Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 690. Bible Study: Micah 1 (Prophecy about Assyria conquering Israel and Judah, but also for us- the return of Jesus!)

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690. Bible Study: Micah 1 (Prophecy about Assyria conquering Israel and Judah, but also for us- the return of Jesus!) · Faith by annm2705

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  We are starting a new book today from the Bible, the book of
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  Micah, and so I will read the introduction for this book.
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  So why read this book? With increasing media reports of
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  violence, corruption, war and terrorism occurring around the
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  world, you may wonder where or even if faith can fit into the
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  mix. If so, you will be able to
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  identify with the message of this book.
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  Micah will remind you that even when God seems distant and
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  uninvolved, God still cares and offers hope to those who choose
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  to remain faithful to Him. Reading this book will remind
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  you that God is still active in this world and He will not allow
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  sin to hinder His purposes. Who wrote this book and when was
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  it written? The prophet Micah, whose name
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  means who is like the Lord, ministered during the reigns of
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  Jotham from 7:50 to 7:35 BC, Ahaz from who reigned from 7:35
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  to 7:15 BC, and Hezekiah from 7:15 to 686 BC.
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  During those reigns of those kings, so is Jotham, Ahaz, and
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  Judah. His ministry most likely fell
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  within the period of 735 to 700 BC.
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  The Book of Micah was most likely written between 700 and
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  650 BC. What was happening in the world
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  at this time? The powerful Assyrian Empire was
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  expanding westward, demanding that nations in its path
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  surrender. When the northern Kingdom of
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  Israel rebelled, the Assyrians took most of its territory,
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  destroyed its capital city of Samaria in 722 BC, and took many
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  Israelites into exile. Later, Hezekiah, king of the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah, rebelled.
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  The Assyrians invaded in seven O 1 BC, devastated Judah, and
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  carried many people away into captivity.
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  Though the though the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem, God
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  delivered the city in answer to Hezekiah's prayer.
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  That's really interesting too, just that our prayers matter so
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  much and can affect the judgement that's coming.
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  Repentance can affect judgement that's coming.
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  That's an important thing for us to know too.
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  To whom was it written and why? Micah wrote to the people of
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  Judah to warn them that God's judgement was approaching
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  because they had rejected God and His law.
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  Micah also encouraged the godly few, assuring them that
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  judgement would not permanently destroy Israel.
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  The nation would eventually be restored.
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  That's something that we should all pay attention to also.
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  Is that when we are, we have a good relationship with God, we
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  are connected to him and we are surrendered, submitted to him,
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  Whatever you want to call it, that God does provide protection
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  and he provides. He definitely provides hope and
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  anyway, just other things. So what to look for in Micah?
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  Pay close attention to how Micah portrays God, balancing his
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  divine attributes of justice and mercy.
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  Notice Micah's use of poetry. Many figures of speech make his
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  messages typic, especially vivid, and create profound
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  emotional impact. So before we get started, let's
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  pray. Dear God, please be with us and
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  send us the Holy Spirit so that we have wisdom and understanding
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  of what you had this prophet Micah write in the book so that
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  we can learn from it and take this into our lives to learn
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  something about you, about us, about your character and any
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  other things that you want to impress upon us.
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  We ask for this in Jesus name, Amen.
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  The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Morsha during the
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  reign reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
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  The vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
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  So it's identifying to us that what he saw is specifically
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  towards Samaria and Jerusalem, the northern Kingdom of Israel,
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  which was called, which capital was Samaria, and the southern
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  Kingdom of Israel, which was called Judah.
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  So he says, hear you people, peoples, all of you, listen,
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  Earth and all who live in it. Well, that's really interesting
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  because first he says all of you people and then he says Earth.
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  He's saying like everybody, all who live in it.
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  So this is applicable to all of us as well, that the Southern,
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  the sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord
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  from his holy temple. Look, the Lord is coming from
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  his dwelling place. He comes down and treads on the
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  heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him
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  and the valleys split apart. Now when I read this, of course
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  it other scripture came to mind, which often happens when I do
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  read these things. And, and so I want to read what
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  came to my mind when and I didn't have this called up ahead
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  of time. So I'm I'm getting there right
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  now. But Revelation 614, I did write
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  that down. And this is that here's what
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  Revelation 614 says. The heavens receded like a
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  scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was
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  removed from its place. That's very similar to what this
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  says, where it says the mountains melt beneath him.
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  So Revelation 6 is about the seals, and I might as well just
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  read it right now so that you have the whole context of it.
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  So this is about the seals. I watched as the Lamb, which is
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  the symbolic representation of Jesus, Jesus Christ.
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  I watched as the Lamb opened the first of seven seals.
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  Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice
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  like Thunder, Come. I looked and there before me was
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  a White Horse. Its rider held a bow and he was
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  given a crown and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
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  So in Revelation and studying it, and if you just study all of
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  the prophets and you, you'll notice that in other prophetic
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  books, horses are talked about. Well, horses in other prophetic
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  books. When you use the Bible to
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  interpret the Bible, you find out that horses are symbolic of
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  spirits. It says, and I wish I would have
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  had the reference, but it says something about the horses
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  churning the waters. And it said those are the
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  spirits that roam the face of the earth and they find everyone
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  in peace. So it seems like this is this is
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  like everybody is at peace. And and this now just came to my
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  mind as I'm stating that because there is prophecy when when they
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  say peace and security, then come sudden destruction.
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  So a lot of people are not sure when these seals open and it's
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  it's just interesting. It's just something that we pay
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  attention to. And because it is written so
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  metaphorically or symbolically that it could be open to many
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  different interpretations. So it's important for all of us
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  who have some understanding of revelation that we don't get too
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  locked into the way that we know it because God, you know, it's
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  it's very open to interpretation.
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  And so when I explain some of these things, it'll, some of it
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  might be my interpretation of it, but others like the horse
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  part, I can find that in scripture, I can find that
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  horses are, are spirits and the same colors are actually used
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  because there are like red, white, or there's white, red,
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  black, and then a dappled or sometimes a green horse that,
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  you know, depends on the translation as far as the 4th
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  horse. So, but anyway, these are
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  different spirits and there's some color that's associated
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  with them and it's red, white, black and then green.
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  Those are the colors. And those are interesting colors
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  to say the least too, because I've seen others or heard others
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  that have noticed that and also mentioned the coincidence of it
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  matching colors of different countries, flags that are
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  against Israel. And that's an interesting
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  observation. Now, I don't know if God was
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  being that creative in giving this information to John on the
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  island of Patmos in the vision where he would foresee that sort
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  of thing, but somebody has picked up on that.
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  Again, that's an interpretation. It's not found within Scripture.
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  We don't find that colors represent certain things.
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  I haven't seen that in Scripture, but I have seen that
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  horses represent spirits. So it there is this White Horse
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  and it has a bow in it. It doesn't have an arrow, it
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  just has a bow. And it was given a crown.
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  So it's giving some like a crown is like some authority, like a
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  king of some sort and rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
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  So this is not something good. The seven seals are not good
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  things. And, and Jesus is opening this,
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  Jesus is allowing this, Jesus has the authority to allow this
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  to happen. And this, these are, I don't
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  know if these would be considered judgments or
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  warnings. It probably is judgment because
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  things are happening as a result of these spirits being lit let
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  out. And so there's this White Horse
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  that's going to conquer. So I do have a certain idea of
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  what that White Horse might be. And a lot of people will agree
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  with the thought that this is a religious, a false religion that
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  goes out to conquer. And I could see that happening
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  in our world today. OK, verse 3, when the lamb
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  opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say
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  come. Then another horse came out, a
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  fiery red one. It was given power to take peace
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  from the earth and to make people kill each other.
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  To him was given a large sword. So this obviously is war,
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  bloodshed, fighting, and that's one of the things that Jesus
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  said would happen all the way until he finally returns.
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  So there is this, this war that's going on.
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  So that's the red one. There's a spirit of war.
