The Early Nations

Transcript

I'm going to apologize up front because x some of uh what we go over in this class x today will be a little bit of What U x Ben's classes were on the image of God x wonderful classes by the way Ben I x really enjoyed them uh but that's x basically it we'll we'll start to Veer x away from what Ben did and we we'll go x into what I'd like to cover and the idea x for these classes actually came um to a x drive through my old town of Easton now x that's where I grew up and I passed by x one of my old elementary x schools and um it it really got me x thinking when I got home that night x about you know how great everything was x in fifth sixth seventh grade you know x you're kind of in those middle years x where you start learning I don't want to x say more important things but you you're x you're moving away from the the cookies x and the Naps from earlier grades to x actually learning stuff and I had had a x lot of favorite things in school um as x many of you know I'm a big Sports guy I x love sports I played every sport growing x up I love sports uh like them now x brother Butch has told me you know it's x okay to like sports but to love them you x have more important things to love which x is right so I like sports now um but I x really I like x mathematics you know as I got older I x started appreciating math and I I really x took math all the way through college x and I never really used it until my x current job uh where I deal a little bit x in finance for the company I work for so x I I've always like x numbers um but my favorite parts of x school were were Friday afternoon x lunches of pizza and you remember the x peanut butter cookies and the salad you x know I remembered that stuff I could x almost taste the school lunch um you x know gym was always one of my favorite x things I love JY um love math I love I x loved all of that but I had a hidden x passion and I don't think many of you x know about it you might have known the x other stuff I mean the sports I'm sure x you all know about uh but I had x something else a hidden thing that I x grew up with probably until I was in my x 20s I became addicted to it so I'm in a x little confessional with you right now x I'm going to let you know what this x addiction was all right so here we go x and this is how it x started and I hope you can see that x beautiful so in the fifth x grade right when you start taking more x important classes they had a geography x class I think it was probably called US x geography and this set in x motion uh my love of x geography uh I love everything about it x now this is a a you probably remember x doing this Kristen Steve those of us old x enough I don't even know if they do US x geography in schools anymore uh a x teacher Lizzy could have probably told x me that x I'm not sure they really do it in the in x depth way we used to have it taught to x us but we used to have to do a report x the teacher would have States in a hat x you'd reach in pick out a state and you x had to do an oral x presentation on this state now this one x is Vermont mine was on New York I still x remember it and I remember my mom x helping me out with it we did exactly x what this shows you know with the the x the the I forget what that stuff was x called postal board or whatever it is x and you had to tell everything you could x think of about that state all right well x this led me into my my real love of of x geography and US geography in particular x so much so that I was able in this I'll x say sixth to seventh grade hand dra our x a mappi the United States that won first x place in my x school yeah so here comes my addiction x and I I hope you're not shocked I hope x you you know you you don't don't want to x pull me aside and and but my x addiction is x maps and Dad may remember this maybe you x don't but when I was from sixth seventh x grade up until probably my 20s I was x addicted to Maps Ren MCN Maps I still x have maps on my car my head is a map I x don't need Map Quest most of the time x because I know basically you know where x I'm going um x I used to read atlases for fun now what x seventh eth grader would read an atlas x for fun Kristen's laughing you know I x would study maps of each state memorize x the highways the x byways everything about it this was my x SE I would go home at night I would draw x maps on my desk at at home I would draw x maps of Easton I would draw maps of x Massachusetts I would draw Maps so I x guess I missed my calling I should have x been a map maker but this was one of my x secret um compassions and what triggered x our classes was was this saying that I x saw on a church Marquee I think it was x in ROM I could be wrong but on their x front Marquee they had this uh blessed x is the nation whose God is the Lord so x this really kind of about a month ago x put in motion what I wanted to go over x uh for our classes for for the next few x weeks uh I've done brother Steve all the x brothers we've all done classes on x Israel and rightfully so as we all know x but I really wanted to look at the other x nations um that are mentioned in x scripture um so we're we're going to x strive to do that I don't know exactly x where we're going to go except for today x I know where I'm going to go but for the x rest of the and I know where I want to x end but in between I I've got a little x work should do but uh we'll get there so x that that's the goal for the next four x weeks to look at the nations of the x world um now of course you can't talk x about the other nations without x mentioning Israel so they they'll be x involved in our talks but the focus x won't be on Israel we're going to look x at some of the other nations and to do x that we need to start at the beginning x so so thus here is somewhat of the x tie-in with Ben's class uh cuz with x everything else is a beginning Nations x and every beginning begins in Genesis x according to the scripture so we're x going to look at um how what the Bible x says about the Nations how God views x them and what the endgame will be for x the nations of the world not named x Israel okay so I hope that sounds good x um it's interesting I've been reading a x book on it x um you know a lot of different sources x uh on on this subject and trying to pull x everything together can be a challenge x but uh let's see where we go so we're x going to start in Genesis so if you have x your Bible and your socl Genesis chapter x 1 and some of this as I said brother Ben x covered so we'll go through it very x quickly um very x quickly so how the Nations began as you x know if you go to Genesis 1 and we're x going to look at verses 26 27 and 28 and x here's where God you know he creates man x in His image of in his own image and and x Ben did a wonderful job covering this um x the thing I want you to to to remember x as we go into these classes um the word x resemblance to reflect God's character x here on the earth and his representative x uh here on the earth as God's stewards x all right so as we go through these x classes those are those are key points x that we need to remember as we go x through our study of the Nations and he x also gave specific commands and and Ben x I forgive me if you touched on this x deeply I know you you mentioned it um x but the one we're going to be looking at x is in verse 28 which said God blessed x them and God said unto them be fruitful x and multiply replenish the Earth and x subdue it have dominion over the fish of x the sea and over the fow of the air and x over every living thing that moveth upon x the Earth so this would what some people x call a Dominion mandate or an endemic x mandate was given to man to be fruitful x and to multiply and to replenish the x Earth x and that's where we're going to launch x from because that's as the Creator and x sustainer of all things this was a x mandate given from God to Mankind and it x was a mandate that still lives on today x it's never ended and it continues and x sometimes you x know I personally there are things that x I've learned over the because of the x study that I tended to forget um and x this mandates one of them and and you x know it's important for us to remember x so why why was this mandate given and x for us to understand it uh there are x some key verses in scripture and one I x want us to look at is Psalm x 45 uh Verse x 18 all right so God has issued this x Dominion mandate to Mankind in Psalm x 45 we read this verse 18 thus saith the x Lord that created the heavens God x himself that formed the Earth that made x it he hath established it he created it x not in vain he formed it to be inhabited x I am the lord and there is none x else okay so why why did God do this x well Psalm 115 is a beautiful uh another x verse the heaven even the heavens of the x Lords but the Earth hath he given to the x children of men and why is he giv it to x the Children of Men x um numbers 14 verse 21 and it's a verse x we all know so well but as truly as I x live all the Earth all the Earth shall x be filled with the glory of the Lord so x we see this Dominion mandate given out x to man to fulfill God's endgame of his x glory being filled in the earth okay so x this is our launching point this is what x we want to remember as we go through our x studies right I have people and not uh x we get in discussions on this all all x the time I have one woman especially x that claims she knows that man is going x to destroy the Earth and it's only a x matter of time and I and she's a Bible x reader and I try to show her some of the x verses that show her that that's not the x case you know God gave it to man uh and x another key is under God's supervision x and we'll be looking at that very x closely too to spread go God's glory so x please remember that as we continue uh x our look at the Nations um so how was he x going to do this well God x um had this wonderful plan for mankind x called x procreation um the joining together of a x man and a woman and they would have x offspring that they would be that they x would teach of the knowledge and the x glory of the Lord and this process would x continue until it was overspread x throughout the Earth um and as we know x uh there was really when it comes to x subduing the Earth and Dominion uh I x couldn't find anything in scripture and x I don't think there is anything that how x this was going to happen just that we x know that it was under God's x Divine preeminence he was going to guide x it all okay I always think back and x we'll touch this verse later um I think x it's Jeremiah 18 where God speaks of x himself as the great Potter x and Mankind is the clay you know God was x was going to sculpt mankind so that he x would be able to have the Dominion and x subdue the world okay we'll get into x that a little later too uh because as we x all know mankind doesn't like to think x of itself as clay you know with a great x Potter uh being in charge of everything x and of course we all know that God saw x everything that it was very x good so currently in the world of Adam x and Eve and early mankind they they we x know they lived in Paradise there were x no so-called Nations um if anything x could be declared a nation under God it x was Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden x all right um you know nowadays United x States declares itself one nation under x God indivisible with liberty and justice x for all and if you do any studies at all x on the United States you'll see that x that that Mantra from the early 1700s x where we were one nation under God x slowly but x surely over the course of 200 plus years x has gone down the other way all right um x mentioning God in a lot of cases isn't x permitted in in some x social uh atmosphere so you know that x that that particular one nation under x God for the United States is has been x steadily on the x decline um but that's what you know Adam x and Eve had one nation under God God x Walked In the Garden of Eden you know if x if anyone could say that it was Adam and x Eve in in the in the x early um early men and that's what we we x we want to get back to all of us you x know is that Garden of Eden you know x under God and his x son x Okay so so we're going to continue and x as we know and again we won't cover this x um sin entered the world and started to x take a foothold uh over Mankind and we x know the story of Adam and Eve in the x command that they were given um in that x they broke and we won't go into that but x we also had Cain killing his brother x Abel as you remember Abel provided a x proper sacrifice and Cain's sacrifice x was lazy he he offered what God didn't x want uh he offered the fruit and God did x not find that acceptable and in his x anger he killed his brother so we have x murder introduced to the scene and x something I didn't even think of until I x started this study uh in if you're if x you're in Genesis if you flip over to x chapter x 4 um the first polygamous marriage is x mentioned um in chapter 4 verse x 19 okay lamech took on to him two x wives God didn't say to do that he said x a man shall leave his father and mother x and cleave to his x wife so we see polygamy entering the x world so slowly but surely even at the x very x beginning we see things starting to x crumble okay mankind starting to to x think and want to do for themselves x instead of following the mandates that x God had given x them uh we know brothers and sisters you x know after Cain um murders his brother x in in verse 16 and you know beyond the x Garden of Eden is really our first x biblical geography lesson isn't it and I x hope to touch on the Garden of Eden a x little bit in our last class um I think x we all pretty are pretty well versed on x we most people and if you look at the x map that I have up there seemed to think x the garden was um but I've read a couple x of things that suggest otherwise that x was pretty fascinating to me so uh Lord x willing I'll we'll look at that in our x last class I thought it was pretty x interesting but uh it says Cain left and x went to the East and entered the Land of x Nod and when I read that I I think you x know I've watched my share of Superman x movies and I thought of Land of Nod as x something super you know something in x the Superman movies might be never heard x of the land of notd um so according to x most Scholars as you can see uh on the x map I believe that's pres present day x Iraq that the Land of Nod because he had x to go east from where where the garden x was so that would be in that general x area so Cain left and it tells we have x the descendants of Cain listed here in x chapter 4 starting at 16 um and and it x it kind of gives us an idea of what x happened to the descendants of Cain um x those who were disobedient to God who x would be who we now know of the seed of x The Serpent and the daughters of men and x they became noted for their culture and x their Commerce and you get an idea of x that here uh listen to what it says it x says Cain went out from the presence of x the x Lord there you x go went out from the presence of the x Lord so so Cain right disassociate it x doesn't want anything to do with it he x went out dwelt in the Land of Nod the x East of Eden he knew his wife bear Enoch x he built the city uh called the name of x the city Enoch Enoch it went through his x it talks about lamech in verse x 19 um verse 20 adab jabal he was the x father of such as dwell in tents and x such as have cattle so if you remember x in the original x Garden x uh early mankind were tillers of the x ground weren't they so now we see here x with kan's Descendants the raising of x cattle uh his brother's name was jbal he x was the father of such that handled the x harp and the x organ all right so without getting into x it you see the development of culture x all right in these x nations and it and it goes on and on um x about you know the avenging of Cain so x we we see um the seed of the serpent the x daughters of men venturing out onto x their own without x God but what a wonderful thing God does x doesn't he you know at the x flood um when he takes away mankind he x leaves a Remnant and here with with the x the murder of of Abel once again he x provides a Remnant through um Seth so we x read that Adam and Eve have another x son whose name is Seth that which means x substituted and this seed of the woman x and we we'll show you later on um um his x descendants um these are the ones that x continue to call on the name of the Lord x that strive to do the will of God and to x fulfill his mandates okay we learn of x and we won't get into a lot about Enoch x just for time sake x um x but a fascinating thing about Enoch you x know when people say well Enoch was x taken to x Heaven um it doesn't say that in x scripture x okay so where was Enoch taken and why x was he taken and and one of the things I x was able to come up with um you know in x Jude 1 ver14 it says that Enoch x testified of x God and I've read a couple of places now x that he besides preaching the word of x God to those who had started to walk x away the descendants of Cain that he x might have been testifying against x lamech remember the gentlemen we said x that started x polygamy that he was doing that and that x lamech had threatened Seth Seth's life x was going to kill x him so when it says God took him away x one thought and I'm not saying it's the x right thought was that he was taken away x for protection that he was moved to x another location because we know Seth is x mentioned with those that have perished x so we know he dies but that he was taken x away for his x protection which kind of makes some x sense to me if he's preaching the word x out there that those there might have x been people threatening him and he was x taken away as protection so we'll just x leave that at that I don't want to get x too much in that another interesting x fact as we approach the flood is x Methuselah um lived 969 years and as far x as I