Little Rock is streaming online. Cumulus station. Welcome to radio Bible study with pastor teacher they Vittie times with video bible study of the ministry of Texas corners Bible Church we are non-denominational Bible church dedicated to traditional worship and theory of the many teaching of the Bible it is cornered by a church is located on a street in Texas corners one quarter mile north of the north at the end of the day program please stay tuned for information on church services or new material. Now if you don't read your bible tonight the probably somewhere around 21 there is no doubt for many Christians the most precious book in all of the New Testament is the Gospel of John Martin Luther the fame reformer love this book he said if the thief gospel be unique it's tender and it's true Philip Schaff and was the famed church historian said that the Gospel of John is the most original in the most important and most influential book in all of literature of all of the New Testament books of the Bible Typically this is one of the 1st books that's read either prior to salvation or shortly after salvation it was this book that transformed my life in June 1976 I spoke to someone in this church who literally read dedicated their lives to the Lord by reading the Gospel of John perhaps more verses have been memorized from this book than any other book people take this book memorize it and go to theological with it against those who are caught up in false religions and those who promote false ideas for example many have used John 11 in defense of Christ deity in the beginning was the word the word was with God The Word was God Many have used John 114 to defend Christ humanity and the Word became flesh many have used John 117 to defend Dispensationalism law came by Moses but greater than truth came through Jesus Christ many have used John 858 to defend Christ eternal that he truly truly Before Abraham was I am and many have used John 1028 and 29 to defend eternal security I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish in fact the major sporting events of the world feature perhaps the most famous verse in all of the book of John and most of the world have been exposed to John $316.00 which says For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall have perish but have everlasting life so we have some familiarity with some of the verses in the Gospel of John but in spite of that I really believe we act. We know very little about the book we call this of John I think you will see amazing new things as we journey through it together and tonight we begin the journey and the way I like to begin a journey of a book is to ask and answer some introductory questions the forcing us to think very systematically in concrete only about what we're about to tackle so this evening I'd like to ask you to answer 4 questions for you 1st of all why study the Book of John to give you 3 reasons Reason number one is really the only reason we name because this is one of the 66 books found in the Bible John is one of only 66 books that God has given to man and that's all the input this we need to study it God says I magnify my word above everything else and if a book is one of those 66 books it seems to me we ought to do our very best to understand every word in the book in fact John belongs in the Bible that fact has never been question Dr Merrell Tenney's said from the very early date the Gospel of John has been part of the New Testament can Furthermore we know this is part of God's word because John was quoted as being and God's word by the great early Church Fathers John was specifically said to be a book in the Bible John is listed in all the Canon listings when the men of the faith were putting together which books of the Bible actually belong in the Bible the Gospel of John showed up in every one of the listings the meritorious canon the canon this book was also found in the early translations of the old Latin translation in 8200 the old Syriac translation in 8400 and all of the church councils declared John as being a book in the Word of God All of this evidence says John is one of the rare 66 books that God has given to man and therefore we need to study it it's a living book it's an active book this is a book that will light up your faith the 2nd reason why we study it is because John is a book that's very very deep and very difficult to understand now John is a book that is shallow and. For a child who weighed in but it's deep enough for a theologian to drown in it is usually assume that the Gospel of John is just an easy book to understand oftentimes when people refer to John they refer to it as the simple Gasper but don't be fooled by the simplicity of language for this book is very deep and very difficult to unravel Dr Charles Ryrie said this is the most theological of all the 4 gospels Dr Rodney Whittaker scholar from Cambridge University said that during the 1st 15 years of his Christian life the Book of John was the most confusing book in all of the Bible now the words in the Gospel of John are not the problem in fact the words are pretty simple words it's been observed by Graham Marion's that most of the words in the Gospel of John are one syllable or 2 syllable Greek words a relatively simple vocabulary Well the problem is not with the words the problems with the meaning of the words the seeming simple words are very deep and very complex and figuring out what they're saying let me give you a good example in the last part of John 1420 we read these words You and me and I and you for pronouns you me I you who 2 propositions in one conjunction and simple grammar you and me and I and you those are simple words but the proper paly explain them to understand what that's talking about the man's The exploration of the depths of theology in John Chapter $21.00 Jesus asked Peter 3 times if you love sing Peter do you love me yes Lord you know I love you the problem is not with the words it's with the meaning of it Jesus is using a different word for love than Peter's using and the last time Jesus says Peter do you love me he changes his word and so what you have to ask is Why does he do that what does all of that mean you see this is a very deep book to come to terms with this is a book that demand serious study and that's why we're going to study and which brings us to a 3rd reason why we study it because John is a book that clearly reveals truth about Jesus Christ and develops faith in Jesus Christ. Well this book of John was designed to teach true Christology