Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS200102A
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00:01 Hello, I'm Mike Browning. This is Let God Speak.
00:03 The year is 605 BC and Israel has been defeated. 00:08 Some of the people have been carried off 00:09 to Babylon as captives. 00:11 And the question is, has God been defeated? 00:14 We will find the answer to this question 00:16 in the scriptures. 00:43 Well, folks, in our panel today 00:44 we have Rod Butler and Nathan Tasker. 00:46 Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. 00:48 And we'd like to invite everyone to join us in prayer 00:51 before we open the Scripture. 00:53 Father in heaven, thank You so much today, 00:56 that we can come to You in prayer 00:59 and we pray for Your Holy Spirit 01:00 to open our understanding, 01:02 lead us into a true understanding of the scriptures 01:05 we're studying together. 01:07 Lead us and touch every heart, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. 01:11 Amen. 01:13 So the big question was, Nathan, 01:15 has God been defeated now that Israel has been defeated? 01:19 Looking at it 01:20 from the perspective of the people 01:22 back then, absolutely. 01:23 The nations of those times had gods 01:26 that looked after certain geographical areas 01:28 and the area that was being looked after 01:31 Israel, Judah, 01:32 had been taken over by the Babylonian. 01:34 So to all external appearances, it looked like God, 01:37 in fact, had been defeated. 01:39 But if we read carefully, Daniel 1:2, it looks like God, 01:44 the God of Israel, 01:45 the God of all the world actually has a bit of a plan. 01:48 Daniel 1:2 says, "The Lord gave Jehoiakim, 01:51 king of Judah into his hand," 01:54 this is the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, 01:55 with some of the vessels of the house of God. 01:58 And he brought them to the land of Shinar, 02:00 to the house of his god, "the Babylonian gods, 02:03 placed the vessels in the treasury of his god." 02:07 So the God of Israel's allowing things to happen here. 02:11 So why is He allowing this to happen? 02:13 Why is He doing this? 02:14 Boy, that's a really good question. 02:16 And they were really sad to have to go this way. 02:18 But it just so happens 02:20 that the people of God have chosen intentionally 02:24 to turn away from God. 02:26 Nehemiah 1:7-9, and also Deuteronomy 28. 02:31 And various passages tell us that the people of Israel, 02:34 the leaders of Israel knew this is going to come upon us 02:39 because we have turned our backs from God. 02:41 We've turned away from the covenant 02:42 that God promised us to keep. 02:45 If we perhaps just turn to Nehemiah. 02:50 That's Nehemiah 1:7-9. 02:57 This is what it says. 03:01 This is Nehemiah speaking, he says, 03:04 "We have acted very corruptly against You," that's God, 03:07 "we have not kept the commandments, 03:09 the statutes, nor the ordinances, 03:12 which you commanded to your servant, Moses." 03:16 So it was very clear what have been going on here, wasn't it? 03:19 Very clear indeed. They just let God down. 03:22 And He can no longer protect them. 03:24 Very interesting. Okay, thank you for that. 03:27 Now, I'm going to read back in 2 Kings, folks, Chapter 21 03:31 and verse 11 and 12, we read there. 03:36 And what we're looking at is here, 03:38 we're trying to understand 03:39 how far Israel had actually fallen, 03:42 that God could no longer protect them 03:44 from their enemies. 03:45 So 2 King 21:11 and 12. 03:49 "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, 03:53 he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites 03:56 who were before him, 03:57 and has made Judah sin with his idols. 04:00 Therefore thus says the Lord, God of Israel, 04:02 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity 04:04 upon Jerusalem and Judah, 04:06 that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle." 04:10 So how far, Rod, had Israel fallen spiritually. 04:15 Man says they had, but to what degree? 04:17 Well, they'd t actually fallen worse 04:18 than the nations around them. 04:20 And you'd think that they would have learned the lessons 04:23 of seeing the northern kingdom 04:24 which would fall into the Assyrians 04:26 117 years earlier, but they didn't. 04:29 They saw that sin 04:31 and they saw the Assyrians execute judgment. 04:34 And when you look at the king since then, 04:35 the seven kings reigned from that time, 04:39 and of those seven only two are considered good, 04:42 that's Hezekiah and Josiah. 04:45 And one of the ones 04:46 which you've just read Manasseh, 04:48 who was an evil king, he reigned for 55 years. 04:52 And when you read, if I read just from the Bible here, 04:56 verse 16. 