know that's the longest lifespan x recorded in scripture and Methuselah's x name means when he is dead it shall be x sent how how ironic God had seen this x buildup over now we're talking from the x time of creation to the flood some 1500 x years all this history in these first x you know four to eight chapters cover a x long span of time a lots going on all x right but one thing that's become really x known to God is that man's petulant to x sin and evil thoughts is really taking x hold okay really taking hold so meusel x is born and his name means when he is x dead it shall be x sent and it's Legend has it that x Methuselah died just before the flood I x thought that was cool right I thought x not you know the flood everyone's going x to say you know x what I I watched a video this young man x was talking about you remember the x amorites the earliest settlers in the x land of Canaan that Israel was to take x out well he did a video and I watched x probably 10 minutes of it how can a God x destroy a nation like the x amorites and I'm sitting there watching x it and he was really ripping into God x really was and as horrible as a thing as x it as it is we got to x remember the mandates that God set upon x man what man's supposed to do that God x is the Potter and with the clay and when x a nation doesn't obey x God we'll get into this more as we get x into our study you know God is in x control and he'll do what he deemed x right and righteous um so as as terrible x as the flood was um God deemed it the x right thing to do and who are we to x question god with the x clay so I found this next slide very x interesting before we go on any x questions I don't want to x just okay this next slide was great x because this is something i' never x really considered you know we all know x how long man x lived pre flood all right um 900 800 x almost a thousand years x withus so you you know how great the x population uh could expand and and let's x take a look at this I hope this comes x out clear yeah that's pretty good um it x didn't come out very clear but this is a x a lifespan of the Patriarchs from from x creation to the flood and as you can see x right in the middle um this x particular um lifespan chart had dates x the flood around uh 1656 years after x creation so I think I said 1500 so so x give or take but some interesting things x out of this um you know we all know Adam x lived 930 years so just think of all the x generations if you look at this chart x that Adam could have touched in in his x lifespan so if you just if we start you x know Seth enus Kanan mahil Jared Enoch x Methuselah uh lamech this is a different x lamech than the polygamous lamech all x right x and so there's 1 2 3 4 five six seven x eight x Generations that he could have talked x about now what would he have talked x about x well the Garden of x Eden x God creation how wonderful thing was x hopefully he spoke about how they messed x it x up I never thought of this though you x know you read the list and and you know x you know this person lived 800 years and x died beg got sons and daughters and you x really don't think about you know with x us and our children and our x grandchildren and great grandchildren x you know we have that and that's x probably about as far as it's going to x go Adam had eight generations of of x siblings he could talk to about how x great things x were and what they did to mess it up and x the lessons he must have had for them x that must have been pretty x incredible so so this kind of opened my x eye eyes a little bit and as you can see x Methuselah uh passed you know it has x just before the flood and then you can x see the general decline um you know even x after the flood you know the the record x tells us Shem was 98 years old at the x time of the flood and he had his first x son at a x 100 and he Liv 500 more years after the x flood and and many Bible scholars think x the table of Nations was was written by x Shem he had this prolonged life and he x was able to because he he was following x after the mandates of God that it was x set upon him to record toward the table x of x Nations right so we live 500 years after x the flood but then you can see x afterwards how the lifespan down to x Abraham you know 175 years still a long x time but it's not x 969 so as God mandated man's lifespan x started to decrease so I thought that x slide was interesting um the next slide x I put up was was for my own personal x number side of me and I hope you find x this informative because um I I looked x at the population in the United x States and the first census was taken in x 1790 the first official x census um I hope you can see that okay x um so the first census in 1790 there x were almost 4 million people counted in x this x country all right so if you if you look x at the first 110 years the population x increased by some 72 million x people all right in the next 100 x years from 1900 to 2000 the population x increased by 248 million people three x and a half times more than the previous x hundred x years so what I'm getting at brothers x and sisters is you see now in x 2020 um the last census data I got was x 331 plus million people live in this x country x okay so that's a span of what what is x that 230 years no how many years is x that uh 230 x years population has grown by 327 x million x people so I don't think it's too x unreasonable to think brothers and x sisters that at the time of the flood x the population of the Earth could have x been similar to what it is x today there there were a lot of people x and I think two of the ways we know this x is the Bible tells us so it says twice x that the Earth was filled with violence x in Genesis x 6 and for the earth to be filled with x violence it had to be filled with x people it had to be filled with people x um now I'm not saying I know what the x population was because I don't but if x you look at the United States by itself x in 200 years how the population is x exploded and we're talking x much more time than that from creation x to the flood so I think it's a pretty x reasonable um pretty pretty reasonable x to assume that it was a lot of people so x let's move on from the flood any any x questions comments before I go on are x you x awake right you're all looking at me so x that's a good sign I I I really x appreciate that um so x yeah x don't mind me I get I get a little dry x when I talk so okay I love the fact of x the influence that they had on their x Generations you know just to see that x chart that you just had up you know x Abraham was born and lived I was trying x to count the years while Shem was still x living you know when you think about the x stories and the the things that they can x tell and teach and and learn from each x other is kind of amazing because like x you said sometimes we hear one Bible x story and then so and so lived and then x you know we forget that they lived x together you know that they all what was x happening around the world at the time x that they all shared their lives x together so thanks for that yeah it it's x it's pretty amazing because we know x later on in scripture to the nation of x Israel uh God tells them that you know x you'll pass these things down to your x sons and he'll pass it down to his sons x and and I'm sure that was happening here x um but yeah for for for Shem for x for eight x generations to to know what what x happened to Adam how you know creation x and all that must have been pretty x amazing um but yeah that that's that's x really a neat thing and something I x really don't because let let's face it x if you like me and I I love reading x scripture I really do but there are x times when I get to certain parts of it x where I say oh yeah that's just the ages x of all the patri and I just skip it all x right x but when I when you do a study when you x look at it and you just kind of think x about x it I didn't think about gee Adam had x eight generations of siblings he he x could have taught about x God that that's kind of awesome you know x so it goes from you know not to you know x I'm going to read that and I'm going to x look at it and think about it x differently than just a timeline or of x of Ages because you know all scriptures x given to us us for a reason so God gives x us this for a reason um so it's up to us x to look into it and try to find out what x those reasons are so yes and I think it x I thought it was kind of cool too so um x it it was a neat chart and I thought I'd x wanted to share it with you so after the x flood um you know we Ben covered this a x little bit in his class um you know the x seed of the serpent began to marry and x corrupt those of the seed of the woman x so you see the intermingling of the the x descendants of came with the descendants x of Seth and the wickedness of man was x becoming greater and greater upon the x Earth um that famous you know but Noah x found Grace in the eyes of the x Lord and what a wonderful I mean one man x in his x family of another Remnant and what a x wonderful verse you know I mean how much x would brothers and would you like to x hear from our savior you know we know we x have we have Grace God gives us x Grace when Jesus returns you know anti x into the kingdom long promised you have x found favor in the eyes of your lord you x know what a beautiful phrase that is I x just you know I get tingles when I read x that you know out of everything God is x able to x see you know goodness and a Remnant to x keep you know because what's his x ultimate x goal the Earth will will be filled with x his glory and nothing is going to get in x the way of that okay and it's up to man x to either accept that or not x to it's x pretty pretty easy choice you can or you x can't you know God's given us that x ability above the animals to make that x decision oh I didn't know you couldn't x see what I was um hold on I was going to x Okay so we have the renewed mandate um x in Genesis chapter 9 but there are some x changes to it uh After the flood um God x places a fear and a dread of mankind on x the animals so if you remember in the x beginning um you know man was a x vegetarian and there was no fear or x dread of the animals you see the x pictures of the garden the animals and x man walking freely and and things were x in harmony well that Harmony is now x broken uh there's a fear and dread of x man with the x animals um and God also declares x everything is is okay for you now to eat x um except for the blood you can you can x now eat meat um another thing that that x he had made in addendum to is in verse 6 x of Genesis 9 and I do want to look at x that because this is kind of in my mind x the first x law that a nation would decree three x would be Genesis 9 uh verse 6 God said x who so shth man's blood by man shall his x blood be shed for in the image of God x made he man all right and again in verse x 7 he reminds them be fruitful and x multiply bring forth abundantly and x multiply therein x um but there was still a problem even x after this okay in back in chapter 8 x verse x 21 God says um I will not again curse x the ground anymore for man's sake for x the imagination of man's heart is evil x from his x Youth and then he goes on saying how we x he won't um neither will I again Smite x anymore every living thing as I have x done while the Earth remaineth seed time x and harvest cold and heat summer and x winter day and night shall not x cease okay so once again God's will is x going to be done the Earth isn't going x anywhere God's glory will fill it x and he makes this mandate now to x man but he he comes right out and says x man's the imagination of man's heart is x evil and x unfortunately um we'll see that x continuing as we go a little further x into x Genesis um Genesis 9: x 19 you know when people mention where x did the origins of the Nations come from x and when I say they came from Noah's x Three Sons they x laugh well the Bible says these are the x three sons of Noah and of them was the x whole earth x overspread so you know you know the old x history books won't say x that but this is what God says and you x know I might not have when I was in x fifth sixth grade learning this stuff x I'm sure when it came to test time I x wrote down what the what the the school x books told me to write down you know so x I could do well on the test but as we x grow older and wiser you know man's x history books aren't always correct x we'll leave it at that God says that the x world was overspread through Noah's x Three Sons then it was overspread by x Noah's Three x Sons okay so that's pretty x clear um what comes next in in in in is x is an amazing do we have time yeah um a x prophecy concerning Noah and his sons x and it's important x because you know he Noah comes out of x the Ark with his family x and they've been told to start a x new okay and I I think I don't know how x many years it was but the Bible tells us x that in in chapter 9 verse 20 Noah began x to be a husbandman and he planted a x Vineyard so not being a connoisseur of x Vineyards I looked it up and it said the x typical Vineyard takes four to seven x years to take hold and produce wine for x for consumption so I'll use that number x if anyone has a better number I'll go x with it I I don't know so some time has x passed and he was able to have a x Vineyard and x unfortunately Noah overdid it he overdid x it um it says uh he he was naked in his x tent and that um well let's read it x instead of me trying to remember it um x it says ham the father of Canaan and x it's funny that it mentions his son some x people take that to mean that that it x was actually Canan who saw the x nakedness of Noah uh of of x Noah um I don't know I think it was ham x because it says and ham and the father x of Cana the father of Canaan some say it x was both of them um it really doesn't x matter um but that ham saw the nakedness x of his father and told his two brothers x without so the Assumption being that x that ham Leed or gawked at his father he x disrespected him and there's a beautiful x verse uh in 1 Peter x 4:8 uh uh Proverbs 14:9 it says fools x mock at sin and I think that's a great x way to describe what x ham was doing he was mocking his father x because of his sin uh he was learing at x him I don't know exactly what he was x doing but that's that's what he was x doing he wasn't doing the right thing x where his two brothers come in uh cover x the nakedness of their father and if you x think of First Peter 4:8 it says that x loves love covers sin and that's exactly x what two other brothers were doing they x were covering the nakedness of their x father so then Noah and and I can only x think of this as Divine because what x we'll see in next week's class as the x three sons fulfill their mandate to go x out and overspread the Earth this is x where Noah's eyes are really opened and x it can only be through divine x intervention brothers and sisters that x he x really knows at this point the x characteristics of his son Sons and how x their descendants will be and we'll look x at that next week because it's x fascinating um and I'm sure you all know x where the Suns end up going uh but we're x going to cover that next week in the x characteristics of the people that x become their descendants is fascinating x but we'll finish up here with a look at x at this prophecy and in in basic x words um you know and again it's it x can't be anything less than divine x intervention uh Noah awakes and he says x cursed be x Canaan well if you remember the land of x Canaan and much later in Scripture it x was made up of many several tribes all x right that kind of fell the amorites the x jebusites those names you read x constantly through you remember you get x to David and it says David took over the x jebusites the city and became the city x of David Jerusalem you know all those x old names we read about well that was x Canaan these all these nations tribes x more so than Nations made up the land of x Canaan and and basically what this curse x says is you know because of what you did x ham you know your son Canaan yeah he'll x get his land but at some point in the x future shem's descendants are going to x take it x over shem's x descendants were Abraham and the x Israelites and we'll look at that a x little bit next week too um so I I have x you know really when we look at the x descendants of Shem you know and we'll x look at it more in detail next week x because they inhabit mostly the promised x land area uh with Saudi Arabia that part x of the world so they become famous more x known for their monotheistic Faith their x religious Zeal uh the descendants of x jath um would enlarge in intellectually x they tended to go more off to to Greece x um in those parts of the world okay and x the hamites um really would be you know x a it says a servant but it's not a x servant in the think word we think of it x they would really be the physical force x that would provide for the other two and x we'll look at that a little bit next x week too as they overspread uh the Earth x so I want to x close x and we'll we'll skip that um not we'll x look we'll start next week but I'm going x to skip this slide we'll look at this x next week with Nimrod but this is a a x chart that I found we'll close with this x of the founding of the Nations and I x hope you can see that pretty well um if x you got to start on the far left so you x see Noah and then you see ham Shem and x and japheth and if you look at at the x descendants of ham uh Kush and misim x misim would become Egypt all right so x these are the earliest Nations obviously x on this side and the latter nations are x are to the far right but uh if you look x at the line of Canaan you see all the x land of Cana all these as I mentioned x the amorites that you know are are in x this Lane of Canaan so you can see they x they're early uh you got tribes in India x coming off of of the jeftic Nations the x Arabian tribes if you look at the line x of Shem his son of faxed saah and then x we get to Eber and eber's name is x commonly the one with the name HEB x Hebrew come from comes from Eber and x then you look through his Descendants x the Arabian trib off of x Joan all right then follow from Pelle to x rayul all the way down to Tera and then x you get to his sons haran nahor and of x course Abram so you can see just by x looking at this I think this is a pretty x cool thing to look at how long it is x before the nation of Israel comes onto x the scene and how all these other x nations have already been established by x the time um Israel moves into the x picture and x displaces those in Canaan um as x prophesied by Noah through through God x that this would happen so it's a pretty x interesting map I like it and I I think x it's a good you can see the other x nations two that defend in uh x you know the are on there uh x they're the descendants of Esau and x we'll look at some of these nations as x we go later into it because the Bible uh x does have things to say about them and x so we'll look at that

