Isaiah 42:10-12

0:01 All right, we've got to fix a possible problem, okay, in the last hour, and so for anyone on the internet who's getting ready to gripe at me, all right, in the last hour, we were referring to does God or does there any speak a statement about God getting glory and Ezra chapter one, and in that discussion we made the comment that Cyrus does not refer to the God of Israel as his God and that he took the things from the temple and put it in the house of his God, right, and we said that verse seven is the way that possibly states that, and then there was a discussion that maybe it's not accurate. So you know what, let's just do this. Let's just go back to verse one of Ezra chapter one. Let's just walk through this. This may stop us from getting to the next section of ISA, and if it does, it does because we got to fix this because we want to be accurate as possible. Doing hermeneuticts requires us then to be fix anything that we may have misspoke or said incorrectly. Is that is everyone okay with that? All right?

1:13 So as for chapter one, verse one, Now, when the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it in writing, saying, all right, so there's no problem with any of that. Straightforward. Who's getting the credit for doing this. God is the one who's stirring it up. He's the ultimate cause of this. Correct, All right, this fits perfectly well what we've been talking about in Isaiah forty two. A right, everybody, okay? Verse two, Thus say, is Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord, God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. All right, now, let me just make it very clear here, because I still think there's some ground to this, and I still stand by this.

2:11 He's using language that may sound like, oh, he's speaking about the true God of Israel. He's speaking about the creator of heaven and earth. That's who he's referring to. Let me just make it very clear how Cyrus possibly did things. From what we can tell, there is at least historical study that seems to suggest that when Cyrus we come into an area, he would then gather up all of the religious writings of that particular religion of that particular people. Why would he do that so that he would know how to best govern the people by utilizing their religious language, because you can try to appease them by speaking their language. You can try to, you know, have them be your ally instead of your enemy. So he's using the right language. But according to the Cyrus Cylinder, we know which god Cyrus is believing in. Cyrus ultimately believes which god is causing him to do all of this. Marduk, right, the God of Babylon. So he's using good language, but it may not mean what we may think it means.

3:20 All right, does that understand? Everybody? Okay with that? Any problem with that? Oh? I think it's the significance is he's using exactly the language the Jews would expect and wind right, he's using their language. Yeah, he's using the language they would want, because they wouldn't want him to use any other name for God. Yeah, I don't believe so. Now others may argue, but the Cyrus Cylinder would seem to call it greatly into question. Right, does that make sense? And the fact that we know in forty two nineteen he's blind, And then was it forty five where he said he doesn't know me? All right, so he's using the right words. But I think that's that's the case.

4:07 Does that make sense? All right? So? Verse three, who is there among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the House of the Lord, God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. Again, all the right language, and we can go. We've already I'm not going to repeat myself re verse four. And whosoever remaineth and any place where he's so journeth, let the men of this place help him with silver and with gold, and with goods and with beast, besides the free will offering for the House of God that is in Jerusalem. Right, we've got to gather all the materials we need, all the materials. Verse five. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go go up to build the House of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and all day that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things besides all that was willingly offered. No problem, everything's good, no controversy, all right. Now. Now verse seven is what was quoted in the last hour. And we got to make sure we understand what's happening here, all right, So we first we'll make sure there's no translation issues, Steve, and you get the NIV, right, So we're good to go.

5:30 Here we go. What happens. Also, Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the House of the Lord, which Nebuknzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods. Now we quoted that as saying Cyrus put him in the house of his gods. It's not Cyrus putting them in the house of his gods. It's Nebukanezar who put him in the house of his gods. All right? Did everybody see that even those DIDs, even those did Cyrus, King of Persia bring forth by the hand, right, and we have the treasurer there. This is the number of them thirty church, and it talks about all of that, I mean, goes through all these measurements, all the vessels, see all of that all being brought back to Jerusalem. So he allows it to be brought back and put where into the temple into Jerusalem. Right, So Cyrus doesn't put it in his house because because I should have caught that immediately.

