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Ezra 4:4-24 - The Accuser's Gonna Accuse · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio, how to their friends and faithful listeners and
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Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible explained on this absolutely lovely Monday morning.
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Speaker 1: I am pumped to talk about today's episode because it
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Speaker 1: is something that is happening right now, right now, in
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Speaker 1: this moment of history, we see Satan doing the exact
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Speaker 1: same thing that he has done throughout all of time.
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Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about Ezra chapter four and
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Speaker 1: finish out this chapter in just one moment. Right after
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Speaker 1: this quick word from a sponsor. All right, faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: grab your Bible. Let's turn to Ezra four and read
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Speaker 1: verses four through twenty four and talk about this letter
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Speaker 1: that the Samaritans write in order to stop the plans
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Speaker 1: of the Jewish people and ultimately try to stop the
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Speaker 1: will of God himself. I'll be reading this as I
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Speaker 1: usually do from the web. Then the people of the
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Speaker 1: land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and
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Speaker 1: troubled them in building. They hired councilors against them to
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Speaker 1: frustrate their purpose. All the days of Cyrus, King of
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Speaker 1: Persia until the reign of Darius, King of Persia. In
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Speaker 1: the reign of Ahasris, at the beginning of his reign,
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Speaker 1: they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: In the days of art Exerxes, Bishlam Mithradath, Tabiel and
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Speaker 1: the rest of his companions wrote to art Exerxes, King
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Speaker 1: of Persia, and the writing of the letter was written
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Speaker 1: in Syrian and delivered in the Syrian language. Rae Whom
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Speaker 1: the Chancellor and Shimsheh the Scribe wrote a letter against
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to art Exerxes the King, as follows then Raehum
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Speaker 1: the Chancellor, Shimshah the Scribe, and the rest of their companions,
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Speaker 1: the Dainites, the Afrisathshites, the Tarpalites, the Aphrisites, the Archevites,
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Speaker 1: the Babylonians, the Shushanites, the Dehites, and the Alamites, and
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Speaker 1: the rest of the nations whom the Great and noble
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Speaker 1: Ostapar brought over and settled in the city of Samaria,
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Speaker 1: and in the rest of the country beyond the river,
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Speaker 1: and so forth wrote. This is the copy of the
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Speaker 1: letter that they sent to King art Exerxes, from your
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Speaker 1: servants the people beyond the river. Be it known to
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Speaker 1: the King that the Jews who came up from you
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Speaker 1: have come to us in Jerusalem they are building the
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Speaker 1: rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls and
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Speaker 1: repaired the foundations. Be it known now to the King
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Speaker 1: that if this city is built and the walls finished,
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Speaker 1: they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and in
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Speaker 1: the end it will be hurtful to the kings. Now
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Speaker 1: because we eat the salt of the palace, and it
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Speaker 1: is not appropriate for us to seek the king's dishonor.
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Speaker 1: Therefore we have sent and informed the King that a
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Speaker 1: search be made in the book of the records of
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Speaker 1: your fathers. You will see in the book of the
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Speaker 1: records and know that this city is a rebellious city
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Speaker 1: and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have
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Speaker 1: started rebellions within it in the past. This is why
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Speaker 1: this city was destroyed. We inform the King that if
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Speaker 1: this city is built and the walls finished, then you
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Speaker 1: will have no possession beyond the river. Then the King
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Speaker 1: sent an answer to Rahum the Chancellor, and to Shim
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Speaker 1: the Scribe, and to the rest of their companions who
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Speaker 1: lived in Samaria and the rest of the country beyond
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Speaker 1: the river.
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Speaker 2: Peace.