Transcript

The Dominion mandate given to God and the purpose of that mandate being that God's glory should cover the whole earth. We talked about that mandate being reissued after the flood to Noah and to his sons. We talked briefly that the Bible, how clear it is that the earth would be overspread and filled by the descendants of Noah and his sons. And then we talked a little bit in closing of Noah's prophecy regarding Ham's grandson Canaan. And that's basically where we left off last week. We briefly looked at what some of the nations became of Noah's sons. And as you can see, that comes up pretty well. The Shemites, the descendants of Shem, were generally the Arabian nations. The Hamites were basically in the Africa area even though, and I put a different map on there this week. Hopefully you can see it okay. The descendants of Shem are the purple nations. The descendants of Ham are the, I guess you'd call it, gold or light brown. And the descendants of Japheth are in the bluish -green color. So you can see the Hamites populated the top-right portion of Africa, and they were in Arabia as well. And the Japhethites occupied quite a bit of Asia Minor up into Europe in that area up there. And I put another little interesting, a short little slide, which would prove to be important today, brothers and sisters, is the Hamites and the Japhethites tended to be polytheistic nations. And if you look at the little pods of Hamites, you know, Kush, Put, not in there is Miserium, which becomes present-day Egypt. Kush would become present-day Libya in those nations. Of course, Canaan, the inhabitants of the land in Canaan before they were to be expelled according to the word of God. And Nimrod, and we're going to look at Nimrod a little bit this morning. And then the Shemites in their land, the descendants of Shem, of course, would be terror. And his descendants, which would lead us down to Abram. And of course, the lineage of Jesus comes from the line of Shem. And the Japhethites, those nations, Gomer, Mago, Tubal, Javan, will play a key role, as we all know, in the coming, we hope, near future. These nations will be part of the alliance that comes down upon Israel. So even from the beginning of times, I hope to do in our next class, if not our last class, is look at these nations of Gomer, Magog, and Gog. Just a little more in depth. So I thought that was a cool slide, just so you could see where these people spread out. The next thing that really didn't click into my mind originally, as I was doing the class, was the count in Genesis 10 speaks of 70 nations. Now, as I mentioned in our first class, I was a math major. So I was curious, all of a sudden, again, it didn't probably hit me till mid-week, does the number 70 mean anything here? Usually we read it, and I'm as guilty as anyone, sometimes I don't dig a little deeper. So I decided to look at this number a little bit, 70 nations. And again, I put down just thinking, you know what, the answer really didn't come to me till this morning. What I think the answer is, now you might not think of something totally different, and that's great. So if you look at the number 70, and I put up on the screen, there were 14 from JFET, 30 from HAM, 26 from SHEM. And the number 70, is it significant? We know 70 is 7 times 10 equals 70, and 7 is the number of spiritual perfection. 10 is the number of ordinal perfection, so 70 is the number of perfect spiritual order. Now again, we've got Bible verses I put up here, and one of them is in Numbers 11, 16, where Moses appoints 70 elders. The one I want to look at though, and a few of these, so if you have your Bibles and you're inclined and want to look, turn to Deuteronomy 32 verses 7 and 8. Again, we're looking at this number 70, and is it a significant number here when it comes to the nations? And I'm going to change my glasses because I have my low volume ones, and for me to read anything now, I need high strength glasses. So if you look at Deuteronomy 32 verses 7 and 8, this is Moses' Song of Joy. This is just before he falls asleep. And this is what he says, he says, Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father and he will show thee. Remember we spoke about that last week. A part of the jobs of the fathers, the family union, was to pass down the history, the knowledge of God to the future generations. Verse 8, when the most high divided to the nations their inheritance. So he's referring back here to Genesis 10. When he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. I thought that was pretty interesting. So where does that reference to? Well, if you turn to Genesis 46, that's where you'll find that number. It's in verse 27. It says, all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three scoring ten, seventy. Okay, that's pretty interesting. Now we know, brothers and sisters and friends, that God just doesn't put numbers in Scripture just to put a number. There's meaning behind these numbers. Okay, so I dug a little deeper. If you go to Acts 17. Okay, now this was some 1500 years after Jacob's family had moved into Egypt. And Acts 17 says the following. And it's not exact, but I think it's pretty similar. You remember Paul is in Athens at this time, and he sees all the statues to the gods and goddesses, and he makes a comment to the Athenians. So we're going to start in verse 24. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to our life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us. And then in Luke chapter 10 it mentions Jesus sending out 70 disciples. And originally, oh, I still do have a question mark at the top of the screen, because I wasn't sure if this meant anything. Maybe it doesn't. But then I started thinking about my class last week. What was the purpose of Adam and Eve and all me and kind? What were they to do? They were supposed to spread the glory of the Lord upon the earth. Well, that's what the disciples were supposed to do. They were sent out to spread the good news of the gospel message, the glory of God. And I think that's, and I've never thought of it this way, of nations. You know, we think of it as individuals with the disciples being sent out, but the nations. These 70, they were part of that dominion mandate to go out and overspread the earth and to glorify God, to spread God's glory. Now we know before the flood that it didn't happen. And unfortunately, it didn't happen here either. So does that make sense? You know, I was kind of cool. I was actually shaving this morning when the thought came to me 70 disciples. Why were they sent out? Well, that's got to be the same reason the 70 nations. You know, according to the Bible. Any thoughts on that? Or you can tell me if I'm off base, if you think. But I thought it was, you know, the consistency, the theme of Scripture, as we all know, is just amazing. And even back here, in the beginning of time with the development of nations, it's the same message. It doesn't change. It's incredible. Any thoughts? No? Does it make sense? All right. Shaving this morning. I got to remember that. My brightest idea is come while I'm shaving. So I thought that was kind of cool. So after the flood, in the confounding of languages, you know, man's rebellion against his maker and the course that man set hadn't changed. And we're going to look at the confounding of languages in a second. But men continued to rise up, not in fulfilling God's dominion mandate and spreading his glory, but trying to attain his own glory here on the earth. And we have important civilizations starting to take place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, nations, empires that contributed a lot of things to civilization. But doing part of the dominion mandate, but they weren't glorifying God. As we read in Scripture, most of these, you know, we just read Paul's letter, you know, in Acts, when he was in Athens, you know, all the statutes of God's and goddesses they had. So they weren't glorifying the true God. They were making their own gods. And this would, as we know, become a huge problem. One thing I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, I'm going to try something here and I hope I don't mess this up. I'm going to use a pointer and I've never tried this on a PowerPoint. So bear with me one second. One key thing, and this will be brought up in our next class or two. Let's see. Ooh, laser pointer. Can you see that? Oh, wow. This is neat. So if you look at the land of Egypt, and we all know where Egypt is, and I was going to draw a circle originally, but I decided against it. So this is basically the land of Egypt. Mesopotamia off here to the right, you know, where my laser pointer is. The Tigris-Euphrates ecosystem is up here. And if you notice in both cases, one thing that plays tremendously important in both early civilizations are rivers. You have the Nile and Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates, and Mesopotamia. And we'll talk a little bit more about this in the future class. The importance, the number of times Scripture speaks of rivers. And it either speaks to them as drying up or overflowing. And we're going to look at that in the case of Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire speaks of a river drying up. So, you know, when you read that in Scripture, just remember the importance of rivers to the early settlers of the world and how important they were. And you can see, I mean, to move goods around, you know, with how important rivers and waterways were back then. So, that's just a little tidbit for the future. Any thoughts, questions? We're good? Okay. Was that 70, Steve? Yeah, I didn't look that reference up. So, you're probably right. So, what would you think the importance of that would be? Continuation of the 70 thing. Yeah. And I'm sure there were others. I didn't even, and fine. So, there's a lesson if you want to do a study on the number 70. That would be cool. I tried to give a class years ago on numbers in the Bible. Very interesting, very interesting study. So, you know, and hopefully you can see that in the middle of Ham. I didn't put it there on purpose, but it's aptly placed because one of Ham's descendants, Kush, would have a son. And his son would be Nimrod. And here we see in these civilizations, mankind, the urge to become powerful. You know, it wasn't enough to exist with the knowledge of God and all that he was providing. Men wanted to establish their own power base against God. And we see this early on with some of these, as they're called, mighty men. And the one the Bible mentions would become a serious challenger to God and his name was Nimrod. So, if you're in Genesis still, chapter 10, gives us a little background on this man, Nimrod. All right. And if you look at verse 8, Ham's son, Kush, begat Nimrod, and the first mention of a mighty man in the earth, this man, Nimrod. He's the first one to be mentioned as a mighty man. And it says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Wherefore it was said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And this phrase, mighty hunter, you know, we all think of Nimrod and there's a picture that I found online of Nimrod, you know, killing an animal. Probably it looks like a deer or something to that effect. And growing up, that's all I ever thought of, you know, Nimrod. Oh, he was a hunter. He went out there with his spear or his bow and he hunted for venison, for game. And I think Scripture is telling us more than that as a mighty man as a hunter before the Lord. If you look at Hebrew, in Hebrew the word can be translated as tyrant. And if you look into history, some historians think that Nimrod was actually Sagan the Great, the founder of the dynasty of Akkad. And that's one of the earliest small dynasties in Mesopotamia. Nimrod would be famous for being the first man after the flood to use force to subjugate people and to conquer territories. And I think this phrase, mighty hunter, speaks more than just the ability to go out and hunt for game. I really think, looking back on some of the history, that it means his ferociousness of dealing with other people. His incessant need to dominate and to take over other people and to suppress them. So I think that mighty hunter is a little more than just hunting animals. He was, in a way, hunting people as well and trying to dominate them. Like Cain, we're told he found the city. And in verse 10, the beginning of his kingdom. So we see here, you know, not God's kingdom, but his own kingdom. Nimrod was Babel, okay? And Erich and Akkad and Carneth in the land of Shinar. The land of Shinar, and I don't have the map back up, is Mesopotamia, where we showed the Tigris and Euphrates. That's where these places are. And he established his own kingdom. And as the population of Babel increased, if you remember from our first class, we went over how the population of the United States had gone from 3 million in 1790 to today's figure, and I forget what it was, 320-something million people in 230 years. So population increases can be rapid, alright? So as the population of Babel increased, well, you're constricted in one area, what did he do? He spread out. And he spread out around Babel with these other towns, Akkad and so on and so forth. But even then, that wasn't enough. And we find he ends up moving, if you look at the account in verse 11. He said, out of that land went forth Asher, okay? Now Asher would become Assyria, alright? Land to the north, hopefully you can see it on this map. I still have my pointer. So here's where Nimrod originally was down in Babel. You see some of the other towns that I mentioned. There's Babel right there, Akkad. And again, historians can't be 100% accurate on some of these locations, but they're general locations, okay? So he started spreading out to the north, up into Assyria, and you can see Nineveh. Nineveh plays a role in biblical history, as we know, with the Assyrian Empire. So Nimrod starts moving up and taking over more territory, as his population grew, okay? So then we move on to chapter 11, and this is really, you know, we had chapter 10. We're looking now, brothers and sisters, from every account I can read. I've read some accounts where it says the Tower of Babel was 100 years after the flood. I've read some that say 200 years after the flood. Again, with Jocelyn, a little with semantics, with numbers. So let's say it's between 102 years after the flood that this took place. Not a relatively long period of time. It didn't take long, did it? But mankind to, you know, stop God's mandate or try to stop God's mandate. So if you skip over to Genesis 11, and, you know, as a kid, as a child, I always thought, you know, they want to build this tower so they can reach God. You know, they want to declare their own sovereignty that, you know, we're not listening to you. You know, we can do what we want to do. We can build what we want to build. And we can become our own nation. You know, instead of the mandate of being one nation, one people under God, we're going to be one people excluding God. And we see that a lot in the world today, don't we? Even in our own country, which was founded for religious freedoms, we see a lot of the mentions of God being taken away in this country. And 100, 200 years after the flood, they started to do the same. So look with me if you could at verse one. So it says, the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And verse two, as it came to pass as a journey from the east that they found a plane in the land of Shinar, which is Mesopotamia, and they dwelt there. Some texts will have it called Sumeria along with Shinar. So they journeyed off. And the scripture tells us, again, that the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And that word language in Hebrew is Zaffa, lip or exalted language. So remember the plan, 70 nations sent out to overspread the earth to glorify God. So it makes sense at that time that those nations were all speaking the same language. So what language were they speaking? Most historians think it's a form of Hebrew, not current Hebrew, but a different dialect of Hebrew. But scripture tells us here with these words, brothers and sisters, because it speaks of speech. And that word speech is Dvar, the word spoken from the heart. So if you put these two pieces of information together, Zaffa and Dvar tell us that at this point in time there was only one language that meant space. And it was a dialect, a God-given divine dialect that they all speak. And they were all under total agreement too. So it was a divine language that the earth, the people of the world were speaking. That Adam and Eve spoke from God. So it's really, and we're told that this language will return in the kingdom age. And I probably, I'll jump a little bit. Yeah, it's down at the bottom. Zephaniah 3 and 9 tells us that this divine language will return at the return of Christ and in the kingdom age. So it was something God-given demand, but here he's going to take it away. And I'll go back to where we were. So that's an interesting thought. I never really gave that much thought either. You know, he confuses the language, thus the term babble. And so they couldn't communicate to each other. But I really didn't give much thought to the divine language that they had at that time. You know, all for the glory of God, that divine language. Really important when we think of this account. So we get to verses 3 and 4, and you can count on your own, but look at all the times. This really reinforces this rebellion from God, brothers and sisters. You know, they said one to another, go to, let us make brick, burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime, had they for mortar. And they said go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach to heaven. Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered or brought upon the face of the earth. So that's what 5, I counted anyhow. You know, no mention of God whatsoever in these verses. So they wanted to go out and build a tower. And the Bible doesn't say, does it here in chapter 11, that Nimrod was the architect of it all. But considering the historical evidence, Josephus also writes that it was Nimrod who was the architect of this whole venture to build this tower. You know, and you could almost feel, I can see a picture of them. You know, yeah, we know you destroyed mankind with the flood. But you know what, we're going to build a tower that a flood can't touch. You know, you can sense that arrogance in him and in man, that they would rebel by building themselves a tower. Well, we know that God sent his angels down to look upon their project and his response was to scatter them. You know, back to verse 1 where it says, they went east to the land of Shinar. So if my thinking is correct, Nimrod's father, Kush, we said earlier, had moved and inhabited the land of northern Africa. So to me, that means that the Nimrod was headed that way with them, was that way with them, which would explain this moving back to the east, back to Mesopotamia, against the mandate of God. So God scatters them. He says, you know what? You know, you're trying to come together and stay in one place. This isn't what I want. And he scatters them, he forcibly makes them leave that area and fulfill his mandate. Currently, again, another wonderful 70 different languages were in Genesis 10 with the 70 nations. And today, there are over 200 nations organized with 6,600 distinct languages and dialects. The Kingdom Age, there'll be one. That's amazing. We know the project collapses and, you know, when you think of the project collapsing, what would happen right away? We tend to do this today. I remember being in high school. And those of you old enough remember, we had groups of kids in school, right? There were brains. There were jocks. There were, I don't know how to put this delicately. There were those who like to use recreational chemicals. We call them a couple of other things, but what else were there? They were cliques, right? I wasn't in a clique. You know, I didn't consider myself a chemical user. Don't worry about that, but I didn't smoke. I didn't do any of that stuff, Dad. I was a semi-jock. I was a semi-brain. So I could kind of filter among each of the groups. You all know what I'm talking about, right? But back in high school, it was a really big thing, these cliques, these groups. And in these nations, after the confounding of their speech, you know, your natural thing is to go to those who spoke the same dialect you spoke, to hang out with them. You know, I can't understand Brother Gordon, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time with him, but I can understand Brother Jason really well. I'm going to hang out with him. And that's what happened over this time. They expanded, they were forced to expand, and they expanded with those of light tongue, okay? Instead of fulfilling the mandate of God with the divine tongue to overspread the earth, God forced this upon them. And you can notice the image I think I have up there of a ziggurat is correct. Most pictures you will see showing the tower shows a spiral, you know, going up. If you look at Mesopotamian history, they're full of ziggurats. There's not really any towers spiraling round and round that go up. So the image I have was more realistic of what they were building, okay? Any thoughts, questions? Oh, right. So what is a nation? You know, I should have probably started this way, but I didn't. But we'll do that now. So a nation is a large type of social organization where a collective identity has emerged for a combination of shared features across the given population. Those of light tongues got together and nations were formed out of them. Language, history, ethnicity, culture, territory, or society. I like the second one better. A large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. Okay, Brother Mark, that's great. We know that. The Hebrew word for nations is goe, and it occurs 500 times in the Old Testament. The Greek word is ethnos, and that occurs 150 times in the New. And the one thing I want you to remember, Brothers and Sisters, when you read of nations, it can also actually mean a nation, but it can also stand for the word Gentiles, right? And as we know, outside of the children of Israel, all the other nations are Gentiles, right? They're non-Hebrew, non-Israelite-ish, or heathen. Okay, so remember that as we go through our studies, because there will be times when the word nations is Gentiles. But they're also insane with ethnos. It's translated nations, Gentiles, heathen, or peoples. But now, and this just seems to have happened over the course of 30 years, there are other types of nations, all right? Like Red Sox Nation, which isn't doing too well right now. And remember our definition. It's a group of people that come together for a common purpose. That's what Red Sox Nation is. Group of people come together. The dissents, any of that could be secondary, but they come together for their love of the Red Sox. The next one, I can't believe I'm even mentioning, but Elizabeth would love this, Taylor Swift Nation. Just a thing that's grown over, seems overnight. It's crazy, isn't it? You see the news reports and the Swifties, I think they're called. And they consider themselves a nation. They love of Taylor Swift and her music. They have formed a nation. Well, first Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, calls the saints a nation. And we as brothers and sisters, baptized in Christ, are a nation. Our love of God is a word of truth. Our faith in him and in his son puts us in a nation. So we are a nation. So there's all different types of things that can be called nations, all right? So I thought that was kind of cool to get that out there. I guess I could have been back in my day considered part of Red Sox Nation when they were winning and I was hooked on sports. I'm sure some of you can term, agree with what I'm saying, that sports can become a real overpowering force in your life. Because let's say we all look, this day and age, I was talking to some coworkers and they say, I can't watch the news. It's so depressing. And I said, I hear you. We're all looking for distractions, good things, happy things to take us away from that. And sports did that for me. But doing this study, one thing I really, as bad as the news can be, I know where it's all pointing to. And I see some hedge going up and down. And that is my comfort now. I go into work and, boy, isn't it terrible what Israel's doing in Gaza? And I say, yeah, it is. And no one wants to see loss of life. But it's fulfilled. And Brother Chris wants to say, but it's leading to a purpose. And that purpose is what we're all excited about. Brother Chris, go ahead. Of course, the Catholic religious system today very much mirrors the Tower of Abel. And from today's readings, we are told, therefore, come unto Jesus who suffered without the gate, sharing his reproach. And we very much do that, leaving behind the mainstream religions and the ways of the world, the Tower of Abel, we come to Jesus outside the gate. And we suffer reproach for that because we don't participate in the mainstream affairs of where the mass crowds are going. But it sheds a little light on what that verse was about and the fact that Jesus, as the burnt offering, was offered outside the gate. He was rejected by the religious system in Israel as well. And we too today follow that coming out of the mainstream religion. And for that, we are scrutinized for it. I didn't mention it, but as Brother Chris brings up, Nimrod, one of his goals, Babelon, was to destroy the order of Melchizedek. That's basically what he wanted to do. And many times we think of Egypt, we think of the land of Egypt, the times that God called not the children of Israel, but Jesus out of Egypt, out of that land of sin. So yeah, that's a great point, Brother Chris. And that was Nimrod's desire. And his desire still lives today. We get into the book of Revelation and the number of times it talks about Babelon, the great harlot. And maybe we'll look at that in one of our last classes as well, how from the beginning of time that it's still around throughout the centuries. So yeah, thanks, Brother Chris. Anything else? So what is God's view? There have been some great empires, I think of the Roman Empire. And one thing I think about, they have contributed great things to civilization. I think of road building. The Romans were famous for their building of roads. And where would we be today, brothers and sisters, without roads? I'd look out here and many of you traveled half an hour an hour, maybe even more, to get here each Sunday. And if we didn't have roads, that would be a hard thing to do. So thank the Roman Empire for that. But what does God think of the empires of the world? How does he view them? There were two verses in Isaiah. Isaiah 40 verse 15. As a drop of a bucket and accounted as a small dust of the balance. Isaiah 40, 17 is nothing and they accounted to him less than nothing in vanity. So God's viewpoint of the nations, they've rejected him. And this is how he views them. And there's a reason why he views them this way. But even with this view throughout Scripture, we'll look at this too. God is still concerned with the nations, like he is with our individual salvation. It says in Haggai 2.7 that God will shake all the nations and the desire of all nations shall come. And that day is going to come when the Lord Jesus returns. The nations of the world will be shaken and they will have a decision to make. Whether to come and bow before the throne of Jesus or not. And in Psalm 72 it says, all nations shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. And then if we look at Revelation 21 in the past, if we look at Revelation 21 verse 24. You think this would be an easy one for me to get to? All right. Revelation 21, 24, in the nations of them which are saved, so there will be nations that come and submit to Jesus. They shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it. So there will be nations that will be saved and we'll look at that a little bit next week. Some of the nations, especially those around Israel, Egypt, the Moabites, the Mennonites, some of those nations we read about throughout Scripture, we'll take a look to see if there's a future in God's plan of salvation for these nations as well. And probably, wow. So this, I find this page very comforting as I mentioned earlier. You know, it's a terrible thing that's going on in the Ukraine. Brother Butch has had wonderful classes on Vladimir Putin's efforts to want to re-expand Russia to its glory. And I think there's no doubt about it. You know, doing studies on this, looking up articles on some of Vladimir Putin's speeches. He wants to return to the glory days of Russia due to the NATO push. You know, NATO has pushed further into Europe, into Poland, other areas bordering current Russia. He's going to want that land back. And those territories which he's going to want back were some of those ancient territories that we read of in Ezekiel 38. Gogh, Magogh, those nations which I mentioned in Ezekiel 38, he will try to re-control before he comes down. Now whether it's actually taking over the land or those lands joining up with him, I don't know. But that's to come. So, but the part I'm getting off track is the comfort I get is boundaries of nations determined by God and not man. All this chaos is controlled by God. And one thing I always think of, you know, man went to the moon back in 69. Right, Dad? Was it 69? I was little. I can't remember. 69 or 70? Yeah. Sharon's waving. Hasn't gone back to the moon since. Hasn't gone back. Great plans to go to Mars, Saturn. Now machines might have, but man hasn't. Because God sets the boundaries. Man's place is on the earth. This is my thought. You might differ on it. That's fine. But my thought is man will never. Won't happen. God's not going to let it happen. Man's place is on it. He gave the earth to us, to mankind. So God sets the boundaries. And we just read this in Acts 17 where Paul was talking to the Athenians about God setting the boundaries of mankind. Nations will rise and fall. In fact, if you look at the original 70 nations, you know, none of them are still around in their form back then. They've changed. They've evolved either shrunken or gotten bigger or changed altogether. So all of these successions have been determined by God. And that should be comforting to all of us. And I try to bring this message out to others when they talk about, you know, some of them are scared. But we're going to blow the planet up. You know, Russia and America are going to get into a nuclear war. China. You know, we're going to blow this thing up. And it's like, no. No. You know, the Bible tells us differently. You know, God is in control of all things. It'll get to a point. We know that. Armageddon, we know things will get to a point. But then God's going to stop it all. And we're comforted by these things. Psalm 47, God is king of all the earth. Okay? Acts 15, 18. No one unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. He alone rules in the kingdom of men. Again, the great verse in Daniel 2.21, which we're going to look a little bit at next week. Daniel 2.21, God changes the times and the seasons. He removeeth kings and seteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding. And of course, this well-known verse in Daniel chapter 4, verse 17. After Daniel has his image directed by God into what the image means to the intent, that the living may know that the most high ruleeth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whosoever he will and seteth up over it the basis of men. That famous verse we quote quite often about God ruling in the kingdom of men. Isaiah 60, verse 12. If we turn to that real quick and we'll finish up here because time is getting short. Isaiah 60, verse 12 reads, And this is failure of nations to fulfill what God had said about fulfilling his glory, what Paul spoke about in Acts 17. We read that here in Isaiah. Verse 12, For the nation in kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Those nations shall be utterly wasted. But we all know, and we'll close here, brothers and sisters, when we think of, we know we have a merciful God as well. But mankind looks at it as, well, God's not playing by our rules. Well, you're supposed to play by God's rules. That's where the mercy and the grace come in. You play by God's rules. Jeremiah 18, he wants nations as he wants people to turn to him. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And we saw evidence of that in Scripture. It gives us evidence. Remember when God told Abram, I'm going to destroy Sodom because of the wickedness and the evil. And Abram made his pitch to God. Heavenly Father, what if I find fifty righteous there? What does God say? I won't destroy it for fifty righteous. And if I remember correctly, that works all the way down to ten. God says I will not destroy it for ten. Of course, the next chapter we learned that they were destroyed because there wasn't one that wasn't one righteous in God's eye. Verse 9 of Jeremiah 18, And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I intended to do for it. Well, children of Israel, a great example of that. And you remember Jonah going to Nineveh. He flees from God. Why does he flee from God? Because he knows of God's mercy and righteousness. He knows that given God will repent of the evil he was going to do to Nineveh. And he does that. He does that. God doesn't want people to die. He doesn't want nations to die. God's merciful and loving. And Nineveh repents. And of course, we know Jonah's not happy about that because Nineveh, that area, was a concern to his people. He wanted them wiped out. He wanted God, do you do it? God didn't. Just for us here. Now, what happened 150 years later, you read in Nahum that the Ninevites went back to their evil ways and God had no choice, but God wants the nations to be saved. Like he wants us as individuals to be saved. And he's given us all free will to make that determination of whether we want to glorify God or we want to glorify ourselves. So, we'll end on this slide. I've taken a little too much time, but this is something we probably all have this. I have it in paper form in my Bible. It's kind of getting shredded. My uncle gave this to me many years ago, and we have basically gotten to here. You see where my pointer is? And next week, we'll introduce, and again, this is nothing new. It'll be very brief, on God's plan of salvation for the nations. We'll start looking at that. The plan is to look at that. Talk about a little bit about why God is interested. What's his plan? We'll look at some of the nations. And then, Lord willing, I want to wrap up with half a class anyhow on the restoration of the Garden of Eden. That's our end goal, is to get to there.