that has impacted the world this book just jumps right into his identity it doesn't mince around with any words at all it just dives into the depths of the Elegy concerning the true person and the true work of Jesus Christ it doesn't like no other gospel record Dr Martin Luther the great reformer said that to some tyrant succeeded in destroying the Bible and there were left just a single copy of Romans and the Gospel of John Christianity would be saved Dr Ivor Powell said that he fell in love with this 4th Gospel because this book enabled him not only to blossom in his faith in Jesus Christ but he came to actually believe that the word Jesus Christ was his dearest friend and any book that is specifically designed to develop our faith is a book worth careful study and that's why we're going to study and now the 2nd question is who wrote John when you read through the book of John and you soon realise that the author does not name him self once anywhere in the book that's a whole lot different from when Paul writes Paul Usually it is the pistols and letters say is says his name right up front Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ the truth is none of the writers of the New Testament gospels identify themselves probably for the fact that they are writing about Jesus Christ however we may point out that when you read Matthew Mark and Luke you may discover that John is name some 20 times in those gospels and he is not named once in this gospel why is that well there's only one answer to that because this gas bill was written by the Apostle John and there are 2 lines of proof that establish that 1st of all the internal evidence now to see this I want you to go to John 21 and verse 24 Notice what we read this is the disciple who is testifying of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true John was written by a disciple. Literally called the disciple who was an eyewitness of the events I'm testifying of these things I wrote these things and I'm going to cycle whose doing it he's bearing witness of the things that he has seen he's bearing witness of the things that he knows he is a very specific disciple he knows dates he knows times he knows places he knows them well he was there he's an eyewitness to what he's writing here and secondly John was written by the disciple whom Jesus loved as long as you're open to chapter 21 look at verse 7 therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter it is the Lord brought down the verse 20 of the same chapter Peter turning around saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them now the disciple whom Jesus loved is obviously one of the 7 named in John 21 and in John 21 you have Simon Peter Thomas in the Faneuil you have the 2 sons of Zebedee and 2 unnamed disciples the disciple whom Jesus loved was seated the Jesus next to him at the Last Supper and the disciple whom Jesus loved was one of the 12 sincere the only ones at the Last Supper further Were we know that this disciple was closely connected to Peter because he's talking to Peter here he's one of the inner 3 Peter James and John they seem to be the 3 pillars who are connected to Jesus Christ James who was the brother of John died in the are 8044 so he dies before this book was written he couldn't have been the author the disciple who wrote John could not have been Peter because the writers talking to Peter Peter is mentioned several times in the book so ladies and gentlemen that leads us to the conclusion that it must have been John Furthermore the disciple whom Jesus loved was at the cross and he was intrusted with the care of his mother that couldn't be Peter either because Peter had abandoned Jesus Christ so if you put all of these facts together we cannot help but conclude that the author of The Gospel of John is none other than the Apostle John the disciple whom Jesus loved who is one of the sons of Zebedee b.f. Wes guy at. Said that there were 5 internal evidences that John had to have been written by the Apostle John 1st of all the Author New Jerusalem Well secondly the author was a Jew of Palestine he had a great knowledge of geography Thirdly the author was an eyewitness of what he describes he had to be one of the 12 Fourthly the author was an inner circle apostle he had to be either Peter James or John ladies and gentlemen all internal evidence simply says John was written by the Apostle John that's what the book testifies to and then you have the external evidence the fact that the Gospel was written by the Apostle John has a tremendous support base in church history Philip Schaff said for nearly 18 centuries everybody knew without a shadow of a doubt that the 4th Gospel was the work of the Apostle John the church historian you serious who wrote his famous church history of the 1st 300 years of Christianity who was a close friend of the Emperor Constantine who declared Christianity to be legally and fully tolerated in 8313 you simply a said and I quote him John we are told who hitherto had relied entirely on the spoken word finally took to writing for the following reason the 3 gospels Matthew Mark and Luke already written were in general circulation and copies that come in the John's hands he welcomed them we are told and confirmed their accuracy but remark that the narrative only lacked the story of what Christ the done 1st of all at the beginning of his mission the tradition is undoubtedly true anyone can see that the 3 evangelist every quarter the doings of the Savior from only one year following the consignment of John the Baptist to prison and that they indicated this very fact at the beginning of their narrative we are told then that for this reason the apostle John was urged to record his gospel the period which the earlier Vangelis that passed over in silence and the things done during the period by the Savior Thus John in his gospel now. The tive records what Christ did when the Baptist did not get been thrown into jail while the other 3 evangelists described what happened after the Baptists confinement the prison of John's writings besides the gospel the 1st of the epistles has been accepted as unquestionably his by scholars both of the present and of a much earlier period also you have Polycarp with the Bishop of Smyrna he lived near the end of the 1st century and he spoke of his own personal connection to John he quoted from John's writing error and they us who was the Bishop of Lyons personally said I heard Polycarp testify that John the disciple of the Lord who leaned upon the breast of Jesus