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  We certainly, this is 2025. We certainly had that spirit of
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  war happening first, you know, in 2022 it started with Russia
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  and Ukraine and then we it escalated in 2023 with Hamas and
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  Israel. And then it's expanded into, you
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  know, the area of Lebanon. It's expanded to Iran.
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  So there's, you know, a lot of expansion of war.
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  OK. Then when the lamb opened the
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  third seal, I heard the third living creature say come.
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  And I looked there and before me was a Black Horse.
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  It's rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
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  Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living
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  creatures saying 2 lbs of wheat for a day's wages and 6 lbs of
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  barley for a day's wages and do not damage the oil and the wine.
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  Well, there's a lot there and a lot that I probably can't fully
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  understand. But the point of it is there's
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  this pair of scales and there are things that are off like
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  there's a lot required for a little, let's see, a lot of pay
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  required for a little result of something.
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  So we can see that there is, if you want to call it inflation,
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  because it scarcity and that would be a natural occurrence
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  after a war that you would have scarcity.
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  And that seems to be that like it's unjust.
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  Maybe it's unjust, or maybe it's just because there isn't much of
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  it. So it costs a lot to have it.
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  Now, of course they had agricultural references back in
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  the time because that's what everything the, you know,
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  economy was kind of based on that.
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  I mean, that was the, the produce of what would, what
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  would, you know, fund the economy.
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  But I just find it interesting that, you know, I'm paying
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  attention to this for the first time that it talks about wheat
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  and it talks about barley and it talks about like, it's harder,
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  like 6 lbs for barley, 2 lbs for wheat for a day's wages.
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  So the barley is there's 6 lbs and there's 2 lbs, which those
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  numbers are also significant. The two and the six together
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  they make 8. And again, that's, you know, 8
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  is usually like the number of eternity.
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  And I'd never noticed that before, but I'm noticing it now.
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  And then barley harvest comes before wheat harvest and there's
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  6 lbs of barley for a day's wages and there are 2 lbs of
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  wheat for a day's wages. So they're getting more barley
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  than they are wheat for a day's wages.
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  So barley is, I guess there's more of it or something, I don't
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  know. I don't know if there's any
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  significance in this, but it's just interesting.
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  Those are the harvest. And then in when you start
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  studying Jewish culture and especially when you look at the
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  Dead Sea Scrolls, it's interesting again to me because
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  first the barley harvest happens and that's like I think seven
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  days after Passover. And then the wheat harvest comes
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  in the summertime. And then the there's the a
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  counting of oil of new and then there's a counting of new wine.
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  And those are kind of like in the fall.
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  So it's if when you study this in deep you in depth, you start
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  to see that there are seasons for things to happen and that
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  there is an order of things that God sprinkles throughout the
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  Bible. And you start noticing that a
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  lot of Bible prophecy ties into the harvest.
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  A lot of the symbolism ties into the harvest.
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  And there probably is a deeper meaning.
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  And these are kind of like clues.
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  It says in the Bible that God obscures this from those who
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  think they are wise and he reveals this to the humbled.
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  So there there is more. There's deeper information in
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  Scripture that the Holy Spirit will reveal as we get closer to
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  God. And I'm not saying that I have
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  an understanding of this beyond the part that there is scarcity
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  there and things cost a lot more at this point.
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  And that could be, you know, symbolic that, you know, the
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  longer that we wait to turn to God, the more it's going to cost
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  also. And do not damage the oil.
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  The oil is usually used for anointing and then the wine is
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  like the last thing that's mentioned and the wine is it as
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  it's carried through revelation. It's, it's, that's the part of
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  judgment like God trampling the, the, the wine press.
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  And that also ties back to Micah because it says that, look, the
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  Lord is coming from his dwelling place.
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  This is verse 3. And Micah, look, the Lord is
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  coming from his dwelling place. He comes down and treads on the
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  heights of the earth. Now in Revelation, I should have
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  written the other one because that's like the the trampling of
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  the wine press and the Grapes of Wrath that's talked about.
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  So there's another another reference in Revelation that I
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  hadn't written down, but we may read that too.
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  So when the lamb opened the 4th seal, I heard the voice of the
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  4th living creature say come. I looked in.
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  Before me was a pale horse. Now that's sometimes called
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  green horse. Also are a dappled horse.
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  It depends on the translation. It's rider was named Death and
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  Hades was following close behind.
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  Now Hades was the place that people went to as judgement.
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  Hades was actually they, you know, like a place of of hell or
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  like a holding place that was mentioned in the Bible.
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  In fact, it's probably good for me to use the the tools and
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  actually tell you exactly what it says here in blue letter
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  Bible. This is a great resource if you
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  want to go in deep. This is I'm giving you a good
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  example of that because about the part about Hades, so Hades,
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  it's Strong's Concordance G86 and here's what it says about
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  it. Name Hades or Pluto, the God of
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  the lower regions, Orcas, the nether word world, the realm of
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  the dead. The later use of the word was
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  the grave, death or hell. So those are all the things that
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  it refers to unseen or the place or state of departed souls,
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  grave or hell. And it's interesting, you know,
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  in the Greek how it it talks about for the older, which Homer
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  uses. And it not to be seen a proper
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  name Hades Pluto, the God of the lower regions.
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  So in Homer, always an appellative Orcas, the
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  netherworld, the realm of the dead, the Aquitus, you know, it
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  gives references. And then in this is Bible, it
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  talks about that word, that Greek word Hades for Hades
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  occurs 10 times in 10 verses. And here's something else that's
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  really good. When you start reading that, you
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  start getting a little bit better understanding of what
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  Hades means. So in Matthew Chapter 11, I'm
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  going to read you the difference.
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  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens?
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  No, you will go down to Hades, for it is for if the miracles
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  that were performed in you had been put performed in Sodom, it
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  would have remained to this day. So that's in Matthew 11, verse
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  23. Matthew 16, verse 18 said, and I
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  tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
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  church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
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  And that's Matthew 1618, Luke 10, verse 15.
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  And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens?
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  No, you will go down to Hades, Luke 1623, in Hades, where he
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  was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far
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  away with Lazarus by his side. So that's really interesting
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  too, because this is about a person who has departed from
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  this earth and gone to the next realm, and he is in Hades and he
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  is in torment upon his death. That's really interesting.
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  And he looked up and he saw Abraham.
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  Now he wants to go to Abraham's to get a drop of water on his
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  tongue. So there is there is a place
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  where people go and it says where he was in torment.
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  So Acts 2 verse 27. Because you will not, because
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  you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not
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  let your holy one see decay. So because you will not abandon
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  me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see
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  decay. That one, I have to go back
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  because I'm trying to understand this.
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  So this is talking about being raised from the dead.
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  And Peter addresses the crowd and he talks about, oh, this is
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  really interesting too. So it's I got to read this to
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  you. This is what happens when you
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  start studying Scripture and then you go from one thing to
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  another. Peter addresses the crowd.
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  Then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed
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  the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who
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  live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you.
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  Listen carefully to what I say. These people are not getting
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  drunk as you suppose. It's only 9 in the morning.
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  That's interesting. 9:00 in the morning.
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  This is when the Holy Spirit comes upon all these people who
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  are gathered together. OK, continuing.
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  No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel in the last
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  days. God says, I will pour out my
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  spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will
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  prophecy. Your young men will see visions,
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  Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men
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  and women, I will pour out my spirit in the in those days, and
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  they will prophecy. I will show wonders in the
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  heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and
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  blows of smoke. The sun will be turned to
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  darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great
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  and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the
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  name of the Lord will be saved. Fellow Israelites, listen to
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  this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man
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  accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs,
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  which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know,
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  this man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and
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  foreknowledge, and you with the help of wicked men, to death by
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  nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the
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  dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was
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  impossible for death to keep hold on him.
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  David said about him. I saw the Lord always before me.
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  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
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  Therefore my heart heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.
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  My body will also rest in hope, because you will not abandon me
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  to the realm of the dead. You will not let your Holy One
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  see decay. So that's David talking about
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  God not allowing him to C decay. You have made known to me the
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  paths of life. You will fill me with joy in
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  your presence. So I mean, it continues on.
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  It says you have made, let's say, fellow Israelites.