6:38 I should have caught it immediately, because what's one thing we know about Cyrus historically, If he let them build it but kept everything in the temple, that wouldn't be a that would not have been seen as a good thing. There would have been an act of treason. I should have caught that immediately. Right. Cyrus always does what for the people. He lets them go back and restore their religion. He doesn't fight their religion. Why just think of it from a purely pragmatic standpoint. Let the people have their religion and you can possibly have what allies people on your side. They're not going to fight you, they're not gonna be calling you. All the political leaders can learn a lot when you go into an area. And that's one of the things that constantly get upset about with American foreign policy is we don't seem to understand Islam at all when we go to the Middle East. If you're going to go to the Middle East, what do you need to understand? You need to under be experts in Islam, not critics of it. You need to be experts in it. Cyrus Sia exactly. Cyrus understood. He is not.

7:46 Is he here to criticize the God of Israel? No? Is he here to say derogatory things about the God of Israel. No? What is he here to do? Literally utilize their language and let them have their God and have everything else. Now in private, what does he think? He doesn't. He doesn't even know if their God really even exists. He doesn't. He's not a believer in their god, right, But what's the point of fighting them about their god? To him? It's it's a no. From a political standpoint, it's not rarely is it ever valuable to get into a religious war as a political leader, because all you're going to do is take off all the people who are against who are for that religion. That's it's never valuable.

8:32 So I see it as a political movement. So do we have a clarification on verse seven? So now it is true Now, did we miss anything that? Cyrus never refers to God as his god. Now, he never says this is my God. He just refers to the God. Right, he's very he's very pragmatic in his approach. Right, So are we sure we're good? I want to make sure we just get that clarification out of the way. If we need to spend another thirty minutes on it, we will. Okay, we're good, all right. I apologize to that. I should have caught it immediately. I did not. I don't know why I missed it, but I did not. My mind was already thinking about verses ten through twelve. And so we're all good, all right. Now, now let's go back to Isaiah forty two. All right, in the last hour we covered verses five through nine. We got that resolved.

9:37 I think we're good. Everything is solved. We saw how Cyrus is talked about basically, how would we describe forty two five through nine? How would we describe five through nine after an hour of working on it, the commissioning of the servant and God in emphasizing his glory, his control. He's the one involve right, everybody got that? So then what let's look at five through or ten through twelve. Let's look at ten through twelve. Here we go, let's read it. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and it's praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein the aisles and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities they're thereof lift up their voice. And the villages that kedar death inhabit Let the inhabitants of the rock sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains.

10:31 Let them give glory into the Lord and declare his praise in the islands. Right there, we have it. Now when you read that, what kind of jumps out at you here? What do we get here? What kind of jumps out in this from just reading the narrative arc? Well, I mean it kind of jumps out like what happened, right? I mean, it's kind of a dramatic change, is it not. I mean, all of a sudden he goes to these Where did the praise song jump in the middle of all of this? Okay, So let's work through this. So first thing we're gonna look at is literary and structural placement.

11:16 Literary and structural placement. The passage follows what what came right before it? The servants commissioning. Yeah, well, the servants commissioning and God's glory being establisher. Right, if you look at forty two one through nine, If we go forty two to one through nine, and that's all about the servants commissioning, the servant being identified, and all of that. Now we are introduced to a worldwide response in a sense, to God's new thing. Because look at verse nine. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare before they spring forth? I tell you them this new thing that God is telling them of, which is the rise of Cyrus, which is our entire interpretation of forty two. I know it goes against everything.

12:04 This now then sets up kind of the response that is called for. All right, if you look at thirteen through seventeen, right, it bridges divine declaration and divine intervention. So we kind of have we have kind of a bridge. This ten through twelve kind of serves as this bridge between these two sections forty two one through nine, and say thirteen through seventeen. We kind of have a this this it's kind of like a it seems disjointed, but it serves as a bridge between the two if that makes some kind of sense, all right, So, if if our interpretation is correct, Cyrus is the immediate servant being referred to, which is the only thing that makes any sense.

