Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002911
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00:09 It's been 2,000 years since the glorious light of the cross
00:12 illuminated a world veiled in darkness and confusion about 00:15 the character of God. 00:17 And still today the greatest need of mankind is a revelation 00:20 of God's love as revealed in the life of Christ. 00:23 Amazing Facts presents the 00:28 coming to you each week from Sacramento Central Church 00:31 in sunny California. 00:32 Discover hidden treasures in God's Word today. 00:38 Is there life on other world's? 00:41 And I hope you'll find this inspiring, and informative, 00:46 and interesting, but the Bible actually has 00:48 a lot to say about it. 00:49 And when I'm done I hope you realize it does make 00:52 a difference to you where you are today. 00:55 The answer to this question. 00:56 I don't know if you've ever heard of SETI. 01:00 SETI is a real organization. 01:02 It's not some secret conspiracy. 01:05 It's a network of scientists. 01:06 And SETI is an acronym for Search for Extraterrestrial 01:11 Intelligence. Extraterrestrial means outside of the terrain 01:15 of our world, other worldly intelligence, SETI. 01:20 And they've got these radio telescopes stationed in 01:22 different parts of the world that are trying to get feedback 01:26 from space, and the cosmos. 01:28 The biggest of them, it's called the, 01:30 and I hope I say this right, it's Arecibo Radio Telescope. 01:36 It is the biggest parabolic dish in the world, built right into 01:40 the terrain of this sinkhole not far, it's about nine miles 01:45 from Arecibo, Puerto Rico. 01:47 And it was built in 1963 at a cost of $9,000,000.00 back then. 01:53 It's basically a big parabolic satellite dish that is aimed 01:58 out into space, and they can move the receiver horn 02:00 to different locations that change its direction, 02:03 and they coordinate that along with the rotation of the Earth. 02:07 It's composed of about 40,000 aluminum panels, 02:11 and it's 1,000 feet across. 02:16 It covers the space of 18 acres. 02:22 I mean you can't tell from the photograph. 02:25 You can see this from Google Earth, from space. 02:28 It's enormous! And the whole purpose of it, for years now, 02:32 what forty-five years its been aimed at space? 02:34 They just did a $25,000,000.00 upgrade on it in 1997; 02:39 put a reflector upgrade on it, a Gregorian reflector to try 02:44 and capture more specifically things that are 02:47 happening out there. 02:48 And it has been helpful in science. 02:50 It's helped them with receiving signals from the Voyagers, 02:54 and from different rovers on different planets. 02:57 But they've been listening for radio frequencies, and patterns 03:02 that would tell them that there's 03:03 intelligent life out there. 03:04 And in forty-five years of listening 03:07 they've not received any messages, 03:10 or indication that there's intelligence life out there. 03:13 And I want to thank Jim Burris, who is an astronomy expert. 03:18 I told him what I was preaching about this week, 03:20 and he shared some information with me. 03:22 One thing he said that I thought was thought provoking was 03:26 if you took the information that's on one strand of the 03:33 helix of DNA, one DNA helix band, from a human, 03:40 and sent that signal to these radio receivers, 03:46 it would be front page news all across the world that 03:49 there is intelligent life. 03:51 We're surrounded with evidence in this world, 03:54 and we've got... I mean what makes them think the angels 03:57 use the same frequency that we use? 03:58 And that's the assumption. 04:01 And so some astronomers are wondering, well, 04:03 how much life is out there? 04:05 Most astronomers believe there is other 04:07 intelligent life out there. 04:08 But they also recognize that our planet is very unique. 04:12 Earth has perfect conditions for life. 04:15 There's a video series that talks about 04:19 the privileged planet. 04:21 It's been out for several years now. 04:22 I recommend it. But it talks about how Planet Earth... 04:26 It is so obvious because of its location in the composition, 04:31 it's all perfect for life. 04:33 If our planet was just a little bit closer to the sun, 04:37 nothing would survive. 04:38 If it was a little further away, if it was a little bigger, 04:41 the gravitational pull would crush everything. 04:44 If it didn't, if it was further away, the water would be ice. 04:47 If it was too close it would be steam. 04:49 And just the combination of gasses and the atmosphere, 04:53 the rotation and the orbit, just all of these things, 04:56 even the moon all are perfect and necessary to sustain life 05:02 on this planet, which makes people wonder, 05:06 Is there anybody else out there? 05:08 Is there other life out there? 05:10 I'm intrigued by the history of two very interesting 05:14 space projects. Well, they really are one. 05:17 It's called Voyager 1 and 2. 05:20 These are two space craft that were sent in 1977. 05:24 A lot of you weren't even born then. 05:27 And they're still going today. 05:31 They're powered by nuclear batteries that will be good 05:35 until the year 2025. 05:38 Now my question is, If there's an energy crisis today, 05:42 and if we could make a battery back then in 1977 05:46 that's still going today, why don't we start making more 05:51 stuff out of those batteries? 05:52 I figured it's probably dangerous. 05:55 They're nuclear batteries, and they may be very expensive, 05:59 but that's pretty impressive when you think about it. 06:01 Going since 1977. They took a lot of fascinating pictures 06:07 swirling through space. 06:08 And one of them whipped back through by the sun again, 06:11 picked up some gravitational slingshot power, and shot off. 06:14 And they've taken pictures of Pluto, and Saturn, 06:18 and the rings. They've got a picture of the Earth looking 06:20 back through the rings of Saturn. 06:22 It's a little bitty dot, almost like a pixel. 06:26 That's our planet. 06:27 Now these space craft, Voyager 1 and 2, 06:30 have left the solar system; the first man made object to ever 06:33 leave our solar system. 06:35 They are drifting off through interstellar space. 06:39 And they've got onboard a gold plated audio visual disk 06:46 that has pictures of Earth, and sounds from Earth. 06:49 They've got whales calling, and they've got a baby crying. 06:53 And I hope they put an intelligible message on there 06:56 besides just that. 06:57 But in case aliens should happen to retrieve them, 07:01 if they're not intercepted, in just, what is it? 07:06 25 trillion miles from now, they'll pass the star Sirius. 07:14 Of course that will be in 296,000 years, so I don't know 07:19 if anyone here will be aware of that; maybe up in heaven. 07:22 Wouldn't that be something if you're going through space 07:24 and all of a sudden you go by and you say, 07:26 Oh, there goes the Voyager. 07:27 Ha, look like that! 07:29 About 25 thousand million years from now. 07:34 And that's, of course, that was one of the earlier missions. 07:38 Very interesting. And then, of course, we had the Mars Rovers 07:41 wanting to know if maybe we could transfer life to Mars, 07:44 because we're worried about global warming here. 07:46 And so they've sent up a number of Rovers. 