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Speaker 1: The letter which you have sent to us has been
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Speaker 1: plainly read before me. I decreed, and a search has
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Speaker 1: been made, and it was found that this city has
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Speaker 1: made an insurrection against kings in the past, and that
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Speaker 1: rebellion and revolts have been made in it. There have
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Speaker 1: also been mighty kings over Jerusalem who have ruled over
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Speaker 1: all the country beyond the river, and tribute to custom
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Speaker 1: and toll was paid to them. Make a decree now
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Speaker 1: to cause these men to cease, and that this city
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Speaker 1: not be built until a decree is made by me.
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Speaker 1: Be careful that you not be slack in doing so.
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Speaker 1: Why should damage grow to the herd of the kings.
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Speaker 1: Then the copy of King Artie Xerxes's letter was read
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Speaker 1: before Rayhum Shimshey, the scribe and their companions, and they
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Speaker 1: went in haste to Jerusalem, to the Jews and made
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Speaker 1: them to cease by force of arms. Then work stopped
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Speaker 1: on God's House, which is at Jerusalem. It stopped until
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Speaker 1: the second year of the reign of Darius, king of.
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Speaker 2: Persia of Ezra.
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Speaker 1: Chapter four is talking about this opposition that the Jewish
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Speaker 1: people receive from the neighboring nations. And unfortunately that has
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Speaker 1: always been the tale as old as time. The neighboring
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Speaker 1: nations have always hated the Jewish people because there really
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Speaker 1: is something special about the Promised Land, and everybody wants
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Speaker 1: a peace for it for themselves. The Christians want a peace,
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Speaker 1: the Jewish people want their peace, and the Muslims and
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Speaker 1: all the other bordering nations want their peace. Of the
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Speaker 1: Promised Land. There's something special about that land. And funny enough,
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Speaker 1: I actually talked about that exact same topic on the
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Speaker 1: episode that I did on Friday with my members. We
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Speaker 1: talked about are the Jewish people today still the children
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Speaker 1: of God. I'm not going to answer that question here. Instead,
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Speaker 1: I'm just going to say that the Promised Land belonged
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Speaker 1: to the Jews, and if I'm being honest, I think
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Speaker 1: the Promised Land still belongs to the Jewish people to
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Speaker 1: this day. Because it says in Romans chapter eleven that
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Speaker 1: the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. So
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Speaker 1: if God makes a promise to somebody, that promise is
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Speaker 1: never going to expire. And I think God promised that
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Speaker 1: land to the Jewish people. So the Samaritans here though,
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Speaker 1: they don't think that they want the land for themselves.
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Speaker 2: So here's what it says.
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Speaker 1: It says in verses four through six, that the people
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Speaker 1: of the land weakened the hands of the people of
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Speaker 1: Judah and troubled them in building. Because the Israelites are
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Speaker 1: back and they are rebuilding the Temple to God, and
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Speaker 1: they're also trying to rebuild Jerusalem as well. The Samaritans,
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Speaker 1: it says, hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose
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Speaker 1: all the days of Cyrus, King of Persia. So don't
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Speaker 1: forget Cyrus King of Persia was the guy who let
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Speaker 1: the Jewish people go back to their land. In fact,
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Speaker 1: that was an issue that was near and dear to
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Speaker 1: Cyrus's heart. For some reason, he wanted the Israelites to
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Speaker 1: rebuild the Temple to God, and he ordered them to
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Speaker 1: do so and even gave them some money. So unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: the Samaritans can't really go against that, but they decided
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Speaker 1: to hire lawyers to make things as difficult as possible.
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Speaker 1: The Jewish people have to jump through all this I
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Speaker 1: guess red tape in order to get things done, get
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Speaker 1: things accomplished, and they did this for nine years. This
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Speaker 1: is how long Cyrus King of Persia reigned after he
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Speaker 1: lets the Israelites go back to their homeland.
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Speaker 2: Nine whole years.
