Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201602A
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00:01 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2
00:04 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:10 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:15 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:21 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:27 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:33 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:40 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 00:46 IIW-2016-2 --- What in the world is going on #2 01:31 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time. 01:35 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:44 It Is Written 01:46 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 01:58 Questions unanswered..a world spiralling out of control..Does the Bible provide any word of 02:07 hope? Is there anything that we place our trust in? Is it possible that many Christians 02:15 are looking for answers in the wrong place? In order to find answers we turn to the only 02:22 dependable source when it comes to answers for our day. In our last program we left off in 02:29 Daniel chapter 8 with the symbol of the goat, wondering what that goat represents. The angel of 02:38 Daniel 8 makes it very clear in verse 21: 02:57 In an amazing prediction of the prophetic word, we once again find the Greeks, the Greeks are 03:04 symbolized by a goat. The symbol is the same as the midsection of brass or bronze from Daniel 2. 03:11 It is the same as the four-headed, four-winged leopard of Daniel 7. And that large horn 03:18 is the first king, who was Alexander the Great. And what an amazing prediction, as we see 03:25 the Greek empire ruling from 331 B.C. to 168 B.C. Alexander the Great as he conquered the middle 03:33 east planned to rebuild the city of Babylon. He wanted to make it a provincial capital. And for 03:40 two months he assigned 10,000 men to work and clear away the debris for rebuilding Babylon. 03:52 You know, when we look at history, it is very interesting to note. You see, in history, 03:55 there were two different Persian kings: Darius the First in 490 B.C., and Xerxes in 480 B.C. 04:01 Both of them unsuccessfully tried to subdue Greece and massacred many. 04:10 The Greeks would not forget their national humiliation. You see, the Persians attacked the 04:16 Greek empire. They went to this small place called Macedonia, where the king there was Philip 04:25 of Macedon. And they tried to subdue the Greeks, they tried to conquer the Greeks, and in so 04:32 doing, they killed many innocent men, women, and children, the Persians happened to be very 04:37 harsh people when it came to war. There was a young man amongst the Greek empire, a 04:43 young Greek man, the son of Philip of Macedon, who lived there in Macedonia. His name was 04:50 Alex. Young Alex would not forget the Persians and their attacks. Young Alex became 04:57 Alexander the Great and conquered the know world with such incredible speed, marching 05:06 all the way up to the valley of the Indus River in north-western India and rightly symbolized by 05:12 the goat who went across the surface of the earth without touching the ground. The Greeks 05:18 pushed. They pushed to the east and they went all the way to India, conquering the known 05:26 world faster than any other entity had ever done so. 05:32 There are many stories in history, but one in particular that is my favourite is at a 05:40 battle. Alexander and his army were on one side of the river. Darius and his armies were on 05:47 the other side of the river. And Alexander - and I said Darius; I meant Xerxes - Xerxes was on one 05:56 side of the river. And Alexander began riding his horse up and down. You see, his troops were 06:01 outnumbered. It depends on the estimates. Some estimates say two to one, some estimates say 06:07 ten to one. But the most important aspect of this is, Alexander's armies were 06:14 outnumbered at least by two to one. And Alexander began riding up and down the shores of that 06:20 riverbank, and his armies began to get welled up with excitement, and then they all 06:27 began to roar and then go across the river. And at the time, the Persian armies turned and ran, 06:36 even though they outnumbered them by at least two to one. Alexander was almost a 06:43 mythological type of individual. But the Bible says that his kingdom would break. The goat 06:50 was a familiar figure on Greek coins. The original capital of Macedonia was Aegae, to which 07:01 Alexander the Great belonged. And there is a