Back In The Day

Back in the day…

Isaiah 23: 11-18

“Cross over to Cyprus even there you will find no rest…” In other words, if you’re trying to get away from what God has in store for you, you’re not going to be able to. “Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people now of no account, the Assyrians have no made it a place of desert creatures…” That’s the snakes and jackals. “They raised up its siege towers, they stripped it’s fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin. Wail you ships of Tarshish, your fortress is destroyed!” (Oh I wish I had a praying church.) But right there, there is an exclamation point because there is a break in the communication. It changes right there. You see because Tyre had once been a glorious city, but now it has fallen down. It has been punished by God. It has lost its beauty. Amen?

But here’s a break right here because at verse 15 it says, “at that time Tyre will be forgiven; and Tyre will be forgotten. It will be forgotten for seventy years: the span of a king’s lifetime. But at the end of those seventy years it will happen to Tyre, as in the song of the prostitute, take up a harp, walk through the city, oh prostitute forgotten, play the harp well. Sing many a song so that you will be remembered.” In other words Isaiah is saying to Tyre you’re just like a prostitute. You used to be pretty. But you’ve lost your beauty. And now that you’ve lost your beauty, you’re going around singing the old songs about how pretty you used to be. (I can see you all don’t like to help preachers here.) And says here that if you go around singing about how pretty you used to be people will remember you from the old days. Oh help me to preach.

And then it says, “at the end of seventy years the Lord will deal with Tyre and she will return to her hire as a prostitute and will ply her trade with all of the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Yet her profit and her earning will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go before them that live before the Lord, and for abundant food and fine clothes.” (Amen? Amen.) If I can find some folk who will help me to preach, because I told y’all already I’m from the country and being a poor country preacher, I’m not a person who can preach by myself. I need a lots of help. So then if I can find 10 people who will help me to preach this morning, then I want to preach from the subject: “Back in the day”.

How many times have you been in a conversation, folk sitting around reminiscing; talking about how things used to be. And somebody would come up in that conversation and say, “oh we were quite something back in the day”. (Oh I feel my help coming. Oh but it ain’t time to preach yet.) I need everyone in here that’s gonna help me to preach, I need you to come and touch me and give me some of your power as we sing “Lord Send a Revival”.

This morning I want to tell you a story. Now the story isn’t about a little boy or a little girl. As a matter of fact the story doesn’t have to do with a person at all. But rather our story today is about a city. The city was named Tyre. You know about Tyre…it’s what happens to us at the end of the day. We get… The city of Tyre was a beautiful city. It was one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet. What had happened is, because of its superior abilities, it was blessed by God. It had built up some beautiful houses. It had built up a powerful army. But the city of Tyre was best known for its sailing ships. It had the most beautiful, fastest, sailing ships in the entire world. And because it had these big beautiful, ships it had the world’s most beautiful harbor. When you’re sailing into the harbor at Tyre, oh it was the most gorgeous sight to behold. So you would see all these beautiful buildings and beautiful ships all lined up in the harbor. They had excelled. They had the best sailors in the world. And their trade was the biggest and best trade in the world. They were absolutely filthy rich because they had these big beautiful ships and excellent sailors. And they were known for their trade and their harbor. They had become famous all over the world. (So somebody say “famous”.)