07:49 A couple have crashed and burned, but they've got a couple 07:50 that have been successful: one called Spirit, 07:54 and I've actually got a picture there of Spirit that was taken 07:58 this year. They're still sending back pictures of what's going on 08:01 on Mars. And they drive, they eak along a few inches and they 08:05 snap these pictures and send them back. 08:06 It takes a long time to get the pictures to our planet. 08:09 But when you look at that picture up there, 08:12 I don't know what you think, but I almost expect a rabbit 08:15 to go hopping across. 08:16 It looks a lot like Nevada, doesn't it? 08:18 We spend millions and millions of dollars to get those pictures 08:22 that probably were just taken in Nevada. 08:24 They tell us that it came from Mars. 08:26 No, I believe it. I'm not one of those conspiracy people. 08:30 But I'm fascinated by space exploration, 08:33 and I've told people more than one time on TV and radio, 08:36 hoping somebody who works with NASSA will hear me say it. 08:39 I'd love to the first passenger in space, 08:41 if they haven't had one already. 08:43 That would be a lot of fun. 08:45 And you'd better do something about it quick before I 08:48 get too old to pass the physical. 08:50 So if you know anybody... 08:54 But when we talk about doing exploration in our space, 08:57 in our solar system, what you've really got is a person who wants 09:01 to explore the world. 09:03 Picture, if you will, someone who, they're in bed, 09:05 and they've decided to explore the world. 09:08 And so as they're preparing for their first day of exploring 09:11 the world, before they get out of bed, 09:13 they decide to scratch their nose. 09:15 They're scratching their nose is going even farther than we go 09:23 when we explore our solar system. 09:26 They haven't even gotten out of bed! 09:29 They're just scratching their nose, and they've gone farther 09:33 in exploring the world than we go in exploring the cosmos. 09:37 When we go to our solar system we haven't gone anywhere yet. 09:41 Our solar system is very small when you consider 09:48 the scope of space. 09:49 We've got 8 or 9 planets, depending on whether or not 09:53 you're willing to let Pluto go or not. 09:55 And the jury is out about whether Pluto qualifies. 10:01 And around those planets you've got approximately 170 moons. 10:07 And they're swirling around one star that we call our Sun. 10:13 Well how many stars are there? 10:17 CNN published something in their science article, July 23, 2003. 10:24 Here's what it says: Have you ever wanted to wish upon a star? 10:28 Well, you have 70 thousand, million, million, million 10:33 to choose from. I don't know if you realize how big 10:37 a number that is. That's the total number of stars 10:40 in the known universe, according to a study 10:42 by Australian astronomers. 10:43 It's about ten times as many grains of sand, not as many, 10:48 ten times as many, grains of sand on all the world's beaches 10:54 and deserts. That's the figure 7 followed by 220's, 11:01 or more accurately, 76 trillion. 11:04 It was calculated by a team of star gazers based at the 11:08 Australian National University. 11:10 It's interesting that they would say that, because you can read 11:14 in the Bible where God spoke to Abraham, 11:16 speaking about his descendents. He said: 11:28 So it's interesting that God compares the number 11:31 of the stars to the number of the grains of sand. 11:35 The astronomers in Australia say, There are more stars 11:39 than there are grains of sand. 11:41 When you think about how big space is, 11:45 I've got a series of slides, I think I showed them once before, 11:47 that just give you a little bit of scale so that you can 11:51 comprehend how vast space is. 11:54 Here's a picture of our Earth as compared to some of the 11:58 other planets. Most of them are between us and the Sun. 12:02 You've got Venus, and Mars, and Mercury, and Pluto. 12:05 But then to keep the scale going, let's look at some 12:08 of the other bigger planets. 12:09 There you've got Jupiter, and Saturn, and Uranus, Neptune, 12:12 and you see our Earth down there at the bottom? 12:14 just a little bitty ping pong ball, and Mars. 12:19 But now we're going to look at our Earth 12:21 as compared to the Sun. 12:22 So here you've got the Sun, and I understand that you can 12:26 fit approximately one million Earth's... 12:29 Right now the Earth on that screen, if it wasn't for the 12:31 arrow, you wouldn't know where to look. 12:33 It's just a little bitty speck. 12:36 It takes about a million Earth's to fit in our Sun. 12:40 Now our Sun is considered a white dwarf. 12:44 It's a small Sun. There are some smaller, 12:46 but it's not one of the big ones. 12:47 You go out in space, and as we look at some of the other Sun's 12:51 that are out there, for instance you've got Beetlegeuse, 12:56 which is there on your left, and Antares. 12:59 And you can see, Ah, no you can't. 13:02 Our Sun doesn't appear. 13:04 It's about the size of one digital pixel on the video 13:09 projector screen there. 13:10 So just imagine one pixel on that screen. 13:12 That would be our massive Sun compared to 13:15 some of the other stars. 13:16 Can you see these two? 13:17 These are not the biggest. 13:19 There's one that, and these are just the ones that we observe, 13:23 there's one even bigger that they've discovered now, 13:25 and it's called Canis Majoris. 13:27 Is that what it is Stephen? 13:29 And that means big dog star. 13:31 You know, I understand that there are... 13:38 We live when we look at the stars that we're observing, 13:42 we're looking at the stars in our galaxy, 13:45 which is a spiral of stars swirling through space. 13:49 And we are in the Milky Way galaxy. 13:52 Now we can't take a picture of the Milky Way galaxy 13:54 because we're in it. 13:55 But if we...This is a picture of another galaxy you can see 13:59 out there in space. 14:00 It gives you some idea. 14:01 The distance across a galaxy like ours, or like this, 14:06 if you traveled the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, 14:13 it could take like 270,000 light years to get across that. 14:21 I mean it's just fabulous how big it is. 14:23 Now this is a galaxy... 14:25 They figure in a galaxy, which is one of these spirals 14:28 of stars, there are as many as two billion stars 14:33 just in the Milky Way galaxy. 14:35 There's some galaxies out there that have hundreds of billions 14:37 of stars: one galaxy, hundreds of billions of suns. 14:42 I understand in the bowl of the Big Dipper, when you look up 14:47 at the sky at night, just in the bowl of the Big Dipper, 14:50 there are over a million galaxies that we can see. 14:56 Now this is the observable universe. 15:00 And you start thinking about it and it just boggles your mind 15:04 how big it all is. 15:05 Isaiah 55:9, the prophet says, As the heavens are higher than 15:13 the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, 15:16 and my thoughts than your thoughts. 15:18 And now you begin to get some idea. 15:20 The closest star to Earth is probably Alpha Proxima, 15:24 or Alpha Centauri. 