12:56 The song may we could possibly see is inpating and celebrating God's coming act of deliverance through Cyrus, even though Cyrus is never named. Obviously in ten through twelve he's not named. And why is he not named in ten through twelve? Because what did he do in five through nine? He established that He's not going to give his glory to whom anyone else? So how can we understand this? Who is the servant in Isaiah forty two? Cyrus? Who gets the glory for that God? What happens in what is it? These verses? I was ten through thirteen? What happens in ten through thirteen? Give me the praise? So then it fits perfectly? Does it not? It fits perfectly, and we don't have any interpretive issues in any way, shape or form. Right, So does that kind of it's a bridge between two sections, and it's a bridge of praise and glory to God because God's not giving his glory to Cyrus. It's not calling you to praise Cyrus.

14:03 It's not calling you to praise Morduk, it's calling you to praise God. Does that kind of make sense? All right? Now? Notice carefully, now, now let's kind of go through this verse, my verse, and now we'll do the exegetical work. Okay, that's giving structure and kind of an overview. What happens in verse ten? Look carefully in verse ten? Do you what is the first thing you should jump out at you? In verse ten? There we go, a new song? Why is it significant? Now we have the link to the previous section. How does that section end? A new thing requires a a new song. There we go. Now everybody should go, oh, that makes perfect sense, all right. Now new song appears often in the psalms and response to a fresh act of divine salvation or victory. Typically, a new song shows up and there's a fresh act of divine salvation or some kind of victory, then you get a new song. Well, what is about to happen here?

15:08 Divine salvation and victory over what Babylonian captivity? Okay, we've got to get that down all right. So in this case, it follows the new thing, God declares the nine, suggesting this song is tied to real historical intervention. In other words, this is not singing unto the Lord. A new song is something about for us, it's about for them. It's time for them to sing a new song. Why because of what is literally happening. It's about their literal historical deliverance. All right, his praise from the end of the earth. What does this indicate? It's global in scope, right, It expands the idea of God's work beyond Israel. It reflects the line whage of forty one five and forty two to four about the coastlands waiting for God's law. And again, once again, when you're talking about Cyrus, Cyrus impacted what, yeah, many nations? I mean, his his his influence and expense.

16:21 I mean, I can't say it here right now and articulate all the areas he influences. We could probably do a historical study, but there's no way to get around Cyrus's impact of people all around the world or all around the known world at that time. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, all right, I think it does. All right, Now, what is it? The next phrase? There? And that go down to the sea and all that is therein you see all of that. Okay, this is uh. In fact, let me hang on look at that again. Yeah, go okay, now, because there's something's kind of interesting, go down to the seas and the isles. It's kind of using this kind of language that would refer to possibly distant people's likely gentiles, the people who are distant, and this would possibly obviously obviously it's referencing Gentiles and not the Jews. At this point, I don't believe this is very important. This is very important.

17:21 I want to stress this. These are not metaphors for the church. These are not metaphors for the church. They are nations impacted by God's actions and Cyrus's victories that that have impact across the globe or across the known world. Has nothing to do with the church. Some would do that, Yeah, many most pastors would do something along those lines. Yeah, that's Look, Hey, when it comes to I don't get there what the church does, Oh no, no not because immediately Look, when when pastors come to Isaiah forty through fifty five, it's immediately about us. They find some way to put us there, over and over and over and over and over again. Look, we started we started running into this problem when we started way back going when is Israel Israel? And and I tell you just get a Matthew Henry commentary. Everything here is the church, the church, the church, the church. And you'd be like, where is the church. And so it's just don't that there's nothing about the church here. If you see the church here, you're literally insane, okay, right that these are these are literal places, right, literal things. Yeah, it's more important. Yeah,

18:52 it's more important to it determined. I wonder which body of water he's referring to. It's not referring to the church. Okay, it's not referring to you. Okay, do we get that? All right? So we and we continue to defend. Who is the servant to Isaiah forty two? Corrus? So I asked Ai, all right, if it's Corrus, this is what Ai says. If Cyrus is a servant, this new song is a call to praise God for what he is about to do through Cyrus's rise in Baby Babylon's fall, the praise is still directed to Yahweh, not to Cyrus, which reinforces the theological point that you have been making. God is the true actor behind ordinary historical means. So AI remembers all of our discussion about what ordinary means.

