Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201508A
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00:01 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict
00:06 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 00:13 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 00:19 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 00:26 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 00:32 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 00:40 Philosophy's Achilles heel Evidence that demands a verdict 01:31 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time. 01:34 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:43 It Is Written 01:46 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 01:58 >>Chris: Several weeks ago, we began this series, Philosophy's Achilles Heel, by 02:03 noting that the probability of all the things we see just appearing by random chance 02:10 processes is incredibly small, in fact, statistically impossible. And as we looked 02:17 around and began the investigation of God's existence, chance was ruled 02:23 out. When chance is ruled out, then God as Creator becomes a certainty. Yet, the existence 02:31 of God, as Creator, is being questioned now more than ever before. Why is this? Because, 02:41 there are so many contradictory things that are being said about Him. As we 02:48 continued our study, we applied the test of probability to the various 02:53 religions and worldviews of the world, and we found that only the Bible invites us to 03:00 actually investigate its claims to authority and inspiration. How does it 03:06 invite us to investigate? Through predictive prophecy. As we have continued that 03:14 thought process, we have studied one book of the Bible in particular. That book is 03:21 the book of Daniel. Over and over again, we have been able to apply the principles of 03:29 probability to its content. Daniel one revealed the 70 year prophecy, which revolved 03:37 around the rise and fall of Babylon and capture of Jerusalem. It's one thing to 03:44 predict the rise of Babylon, yet it's another thing altogether to say that Babylon 03:51 will fall in exactly 70 years. In Daniel 2, we studied the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, its 03:59 interpretation and amazing fulfillment in history. Dan 3 brought a story of God's 04:06 amazing delivery of the three Hebrew young men, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. Each of 04:15 these events are all highly improbable events that cannot be explained by random chance 04:24 processes. Yet, in Daniel 3 we also discovered that although God has infinite power, and 04:34 although He would have all men to be saved, He does not coerce or force anyone to 04:41 follow and worship Him. Because as each of us knows, in order for love to truly be 04:50 love, it must give us the opportunity to say yes, but also to say no. 05:02 Today, we return to the book of Daniel and continue our journey with Daniel chapter 4. 05:09 The fascinating and first improbability of Daniel 4, is that it is written.By king 05:21 Nebuchadnezzar himself. Why would a pagan king be allowed to write a chapter of God's 05:33 holy book? The first three verses of Daniel 4 tell us exactly 06:15 Often, when we think of signs and wonders, we think of things like the parting of the 06:21 Red Sea, the healings of Jesus and the revealing of the king's dream in Daniel 2. 06:28 These things are virtually impossible to explain by natural causes, and by chance 06:34 because the probability of their occurrence is so incredibly small. It is far 06:41 more reasonable and rational to believe that God's power is the cause of these wonders 06:48 rather than pure luck and chance. Nebuchadnezzar stated that the purpose for this 06:54 writing, this chapter, is to share his personal encounter with Daniel's God, the God of 07:02 the Bible. It is his testimony, not just to declare God's signs and wonders, but a 07:08 declaration that the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked FOR HIM. And in 07:18 these verses, the king purposefully links God's ability to work signs and 07:24 wonders with his conversion, submission and allegiance to the God of heaven. The even 07:32 greater beauty of the king's message in this chapter I that it has universal scope. His 07:40 message is not just directed to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell on the 07:46 earth during the time period in which he lived. But it is a message for us, today in the 07:57 21st century. The text clearly states that God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His 08:03 dominion is from generation to generation. This means that the king's message about the 08:12 signs and wonders of the Most High reach down to our day. How does the king make that 08:23 link? Why would the king make this link between signs, wonders and His new found 08:30 relationship with the God of heaven? 