Christ himself published the Gospel during his residence in emphasis in Asia this testimony of air and they us has been cooperated by many other writers the apple is of any act women of Delhi Xandra enter Tooley and Dr Merrill Tenney sons up the matter when he said the earliest tradition of the church ascribes the 4th Gospel to John the son of 71 of the 1st of Jesus' disciples one that was closest to him so clearly this gospel of John was written by the Apostle John and that brings us to the 3rd question of the evening when was it written now we believe that the Gospel of John was written somewhere around 809528100 I base that on 5 main evidences 1st of all the Gospel of John is known in church history to be the 4th gospel it's called the 4th cause what that means is the early church believed it was the last Gospel account to be written chronologically by the late 2nd century era N.A.'s said there cannot be any more or less than 4 gospels now as we earlier observed Yusifiyah says that the Book of John was written after John and already seen a copy of Matthew Mark and Luke Matthew's written around 8050 mark as written around 8055. Luke has written about 8060 so we know John is written some time after the sixty's so there's our 1st then secondly many in church history testify of this date and they say that John wrote as an old man well into his ninety's Thirdly erroneous slated Polycarp a saying The John wrote when he lived an episode which fits the dates 8095 to 100 Polycarp was a personal friend of John Aaron they have said I can take you to epis and show you where Polycarp sat while he was teaching me and Irenaeus and Polycarp described discussions he had with John and John told him what Jesus taught and did in those places in fs Fourthly when you look at John 21 verse 18 Here is what we were truly truly I say to you when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wish but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else were good you and bring you where you do not wish to go now we know from John 21 that both Peter in John were going to live to be older in life and Peter was told here just exactly how he was going to die in fact he asked about John what about Him And Jesus said If I want him to live longer he's going to live longer and that's none of your business you just take care of your own life and I'll take care how long I'm going to let John live it stands to reason that John puts this in his Gospel because when he wrote this gospel people knew that Peter had been executed they knew that John was alive an adult lived Peter finally another evidence of this is something that Jesus says in John Chapter 16 and I'd like you to go to John Chapter 16 we read in verse 2 they will make you outcast from the synagogue but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he's offering service to God Jesus predicted the time would come when Christians would be expelled from the synagogues and. He talks about it as being a futuristic moment in John Chapter 16 According to Rabbi Gmail yell the rabbis of Palestine issued an expulsion edict in about 8085 and that would indicate John's writing a little later than that therefore I think it's very logical that we say this gospel of John was written when John was a very old man and he wrote it in the years 8095 to 100 what this means is when John writes this 1st century Christianity is well underway he's writing this because he wants to give 1st century Christianity a new vital teaching concerning the life and the accomplishments of Jesus Christ liberal scholars have used the argument against John writing this by saying he would have been so old that there's no way he could have remembered all of the things that show up in these 21 chapters and the argument goes something like this older people tend to have lapses in memory but Craig keener cites an amazing list of academic accomplishments of older people in history for example Cato a Roman political official was still in service of age 86 the philosopher Priscus was still training disciples past age 90 Sartre ts was still taking music lessons learning to play the liar at a very old age in our own timeframe Dr John Walbert was still teaching eschatology when he was 92 and Mr John Miles who in July will turn my 91 is still teaching doctrine so all the Age does not necessarily mean you I have to diminish in mental prowess besides that Jesus addressed this point when he said the Holy Spirit would bring to memory all the things that he wanted these apostles to record now when you think about John being an old man and think about him living in the 1st century being born somewhere around the year 86 you realize he lived through some of the kookiest and monstrous political leaders in all of history he lived through. Political leaders like Kalid Gilla he lived through political leaders like Nero and the mission and what you find John doing as he lives his life through all of that stuff is he keeps his focus riveted on the more Jesus Christ those political leaders were ruthless and evil and yet he lives his life as solid as a rock because of his relationship with Jesus Christ and I want to tell you this gospel of John will generate the same stable kind of faith in us that it did for him no matter who is in political office you see what we need as we live our lives through various reigns the various presidents and governors is never a politician for our stability we need a solid faith in Christ for our stability and this gospel will produce that which brings us to the final question why was this book written every book that God is inspired and put into his word has a specific purpose in fact every book ever written have some purpose even secular novels have a purpose for their story and when it comes to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark we do not know specifically what the purpose is but when it comes to the Gospels of Luke and John we know exactly what the purpose is John flat out tells us why he wrote the book and he says that in John 20 verse 31 and here's what he says he says but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name John is writing this book for that reason he has carefully selected data from the life of Christ he's carefully selected information from the teachings of Jesus Christ and the whole purpose of him doing that is to generate faith in the church age John is going to present for you to refute a full evidence about Jesus Christ that is guaranteed to produce faith in your heart that's what makes John