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Speaker 1: The Samaritans are doing their best to make sure that
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Speaker 1: the temple cannot be rebuilt. It mentions they did this
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Speaker 1: even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia, and
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Speaker 1: in the reign of Aha Siris, at the beginning of
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Speaker 1: his reign they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of
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Speaker 1: Judah and Jerusalem. So Aha Siris, you may or may
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Speaker 1: not remember that name. He was the son of Darius,
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Speaker 1: and he was also Esther's husband. He was the king
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Speaker 1: in the book of Esther, and Aha Saras reigned fifty
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Speaker 1: years after Cyrus did so for fifty whole years. The
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Speaker 1: Samaritans are not letting this go. They are like passing
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Speaker 1: this issue down to their children to make sure that
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Speaker 1: the Israelites have as much difficulty as possible in rebuilding
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Speaker 1: this temple to God and also the city of Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: And this is probably where the hatred of the Samaritans
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Speaker 1: also kind of started with the Jewish people as well,
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Speaker 1: and why tensions were so bad between those two people
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Speaker 1: groups during the days of Jesus. So now it mentions
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Speaker 1: this king named art Exerxes. In verse seven, it says,
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Speaker 1: in the days of art Exerxes, Bishlam mithridath Tabiel and
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Speaker 1: the rest of his companions wrote to art Exerxes, King
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Speaker 1: of Persia, and it was written in Syrian and delivered
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Speaker 1: in the Syrian language. So these Samaritans get together, very smart,
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Speaker 1: intelligent Samaritans get together to write this letter to King
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Speaker 1: art Exerxes, who was one of the Persian kings. They
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Speaker 1: write it in Syrian, they make sure it's delivered in
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Speaker 1: Syrian so that the king has no problem in reading
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Speaker 1: this letter. We'll talk about the contents of the letter
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Speaker 1: in just a second, but first who was King art Exerxes.
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Speaker 1: Let's go through the kingly chronicles actually of the Book
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Speaker 1: of Ezra. First it was Cyrus, who reigned for about
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Speaker 1: nine years. Then his son Canvass reigned for twelve years,
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Speaker 1: Then Cambus's son Smurtus reigned for like five seconds before
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Speaker 1: before Darius. King Darius came in and took the throne
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Speaker 1: for himself. Then Aha Saras reigned, which was Esther's husband,
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Speaker 1: and then art Exerxes the first reigned. So when did
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Speaker 1: the Samaritans write this letter, Because there's a little bit
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Speaker 1: of confusion, because if you jumped down to verse twenty
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Speaker 1: three and twenty four, it says, when the copy of
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Speaker 1: King art Exerxes's letter was read before rehum shimshe the
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Speaker 1: scribe and their companions, they went and hasted Jerusalem to
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Speaker 1: the Jews and made them cease by force of arms.
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Speaker 1: Then the work stopped on God's House, which is at Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: It stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius,
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Speaker 1: king of Persia. So that makes it sound like art
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Speaker 1: Exerxes reigned before King Darius did. But again, if you
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Speaker 1: look at the kingly chronicles, art Exerxes the First reigned
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Speaker 1: after King Darius, So what the heck is this timeline here? Well,
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Speaker 1: if you read the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus,
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Speaker 1: he mentions that art Exerxes was the same guy as Cambuss,
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Speaker 1: who was Cyrus's son, so they had two names, Canbuss
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Speaker 1: or art Exerxes, which it was not uncommon for people
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Speaker 1: to have two different names back in these days, and
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Speaker 1: it gets kind of confusing sometimes because people have two
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Speaker 1: different names. So most likely this letter was not art
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Speaker 1: Exerxes the First who reigned after King Darius, but it
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Speaker 1: was actually written to Cambuss, who was the son of Cyrus,
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Speaker 1: and Cambus is also had the name art Exerxes.
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Speaker 2: That is the best guess.
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Speaker 1: Now other people say that it was in fact art Exerxes,
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Speaker 1: the first who this letter was written to.
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Speaker 2: You know, the Samaritans just wouldn't.
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Speaker 1: Let it go for fifty plus years and just kept
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Speaker 1: writing all these letters to all these different kings.
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Speaker 2: So my best guess is that this.
