Feb. 9, 2025

The Gods of Babylon Pt 1

The Gods of Babylon Pt 1

We disucss the religion, idolatry , and religious practices of ancient Babylon.

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We disucss the religion, idolatry , and religious practices of ancient Babylon.

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All right. Isaiah chapter forty. Isaiah chapter forty. Last week

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we covered nine through eleven. Wow, actually we covered kind

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of a transition from nine. We covered nine through eleven.

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We kind of covered the transition there between sections. I

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think we did a pretty good job with all of that.

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What we'll do, we'll start this hour. We're going to

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read Isaiah forty one through eleven. We need to start

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starting and start verse twelve and following. But we have

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something else we have to do before we can cover

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that section, which we talked about briefly last week. But

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here we go. Isaiah chapter forty, Verse one, Comfort ye,

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comfort ye, my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably

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to Jerusalem, and cry under her that her warfare is

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a comish, that her iniquity is pardon, for she hath

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received of the Lord's hand, double of all her sins.

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The voice of Him that crist and the wilderness prepare ye.

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The way of the Lord makes straight, and the desert

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our way. For our God. Every valley should be exalted,

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every mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall

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be made straight, and the rough place is plain, and

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the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all

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flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the

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Lord hath spoken it. The voice said cry, And he said,

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what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all

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the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

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The grass witheeth, the flower faith because the spirit of

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the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass.

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The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. But the word of

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our God shall stand forever. Oh, Zion, that bring us

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good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain Erusalem,

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that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength,

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lift it up. Be not afraid, say, into the cities

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of Judah, behold your God. Behold the Lord God will

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come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold,

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his reward is with him, and his work before him.

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He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall

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gather the lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom,

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and shall gently lead those that are with young. Now

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I stressed specific things just because of all the sermons

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I have listened to on Isaiah forty through fifty five.

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You can probably especially in the first couple of verses,

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you probably noticed it. If you go back to Isaiah

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chapter forty, Verse one, comfort yee, you see that comfort ye?

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And in next my people, saith your God, speak ye

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comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry onto her who's the her Jerusalem?

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That who's the her Jerusalem is accomplished, That who's who's

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the her Jerusalem is pardon for who's the she Jerusalem

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hath received? That the Lord's hand double for all who's

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the her Jerusalem? Okay, I know why that should not

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be hard, that should not be difficult. But for some

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weird reason, after one hundred sermons on Isaiah forty all

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I get over and over and dover is us us

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us us us us us us us. I have no

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idea how we end up there, because that has nothing

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to do with us. And then when you get to

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verse nine, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings, get

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thee up into the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem, that bring

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us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength lifted up,

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Be not afraid say into the cities of Judah. I

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know I have to care. In some ways, I feel

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like I shouldn't have to emphasize that at all. I

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feel like I should not even have to waste one

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second doing that. But every week I listen to another sermon,

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and every week I realize, for some weird reason, it's

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impossible for pastors to stand behind pulpits and actually talk

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about what it's actually about. It's not about us, it's

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about them, and who is the them, specifically Judah. Where

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are they at Babylonian captivity? Right? Okay, that's where they

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are at. There is Judah and Babylonian captivity, and a

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message is to be brought to them. And that message

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is a message of comfort. Meaning Isaiah forty through fifty

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five is referred to as the Book of Comfort or

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the Book of Consolation, and they need comfort because what

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is about to happen. Well, the comfort is where they're

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in captivity, right, Remember that the comfort is written before

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they go into captivity. But they're about to be released

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from captivity. Their captivity is about to come to an end.

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And how is their captivity going to be brought to

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an end by whom? Cyrus? Okay, we talked about this

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over and over. You've got to I don't know why

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you have to emphasize that so much, because anyone just

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reading this could figure out who it's about. But we

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have to emphasize this. So we've taken care of all

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of that. We've gone from verse one all the way

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to verse eleven. We've done it verse by verse. We've

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covered everything, and I'm just emphasizing the main point. We've

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seen all of this, but one of the big issues

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it's going to happen starting in verse twelve and following

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there's going to be specific words given to them because

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of the specific situation in which they find themselves. And

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we'll just start looking at some of this so that

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we can see, all right, just look at starting in

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verse twelve, Who hath measured the waters and the hollow

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of his hand, and meeted out heaven with the span,

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and comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure,

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and weighed the mountains and scales, and the hills and

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a balance. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord,

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or being his Counselor hath taught him with whom took

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he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in

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the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed

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to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are

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as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as

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the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up

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the aisles as a very little thing. Lebanon is not

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sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a

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burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and

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they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity.

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What is the significance? What is God attempting to do?

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He's bringing comfort to them, But in verses twelve to

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eighteen or seventeen, what is he attempting to do here? Okay, well,

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that's I think that's what we even put in our outline, right,

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is showing his incomparable greatness. Now, why what is the

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practical significant reason he is trying to dim after trying

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to give these you know, all these other words that

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we've talked about, right, comfort, letting them know everything's coming

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to an end, Why is he trying to take the

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time to speak to them about his incomprehensible, incomparable greatness

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and doing so in these kind of like rhetorical kinds

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of questions? Right, what is he hoping to accomplish for

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the people in a practical way? Well, one who is

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trying to demonstrate I'm greater than whom Babylon right, I'm

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greater than the people who have you in captivity, so

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trust me and that and that is a word of comfort, right,

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It still goes with the overall idea of comfort. I'm

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greater than your circumstance, I'm greater than your problem, I'm

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greater than your captors. Right now, philosophically, that raises all

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kinds of problems because you could say, well, if you're

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so great, why have we been here for well, yeah,

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so long because ultimately they're going to be there for

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seventy years. Okay, So you can understand where it can

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raise some questions, but it's still stating a fact, right,

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and that's all. And that's one of the most difficult

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things about faith in God is we have faith in

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a God that's greater than all of our problems, but

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our problems still here. We have a God who's greater

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than our sinful nature. Yet they say yeah, so yeah,

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I mean, that's that's the whole issue with faith right there.