Transcript

so last x week let me get my oh half half Abigail x again I got to fix x that last week we finished off um by x really I I I think comforting words x about how the boundaries and and and I I x don't think I mentioned this last week x but the the chronological time frame of x nations are determined by our heavenly x father x and how confident we should all feel x about that that you know in the day and x age we live today where it looks like a x lot of Prophecy is about to be fulfilled x with with Russia's aggression and the x turmoil of the Nations Even in our own x country we see a lot of political x turmoil you know race turmoil there just x turmoil uh how comforted we are though x knowing that all things are under the x control of our heavenly father uh we x looked at Nimrod After the flood and his x establishment of a kingdom and we're x going to continue that theme this x morning um by looking at some of the the x early uh kingdoms that start to take x shape and and I have to apologize out x front x because uh we're going to go through x some of this pretty quickly just because x of time and we're going to skip around a x lot uh one thing I'm not good at is x putting I guess different subjects x within time periods and going back and x forth so today we're going to look at x Egypt and we're going to look at the x Assyrian x Empire um and their establishment and x what was going on in those Empires those x early x Empires and we'll be going through a lot x of time very x quickly uh we'll start you know around x 2000 or so BC and we'll work our way x probably down to you know the x um the capture of the Southern Kingdom x so that will be 1500 years of history in x hopefully 15 minutes uh very quick I'm x not an expert on Egyptian or Assyrian x history I did study a little bit of x Egypt in college but as many of you know x that was x probably wow what am I 60 so it was a x long time ago so I don't remember much x of it and being a math major why would I x remember that it was just one of those x courses you had to take you know to get x your degree you had to take certain x electives so for some reason I took x Egypt and it was a pretty good class uh x but do I remember it no it's like most x of the math I took you know the calculus x 2 and the calculus 5 and the the the x different levels of algebra and do I x remember most of it no but but I took it x so let's get started um and first we're x going to look at Egypt okay x and as you all know Egypt's history it x covers a lot of time and we're not going x to cover a lot of the Old Kingdom all x the ancient ancient history more x concerned about um the history around x the time of of Israel all right when x Israel became a nation and we mentioned x in one of our earlier x lessons uh with Egypt that it you know x it really was reliant on the Nile River x uh for its existence its Agriculture and x how both of these these early Empires x these areas Mesopotamia and Egypt relied x heavily on x rivers and we mentioned briefly and x we'll we'll go over it a little more x next week how in the Bible when you read x of rivers like prophecies concerning x Egypt a lot of times it'll mention x you know overflowing its banks or drying x up representing the the power of that x Nation at that time um so rivers are are x as we all know an important uh part of x of of early of early growth Within These x kingdoms So within this new kingdom era x of 1550 to 1070 this was really the peak x of Egypt when they had reached the x height of their powers um they were very x prosperous uh wealthy Nation x and as we said the Nile was was the x thought of Egypt it was the heartbeat of x the nation of the kingdom was the River x Nile uh the capital at this time was in x thieves and they controlled as you can x see in the yellow on our map uh right up x through present day Israel into Syria x and in other parts as you can see x further south into Africa Nubia um than x they do today as you know the nation of x Egypt is much small smaller than it was x back then I gave a class probably many x years ago now we we went over the x Egyptian gods and x goddesses and there were over 2,000 of x them if you can believe that over 2,000 x of them and the main one was amenra the x sun god or the lord of the universe uh x which the Egyptians worship they had x something called The Book of the Dead x which described the religious beliefs um x how they believed in the afterlife and x how they mummified their pharaohs so x they they would be preserved for the x afterlife how they buried with them many x times Trinkets and gold and so they x would have that for the afterlife to x come um the temples were more than x houses of worship they were centers of x industry and schools and if you I don't x have it on this map the next map will x show but most of their major cities x almost all of them are right along the x Nile River because on either side of x them were was Desert all right so most x of the activity of the land was right x around the river uh we know Egypt famous x for pyramids uh I've never been to one x never seen one I'd like to that would be x fascinating to see uh hieroglyphics x writings uh they were famous for that uh x amongst other things um the priest at x one point start to gain as you know x Egypt was ruled by pharaoh x and the priests started to consolidate x power and at one point they owned a x third of the land in Egypt uh and they x had a major role in the government of x the land too as the Pharaohs started to x lose power over x time wow this print is really small I x hope you can see that better than I x can um but I'll read it for you so you x can so this is a better map of Egypt and x as you can see along the Nile River look x what you know all the cities and towns x and x Villages are right along the river um so x not not anything really outside of the x river and it shows you the impact the x Nal had um in x 1490 uh the Israelites Exodus roughly x now again when we use these time frames x brothers and sisters don't take them as x literal it's you know it's not a perfect x world when it comes to ancient timelines x but a generalization x uh the Israelites Exodus from Egypt uh x takes place uh Pharaoh uh aand closed x temples of am Andra and tried to set up x a new religion so he was really x concerned about the priest and they x basically taking over government so we x tried to get it back and he started this x try this worship of one God um and it x didn't work the people had been so x ingrained at this time with their own x God gods and goddesses and in idol x worship that this did not work so then x by the end you really see toward the end x of the the 1070 BC Egypt really starting x to to crumble it's it's starting to x weaken uh the Nile River sort of the x water level is starting to lower down in x Egypt uh at this time you know we we see x in in scripture David becomes king he x conquers the jebusites and takes over x Jerusalem x and that starts the stage of of of x Israel's climb so as Egypt starts a x decline Israel starts its climb up uh x into its its highest Heights under King x Solomon and we're going to look at that x a little bit later in our class um x because it plays a it plays a role in x God's God's role with the nations in 671 x Assyria so slowly but surely we see x these other kingdoms coming into Egypt x and exer exerting their influence in the x land and the first one was Assyria in x 671 and the reasons why Egypt was losing x its power we mentioned the battle you x know the struggle between the priest and x the Pharaohs for control um they x couldn't keep their neighboring x countries under their control because x they were overspending money and x resources and that makes me think a x little bit of of our country today you x know there's a lot of concern out there x that the United States is losing control x because of the amount of money and x resources they're pouring elsewhere you x know Ukraine Israel people will say look x at our Southern border we're we're being x you know infiltrated that way our x resources are overspent we can't take x care of our own people you know it's x it's kind of the same thing that x happened in x Egypt okay and they they were going x against Nations Syria and Babylon that x had more advanced Weaponry than they did x um they had weapons of of iron ore and x you know Egypt really didn't had those x weapons and they they had to try to x spend to keep up um with these invasions x and in 601 we read um Nebuchadnezzar x invades Egypt and these were prophesied x and I want to look at these quickly uh x by Ezekiel and in Ezekiel x 29-32 these prophecies are given about x Nebuchadnezzar coming into Egypt and one x of the things we're going to look at um x in a little bit x is the role x prophecy you know there were two things x I'm going to jump ahead a little bit x just by mentioning it there are two x things that God wants to get out to the x Nations x after to to tell them look at I'm here x I'm the only true x God and one of them is Israel which x we'll mention a little bit and then x prophecy and what basically he's going x to say is I'm x GNA I'm going to prophesy about these x things hundreds of years before they x actually happen so that you know that x you know I am the true God because only x only a divine presence can tell the x future and as We Know by reading x scripture God has done that many many x many many times all right so I skipped x ahead a little bit there but I I thought x I needed to to add that little piece so x if you look at x Ezekiel uh chapter 29 and it and it goes x through chapter 32 and we won't look at x up all of it U because it's a lot x so this is what x um the prophecies Rec Curr concerning x Egypt so let's skip down to verse three x of chapter 29 x thus sayith the Lord God behold I am x against thee Pharaoh king of Egypt the x Great Dragon that lith in the midst of x his Rivers which I said my river is my x own and I have made it for myself so x again in this prophecy you see the river x you know is is is is a symbol of Egypt x and let's skip down a little bit uh x verse 9 of verse 8 therefore thus sayith x the Lord God behold I will bring a sword x upon thee and cut off man and Beast out x of thee and the land of Egypt shall be x desolate and waste and they shall know x that I am the Lord because the has said x and here we go again the river is mine I x have made x it okay behold I am against thee and x against thy Rivers I will make the land x of Egypt waste and desolate and it goes x on and on and if you go all the way down x to verse x 19 therefore thus sath the Lord God I x will give the land of Egypt under x Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and he x shall take her multitude and take her x spoil and take her prey and it shall be x the wages for his army so and the next x few chapters go on with the same intent x so something God prophesied comes to x pass Nebuchadnezzar moves into the land x and the Babylonian Empire controls the x land for a time and as we all know x without getting into detail the history x um that Egypt plays with the God's x people people from the very beginning in x in x Genesis I think it's 15 I'll say 15 x verse 13 to6 where where God tells Abram x that his people the nation will spend x 400 years as slaves in Egypt and x throughout the history of the Bible the x times where Israel when they're in x trouble when there's either an Assyrian x threat or a Babylonian threat at times x when they reached out to Egypt for help x and you remember the words of the x prophets that splintered Reed why are x you going looking for Egypt to help when x you have me you'd rather go to this x nation that's on the decline a x splintered Reed for help instead of x searching out for the Lord God and of x course we remember Jesus when he was x born he was when Herod was uh killing x the newborns when he fled to Egypt so x Egypt is is an interesting place in x Biblical history you know it it enslaved x God's people but it was also a refuge in x times of trouble for God's people it x provided food for them and during the x famines it provided safe haven for Jesus x uh so there's many things to say about x Egypt and Lord willing next week um our x last our last class we're going to take x a brief look at what Egypt's future x looks x like um when it when Jesus returns x because there are scriptures ures that x tell us what will become of Egypt um x when the the the the northern foe when x Russia starts to swoop down and and try x to seize control of these nations what x will become of Egypt so we'll look at x that next week all right so the main x thing to get from this from Egypt is a x very polytheist polytheistic Nation okay x um the the god that created the heavens x and earth wasn't one of the two th000 x gods that they were worshiping x everything but and I remember doing my x class and looking at and it's like wow x look at all these and I think I covered x 20 of them in my class just to say what x each God was for you know sun god Moon x God fertility God everything was you x know its own separate God and and it was x quite you wonder how it got to that x point you know you just but it it just x when When God says you know man would x rather worship images of metal and wood x than me and it's really reinforced in x these nations we're looking at this x morning and that's why I want to get x that thought into your head about um x Egypt and now we're going to move on to x Assyria and Babylon because those two x empires are intertwined all right if you x study history uh you'll notice that x these two x regions um you know from the time of x nimrod there was always constant influx x between who would rule Mesopotamia would x it be Assyria would it be Babylon would x it be Babylon would it be Assyria would x it be some other nation that came in uh x like the kites who came in from the x north and took over the area for two to x 300 years so there was really this x constant influx within the people of x Mesopotamia uh for that land so any x questions before we go on x to the other brother x Ben x um I from what I read Ben and I didn't x do a thorough study on that Pharaoh but x it was just because of the power control x of of the priest he he saw the power of x pharaoh declining and he wanted it back x so he went back to say look at and I I x had the name of that God on the slide I x didn't read it though but that that's x the reason I in a brief description that x I looked at I can look at it more if you x if you'd like but yeah that was it the x timing didn't seem to work out such that x it you know it would be kind of cool if x it was oh this was the Pharaoh in the x time of Joseph and he had an influence x really it was the no from what I read x Ben it self-purpose self I'm pretty sure x that that was probably it but I I can x look at it and let you know next week it x didn't sound like it worked very well x anyway no it didn't no it didn't I from x what I read and I think it was was it x Wikipedia or one of those sites it was x quickly yeah it wasn't because I I don't x think you know because it was his belief x that was only one God and I think it was x just hey I'm going to throw something x different out there to see if I can sway x the people so in Mesopotamia at the time x you can see hopefully you can see this x uh there was Babylonia you know the area x that Nimrod went to it was called Shar x in the past where he established the x Tower of Babel which became Babylon and x then x Assyria uh up here in the north and as x again you can see right along between x the Tigris Euphrates rivers the Fertile x Crescent as it was called the cradle of x civilization these two areas went back x and forth for control so Babylonian x controlled the the southern part the x Assyrians rise to power in the north and x one of the famous uh Reigns for the king x of Babylon was uh heab uh he built the x walls of Babylon he came up with a a a x law a coded law which is considered one x of the oldest in the world uh he x conquered his neighboring cities and x territories to gain control of the area x and we find after his death that the x Empire begins to fall apart and that x seems to be a common thing with a lot of x these when a when a a a general a real x presence Commander passes you know the x Empire seem to start to crumble a little x bit uh I mentioned the cites I didn't x really do much because I had no idea who x they were uh apparently they were a x northern people um that lived in the x area that they took control of Babylon x for a while uh and they didn't make many x changes much of the culture and and and x things that were going on in Babylon x remained so it's not like they came in x and tried to influence new things on x people they didn't do that um they just x came in and took over uh around 1360 BC x the Assyrians once again gain power um x they start using iron weapons and x chariots we mentioned that when we x mentioned their takeover of Egypt and x they captured Babylon in x 1225 so around this time we're at the x height of the Assyrian Empire uh it x reached its peak in x 11:15 under King uh tigf pelazza the x first um he dies and what happens as we x mentioned earlier the the kingdom starts x to weaken x again roughly as we get into around 780 x or so BC Jonah goes to Nineveh to preach x against it um the Empire becomes strong x once again the Assyrian Empire uh under x the rule of tiglath paza theii and you