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Speaker 1: Art Exerxes was also Canvases, the son of Cyrus, and
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Speaker 1: Josephus says the same thing as well. Okay, but let's
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Speaker 1: get into the contents of this letter. It says in
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Speaker 1: verse eleven, this is the copy of the letter that
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Speaker 1: they sent to King art Exerxes from your servants, the
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Speaker 1: people beyond the river. Of course, there's all this fluff
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of the letter because they're trying to
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Speaker 1: get something for themselves. The thing that they want is
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Speaker 1: that they want the Jews to stop building Jerusalem once again,
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Speaker 1: and to stop building the Temple to God. They are
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Speaker 1: jealous and they want that land for themselves. Verse twelve.
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Speaker 1: Be it known to the King that the Jews who
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Speaker 1: came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: So notice that language. This is our land. They came
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Speaker 1: to us. We own this land. They have no part
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Speaker 1: in it. Man. I mean, you can just see how
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Speaker 1: history always repeats itself, because that is the exact same
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Speaker 1: thing that people say nowadays. This is our land and
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Speaker 1: the Jews have no part in it. This is our
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Speaker 1: promised land. They are building the rebellious and bad city
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Speaker 1: and have finished the walls and repaired the foundations. Be
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Speaker 1: it known now to the King that if this city
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Speaker 1: is built and the walls are finished, that they will
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Speaker 1: not pay tributes or customer toll, and in the end
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Speaker 1: it will be hurtful to the kings. Yeah, like these
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Speaker 1: people care about the kings.
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Speaker 2: That's the thing.
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Speaker 1: Whenever you see accusations take place in the Bible, which
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Speaker 1: we're gonna read some of them in a little bit here,
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Speaker 1: they always like act as if they care so much
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Speaker 1: about the kings that these people don't care about the
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Speaker 1: kings or how the kings are feeling.
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Speaker 2: They can care less about that. What they care.
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Speaker 1: About is their own pride and ego and getting what
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Speaker 1: they want. So they pretend to care about the kings.
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Speaker 1: So it says this whole thing, these Jews rebuilding this city,
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Speaker 1: It's going to be hurtful to the kings. Now because
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Speaker 1: we eat the salt of the palace. In other words,
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Speaker 1: because we're benefited by you, o King, it is not
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Speaker 1: appropriate for us to see the king's dishonor. Therefore we
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Speaker 1: have sent and informed the King that a search may
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Speaker 1: be made in the book of the Records of your fathers.
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Speaker 1: You will see in the book of the records and
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Speaker 1: know that this city is a rebellious city and hurtful
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Speaker 1: to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions
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Speaker 1: within it in the past. That is why this city
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Speaker 1: was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city
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Speaker 1: is rebuilt and the walls are finished, then you will
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Speaker 1: have no possession beyond the river. Whenever you see an
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Speaker 1: accusation in the Bible against a god fearing person, it
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Speaker 1: is always the same. It is the exact same thing,
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Speaker 1: over and over and over again. Because here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: Satan hates people of God, and he hates people that
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Speaker 1: are doing God's will because he hates God. So he's
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Speaker 1: going to influence enemies to make accusations against those who
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Speaker 1: are doing God's will. Daniel chapter three. This talks about
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Speaker 1: the story of shadraq Mi, Shack and Abdnigo, the three
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Speaker 1: men who are thrown into the fiery furnace because they
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Speaker 1: would not bow down to the gods of the king,
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Speaker 1: starting in verse eight of Daniel three. Therefore, at that
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Speaker 1: time certain Chaldeans came near and brought an accusation against
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Speaker 1: the Jews. They answered, Nebuchnezer the king, O King, live forever. You,
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Speaker 1: O King, have made a decree that every man who
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Speaker 1: hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, a lyar, pipe, harp,
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Speaker 1: and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship
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Speaker 1: the Golden Image. And whoever doesn't fall down and worship
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Speaker 1: shall be cast into the middle of a burning, fiery furnace.