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But so he's trying to show them, now there's a

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very practical reason in a sense to give them comfort

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that he is greater than the nation that has them

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in captivity, which would be very important because they may

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feel helpless, hopeless, and may feel like when you're hearing

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these words, that it's all coming to an end. It

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would be attempting to say, what, Look, I don't know

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who you are, and I don't know why you're bringing

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these words. We could you go somewhere else because we've

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been here almost seventy years? You're ridiculous, right, let it's

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a reminder. But what's the second reason? He wants them

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to understand that his greatness, his power, all of these

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things is incomparable, incomprehensible all the words you want to use.

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What's the second very practical reason this is occurring. What's

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the second reason this is occurring. If you just remember

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your observational outline, you should know this. If you've just

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read the chapter, you should know this. If you just

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look ahead, you should know this. Okay, there we go.

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The second reason he is doing this is because the

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people live where Babylon. They've been there for possibly if

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this is getting close to the end of their captivity,

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they've been there for almost seventy years. Right, Some people

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have died during that time, but they've been there, and

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what have they witnessed in their seventy years? In Babylon

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sixty eight years fifty years, depending on exactly when, of course,

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the message was given before they even get there. But

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when this message is kind of retold to them, all right,

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spoken to them, they have been surrounded, they have been indoctrinated.

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They have seen for their entire time the religious system

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of Babylon. They have been we'll use this word, they

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have been catechised in Babylonian religion. And when they come out,

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there is going to be a great temptation to bring

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with them what the religious belief of Babylon or to

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do what with it? What's it called when you take

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one religious system and another religious system and kind of

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merge them together syncretism? There we go. And do they

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have a history of doing this? They were in Egypt

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for four hundred years, right, four hundred plus, Right, when

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they come out of Egypt and Moses kind of goes away,

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what do they want a golden calf? Why do they

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want a golden calf? Well, if you know anything about

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Egyptian religion, the calf, the cattle was a very important

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part of their religious system, right, Okay, So they did

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they want to replace God? They wanted something almost a

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symbol of God or something that would represent God. So

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this merging of the concepts together. Look at Isaiah forty.

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If you think I'm crazy, looking immediately at verse eighteen,

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After they spend all of this time showing the majesty

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and power of God, what is immediately they do and

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the writer does in verse eighteen, to whom then will

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you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare? Unto him?

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The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth

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it over with gold and casteth silver chains. He that

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is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, chooseth a

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tree that will not rut. He seeketh under him a

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cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not

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be moved? What is immediately the discussion about idolatry. The

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idolatry discussion flows from what the entire discussion demonstrating the incomprehensible,

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incomparable God and how great God is? Does everybody understand that? So?

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What are the two reasons we have that section on

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how powerful and great God is? What are the two

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reasons that section exists? God is greater in Babylon, God

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is greater than the idols. One is to comfort them,

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to give them some hope, and the second is to

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what try to protect them and help them from not

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bringing in bringing with them their Babylonian religious system that

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they have been taught. It's simple, it's Straightford. Remember it's

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about them, Okay, we want to make this about us.

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It's about them first and foremost. So then this what

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before we talk about the majesty and power of God,

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before we talk about the idols. Then it is absolute.

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I cannot state this. It is absolutely essential. And not

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just me. I'm saying that. I asked Ai if it

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was true, and AI said, it is essential. Okay, I

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believe it's essential. AI believes it's essential. Anyone who reads

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should believe it's essential. It's essential to grasp the religious

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context of Babylon during the time lead being up and

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during the exile of Judah. If you do not understand

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the religious system of Babylon, you cannot understand Isaiah forty.

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Is that simple. Let's simple, and time and time again,

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that is true in scripture. I cannot stress. I spent

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just the uh the other day, I spent like an hour,

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an hour, hour and a half trying to once again,

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because I get so tired of listening to sermons on

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the Book of Hebrews and they never It just seems

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that churches are incapable. What do you have to understand

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to interpret the Book of Hebrews correctly? Seventy eight eighty

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seventy seventy eighty you have to you have to understand that,

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or everything in the Book of Hebrews falls apart. But

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what a pastor after pastor do with a pre the

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Book of Hebrews. They don't care about seventy eight because

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they make the Book of Hebrews about whom us? What

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is the book called Hebrews? Meaning it's written to Jews,

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and it's written depending on where we date it, we

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know somewhere between sixty if you want to go early

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to maybe all the way up to sixty eight. Well,

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what started in sixty six? Oh, come on sixty six AD?

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What I started in sixty six AD? The siege of

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Jerusalem begins in sixty six AD. Okay, So if it's

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written somewhere between sixty six, sixty seven sixty eight, it's

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written to Jews. When what was occurring the siege? And

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what did Jesus say? And I think it's Luke. Maybe

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he said it in Matthew. When you see Jerusalem surrounded, flee,

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get out, listen, get out right the now. Pastors take

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that and make it about the Second Coming, which once

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again has nothing to do with the Second Coming. It's

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just maddening how many times in the Bible you have

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to start arguing with people and it's like, I don't

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even know why we're arguing. You seem incapable of understanding

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the historical context. It doesn't require that much to do

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a little bit of work to go. This was written

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to a specific people in a specific time. What do

250
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I need to do? Ignore me and figure out who

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the people were and what was the time. Same thing

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is true of Hebrews, same thing is true of Isaiah.

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So what should we then do We have to spend

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the time understanding the Babylonian religious beliefs. We have to,

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so we're gonna We're already almost only a half an

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hour to go, so we're probably gonna have to do

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this the next hour as well. I would like to

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have done this in one hour. There's just no way

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to get through this because the introduction took so long.

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But that gets us all on the same page. Alright,

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So our job here is when you leave here, not

262
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to be a complete expert, because it would take us years,

263
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but to have such a good understanding of it that

264
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when you read the next part you're like, hey, I

265
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understand this perfectly. All right? Does that make sense? So

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here's what we will start with, kind of a simple overview.