04:57 It says, "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much 04:59 till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." 05:03 So this is a seriously evil king. 05:06 And we know if you got an evil leader, 05:09 the people follow. 05:10 And, you know, 05:12 unfortunately they bought their nation into sin. 05:14 One thing that shocked me is it wasn't just the adults 05:17 who are being taken advantage of here. 05:19 Verse 6. 05:21 I don't really know if we want to read it, 05:22 but it implies here that women and children, 05:25 children are being sacrificed. 05:27 His son passed through the fire. 05:28 And it wasn't just this one verses, 05:30 I've got a whole bunch of cross reference, 05:32 I won't go to today but there's multiple times 05:34 where the people of God victimizing their own children 05:38 for the sake of pleasing other gods. 05:39 That's pretty messed up. 05:41 It was terrible, terrible, terrible thing. 05:44 So that's why they were in captivity in Babylon, 05:45 let's face it, 05:47 and the reasons we can even understand them ourselves. 05:49 I'm going to Daniel now and Daniel Chapter 1, 05:54 Book of Daniel 1:3 and 4 there, 05:59 and I'm going to just read it very quickly. 06:01 It says, "The king instructed Ashpenaz, 06:03 the master of his eunuchs, 06:04 to bring some of the children of Israel 06:07 and some of the king's descendants 06:08 and some of the nobles." 06:10 So he was to select the best and the brightest. 06:14 Verse 4, "Young men in whom there was no blemish, 06:16 but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, 06:19 possessing knowledge and quick to understand, 06:21 who had the ability to serve in the king's palace, 06:25 and whom they might teach the language 06:27 and literature of the Chaldeans." 06:29 The Babylonians. 06:30 So they would have select these young men, 06:32 and Daniel who wrote this book and his three friends 06:36 and others who were unknown by name. 06:38 They were brought to Babylon as a result of this. 06:42 Rod, Nebuchadnezzar had a strategy here. 06:45 What was his strategy here? 06:46 Well, his strategy was to get the royal blood to be educated 06:51 in the ways of Babylon. 06:53 They would hopefully become loyal to the king, 06:55 they would serve in his court. 06:58 They would have influence on the other Jews in captivity. 07:01 And basically that would bring about harmony in the empire. 07:04 So by integrating the best and brightest 07:09 into the culture 07:12 that would have a big influence on everybody else. 07:13 We can see the sense in him. 07:15 He's a politician, he knows what he's doing. 07:17 He's a politician, all right. 07:19 Okay, so that was Nebuchadnezzar's strategy. 07:21 What was Daniel 07:22 who's on the receiving end of all this? 07:24 What was his strategy? 07:25 How did he response? 07:26 So it's very interesting to compare the two. 07:28 If we just have a look at Daniel 1:8, it says here, 07:32 "But Daniel purposed in his heart 07:36 that he would not defile himself 07:38 with the portion of the king's delicacies, 07:41 nor with the wine which he drank, 07:44 therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs 07:47 that he might not defile himself." 07:49 Although he's being attracted and teased, 07:52 perhaps being encouraged to go in a certain direction, 07:56 he says, "No, I'm going to put a boundary" 07:59 and I'm going to say, 08:00 "I'm going to put God first in my heart." 08:02 That's what he purposed. 08:04 That is he made a decision, didn't he? 08:05 That's what he was doing. Very interesting. 08:07 And this is an interesting point to keep in mind 08:11 because Jesus later on in the Book of Matthew 08:14 seems to have a similar sentiment. 08:16 I just want to draw our attention 08:18 to Matthew Chapter 16. 08:22 Matthew 16:24-26. 08:27 And this is what it says. 08:28 It says, "Jesus told His disciples, 08:32 'If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, 08:36 take up his cross, and follow Me. 08:38 For whosoever would save his life will lose it, 08:42 but whosoever loses his life for My sake will find it." 08:46 Verse 26, "For what will a profit a man 08:49 if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? 08:53 Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" 08:56 And here were some young men 08:57 who were offered the whole world 08:59 in fact, weren't they? 09:00 Pretty much. 09:01 Babylon was in control of the known world 09:03 at that time, and so... 09:04 And they're given positions of influence, responsibility. 09:06 They're going to be advisers 09:08 to the most powerful king alive. 09:10 And Daniel says, 09:11 "I'm going to purpose in my heart 09:12 to follow another king first." 