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Speaker 1: But there are these certain Jews whom you have appointed
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Speaker 1: over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrack, Mishak
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Speaker 1: and Abdnigo. These men, O King, have not respected you.
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Speaker 1: They don't serve your gods, and they don't worship the
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Speaker 1: Golden Image which you have set up. You can see
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Speaker 1: there's a lot of jealousy going on here. These Chaldeans
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Speaker 1: are upset that Jewish people, that children of God are
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Speaker 1: in the King's court, that these Jews are influencing the king.
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Speaker 1: They are jealous. They want those positions for themselves. So
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Speaker 1: they bring this accusation against Shadrach, Meshach and a Benego.
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Speaker 2: And what do they.
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Speaker 1: Say, These men have not respected you. Okay, same exact
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Speaker 1: thing that the Smaritans were doing in Ezra chapter four.
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Speaker 1: King these people, these Jewish people, they don't respect you.
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Speaker 1: If you let them continue on with what they're doing,
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Speaker 1: they're not going to pay tribute. They're not going to
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Speaker 1: give you what you deserve. They don't respect you. Let's
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Speaker 1: move over to Esther chapter three, five through nine. This
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Speaker 1: is the story of a man named Mordecai. He was
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Speaker 1: a Jew who refused to bow down to this Persian
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Speaker 1: man named Haman Esther three, verse five. When Haman saw
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Speaker 1: that Mordechai didn't bow down nor pay him homage, Hayman
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Speaker 1: was full of wrath. He score the thought of laying
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Speaker 1: hands on Mordechai alone, for they had made known to
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Speaker 1: him Mordechai's people. Therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the
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Speaker 1: Jews who were throughout the entire kingdom of Ahasaris, even
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Speaker 1: Mordechai's people. In the first month, which is in the
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Speaker 1: month Nissan, in the twelfth year of King Ahsaras they
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Speaker 1: cast per. That is the lot before Haman from day
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Speaker 1: to day and from month to month, and chose the
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Speaker 1: twelfth month, which is the month Adar. Haman said to
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Speaker 1: King Ahasaras there is a certain people scattered abroad and
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Speaker 1: dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom,
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Speaker 1: and their laws are different from other peoples. They don't
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Speaker 1: keep the king's laws. Therefore, it is not for the
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Speaker 1: king's profit to allow them to remain. If it pleases
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Speaker 1: the king, let it be written that they be destroyed,
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Speaker 1: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into
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Speaker 1: the hands of those who are in charge of the
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Speaker 1: King's business to bring it into the King's treasuries. Again jealousy,
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Speaker 1: Haman was upset that a Jewish man was not paying
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Speaker 1: him the homage he felt he deserved. So he hated
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Speaker 1: all the Jewish people. He hated people that were doing
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Speaker 1: God's will. So he goes to the king and he's like, hey, King,
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Speaker 1: there's these people here that don't respect you. They have
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Speaker 1: their own set of laws. They don't respect you. They're
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Speaker 1: not going to give you the homage that you deserve.
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Speaker 1: Let's destroy them now. Let's move to Matthew twenty seven
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Speaker 1: and read when the Jews persecuted Jesus and wanted to
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Speaker 1: hang him on the cross, Jesus was brought before ponscious Pilot,
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Speaker 1: and his fate was essentially in Pilot's hands. Matthew twenty seven,
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Speaker 1: verse eleven. Jesus stood before the governor Pontus Pilot, and
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Speaker 1: the governor asked him, are you the king of the Jews?
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Speaker 1: And Jesus said to him, so you say when he
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Speaker 1: was accused by the chief priests and elders. He answered nothing.
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Speaker 1: Then Pilot said to him, don't you hear how many
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Speaker 1: things they testify against you? And he gave him no answer,
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Speaker 1: not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
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Speaker 1: So there you go again. The Jewish people are coming
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Speaker 1: to the governor being like this man claims he's a king.