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  I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was
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  buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
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  But he was a prophet and he knew that God had promised him on
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  oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne,
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  seeing what was to come. He spoke of the resurrection of
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  the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the
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  dead, nor did his body decay. God has raised this Jesus to
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  life and we are all witnesses of it.
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  So those people that were, you know, this was written by Luke
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  and there were people who literally witnessed this.
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  They witnessed that Jesus came back to life exalted to the
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  right hand of God. He has received from the Father
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  the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see
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  and hear. For David did not ascend to
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  heaven, and yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my
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  right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your
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  feet. Therefore let Israel be assured
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  of this. God has made this Jesus whom you
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  crucified, both Lord and Messiah.
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  When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said
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  to Peter and the apostles Brothers, what shall we do?
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  OK, this is important for us too.
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  Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in
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  the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and
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  you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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  So there's an order. We have to know that we have to
• 27:17
  repent. You need to be baptized or
• 27:20
  cleansed. That's a rebirth, a new life.
• 27:23
  Like Jesus said, you must be born again.
• 27:25
  That's a new life. Everyone of you in the name of
• 27:28
  Jesus Christ for the forgiveness, because Jesus is
• 27:32
  the one who made the sacrifice on the cross.
• 27:34
  That takes away the debt we owe for the sins that we've done,
• 27:40
  you know, life for life, sacrifice.
• 27:42
  So Jesus was a perfect, the Son of God and died on the cross for
• 27:49
  our sins. So that's how we are forgiven,
• 27:51
  but we have to reconcile with God to apply that forgiveness to
• 27:55
  us. And it it says like after we go
• 27:58
  through this process of repenting and getting baptized
• 28:01
  in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we will
• 28:05
  receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• 28:08
  When we truly repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus,
• 28:13
  we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• 28:17
  And it says it confirms this. This promise is for you and your
• 28:22
  children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our
• 28:29
  God will call. With many words, many other
• 28:34
  words. He warned them and He pleaded
• 28:36
  with them. Save yourselves from this
• 28:38
  corrupt generation. Those accepted His message were
• 28:42
  baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day.
• 28:48
  So that tells us all, like, what we need to do.
• 28:52
  All right, let's go back to the use of Hades in Luke 1623 in
• 28:59
  Yeah, it says in Hades where he. Oh, no, I read that one already.
• 29:03
  OK, Acts chapter 2 verse 31, seeing what was to come, he
• 29:07
  spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not
• 29:10
  abandoned to the realm of the dead nor did his body see decay.
• 29:14
  Then in Revelation chapter one, verse 18, this is Jesus talking.
• 29:20
  I am the living one. I was dead and now look, I am
• 29:27
  alive forever and ever and I hold the keys of death and
• 29:36
  Hades, He's a he has authority over death and Hades.
• 29:42
  Jesus is the one who will be the judge and he has you know who
• 29:48
  goes into you know who dies in Hades.
• 29:53
  So Revelation 6 says I looked and there before me was a pale
• 29:57
  horse. That's what we were reading
• 29:58
  about. It's it's writer was named Death
• 30:01
  and Hades. So Jesus is in control of this
• 30:05
  was following close behind him. They were given power over a
• 30:09
  fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague and by
• 30:17
  the wild beasts of the earth. So there's a significant amount
• 30:22
  of destruction that, you know, death takes place during this
• 30:27
  4th seal and it's by sword or by war, by starving, famine and by
• 30:33
  plague. So there's plagues throughout
• 30:36
  that happen like these strange things that come about.
• 30:39
  And sometimes God uses the evil will of people that create these
• 30:44
  harmful things and put this out into the world, you know,
• 30:48
  biological warfare type stuff. God will use their desires.
• 30:52
  He will let them have their free will and then he will use it to
• 30:56
  cut, to bring judgement on people.
• 31:00
  So the unrepentant will be will receive these kinds of things
• 31:06
  from the Lord. And sometimes these things come
• 31:09
  upon people to wake up people to make them turn to the not make
• 31:19
  them because God doesn't force anything but to like maybe
• 31:23
  encourage them to turn to God like they have nothing else like
• 31:27
  they are. You know, it's often when we hit
• 31:29
  rock bottom, when we finally seek help.
• 31:32
  And that's what sometimes God has to do to us when we are
• 31:36
  stubborn, when we don't listen to his gentle nudges.
• 31:40
  Eventually his concern is more about saving us than it is it is
• 31:43
  about how comfortable he makes it for us.
• 31:46
  So when we don't respond to his gentle calling, he will do
• 31:51
  something a little bit stronger. And then eventually we we'll
• 31:57
  have to make a choice. We'll either like reject him
• 31:59
  because we'll be mad about what he did, or we will realize, wow,
• 32:05
  I was wrong. And God was trying to get my
• 32:07
  attention and all this had to happen because I was so stubborn
• 32:11
  and I wouldn't turn to God. And so he had to do this to out
• 32:16
  of love to get me to wake up. That's basically what it is.
• 32:21
  So then there's a couple more references about Hades.
• 32:24
  In Revelation 20, the sea gave up the dead that were in it and
• 32:29
  death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each
• 32:33
  person was judged according to what they had done.
• 32:38
  So this is like at the very end judgement day when people, you
• 32:47
  know, everyone was created to be eternal.
• 32:52
  So there is no such thing as you only live once.
• 32:56
  Well, I mean, I guess it is true.
• 32:58
  We live for eternity, to be honest.
• 33:00
  But the question is, where do we live if we are deceived and we
• 33:05
  think we have to live it up now on the earth because we will
• 33:09
  someday die. Because everybody knows that
• 33:11
  most people will die. But I'll tell you something else
• 33:14
  too. The Bible says that not
• 33:15
  everybody dies because when Jesus returns those there are
• 33:19
  still people living and those people who are in reconciliation
• 33:24
  with God will be gathered to Jesus and they will not even
• 33:29
  experience death. The people who died first will
• 33:33
  rise from the dead. Who the the people who were
• 33:36
  reconciled with God. They will rise 1st and then
• 33:40
  those who are alive and remain on the earth, they don't even
• 33:44
  experience a death. There were two other people in
• 33:46
  the Bible who didn't experience death.
• 33:49
  Enoch, he walked faithfully with God and God took him.
• 33:52
  He didn't, he didn't have a death.
• 33:55
  And then there was also Elijah when and everybody knew about
• 34:01
  that. That's so wild because they, I
• 34:02
  think they were like maybe 500 people or 300 people or
• 34:05
  something like that who actually witnessed Elijah.
• 34:10
  It's, you know, being taken on a chariot is how they described
• 34:13
  it. Now that's what the Bible says.
• 34:15
  We don't really know what that really looked like, but he was
• 34:19
  taken living and he was with God.
• 34:23
  And before he left, he promised, well, Elijah his his friend or
• 34:28
  the person who is going to like follow up after him in
• 34:31
  leadership would ask, can I have a double portion of what you
• 34:34
  have? And it was he had the Holy
• 34:35
  Spirit. He had the Spirit of God.
• 34:37
  Elijah did. And then he said, if you see me
• 34:40
  going up into the whirlwind that God brings, then you will have
• 34:44
  it. Because if God chose to reveal
• 34:47
  to Elijah what was real, what was true, then he would actually
• 34:53
  have those powers. And he did have those powers.
• 34:55
  So it was, it's very interesting about these things.
• 34:59
  So anyway, that's kind of a sidetrack, but that's what my
• 35:02
  mind does sometimes. OK, The last one, Revelation 20,
• 35:06
  verse 14, Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of
• 35:11
  fire. The Lake of fire is the second
• 35:15
  death. So that's interesting because
• 35:19
  now that I said that we live for eternity, I don't, I wonder,
• 35:24
  like I know there's a period of torment that people go through,
• 35:28
  but then in the final judgement, maybe that's God's mercy where
• 35:34
  he doesn't, you know, it says that people will be tormented
• 35:37
  forever and ever, but the lake of fire is the second death.