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Babylon was one of the most religiously complex and idle

268
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dominated societies in the entire ancient world. Babylon wastive was

269
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one of the most religiously complex and idle dominated societies

270
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in the ancient world. Now that kind of makes sense now, right,

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because you could be what could you if you're just

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reading Isaiah? Remember we did. I didn't even get through

273
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all the questions, but I talked about the importance of

274
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asking the text questions, right, remember that study, and I

275
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gave you how we have to become great at asking questions. Well,

276
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if you're reading Isaiah forty, what question should come to

277
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your mind? Well, the question that should come to I

278
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think my mind or anybody's mind is wait a minute,

279
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these people are in captivity. Why are you taking the

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time out to give them a lesson about idolatry? Don't

281
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they have bigger problems to deal with, like I don't know,

282
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getting out of captivity. But then it makes sense. These

283
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people have been here for almost seventy years and they've

284
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been living where and Babylon, which was what everyone repeated,

285
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one of the most religiously complex and idle dominated societies

286
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in the ancient world. It had a system of God's

287
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plural temples, plural rituals, plural divination practices plural and it

288
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shaped every aspect of their life. Every aspect of Babylonian

289
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life was shaped by their religion. Well, who's been a

290
00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:28.079
part of their everyday life? Bible are Judah? Does that

291
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make sense? All right? So there's kind of an overview.

292
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So let's start with number one. The core of Babylonian religion.

293
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It's polytheism. Okay, that's if you want. The core of

294
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Babylonian religion is polytheistic. It's polytheism. Polytheism means what many gods,

295
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many gods, polytheism to have a pantheon of gods if

296
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you want to use that term. All right, I'm gonna

297
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go through. I'm gonna try to go through the major ones.

298
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We're not gonna be able to go through all of them. Well,

299
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we'll see if we can how we can do on this,

300
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all right. Babylonian religion was polytheistic, all right. I think

301
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everybody understands that they had many gods. Each god had

302
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a specific role and attributes. Their gods were believed to

303
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control every aspect of life, from nature to human affairs.

304
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So they had multiple gods, and the gods were connected

305
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to what everything that happened in life and to nature itself?

306
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You could can you not see how Isaiah forty is

307
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literally addressing that reality? All right, let's go through these,

308
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all right, let's go with who's there? If you if

309
00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:55.359
we don't know any, there's probably two. I think everyone

310
00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.680
should get two of these. Right, If you were to

311
00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:00.680
name the major gods of Babylon, what's the first one.

312
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If we're gonna name the major gods of Babylon, what

313
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would be the first one? Look, if you have the

314
00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:16.359
Bible dictionary, look up I think God or gods. I

315
00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:20.160
think it will say the gods of Babylon. I think

316
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.039
there's an entry. If you have to look there, it

317
00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:25.079
maybe take you a minute to find it. I think

318
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:26.960
if you look up God, I think that it will

319
00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.880
be gods of or something along those lines. I don't

320
00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.880
think you can just find it by looking up Babylon.

321
00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.559
I think you have to look up God or maybe

322
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.160
pagan gods. See if you can find it. I think

323
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:58.440
there's an entry. Do you have just gods? Okay? Nothing, okay.

324
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I thought maybe they would have an entry yea Mark Duke. Okay,

325
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.200
there we go. Okay, that's where our what page is

326
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:15.680
at five oh seven. There's a chart. Okay, there we go.

327
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The patreon city of Babylon is Mark Duke, Mark Duke,

328
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Mark Duke, Mark Duk. However, you say his name, all right,

329
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do you see it? That's the Patrion god all right here,

330
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.400
or you can put it this way. Marduk is the

331
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supreme god of Babylon. Okay, watch the scripture reference Jeremiah

332
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chapter fifty verse two. Let's look at it. Jeremiah chapter

333
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fifty verse two. R oh yeah, okay, yeah yeah. Marduk

334
00:22:54.519 --> 00:23:00.319
fifty verse two. Declare oh yeah, okay, it says b. E. L. Bell.

335
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That's also the name. That's the name of Marduk. See

336
00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:07.599
it all right? But Jeremiah fifty verse two declare ye

337
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among the nations and publish is set up a standard

338
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published and concil not say Babylon is taken. Bell is confounded,

339
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Merodach is broken in pieces, Her idols are confounded, her

340
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:30.000
images are broken in pieces. All right. Now, in some sources,

341
00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:32.519
if you look, it'll have Marduk and then in parentheses

342
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that have B. E. L. Bell. All right, does that

343
00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:38.240
make sense? But it's the patriots saint, the supreme Saint

344
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or so saint supreme god of Babylon. Right, Some would

345
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say Marduk is the chief deity of Babylon. And here's

346
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the key thing. It's protector. It's protector. Now why is

347
00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:59.920
that important? Well, if you're in Babylonian captivity, how long

348
00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.359
have you been there? Okay, what did Babylon do to

349
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your temple of your god? Destroyed it? So that would

350
00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:12.000
look like which god is greater? Marduk would look be

351
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far greater than the god of the Israelites, right right,

352
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I mean, come on, that's one of the reasons. Look,

353
00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:21.839
it was very important, especially in ancient times. Why would

354
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you because in some ways you'd be like, well, why

355
00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:26.759
would you go in and destroy the temple? Right? If

356
00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:30.599
you're taking over, why would you go destroy the religious institution? Right? Well,

357
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:33.759
because if you destroy their temple, what are you ultimately

358
00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:38.480
telling the people? Our God is greater than your God?

359
00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:41.559
And because our God is greater than you, then that

360
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you should not then fight us, resist us because our

361
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God is greater than your God. Do you want to

362
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be in trouble with God? If you live in a

363
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very kind of a religious culture, you could understand how

364
00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:57.839
that would have great psychological impact. Right, This is their

365
00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:02.200
supreme God. So why then does God in Isaiah forty

366
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:08.519
emphasizes his greatness? Because the people are going to be

367
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very have to struggle with the fact. If our God

368
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is greater, then how come our God allowed his temple

369
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to be wiped off the face of the earth. That's

370
00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:19.799
going to be a struggle, right? Does that make sense?

371
00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:24.480
All right? A little bit about Marduk. He was believed

372
00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:28.400
to have defeated the chaos monster that is referred to

373
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as Tiamatt or Tama, depending on Some people say Tiamot,

374
00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:39.880
some people say Tama. It's spelled tiamat. I heard it.