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Speaker 1: He is not giving the real king, Caesar, the honor
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Speaker 1: that he deserves. So you need to kill Jesus and
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Speaker 1: all of his followers for not giving the king what
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Speaker 1: he deserves. And then Acts twenty four, starting in verse one.
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Speaker 1: This is when Paul is accused of doing all sorts
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Speaker 1: of terrible things in front of the governor. They're trying
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Speaker 1: to throw Paul in prison and kill him and anybody
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Speaker 1: else that worships Jesus. After five days, the high priest Anenias,
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Speaker 1: came down with certain elders and an order one Tourtellus.
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Speaker 1: They informed the governor against Paul. When he was called,
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Speaker 1: Tortellus began to accuse him, saying, seeing that bye, we
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Speaker 1: enjoy much peace, and that prosper he is coming to
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Speaker 1: this nation by your foresight, we accept it in all ways,
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Speaker 1: in all places, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness, But
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Speaker 1: that I don't delay you. I entreat to you to
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Speaker 1: bear with us and hear a few words, For we
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Speaker 1: have found this man to be a plague, an instigator
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Speaker 1: of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and
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Speaker 1: a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even
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Speaker 1: tried to profane the temple, and we arrested him. By
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Speaker 1: examining him yourself, you may ascertain all of these things
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Speaker 1: which we accuse him.
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Speaker 2: The Jews also joined.
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Speaker 1: In the attack, affirming that these things were so. So.
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Speaker 1: Paul is standing before the governor. You know his fate
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Speaker 1: is in the Governor's hands, And all these accusers are
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Speaker 1: saying hey, good kind Governor Felix, this man is not
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Speaker 1: giving you the honor that you deserve. He is starting
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Speaker 1: all of these insurrections and all of these problems for you.
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Speaker 1: And we want to enjoy the peace that you give us.
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Speaker 1: He is not respecting you. So there you go. You
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Speaker 1: can see the same theme playing out over and over
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Speaker 1: and over again from the beginning of the antiquity of
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Speaker 1: the Jews all the way to the New Testament times.
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Speaker 1: These enemies want to accuse God's people, the people who
19:18
Speaker 1: are doing God's will, and they always do the exact
19:21
Speaker 1: same thing.
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Speaker 2: They lie.
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Speaker 1: They say, Oh, these people aren't really respecting the nation.
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Speaker 1: They aren't respecting the king, they aren't respecting the president.
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Speaker 1: They are disrespecting everything and everybody. And look at what's
19:38
Speaker 1: happening today. What do people call Christians Christian nationalists? They
19:45
Speaker 1: are doing the exact same thing by giving Christians that
19:49
Speaker 1: title as all of these people were back in the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament times. The term Christian nationalist is meant to
19:58
Speaker 1: make people feel Christianity because they're saying, these Christians, they
20:03
Speaker 1: don't respect the laws of the nation. They're going to
20:08
Speaker 1: make a new nation, a nation of Christians, a nation
20:12
Speaker 1: where everything is changed, where they don't respect your ways.
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Speaker 1: It is the exact same playbook, over and over and
20:21
Speaker 1: over again. Because Satan he's very smart, but he has
20:24
Speaker 1: very few tricks up his sleeves. So it's going to happen.
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Speaker 1: It's going to happen to us Christians, and it is
20:30
Speaker 1: happening right now. So go ahead and call Christians Christian nationalists.
20:36
Speaker 1: But it's a lie. It is a lie that has
20:39
Speaker 1: always been done from the beginning of time. And the
20:42
Speaker 1: reason it keeps happening is because it works. It works.
20:48
Speaker 1: Going back to Ezra four, verse seventeen, here is the
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Speaker 1: response the king gives these evil Samaritan men. The King
20:57
Speaker 1: sent an answer, peace. The letter which you sent to
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Speaker 1: us has been plainly read before me. I decreed, and
21:04
Speaker 1: a search has been made, and it was found that
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Speaker 1: this city has made an insurrection against kings in the past,
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Speaker 1: and that rebellion and revolts have been made in it.