similarity between the capital city of 07:11 Aegae and the Greek word "aegeus" which is the word for goat. It is no accident that God 07:15 would use the symbol of a goat to represent the Greek empire. And so in an amazing prophecy of 07:21 particular detail, we see, once again, that this Book can be trusted. Once again, we can see 07:30 God putting His name on the line, saying, 07:42 You see in an amazing fashion, this Book is seen to be true and seen to be faithful. Amazingly, 07:52 over two centuries before the Greeks began to conquer the world, the prophecy of Daniel 8 07:56 predicted that Alexander and his kingdom would be cut down while they were at the very height of 08:04 their power. You see, because while Alexander had an amazing mastery over battle tactics, 08:12 Alexander did not have mastery over himself. Alexander died a drunken mess. His kingdom was 08:20 broken. Daniel 8:8 says: 08:44 When Alexander was dying, he was asked by his generals, "Who shall get the kingdom? Who shall 08:49 lead the kingdom?" And Alexander answered, "He who is strongest." Needless to say, the empire 08:59 divided between the four generals, Cassander, Lecimicus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. The 09:07 mighty, mighty empire of Greece would simply be divided because the king was broken, just as the 09:16 Bible predicted. In the book Alexander the Great by Theodore Munson, it says this: 09:33 You see, the generals could not communicate with one another, the generals could not get along 09:38 with one another, and so the kingdom was divided, and in strife, it would go down. 09:47 But then the Bible goes on to say that something happens with this now-broken and divided 09:51 Greek empire: 10:33 The angel tells us what this means: 10:48 What is happening here is a very interesting thing. It was not until recently that it would be 10:54 understood that the Roman empire would actually emerge from the western Greek empire. You see, 11:00 the Roman empire comes out as a horn power out of the western empire. And then out of that 11:07 western empire, this new Roman empire, which we would see would simply divide, out of that would 11:17 come this church-state union. Here in Daniel chapter 8, you have Medo-Persia, the ram. You 11:25 have Greece, the goat. And then you have Rome, the horn, coming out; and then once again, a 11:31 little horn entity, this little horn speaking blasphemous words against God, fighting against 11:36 the Prince of princes, fighting against God's people, this church-state union that goes 11:41 against God. But the dream was not complete, because then the angel visitor told Daniel, 11:59 Here's the problem Daniel faced and we now face, the angel visitor gave to Daniel the 12:07 interpretation of the ram and the goat, but he did not explain to him this mysterious 2300-day 12:15 prophecy. As a matter of fact the Bible says in Daniel chapter 8 and verse 27: 12:37 The angel did not explain the vision to Daniel, of the 2300 days. Daniel did not understand 12:41 it. However, God does want us to understand His word. He doesn't want us to be in the dark. So 12:49 here in Daniel chapter 8 God gives some remarkable clues as to what this mysterious 2300 day 12:58 prophecy might mean. Now as a reminder, what kind of animals did we have here in Daniel 13:05 chapter 8? That's right, we had a ram and a goat. And then Daniel 8:14 speaks of the 13:13 sanctuary being cleansed. So in summary, you have a ram and a goat and the sanctuary. It is a 13:23 intriguing that there is a reference to the sanctuary. There is reference to the ram 13:29 and the goat. Why is this so intriguing? The ram and the goat were animals that were used as a 13:35 part of the sacrificial system in the sanctuary. The very sanctuary that God asked the 13:42 children of Israel to build as recorded in Exodus 25. 13:49 Daniel fainted and he was sick because he did not understand it. But Daniel would've been 13:55 processing, saying, "Ram, a goat, the sanctuary. What is the imagery?" And the sanctuary 14:05 imagery would have been the temple imagery. Daniel would've said, "Ram, goat, sanctuary 14:16 being cleansed, but God, there is no sanctuary, because Solomon's temple was destroyed, 14:21 Lord, when Babylon conquered Jerusalem." And the Bible says that Daniel was confused. Daniel 14:30 didn't understand. He was astonished by the vision. There's a ram, a goat, a 14:36 sanctuary being cleansed, but no sanctuary on the earth. And it left Daniel wondering, "Will the 14:45 temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt? And is this the temple of concern with Daniel 8? Is this 14:54 