375
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:42.359
I looked it up. Some people would say tama, some

376
00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:44.960
would say Tamott. I think it's tmas the right way,

377
00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.279
all right, But Marduke defeated this what would be referred

378
00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:53.720
to as chaos monster, and he'd established order in the universe.

379
00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:56.559
This would be a part of the Babylonian creation myth.

380
00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:03.200
All right, So Marduk, the chaos monster, he established universe,

381
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:07.119
and he becomes then what the supreme God? It becomes

382
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:14.079
the supreme God. Right. He obviously had a temple they

383
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.839
called the temple Essegillia or Essigilia, depending on how you

384
00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:21.920
listen to people pronounce it. He had a tower, all right,

385
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:25.759
and some believe that the Tower of Babel would have

386
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:27.799
been like the tower that would have been there for

387
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:33.480
Marduk and Babylon, Right, the Tower of Babel, Tower of Babylon, Right, Okay,

388
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:38.480
this was the center of Babylonian worship, this temple, this tower,

389
00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:43.039
this would have been the center for the Babylonians to

390
00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:46.000
worship Marduk, who is the supreme God? Does that make sense?

391
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:50.319
All right? So there's Marduk. Now what would be And

392
00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:54.680
I think I if you notice, I have a tendency

393
00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.319
to refer to sometimes the god in either a male

394
00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:02.960
pronoun or female pronoun. I think Marduk is typically referred to,

395
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:09.880
at least in Jeremiah in a female pronoun. Right, but okay, well,

396
00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.680
so I know I was a little confused that the

397
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.079
referenced her, because I think it's typically he's referenced as

398
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:25.000
a he. Right, Yeah, so I was a little confused

399
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:31.559
by that. Does it name the mistress? Oh? Okay, that's it. Okay,

400
00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:38.440
that's a different one. Okay. Well, there is a female

401
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:41.880
goddess in Babylon who's a major one that one may

402
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:45.480
not be is major. And Sarah just said the one.

403
00:27:45.640 --> 00:27:52.519
What is it Ishtar? Right? Ishtar goddess of love, war

404
00:27:52.720 --> 00:28:01.680
and fertility. Yes, it's not in the chart. It's not

405
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:09.920
in the chart, I s okay. I think it's also.

406
00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:13.279
I think she's also known as Inana I n A

407
00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:17.559
n n a or something along those lines. Okay, and Nana.

408
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:19.920
I believe it's how you would say it, Ishtar. And

409
00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:23.279
she's the goddess of love, war, and fertility. She's associated

410
00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:28.880
with sexuality, political power, and war. She's she's often depicted

411
00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:31.079
as a fierce warrior. It was a central figure in

412
00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:36.680
Babylonian rituals. So Marduk may have had a mistress, but

413
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:41.359
Ishtar is the is the female goddess, a major one?

414
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:55.039
Remember the head. Just to make sure we understand this right, right,

415
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:58.799
and not a factor. That's why Isaiah forty is here

416
00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:01.880
right to help them, right. So yeah, they would greatly

417
00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:04.000
be impacted by this. But I just want to make

418
00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:05.960
sure this is a clarification, not only for you guys,

419
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.000
but from people listening. A lie. I am not in

420
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.160
any way asserting or claiming that we are doing an

421
00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:14.200
in depth study of Babylonian religion. I'm just trying to

422
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:16.640
give you the basics here, because if we did, we

423
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:19.079
could turn this into like a six month college course,

424
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:23.000
all right, because they had a I mean, they have

425
00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:26.079
so many gods, you just need to have the basic understanding,

426
00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:29.240
right that chart. How many gods or goddesses do they

427
00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:34.960
name on that chart for Babylon? Six? Okay? At least six? Okay.

428
00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:37.400
So just so you know that we could look and

429
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:40.720
look and look and probably expand and expand and expand,

430
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:42.960
all right. I just wanted to make sure that that

431
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:46.039
was fair. Okay. So the first major is Marduk, the

432
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:55.000
second is Ishtar. Third Nabu Nabo, god of wisdom, writing

433
00:29:55.240 --> 00:30:00.799
and prophecy. Now Nabu what the main thing to know

434
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:05.480
about him? He was seen as Marduk's son and the

435
00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:18.079
patreon god of scribes. Okay, how's it spelled? Oh? Okay?

436
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:23.359
Neeboh okay? Right? See okay, all right once again, And

437
00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:25.839
that's another thing you're going to find, is you'll find

438
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:31.400
the god maybe with multiple names, multiple spellings, right, depending

439
00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:34.720
on who you listen to, multiple ways of saying it. Okay,

440
00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:38.319
so you can like, I don't want to be too

441
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:41.359
asserted or too dogmatic about any of this. I'm trying

442
00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:43.680
to do my best, but each one I would have

443
00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:45.720
to break down and say, well, it's known by this

444
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:49.359
name or it's spelled this way, so everyone understand, I'm

445
00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:51.599
doing the best I can here in a limited amount

446
00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:54.559
of time. All right, So this is the god of

447
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:58.079
wisdom writing the main things. Know's Marduk's son. But here's

448
00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:01.000
what I think is important, not or how how is

449
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:07.640
it spelled? There? In that nebo naba? Okay. He's also

450
00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:10.880
believed to be the one that would dictate divine wisdom

451
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.680
to kings and priest. He would be the one who

452
00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:19.039
had dictated, so the king or the priest would be

453
00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:25.119
receiving information from Marduk's son, right, and mardukas they basically

454
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:28.799
the Patrion saint or the patriot God of Babylon. I

455
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:31.599
keep wanting to say saint for some weird reason. All right,

456
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:37.000
everybody got that, so you could see where. But the

457
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:42.319
point is the king, the priest, their words, their ideas

458
00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:47.519
would be then seen as coming from whom God a god?