09:14 I'll be respectful to this guy, 09:15 but that is my ultimate authority. 09:16 Yeah, that was fantastic, wasn't it? 09:18 And I noticed in the outcome of Daniel stand 09:22 was quite sensational here in Daniel 1:15 and 16, 09:28 they had a 10 day test, 09:30 we're going to come back to that in a moment. 09:31 "At the end of ten days their features appeared better 09:34 and fatter in flesh than all the young men 09:37 who ate the portion of the king's delicacies." 09:40 So the king, the steward took away their delicacies 09:42 and gave them vegetables to eat and water to drink, 09:45 which was really interesting at the time. 09:48 So what do you think of that for a sensational outcome like? 09:51 It's got to be impressive. 09:52 It certainly begs lots of questions 09:55 and some thoughts. 09:56 Daniel 1:17 tells us 09:59 that God gave these four men wisdom and knowledge 10:03 in all literature and wisdom. 10:05 And Daniel had understanding in visions and dreams, 10:09 a bit of a prophetic gift there. 10:12 But the part that jumps out at me is it's not just 10:15 that God honors these young men. 10:18 God appears also to be honoring the skepticism 10:22 and the non belief 10:23 or the uncertainty of those around, 10:25 you know, obviously Nebuchadnezzar 10:28 and his underlings were not sure about this God 10:32 that supposedly defeated this God 10:34 back in Jerusalem, right? 10:36 The God doesn't belong here, 10:37 that God, He's back there defeated. 10:39 But this God says, I'll work with you. 10:41 I'll even give an experiment 10:43 and give you a chance to see for yourself 10:45 that I can engineer things. 10:46 So God isn't just working for the boys, 10:47 He's working for Nebuchadnezzar and his workers as well. 10:51 And we know he really got through 10:52 to the heart of Nebuchadnezzar 10:54 ultimately which was quite remarkable. 10:56 Now let's talk about ourselves here. 10:59 The influence of the world is all around us, 11:01 like the media, the music, 11:03 the sentiments, the education, 11:05 the whole thing is too much like Babylon to be ignored. 11:11 Is it possible for us to resist the pressure of values 11:15 that are opposed to the Scripture 11:17 the world's values? 11:18 Do you think we can do that? 11:19 Well, I guess the example of Daniel is that, yes, we can. 11:24 Daniel had obviously committed to his memory, the scriptures, 11:29 he knew the knowledge of God, he knew his requirements, 11:31 his obligations to God. 11:33 He knew why they're in there 11:36 because of the sins of the nation. 11:39 So as far as Daniel's concerned, 11:42 he was confronted with a situation 11:43 where he knew he just couldn't participate 11:46 in what they were doing, 11:47 but he could be involved in what the business was. 11:51 And likewise, today, we also through the grace of God, 11:55 if we have that knowledge of God in our mind, 11:59 we too can become faithful and be a witness. 12:03 It's possible to be faithful on daily basis. 12:05 That's the point. 12:07 How involved did Daniel and his young friends become 12:10 with this new Babylonian culture? 12:12 How deeply did they go into it? 12:13 That's the question. Oh, they're at the epicenter. 12:16 They would be trying to be royal officers. 12:18 That'd be as Nathan said, 12:20 they're to be advisers to the greatest king on earth. 12:23 So they had to have full knowledge of the culture, 12:26 the government, the way the system worked, 12:28 all the environments and the other provinces, 12:32 they had to know about the religion. 12:34 Every aspect of that functioning empire, 12:36 they're to know about. 12:38 They're to know Acadian and Babylonian, Aramaic. 12:41 So languages, politics, 12:45 everything about Babylon, they had to know, 12:47 so they were absolutely involved 12:49 in Babylonian way of life. 12:52 Okay. 12:53 Everyone wanted them to be Babylonian because... 12:55 I was thinking too for those 12:57 that wanted a bit of extra homework. 12:58 I'm pretty sure they had to study 12:59 The Code of Hammurabi 13:01 because that would have been well entrenched. 13:02 And it slots the library that we have today 13:06 of what have become Ashurbanipal, 13:07 I'm pretty sure they would have been studying 13:09 those journal's texts. 13:10 So for those that like extra work to do, 13:12 we can find out what they were studying. 13:13 Okay. Right. 13:15 So they're surrounded and almost steeped in it 13:16 because they spend three years studying the Babylonian culture 13:19 and history and literature 13:20 and so we've been talking about. 13:22 What did they know that sustain their faith 13:25 and enabled them to do that and still stay faithful to God? 13:29 Well, that's a great question. 