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty!

 

There is a tremendous insight into what is going on today and what went on in the days of Isaiah concerning Israel’s disobedience to the Word of

God. The key to look for here is found in the two opening verses.

 

Isaiah 8:1-2 “Moreover the Lord said to me, ‘Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz. And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechi’ah.”

What the Lord is doing here is taking a solemn oath, in regards to something that He is going to do here on the earth, and He commands Isaiah to get a large scroll and to write on it with a man’s pen, that is in clearly understood human language, and God even summons to Himself two witnesses that will testify, that this is what the Lord said that he was going to do, after it has come to pass just as the Lord said it would.

Within the context of Isaiah’s day, it had to do with the invasion of Samaria by Assyria, now Samaria was the capital of Israel at that time when Israel was divided into two nations, Israel and Judah.

 

Now this prophecy does not concern Judah for God will protect them at this time from the king of Assyria, but it is interesting that God includes in His prophecy the city of Damascus as well.

 

Now why is this so important to us in our present day?

 

1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

 

So that God is clearly teaching us through the past examples of the saints of old, the unfolding of what we see going on today in regards to God’s prophetic words, and the surety of their fulfillment.

 

Let us first begin with the name by which God calls the son of the prophetess on verse three: Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty.

 

What prophecy has God uttered that has not yet been fulfilled, that deals with a foreign nation being drawn speedily, or suddenly, against the nation of Israel for the sake of gaining spoil and booty?

 

Ezekiel 38:13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”

 

This yet to be fulfilled end time prophecy refers to the Russian nation of our present day, which will lead a confederacy of nations against the nation of Israel at the end of days, and the reason why they are doing it, is very clearly laid out in our preceding verse of Scripture.

 

In the oath that God took on Isaiah 8: He also includes the city of Damascus, today’s Syrian capital, as spoil to be gained by them as well.

 

Isaiah 8:4 “For before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”

 

Let’s see if we can put together how this ancient prophecy relates to our current geo-political situation. Here is what we know:

 

From Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, we know with certainty that it will be our present day Russia the nation that will lead this invasion of Israel. Just let me give you a couple of verses for those of you who may not be aware of this declaration that God fore-ordained for our end of time.

 

Ezekiel 38:2-4 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.’”

 

Just like in the days of Isaiah the prophet, when God brought the king of Assyria against the nation of Israel to fulfill His fore-ordained plan, He will do so as well during the end to days, when He will bring this Russian confederacy against the nation of Israel to fulfill His desire to reveal Himself to the nations of the world, as He delivers Israel from the hands of their many enemies as in days of old.

 

Ezekiel 39:7-8 “So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Surely it is coming, and it shall be done, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.”

 

Now in Isaiah’s prophecy God took for Himself two faithful witnesses that would declare to the nation of Israel as well as to the nations of the world, what verse eight clearly spells out:

 

This is the day of which I have spoken!

 

And the reason why the nation of Israel will not profane the Lord’s name anymore at that time, is because after the Lord destroys the Russian confederacy that comes against them, He will send them the Two Witnesses who will not only place the nation of Israel under God’s law, but the rest of the nations of the world as well.

 

Imagine that! The high courts of the nations of the world which declare that it is legal to kill innocent unborn babies through the practice of abortion will be told by the Two Witnesses that it is not! For such a hideous practice violates the law of God:

 

Psalm 127:3 “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” KJV

 

And if these nations decide to live by their own laws and willfully disobey God’s commandments, then they will be punished severally for their disobedience by the Two Witnesses, for it will be their job to enforce God’s law upon all the peoples of the earth.

 

Revelation 11:5-6, 10 “And if anyone wants to harm them (the Two Witnesses), fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These (Two Witnesses) have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire...And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them (when they are killed after their prophetic reign ends after 1,260 days), make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”

 

So, what have we learned so far? Let me see if we can put all these things into their proper perspective utilizing our opening text on Isaiah 8:

 

We have Israel and Damascus as the bait that will draw the Russian bear into God’s end of days trap. It is not a coincidence that Russia is heavily invested in today’s Syria, for even after the nations of the world demanded that the Syrian president resign after he used chemical weapons on his own people, Russia did not back off in their full support for Assad’s regime, instead they increased their armaments delivery and found a way to legitimize this cruel dictator so that he can stay in power.

 

Now why Israel? What is the spoil and where is the booty that they can gain from an invasion of Israel? There is a lot more at stake here than gold and silver and oil, there is a great amount of political capital to be had if they play their cards right.

 

It is painfully clear to many that the present strategy of the United States government is to lead from behind, which is a misnomer, for it really means not to lead at all, for all that this strategy creates is a vacuum of leadership that the likes of Putin would not mind filling up right away.

 

In Isaiah’s prophetic context we are told that before the child of the prophetess is able to have knowledge of who his mother and father are, that the spoils will be gone. To me that means that before people even realize what is going on prophetically, it will be too late, for the vacuum would have already been filled.

 

If the lesser nations of the world come to the conclusion that a power shift is taking place, as many of them are already realizing, then it is to their advantage to align themselves within the orb of this new emerging power, if it is to their own advantage of course.

 

If Russia wanted to endear themselves to a majority of the nations of the world, the destruction and removal of the nation of Israel would play right into the hands of not only many of the Islamic nations, but some of the western nations as well, who privately hate Israel with a passion.

 

As a matter of fact, the nations that join this Russian confederacy against Israel according to Ezekiel’s list in Ezekiel 38, many are Islamic nations today, Persia tops the list of these followers which is today’s Iran, they are continuously calling for the nation of Israel to be driven into the sea.

 

We can honestly say that the might of the Unites States and what we might have done, is what kept Russia from even thinking of invading the nation of Israel in the past, but all of that is now changing rapidly. For even is the midst of the present power grab by Russia in the Ukraine, the United States government is warning Israel to reach an agreement with their enemies or else.

 

I can say with confidence that the child of the prophetess has been born, and his name is Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz, Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty. I can also say with confidence that the bear of the north woods got his scent, and though he might try to resist the temptation of going after this child, if This is the day of which I (God) have spoken, this hungry bear will not be able to resist the bait that is in the hook of God Almighty.

 

Isaiah 8:6-7 “Inasmuch as these people refused the waters of Shiloah that flow softly...Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them the waters of the River, strong and mighty…”

 

Has any nation ever that was called by God to do His purpose here on earth gotten away with their sin of rebelling against doing His will?

 

I am utterly amazed how anywhere that I look in Scripture, how I see the present unfolding just as it was told by the prophets of old it would be.

 

Although we may not have much of a say about what our nation does or about what it fails to do, we do know that our God is a personal God, and that is why He sent His Word personally to save us from our sins, Jesus, His only begotten Son.

 

Isaiah 8:11 “For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people…”

 

This is our walk, looking for that blessed hope, that when He appears we will be with Him forevermore, no matter what!

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