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and he hath cast the lot for them and his hand hath divided it unto them by line they shall possess it forever from generation to generation they shall dwell therein the hebrew word nafal means to fall and it's the most common word for fall or fallen in the king james version however the word is certainly used in the sense of casting lots as well while the english word casting implies the act of throwing something well the hebrew reference is simply to drop or to let fall therefore a tighter rendering would be he has let fall or he has dropped and this is followed by goral which is commonly translated lot as it means to invoke the principle of chance whether in reference to a game of chance or selection by chance other examples of its occurring are as follows [Music] as there is no hebrew equivalent for the reference for them the literal translation is he has dropped the lot and moving along and his hand hath divided it unto them by line this is the common hebrew word for hand which when used in reference to the hand of god serves as a metaphor for the agency of christ the hand of god is a common prophetic allegory for christ for instance those who remain undelivered from sin are asked the question is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem in other words is my hand an allusion to christ somehow inadequate in terms of christ's sacrifice for sin and there are many other examples where god's hand serves as an allegory for the agency of christ [Music] and so there is a very good basis to accept isaiah 34 17's reference to god's hand as an allusion to christ in other words this is the lord's doing that these beasts and birds shall inherit a kingdom and his hand hath divided it unto them by line the hebrew word for hand is then followed by the hebrew word commonly translated to divide consider some of its other occurrences cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel i will divide them in jacob and scatter them in israel then were the people of israel divided into two parts they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture and in the prophecy of amos the word is used in similar context to the parceling out of land by boundaries and thy land shall be divided by line in the case of this prophecy of amos the reference is to the land being divided as a consequence of judgment the concept of dividing and measuring out as a spiritual principle relates to divine judgment when babylon was judged she was weighed and divided perez your kingdom has been divided and given to the medes and persians the divine judgment upon babylon involved the parceling out of that kingdom to others and even the inheritance of the saints which is the kingdom of god is referred to in the law of moses and in the prophecies of ezekiel as being divided unto israel in the case of the promised land of canaan this involved judgment upon israel's enemies whom the lord declared he would drive out before israel because of the wickedness isaiah's prophecy is not speaking of literal land but rather a spiritual standing before god babylon is an allegory for an eternally desolated condition in respect to our creator a condition in which christ has cast the wicked out of his presence but he shall say i tell you i know you not which you are depart from me all you workers of iniquity babylon's inheritance shall be shared and even by the children of the kingdom those dealt with in verse 12 of this prophecy of isaiah who did not keep their appointments at the marriage feast of god and so when referring to the faithless condition of those to whom christ came as he does anytime the spirit of god moves he said but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth outer darkness is a spiritual condition not only that it is a divine inheritance one that is marked out for some by divine election so we should therefore reflect upon our use of the term elect because it certainly applies to the saints for instance elect according to the foreknowledge of god the father through sanctification of the spirit and to obedience in sprinkling of the blood of jesus christ they are elect through sanctification which is the process of continuing under christ's sacrifice and having their conscience continually cleansed by the blood of jesus but they are not the only elect there is in fact another category of the predestined of god that is those who were ordained to inherit god's condemnation for there are certain men cryptic unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our god into lasciviousness and denying the only lord god in our lord jesus christ as paul explains this also constitutes the principle of election a principle that involves saints and sinners alike we read hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another into dishonor and what if god willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fed it to destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath before prepared unto glory just as some have been ordained for the eternal overjoying presence of god once christ is revealed as the ever-present creator while others have also been ordained to be eternally blocked from the presence and glory and life of god and therefore to be condemned as unworthy of god and to be cast outside or without constitutes an unbearable form of punishment who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power this is speaking of spiritual things that is a spiritual inheritance therefore there is no reason to suppose the dividing and desolating of babylon to be speaking of any different principle for instance that prophecy of amos that reads and thy land shall be divided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land this contains all the elements that we have described this wicked priest of bethel that is addressed in a misses prophecy occupies a place in the land of israel he was a child of the kingdom so to speak his inheritance in israel stands symbolic of an inheritance in christ his share in christ shall be divided unto others meaning he has been judged as outside of christ and therefore not to have an inheritance in christ and just as those of whom the lord spoke who turned from watching to drinking with the drunkards or the lord of that servant should come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he's not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth why is judgment characterized as a dividing we might consider that those having received kingdom resources hold something of eternal value that must be accounted for therefore the effect of judgment is to divide those condemned must fall away from the spirit's redemptive influence while others are received into the spirit's influences this in such parables as the marriage supper and the parable of the vineyard and paul speaks of being cut out of christ as a branch from the olive tree and such is the nature of the