the temple that is the focus of our attention in the last days? What does this 2300-day prophecy 15:03 mean? What is God trying to tell us?" Now I will give you a little hint today, because I 15:13 cannot answer that question entirely in this program, but I will answer it in the coming 15:21 programs. But here's the hint I want to give you: although the earthly temple was destroyed in 15:27 Daniel's day, and although the earthly temple was rebuilt and then was destroyed again in 70 15:33 A.D. after Jesus had been crucified, died, and buried and rose again, and today there is 15:42 no existing temple in Jerusalem, What does that all mean.The Bible answers with absolute 15:50 clarity and here is the reality.God is directing our eyes to another temple. Hebrews 15:59 chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 says this: 16:33 Friends, is it possible that Christianity has been duped? That Christianity has been duped 16:38 into looking for a temple to be literally rebuilt in Jerusalem, but God is drawing our attention 16:48 elsewhere. Could it be that Daniel writing 550 years before Jesus came to this earth, that 16:57 he was giving us a hint into what temple we needed to be looking to? Could it be possible 17:03 that the fulfilment of this ram and this goat and the sanctuary being cleansed, that God is 17:10 speaking to us and telling us there's hope for this planet? And this hope is to be found 17:17 somewhere other than literal Jerusalem where many eyes seem to be looking. 17:27 Today, Jesus has shared with us, once again, an outline of the history of the empires of this 17:33 world, fulfilled in exact detail and precision. Today, God is saying, "You can trust My Word. 17:42 And if you can trust My Word that I know the kingdoms of this world before they come to 17:50 power," if we can trust that, friends, we can trust that Jesus is who He said He was, did what 17:59 He said He did, and will do what He says He's going to do, and that is to come and take us 18:08 home. Jesus is appealing to us through this prophecy of Daniel 8. We will fully answer the 18:21 question, "What do these 2300 days mean?" And I will tell you, my friends, what you have in 18:29 store is one of the most hopeful messages in the entirety of the scriptures. Today, Jesus 18:36 reaches out His hand and says, "You can trust My Word. And if you can trust My Word, you can 18:42 trust Me. Come to Me. Come to Me, and I will save you. Come to Me, and you will find rest in 18:49 Me. Come to me, and I'll rescue you from all the troubles that you face. Come to Me. All the 18:56 trials, all the tribulations, the problems that we face, the financial struggles, come to Me, 19:04 and I will give you hope for today. Come to Me, and I will give you rest. Come to Me and 19:08 enjoy life to its fullest. Come to Me and experience life and life more abundantly." The 19:17 abundant life, friends, this is the gift that Jesus offers. The abundant life of experiencing 19:24 the joy of Jesus saving us from our sins. How many of you want to say to Jesus, "I want to 19:35 experience this life of abundance that you are offering"? 19:42 When I think I'm going under, 19:45 part the waters, Lord 19:49 When I feel the waves around me, 19:53 calm the sea 19:57 When I cry for help, oh, hear me, Lord and hold out Your hand 20:07 Touch my life 20:09 Still the raging storm in me 20:28 I need Thee every hour, 20:33 most gracious Lord; 20:37 No tender voice like Thine can peace afford. 20:47 I need Thee, O I need Thee; 20:53 Every hour I need Thee; 20:58 O bless me now, my Savior, 21:03 I come to Thee. 21:07 I need Thee every hour, 21:12 in darkness or pain; 21:17 Come quickly and abide, 21:22 or life is in vain. 21:27 I need Thee, O I need Thee; 21:34 Every hour I need Thee; 21:41 O bless me now, my Savior, 21:47 I come to Thee. 21:55 O bless me now, my Savior, 22:01 I come to Thee. 22:26 When I think I'm going under part the waters Lord. 22:49 Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that You have given us Jesus and that 22:56 You have given us these prophecies, and at the very central core of understanding 23:02 Medo-Persia and Greece and Rome, right at the very core is the promise that Jesus is coming 23:09 soon to rescue us from all of these problems and challenges. Oh Lord, we pray that Jesus 23:15 would come soon, but most of all, we pray, dear Lord, that You would prepare our hearts, 23:20 that we would be ready to meet Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. 