• 35:41
  So maybe at that point it's like they they're tormented, like the
• 35:46
  people who die early and are evil will be tormented a longer
• 35:50
  period of time because they had that time all the way until
• 35:54
  Judgement day where they get tormented.
• 35:56
  And then finally, maybe that's just God's mercy, where God is
• 35:59
  even merciful on those who were so evil and vehemently rejected
• 36:06
  God. Maybe this is where God is like,
• 36:09
  OK, I'm not going to, I'm going to do this to you forever.
• 36:11
  I'm going to actually let you let you die because Jesus has
• 36:15
  control of that. Remember, he has the keys to
• 36:17
  death in Hades. And so he lets them out and they
• 36:21
  go into the lake of fire and it says the lake of fire is the
• 36:25
  second death. So maybe that's it.
• 36:28
  Then they are gone. Like God is merciful, so he
• 36:30
  won't torment them for eternity. He will finally let them die.
• 36:37
  But we have to think that Jesus hasn't returned yet.
• 36:42
  So if any one of us is is evil and doesn't reconcile with God,
• 36:47
  there's 1000 years once Jesus returns.
• 36:50
  So that means that people who die and are evil are going to
• 36:54
  have at least 1000 years of torment before this second
• 37:00
  death. So it's just not worth it to be
• 37:03
  evil and to be deceived by this world.
• 37:08
  You know, that makes you want to think that you, you have to live
• 37:14
  it up here because there's nothing else for you.
• 37:16
  God has eternity planned for all of us.
• 37:19
  God has a Kingdom that will come.
• 37:21
  That's what the Lord's Prayer is.
• 37:22
  Thy Kingdom, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it
• 37:27
  is in heaven. His Kingdom will come down to
• 37:30
  earth. And He has like wonderful things
• 37:32
  planned for His children, those who reconcile themselves with
• 37:36
  us. So if we are deceived by the
• 37:38
  world to be rebellious to God, to reject Him, we are being
• 37:43
  deceived that if we follow that same path and keep on it, we're
• 37:48
  going to end up in that second death.
• 37:52
  We're going to end up first tormented for a very long period
• 37:56
  of time and it's just going to be in agony.
• 38:00
  We're going to realize why we should have changed.
• 38:05
  But once we die, that's that's the end.
• 38:07
  Like we don't get to say, oops, I made a mistake.
• 38:11
  God, let me change this. The Bible's really clear.
• 38:14
  Once our death occurs, the first step that is that seals where we
• 38:20
  go. So it's really important while
• 38:23
  you're alive, you don't even know if you're going to make it
• 38:25
  till tonight or you know unexpected things can happen.
• 38:29
  So it's not good to put this off.
• 38:33
  You need to just rely on God, trust in God and ask God to show
• 38:37
  you the way every single day. Wake up with a prayer, thank him
• 38:40
  for the good things in life, and then ask him to guide the rest
• 38:44
  of the day. All right, we're going to go
• 38:46
  back to the Book of Revelation. We read about the fourth seal
• 38:50
  with death in Hades. Now here's the interesting part.
• 38:55
  When he opened the 5th seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
• 39:00
  those who had been slain because of the word of God and the
• 39:05
  testimony they had maintained. We do know that people do get
• 39:10
  beheaded today if they do not deny that they're Christian, if
• 39:15
  they don't give up their Christian faith.
• 39:17
  Now Jesus said if you deny me, I will deny you.
• 39:20
  So we, anyone who calls themselves a Christian, has to
• 39:25
  be able to make that commitment to God.
• 39:30
  Even death, even if death is threatened to us, we cannot deny
• 39:40
  Christ. If we deny Christ, we are
• 39:43
  subject to that torment from the time we die all the way till
• 39:48
  final judgement. At least maybe it's longer.
• 39:51
  I don't understand all of the Bible.
• 39:55
  So we will certainly have a very, very long time of being
• 39:58
  tormented for that. So that one death that.
• 40:03
  Quick or agonizing death, whatever it would be here on
• 40:06
  earth, is still going to be less.
• 40:09
  Like if we die and don't deny Christ and we die because of
• 40:14
  Christ, then it's still going to be less pain than if we deny
• 40:19
  Christ, because then we would be in a in a in torment forever and
• 40:23
  ever, at least until judgement for at least 1000 years or more.
• 40:27
  We're going to be, you know, more than 1000 years of torment.
• 40:31
  So do you take one day of torment, you know, when you're
• 40:35
  or however many days it takes until we actually die, depending
• 40:38
  on what somebody does or do, we go for thousands of years.
• 40:45
  I mean, I would take the, you know, temporary time on earth if
• 40:51
  we have to for Christ and, and we just, I mean, you'll only do
• 40:57
  that if you truly believe that there is hope in the afterlife,
• 41:01
  which is very clear because Jesus showed us that there is
• 41:04
  life after death. That's why it's so important
• 41:07
  about his resurrection and his that so many people witnessed
• 41:11
  him. And there's the Bible just keeps
• 41:14
  being proven true archaeologically, I mean, and
• 41:18
  scientifically it's, it's amazing.
• 41:21
  So I mean this, this is definitely true.
• 41:25
  And I can say that 100% I believe it.
• 41:28
  And God actually gave me dreams that showed me things in the
• 41:32
  Bible that I didn't even know about.
• 41:34
  And it, it like even solidified my faith even more.
• 41:39
  I believed. But then, you know, there was
• 41:41
  this, I guess there was this slight part of skeptical about
• 41:48
  it. And then after that started
• 41:50
  happening to me, I was like, oh, no, I know this is real.
• 41:53
  Like I don't doubt it at all anymore.
• 41:56
  And maybe that's what God needed to do to me, to, you know, fully
• 41:59
  make me aware of the truth. OK, going back to Scripture,
• 42:03
  Revelation 6, verse 10, they called out in a loud voice, How
• 42:08
  long sovereign Lord, holy and true until you judge the
• 42:12
  inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood.
• 42:16
  So there's souls. These souls do not have bodies
• 42:19
  yet. And they're asking how long Lord
• 42:23
  holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth.
• 42:27
  Now we know when Jesus returns, then that's when the wrath, the
• 42:32
  judgement comes upon the earth for all these people who didn't
• 42:36
  deny Christ. And so at the 5th seal, there
• 42:41
  are people who got maybe beheaded because they were slain
• 42:45
  because of the word of God. And they were under the altar.
• 42:48
  So they were covered, they were protected under the sacrificial
• 42:52
  altar because the altar was where sacrifices were made in
• 42:56
  the Hebrew, in the Jewish tradition, Israelites tradition.
• 43:02
  So they call out in a long, loud voice.
• 43:07
  So they're asking, God, how long is this going to be before you
• 43:09
  judge people? Then each of them was given a
• 43:13
  white robe and they were told to wait a little longer until the
• 43:18
  full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and
• 43:20
  sisters were killed just as they had been.
• 43:24
  So at this point in the 5th Seal, there is there they're
• 43:30
  saying, come on, let's get this over with.
• 43:32
  You know, we want how long is this going to be?
• 43:35
  And there's more people that get killed in this in the 5th seal.
• 43:40
  So that was that was that was just a vision.
• 43:45
  So the 4th seal, you know, the writer went out and its name was
• 43:50
  Death in Hades was following close behind him.
• 43:54
  So that those Death in Hades started like killing people by
• 44:00
  various things, by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the
• 44:04
  wild beasts of the earth. That's how they were like 1/4 of
• 44:06
  the earth is killed during this time.
• 44:09
  And so these people are under the altar of the Lord.
• 44:13
  And they were, they were killed because they were Christians,
• 44:15
  because they believed in Christ. And they're saying, how long is
• 44:18
  this going to be? And then they're given a white
• 44:20
  robe, and that's usually like a covering, a protection,
• 44:25
  purification. And they were told they had to
• 44:27
  wait a little bit longer until their fellow servants, their
• 44:30
  brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
• 44:33
  Okay. Then I watched as he opened the
• 44:36
  6th seal. There was a great earthquake,
• 44:41
  the sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, and
• 44:45
  the whole moon turned blood red. And the stars fell to the earth
• 44:51
  as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong end.