kingdom of god as shown by the teachings of christ and the apostle paul there is also the observation that judgment works two ways by judgment we may be condemned but also by judgment we may be spared and deepened in grace so that the results is that we are stronger in the lord and stronger in his spirit and his hand hath divided it unto them by line the hebrew word translated by line is k which means a line chord rule rim or musical string most of its occurrences are in the context of a chord used for measurement therefore the word is usually translated measuring line in the vast majority of cases prophetic allusions to a plummet or a measuring line signify god's judgment the simple phrase is he has let fall the lot and his hand has divided by line and this is the irrevocable eternal judgment of god of which paul spoke when he wrote behold therefore the goodness and severity of god on them which fell severity but toward thee goodness if thou continue in goodness otherwise thou also shall be cut off they shall possess it forever the hebrew word translated they shall possess connotes more than just merely to possess as the strong's definition reveals it means to succeed upon a property or a right that originally belonged to somebody else not necessarily to intrude upon such a right although the definition allows this inference as well therefore we find it is used in two ways in scripture the first being to succeed upon something by inheritance for instance the word is also used in a more intrusive sense of actually dispossessing others from their land or from their rights for instance genesis 22 17 thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies exodus 34 for i will cast out the nations before thee numbers 21 israel smote them with the edge of the sword and possessed his land numbers 32 and took it and dispossessed the amorite judges 11 23 israel has dispossessed the amorite from before his people and should thou possess it and perhaps the most telling usage of the word is in the context of elijah being told to confront ahab the king of israel regarding his having murdered naboth and dispossessing him of his vineyard we read thus saith the lord hast thou killed and also taken possession that the unclean will be awarded an allotment that they will possess forever it seems counterintuitive to scripture but remember that they are inheriting a desolate waste it is a desolate waste that prophecy offers as the alternative to god's deliverance and to dwelling within his salvation recall the psalm god sets the solitary in families he brings out those which are bound with chains but the rebellious dwell in a dry land there is a pointed irony in the inheritance of those rejecting the kingdom of god even such as these are not without an inheritance and a spiritual one of that they are given the land of their desire that is along with the consequences that god's word has decreed should come upon it from generation to generation they shall dwell therein and this hebrew word is door which is used whether the context be generation in the literal sense or in the mystical sense as this prophecy of isaiah is clearly speaking mystically concerning the mystical babylon inferentially well it is the mystical meaning of generation that we should apply what is the mystical meaning of the principle of generation we find that prophecy declares two generations one of these being the generation of the righteous there were they in great fear for god is in the generation of the righteous and this is the regeneration as those sanctified by the one righteous from among men jesus christ and therefore there are only two generations the generation of the natural man adam and the generation of the last adam that is jesus christ when isaiah prophesies concerning the suffering messiah we read and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken in this prophecy is speaking of the regeneration is that generation inaugurated by christ in the resurrection of the dead paul explains this is in some detail so also it is written the first man adam became a living soul the last adam became a life-giving spirit however the spiritual is not first but the natural then the spiritual we had our birth into the former but we must have birth also into the latter and just as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly the regeneration the fulfillment of the eternal life that is christ that will prolong the king's life and his years as many generations and this is the new creation of god's firstborn portended by the feast of first fruits this shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the lord these are the regeneration because they are the product of two generations both out of adam and of christ babylon is mystical it is outside of ordinary time and when babylon is desolated well it shall be a desolation lasting from the present generation of this age into the eternal generation of the next and so as prophesied earlier in this 34th chapter concerning the inheritance of those ordained unto perdition we read it shall not be quenched night nor day the smoke thereof should go up forever from generation to generation it shall lie waste none shall pass through it forever and ever and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever just as the lord foretold they shall have a resurrection but it will be a resurrection unto damnation marvel nodded this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation [Music] and so we finished this commentary on the 34th chapter of isaiah and having taken a closer look at its various illusions what becomes clear that we are looking at allegory and a metaphor to describe something as clear as the declared gospel of jesus christ the chapter speaks of such things as armies carcasses of men the dissolving of heaven and its host the falling of figs and leaves from the fig tree swords sacrifices the burning desolation of a kingdom birds and beasts thorns palaces and somehow these all relate to something simple as peter tells us and so we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts the coming of jesus christ and the preaching of the gospel brought clarity upon what had been a mystery christ and his kingdom which earlier even the angels desired to look into but with the advent of the gospel what roadblock to understanding was removed and we understand that there is a kingdom accessible by believing in jesus christ believing that god did send his only begotten son in human flesh and believing in his work upon the cross for our forgiveness and our reconciliation to god and our cleansing from sin and believing in his resurrection as the surety of our resurrection that we may consider take warning change our course and seek access into that kingdom and walk as those expecting god's salvation and having reason to be expectant upon god's mercy and upon his sanctification and upon inheriting his glory on that great day