15:25 They're about four light years away, 186,000 miles per second. 15:30 You travel that speed; think about how far 15:32 you go in five seconds. 15:33 It takes about 8 minutes for the light from the Sun 15:36 to get to Earth because it's 93 million miles away. 15:40 If you travel a 186,000 miles per second for four years, 15:45 then you get to the first star. 15:48 And think about there being more stars out there than there are 15:54 ten times more stars, they said, in Australia. 15:58 Out there than there are grains of sand on all the beaches, 16:04 and all the deserts of the world. 16:06 I don't know who did the calculus on that, 16:09 but they must have been sitting there with a 16:13 calculator for a long time. 16:14 But let's assume that's true. 16:18 Four years, four light years to get to the first one. 16:23 Think about how big space is. 16:25 Think about the number of galaxies, the number of stars. 16:29 Now what we've been talking about, keep in mind, 16:30 we've been talking about how many stars. 16:33 Those are the things, the shining things we see out there. 16:36 Now we're talking about, Is there life on other planets? 16:41 There's no life on the stars. 16:42 The stars, they're fantastically hot radiation nuclear fission 16:47 taking place all the time. 16:48 It incinerates anything that touches it. 16:50 So there's no life on the stars. 16:51 The question is, Are there other planets that might sustain life? 16:56 When we say there are ten times as many stars as there are 17:03 grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts 17:05 of the world, how many planets are in our solar system? 17:10 9 and 170 moons, and some of the moons are bigger 17:16 than some of the planets, or close anyway. 17:19 So you begin to think about that. 17:22 What are the odds that there are other worlds out there 17:27 that may have life on them? 17:29 Pretty good odds! You mean the Lord put all that up there 17:35 just so we could observe it with a telescope? 17:38 It's just a park for us to walk through for eternity, 17:41 and there's no other life out there? 17:43 Now through the ceaseless ages in the past, 17:46 that God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit just looked 17:48 at each other and the angels. 17:49 I don't think so! I believe that there is life on other worlds. 17:55 So let's start at the beginning here. 17:58 Who made everything? 17:59 John 1:1, the gospel of John, In the beginning was the Word, 18:08 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 18:13 He, the Word, was in the beginning with God. 18:16 All things were made through Him. 18:20 By the way, some people think that Jesus was created at some 18:23 remote time in the past. 18:24 If that's true this verse is not true. 18:26 If all things that were made were made by the Word, 18:30 Christ, then He couldn't have made it Himself. Right? 18:34 He's always existed just like the Father. 18:37 All things that were made were made by him; and without him 18:40 nothing was made that was made. 18:42 Then you can go to Colossians 1: 16, For by him all things were 18:48 created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, 18:51 that are visible and invisible,... 18:53 Now there are things in heaven He's created, 18:55 and things on Earth. 18:56 ...whether thrones, or dominions,... 19:00 There are thrones in heaven as there are thrones on Earth. 19:03 ...principalities, or powers: all things were created by 19:09 and for him: he's before all things, and in him 19:12 all things consist. 19:14 So the ultimate Creator of all things that are out there 19:17 were created by Jesus. 19:19 Now there are some who believe that we've got a God, 19:22 and our God is a God of our galaxy. 19:24 And there are other gods that are gods of other galaxies. 19:26 And you could eventually grow and be a god of your own galaxy. 19:30 But my problem with that theory is God knows everything, 19:34 and if you know everything you can't learn anything. 19:36 So the idea of a growing God is a problem. 19:39 Do you see what I'm saying? 19:41 And if He's all powerful, if there's some things He doesn't 19:44 have control over, He's not all powerful. 19:46 So God knows all things. He's all powerful. 19:49 There is one God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, that resides 19:54 and reigns over all of the cosmos. 19:56 He's not competing with other gods. 20:02 We know that He made this world. 20:04 Hebrews 1:2, God has in these last days spoken to us by his 20:11 Son, whom he's appointed heir of all things, 20:13 through whom he also made the worlds. Plural. 20:19 You can read that also in Hebrews 11:3, By faith we 20:23 understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. 20:27 Worlds, not just this planet. 20:30 Now here's a question, and some of you may leave me 20:34 at this point. I hope not. 20:39 Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the 20:46 heavens and the earth. 20:47 Now I want to park right here. 20:50 When I was researching this, finding out what other churches 20:53 believe, a lot of churches believe that according to Bible 20:58 chronology, the world, if you add up the ages of Adam 21:01 and the patriarchs, it's about 6,000 years old. 21:04 And I believe that. 21:05 I find there's no written history before that. 21:08 The oldest tree rings, there's just a lot of earthly evidence 21:11 that just points back to about 4,000 years B.C., approximately. 21:16 And that's the point when a lot of Christians believe God also 21:23 made all the other galaxies, all of the other observable space 21:26 was made 6,000 years ago. 21:28 Because the Bible says that the Lord made the sun, moon, 21:32 and stars 6,000 years ago. 21:34 I don't think they're reading this correctly. 21:37 If you understand how Jews write, how Hebrew thinks, 21:43 how the Bible writers write, they usually give the headlines 21:48 and then they come back and give the details. 21:49 That's how we do it in newspapers today. 21:51 Headline, back up, give the details. 21:53 The Bible begins with the headline, everything that is 21:57 made was made by God: the heavens, everything out there, 22:00 up there, and everything down here. 22:02 Then the narrative goes on and describes how He 22:05 made what's down here. 22:06 And I believe that if you go back 6,000 years, you're reading 22:11 the account of how God made, perhaps not just our solar 22:15 system, but at least the Milky Way galaxy, which is only 22:19 one of billions of galaxies. You got that? 22:22 But that doesn't mean that 6,000 years ago is when He 22:27 made all these others. 22:28 I think God has had life on other worlds 22:31 for an infinite amount of time. 22:33 And how long has God been around? 22:34 Do you think He just stared at the wall? 22:37 No there were no walls. 22:38 He couldn't stare at it. 22:39 For billions of years doing nothing? 22:42 God is love. When a husband and wife get married, 22:46 and through an act of love they procreate. 22:49 They want to share the love. 22:50 They want to give the love. 22:51 They want to be loved. 22:52 And that's what God wants. 22:54 And He started doing that long before He made our planet. 22:57 He was still God back then. 22:59 I believe He has other worlds out there, 23:01 but they're unfallen. 