19:42 Ordinary means meaning we can praise God for ordinary means. It doesn't always have to be what supernatural or dramatic or grand. Okay, so far, so good, We got that pretty good. Now we're to verse eleven, and I'm telling you we're gonna go through this section quick, all right, verse eleven, what happens. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice. The villages that Kedar doth inhabit, Let the inhabitants of the rock scene. Now instead, I'm moving to bodies of water, more maritime language, and ten Now it's much more what land based? Right do you see that? So let the desert and the cities lift up their voices. The praise expands inland from sea to wilderness.

20:33 Keidar is nomadic Arab Arab tribes. Does some have sela there, some have sela okay, Sila possibly eat them or a region in southern and part of the southern part of the land. There there are real political, geographical entities, not symbols. Their inclusion shows the historical rootedness of this section. Let me straight again, stated again, these are not symbolic. These are not the Church. They're not you, they're not me, They're them, Right, does that make sense? Let them shout from the top of the mountains. A poetic image of under unrestrained praise mountains equals high visibility, elevated worship. In other words, worship and praise God. Where and they open, let everyone hear your praise of God? And why would it be emphasized because people may be praising whom. Remember there's two issues he keeps fighting. He could be praising Cyrus or all of the idolatry in the system of idolatry and Babylon or Marduk to be exact, exactly what happens?

21:49 Who does Cyrus give credit to Marduk? Okay, so we've got that down. I mean that's simple, right, right. So this is a call to real people in real places. These are gentile regions that may have witnessed or benefited from Cyrus's campaign. Let me state that again. These are real people, real places. These are gentiles who may have witnessed or benefited from Cyrus's campaign. Rather than portraying salvation as a spiritual or symbolic event. The text is rooting it and historical and political action. Praise God for this physical, tangible deliverance. Praise God for what Cyrus is doing impacting you.

22:33 Because Cyrus let lots of people return, lets a lot of people go. So everyone should be praising God for what Cyrus is doing. So it's like, hey, I mean you are using it kind of in a metaphor or using it as an illustration, somewhat ridiculous, but you get the idea. Everyone across the land is watching their twenty four hour news channel and they're hearing Cyrus is taken over this area and let these people go. Cyrus is taken over and let these people go. What's the immediate thing one we'd want to do? Buy a Cyrus cap right, get some Cyrus merch, Cyrus Cyrus, Cyrus yay right, or or chant the name of your country USA. And what is God saying? Don't buy his merch, don't praise your country, praise me. I mean it's simple. I mean that's not hard to It's not hard in any way, shape or form to not get get it twisted or confused. And people do that way too often everyone will say that they care about God, but they will put all of their focused attention and anger and emotion and defending the person.

23:44 This is not about Cyrus. Cyrus is simply what the instrument God is using to fulfill his covenant. I think there's a I think there's a powerful lesson there. Right, Why I'm verse twelve. I've told you we would be done. We may be done before eleven forty five. Okay, this is kind of like the dramatic philological conclusion to the text. Right, let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands. Right. Despite the use of Cyrus, the focus remains on whom God. The article of this verse anticipates Isaiah. Look at Isaiah forty eight eleven forty eight eleven, tell me what you see. If we continue through this section, where does the story The narrative art continues to return to I'm not giving my glory to another.