x can see on the map at its height um the x territory that it it it took control of x not only Mesopotamia but again down x through the promised land Canan into x Egypt and it was a a wide swath of land x if you look at the map below it um the x Babylonian Empire looks very similar so x you could see these two empires going x back and forth controlling this x land um 722 as we know um King shalam x manzar the 5th laid seeg to the the x northern tribe of Israel and captured it x okay in 709 King sagon takes control of x Babylon uh he dies and Sakura becomes x King 671 as we mentioned Assyria invades x Egypt um and then in x 668 uh Asher banipal becomes the last x great king of Assyria uh he established x the Great Library in Nineveh and Nineveh x really becomes the capital and the power x of the region at this time it becomes a x great City and when he dies again things x start to fall apart uh Babylon starts to x assert it influence into Syria and x starts to take over and in x 612 um we can look at this too um it's x spoken of in naham all right you x remember when Jonah goes to Nineveh and x prophesies against it and you know the x people repent and God repents as it's is x is his right to do against what he was x going to do but the city would end up x being burnt around 612 and nahm speaks x of this if we turn to n chapter x 2 Oh I thought I highlighted these but I x didn't wow uh naham 2 uh I am against x thee sayeth the Lord of hosts verse 13 I x will burn her chariots and the smoke and x the sword shall devour thy Young Lions x and I will cut off thy prey from the x earth and the voice of The Messengers x shall no more be x heard and I think it skips down in x chapter 3: 7 it shall come to pass that x all that they that look upon thee shall x flee from thee and say Nineveh is laid x waste who will bemoan her whence shall I x whence shall I seek comforters for thee x so again this is probably written some x 20 years before it actually happened uh x but we see prophecy speaking of the x destruction of Nineveh um coming true in x 612 and Nebuchadnezzar becomes king in x 605 and we're going to leave off at this x Point looking at these Empires because x 605 takes us to the time of Daniel and x one of the things we'll do uh probably x next week is is look briefly uh at x Nebuchadnezzar's image and this is the x time where that takes place so I just x wanted to give you background x and you probably thinking brother Mark x you didn't talk talk about the religious x aspects of Assyria and Babylon and x they're very x intertwined um again look you know over x 2,000 gods and goddesses have been x identified for this region so much like x uh Egypt the chief Gods varied from x period uh for the samarians it was x enland the sky God the Babylonians x worshiped Marduk above all others and x Asher was the supreme god of the x Assyrians okay uh there were other x notable gods and goddesses as well but x um you know the again the the x overriding x the overriding thought is at this time x man's purpose in both of these areas x these kingdoms was to to serve and x worship the priests the gods that's x that's what it was all about all these x so when you think of the words in x scripture about idols and and wood and x stone and x metal really hits home when you look at x the gods and goddesses these nations x worship and and how far it come from x worship of of the true God questions x comments brother Chris good x morning and I know that was quick and I x apologize for that but it it was some x somewhat necessary thank you very much x just to share a little my Catholic x beginnings and background so not x completely uncommon today we would think x that this practice is long gone but uh x obviously it's very difficult for the x Catholic system to get around the idea x of there being one God they do SUB uh x prayers to the Saints and so you have x for just about every aspect of life if x you lost x something you to St if you're traveling x uh used to be St Christopher uh soon x we'll celebrate uh in society we'll x celebrate St Patrick's Day so uh and I'm x sure the list goes on well beyond you x know you know my being familiar with it x but just about every aspect of things x that can happen to you in life they x created a particular Saint uh as x basically a substitute uh for the idea x well we can't worship 2,000 Gods but we x have one God but we have all these x saints that we we pray to for these x various things in each Culture by the x way uh St Joseph was the uh basically x the Italian population St Patrick the x Irish obviously and so forth so um it x was very cultural too so when people x migrated here they brought their gods x with x them yeah that's a that's a good point x and in in in x mankind does it in general the same way x it may not be that they they build an x altar and have an image that they bow x down to but God has become less x important and other things more x important wealth uh Power you know x um of idolatry yeah it is you know you x may not be getting on your knees and x worshiping it but you know you're living x your life for that instead of living x your life for God and for his son so x yeah thank you for that Chris anything x else all right so we have a wonderful in x Romans x um wonderful words explaining more x succinctly than I ever could so if we x turn up to Romans chapter x 1 and this is x what what Paul says about the postf x flood world uh regarding x mankind okay and I I'm gonna I'm going x to improvise and Skip around a little x bit x because um let's start at x verse x H we'll start at Verse 18 for the wrath x of God is revealed from Heaven against x all ungodliness and unrighteousness of x men men who hold the truth in x unrighteousness because that which may x be known of God is Manifest in them for x God hath showed it unto them for the x invisible things of him from the x creation of the world the clearly seen x being understood by things that are made x even his eternal power and godhead so x that they man is without x excuse because that when they man knew x God they glorified him not as God x neither were thankful but became vain in x their imaginations and their foolish x heart was darkened professing the x themselves to be wise they became fools x and changed the glory of the x uncorruptible god unto an image made x like to corruptible man to birds x four-footed beast and creeping things x just like we discussed looking at all x these different gods and goddesses that x were were taking shape in the in these x new kingdoms wherefore God also gave x them up to uncleanness through the lust x of their own Hearts to dishonor their x own bodies between themselves and I x think of Sodom and gomorah you know all x the the things that mankind started to x do that were unnatural that God said not x to do we started to do they changed the x truth of God into a lie and worshiped x and served the creature more than the x Creator who is blessed forever amen uh x God gave them up to vile affections uh x women changed their natural use uh which x was against nature you remember back in x Genesis the idea of marriage procreation x to spread God's glory upon the x Earth that wasn't happening anymore it x was it was totally vile in in and x horrible in God's sight also the men x leaving their uh natural use uh men x started to burn for each other um just x total total chaos to what God had x originally started and we've seen it in x these kingdoms we see it in the world x today uh like like the Bible says the x times of Noah um really brother Steve I x think mentioned it one of one of his x classes I think someone mentioned you x know we're in the times of Noah again x and I think Steve's point was the times x of Noah Before the Flood have never x really gone away it's been there since x you know the dispersion of the people x it's it's come back and if you look on x world x history he's right it's never gone away x uh it may be worse now I don't know but x um it's never gone away so the question x we have to ask ourselves is you x know so why is God still interested with x all this this Anarchy and Chaos it x started way back after the flood and x continues today why is he interested and x why is he interested because he made a x promise at the very beginning Genesis x 3:15 x all right he made that promise and we x know that God keeps his promises so no x matter what man does or thinks he's x going to do um I guess we just put x another rocket on the moon recently a x satellite or something on the moon and x all this talk again is starting to oh x this is going to open the gateway to go x to Mars and other other planets and x we're going to build a no you're not x it's not going to happen now I'm not a x prophet I'm not doing it I just think x When God says the Earth is is for man x the heavens are for him he means it so x we might be able to send a satellite up x into the farest reaches but for man x himself to go there and to x inhabit I don't think it's going to x happen maybe you think differently but I x don't think it's gonna and I don't think x the time frame is going to allow it x because um personally I think we're x getting close to the end you know uh x with everything that's going on but U x this this is this is where it's going to x be and the Earth is for man so God is x interested in preserving that and as we x know his habac the you know the Earth is x going to be covered with the glory of x God he's got this time period we seen I x showed you the little 7,000 year planner x that I have I don't have it with me x today I left it at home uh that's God's x Plan of Salvation and it's going to x happen because God God keeps his x promises okay so how is he going to do x this and I kind of teased this earlier x um with with two ways that he's going to x do this and I think the first way that x he he wants to prove to All Nations that x he is here that he is in control and x that what I what he says is going to x happen is going to take place so he's x going to do this in two ways the first x way is he establishes a nation from one x man he pulls him from the idolatrous x region of Babylon or the CES this man x Abraham faithful Abraham to establish a x nation and what is this nation going to x do this nation is going to be a witness x of God to these other kingdoms to the x Egyptians to the Babylonians to the x Assyrians to all the nations all right x they're going to be a witness um that x what that God is here and if we turn I x want to read this you don't have to look x it up in First Kings in Solomon's x Prayer uh at the dedication of the x Temple x that's chapter x 8 First Kings 8 verse x 60 x um so in verse 22 it says Solomon stands x up before the altar of the Lord in the x presence of the congregation spreads x forth his hands toward heaven and says x Lord God of Israel there is no God like x thee in Heaven above or on the earth x beneath who keepest Covenant in Mercy x with thy servants that walk before thee x with all the their x heart is a witness a witness to God and x in verse 60 we'll skip down quite a bit x and the king of all Israel with him x offered sacrifice before the Lord uh x Solomon oh I'm sorry I went down and all x the people of the earth verse 60 may x know that the Lord is God and that there x is none x else okay so this is really as we know x brothers and sisters the height of x Israel x all right the kingdom of God they're x reflecting the glory of God to the other x nations upon the Earth as they were x supposed to do and that would go down x God needed a nation all right as a x witness and he needed a greater x witness and as we know these promises x would go down through Isaac Jacob David x down through to our Lord Jesus Christ x the greatest witness of God that there's x ever been because we know x Israel failed in the positive x influence but you if you remember back x in in Deuteronomy x 28 the blessings and curses that God x mentions to the children of x Israel and this at the time of Solomon x was the height of the blessings the x nations of the world saw it and we'll x look at this in a second but they got a x lot more of the cursings x too if you go through the history of x Israel and all the curses that have been x upon it and and many scholars say what x an enigma Israel is I think it was Mark x Twain once said the Babylonians the x Assyrians the Romans all these great x empires have come and they have gone x they are gone but Israel is still here x and he asked the question why how can x this be but by divine x intervention and we know that we know x that the the world may not know x it but that's what God's trying to show x them all these things are happening x under my control so that's the first x thing a witness the second is prophecy x and we already mentioned it um that the x Bible can tell the future and back in x the 1750s there was a a gentleman he was x called the the bishop of Bristol uh x Thomas Newton and he wrote a book of x prophecies concerning the Bible and what x he wanted to do is he wanted cuz there x were a lot of people back then I guess x that said look it you know the Bible is x a great storytelling book you know Jonah x is a story you know it's a fable it's x it's not it didn't really happen or x there were people back in even that time x that said you know what the Prophecies x of the Bible aren't prophecies they're x history you know they're telling us what x happened it it's not predicting anything x and what he wanted to do was to tell x people look if I can go to scripture and x show x you that these are prophecies that God x is predicting the future and telling us x what's going to happen before it happens x you have two choices to make as a x person right you can either deny your x senses that say wow this this there's x something to this and you cannot believe x it or you have to believe that the Bible x is God's Divine word and that these x things that were prophesied yeah they x did happen x and you have to believe that the other x prophecies that haven't come to pass yet x will come to pass those are the only two x choices you can make um all of us in x this room I think have gone with the x second choice We believe it right and x that's what god with these prophecies x was trying to do so witness and prophecy x you know I am God I Am the Only God this x is what's going to happen to Mankind and x I I set the boundaries of everything x so that's what we're going to we're x going to take a look at both of these x okay Dad do you have a question you look x like you're itching to say something x well you just have an x itch I was talking to Dad I thought he x wanted to say something but you okay all x right uh any questions comments before x we go in the last six minutes cool so x again we went into this and we're going x to we're going to fly through these next x couple of slides so we can set up next x week um um you know we all know these x stories I'm not going to spend a lot of x time these events of of um Abram being x called out we we talked about x Mesopotamian Society Egypt um the land x of Canaan we mentioned in one of our x earlier classes about it was all these x several tribes that made up the land and x and as you can see on the maps they were x conquered at one time by the Egyptians x the Assyrians the Babylonians just all x these different things going on in the x area um but then we in the promises to x Abram if you remember the descendant of x Shem um he told them and we won't look x it up because we all know it you know x I'm I'm going to make of thee a great x nation so this nation building the x nation of Israel he gives them a x personal I'm going to bless thee and x make thy name great a x communial um promise a blessing bless x them that bless thee and curse them that x curseth thee and we see that throughout x the history of the world don't we I mean x just in our own country the United x States for forever has always been an x ally to the nation of x Israel and for the most part our country x country has been very x blessed uh when in line with some of x these other nations um so you can kind x of see that with with with you know x those who were favorable and and x provided the Israelites with help you x know things went well for them and and x God watched over them as well and we see x that here in our own country uh x worldwide blessing as we know all the x All Families All Nations shall be x blessed through thee and through thy x seed which would be the Lord Jesus x Christ so for Abram to believe this to x all have faith we're told in Galatians 3 x that he had the gospel message before x the law of Moses with was given Abram x knew of the Gospel he knew of x resurrection and he knew that there x would be a seed that would come to give x his life for the world um that's an x amazing concept to think of before even x the law of Moses was given and of course x we see this nation uh you know when you x think of uh the Israelites you think of x covenants uh chosen people in the x promised land so God had established x this they were going to come and if you x look at the map x I don't know if you can see my point x there but Egypt Mesopotamia and right x smack in the x middle no coincidence God was x taking Abram and putting him right there x all right right in the middle of it x all all right um now again reasons why x God did this you know he didn't chose x them because they were special um you x know thou art a holy people go God hath x chosen thee to be a