23:03 I'll get to that in just a moment. 23:04 Notice in Isaiah 45:12, God says, I have made the earth, 23:12 and created man on it. 23:14 This planet, it's environment, and man, intelligent life on it. 23:18 My hands stretched out the heavens,... 23:20 Those are other worlds. 23:21 ...and all their hosts. 23:22 Notice He makes a separation: I made the world, 23:24 and the intelligent creatures here, 23:25 and I made the heavens, and the intelligent creatures there. 23:29 Do you see this simple, the balance, the symmetry of what 23:33 He's saying here? 23:34 When did He do it? 23:36 You read in the book Job 38:6, 7, To what were its foundations 23:44 fastened? Here God is reasoning with Job. 23:46 He's talking about the creation of the earth. 23:47 To what were it's foundations fastened? 23:50 or who laid its cornerstone? 23:52 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons 23:56 of God shouted for joy? 23:58 Who are these sons of God that are shouting for joy when the 24:01 world is being created? 24:03 Well, a person might instinctively say, 24:05 Oh, those are the angels. 24:07 Well, the word sons of God is one of those words that is sort 24:11 of used many different ways in the Bible, but it's usually 24:14 talking to those who have been uniquely created, or recreated. 24:20 If you want to be a son of God you must go through recreation; 24:24 new heart. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed 24:27 on us that we should be called sons of God. 24:30 And we'll talk more about that in a moment as well. 24:33 Genesis 1:14, When you get to the fourth day of creation 24:39 God says, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens 24:42 to divide the day and the night. 24:44 Now what are the lights to divide our day and night? 24:46 Are they the galaxies, or is it the sun and the moon? 24:49 Let there be lights in the firmament that divide the day 24:53 and the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, 24:56 and for days and for years. 24:58 Now our days, and years, and our months are divided by the moon. 25:01 Is anything in our seasons governed by galaxies? No. 25:05 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens 25:09 to give light on the earth: and it was so. 25:11 And God made two great lights;.. How many? 25:14 It's talking about the fourth day. 25:16 He made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, 25:20 and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 25:24 Now when you find that phrase, He made the stars also, 25:27 some scholars understand this to be, it's an after fact, 25:32 He's saying He also is the One who made the stars. 25:35 But on the fourth day He made these two great lights. 25:37 You see how the wording is working here? 25:39 He also made the stars. 25:40 But on the fourth day He made these special lights 25:43 to separate the day and the night. 25:44 You keep reading and it starts to sound that way. 25:46 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light 25:49 on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, 25:51 to divide the light from the darkness: 25:53 and God saw it was good. 25:54 So the principle subject of that fourth day of creation is the 25:58 sun and the moon, and if you want I'll also give you 26:01 the stars in our galaxy. 26:02 But He didn't make all of the galaxies back then 26:06 on the fourth day. 26:07 He's talking about what happened in our neighborhood; 26:09 the stars and lights that actually have 26:12 an influence on Earth. 26:13 And even the stars that are used for navigation. 26:17 I almost said gavavation, but that would 26:19 have been embarrassing. 26:20 They are probably in our galaxy. 26:24 I remember when Karen and I went to Australia, 26:27 and we went diving on this boat that stayed a couple of nights 26:31 out there by the barrier reef. 26:32 And at night you're far away from any city, and, you know, 26:36 you've got all of this, light pollution is so hard for the 26:39 observatories like Mt. Palomar, and Mt. Diablo, and even Hawaii. 26:44 They get so many city lights that interfere, that we were out 26:47 there far away from shore, far away from civilization, 26:50 and at night when the sun and the moon were down, 26:53 and we looked up, it was the strangest feeling because 26:56 as I was looking up at all these stars I'd never seen before 26:58 in the Southern Hemisphere. 27:00 You just don't see those stars. 27:01 So its like you're going through a whole new part of space that 27:04 friends in Australia are used to, but I looked up there 27:07 and I went, This is alien! 27:09 This is really surreal, because I'm looking at a sky 27:13 I've never seen before. 27:14 And I forgot what led me to say that. 27:19 But it was very interesting. 27:25 Well I believe there is. 27:28 I think the Bible teaches there is. 27:31 Psalm 8:4, 5, First of all, What is man, that you are mindful of 27:35 him? and the son of man, that you visit him? 27:38 for you have made him a little lower than the angels. 27:41 Now what was made first, angels of people? angels. 27:44 Or at least the angels were the sons of God shouting for joy 27:47 when the world was made. Right? 27:48 Man was made a little lower than the angels, 27:51 and you've crowned him with glory and honor. 27:53 So, let's begin here. 27:55 Are there extraterrestrials? 27:57 Does God have angels? 27:59 So you answered the question already. 28:01 We know there's life out there other than life on earth. 28:04 And you've got angels, seraphim, cherubim, and there's probably 28:08 all kinds of different types, and varieties, and species, 28:11 of ministering spirits that God has. 28:13 And different words are used we don't understand. 28:16 On our Earth He has no two snowflakes that are the same. 28:20 So if you've got a cookie cutter in your head when you think 28:23 about angels, and they're all exactly the same, think again. 28:26 They're unique. If He's named all of the stars, 28:30 He calls up the host by their name, then, you know, probably 28:34 He knows all the angels names. 28:36 He knows who they are. 28:40 Psalm 80:1, Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph 28:45 like a flock; you who dwell between the cherubim, 28:48 shine forth. God is dwelling between two principle angels. 28:52 One of them used to be Lucifer. 28:54 Then there's Gabriel who is one of those covering cherubs 28:58 by the throne of God now. 28:59 We don't know the names of others. 29:01 Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; 29:06 and the firmament shows his handiwork. 29:08 Not only do the stars declare the glory of God, 29:11 but I believe there are beings that declare the glory of God. 29:15 And then listen to what Jesus says in John 17. 29:19 Just before the cross He says, Now, O Father, glorify me 29:23 together with yourself with the glory that I had with you 29:27 before the world was. 29:29 Now if I were to ask you to bring up your son 29:33 and glorify him, bring up your child and glorify him, 29:35 you might bring up your child and say wonderful things 29:39 about them, and praise them, and give them glory, 29:41 and extol their virtues, but that only has value 29:46 if others were listening. 