25:04 I'm not giving my glory to another. I'm doing this and he's doing it for whose sake? Ultimately his name's sake, right, right, Well, I don't know if he's doing it to keep him on the narrow because he knows it's never going to be on the narrow. Okay, So he's doing that because he's got to preserve Israel for what purpose, to bring about the one to die? Because nobody can stay on the narrow Okay, right, So yeah, I think that's the ultimate point. All right, So declare his praise. Some say islands, some say coastlands. I don't know, depending on your translation. This is a second reference to the coastlands. It suggests the universal, theiological implications of what is unfolowing. God's glory is not localized to Israel. God's glory is to be proclaimed by people in Israel, outside of Israel, everywhere. In fact, you could argue this. Now, I'm not saying this is implied.

26:04 I'm just throwing this out as an idea. Whenever we see people who are in bondage, captivity, slavery, what should we all want for those people? We should want them to be delivered and free, right, I mean, unless you're a conservative Republican and you think all the people in Ukraine should die, other than those people, we should want what for people? Yeah, because some weird reason, for some reason, now everyone supports Russia. I don't understand what has happened in the world, But you would think that people suffering in Ukraine, we want to see them delivered. So if it doesn't matter who you are, you're like, those people are suffering, I want them to be delivered. And what is the text saying when you see them delivered? Give God the glory, not the person who delivered them. Now, from a human perspective, that seems a little weird, right, doctors worked with doctors long enough, they get really offended at that. I guess so tired of I'm the one who goes into this surgical room, I save the life, and the people immediately say thank God and like God didn't show up here. I did, right, I'm the one who did that. So I wish these people would stop that nonsense. They wanted to thank God. They should have taken their mom to the to the church instead of bringing them to the hospital. But they bring them to the hospital and then they thank God, I'm the one who did it. Doctors get really irritated by that. Okay, But and you can see why from a human perspective.

27:28 But from a theilological perspective, Okay, God may be using eun means. Now at the same time. There's a double edged sword in doing that, right because if the if the life is not saved or the people are not delivered, do we blame the doctor? God would get them? All right? Say that becomes a double edged sword theilologically. Nobody likes to talk about that in church, okay, because it's always the weird thing. Well thank God, Well he'll thank God because your loved one was saved. It didn't work here, right, So but the point in this text is clear and this situation, who's to get the credit? God? All right?

28:16 But the text doesn't deny God is the reason they're there in the first place, right, So the text does the text is more realistic in that standpoint. All right, So some of the philological implications here God's glory and historical means. The praise is for God's action even though the means cyrus are political and done in a military military way. This supports, uh, I think, are my argument that I've been making over and over and over that the servant acts, but the song is not sung to the servant, it is sung to God. So it just once what do we constantly can continue to see here God's use of ordinary means, But who gets the glory through the use of ordinary means, God who does the acting cyrus, who gets the praise God? Right now, again, from a human perspective, that can seem a little messed up. Okay, Now churches will always say that is in a positive way.

29:18 But let's we just make sure I just stated it's a double edged sword. Everyone see that if God gets the praise, what inevitably comes with that. If God gets all the praise, he gets the blame. All right, Nobody wants to say that, but he does. If he can deliver, then what's the question. Why doesn't he deliver? Everyone? Why are we walking around on land that was taken by other people and they were killed or put in reservations.

30:07 The white man who came and took the land from the native tribes praised whom forgetting the land. So we're gonna praise God that we stole your land. Kind of messed up. Praise God for coming to a land and look at what we've built, but who wasn't built by in many cases slaves. It gets really complicated when we break it down into real situations. Right, But I'm just saying, if God gets the praise, then we cannot Christians don't like the blame part. Do we want to get God off the hook? Oh? No, no, no, no, God doesn't. Satan gets in trouble. Who created Satan? God? Okay, let's just stop it. There's no getting God off the hook. Does everyone agree with that? There's no gettinghim on. We can say all day you want to get him off the hook?

31:05 It doesn't work that way. If you if you praise God for the good, well then I can say, I can question. I can argue that God did the bet and and and don't tell me that that's an atheistic approach. What did Job do? Who did Job blame for his problems? Oh? Wait, did y'all don't know he blamed God? He didn't he did he say that the Satan did it to him? No, Joe never mentions he Job is like God, why this is happening to me? And the psalms when they offer a sum of lament, who did the psalmist blame and question God? They don't say, like, well, God didn't do this to me? No, God, what's going on? Why? What?