459
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:54.160
Right now, why is that important? Well, which king defeated Israel? Right,

460
00:31:54.279 --> 00:31:56.680
the king of Babylon. So then the king of Babylon,

461
00:31:57.119 --> 00:32:00.920
his God must be true because his God gave him

462
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:04.880
the wisdom to defeat us. So our God was defeated

463
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:08.359
by their God. I want you to see the religious

464
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:11.200
nature of it. And obviously, in the ancient world, what

465
00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:19.559
two concepts were always merged together? Religion and the civil government.

466
00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:23.039
They've always merged together. So therefore the civil government could

467
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:26.039
do something and do it in the name of God,

468
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:39.920
even if it meant killing your enemies. Well, but did

469
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.400
they ever believe it was coming? They never really believed

470
00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:45.640
it was coming, right, Yeah, yeah, even when Jeremiah tried

471
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:48.400
to tell them, They're like, no, you're basically anyone who

472
00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:50.440
tried to tell them it was coming, We're seen as

473
00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:55.240
not being patriotic or you know, or not having two

474
00:32:55.319 --> 00:33:08.240
faith in God. Oh Cyrus, Yeah, Well, yeah, Cyrus names

475
00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:13.759
God is the one, Yeah, not Marduk, not Nobody, naboo, nebo.

476
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:20.319
However you say his name, yeah, yeah, yeah, he still Yeah.

477
00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:23.319
He wasn't a believer, he was not a he was pagan. Yeah,

478
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.599
he's a pagan king. Yeah, it's brilliant. That's why it

479
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:29.119
makes the decree of Syrus so amazing. Yeah. So and

480
00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:32.079
fits in hip perfectly here, all right. So the number

481
00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:34.319
one is Marduk, Number two is Istar, number three is

482
00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:37.200
nah boo, nah boo. However you want to see his name.

483
00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:43.200
Number four Shamash s h a m a s h.

484
00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:54.799
Shamash was the god of the Sun and justice. He

485
00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:02.920
was the god responsible for illuminating truth and executing divine justice. Oh,

486
00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:12.440
that illuminating truth concept drives me nuts right now. From

487
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:16.639
their category, from their perspective, then all right, just note

488
00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:21.239
if they have a God who eliminates truth, then whatever

489
00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:25.239
they believe would then be seen to be what true

490
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:28.760
because God illuminated it. It's the same game we as

491
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:33.119
Christians play when we say when pastors say God gave

492
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:36.760
me this sermon, or when Christians say that they prayed

493
00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:39.519
and God gave him understanding of scripture, or that the

494
00:34:39.639 --> 00:34:43.000
Holy Spirit illuminates us to understand the Bible, or the

495
00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:45.639
Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us in truth. Just

496
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:49.880
know that there is nothing uniquely Christian about that. Every

497
00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:55.840
religion in the world thinks their God gives them understanding

498
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:59.840
to believe, and that religion, therefore, that religion has to

499
00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.639
be true because their God gave them the way, the

500
00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:09.719
ability to understand it. It's all trash. It's trash for

501
00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:14.519
every religion, and it's trash for Christianity, all right. Because

502
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:18.519
if Christianity was truly God illuminating us and guiding us

503
00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:23.679
into truth, then how many denominations should we have? How

504
00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:28.039
many interpretations of scripture should we have? How many beliefs

505
00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:31.039
should we have about baptism? I mean, I can go

506
00:35:31.159 --> 00:35:33.360
on and on and on. Do you know that within

507
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:37.280
Church history there is not even agreement on something as

508
00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:41.920
simple as Matthew five to one. Matthew five to one,

509
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:44.320
it's something, and I did it an hour and a

510
00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:47.079
half on this the stuff. This stuff just makes me

511
00:35:47.159 --> 00:35:50.119
want to scream. All right. Nobody can agree on how

512
00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:52.239
to we even interpret the Sermon on the Mountain throughout

513
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.599
Church history. But Matthew five to one and seeing the multitude,

514
00:35:55.639 --> 00:35:57.400
He went up into a mountain, and when he was

515
00:35:57.480 --> 00:35:59.800
set his disciples came unto him. Do you know no

516
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:02.679
body in church history can agree on who the actual

517
00:36:02.719 --> 00:36:07.119
audience was for the Sermon on the mount There's not

518
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:10.360
even an agreement on that. Well, if the Holy Spirit's

519
00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:13.119
illuminating us and the Holy Spirit's giving us truth, then

520
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:14.760
ladies and gentlemen, I think we should be able to

521
00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:16.639
figure out who the audience was for the Sermon on

522
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:21.280
the Mound. There's not agreement on faith, there's no agreement

523
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:27.320
on repentance, there's not agreement on literally anything. It's maddening.

524
00:36:27.480 --> 00:36:30.239
It just drives me to the point of insanity. But

525
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:34.360
yet we still claim God's illuminating us. Well, the Babylonians

526
00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:38.039
were the same way that a God for everything, a

527
00:36:38.119 --> 00:36:40.719
God giving them wisdom, a God giving them this, and

528
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:45.320
a God illuminating and there we go and of course

529
00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:50.239
executing divine justice. You see how that works. If you

530
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:53.800
believe God is on your side, then any action you

531
00:36:54.039 --> 00:37:04.239
take is what logically just right. It's every country does

532
00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.400
it when they go to war. When Americans go to war,

533
00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:13.840
who's on our side? God? The people we kill? God

534
00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:16.800
is not on their side, but they believe God is

535
00:37:16.920 --> 00:37:22.199
on their side. Everyone God, I hate to say it,

536
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:24.360
the concept of God. There's no way to get around this,

537
00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:27.800
the concept of God. In many cases, it's hard not

538
00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:32.039
to accept. This is a human construct to give us

539
00:37:32.360 --> 00:37:35.760
justification for what we do. And we can condemn what

540
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:38.679
we don't like, justify what we do like, and we

541
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:43.159
can either carry out taking people's lands, killing people, and

542
00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:47.199
saying God is on our side. What was the major

543
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:52.480
thing that led America's expansion across this country taking land

544
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:57.679
from people and killing people. Manifest destiny one of the

545
00:37:57.719 --> 00:38:03.719
most evil things in the history of our country, and

546
00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:07.280
our current administration is using the same terminology, which scares

547
00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:12.239
me to death. Manifest destiny is pure evil in my opinion.