08:36 Let's take a closer look at the king so that we can discover how the power of God 08:42 works in the life of the individual. But before we get to the story, let's first look 08:48 at what Nebuchadnezzar's name means. Literally it means, "May Nabu protect the son or 08:58 successor," or "May Nabu protect the boundary." In other words, the king is named 09:08 after the Babylonian god Nabu, who was thought to be the god or writers, the son of Marduk 09:17 who was the god of storm and fertility. This means that through his birth and training 09:25 as a youth, the worship of the Babylonian gods was ingrained in the very being of the king. 09:34 This is why when the king received the dream in Dan 2 regarding the great image, he 09:43 had every confidence that the wise men who surrounded him had the ability to reveal to 09:50 him the contents of the dream. They were of course experts in Babylonian religion. Yet, they 10:00 failed him. Even after Daniel had revealed to him the dream, its interpretation and its 10:07 fulfillment in history, the king still slipped back to his old ways by erecting an image 10:14 that was entirely made of gold. Nebuchadnezzar was sure that the gods would look 10:21 favorably upon his desire to extend the length of ruling of the kingdom of Babylon. 10:30 However, the king's plans were defeated when the three Hebrew young men were cast into the 10:39 fire and came out unscathed. I can only imagine that he was still being influenced by the 10:49 wise men to worship the Babylonian deities.yet there was failure after failure. One 11:00 might think that his confidence in the wise men would be shaken by now. Yet, 11:05 as we shall see, this was not the case. Let's continue the story of Dan 4 in verse 4-9: 12:29 Here's the interesting thing,in Daniel 2 God does not give them the dream. The most 12:38 probable reason for this is that the wise men professed to be able to solve any mystery. 12:45 Yet, as we previously noted, they failed. But here in Dan 4, the king remembers the 12:53 dream, relates it to them and they are still unable to interpret the dream. Finally, 13:02 Daniel arrived and again provided the correct interpretation for the 13:09 dream.We'll get to that in just a moment. 13:15 In addition to his natural training to worship the gods of Babylon, the king had 13:21 another major problem.that problem was with pride. No doubt, his pride was fueled by 13:27 his success on the battlefield. Ezekiel 30:10-11 refers to Nebuchadnezzar as 13:36 "the terrible of the nations." Jeremiah 50:23 describes him as the "hammer of the whole 13:41 earth." History tells us, that after Nebuchadnezzar overcame Tyre, which took 13 years, 13:55 Nebuchadnezzar turned to Egypt.The Bible, through, the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 31, 14:04 even compares Egypt to a mighty tree that towered above all the rest of the trees of 14:12 the earth. Even the trees of Eden envied the splendor of this tree. Yet, this tree was 14:19 lifted up because of its greatness, and God sent Babylon to cut it down to the 14:26 ground and the crash of its fall shook the earth. It was Nebuchadnezzar that conquered 14:33 that mighty tree.and he knew it. His pride overflowed as he knew that he had conquered the 14:44 superpowers of his day and now he was thy super power.the dominate force and empire on 14:58 the earth. It was in that context of his pride of knowing that he was king among 15:05 kings, that he was at rest in his home. Then one night he dreamed a dream. Let's read 15:16 about that dream. Let's go back to Daniel 4 and continue with verses 10-17 17:10 Daniel listened intently to the dream. And as he heard it, he was astonished. He knew 17:21 what it meant, but how could he tell the king? The king insisted upon the 17:30 interpretation and that Daniel shouldn't worry about it. You see, Daniel was about to give 17:40 Nebuchadnezzar a very unfavorable message. Once again, a captive giving 17:48 instruction to the king.what are the odds? In verses 24-27, Daniel gave the interpretation 17:59 of the dream. 19:08 Can you imagine being in Daniel's shoes. First he tells Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2 19:13 that the kingdom would end. Now he is telling the king that he was the one who would 19:18 lose the kingdom in most undesirable fashion. Yet, Nebuchadnezzar is neither 19:25 humbled or distraught at how to avoid this calamitous event. 19:34 The next three verses that give us a window into the depth of pride the king had. 20:14 The king had been given 12 months to change. 12 months to seek the God of heaven and be 20:21 transformed. God did not immediately execute judgment on the king. Instead, God 20:28 waited to see what the king would do with the message that was given to him. Sadly, old 20:37 habits do indeed die hard and the sentence, though long delayed, was finally 20:43 pronounced when the king took to himself the credit of Babylon's success. His pride 20:53 inflated, his boasting increased.the things of the dream came to pass. Think 21:01 about it.the king's naming at birth and training in the mysteries of the Babylonian 21:07 religion, his continued confidence in the wise men of the nation;his pride, and his 21:15 placement of the vessels of the God of the Bible into the house of his god. Why would 21:22 God continue to pursue him? How likely would it be that he would ever decide to follow 21:28 the true God? In fact his conversion to the God of heaven was so highly