• 44:59
  So that's interesting too, because the figs and the fig
• 45:02
  tree and the fruit, the stars are symbolic.
• 45:08
  And the stars often have symbolic meaning and revelation
• 45:13
  for the angels. And it also, you know, like
• 45:18
  there's that's where they get fallen angels because the stars
• 45:21
  in the sky fell to the earth as figs.
• 45:24
  So they were once in heaven. But at this point in the 6th
• 45:28
  seal there, there's a shake up there they are shaken.
• 45:31
  There was a great earthquake on the earth.
• 45:34
  Now this is when in other parts of the Bible, it talks about
• 45:37
  when Jesus returns, these are the things that happens.
• 45:39
  There's an earthquake, the sun turns black like whatever it is
• 45:44
  that you can't see the sun. It gets black out and the whole
• 45:48
  moon turns blood red. It says the heavens receded like
• 45:53
  a scroll being rolled up and every mountain and island was
• 45:57
  removed from its place. So remember in Micah it says
• 46:01
  that the mountains melt beneath him.
• 46:03
  So this is Jesus when he returns, and that's at the when
• 46:08
  he returns 1/6 seal. Then the kings of the earth, the
• 46:12
  Princess, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone
• 46:15
  else both slave and free, hid in caves and among the mount the
• 46:21
  rocks of the mountains they called to the mountains.
• 46:25
  And the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him
• 46:31
  sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, the wrath of
• 46:37
  Jesus, the wrath of God, for the great day of their wrath has
• 46:41
  come. And who can withstand it?
• 46:45
  So that's the end of chapter 6. So Jose Micah is talking about
• 46:51
  this. He says, look, the Lord is
• 46:54
  coming from his dwelling place. Yeah, that's where Jesus is with
• 46:57
  the Father. He's coming from his dwelling
• 46:59
  place. He comes down and treads on the
• 47:01
  heights of the earth. This winepress that I didn't get
• 47:04
  to. The mountains melt melt beneath
• 47:07
  him and the valleys split apart. So Zechariah 14 four that talks
• 47:14
  about the mountain splitting. Now this says the the valley
• 47:21
  split apart. So it's a little bit zic
• 47:24
  different than the mountains, But I just thought that actually
• 47:27
  came to mind when when I read that.
• 47:30
  So I'll just read that one to you.
• 47:35
  What Zechariah says and I didn't have the one called up.
• 47:41
  So it just takes me a minute to get to it and then we will read
• 47:47
  it. So in Zechariah chapter 4, which
• 47:52
  is really, oops, not 4, it's 14. So I have to go a little bit
• 47:57
  further, but Zechariah has a lot of things that tie up, tie into
• 48:02
  Revelation. When you start reading the Book
• 48:05
  of Revelation, it's probably good to read the book of
• 48:08
  Zechariah too because you will start seeing similarities.
• 48:11
  Okay, now in Zechariah 14-4, this is about the Lord coming.
• 48:16
  So this is another prophet who's talking about these things.
• 48:20
  So I you know, sometimes it's good to just read all the
• 48:23
  different places in the Bible where it talks about the same
• 48:26
  day of the event. So I will read this.
• 48:28
  The Lord comes and reigns and it again ties to Revelation 20
• 48:32
  through 22 and it's also referenced, it referenced in
• 48:38
  Mark chapter 13 and Ezekiel chapter 38 and Ezekiel 39.
• 48:46
  So a day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions
• 48:50
  will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
• 48:54
  That's interesting. Divided up.
• 48:57
  I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it.
• 49:02
  The city will be captured, the houses ransacked and the women
• 49:07
  raped. Half of the city will go into
• 49:09
  exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from
• 49:13
  the city. Then the Lord will go out and
• 49:17
  fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle.
• 49:21
  Now this is something that I think is really interesting.
• 49:24
  Like, I, I see this as future prophecy.
• 49:29
  So God is going to gather all the nations to Jerusalem to
• 49:33
  fight against it. And the city is going to be
• 49:35
  captured and the houses ransacked and the women raped.
• 49:38
  Half of the city will go into exile again.
• 49:42
  You know, this happened before and history does repeat itself.
• 49:46
  But this seems like it's, it's, you know, future.
• 49:52
  But maybe it's one of those things that was a foreshadowing
• 49:55
  like this happened because it says like half of the city will
• 49:59
  go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken
• 50:01
  from the city. And the Lord will go out and
• 50:04
  fight against these nations as he fights on a day of battle.
• 50:08
  On that day he will stand on the Mount of Olives east of
• 50:13
  Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from
• 50:18
  east to West, forming a great valley with half of the mountain
• 50:24
  moving north and half moving South.
• 50:29
  So the mountains melt. I'm going back to Micah now.
• 50:33
  The mountains melt beneath him and the valley split apart.
• 50:37
  It does sound like that's the same thing that's being
• 50:40
  referenced by Zechariah. You will flee by my mountain
• 50:45
  valley, for it will extend to Azel or Azel you will flee as
• 50:52
  you fled from the earthquake. Now remember the earthquake, but
• 50:56
  it says in the days of the of Uzziah, king of Judah, then the
• 51:00
  Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him, On that
• 51:06
  day there will be neither sunlight.
• 51:10
  Now remember this, the sun went black, nor cold, frosty
• 51:16
  darkness. It will be a unique day, a day
• 51:20
  known only to the Lord. No distinction between day and
• 51:24
  night. When evening comes, there will
• 51:26
  be light. On that day living water will
• 51:30
  flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea, and
• 51:36
  half of it West to the Mediterranean Sea.
• 51:39
  In summer and in winter the Lord will be king over the whole
• 51:46
  earth. On that day there will be 1 Lord
• 51:51
  and His name, the only name. The whole land from Giba to
• 51:56
  Rimmon South of Jerusalem will become like the Araba.
• 52:00
  But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to
• 52:04
  the site of the first gate to the corner gate, and from the
• 52:08
  tower of Henala to the wine presses and will remain in its
• 52:13
  place. It will be inhabited.
• 52:17
  Never again will it be destroyed.
• 52:21
  Jerusalem will be secure. The next time Jerusalem is
• 52:26
  secure is when the Messiah Jesus Christ returns and this is the
• 52:33
  plague with which the Lord will strike down all nations that
• 52:37
  fought against Jerusalem. OK, pay attention to this.
• 52:42
  Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their
• 52:46
  feet. Their eyes will rot in their
• 52:49
  sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
• 52:53
  Some people say this sounds like a nuclear bomb, like what
• 52:56
  happens with a nuclear bomb, but you know who knows what it is?
• 53:01
  It says it's calling it a plague.
• 53:03
  Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their
• 53:06
  feet. Their eyes will rot in their
• 53:07
  sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
• 53:10
  So that's how that's going to anybody who comes against
• 53:14
  Jerusalem. So all you anti semites out
• 53:17
  there, pay attention to this. This is a warning for you.
• 53:22
  The flesh will rot while they are still standing on their
• 53:24
  feet. Their eyes will rot in their
• 53:25
  sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
• 53:28
  On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great
• 53:31
  panic. They will seize each other by
• 53:33
  the hand and attack one another. Judah will fight at Jerusalem.
• 53:38
  The wealth of all of surrounding nations will be collected, great
• 53:41
  quantities of gold and silver and clothing.
• 53:44
  A similar play will strike the horses and mules, the camels and
• 53:48
  donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
• 53:51
  Now remember when the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, out
• 53:56
  of the slavery of Egypt, and God used a plague that struck down
• 54:01
  the first born, even the animals first born.
• 54:05
  I mean, this is like a repetition of that.
• 54:08
  Again, history repeats itself. Okay then.
• 54:11
  Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked
• 54:15
  Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the
• 54:20
  Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
• 54:25
  The Festival of Tabernacles is also referred to as Sukkot, and
• 54:29
  it's the temporary structures, and it's used as a memory to
• 54:34
  remind people of when God took the Israelites out of Egypt and
• 54:38
  they lived in the wilderness and God provided their shelter.
• 54:42
  He provided food, He provided water.