so different from Matthew Mark and Luke. 92 percent of John's material is not found in those synoptic gospels for example you have 8 major miracles showing up in John's gospel 6 of them are peculiar to John in fact this book is so different than Matthew Mark or Luke that some liberals have said John is so out of harmony with the not the writers that he doesn't even belong in the Bible but what they fail to realize is John is written for the Church Age John's not being written for Jewish believers it's being written for people of the Grace Age That's what makes it so different he's not writing this presenting Jesus Christ the Israel he's writing this presenting Jesus Christ to the church Craig Peter inciting Thomas wrote he said that in John you find Matthew Mark Luke acts and a feature is this gospel has been written so that when people read it today and people study it today they'll come to believe in Jesus Christ and believe truth about Jesus Christ and what John is going to do is he's going to say I am going to allow you to see truth that will allow you to base your faith on evidence and what John is going to do is present tremendous evidence that's designed to develop your faith and if you will travel with us through John it will generate your faith in fact the word believe the verb believe shows up 99 times in John it shows up more than any other verb This is obviously the major theme and the thing that I want to point out about the verb believe is most of the time in the Gospel of John it is a present tense verb which means John is interested in developing and active continual a bitch will faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to just one moment in time conversion experience this is a very real factor to the Gospel of John because in this gospel of John what we see is we see information that brought John to a profound level of faith in his own life John ends up a man of faith who's living. It To The End faithful to Jesus Christ and the data that allowed him to get that faith is found right here and as we travel with John through his own gospel what we will discover is his pretty deep ins and his faith progresses and we'll see that happen in our own faith Dr j. Vernon McGee said This book was written to believers to take them deep in their frame because the churches that were being established in the Grace Age needed something more substantial than just Matthew Mark Luke which were primarily Jewish and apparently a Gustin believe the same thing Dr McGee said you will never grow strong spiritually by singing umpteen verses of the little town of Bethlehem and John doesn't take you to Bethlehem because he wants you to grow deep in your faith he takes you into the person and work of Jesus Christ and as I've been preparing this study I have come to the personal conviction that I doubt very seriously that John expected nonbelievers were even to get a copy of this Gospel to carefully read it and study it James Montgomery Boice told the story of one time he was talking to a young man who was criticizing Christianity and Dr boys said to the young man have you ever investigated the evidence and the young man said Well how would I do that and Dr Boyce that I tell you what you do you take a Bible you go to the Gospel of John and you ask God to prove to you through that gospel who Jesus Christ is a boy said that's what I challenge the young man to do he said I saw him several weeks later and I asked him Did you take the Gospel of John and ask God to prove to you who Jesus Christ is and the young man said he hadn't done it see ladies and gentlemen I'm convinced that John did not set out to write this gospel as an evangelistic track in fact the logistics of that would almost have been impossible he's writing for the church papaya grist paper. Was tough to get your hands on just the ink just the copying of this in the church would make it almost impossible for a nonbeliever to get its hands on copies of this Gospel what John is writing this for is for people in the church what he's saying is I want you to grow stable in your faith so I'm going to present to you truth about Jesus Christ so you can carefully read it carefully study it you'll blossom in your faith you'll become convicted of who Jesus Christ is and then you'll be able to take that truth and reach the world for Christ as Dr John Calvin said this gospel presents gratuitous salvation that develops faith as no other gospel and Calvin said God gave John this Gospel to give to the church and I'm convinced the whole point of the Gospel is this John writes this Gospel to present our faith producing truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ so that believers may become stable in their own faith and then use that stable faith as a faith generating apologetic to unbelievers in the church age John writes all of this information to people in the church so he can generate their faith w.-h. Griffith Thomas said you have 2 lines of faith that are developed here I say there are 3 1st of all you you lead people in the church to historical truth about Jesus Christ when you come out of this Gospel you'll truly know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah Jesus Christ is the Son of God Jesus Christ is God and he's the only savior I want to tell you you'll be so entrenched in that the ology that you'll go out on the front lines and you'll present the people which is the 2nd line of faith that can be developed it leads people in the church age to understand saving faith in Jesus Christ so they can possess it so they can present it we need dogmatic people who know what they believe about Jesus Christ who go out there in present the truth and finally it will strengthen the faith of those who have already believed on Jesus. In the church age if you are a believer John is going to cause your faith the sorra like an eagle to brand new heights everything in this book is the design to do that everything in this Gospel is designed to develop our faith one theologian said it's no accident that the Gospel of John has been so mightily used in the history of the church to bring people of faith that's the purpose I'm Dr Merrill Kemi said you can break the whole book down of the things that are related to faith and in unbelief There's a famous story in church history about this gospel of John that pertains to bt who's been called the father of English history. The venerable b.b. Became a deacon in this church at age 19 he was a serious Bible expires or and pastor of a church by age 30 he was