special people unto x himself above all people upon the face x of the Earth so once again God ruling in x the kingdoms of men he's establishing a x kingdom that will that will glorify him x in him alone witness to his existence x all right witness to the truth of the x word the Bible and a witness that Jesus x Christ is God's son all right and that x he will return to establish an x everlasting Kingdom and as we know those x promises were passed down to David um in x 2 Samuel thy house and thy kingdom shall x be established forever before thee and x thy Throne shall be established forever x and that that great Kingdom that God x started to establish reach its height x under Solomon uh we won't get into a lot x of Solomon I gave classes on Solomon x probably two years ago I think it was x where we looked at you know the kingdom x of God we had a glimpse of it under x Solomon um he reigned over all the you x look at the the height the land of of x which he reigned uh Philistines as far x as the border of Egypt you know those x famous verses every man sat under his x own Vine and his his own fig tree it was x really at the height of his Reign when x all x things um you know how glorious things x were the blessings of Deuteronomy were x there for the the people of Israel and x for the land I do want want to look at x this though in the last minute that we x have um in First x Kings U chapter 10 so we know what x happens to x Solomon uh we know that he falls prey to x all the the idols of the other nations x and and things um don't go quite as well x for him but I want to read this because x I I think it's it's worth noting First x Kings 10 so you remember the Queen of x Sheba comes up and visits Solomon and he x shows her all the Splendor of the x kingdom and and let's listen to her x words as as um she leaves I think all x right verse six looks like a good place x to start so she says to the king it was x a true report that I heard in my own x land of thy acts and thy wisdom how be x it I believe not the words until I came x in my eyes had seen it and behold the x half was not told me thy wisdom and x prosperity x exceedthehype happy are thy men happy x are thy servants which stand constantly x before thee and that hear thy x wisdom blessed be the Lord thy God so we x see this witness of of Israel the Queen x of Sheba she's she's you know blessed is x the Lord thy God um who set Solomon on x the throne because the God because the x Lord loved Israel forever therefore made x he the King to do judgment and x Justice and it says you know she gave x the king offerings um so the thing I x want us to focus on because the Lord x loved Israel x forever and you know when you think of x everything that would go on to happen to x Israel that has never x stopped that God has loved Israel x forever um and then we know what happens x with with you know Solomon x disintegrating uh the division of the x Kingdom x and um and so on so I think we're going x to end there it's a little after quarter x past um and we'll end at that point x we'll pick it up next week um Lord x willing will do a quick quick look at um x Daniel's prophecy and Daniel to and then x I want to look at a couple of Select x Nations obviously with with 45 minutes x you can't look at every nation but there x are a couple I already mentioned Egypt x we want to look at some prophecy of that x in Scripture and then L willing at this x time uh I'd like to look at the Garden x of Eden restored which is the great x promise that we all look forward to

Transcript

If you remember last week, we ended up speaking on how Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar had really taken control of the area, again, away from the Assyrians. And this happened around 600, 605 B.C. So now we get into this, again, right around 605 B.C., the Book of Daniel, and one of the greatest prophecies that the Bible has. And if you remember last week's class, we talked about how God wanted to reveal himself to the nations. And there were two ways we focused on. One was Israel, the nation of Israel being a witness to God and his glory, and the other through prophecy. And we had statements from biblical scholars that said, you know, if you can honestly read these prophecies and think of them as histories, you know, it's not what the Bible is. The Bible can predict the future. And we looked at a few last week, and we're going to pick that up this week by quickly looking at Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the image in Daniel chapter two and what it represents. So again, right around 605 B.C. is probably the timeframe when Daniel and his friends were taken captive into Babylon. And then we're told in chapter two that in Nebuchadnezzar's second year, which was probably Daniel's third year in Babylon, he had this dream. And many of us know the story that Nebuchadnezzar's magicians, astrologers could not interpret it, but Daniel, through divine intervention of God, is able to interpret it. And the meaning of the dream, as we look at the image that's up on the screen, you know, the head of gold, the breast of silver, the thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and of course the feet of iron and clay. The head of gold, as we know, was represented of Babylon. And I can just think, knowing Nebuchadnezzar the way how the Bible describes him, is when Daniel said, thou king art the head of gold. And any man's reaction, I remember when my basketball coach once told me, Mark, you're the best player on my team. And I was like, ooh, you know, you get all puffed up, you know, you're happy and excited, and you get a little egotistic. And what we know from Nebuchadnezzar, and a verse we'll look at in a little bit, I'm sure his head really, he really got puffed up. Very proud, a proudful man, arrogant. So this probably puffed him up until Daniel got into the other interpretations of the image. So we see that, you know, gold was a very fitting symbol of Babylon. Isaiah 13, 19, and we won't look it up, but describes Babylon as the glory of kingdoms. In Isaiah 14 and 4, Babylon is described as the golden city, and it was the currency of Babylon. So we know throughout scripture when we read details of places, how words and phrases just aren't put in there randomly. You know, in Revelation, when Jesus is talking about, I'm probably going to get it wrong, but one of the descriptions he uses for one of the Ecclesias is, he uses it, descriptions, let's see if I can find it real quick. I think it's in chapter two. Yeah, the Delia of Deceit, where Jesus says, I know thy works, thou art lukewarm, because thou sayest I am rich and increase with goods and have need of nothing, knowest thou that thou art wretched. And he says, buy of me fine gold tried in the fire, and thou mayest be clothed at the shame of thy nakedness. So in his description here, he uses words that the people would understand. And it's the same here with this description of the image of Babylon being the gold, because that's how they thought of themselves. That's how they were. Nebuchadnezzar, history tells us, was a very competent general, and he had one of the most magnificent empires the world has ever seen. He takes over, just begins to take over Judah in around 605, and of course we know in 586 that Jerusalem was flattened by his armies. In chapter three, verse one, upon hearing this great news that he is this head of gold, we read the following about Nebuchadnezzar. What does he do? Instead of being humbled by the image, he goes out and he makes himself an image of gold for people to bow down to, again, the arrogance and the pride of this man. And in Daniel four, verse 30, we read these words which really tell the story of how Nebuchadnezzar was. The king Spakon said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty. Nothing was done for the glory of God, it was all done for his own glory. Something that has been passed down since Nimrod, the beginning of time with mankind. In Isaiah 13, 19, Isaiah declares the fall of Babylon some 100 years before it actually takes place. So the Babylon, the head of the gold, and we're going to get into a little bit the significance of Babylon being the head. After that, we get the breast of silver which would represent the Medes and Persians who would conquer the Babylonians. In Daniel seven, I didn't mention this with Babylon, but if you remember in Daniel seven when Daniel has his image of the beast, Babylon is represented by the lion and the Medes and Persians would be represented by the bear. The two arms of this dual-natured kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. It's an inferior kingdom, thus the silver. Again, nothing is just put in there randomly in the Bible. There's a meaning to it. It was an inferior empire to the Babylonian empire when it comes to luxury and magnificent, but it outlasted the Babylonian empire. So it had length of days. Taxes and tribute were paid in this empire using silver. So again, nothing's random in scripture. It's there for a reason. And then we get to the thighs of brass which represents Greece, the leopard of Daniel seven. Alexander the Great breaks the power of the Medes and the Persians. They were noted for their brass, their copper, and they used it for armor. Their warriors used it for armor. I thought this, I put this in here just because I thought it was very ironic because we know what Babylon represents in scripture, the lust of the flesh and the pride of the eyes. And we're told that Alexander the Great dies at a young age while drinking in Babylon, kind of appropriate. And of course, his empire ends up being divided by his four generals who, instead of uniting, go against each other and things start to break up. And then, of course, the legs of iron. And in Daniel seven, seven, and I do want to read this for you because in his image, Daniel makes special note of this last image of his. This is what Daniel says of this beast that he sees, which represents the Roman Empire. He sees in the night a vision before a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it. And it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. And it had ten horns. So this beast was different. This beast was dreadful to Daniel. And what was it about the Roman Empire? And iron again, the Bible is so consistent because it broke in pieces and they subdued everything in their path. They extended an empire which reached out a lot further than most of these other empires. They were ruthless in how they conquered each other. Brother Jim Sullivan brought up to me last week how the Assyrians, about their ruthlessness and the things that they would do to those they captured, the brutality. And Rome was the same way. You think of Romans, one thing they did do on a positive sense was to create roads so they could move their forces around the conquered territories. Aqueducts and roads, they were famous for that stuff. As you can see, the empire, at the death of Augustus Caesar, the empire covered an area 100 times greater than the original size. And they were never conquered. And I thought this was an amazing fact because I think of the world today, and one thing, a lot of people in America don't think America will be conquered by a foreign force, but they will break up from within. And that's what happened to the Roman Empire. They deteriorated from within. And a lot of people see that happening to the United States. If you look at politics and everything going on in the country today, you know, there's a lot of, if you listen to some channels, talk of possible civil war. You know, there's such disagreement and mistrust that this country they feel is deteriorating from within itself. So that's what happened to Rome. And they became ten major tribes corresponding to the ten toes, but there was iron that continued flowing through the clay. And that was the continued influence of something Roman that would continue to this day, and that would be papal Rome, Catholicism. And the future role that that will have when it comes to the time when Christ will gather the nations together. So what does this image represent? If someone were to ask you what does the image represent besides doing what I just did and going through all four of the metallic substances that make it up, what would we say it represents? Well, there are definitely four different empires are mentioned. And even though these empires were different, they had one thought, one thing that permeated throughout all of them. And it's the same thing that permeates today through the kingdoms of men. All right. So when we think of ourselves, brothers and sisters, you know, we think of ourselves, we are the body of Christ, right, with Jesus as the head. And what do you think of when you think of the body of Christ? What are the thoughts that come from our head, Jesus, that should permeate through our body? Love, mercy, forgiveness, right? I'm sure you can think of many others. All right. So that permeates down from our head, Jesus, down to the rest of us. Okay. Well, it's the same thing with this body of metal that Daniel tells us about. There's a thought that permeates down through this image as well through all these years of history, actually starting with Nimrod. I mean, it's the same thought that permeates through that that thought and image. So if you will, if you're inclined, let's go back to our very first class when we we talked about God's dominion mandate. Okay. And I want to read this to you. And maybe you can think of something that it doesn't say. Okay. So we're back in Genesis one twenty six. And God said, Let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the foul of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Okay. This dominion mandate that God gave to mankind. And how is this going to be accomplished? And we've already gone over this. God gave man mental superiority over the animal world, over all the creeping things and the fish. And God also gave man his character. God was going to be the guide to man over spreading the earth, spreading God's glory and having dominion. Okay. It was all under God's control. But what doesn't verse twenty six say that man should have dominion over and that answer is man himself. I can read it again, but I don't see in there that it says man should have dominion over his fellow man. Not there. No mention of it at all. So there are cases where God declares where man should have dominion, a father over his household. The kings over Israel were to have dominion. And there are times when God, at God's command, man has, you might say, well, what about Joshua and David when they were conquering? Well, that was under God's command. Okay. God was in control of that situation, telling man to do that. So here in Genesis, there is no mention at all at the beginning of man having dominion over his fellow man. It wasn't meant to be that way. And man did it upon himself to do so. And how did they do that? Well, the obvious one is strength. You go back to Nimrod and the mighty hunter, you know, strength. I'm superior to you, Cain and Abel. You know, Cain kills Abel. So, you know, the thought there is that he had superior strength, and mankind uses that strength over its fellow man to dominate. You know, if you think of your high school years, there were people, there were guys that tried to intimidate you with their physical strength. I ran into that one or two times myself, where someone would try to intimidate me and dominate me, and make me fear them with their physical strength. And there's another way man does it, too, and it's also mental. It's a mental, you know, persuading you to think the things that you hold as true really aren't true, and that I'm going to tell you what truth is. Okay. You know, a lot of people say the government is that way with us, that they will tell us what they want us to know, what they want us to learn, and what they want us to do. Some people out there, those with COVID, you know, the lockdowns and all that, a lot of people will say government conspiracy, they're just trying to control us and have us do their will and not to think for ourselves. All right. That happens to believe the lie. You know, what you really, you might have seen that, but that's not really what happened. All right. That's a control that men, nations use over their subject. And you see it throughout the world. I mean, Hitler and some of the great leaders, the control, amazing that what they had over their people so that they believed in what their leaders were doing was the right thing to do. So this is something that permeated from the head, all right, from Nimrod right through Babylon right through today. It still permeates through the head of this statue. And our views, our head is Jesus, and ours are totally different. And that can be a tough situation for us to live in, a world like this, where the world has one set of thoughts and ideas, and we have a totally different set of thoughts and ideas. Any questions or comments on that? Does it make sense? Ben's shaking the air, so I feel good about that. Thanks, Ben. All right. So, of course, if you read the prophecy further, we know that there will be a stone cut out of a mountain, okay, and that stone, of course, Christ refers to himself as the stone in Matthew 21, 44, and that this mountain, which is symbolic of nations and powers, as you can see, the statue will be struck by the stone, and the stone will crumble, never to be come again when the kingdom of God