29:47 Did you get that? So if Jesus said, I shared glory with you 29:54 before the world was, there have to be other intelligent 29:59 beings to recognize, and appreciate that glory 30:02 for it to be glory. 30:03 Christ is about to be glorified before the world 30:07 and that's why He's praying this prayer. 30:10 There had to be others there. 30:11 It does make a difference for you and I now. 30:14 One of the most striking examples is where it talks about 30:17 the sons of God. I told you we'd come back to this. 30:19 Read in your Bibles. 30:20 Go to the book of Job, Job 1:6, 7, and this, actually this 30:27 little scenario happens a couple of times 30:29 in the beginning of Job, where it talks about the sons of God. 30:34 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present 30:39 themselves before the Lord,... 30:40 Just some heavenly convention. 30:42 ...and Satan also came among them. 30:45 And the Lord said to Satan,... 30:47 He's obviously standing out. 30:48 From where do you come? 30:50 Now does God ever ask a question because He doesn't know? 30:53 God knows everything, right? 30:55 God often asks questions for the benefit of others there 30:58 that may not be all knowing. 31:00 The sons of God are not all knowing. 31:02 And God asks Satan, Where do you come from? 31:05 And Satan says, I have come from going to and fro 31:07 on the earth, and walking up and down in it. 31:11 So here's a meeting. 31:12 Is the meeting on earth? 31:13 When I tell you that I've come from my house, 31:17 do I say that when I'm in my house? 31:19 So when Satan says, I've come from the earth. 31:22 And it says the sons of God have gathered for this meeting. 31:25 Who are these sons of God? 31:27 Again, many Bible commentators believe, and I agree, 31:32 that in the same way Adam was called the son of God... 31:36 You know when it goes through the genealogy in Luke 3 31:39 it says, And Enos, or Seth was the son of Enos, 31:44 who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God. 31:48 Now they're all the sons of humans until you get to Adam. 31:51 The son of, the son of, the son of, and it names all of the 31:53 different ancestors, human ancestors. 31:57 But when you get to Adam it says, who was the sons, 32:00 Seth who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God. 32:04 Adam was given dominion of this world. 32:07 Adam should have been the one who went to that heavenly 32:11 meeting to represent Earth and its creatures. Right? 32:15 But Adam and Eve surrendered dominion to Lucifer. 32:18 So when Lucifer gets there they say, What are you doing here? 32:22 He says, I've come to represent the Earth. 32:23 They've surrendered dominion to me. 32:25 Those sons of God were the leaders of other worlds that 32:30 were gathering probably in some other heavenly place, maybe. 32:34 That was before Satan was barred from the gates of heaven. 32:38 When Christ came to Earth, Satan was evicted 32:43 permanently from heaven. 32:45 As a matter of fact you read about that. 32:48 Revelation 12:9, So that great dragon was cast out, 32:54 that serpent of old, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives 32:57 the whole world: he was cast to the earth, and his angels 33:01 were cast out with him. 33:02 Now why? They were cast out for sinning, right? 33:06 It says, because you sinned you were cast out, in Ezekiel. 33:09 Why does it say in Revelation 12:12, Therefore rejoice, 33:13 O heavens, and you who dwell in them. 33:17 Somebody dwells in the heavens. 33:19 Who is up there dwelling in the heavens? 33:22 Why are they rejoicing? 33:24 Because Satan was going through the universe trying to recruit 33:28 other intelligent creatures, and worlds, to follow him 33:33 in his rebellion. How many angels did 33:35 Lucifer take with him? 33:36 One third, the Bible tells us in Revelation 12. 33:40 And in the same way he came to our world trying to recruit 33:44 support, he was campaigning through the universe. 33:47 Finally God said, Enough is enough! 33:49 They've said no, and you've got to understand that 33:52 no means no. And he was cast out. 33:55 But down here the Devil found someone who said yes. 33:58 So this planet became a beach head for him to continue 34:01 his rebellion against God. 34:03 That's why the heavens, the unfallen angels, the good angels 34:07 and the unfallen beings... 34:09 I don't know what they look like. 34:11 You know when you see these pictures and they look like ET, 34:17 and, or you know, there's a lot of people who have... 34:22 They've got all these Star Trek creatures, which are typically 34:28 people with makeup and rubber masks on, right? 34:31 I mean God's got creatures out there you and I probably 34:34 can't even imagine. 34:35 I know that they're probably beautiful. 34:37 None of them, maybe some are comical. 34:40 I mean do we have some comical creatures in this world 34:42 that make you smile? 34:44 None of them are scary. 34:46 I don't think that, you know, these typical aliens with all 34:49 the teeth and trying to scare everybody... 34:52 No, these are unfallen, intelligent beings. 34:55 It says that they are going to be beautiful. 34:56 They're made to glorify their Creator. 34:59 The Bible speaks about the numberless angels. 35:05 Now the angels are ministering spirits. 35:07 They were not all created just to take care of Earth. 35:10 Daniel, and these are the armies of God it speaks of. 35:14 Daniel 7:10, A fiery stream came and issued forth from before 35:20 him, and thousands of thousands ministered to him. 35:23 Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. 35:27 The court was seated, and the books were opened. 35:30 This is not talking about the judgment day where the lost 35:32 and saved are standing before the Lord. 35:34 These are the witnesses to the judgment that is happening. 35:38 Because think about it for a second, 35:40 before sin the people in heaven and earth were not quarantined. 35:46 They could communicate with each other. 35:47 This planet has rebelled. 35:49 There's a lot of wickedness, and filth, and crime, and evil 35:52 in this world because Lucifer, the Devil, Lucifer spread it all 35:57 through this planet. 35:59 Now God is telling the unfallen angels, and the unfallen 36:02 intelligences out there, I'm going to save them. 36:05 Yes, those people down there that are behaving so terribly, 36:08 I'm going to transform them and let them come back into 36:11 heaven, and reintroduce them to the universe. 36:14 And they're all going, Lord, are you sure this is a good idea? 36:17 I've seen some of what they've been doing down there. 36:19 And if they haven't seen, they've heard from the angels. 36:22 I've not been to Afghanistan, but I've heard about the war 36:26 there. You know what I'm saying? 36:27 There's reports that come back. 36:29 The soldiers, the angels, tell us what's going on. 36:33 And so these unfallen beings are saying to the Lord, 36:36 You're going to let them back in? 36:38 God has this judgment. 36:40 He says, I want to demonstrate they've been transformed. 36:42 They've been renewed. 36:43 They've been cleansed. 36:44 They're holy. And so that's why when the Lord comes 36:49 He's giving out rewards. 