very learned in Latin and Greek and Hebrew and as he was nearing his own death and 8735 he was working on the last project of his wife which was to translate the Gospel of John as he drew near the end of his life he got weaker and weaker in the spring failed him his close associates urged him to finish the project and they said you Master Master there's just one more chapter to go bt wrote on until he was totally exhausted but his associate said there is but one more verse and summoning all of his strength he penned the final verse and said it's finished and Witnesses say after he said it was finished she asked to lie down so he could see the place where he always prayed he laid down the clothes designs he went to be with the Jesus that he loved he went from seeing Jesus Christ in the Gospel to seeing him face to face and if you will spend the next weeks with us honestly examining the data from this book of John it's going to affect your faith you'll not be the same your faith will go to new levels you'll see Jesus as you never see me before because that's what this Gospel is the design to do. Thank you so much for listening today if you would like a credit or cd cowpie of today study you may write is that Texas borders Bible Church 77 in the south in St kills of Michigan 490094 him a photo is 826-937-5239 mug or you may also go to our website at w.w.w. That Texas borders Bible Church that if you're interested in the church that's very serious about understanding the Bible we invite you to join us a Texas corners Bible church or Sunday morning worse of services at telling our Sunday evening worship service is a 6 pm and the Wednesday night Bible study 736 this quarter's by the church is located at 7780 south in St Just one 3rd of Nile north of center again thank you for listening join us next week for radio by the study of the rich ministry of Texas for his lead. Today a why. The cd network is pleased to present Ronald l. Dart and Born to Win. Than. When I study the prophets I'm looking for God I'm not looking for an outline of what's going to happen tomorrow I'm not looking for an outline of the events of the next few years as laid out in Bible prophecy what I want to know is what does God have to say what does it mean and how money to affect my life because God doesn't change if God came down an ancient people because they behave a certain way I figure if I behave the same way that same God is liable to come down on me. God doesn't speak to man very often and when he does it pays to listen very carefully and just because the events were long ago doesn't mean you and I can afford to ignore them now I can throw out all the old cliches about history repeating itself and learning the lessons of history but in truth it goes down to this one simple fact human nature doesn't change and neither does God If God has responded to human actions in the past he is likely to respond the same way in the future which is why he said this to Isaiah Britisher cause say as the Lord bring forth your strong reasons as the king of Jacob let them bring forth and show us what shall happen let them show the former things what they be that we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare to us things to come you want to know what's coming take a look at what has been Take a look at the past understand how God has acted in human history and be assured of this old man he'll do it again King Solomon said chapter 3 verse 14 a look of Ecclesiastes I know that everything God does will endure forever nothing can be added to it nothing can be taken away from it God does it so men will revere him whatever it is has already been and what will be has been before and God will call the past to account and so I listen to see what God has done and more important I listen to see why he did it. And I ask myself why did God have all these old prophets write this stuff down and why did he preserve it for us in the latter days I would guess that most people who have watched the Iraq war on television have completely missed the biblical illusions of what is going on there they may have some vague idea that the name Debbie can as or has some significance or Hammurabi they may not realize that Saddam Hussein fancied himself a kind of new king of Babylon or Iraq sits in Mesopotamia the old kingdom of Babylon the ruins of Babylon are there as Saddam even names his division after old Bab of the Babylonian names at one time Saddam had in mind the rebuilding of the old city of Babylon had a plan I don't know whatever happened to it it was going to be a kind of tourist attraction he must have encountered a distraction somewhere along the way to rebuilding Babylon he should have paid attention to the old prophecies about Babylon one of them and Isaiah 13 verse 1000 says this and Babel in the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the county's excellent see shall be as when God overthrew Saddam and Gomorrah and apparently all that was left of Sodom and Gomorrah was smoking ground he says it will never be inhabited it will never be dwelt in from generation to generation neither shall the Arabian pitched tent there neither shall the shepherds make their fold of their wild beasts of the desert shall lie there their houses shall be full of doleful creatures Owls will live their satyrs shall dance there and the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses dragons in their pleasant palaces and her time is near to come and her days shall not be prolonged. Really marvelous poetry and very descriptive almost sounds like Babylon being a cage full of demonic spirits that's all that's going to be left of the thing well all that Isaiah prophesied happened to Babylon it is never been rebuilt it's out there people go to visit it force an archaeological site a side of ancient civilizations but it's never been rebuilt long ago Babylon was a great empire Israel was in decline at the time that Babylon was rising according to Jeremiah Israel was no longer fit to govern herself so God brought her under Babylonian a Gemini Israel had so much crime so much corruption her courts run reliable there was so much violence in the city that finally God says enough already if you can't govern yourselves I'll put you under the government of Babylon so he told the Israelites not rebel against Babylon even when you're in exile there settle down build houses make homes have families because God is going to do you good in Babylon and the day will come when he will take you home but great Babylon who had punished