21:13
Speaker 1: And essentially, the king says, to stop the progress of
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Speaker 1: the temple, to make these people stop building the walls
21:20
Speaker 1: of Jerusalem and everything, make them stop. The King actually says,
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Speaker 1: right here, make a decree to cause these men to cease.
21:28
Speaker 1: Now and that this city not be built until a
21:31
Speaker 1: decree is made by me. So in verse twenty three,
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Speaker 1: when the copy of King art Exerxes letter was read
21:37
Speaker 1: before rahum shimshe the scribe and their companions, they went
21:41
Speaker 1: in haste to Jerusalem, to the Jews and made them
21:46
Speaker 1: cease by force of arms.
21:49
Speaker 2: It worked.
21:51
Speaker 1: The Jewish people now have to stop all of the
21:56
Speaker 1: building that they have just done, the things that God
21:59
Speaker 1: commanded them to do. Satan is going to do his
22:03
Speaker 1: best to stop you from doing God's will, and unfortunately
22:08
Speaker 1: a lot of times it works. But guess what, it's
22:12
Speaker 1: never going to work long term. God's will is always
22:16
Speaker 1: going to be accomplished. Satan can do his darnedest trying
22:20
Speaker 1: to make Christians stop, but it's not going to work
22:24
Speaker 1: long term. It says all of this stopped until the
22:27
Speaker 1: second year of the reign of Darius, King of Persia,
22:31
Speaker 1: so about thirteen or fourteen years the Israelites were forced
22:35
Speaker 1: to stop rebuilding their home. That's a really long time
22:39
Speaker 1: to wait. I am sure they are discouraged, they're distressed.
22:43
Speaker 1: They just came back into the land. They probably think
22:45
Speaker 1: that things are going well, and now they are forced
22:47
Speaker 1: to stop all over again, and they have to wait.
22:51
Speaker 1: They have to wait on God's timing. But God is
22:54
Speaker 1: going to make sure that his will is fulfilled, and
22:58
Speaker 1: there is nothing that the enemies of God's children can
23:02
Speaker 1: do to stop God's will from coming to fruition, even
23:06
Speaker 1: if they stop it momentarily. Well, faithful listeners, this was
23:11
Speaker 1: a fun episode to talk about, because man, it is
23:14
Speaker 1: just what happens today, isn't it? All? Right? Before I
23:18
Speaker 1: say goodbye to everybody, please listen to this quick word
23:21
Speaker 1: from a sponsor or two. In some ways, I think
23:26
Speaker 1: this chapter is pretty discouraging, but I also think that
23:29
Speaker 1: it's kind of encouraging as well, because yes, we may
23:33
Speaker 1: lose battles, but God wins the overall war. And that's
23:37
Speaker 1: kind of cliche, but it is the truth. And all
23:39
Speaker 1: we have to do is wait on God's perfect timing.
23:43
Speaker 1: Just wait it out, because God is going to make
23:45
Speaker 1: sure that his will is fulfilled in our lives and
23:48
Speaker 1: in the lives of other people as well, just because
23:51
Speaker 1: people try to stop us from performing God's will. It
23:54
Speaker 1: says in the New Testament that God causes all things
23:57
Speaker 1: to work together for the good of those who love Him,
24:01
Speaker 1: so that includes you. Individually and every other Christian on
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Speaker 1: the planet. God uses these things for good, even if
24:08
Speaker 1: we can't see it in the here and now. Faithful
24:11
Speaker 1: listeners have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.
24:15
Speaker 1: Cap you listening and God bless. I just want to
24:23
Speaker 1: take a second to thank the team at Life Audio
24:25
Speaker 1: for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
24:28
Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll
24:30
Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
24:33
Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.