is established upon the earth. And, of course, we read the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, signifying that Christ was the work of God and not the work of mankind. So the image will be destroyed, and this is the day we wait for, brothers and sisters, the day that revelation speaks of, when God gathers the nations. And finally, when this image is destroyed, prophesied so long ago, I mean, 2,600 years now, 2,600 years, all right? So a little bit more prophecy. You know, everything's being prepared. We mentioned in our first class the importance and the comfort we get out of knowing that God's in control of everything that's going on, okay? And the nations of the world are being prepared right now for the return of Christ. If we look, one thing in Revelation 16, a key event, and I don't want to get into it too much. Brother Butch in one of his classes a while ago covered this so well. Revelation 16 is the sixth vial of judgment that will be poured out. And in verse 12, we read that the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water was dried up. Now, you can't see on this map, but the river Euphrates flowed up into the lands of the Ottoman Empire or the Turkish Empire. And we mentioned in previous classes that this drying up of rivers means that a country or a nation or a kingdom is going to lose their power. They're going to weaken, and that's what this prophecy tells us about. It tells us about the Ottoman Empire, and it speaks of this drying up of the river Euphrates, and the way the kings of the east might be prepared. And we think of the Ottoman Empire drying up of the river. You know, there's some examples we didn't look at. We looked at the one of Egypt, but the Assyrian strength in Isaiah 8 speaks of the overflowing of rivers, of Syria coming down into the land and taking hold of the Northern Kingdom. So verse 12 speaks of the way the kings might be prepared. And this needed to happen, didn't it, so that the Jews could start coming back into the land. These Turkish forces that were occupying had to be pushed out, and God's hand was huge in this. Forces of Britain and other nations pushed the Turks back up to the north. And this opened the door for Israel to come back into the land and fulfill what was prophesied in Ezekiel 38. And I want to look that verse up, Ezekiel 38, verse 8. After many days thou shalt be visited, in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste, but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall draw safely all of them. So this regathering all over scripture, we know the verses where it speaks of Israel being regathered. And for that to happen, this Turkish Ottoman Empire had to be weakened so that Israel could return to the land. And that, as we know, in 1948 the state of Israel was born, and here are some other verses. We won't look them up just because of time, but that speak to the rebirth of Israel that needed to happen before the return of Christ. Other ways in which the nations are being prepared for the return of Christ. Matthew 24, and another verse I want to look up if we can. You know, the fear that mankind, and you can sense that, can't you? If you speak to people, I speak to coworkers, and there's a lot of fear of not knowing what tomorrow is going to bring. Whether we're going to go to war with Russia, there's a lot of it. There's a lot, you know, the economy, you know, COVID, are the strains coming? There's a lot of fear, a lot of people. You know, we see mental health issues really on the rise over the last five to ten years. I mean, it's sad what's happening to a lot of, and you may have friends and people you know that it's happening to. It's really sad. But these things have been prophesied in Scripture to us. You know, I think of, I think it's in Matthew where, you know, where Jesus said it will be like the days of Noah, the world. And we see it really that way. And I remember a class brother Steve gave on this same topic, and he said, Mark, it really hasn't changed since after the flood. It's just been different degrees of it, but, you know, men's hearts failing them for fear. And we see that in our daily lives maybe. Many of you have seen that. I know I have talking to some people. I have, I probably told you this story before. I have one female coworker that says God should just blow up the world and start over. That's what she thinks about everything, how a failure mankind is. And, you know, I try to tell her, I said, well, I can show you some Scripture and Bible that says that's not going to happen. And God has a plan for the earth, but she just doesn't see it. She just doesn't think it's going to happen. Political chaos, and, you know, we don't, you know, want to get into that. I'm just thankful that I don't vote, that we don't vote, that God is the ruler of the kingdoms of men, and we leave it in his hand. I mean, nothing for nothing, but, you know, if I was a citizen, if I didn't know the truth, I would hate to be voting in these elections with the people that are sent out there to guide the nation. I really would. But we know it's all under God's control, and he'll put in there whom he deems right at the time. So, and that's all over the world, isn't it? We see governments trampling down their people, phony elections, where one guy, well, in the Soviet Union, that gentleman, I forget his name, who just died in prison, who was suppressed because he went up against, he was against Putin. And that's not just in Russia. Nations all over the world. Butch covered this in one of his classes. He looked at Joel chapter three. And I do want to go to some of these verses, as we're looking at this time where the nations are being prepared for the return of Jesus in Joel chapter three. So we're going to look at verses three and four. Is that what I want? Yeah. And in verse four, it says, Ye, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the coast of Palestine? And Brother Butch mentioned that these references of prophecy were possibly concerning Hezbollah and Hamas, and their attacks on Israel that we've witnessed. Okay. These things coming to life. In Joel three, verse nine, Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. Prepare for war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. And that's happening now in Ukraine, isn't it? You know, farmers, everyday farmers, are trading in their plows and their full weapons of war to fight off Russia. So we're seeing that. We're seeing prophecy playing out in front of our eyes with this battle in Ukraine. And this is just the beginning. As Russia starts to rise to prominence, we know at some point they will unite with Europe, with Papal Rome, and they will move into the Middle East and into Egypt to seek a spoil. That's to come. So I found as I was preparing a Christadelphian video, and this was a video Brother Matt Davies, and I'm sorry I didn't write down his Ecclesia, presented. And it was fascinating. He does a wonderful job. And I took a couple of snippets from it because I thought it was important. People have asked, you know, why do you – why Russia? Why is it going to be Russia? What's, you know, beyond the Bible, what else is there going on that we know it's Russia? And what you have before you – and I got in the smaller insert the map of nations, and you could see in the small inset Gog, Magog, and so on and so forth. But the bigger map shows before 1991 a map of NATO, the North Atlantic countries, and the Soviet Union. And you can see in the middle there's an area called the Eastern Bloc, and these areas were kind of like a buffer between NATO and Russia. They tended to lean toward the Soviet Union. I'd call them satellites, but they were dependent on the Soviet Union, but they were not at that time part of the Soviet Union. So this is what it was like in 1990 – before 1991. And if you remember your history, what happened in 1991? Anyone remember? I know that's a long time ago. Jim? Yeah, communism fell, the Soviet Union broke up. And what has been happening ever since is – well, before we get to that map – this is a quote I got off of one of our brother's slides from Vladimir Putin. Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of ancient Rus. And this is an ancient name territory that if you look at the map, the small insert, may go, go, those areas were considered the land of Rus, R -U-S, the largest state in Europe. Putin, I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human, and civilizational ties formed for centuries. And have their origins in the same sources. They have been hardened by common trials and achievements and victories. Our kinship has been transmitted from generation to generation. It is in the hearts and the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, and the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. But we are one people. That is why he is going into Ukraine. If you look at this map, the second map, that eastern block that was once under Russian control, and you have heard it on the news how NATO wants all these nations to join them. Poland, you can see some of the others, and there is Ukraine right in the middle of it. And from what I read, and I don't read a lot on this politically, but there were comments made to Vladimir Putin, you know, hey, this is it. We are not going to try to infringe any closer to you. We are not going after Ukraine for NATO. We are not going after Belarus for NATO or any of these others. But from what I know, there have been talks to try to make Ukraine part of NATO. Okay? And that got to put a big fear into the Soviet Union and into Vladimir Putin considering what he just said. So this is Vladimir Putin's views on the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991. We should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. For the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself. What does he mean by that? Well, what's that in infiltrating Russia after the fall of communism, democracy? You know, he's considering that an epidemic of disintegration that infected Russia. Putin said on Friday he would reverse the collapse of the Soviet Union if he had a chance to alter modern Russian history. And that's exactly what he's trying to do. He's trying to reverse history and bring the Soviet Union back to what he considers its glory days. So this is leading us up. So those events, when you hear things regarding the Soviet Union, they'll push into Ukraine, they'll push into Turkey, they'll push into the Middle East. We read in Scripture that Egypt will fall, but we also read in Scripture that at the time of the end, Egypt will be saved, but by God. So Revelation 16 now takes us to the Battle of Armageddon. And we're told in verse 14, and this is something, if you have your Bibles, if you're not already there, you may want to look this up. So Revelation 16 speaks of that great day of God Almighty we read in verse 14. So verse 14 tells us, brothers and sisters, that spirits of devils working miracles which go forth into the kings of the earth. So there'll be this agitating spirit that will affect the nations, that will affect Russia and all its co -conspirators on that great day of the Lord. And we're told at that time when this happens, Jesus will come as a thief in the night, those who are responsible will be resurrected. And then there'll be judgment of the responsible, the sheep and the goats of Matthew chapter 25. And it's clear in verse 16, you know, it says, He gathers them together. It's God who's gathering all these nations together for this final day, this great day of the Lord and this day of judgment. And they'll come to a place called Armageddon. And this word Armageddon means a heap of she's and a valley of judgment. And in Joel 3, it describes the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is just outside of Jerusalem. So these nations are going to be gathered in the valley of God's judgment outside of Jerusalem for this final confrontation between God and the kingdoms of men. Let's go to Zechariah. I'm going to turn up Zechariah chapter 14. And it appears, brothers and sisters, that for a while it's going to look bleak as the powers of man seem to be holding a foothold and being triumphant over Israel and the people of God. But this is what Zechariah 14 tells us. Zechariah 14, we're going to look at verse two, well, verse one. The day of the Lord cometh, thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. The city shall be taken in the ravished and half the city shall go forth into captivity. OK, so Jerusalem will be taken in this battle. And then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle in his feet, Jesus' feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west. There should be a very great valley, and half the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south. And again, mountains representing nations. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Eziel. And ye shall flee. And it goes on and on. So Jesus will intervene. The nations will be defeated. And in Daniel 2, in verse 35, when it speaks of the crumbling of the image being as the chaff of the summer threshing floor, blown away and to be found no more, will be those who will rebel against God at the Battle of Armageddon. And at Christ, in following his return, and just for time, we won't go into a lot of these, but it's stuff we know Israel will be converted when it speaks about their hearts. You know, the heart of Israel will be mended, alright, and they will cleave to their Messiah. The nations will receive an ultimatum for Jesus to submit to his rule as God's representative. And many nations refuse will be destroyed. Some will join. It seems Egypt will be one of those. The power and kingdom of Christ will extend throughout the earth, with Jerusalem as its world capital. Now we get into the thousand-year reign, where sin will be reduced but not eliminated. So during those thousand years, there still will be sin, because sin is so prevalent, it's going to take that long to reduce it, to break its hold over mankind. So we have this thousand-year period of blessings, peace, and fruitfulness. But once again, we'll see a remnant of mankind where sin will try one more time to take a foothold against Jesus and his reign. And we know the final outcome of that. God will destroy those nations. There'll be another resurrection, the judgment of the righteous to eternal life, and sin and death will be no more upon the earth. So we have this great day of the Lord and then the thousand-year reign. And a verse here from Ezekiel 38, 23, sums up why all this needs to happen. I will show my greatness, God speaking through Ezekiel, in my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Something that they forgot so long ago. We'll come back in time at God's day, because God's in control of all things. And the nations will be gathered, and Christ will start his reign upon the earth. And finally, we'll see the accomplishment of God all in all, 1 Corinthians 15, and Numbers 14, 21. And the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, just as he wanted at the beginning of time through the dominion mandate. When he told man, you'll have dominion over all things under my control, and you'll spread my glory throughout the world. So that's why the earth was created, for mankind, to spread the glory of God. And that's finally going to be accomplished after this time. For he formed the earth to be inhabited, verse from Isaiah 45, 18. So it's out there. It really is a time of fear for a lot of people, and there are a lot of things going on. I actually have, there are people that won't watch news anymore, because they get so depressed over it, watching the things that happen in the world today. And I don't watch much news anymore. I mean, I might catch a little of it, but you know, it is, it really is. Something came out today about, and I'm involved with the food industry, so I know a little bit about this. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the food you buy today, the packages are a lot smaller than they used to be. But you're paying a lot more for it than you did. And there's a new term that came out for it. I wish I could remember it, but I can't. Oh, who said that? Yeah, I heard it this morning. And I started laughing, and I said, you know, this has been going on. And of course, they'll say, well, you know, the vendors, the companies are doing this to adjust for their cost and everything else. But being in the business, I know that if you do a pack change on an item, let's say one of the things I sell, I sell Purdue chicken nuggets, okay? And at one point they went, let's say, from a 12-ounce to a 10-ounce, but the cost didn't change. And they'd always tell the customers, well, when things are better and we get more raw materials and we'll drop our costs so that you can, you know, it doesn't happen. Usually when they get in at a 10-ounce, the cost of a 12, it stays that way. It doesn't change unless the vendor really pushes hard and threatens to kick them out over it. But it doesn't change. They usually don't offer that on their own. So I get off course. But one thing, you know, the great hope and the comfort we all should have with all this going on is this day is coming. It may be in our lifetime, it may not. God knows the times and the seasons. But we're comforted by this, whether we're here or not, that we'll be resurrected and that we'll join our Savior in the kingdom, God's kingdom, that will never end.