23:54 Hi, everyone! Parents, what are you packing in your child's lunch-box? One of the hot topics 24:00 in the news lately is childhood obesity. There are many reasons why our children are getting 24:05 bigger weight-wise. For one thing, our children are driven everywhere; they're just not 24:10 moving as much as previous generations of children. As well, with all the technological 24:15 advances we've embraced as a society such as dishwashers and laundry machines, our children 24:21 don't have to do the same kinds of physically demanding chores their grandparents may have had 24:26 to do. Our sedentary lifestyle at home, school, and work is simply creating a larger 24:33 population. Plus, serving sizes of food have increased, and our children are consuming more fast 24:39 food - which means more calories, more fat, more weight, more health problems. Most 24:46 children are not eating enough vegetables, fruits, beans, or whole grains. So, when you're 24:52 packing your child's lunch-box, here are some great tips from Physicians Committee for 24:56 Responsible Medicine, one of my favourite healthy lifestyle organizations: First of all, 25:01 sandwiches are always good! Try hummus or another bean spread with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, 25:08 and shredded carrots in pita bread. I've got here half a pita. We'll put in some lovely 25:14 hummus and then just add the tomato to that, we're going to put in some of the cucumber and 25:22 then some lettuce and then some nice curly carrots, look at that it's so pretty. There you have 25:31 it! Veggies in a blanket! It looks and tastes for good. Or stuff in some falafel balls to 25:42 add more protein. Many stores sell vegan deli slices that look and taste like bologna, roast 25:49 beef, and turkey. Serve these on whole-grain bread with soy cheese, condiments of your 25:55 choice, lettuce, and tomato like we have here. Peanut butter is an old standby. For variety, try 26:04 other nut butters, such as cashew, almond, or hazelnut, with sliced banana on 26:09 whole-wheat bread like I've got here. Do you know how delicious that is? Or, try an avocado and 26:15 tomato sandwich like we have here. So good for you! How about a hot meal? Fill a 26:21 wide-mouth thermos with leftover pasta and tomato sauce, or rice and beans, or how about a nic 26:27 vegetarian chili? Now soup is so comforting! Warm your child with a hearty bean and vegetable soup 26:35 or stew. If you are short on time, try a low-sodium instant soup. Just stir hot water into 26:41 the soup mix and pour into a thermos. Add some side dishes! Choose a couple of the following 26:47 suggestions to complete your child's meal: individual boxes of soy or rice milk, soy yogurt 26:54 such as I have here, you can add chopped vegetables and hummus like we've got here, or whole 27:01 grain breads or crackers, homemade muffins, rice cakes, pretzels, or fresh fruit. In 27:05 fact, always include a fresh fruit! For more ideas, visit the Physicians Committee for 27:12 Responsible Medicine website at pcrm.org. They've got lots of great resources including their 27:19 Nutrition for Kids booklet with delicious recipes your children will love, like Veggies in a 27:24 Blanket, Pita Pizzas, and Strawberry Smoothies. Yum! I'll see you next time! 27:38 You know, friends, sometimes understanding prophecy can be a difficult thing, and we need the 27:43 assistance of Bible teachers. I want to offer to you today the "Focus on Prophecy" lessons. 27:48 These lessons will walk you through the prophecies of Daniel and the prophecies of 27:52 Revelation. 27:54 Now, in addition to the "Focus on Prophecy" lessons, I want to offer to you a magazine 27:58 called Daniel and Revelation: The Secret of Bible Prophecy Revealed. This magazine is a 28:05 fantastic, full-colour magazine that goes step by step through the major prophecies of Daniel 28:12 and Revelation. Here is the information you need to receive today's offers. 29:05 The book of Daniel is filled with hope, and the prophecies that we have studied and the 29:10 prophecy of today, Daniel chapter 8, tells us, God has a plan. Friends, if you would like 29:17 toknow more about God's plan, we want to give you resources to build your spiritual library to 29:23 draw nearer to Jesus and to see His plan. I'd invite you to go to our web page, 29:30 itiswrittencanada.ca, and there you'll find a number of different resources, Bible 29:33 studies, that will help you to see that Jesus has this world in His hands, 29:39 Friend, I hope you enjoyed today's program. I want to 29:41 encourage you to join us again next week. Until then, remember, it is written: "Man shall not 29:48 live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 29:56 ######## |
Revised 2016-10-27