36:50 A judgment happens before Jesus comes. Is that right? 36:53 If the Bible says, Behold I come and my reward is with me, 36:57 that means if He's giving out saved and lost when He comes, 37:00 some investigation happens before He comes. 37:03 There's a judgment that happens and they're witnesses; 37:06 unfallen beings that are very interested in these 37:11 rehabilitated creatures being allowed back into the communion 37:18 of the unfallen universe. 37:20 The numbers that Daniel is looking for you can't find. 37:24 There's another interesting verse in 1 Kings 22. 37:27 Maybe I'll post my notes, if you're interested, 37:30 at the Sac. Central website. 37:33 Micaiah the prophet describes a vision. 37:36 He says, Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord 37:39 sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing 37:42 by on his right hand and on his left. 37:44 And he's talking about Earth from heaven in that vision. 37:47 He's surrounded by His armies. 37:50 Now do you ever have an army that fights to defend a kingdom 37:56 with no citizens? Did you catch that? 37:59 You might have drifted away for just a second, 38:01 and what I'm saying won't make sense unless you heard it. 38:04 Would it make sense to have an army that fights to defend 38:07 a country with no citizens? 38:09 Who are the soldiers in God's army? 38:13 They're the angels. 38:15 Are the only citizens what He has here on Earth, or are they 38:19 also fighting in the defense, and representing unfallen 38:23 worlds? Unfallen angels represent unfallen galaxies. 38:27 They are the armies of God. 38:29 They are the ministering spirits. 38:32 They don't just minister to humans. 38:34 If you've got a hos... Well, I'll get to that in a minute. 38:40 UFO's. Do you want to talk about that for a moment? 38:43 Are there UFO's? Have you heard my UFO story? 38:49 I've got a few of them. 38:51 I remember one time... I'm embarrassed! 38:53 I was up in the hills in Covolo where you can see the sky 38:57 pretty well. And the family was up there. 38:59 And I called all the family out and I saw a UFO. 39:02 And I called all the family out and I said, Look at that! 39:06 I said this is a UFO! 39:07 I saw this thing, this circular thing that was flying, 39:10 and then it was kind of moving around the heavens, 39:11 and it was getting closer to us. 39:12 So I said, Kids, grab the telescope! 39:14 And we all came down in front, and we're looking at this thing, 39:16 and it gets closer, and closer, and closer. 39:17 Pretty soon we heard ummmmm. 39:20 It was an airplane that was flying with its landing lights, 39:23 it's running lights, it's beacon, everything on. 39:24 He'd forgot to turn it off. 39:26 And here I'm a pilot, and I ought to know better, 39:28 but from a distance, I don't know what was happening with 39:31 the atmosphere, and inversion layers, and horizon, and ions, 39:34 and I don't know what was going on, but it looked really weird. 39:37 And the kids, at first we all thought, What is it? 39:42 And another time I was up flying with Karen. 39:45 And I think she was resting. 39:47 I said, Look here! What is that up there? 39:51 As a matter of fact, I was flying between here and like 39:53 South Lake Tahoe, and there was this great big 39:56 red flying saucer. 39:58 And as we got closer and closer, I was scared. 40:01 I thought I ought to run in the other direction. 40:03 But I was really curious so I flew towards it. 40:06 And I said, Look at it, look at it! 40:07 What is it? What is it? 40:08 And we're getting closer and it's shining in the sun. 40:09 And I said, I know it's not an airplane. 40:12 And I was right. It wasn't an airplane. 40:13 It was an unidentified flying object. 40:16 Someone had a party and they had one of these great big 40:22 metallically colored Mylar balloons that they had let go. 40:29 And it had found its place up in the sky where it wasn't going to 40:32 go any higher, and it wasn't going to sink. 40:34 It was just sitting there hovering. 40:36 And from a distance, with the sunlight... 40:38 You know the metallic ones, they shine really bright 40:40 with the sun hitting them. 40:41 It looked like a UFO! 40:43 And as I got closer I thought, Oh, I felt so dumb! 40:49 Now what about all these UFO sightings? 40:54 I think it's safe to tell you this. This is the truth. 40:58 You know my father was in the aviation business, 41:00 as were two of his brothers. 41:03 One of my father's brothers... 41:07 I won't say his name. 41:09 He's still alive today. 41:10 ...worked his whole working career for Lockheed 41:14 out of Burbank. I was born in Burbank. 41:16 His job was every Monday to get on an airplane. 41:20 He would fly to the desert in Nevada 41:24 to a place called Area 51. True Story. 41:28 And he was part of the team that worked on... 41:32 And they'd fly them back on Friday. 41:33 ...worked on... they worked for Skunk works, they worked on 41:35 the SR41 Blackbird. 41:37 They worked on the Stealth Fighter. 41:38 And they worked on a whole plethora of different projects, 41:41 and many of them probably never got released. 41:42 Some were very successful. 41:44 But he had to hide that for years. 41:46 Never got married to this day. 41:47 His last name's Batchelor, obviously. 41:50 Never did get married because it's hard to have a family 41:54 where you take off Monday, and don't come home till Friday. 41:56 And you've got to be top secret about what you're doing. 41:59 But pretty much everyone knows now what was going on there. 42:01 But you hear about them having hidden, you know... 42:05 A UFO went down out there in the desert somewhere, 42:08 and it had bodies in it. 42:10 If you want to have fun... 42:12 Oh, I don't even want to encourage you to do this. 42:13 Get on the Internet and just start looking at all the 42:17 conspiracy nonsense about them capturing aliens. 42:19 And they've got even little alien babies they'll show you. 42:21 And some people have done some primitive photography to try 42:24 to fool people. And just to illustrate... 42:28 I don't want to get too far from my point, 42:30 but just to illustrate. 42:31 I've got a friend up in the hills who's got one of these 42:36 cameras that takes pictures of nature. 42:39 And he sets it up by a watering hole on his property that's got 42:43 this very beautiful nature background. 42:45 There's trees, and there's rocks, and there's a watering 42:47 hole. And it's got a motion detector. 42:50 And whenever an animal goes by it takes a picture. 42:52 And so he's posted something on the web for his Sabbath School 42:58 class, and his friends. 42:59 And he says, These are my nature pictures. 43:00 You ought to take a look. 43:01 Well, he sent me... He knows I do a little bit of photo shop. 43:06 He sent me a picture from some movie of a Bigfoot. 43:11 Yeddie, abomable snowman. 43:14 You all know what I'm talking about? Bigfoot! 43:16 He said, Doug, can you put that Bigfoot in my nature yard? 43:22 I said, Let me try. 43:25 And it was actually... The lighting was perfect. 43:27 I mean this, they took this picture of this, 43:30 Bigfoot's like this! 43:31 And he's looking like, Oh, no! 43:33 And it looks like a camera shutter just went off, 43:35 and he got caught! 43:36 Big old hairy, ugly, made up monster! 