548
00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:14.639
I know that puts me at odds with almost everyone,

549
00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:19.239
but I don't care. It's evil. Our country literally believed

550
00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:21.880
that we had manifest destiny to go and say I'm

551
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:24.119
sorry that you're in a Native American tribe who've been

552
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:26.159
here for one hundred years. You all die, and we

553
00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:31.840
take your land because God's on our side. That's messed up.

554
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:37.559
The conquistadors had the same kind of concept. That's all

555
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:41.119
of that is just it's evil and well, but it's

556
00:38:41.239 --> 00:38:43.920
the one which makes you know. It's not unique to Christianity,

557
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:51.639
it's unique to what every single religion when we get

558
00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:55.199
mad when Islam does something like that, right, every religion

559
00:38:55.360 --> 00:39:03.360
does it. That's a concerning thought. So I want you

560
00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.760
to see that all right now. So his symbol for

561
00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:09.719
Shamas was the solar disc, and he played a role

562
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:14.519
in Babylonian law and prophecy see law. Babylonian law was

563
00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:18.480
connected to whom a god? You mixed religion in the

564
00:39:18.559 --> 00:39:23.760
civil government? Oh man, nothing good comes from that. Oh

565
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:26.159
I cannot Oh yeah, don't even get me started on

566
00:39:26.280 --> 00:39:28.719
manifest destiny. That stuff makes me want to scream. All right,

567
00:39:29.360 --> 00:39:32.239
so we have time. There's I know people are showing up,

568
00:39:32.239 --> 00:39:36.159
and that's okay, they can wait. Number five s I

569
00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:39.239
N I'm just gonna cause sin because I don't house

570
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:43.480
to say it, Okay, sin, if there's some other Babylonian

571
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:46.239
way to say it sin. This is the moon god.

572
00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:58.920
And guess what this god controlled time. So he was

573
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:03.639
worshiped for agricul cultural cycles and celestial signs. Look to

574
00:40:03.719 --> 00:40:10.559
the heavens for a sign. And of course then agriculture

575
00:40:10.639 --> 00:40:13.480
is connected to a god, right, and that's the same thing,

576
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:16.239
is true. That's just please note it's no different than

577
00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:22.360
what we do, right, Christians do the same thing. Do

578
00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:27.079
we believe our God controls everything? Yes, so it's the

579
00:40:27.199 --> 00:40:29.880
same kind of The only difference is we would say

580
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:33.239
one god controls everything, and they would say multiple gods

581
00:40:33.280 --> 00:40:38.000
control different things. But it's the same concept. Religion in

582
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:40.559
general has some similar concepts. There's no way to get

583
00:40:40.599 --> 00:40:45.360
around that right now. The next one is number six

584
00:40:46.440 --> 00:40:51.639
is n e r ga l norgal nor gaul. Right,

585
00:40:52.119 --> 00:40:54.920
this is the god of the underworld and the god

586
00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:00.280
of plague, feared as a destructive force. But we also

587
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:05.400
prayed to in times of war of course, right, Negad

588
00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:08.000
is the god of the underworld and plague. He was

589
00:41:08.079 --> 00:41:11.880
seen as that god is destructive. But in a time

590
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:15.280
of war, who did you play pray to? Nergall to

591
00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:19.559
do what? Destroy the enemy? Destroy the enemy because God

592
00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:22.239
is always on your side. It's like I always hate

593
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:25.840
in Super Bowl time or any any sport when when

594
00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:29.480
people are even high school football, when people pray and

595
00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:31.760
they pray somehow for God to help them in the game,

596
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:33.559
I'm like, well, wait a minute, what if there's Christians

597
00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:36.480
on the other team. This God helping you or God

598
00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:38.840
helping that, Like it's the stupidest thing in the history

599
00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:41.880
of mankind to pray. And then afterwards God gave us

600
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:43.880
the victory, so God wanted you to win, but not

601
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:45.840
the people on the other team. Like that's just so

602
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:49.760
that's it. In a minuscule way, It's just a football game,

603
00:41:49.840 --> 00:41:52.800
so nobody cares. But from a philological perspective, I want

604
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:56.119
to scream at everyone involved because that's the same mindset

605
00:41:56.199 --> 00:41:59.440
that then goes to, well, we're God's on America side,

606
00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:01.159
so we can go over there and kill everyone and

607
00:42:01.280 --> 00:42:03.880
God we're doing the right thing because God's on our side.

608
00:42:04.280 --> 00:42:06.960
That's what that leads to. That way of thinking is

609
00:42:07.159 --> 00:42:11.480
messed up, right. That's why I think we have to

610
00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:15.119
see God is trade other than Israel. I think we

611
00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:18.199
have to see God is transcendent to all nations and

612
00:42:18.440 --> 00:42:21.760
is not taking us like God may work but other

613
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:25.519
Whenever you claim that God is on your side, that

614
00:42:25.639 --> 00:42:29.079
always becomes as a nation, it almost always is problematic.

615
00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:32.000
Even in Israel's history, we would believe God was on

616
00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:35.280
their side. But what didn't that lead to go in

617
00:42:35.400 --> 00:42:40.159
in and taking land and slaughtering everybody. Right. So, no

618
00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:45.400
matter no matter what religion, all religions connect their deity

619
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:49.400
to their nation, believing their deity is on their side,

620
00:42:49.599 --> 00:42:51.760
and almost inevitably, it gives them the right to do

621
00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:55.599
what almost in this is a historical fact, to go

622
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:01.760
take land and kill people. It's just a reality of religion.

623
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:05.320
This is why atheist and agnostics typically hate religion. You

624
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:09.719
can't get around it. Everybody believes God is always on

625
00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:11.400
their side. And it goes all the way down to

626
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:15.920
a football game and church. It goes down to what

627
00:43:16.599 --> 00:43:19.079
if Sarah disagrees with me and I disagree with Sarah,

628
00:43:19.239 --> 00:43:21.960
gives who both is gonna claim God is on She's

629
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:24.519
gonna claim God is on her side and she's right,

630
00:43:24.599 --> 00:43:26.400
And I'm gonna claim God is on my side and

631
00:43:26.519 --> 00:43:29.320
I'm right. And it amazing that God's on everyone's side.