Israel would be punished in her own time before all this happened God gave Isaiah a vision he called it the burden of Babylon and when one reads it it is uncanny how it echoes down through the ages and even seems to have overtones of the last days and in fact when you understand that Iraq is geographically the area of old babbling when you understand it the ruins of the ancient civilization of babbling are right there not very far from Baghdad when you understand all of this and then you read this prophecy concerning Babylon it's uncanny the echoes that you hear of the past now in the present. Now you shouldn't attempt to read these old prophets as history not even as history written in advance is important to know the history surrounding them but they are about much more than history they are poetry they are rich in imagery and symbolism and the prophecies although about times near to come to the prophet also were about times that reach way down into our own generation today. And we'll talk about the burden of Babylon when I come back after the short message who is Babylon the Great This year woman or a nation of people or a religious system and what is her role at the time of the writer call for a free copy of the program titled Babylon the Great right to born to women Post Office Box 560 White House Texas 75791 or call toll free one a day Bible 44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station. The burden of Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amos did see you'll find it in Isaiah the 13th chapter Isaiah I presume in vision but then he writes in poetic fashion lift up a banner on a high mountain. Exalt a voice to them shake the hand that they may go into the gates of the nobles stand up their shout and shake your fist he says get this word out I have commanded my sanctified ones I have call my mighty ones for my anger even them that rejoice in my Highness the noise of a multitude on the mountains like a great people a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together the Lord musters the host of battle while I was really something you know the whole imagery as one of here's Babel and sitting down there in lower Mesopotamia alongside your phrase river and somehow off in the north the noises of battle assembles as God pulls people together to come down and fight against Babylon they come from a far country from the end of heaven even the Lord in the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land how for the day of the Lord is in hand it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty kind of hair raising isn't it you think about this he's talking about God now is coming his army his battle his weapons are coming we're going to wipe this whole area out how for the day of the Lord is at hand now the day of the Lord is one of those benchmarks in prophecy the phrase occurs $25.00 times in a battle begins in Isaiah it shows up again and Jeremiah is equal Joel Amos Obadiah Zephaniah Zechariah and Malakai it's everywhere and even appears 5 times in the New Testament Paul for example is still looking ahead to the day of the Lord when you wrote to the Thessalonians chapter 5 or one but the times and seasons brethren you have no need that I write to you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. And the imagery there in the choice of words he uses makes it pretty clear he's talking about what Jesus was talking about we talked about the return of the son of the man coming as a thief in the night he's looking ahead to the return of Christ Peter also in 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 10 the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and all the works that are in them shall be burned up so any time I find the phrase the day of the Lord in the Bible I sit up and take notice it may be that there's more than one time that can be called at least in type or type ology the day of the Lord but even if so it may have reflections all the way down to the day of the Lord of the end and this one this one is really really rings a bit of the in time day of the Lord therefore continues all hands will be faint every man's hard shell melt they'll be afraid pains and sorrow shall take hold of them they should be in pain as a woman the travails they should be amazed one another the faces will be read you know when you think about warfare in ancient times and you realize what these people did to one another the expectation of a siege in a battle would cause a man's heart to melt. And then he says Behold the day of the Lord comes cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy the sinners out of it now remember this is the burden of Babylon right now this army coming down out of the noise this army that God has brought down here this army that is the sword in his hand is coming right down into what today we would call Iraq it is a time of fierce anger and the land is going to be laid desolate the stars of the heaven the constellations there Rob will not give their light the sun will be darkened and his going forth the moon will not cause her light to shine and I will punish the world for their evil actually the world probably means land I'll punish the land for their evil the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogancy of the Proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible it sounds a lot like the last days when you understand what the Bible talks about in the last days also tends to understand about a little bit about the days that many men have been going through in new Babylon otherwise known as Baghdad there is another scripture though when you think about some of the things he talked about in the section that compares with it it's in the Sermon on the all of it prophecy of Jesus you'll find it in Matthew chapter $24.00 . Here Matthew says for as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west so shall the coming of the Son of Man be we know what we're talking about doing return of Christ for worse than ever the carcass is there with the eagles be gathered together immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened in the moon will not give her light and the stars will fall from the heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and all the tribes of the earth will mourn they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory so look at this we're not only talking about the benchmark the day of the Lord even the imagery is the same even the the descriptive events that are to take place look ahead to the return of