43:38 And I took it and I put it in there. 43:41 I took all the edges out, and I made it, and I lit it, 43:43 and I did it just perfectly. 43:45 And so, I mean it looks real. 43:47 I'm tempted to share the website with you. 43:49 So he's got all the kids in his Sabbath School class. 43:52 He probably shouldn't be a Sabbath School teacher, 43:54 should he? He says, You know you guys, you ought to take a look 43:58 at my website. I've got these really neat nature pictures. 44:00 The kids are going through and they see the squirrel, 44:02 and they said, There's a deer, there's a bear, 44:04 there's another deer. Look a raccoon! 44:05 Bigfoot, Big...What! 44:08 And it looks real! It looks so real! 44:13 Well, you know what, they're going to send that all over 44:15 the internet now. They're going to say, 44:17 Another Bigfoot Sighting! 44:19 And maybe I'll get on the Discover channel after that. 44:24 But some people have taken these things, and they create 44:29 these aliens, and they put it on the Internet. 44:30 And they've created all these stories. 44:32 Friends, let me tell you what, UFO's are a combination 44:36 of one of two or three things. 44:38 Most of the time, 98% of the time, it is probably an optical 44:46 illusion like the ones I've just described. 44:48 There may be the rare occasion where the military really was 44:54 testing an aircraft and someone got a picture that looked weird. 44:58 They've got a couple of cases where they said, Yes, it did 45:02 look like a UFO. That was our first trials 45:04 of the Stealth Bomber. 45:05 Then there's the possibility the Devil can create illusions, 45:12 can't he? And I believe there are probably some people 45:16 out there that say, I saw this UFO, and I saw these aliens, 45:20 and they spoke to me, and... 45:22 Does the Devil have the power of light? 45:25 Can he create illusions? 45:26 Can he deceive? Can he give them messages? 45:28 And you know what happens? 45:30 Usually those messages are dealing with, Yes, you have 45:33 been evolved and you'll be reincarnated, and you're going 45:37 to keep progressing, and eventually you'll be as 45:39 sophisticated as we are. 45:41 It is a very unbiblical message that these aliens 45:44 ostensibly give. So yeah, I think devils can sometimes 45:48 create these illusions. 45:50 Revelation 13:13, He performs great signs, so that he even 45:56 makes fire come down from heaven on the earth 45:58 in the sight of man. 46:00 Acts 2:19. It's interesting. 46:03 Peter says, I'll show in the last days wonders in the heaven 46:07 above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, 46:10 and vapor of smoke:... 46:13 You know, I don't even have time to read this to you. 46:16 You might look at Ezekiel's vision. 46:18 If you read in Ezekiel 1:13, He talks about this wheel 46:22 within the wheel, and I've heard a lot of people say, 46:24 That's a UFO, Doug, that's a UFO. 46:27 It is interesting, but No, I don't think it was a UFO. 46:30 I think he was taken and shown something unique, 46:33 and I'm looking forward to the day when that's described. 46:35 It talks about their wings, and their army. 46:38 It's like the noise of an army as it flies. 46:40 And it is kind of a fascinating enigma, a conundrum about this 46:45 wheel within a wheel. 46:47 Are aliens watching us? 46:49 Well some of them. The angels are watching us. 46:54 You see, our planet is sick. 46:58 Luke 5, there are other unfallen worlds. 47:05 Luke 5:31, Jesus answered and said, Those who are well have 47:09 no need of a physician; but those who are sick. 47:12 I have not come to call the righteous, 47:14 but sinners to repentance. 47:16 Now think about the implications of what Jesus said. 47:18 How many people in this world have been infected by sin? 47:20 What percent? 100% 47:23 So when the Lord said, It's not those who are well that need a 47:26 physician, but those who are sick. 47:27 I have come not to call the righteous,... 47:31 He left the righteous. 47:32 ...but I've come to call the sick. 47:35 The well are still there. 47:36 You see, this planet, right now, has a disease that is 47:42 contagious, and the only ones that can go to a hospital where 47:46 there is a very contagious disease, are the ones who are 47:49 infected in the hospital staff. 47:51 You got that? Our planet now has been quarantined 47:57 from the other unfallen galaxies because we're sick. 48:01 Jesus, the great Physician, came into our infected 48:05 environment to heal us 48:08 But He left the uncontaminated, unfallen worlds 48:11 safely where they were. 48:14 Why does it matter? 48:18 Why does it matter that there's life on other planets? 48:21 Because the Devil has maligned the character of God 48:24 before the universe. 48:26 It's not just what's happening on earth here. 48:28 It's accusations that have been made against God and His 48:31 very government, and His law. 48:32 That's why He tells us in Revelation 19:1, 2, After these 48:40 things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, 48:44 saying, Halleluiah,... 48:46 By the way, Revelation 19 is before Revelation 20. 48:49 You knew that. Revelation 19 is before the millennium chapter. 48:54 Halleluiah, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, 48:58 belong to the Lord our God: For true and righteous 49:01 are His judgments. 49:03 His judgment, His justice was under attack. 49:07 And Christ has demonstrated here, and who was the 49:10 principle attacker? 49:11 Lucifer used to roam freely among the other angels, 49:14 and the unfallen worlds. 49:15 He maligned, He accused, He slandered God. 49:19 And here this world is a stage, it's a theatre of God's love. 49:25 And at the cross was demonstrated Satan's love for 49:28 power, and Christ's power of love. 49:30 And all of the universe is aware of what's happening here. 49:34 And they're going to declare that He is true and righteous 49:38 in His justice and His judgments. 49:40 You know, it's wonderful; soon Jesus will come. 49:46 Is He coming alone? 49:48 Does the Bible say that there is silence in heaven when He comes? 49:52 When we have been purified there's a parade coming of not 49:57 only all of the angels... 49:58 He says He will come with all of the angels. 50:02 Well, who's going to take care of the unfallen worlds 50:04 if all of the angels are here? 50:05 You know, every now and then... 50:07 We haven't done it in awhile. 50:08 Sacramento will have an area church convocation. 50:11 And we want as many as possible to go to this convocation. 50:15 And so, you know, most churches close their doors. 50:17 And they say, Well, if we're going to have everybody there, 50:20 there'll be no pastors left, because they're all 50:21 participating at the convocation. 50:23 If all of the angels are coming with Jesus, and if God 50:26 the Father is there, would you, if you're an unfallen alien 50:31 from another world and you've heard about this, and finally 50:33 the great victory parade is going to collect the trophies. 