• 54:45
  And so the Festival of Tabernacles is a celebration,
• 54:50
  and people set up temporary structures, and it's to
• 54:55
  commemorate what God did for the Israelites when he brought them
• 54:58
  out of slavery. So again, history repeats
• 55:01
  itself. So God is going to deliver us
• 55:04
  from slavery. And it's, you know, all these
• 55:08
  nations that have attacked Jerusalem.
• 55:10
  So God is even showing his mercy here.
• 55:12
  Like there are going to be survivors after God's wrath even
• 55:16
  after these, the flesh is rotting on some people, there's
• 55:19
  some eyes will rot in their socket and their tongues are in
• 55:21
  their mouth. But Zechariah 1416 says there
• 55:25
  are survivors after the wrath of God, and they're going to go up
• 55:30
  every year after. There's going to be a change of
• 55:32
  heart. So some people will be saved at
• 55:35
  that point, but they're going to go through an awful lot of
• 55:38
  wickedness before they actually get saved.
• 55:41
  So it's not looking real rosy, the picture of the future when
• 55:45
  you look at these things in the short term future, but long term
• 55:51
  is God's Kingdom. And to learn about the
• 55:54
  Millennium reign or the 1000 years that Christ reigns here on
• 55:57
  earth, there will be piece just like it said in Zechariah 1411.
• 56:03
  It says Jerusalem will be secure.
• 56:07
  So when and then there's going to be animals like normal
• 56:10
  predator type animals that no longer eat the other.
• 56:14
  They will lie down and piece together.
• 56:16
  There is going to be this restoration time that is unlike
• 56:20
  anything we've ever seen before on this earth.
• 56:23
  So there is good that follows this, but God is cleansing the
• 56:28
  earth of wickedness. And this is this is what has to
• 56:33
  happen because people are unrepentant.
• 56:35
  So we're not going to have the whole earth become repentant
• 56:39
  because the Bible tells us that people are going to reject God,
• 56:42
  they are going to reject Jesus and those people will have
• 56:46
  consequences. But there will be people who do
• 56:49
  come to God and believe in him and will be saved and become
• 56:54
  children of God and live in God's Kingdom.
• 56:58
  So then it says if any of these people of the earth do not go up
• 57:01
  to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, the
• 57:04
  king, the Lord Almighty, they will have no reign.
• 57:08
  So there's also a consequence later this thousand years.
• 57:12
  To me, it sounds like it's a period of time where people are
• 57:15
  getting, you know, a second opportunity, especially when I
• 57:20
  think about the the Jewish people.
• 57:22
  And this is going to be a really interesting time because you
• 57:24
  have to read more scripture about it.
• 57:26
  But there's going to be mortal and immortal people who are
• 57:31
  reigning with Christ at this time.
• 57:33
  It says in Revelation, I believe, that those who are
• 57:37
  beheaded return with Christ to rule with them.
• 57:41
  So those people who lose their life, they're going to become
• 57:43
  great leaders in this thousand year reign of Christ.
• 57:47
  I mean, God takes he. He turns everything upside down,
• 57:52
  like the very humble will be exalted.
• 57:55
  And that's the way God works. That's what we learn about God's
• 57:58
  character. Going back to Zechariah, if the
• 58:01
  Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no
• 58:04
  reign. The Lord will bring on them the
• 58:06
  plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to
• 58:09
  celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
• 58:12
  I don't know what that is. This will be the punishment of
• 58:14
  Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to
• 58:18
  celebrate the festival of Tabernacles.
• 58:20
  On that day, holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells
• 58:25
  of the horses, and all the cooking pots in the Lord's house
• 58:29
  will be like the sacred bulls in the front of the altar.
• 58:32
  Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord
• 58:37
  Almighty and all those who come to sacrifice will take some of
• 58:41
  the pots and cooking them and on that day there will no longer be
• 58:46
  a Canaanite in the House of the Lord Almighty.
• 58:51
  So very interesting prophecy there.
• 58:54
  And we went pretty. Oh, I didn't the wine press.
• 58:59
  I wanted to tell you about that because Micah talks about this
• 59:03
  wine press and it is in Revelation.
• 59:07
  So I do want to read this to you.
• 59:10
  It's Revelation chapter 14. And this is, this is kind of
• 59:16
  interesting. So again, this thought came, the
• 59:19
  Lord's coming from his dwelling place.
• 59:20
  He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
• 59:24
  So here is what happens. Revelation 1414.
• 59:29
  I looked and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the
• 59:34
  cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a crown of gold on his
• 59:40
  head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
• 59:44
  Then another Angel came out of the temple and called in a loud
• 59:47
  voice to him who was sitting on the cloud.
• 59:49
  Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has
• 59:53
  come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
• 59:57
  So he was seated on the cloud, swung his sickle over the earth,
• 1:00:01
  and the earth was harvested. OK, I want to point out that to
• 1:00:05
  me it sounds like first, you know, Jesus is on the cloud and
• 1:00:12
  he. He reaps, he brings the people,
• 1:00:15
  he gathers the people. The harvest of the earth is
• 1:00:19
  ripe. OK, so that happens.
• 1:00:22
  Now here's the next thing. Another Angel came out of the
• 1:00:25
  temple in heaven, and he too. So this is a second sickle that
• 1:00:29
  goes had a sharp sickle. Still another Angel who had
• 1:00:34
  charge of the fire came from the altar and called in a loud voice
• 1:00:38
  to him who had the sharp sickle. Take your sharp sickle and
• 1:00:42
  gather the cluster of grapes from the earth vine, because its
• 1:00:47
  grapes are ripe. The Angel swung his sickle,
• 1:00:50
  gathered its grapes, and threw them into the great winepress of
• 1:00:56
  God's wrath. They were trampled in the
• 1:01:00
  winepress outside the city and outside the city, and blood
• 1:01:04
  flowed out of the rising as high as the horses bridles.
• 1:01:09
  For a distance of 16,000 stadia that is about 180 miles or about
• 1:01:17
  300 kilometers. So this is a pretty extensive
• 1:01:21
  part of the wrath. But again, I think Micah's
• 1:01:24
  talking about it. Look, the Lord is coming from
• 1:01:27
  His dwelling place. He comes down and treads on the
• 1:01:29
  heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him
• 1:01:33
  and the valley split apart. I think we read the other
• 1:01:36
  scripture that supports this being an end time prophecy.
• 1:01:40
  Like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
• 1:01:45
  All of this because of Jacob's transgressions.
• 1:01:50
  So there's a reason why this happened, because the sins of
• 1:01:56
  the people of Israel, what? What is Jacob's transgression?
• 1:02:02
  Is it not Samaria? What is Judah's high place?
• 1:02:07
  Is it not Jerusalem? So high place was a place of
• 1:02:10
  worship, but everything was getting turned into idolatry and
• 1:02:14
  not towards God, towards the true God.
• 1:02:17
  So it started in Samaria with the northern Kingdom of Israel,
• 1:02:20
  and then Judah did the same thing in Jerusalem.
• 1:02:25
  Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for
• 1:02:31
  planting vineyards. I will so this is in the future.
• 1:02:35
  So Samaria is the modern day West Bank.
• 1:02:38
  And so the way I read this is in the future, Samaria is going to
• 1:02:42
  be a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the
• 1:02:47
  valley and lay her lay bare her foundations.
• 1:02:53
  All her idols will be broken to pieces and her temple gifts will
• 1:02:58
  be burned with fire. I will destroy all her images
• 1:03:04
  since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes.
• 1:03:10
  So this is like again, a you know, loving a prostitute is
• 1:03:15
  loving someone who is not your wife or husband.
• 1:03:20
  So this is what God is saying symbolically.
• 1:03:25
  She's, you know, his his people got their gifts, but they were
• 1:03:31
  they turn towards something that wasn't God as the wages of
• 1:03:36
  prostitutes. They will again be used because
• 1:03:41
  of this. I will weep and wail.
• 1:03:43
  So now look at God is like, you know, this is this is
• 1:03:51
  disheartening, this is sad, this is, but there's a consequence of
• 1:03:54
  sin. It says the, the, the payment of
• 1:03:58
  sin, the wages of debt, the wages of sin is death.