31:57 What's happening? Where? Where are you? What? Because God is getting questioned? I know. We don't like the word blamed, and I could tell immediately that there was like people like, I don't want to use that word, but that you can't remove God from the equation. If God is sovereign over the good, he's sovereign over the bad. Now does that make you upset? It makes you upset when the bad is happening, You're like, well, God, if you can bring about if God can deliver an entire people from Babylonian captivity, He couldn't stop slavery, he couldn't stop the Holocaust, couldn't stop ethnic cleansing and Rwanda or the killing fields and Vietnam. I can go on and on and on and on and on. What happened in Syria? I mean, I mean, I mean, I can name millions of horrible things that's happened in history. What would be the obvious answer he could have? But he did not. You can't blame Satan now and with the other answers. Free will, free will, free will, free will, free will, free will, free will doesn't mean did God care about the free will of Babylonians? I mean, how over did he care about the free will of the Egyptians? So he can intervene when he wants to, and if God never can intervene,

33:29 then there would be no point in praying, right, because then God couldn't do anything that violates the whole thing falls apart. So I just want to make sure that it's that we're saying that God should get the praise. Here am I arguing that God should get the praise? I am not arguing he shouldn't get the praise. What am I arguing that with the praise comes the the blame. I know, people, I know nobody wants to use it. Well, I'm the only one willing to use that word. The rest of you are like, don't use stop like stop stop, cut it, cut it, cut it now. I'm going to use the word. I'm not afraid of it because it's the way it works. And so we have to see this, all right, So God gets the glory in historical means, but it's a double edged sword. Does everyone understand that? Okay?

34:18 All right? I think another. So that's one theological implication. God gets the glory, but he also gets the blame. A second, I just want to make sure we make this very clear. This is not symbolic praise all the It is a list. It lists real regions and peoples. It reinforces that Isaiah forty two is not allegory but historical theology. It's naming literal places, literal regions is in mind here, all right, It's not just some metaphorical the church. Sure, no, it's it's a reference to real people in real situations. Right.

35:06 So I did ask Ai about this. Does this aligned with our interpretation that we've been doing, Ai says, this section, this is what AI says, this section nine, ten through twelve. This is interesting. AI says, this section strengthens our interpretive framework. The people are called to praise before the victory occurs because God has declared it. The victory itself is executed through ordinary means cyrus, but God receives the praise. The global participation in the praise does not require projecting towards the Church. It makes complete sense and the context of the nations experiencing Babylon's fall because many people would have not liked tomb. Many of the people around the world would not have liked tomb the Babylonians, right, they didn't like the Babylonians. Were they known for their being gracious? No, they came killed and destroyed and they were scary. Right. So, now what happens when Cyrus takes over Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen. The people are going to be ready to celebrate and to praise only thing that's happening here, which all which completely proves our argument that this is not about Jesus. This is about Cyrus. Because who's the one who brings down Babylon from all practical purposes?

36:35 It is Cyrus. So the only thing this Texa is doing is doing what. This is not about the church singing a new praise song. This is about the people then praising God for something tangible that is going on. Right, So it's not complicated in any way, shape or form. All Right, there we go. We did it. That's it. Yeah, well that's a new section in our observational outline. We're just following the observational outline. And remember thirteen of followings where it gets complicated on how to break it down, right, because oh, well true, Yeah, I think that's how we ultimately did it. Yeah, I think that's right. But I'm just saying there's some who were like, well, wait a minute, it continues. We know it stops, but yeah, so yeah, that's how I think that's how we described it, as Sarah just said, I think we described thirteen through seventeen as being the actual song, right, So but uh no, well, well I just wanted to stop it there because we try to put too many sections together. Then it just becomes all complicated, complicated, any questions, all right? So a quick reminder, our interpretation goes against ninety nine percent of all Christianity. We don't care. Our interpretation is that the servant in Isaiah forty two is whom Cyrus. How many servants are in Isaiah forty two one two references to