632
00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:37.320
That's because God, the concept of God. Look God, I'm

633
00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:40.719
not I'm gonna hear people gonna on the internet misunderstand me.

634
00:43:40.760 --> 00:43:43.079
I'm not saying God doesn't exist. I'm not saying that.

635
00:43:43.519 --> 00:43:46.320
I'm saying that we cannot disagree with the fact that

636
00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:49.360
whether God exists or doesn't exist, it becomes a human

637
00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:54.199
construct so that we can justify basically anything. That's why

638
00:43:54.519 --> 00:43:56.920
everyone wants to claim God is on their side politically,

639
00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:59.199
because if God is on your side politically, then your

640
00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:07.960
political view one is what from God? They are? The Crusades? Uh,

641
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:12.000
the Conquistadors manifest destiny. I mean it shows up throughout

642
00:44:12.199 --> 00:44:14.679
history in a million different ways. And then and if

643
00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:18.599
you think about the Crusades, the Muslims believe God was

644
00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:22.679
on their side, and then the Catholic countries established an

645
00:44:22.760 --> 00:44:26.920
army believing God was on their side. Well, everybody wanted

646
00:44:26.920 --> 00:44:32.079
to control over Jerusalem, right, because then we oh so

647
00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:35.599
many issues? All right? Then number seven, So what was

648
00:44:35.639 --> 00:44:42.079
the first god our duke? Second Ishtar? Number three Nabu naboo, right,

649
00:44:42.239 --> 00:44:47.360
number four Shamash, number five, Sin, number six Nirgal Norgal,

650
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:50.920
and number seven Tiamat And this one the r Tama.

651
00:44:51.199 --> 00:44:54.519
This is the one I feel more comfortable saying because

652
00:44:54.519 --> 00:44:58.199
I checked this one multiple times. Tamat Tiama. This was

653
00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:03.079
the primordial chaos goddess or goddess she she would be

654
00:45:03.119 --> 00:45:07.480
a she goddess and Babylonian mythology, she represents the chaos

655
00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:13.360
before creation and Barduke defeated her and symbolizing order overcoming disorder.

656
00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:17.760
So Tilmut was a female, all right, Marduk defeated her,

657
00:45:18.440 --> 00:45:25.559
brought chaos. She's like the primordial chaos goddess. Basically, women

658
00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:27.519
cause the chaos. The men have to fix it. That's

659
00:45:27.559 --> 00:45:30.199
kind of what the story is, right, And I'm joking

660
00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:39.599
a little bit there. Okay, Yeah, those are seven Those

661
00:45:39.639 --> 00:45:44.199
are just seven gods, and that's not listing all of them.

662
00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:47.000
But what do you see in all of those seven gods?

663
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:52.760
What do you see in those seven gods? What's the

664
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:57.199
big takeaway here? Before we can end this hour? Okay?

665
00:45:57.480 --> 00:46:03.800
They are connected to every aspect of society, including government, justice, agriculture,

666
00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:09.079
every area of life would be touched by what a god?

667
00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:17.920
So guess what? Who cannot escape that? Those from Judah,

668
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:19.920
they would not be able to escape it, right, And

669
00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:23.440
what could be playing in their mind from a just

670
00:46:23.519 --> 00:46:31.159
a logical perspective, Well, their king, their god defeated our

671
00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:36.960
God because our temple was destroyed. We were brought here

672
00:46:37.679 --> 00:46:41.079
and their God has been able to keep our God

673
00:46:42.199 --> 00:46:50.000
at bay for all of these years. God gives Isaiah

674
00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:54.320
a message to be delivered to the people about one

675
00:46:54.360 --> 00:46:56.760
hundred years after he is long gone. But what does

676
00:46:56.800 --> 00:47:00.400
it wants to try to demonstrate to them how incomparable

677
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:04.880
and powerful God is. They're going to need to understand it.

678
00:47:05.159 --> 00:47:08.280
But how are they gonna have to understand it by

679
00:47:08.480 --> 00:47:14.440
faith not by sight? Because even when they're released, it's

680
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:18.199
not done in a supernatural, powerful way. It's the most

681
00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:22.519
boring way possible. The Babylonians basically kind of do what,

682
00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:25.960
as Sarah pointed out, just kind of say, hey, come

683
00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:29.440
on in, Sorrus. There's no it's not something dramatic. And

684
00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:35.599
then Sorrus does what, Hey, your god speaking basically Israel's

685
00:47:35.639 --> 00:47:40.280
God wants me to build a temple, and you're gonna

686
00:47:40.320 --> 00:47:43.760
go back and do it. And it's kind in some

687
00:47:43.880 --> 00:47:47.360
ways that's crazy. But there's nothing like, there's no powerful

688
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:51.239
like an earthquake swallows up half of the Babylonians right,

689
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:56.119
a planue comes in, there's fire from heaven. There there's nothing,

690
00:47:56.639 --> 00:47:59.960
there's no parting of the Red Sea. It's to ordinary.

691
00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:07.199
And because it's so ordinary, it would be very easy

692
00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:11.679
for the people then to do what well, I mean,

693
00:48:12.400 --> 00:48:17.800
if the Babyloni has let Cyrus in, maybe Cyrus is

694
00:48:17.880 --> 00:48:21.599
on side of the Babylonian gods. Maybe this isn't our

695
00:48:21.679 --> 00:48:24.840
God but Cyrus. To give credit to the other god,

696
00:48:24.960 --> 00:48:29.000
it would still be philologically confounding and confusing for them

697
00:48:29.079 --> 00:48:31.719
to try to figure especially in that culture, right, especially

698
00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:34.280
in that culture and the way they would have understood things.

699
00:48:34.599 --> 00:48:40.360
So those are the seven major gods of Babylon and

700
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:42.280
I want you to see all that, and you can

701
00:48:42.400 --> 00:48:45.119
see how throughout history, and what I want you to

702
00:48:45.159 --> 00:48:48.719
take from it from a practical perspective is that religion

703
00:48:48.840 --> 00:48:53.599
and the belief in God has impacted so much throughout

704
00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:57.159
the history of humanity in many ways, in a very

705
00:48:57.440 --> 00:49:02.880
bad way and a very bad way. Horrible things have happened.