• 1:04:01
  So we get that's what we get when we sin against God, we just
• 1:04:06
  ultimately get death. I mean, that's a consequence of
• 1:04:09
  sin. Because of this, I will weep and
• 1:04:12
  wail. I will go about barefoot and
• 1:04:14
  naked. I will howl like a Jackal and
• 1:04:16
  moan like an owl. For Samaria's plague is
• 1:04:20
  incurable. It has spread to Judah.
• 1:04:24
  It has reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem
• 1:04:30
  itself. See, it affects all, even God's
• 1:04:33
  chosen people. Tell it not in Gath, weep not
• 1:04:37
  all in Beth Oprah roll in the dust, pass by naked and in
• 1:04:43
  shame. You who live in Safer, you who
• 1:04:46
  live in Zanon will not come out. Beth Azel is in mourning.
• 1:04:52
  It no longer protects you. Those who live in marath right
• 1:04:56
  and writhe in pain, wanting relief because disaster has come
• 1:05:00
  from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
• 1:05:04
  You who live in Lakish harness, fast horse, horses to the
• 1:05:09
  chariot, you are where the sin of daughter Zion began, for
• 1:05:16
  transgressions of Israel were were found in you.
• 1:05:20
  Therefore, you will give parting gifts to Morcheth Gath the town
• 1:05:26
  of Azkib as Akzib will prove deceptive.
• 1:05:32
  This is something maybe I don't know that we should pay
• 1:05:35
  attention to the town of Akzib on will prove deceptive and that
• 1:05:40
  it means that word actually means deceptive to the kings of
• 1:05:44
  Israel. So this could be, you know, back
• 1:05:47
  then that's what that that specific town was getting
• 1:05:50
  judgment. I will bring a conqueror against
• 1:05:54
  you who live in Mersha. The nobles of Israel will flee
• 1:05:58
  to Abdulam. Shave your head in the in
• 1:06:02
  mourning for the children in whom you delight.
• 1:06:05
  Make yourself as bald as the Vulture, for they will go from
• 1:06:11
  you into exile. So that's the end of chapter 1
• 1:06:15
  of Micah. I've given you all of my insight
• 1:06:19
  to it, and now I will read what the Study Bible says about this.
• 1:06:23
  So where was Morcheth? About 25 miles southwest of
• 1:06:28
  Jerusalem. It was Micah's hometown,
• 1:06:30
  probably the same as Morcheth Gath.
• 1:06:35
  Where does God live? This poetic imagery pictures
• 1:06:38
  Goddess living in a heavenly place from which he sometimes
• 1:06:42
  descends to earth to intervene in the affairs of the nations.
• 1:06:46
  Some take this language literally, like me, while others
• 1:06:50
  think it reflects ancient Israel's figurative view of the
• 1:06:53
  universe, which vividly, vividly affirms God's sovereignty over
• 1:06:57
  his creation. Judgement on Samaria and
• 1:07:00
  Jerusalem. So how was Samaria's How was
• 1:07:05
  Samaria Jacob's transgression? Samaria, the capital of the
• 1:07:10
  northern Kingdom of Israel, was a Center for the idol worship
• 1:07:14
  that was widespread in the land. The name Jacob was an earlier
• 1:07:18
  name for Israel. What idols did the people
• 1:07:22
  worship? The people of the Northern
• 1:07:25
  Kingdom of Israel worshipped 2 golden cabs that were located in
• 1:07:30
  Dan and Bethel at. The King Jeroboam had
• 1:07:35
  strategically chosen these two cities for their locations
• 1:07:39
  within the northern Kingdom, Dan in the north and Bethel in the
• 1:07:44
  South. The people also served the
• 1:07:47
  Canaanite God bail. Okay, so bail worshippers when
• 1:07:53
  it said you know, no longer will there be a Canaanite in the
• 1:07:55
  House of the Lord. Nobody who worships bail.
• 1:07:59
  Now when I think about bail, you should, you should look that up
• 1:08:02
  separately if you don't know who bail is.
• 1:08:04
  Because the Olympic festivals that we've had in the world in I
• 1:08:10
  think it was 2024, they had this, this like bull thing that
• 1:08:15
  was like being worshipped like this was such mockery of the
• 1:08:18
  biblical of the Bible. And it was like Bale worship.
• 1:08:25
  And you'll see a lot of musicians and celebrities that
• 1:08:31
  have these like symbolic references to Bale and Bail
• 1:08:37
  also. I think it was Bail.
• 1:08:39
  I know Molech was, but they also wanted child sacrifices.
• 1:08:44
  So when we think about abortion, that really is a child
• 1:08:48
  sacrifice. It may not be in the same format
• 1:08:52
  that it was done before where people would throw their
• 1:08:54
  children into the burning fire or something to sacrifice them.
• 1:08:57
  But in today's time, you know, people like to not really know
• 1:09:03
  what's going on there. And they they talk about
• 1:09:06
  abortions being like a lump of flesh.
• 1:09:07
  Well, that if you don't do anything to that lump of flesh,
• 1:09:12
  that's going to turn into a human being.
• 1:09:14
  In fact, it is turning into a human being inside of a person.
• 1:09:19
  So it doesn't matter what stage it's in because if you let it
• 1:09:25
  go, if God doesn't want that to occur, God will take care of it.
• 1:09:29
  And and some, you know, there might be a miscarriage or
• 1:09:32
  something like God can handle it.
• 1:09:33
  We don't need to get involved in that if but God has a specific
• 1:09:39
  purpose for people. There are people, sometimes
• 1:09:42
  there are wonderful people that come from ungodly parents and we
• 1:09:49
  are not the ones to to decide what happens to that person.
• 1:09:53
  That's God's decision. And so when we people choose
• 1:10:00
  abortion, we are placing ourselves in a place of
• 1:10:04
  authority that we don't have. We are ending somebody else's
• 1:10:08
  life, somebody else's opportunity to live.
• 1:10:13
  We are saying you don't get that.
• 1:10:14
  That is evil. That is murder.
• 1:10:16
  That's why it is murder when you do that.
• 1:10:19
  And and I guess, you know, the other thing is it like our world
• 1:10:24
  just makes it so like they disassociate that part of it.
• 1:10:30
  But I think that I've heard that people who have had abortions do
• 1:10:34
  have this guilt that they just can't get rid of when they think
• 1:10:37
  about it. And so there is good news about
• 1:10:39
  that because God is so merciful that even if somebody did have
• 1:10:44
  an abortion, they can basically apologize and ask God for
• 1:10:48
  forgiveness of that. And God will forgive a person.
• 1:10:51
  And there is repentance that's required.
• 1:10:53
  So you never ever do it again. But when you realize how bad it
• 1:10:57
  was, I mean, there's so many people in our world who are
• 1:11:00
  deceived by a lot of different sin, not just abortion, there's
• 1:11:04
  other things too, but people are deceived and God knows that the
• 1:11:09
  the enemy of God is very crafty, manipulative and deceptive.
• 1:11:14
  And a lot of people fall. A lot of people fall away from
• 1:11:18
  God, turn away from God because of that deception and wickedness
• 1:11:22
  that is so strong and powerful and God, yet he still loves
• 1:11:27
  people. He loves people.
• 1:11:29
  He doesn't want to see people destroyed.
• 1:11:31
  He wants people in his Kingdom, but in order to be in God's
• 1:11:35
  Kingdom, we need to accept God's rules.
• 1:11:37
  We need to know that they are righteous and that we, our rules
• 1:11:41
  aren't better than God's rules. That God, you know, we need to
• 1:11:44
  know who God is, like who the position of power.
• 1:11:47
  He is the creator. He made us.
• 1:11:50
  So we in this world get really confused by God's enemy of who
• 1:11:58
  is, you know, we are not gods. God is God, God is the creator.
• 1:12:02
  And the enemy likes to twist our minds and make us think we're
• 1:12:05
  more powerful and then we are or we have more authority than we
• 1:12:10
  do now. However, we do gain quite a bit
• 1:12:13
  of authority when the Holy Spirit resides in US, and that
• 1:12:17
  is the power of God. It's not our own power.