38:07 one servant. He is chosen by God, does all these wonderful things, but he is also blind, which fits Cyrus perfectly, because he's chosen by God, used by God, but he does not know the true God. I don't care how people want to read the thing in Ezra. He doesn't know God. God himself says he doesn't know me. So there's no question. He uses the right language but does not know God. Why does he use the right language. He's doing it for political expediency, He's using it for pragmatic purposes. Let's make the Jews happy. So there is no what rebellion or uprising, because if you go in and take over an area, what's one of the biggest things that can disrupt that when you get an insurgency or an oprah. I don't know. Watch the American foreign policy anywhere we go I Rock remember all the things that happened there. We thought, we thought we took care of everything right. We came in, But then what started happening the insurgency and American troops started dying, did they not?

39:12 We had to keep fighting and fighting it because just going in you've got to somehow make the people happy or you have to constantly try to watch oppress them and the impression only you can oppress for so long, but sooner or later there will be an uprising. Cyrus's approach is his approach is religious. If we give the people their religion, we give people their God, we give people their temple. I don't use any language that would be offensive. I actually use their theological language. Then the people will be my ally. And that's exactly what he did. And did Jews have any problems with Cyrus anymore? They just go back and everything's good, no issue, no conflict.

40:00 Who Jews end up in conflict with Rome's Did Rome take Cyrus's approach? No, most nations don't take Cyrus's approach. Why did Cyrus take a unique approach? Well, because the text says God chose him, guided him. God, God was involved in the situation. All right, So there we go. I wish there's some more practical. Probably the most practical lesson from this is just God gets the praise and he gets to blame. I know we don't like that word. I know we don't like that word. But if God's in charge, then God's in charge. And he said, well, that doesn't make it comforting when things go wrong. I know it doesn't make it comforting. But the only other choice is to play the little church game right and say, oh, Satan did it? Well, God's want to create Satan. That doesn't free will. God gave people free will. So like, you can't get God off the hook? Why can't you not get God off the hook? How does the Bible start?

41:12 There's no getting God off the hook? Right? Who's the one at the beginning, Who's the one who makes everything? Who's the one that's supposedly sovereign of everything? So can you get God off the hook. No, does that make you mad? Sometimes? Okay, well it makes me mad sometimes congratulations for the rest of you, all right, but no, because it raises serious questions, right, I mean, whenever I start giving examples, people get mad at me. But it raises serious questions. Why are children molested? Why are people raped? Nobody?

41:54 That's the stuff we're not supposed to talk about in church because church is all about pretending and playing make up games and like we're in Disneyland or something. But the reality theology does not play those games. Theology hits you in the face with Man, I've told you where all my problems start. When as soon as on my Bible in the beginning God. And I'm like, oh, for crying out loud, what a mess because I know what comes after in the beginning God, which is what he created everything? Right, So does that make sense? But in this particular case, it's supposed to be a good thing. Go team God. Why because you're setting the people free? Yay? Great, that's good. Right, Yay. You destroyed us a seventy eight and wiped us off the face of the earth. Yay.

42:51 Six million of us were exterminated during the Holocaust. Yeay. Then it becomes nobody wants to say yay. Then right then we got to blame to say okay, okay, God, be quiet, I've got your back. Okay, I'm gonna tell everyone to look over there. You hide. Well, the church shouldn't be telling God to hide. So we got your back. God doesn't need our back because everything all roads lead where back to God. And we in theology and Christianity is living a life trying to figure out how that makes sense? And do we are we ever gonna have the answers? No, Wh're not. If you think you are, you're just crazy. All right, Well, God, we come before you.

43:35 Thank you so much for being in a place where we can be honest. Lord, I will be the first to admit I don't understand sometimes things don't make any sense about how things work. But we know that you are the creator of heaven and earth, the sovereign over all things. That's the fact. How that makes sense in life we will always struggle with. And that's what faith is about, is believing when sometimes it makes no sense. And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said m