706
00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:06.920
When you take religion and you mix it with other things.

707
00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:10.320
Everyone wants to think it brings about good. I think

708
00:49:10.360 --> 00:49:15.960
it brings about bad so many horrible ways. Because it's

709
00:49:16.039 --> 00:49:21.119
hard to argue with someone when they say, basically, God's

710
00:49:21.159 --> 00:49:24.800
on my side. And that's a common argument within a

711
00:49:24.920 --> 00:49:28.480
lot when it comes to our current American politics. Talk

712
00:49:28.519 --> 00:49:33.599
to people who are Trump supporters, he's basically God's anointed

713
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:38.760
and you're like, okay, well I can't argue with you, then, right,

714
00:49:39.119 --> 00:49:41.639
that ends the argument, right, if God's on his side,

715
00:49:44.440 --> 00:49:47.119
if I argue against him, then who am I arguing

716
00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:52.440
against God? And you know who is you know the

717
00:49:52.519 --> 00:49:55.119
person he put in charge of all of his faith.

718
00:49:55.519 --> 00:50:02.559
You know plans paula White, absolute ridicu us lunatic. She's insane,

719
00:50:03.480 --> 00:50:07.880
completely nuts, charismatic. And some of the people around him

720
00:50:08.039 --> 00:50:12.480
are part of the New Apostolic Reformation, but absolutely one

721
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:16.800
of the most dangerous charismatic movements. We got the Seven

722
00:50:16.880 --> 00:50:20.480
Mountain Mandate, all of I mean so much Christian nationalism

723
00:50:20.599 --> 00:50:25.639
all over it. But any Christian who warns against the

724
00:50:25.760 --> 00:50:29.760
Christian nationalism and the New Apostolic Reformation and all of

725
00:50:29.840 --> 00:50:32.360
this stuff and how Christianity is being merged with this

726
00:50:33.079 --> 00:50:36.079
MAGA movement, if you criticize it, then guess what, oh

727
00:50:36.199 --> 00:50:38.039
what's wrong with you? You don't believe in God, you

728
00:50:38.079 --> 00:50:42.880
don't have fati, you are liberal, you're woke, or I

729
00:50:42.920 --> 00:50:46.239
don't know. I think Christian nationalism is from the pit

730
00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:50.440
of hell. It's an issue about Christian nationalism that my

731
00:50:50.639 --> 00:50:52.480
issue is with it. But you see, and then if

732
00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:55.000
just the executive order he signed the other day, but

733
00:50:55.199 --> 00:50:58.559
you know now basically wanted to re establish Christianity, make America.

734
00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:01.440
A Christian nation that scares meet. I want to pack

735
00:51:01.519 --> 00:51:04.320
up and run for my life. I don't want to

736
00:51:04.320 --> 00:51:09.239
be in a Christian nation because it's all great as

737
00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:13.760
long as I'm a part of their Christianity. Would I

738
00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:15.880
get along with the Christianity of the people he has

739
00:51:15.960 --> 00:51:21.199
around him? I would not, because it's charismatic nonsense. And

740
00:51:21.280 --> 00:51:24.159
what happens in history whenever religion takes over. I don't

741
00:51:24.159 --> 00:51:29.760
care which religion people die. That's a historical fact. So

742
00:51:30.159 --> 00:51:33.440
when you look at Babylon, you see how it was integrated.

743
00:51:33.960 --> 00:51:36.440
And that's true in all of those ancient societies, is

744
00:51:36.480 --> 00:51:39.639
it not. And every ancient society believed their deity was

745
00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:41.400
on their side and it gave them the right to

746
00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:45.199
do whatever they wanted to do. And that's the problem.

747
00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:48.320
But for the bab for the people in Judah, they

748
00:51:48.360 --> 00:51:54.719
had to live in this and what was the concern

749
00:51:55.159 --> 00:51:57.239
they were going to walk out bringing what with them

750
00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:03.119
religious idea? And God's trying to fix that. And it's

751
00:52:03.199 --> 00:52:05.360
not the first time they've done it, because they have

752
00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:08.280
a history of doing wherever they went. What did they do?

753
00:52:11.639 --> 00:52:14.800
They assimulated and took on the idolatry of the land.

754
00:52:14.840 --> 00:52:16.599
And that what happened when even when they got into

755
00:52:16.599 --> 00:52:19.079
the Promised Land, what did they do? They didn't get

756
00:52:19.159 --> 00:52:22.400
rid of everyone, and they started intermarrying and assimulating and

757
00:52:22.480 --> 00:52:25.480
taking on the idolatry of the culture. They do it

758
00:52:25.599 --> 00:52:30.360
because well, we can talk about why why is it? Yeah,

759
00:52:30.440 --> 00:52:33.719
that's a whole different subject. But we'll stop there, all right.

760
00:52:33.840 --> 00:52:37.000
Hopefully mixed. I tried to mix that academic aspect of

761
00:52:37.079 --> 00:52:41.280
it with practicality. Hopefully I mixed that too pretty well together.

762
00:52:41.320 --> 00:52:43.280
All right, next hour, we'll try to see if we

763
00:52:43.320 --> 00:52:47.719
can finish this. All right, Lord God, we come before you. Lord.

764
00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:52.920
We have used you for our own selfish purposes. We

765
00:52:53.039 --> 00:52:58.000
have fallen short, and how we've mixed and messed up

766
00:52:58.119 --> 00:53:02.599
our own motives the idea of your existence. Forgive us

767
00:53:02.679 --> 00:53:07.519
for that. Lord, they had idolatry all around them. We

768
00:53:07.639 --> 00:53:10.079
have our own idolatry that we create in our heart.

769
00:53:10.599 --> 00:53:13.679
Forgive us for what we have done, and help us

770
00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:16.519
just understand this so that we can understand Isaiah better.

771
00:53:17.519 --> 00:53:19.360
And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people

772
00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:19.599
said