• 1:12:20
  And when we receive the Holy Spirit, we do change.
• 1:12:25
  Our lives change. We go from living a sinful life
• 1:12:28
  to living a more holy life, not because of our own or in doing
• 1:12:33
  that, but God's transformation in us to make us more and more
• 1:12:38
  like what He created us to be. So it is just what we have to do
• 1:12:42
  is take our free will to tell God that we want that.
• 1:12:46
  So that happens in our life. And I know I talked about a
• 1:12:48
  little bit of that earlier. So, OK, so anyway, this bail and
• 1:12:54
  abortion and you know, that's all tied together.
• 1:12:57
  So don't, don't kid yourself that it is different today.
• 1:13:01
  It's not when you're doing that, you are maybe unknowingly kind
• 1:13:05
  of worshipping this God. You've been deceived.
• 1:13:08
  If you are willingly going through with an abortion, you
• 1:13:12
  have been deceived by this spiritual entity that's behind
• 1:13:15
  bail and Molech and all this stuff and you don't even know
• 1:13:19
  it. You need God's Holy Spirit
• 1:13:21
  because if you have God's Holy Spirit, you will not desire to
• 1:13:25
  have that abortion. You will not.
• 1:13:28
  And even if you call yourself a Christian and you're like, well,
• 1:13:31
  I'm a Christian, but I'm doing this anyway, you don't have the
• 1:13:34
  Holy Spirit because there's no way that you can have the Holy
• 1:13:38
  Spirit and be comfortable with that.
• 1:13:42
  That is not of God. So it's a time to seek God, a
• 1:13:46
  time to go into repentance and say and say, God, heal me.
• 1:13:50
  Like, God, change me. Make me into the person you
• 1:13:54
  created me to be. OK.
• 1:13:58
  So the Canaanite God Baal at the temple in Samaria built by King
• 1:14:02
  Ahab. The people also revered images
• 1:14:09
  of the goddess Ashura or Shira Ashura.
• 1:14:12
  Ashura worshiped and worshiped the stars, sacrifice children to
• 1:14:17
  the God Molech and practice divination and sorcery.
• 1:14:22
  The people of Judah followed the idolatrous example of their
• 1:14:25
  northern relatives. So there's so much in there
• 1:14:29
  about, you know, divination, sorcery.
• 1:14:33
  You know, we are still doing this today.
• 1:14:36
  If we're doing astrology, that's part that's covered in this.
• 1:14:40
  Like that's again from the evil ones.
• 1:14:43
  That's another deception. And when people are doing
• 1:14:48
  cosmetic surgery, cosmetic surgery would fall into this.
• 1:14:53
  This is saying that God's creation was not good enough and
• 1:14:56
  we need to adjust it to make it better.
• 1:14:59
  That's a lie by the enemy, a lie that deceives us, a lie that
• 1:15:05
  makes us think we're not good enough, that we need to do
• 1:15:07
  something to ourselves. We don't.
• 1:15:10
  And when we are under the deception, and this just keeps
• 1:15:13
  getting promoted through social media, that people feel
• 1:15:16
  inadequate in what God gave them.
• 1:15:19
  And you see it all over. You see that there's this
• 1:15:22
  comparison of other people that is not of God.
• 1:15:24
  That's the enemy, the enemy saying that you are not enough
• 1:15:28
  because you are enough. You are perfect the way God
• 1:15:31
  created you. And you don't need to externally
• 1:15:35
  change at all. God will restore anything that
• 1:15:39
  has been taken from you in his Kingdom.
• 1:15:41
  Like if people lose an arm or something, they will be whole.
• 1:15:44
  They will be made whole in God's Kingdom.
• 1:15:46
  That's not a permanent situation for anyone.
• 1:15:50
  And and God is loving. I mean, God will give us the,
• 1:15:53
  the, the, the, the body, the immortal body that he designed
• 1:15:57
  for us and what he wanted us to be.
• 1:16:00
  And we are deceived by the enemy when we decide that we can
• 1:16:05
  improve upon what God did. And that is something that I
• 1:16:09
  think a lot of us fall to, is that we are deceived by the
• 1:16:13
  enemy. We follow through with that and
• 1:16:14
  then just realize that, you know, it's, it's not of God, it,
• 1:16:19
  it's not like God is perfectly happy with us the way we are.
• 1:16:25
  Why would Micah go about barefoot and naked?
• 1:16:29
  Probably to be a living, breathing object lesson of
• 1:16:32
  vulnerability. It was a picture of the future
• 1:16:34
  prisoners who would be taken into captivity following the
• 1:16:37
  coming Assyrian invasion. It may also have been Micah's
• 1:16:41
  way of mourning Judah's coming destruction.
• 1:16:43
  Walking barefoot and other outward displays of sorrow,
• 1:16:46
  wailing, shaving the head and wearing sackcloth, throwing dust
• 1:16:50
  in the air and placing it on his head and going about naked
• 1:16:53
  wearing just a loincloth were typical signs of mourning in
• 1:16:56
  Micah's culture. So often God had these prophets
• 1:17:00
  symbolically almost like a play show this judgement that was
• 1:17:05
  coming about our show this like, you know, almost creating a play
• 1:17:09
  where people could watch and see what what he was pronouncing
• 1:17:13
  upon them. And let's see how far this goes.
• 1:17:19
  All right? What happened to cause Micah
• 1:17:22
  such overwhelming grief? The coming Assyrian invasion
• 1:17:25
  would devastate Judah's crops, cities and people.
• 1:17:29
  An an inscription records the Assyrian king Senate cherubs
• 1:17:35
  boast concerning his invasion of Judah in seven O 1 BC.
• 1:17:40
  It says that he took 200,150 people, young and old, male and
• 1:17:48
  female horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle
• 1:17:52
  beyond counting, and considered them booty.
• 1:17:56
  Who were the people of Lakish where the sin of daughter Zion
• 1:18:00
  began? The nature of Lakish sin
• 1:18:03
  probably has to do with its reliance on military might or
• 1:18:07
  what some might conceive as secularism.
• 1:18:10
  We see in verse 510 through 14 that reliance on military might
• 1:18:15
  as might was as disastrous for Israel's covenant relationship
• 1:18:20
  with God as witchcraft and idolatry were.
• 1:18:25
  This particular aspect of Israel's sin had its roots in
• 1:18:29
  root in the city of Lakish, who was daughter Zion.
• 1:18:33
  This is a personification of the city of Jerusalem and its
• 1:18:36
  residents. This image sometimes portrays
• 1:18:39
  the city as tender and desirable, but it can also
• 1:18:43
  portray weakness and vulnerability to pain and
• 1:18:45
  suffering. Why was shaving the head a sign
• 1:18:48
  of sorrow? As with many modern customs,
• 1:18:52
  such as wearing black to indicate mourning, the origin
• 1:18:56
  and symbolic significance of this ancient Israelite mourning
• 1:19:00
  right are uncertain. Like other outward signs of
• 1:19:03
  mourning, shaving the head drew attention to the mourner and
• 1:19:07
  communicated the idea of humiliation and sorrow.
• 1:19:11
  Other expressions of mourning in those days included tearing
• 1:19:15
  clothing, wearing sackcloth and ashes, wailing loudly, covering
• 1:19:20
  the head, and throwing dust in the air.
• 1:19:24
  Where would they go? Into exile To Assyria, several
• 1:19:27
  100 miles to the North East of Judah.
• 1:19:32
  And then that concludes the questions and answers for
• 1:19:37
  chapter 1 of Micah. This was a super long one.
• 1:19:40
  I hope you were able to stay and I hope that you return.
• 1:19:43
  I do try to keep these shorter, but there was so much to cover
• 1:19:47
  with this. And I do think this is one of
• 1:19:49
  those events in prophecy that was a literal event, but also a
• 1:19:54
  foreshadowing of the future for all those other reasons that we
• 1:19:58
  went through today. So hope you come back again and.
• 1:20:02
  Cover. We'll cover Chapter 2.