unlikely, 21:36 one might say that it was impossible. Yet, the God of heaven, Daniel's God, the God 21:44 of the Bible, did not stop seeking after the king. And in absolute defiance of random 21:56 chance processes, let's look at what happened to the king The king was driven from the 22:08 habitation of humans; he lostall his mental faculties; he ate grass like oxen; he was 22:18 wettedand washed with the dew of the morning, and all of this would last for 7 times or 22:27 7 years. Each and everything happened, just as predicted, in complete accuracy. Even 22:43 more astounding yet, at the end of that time period, King Nebuchadnezzar's reason and 22:51 understanding returned; he was reinstated as king andhe praised the true God of 22:59 heaven. Out of his mouth came these words, "I blessed the Most High and praised and 23:06 honored Him who lives forever:For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,And His 23:12 kingdom is from generation to generation." 23:18 All of these judgments, everything about this event is highly unusual, yet decreasing 23:27 the probability even more is the factthat there is a time period of seven years attached 23:33 to the fulfillment of the dream. And all of it came true to the last details and time. 23:42 This is yet another powerful story and example of the reliability and 23:48 trustworthiness of the Bible. The kings words, after his reason returned, demonstrate 23:57 that there was no doubt in his mind whether the events of the last seven years were of 24:04 divine origin. The king had already seen Daniel's God at work in several highly 24:12 improbable ways. And now, he finally now, not only intellectually knew about God, 24:24 but fully submitted to a relationship with Him. Nebuchadnezzar saw God 24:30 revealed in Daniel 1 and the Hebrews faithfulness to divine principles, in the dream of 24:38 Dan 2; in the deliverance of the three Hebrew young me of Dan 3; and now the prediction 24:47 and fulfillment of his second dream. As a result, he was convicted to write this 24:56 testimony for the benefit of future generations. His testimony reminds us that the 25:04 greatest miracle, sign or wonder is that of a changed life for God. The king's 25:13 testimony reveals that while God powerfully convicts individuals of His existence 25:20 and greatness, He is incredibly patient with us.While God may discipline, 25:27 as He did with Nebuchadnezzar, He does not overpower or manipulate our will in order 25:35 to secure our loyalty or our conversion. When Nebuchadnezzar's reason 25:41 returned to him, he made His choice. A free choice.He saw the loving patience and long 25:51 suffering of God in his life to lead him from a temporary kingdom on this earth to an 26:00 eternal kingdom in heaven, which will never end. Nebuchadnezzar could no longer 26:08 refrain from praising, honoring, serving and submitting to Him who lives 26:15 forever and ever. What about you friend? What will you do? How will you answer God's 26:26 relentless pursuit of you? He wants to enter into relationship with you. He has 26:36 revealed Himself in His word. He is calling to you. What will you say? Why don't you, 26:44 friend, make a decision right now to accept Jesus Christ and His love for you? 26:56 Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have relentlessly pursued us. Today, we come 27:04 before You and make a decision to no longer just intellectually know You but 27:11 today to know You by submitting to You fully and entering into a faithful 27:19 relationship with You. Please Lord be with us and help us to always look to you for the 27:29 answers we need in life, we pray in Jesus name amen. 27:39 Dear friend, what a story. The conversion of a pagan king who actually authors one chapter 27:48 of the Bible. God is working in mighty ways and just as mightily as He worked at the 27:56 time of Daniel, He's working in mighty ways today. Today I'd like to offer you the book 28:02 "The Thought Makers". "The Thought Makers" is an exploration of some of the 28:07 great thought makers throughout time and how they viewed God. It will certainly 28:14 help you in your spiritual journey and your spiritual walk with Jesus. Here's the 28:20 information you need to receive today's offer. 28:56 >>Chris: You know friend, while the conversion story of Nebuchadnezzar is dramatic -- 29:01 because it involves the leader of an ancient empire Conversion stories like his 29:07 really happen all over the world every day. People who don't believe in God or 29:14 acknowledge something or someone else's god - encountering the God of the 29:19 Bible, the true God, the God of the most high. At It Is Written Canada, we are 29:25 committed to sharing the message of hope and wholeness that is found in the true God, 29:32 the God of the Bible. I'd invite you to like our Facebook page and follow along 29:37 with the ministry and get updates to various shows. I thank you so much for watching 29:44 the program today and I hope you'll join us again next week. Until then remember, It 29:50 Is Written, man shall not live by bread alone but by ever word that proceeds from the 29:57 mouth of God. 30:01 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-11-28