50:36 Wouldn't you want to go? 50:38 I think there's going to be in that procession not only angels, 50:41 but I think that He's bringing the unfallen worlds with Him. 50:44 Wow! Think about how big space is, 50:47 and how glorious that will be! 50:48 And then we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 50:51 Will we need space suits made from NASA? 50:53 They'd better get busy, right? if that's the case. 50:56 I think that once we get our glorified bodies, 50:59 our spiritual bodies that you'll be able to travel the speed of 51:02 thought. There'll be an atmosphere around you 51:05 that you can breathe. 51:06 That you'll have your own light. 51:09 You won't have to worry about being killed by the vacuum 51:12 of space, or the cold of space. 51:14 I don't know how God does it, but angels do it, don't they? 51:17 Whatever it is they're wearing, we'll have. 51:19 Those robes of light that He gives us. 51:21 And then He'll take us on this incredible procession. 51:25 I love this picture by my friend Alfred Lee. 51:28 He said that I could share that of Jesus bringing this parade 51:31 of the ransomed back from Earth to heaven. 51:33 It's got the picture of the cross there in the background 51:36 that I always thought was a moving picture. 51:39 Now if you said to me, Doug, what's your job? 51:42 And I said, I'm a king. 51:43 You say, king, king, king of what country? 51:47 Of the country of Nebulous. 51:49 I just made that up. 51:50 Who lives in that country? 51:52 Nobody, but I reign there. 51:54 That doesn't make any sense. 51:57 That's like saying you're a politician, 51:58 but you've got no constituents. 52:00 Or an author: Yeah, I'm an author. 52:02 How many books? I haven't written any yet. 52:04 Any readers? No, I haven't gotten any books, 52:06 but I'm an author. 52:09 So when a persons says, We're going to live and reign 52:12 with Christ, you reign over something. 52:15 Just think of what a privilege that is. 52:17 He's going to take us, the objects of His grace, 52:20 not only is He going to save us,... 52:22 Reigning in heaven is not going to be the despotic, 52:26 mean kind of rule. 52:27 We are going to be going through the cosmos glorifying God 52:30 as ambassadors of His love, telling of His goodness, 52:33 because we've experienced it firsthand. 52:35 So we live and reign with Him. 52:36 And there's these unfallen worlds. 52:38 Let me read you a quote. 52:40 And this is from the book, The Great Controversy, page 677. 52:44 All the treasures of the universe,... 52:47 Speaking of the redeemed. 52:48 ...will be open to the study of God's saved. 52:51 Unfettered by mortality, they'll wing their tireless 52:56 flight to worlds afar. 52:58 Worlds that thrilled with sorrow at the spectacle of human woe, 53:03 and rang with songs of gladness at the tidings 53:06 of a ransomed soul. 53:07 So when we read in the Bible that there's singing in heaven, 53:10 over a soul that's saved, is it just angels? 53:12 Or are there unfallen worlds that are singing? 53:15 They sang with joy at the tidings of a redeemed soul. 53:20 With unutterable delight, the children of earth enter into 53:25 the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings. 53:29 They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding 53:32 gained through ages upon ages in contemplation 53:35 of God's handiwork. 53:36 Can you imagine talking to an unfallen 53:39 being that's lived a million years? 53:40 With undimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation's 53:46 suns, and stars, and systems, all in their appointed order 53:49 circling the throne of deity. 53:52 So I'm not making up this theology. 53:54 It's foundational to what we believe. 53:56 If you read in Manuscript 155 in 1902, Christ came to reveal 54:03 to world's unfallen, to angels, and to the human race, 54:07 that God's law, there's no restriction that we cannot obey, 54:11 that He came to represent God in humanity. 54:14 He met every requirement that we are asked to meet. 54:17 You know, there's one more parable I'll close with 54:21 that I think helps illustrate this. 54:23 You remember when Jesus said, in the parable of the lost sheep, 54:27 Luke 15:4, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, 54:33 if he loses one of them, he does not leave the ninety-nine in the 54:38 wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, till he finds it. 54:42 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, 54:46 rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his 54:49 friends and says, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep 54:54 that was lost. I say to you, likewise, there's more joy 54:57 in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine 55:01 just persons who need no repentance. 55:03 You know, a place you can easily apply that parable? 55:07 All of the infinite universe that we just described, 55:12 none of those sheep fell. 55:14 The Lord laid aside His divinity as the Chief Shepherd. 55:21 He came. He left them safe in their fold. 55:24 He came across the cosmos to this galaxy, 55:28 to this solar system, to this planet in rebellion, 55:31 where Lucifer kidnapped the inhabitants. 55:35 Jesus came into this world and He paid an incredible sacrifice 55:40 as the Lamb of God... 55:41 And not only is He our Shepherd, He's our Lamb. 55:43 ...to rescue this world, this lost sheep. 55:47 Now when you think about how big space is... 55:50 Do you remember how small our planet is? 55:52 Why does it matter? 55:54 It tells us about the love of God. 55:56 How easy would it have been for God, in the scope of how big 55:59 the universe is, and how small; our planet is so microscopic 56:03 it's not even like an atom compared to the universe. 56:07 And when this planet rebelled, God could have looked around 56:10 and said... they're gone! 56:12 If He loved something that small, and He would lay aside 56:17 His glory, and become a human to live on this little speck 56:22 to save us, if you could find yourself on that speck, 56:26 how much does He care about the individual? 56:30 Boy that's a big sacrifice! 56:33 He left all that to save this wandering world, 56:36 and all of we like sheep have gone astray. 56:39 And He left the Father's throne to save us. 56:42 How dare we, when such a mighty God that made so much... 56:47 He's so awesome!... would come to save these little specks 56:51 on a speck. For us to tell Him, No, or we're too busy. 56:56 It does matter. It gives us the scope of how valuable you are 57:01 to God. He's our Chief Shepherd. 57:05 I'd like to end where we started. 57:08 Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels 57:11 around the throne. 57:12 The living creatures, and the elders. 57:15 The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, 57:18 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 57:21 Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, 57:25 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 57:28 and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, 57:32 and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 57:36 sea,... That means every creature everywhere. 57:38 I heard them saying, Blessing and honor, and glory, and power 57:43 be to Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb 57:46 forever and ever. This world is that lost sheep, 57:49 and all of us have been wandering sheep. 57:52 The question is, Are you willing to come home with the Shepherd? |
Revised 2014-12-17