Christ then there's this passage in Revelation Chapter 6 I mean hild John said verse 12 I beheld when he had opened the 6th seal there were 7 of them in Revelation and we opened the 6th one and there was a great earthquake the sun became black as sackcloth of hair the moon became like blood the stars of heaven fell to the earth like a like a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she shaken of a mighty wind he sort of imagine in the machines that do this on pecan trees down here in Texas they grab the tree by his trunk and shake it and all that comes from plopping down to the ground and what is the imagery he's giving us here is of a meteor shower with these things falling out of the sky like figs falling out of a tree but the effect will be rather different he said the heaven has departed as a scroll when it's rolled together in every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men every slave and every free man hid themselves in the dins in the rocks of the mountains they all went into caves rich and poor now are equal Nobody's above anybody else we're all hiding and fleeing for our lives. And they cry out to the mountains and the rocks fall on us how dust from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of His wrath is come and who will be able to stand well. I know that we like to think of gentle Jesus meek and mild a low we like to think of a Savior who is kind and loving in Jesus certainly is but on the other hand the Bible seems to say that when he comes back when he returns to this earth to destroy those that destroy the earth he is not going to be particularly gentle he will be riding a horse which in the Bible is a sign of a tank a war it's an instrument of war and he will have a sword coming out of his mouth with which he will slay the wicked Yes that's the same Jesus who was born and placed in a manger in Bethlehem who will do this in this day of the Lord reading about in Isaiah now we've had it amplified to breathe to realize it is the day of God's wrath God can become filled with anger and you know and I don't want to make put too fine a point on it but when we come back to Babylon and we come back to the land of Babylon to Mesopotamia the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris to what is today Iraq there is plenty there to arouse the fury of God not only in the adversary that they have played to Israel historically all the way back to the time when Babylon took Israel captive and drag them out of their land and settle them over in the afraid he's to later generations when Babylon has been at odds with Israel as when the Iraqis have been at odds with Israel but then the way they have treated their own people that we are now learning what they have done. No but we look at that the day of God's wrath doesn't seem too far fetched at all I will make a man Isaiah 1312 make a man more precious than fine gold even a man in the golden wedge of overhear what he means by that is men are going to be rare I'm going to shake the heavens the earth will remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger Hey folks get used to it God has anger he can have red he can become furious it's better to be aware of this God than to keep on wondering about the God of your imagination which never gets mad this God does it shall be the whole everything will be like a deer that's being chased like a sheep that no man will protect every man is running to his own people they flee into their own land is picking allegories out of the time in which they have everybody was familiar about a complete and utter disaster everybody they find will be thrust through every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes their houses spoil their wives ravished nobody's going to care about civilian casualties when these people come rolling down on your country who are these people well historically they were the meads all this stuff really happened to the Babylonians in verse 17 he says I was 3 of the Medes against them they will not care about silver they well they don't delight in gold they couldn't give a fig about you think you can offer them to buy them off their bows will dash the young men to pieces they will have no pity on babies there I will not spare children and dabble in the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the county's excellent city will be as when God overthrew Saddam and Gomorrah as we just read a little earlier all this happened in history. For Agent Babyland the day of the Lord was heralded by an invasion from the north the me and then this brings us back to said to where we were going I started out the program about what was going to happen to Babylon it would never be inhabited No what I would live in it from generation to generation the area being would not pitch is tent there the shepherds would not make their folds there it would be a desolate place from now on and then that takes us naturally into verse chapter from 14 verse one and the connection between what he's doing in Babylon and what's going on in Israel he says for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will ye choose Israel and set them in their own land and strangers will be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob and the people shall take them and bring them to their own place and the House of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids they will take them captives whose captives they were and they will rule over their oppressors you know this is as real did return from battle and I don't think it was ever said that they took Babylonians captive or they ruled over Babel and not in those days but according to the prophets there is to be more than one return of Israel in fact we have witnessed a 2nd return of Israel to that land in our own time from the Balfour Declaration for forward when Israel was given a homeland and the Jews began doing everything they possibly could do to get back to Israel. It said that in those days the Lord will give you rest from your sorrow and from your fear and from the hard bondage where Into You were made to serve when this is happened you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and at this point it gets really interesting all region that proverb When I come back after this important message. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others write or call this week only and request the program titled burden of Babylon right to born to women Post Office Box 560 White House Texas 75791 or call toll free 1888 Bible 44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station. How has the oppressor ceased the Golden City ceased the golden city as Babylon as if 14 verse 5 the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers he who smote the people in wrath with the continual stroke he that ruled the nations in anger is now persecuted and no one hinders it's just ruling right across him and he can't even stop it now don't get me wrong I don't think that now he can is or is that is the prophesied king of Babylon even for the nth time but he was just unlucky enough to exult himself into the position of a king of Babylon in the same place as the king of Babylon and to do the same sort of evil deeds as the king of Babylon he did smite the people with the continuous for he did rule the nations in anger and now it has been his turn. The whole earth is at rest and it's quiet they break forth into singing Yea the fir trees rejoice at you and the Cedars of Lebanon saying well now that you're feeling down nobody's coming out here to cut us down any more now again I don't please don't take it I'm prophesied that peace is going to break out all over the Middle East right now but actually in those days when the king of Babylon was brought down it did usher in a period of quiet finally across these places because he was had become a very violent King also the people who to whom this prophecy was given himself obviously believed that in behind the kings that they could see there were spiritual forces that they cannot see you know have to say reading the Bible I believe they were right and so they're talking now not so much always about the king of Babylon that you can see they're talking about the spiritual forces behind them and they say hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming those people that have gone down there before you got there are there waiting for you it stirs up the dead for you even the chief ones of the earth it is raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations all those people will say to you Are you also become as weak as we are are you now become like us your pump is brought down to the grave and the noise of your Minster months the worm is spread under un the worms cover you that's an appealing image for a saint and this man are you know at this time to think about it being that way for him and that of course is the way God gave Israel a proverb to say about the old original king of Babylon and his fall and how he went down. Now if Saddam had as in the same had known what had happened to the king of Babylon I wonder if he would have aspired to his throne 1st 16 they did see you shall narrowly look upon you and consider you saying is this the man that made the earth tremble that shook kingdoms that made the world a will a wilderness and destroyed the cities and open not the house of his prisoners who kept out his people locked up all the kings of the nations all of them lie in glory every one in his own house they all have tombs but not you you're cast out of your grave like an abominable branch and as the arraignment of those that are slain cut through with the sword that go down to the stones of the pit a carcass trodden under feet you shall not be joined with these kings and burial because you have destroyed your land and slain your people the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned your children are not going to be renowned prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity their fathers that they do not rise nor possess the land or fill the face of the earth with cities and I'm going to do this now I'm not suggesting that this is a prophecy of Saddam Hussein who say and Qusay his sons I suppose it could happen to anyone who exults himself in Babylon God allowed Babylon of old or flicked Israel and then punish them for it later and you know it's almost as though history has repeated itself again. Now I'm not suggesting that this is a prophecy of Saddam and who say as I said God says I will rise up against them and cut off Babel and name and Remnant and son and nephew say if the Lord all relatives are all gone be dead and I'll make a possession for the bittern pools of water now sweep it with the broom of destruction a lot of host has sworn saying as I have thought social I come to pass as I have purposed so shall it stand and frankly the way this whole thing fell in Babylon it really kind of looks like it was all God's doing in the 1st place but now there's one more prophecy I want to give you before I leave this thing is right at the end of this chapter and is connected to it and it's got a strange it's Isaiah 14 and beginning in verse 29 remembering that Philistines are Palestinians do not rejoice all you Palestinians that the rod that has struck you as broken from the root of that snake will spring up a viper its fruit will be a darting venomous serpent the poorest of the poor will find pasture and the needy will lie down in safety your route I will destroy by famine it will slay your survivals wail Oh gate how those city melt away all you Palestinians a cloud of smoke comes from the north and there is not a drag learn its ranks what answer would you given will be given to the invoice of that nation the Lord has established Zion and in her his afflicted people will find refuge it was a terrible mistake to use this prophecy as any kind of justification for violence against the Palestinians in our day but we should keep it in mind because God always keeps Zion in mind he has something in mind for Jerusalem at the end. Until next time I'm Ronald the Born to Win radio program with to sponsored by Christian educational ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you if you can help please send your donation to born to women Post Office Box 560 White House Texas 75791 you may call us at 1888 Bible 44 and visit us online at www. Dot net. 90 k. a Was. Going to be a part March 2002 Mercedes Benz c. Class so let's compare it to a chair that you sleep body is the essence of speed and efficiency seductive silhouette sleek curves c. Class sedan matchup line from that she can turn him into a sprint to the working but there's never been a better time to bring up the beach to visit ambiguously dot com slash secrets to learn most expect the best. Used to be if you are a sleep apnea suffer traveling away from home you had no choice but to drag your big bulky home c. Pap device with you wherever you went but that all changed with the invention of the trance and many c. 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