13:31 And I'm trying to think, obviously, 13:32 there's a few things that come to my mind, 13:35 they had seen their city 13:36 being decimated by the Babylonians. 13:39 They're bound to be wondering, why would this be. 13:41 And the thing that comes to my mind is, 13:43 I'm pretty sure that these men had been studying 13:46 and reading through the writings 13:48 of the Prophet Isaiah 13:50 and the Prophet Jeremiah, 13:52 they must have realized that this calamity, 13:55 this catastrophe was being allowed by God 13:59 because we discussed earlier 14:01 because there people have not been faithful, 14:04 perhaps God was stepping in to protect these children 14:07 who have been victimized by their own families. 14:10 And no doubt, as these men themselves 14:13 put their faith in God 14:15 and allowed Him to give them control in their lives. 14:19 They must have seen God working and protecting them 14:22 and sustaining them. 14:23 So as I'm guessing 14:25 it was an exercise of their faith 14:26 as they walked through the sands of Babylon. 14:29 They were still confident in the fact 14:30 that in the sovereignty of God 14:32 that God was still actually in control, 14:34 even though it didn't appear that way on the surface. 14:36 Yes, very much. 14:37 So how did God honor their faith? 14:39 Did He not factored on their faith? 14:40 Yeah, I think we get on to spoil too much 14:43 for the upcoming lessons, 14:44 but we're going to find out 14:45 that God supernaturally sustains them, 14:48 protected them who have a fire 14:51 and we have vicious animals seeking to take their life 14:55 and through it all, we also have detractors, 14:57 other wise men who were saying, 14:59 we don't want these slaves to be telling us 15:02 and our king what to do. 15:03 We the locals, we should be the advisers. 15:06 Who are these Hebrew upstarts 15:07 and even in that jealousy and that culture, 15:09 somehow these guys got through and other guys didn't. 15:13 We can read in Jeremiah 29. 15:16 There's two other false prophets 15:17 that actually got killed by Nebuchadnezzar 15:19 because they were pretenders, 15:21 but they didn't pass muster 15:22 like these two did, these three, these four. 15:24 Now, there was something, 15:25 you can pick the genuine, can't you? 15:26 Yes. 15:28 So, now as we've already seen, as soon as they arrived, 15:30 these Daniel, his friends in Babylon. 15:34 They became, 15:35 they came under fire right away, didn't they? 15:37 Their faith that has came under fire right away. 15:40 And so I want to go back and look more closely 15:42 what actually happened when they first got to Babylon. 15:45 So if we can do that, 15:47 can you outline for us what happened, 15:49 Rod, when they got there? 15:50 Well, the answer is actually in verse 5. 15:54 "And the king appointed them 15:55 a daily provision of the king's meat 15:57 and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, 16:01 that at the end thereof 16:02 they might stand before the king." 16:04 This was a simple matter of food. 16:08 The best that Babylonian culture could offer 16:12 was offered to the best that the Israelis had 16:14 or the children of Israel had. 16:17 The problem was, 16:18 these particular young people 16:21 didn't want to partake of the food. 16:24 And that in itself was a big test. 16:27 It was a big test. 16:29 Daniel did consider this a serious matter, didn't he? 16:32 He did. 16:33 He considered it very serious matter 16:34 because the food back then, firstly, 16:37 before it was actually eaten, was presented to their idols. 16:41 And secondly, it's likely on that table 16:44 were things that Daniel knew he shouldn't be eating. 16:46 God had made very clear to the children of Israel, 16:50 what food they should eat to be healthy. 16:52 And on that table, it's likely there was lots of things 16:54 that they shouldn't eat. 16:56 Now all this was part of his lifestyle. 16:58 He'd grown up with this, he'd been faithful, 17:01 he's confronted with things that he just knows he can't do, 17:04 it would dishonor God. 17:05 And so therein lies the big test. 17:07 Do I partake? 17:08 It's only a small matter, or do I make sin? 17:13 Okay, okay. 17:14 And what appears to be a small matter 17:17 may actually have large input 17:18 on understanding verse 8 of Chapter 1, 17:21 that Daniel purposed in his heart, 17:22 "he would not defile himself with the king's delicacies." 17:25 So he knew that there was, it was a serious matter. 17:29 And he decided he wasn't going to go there. 17:31 And I think that was a fantastic step 17:33 that he was taken. 17:35 A lot of fuss over a plate of food, do you think? 17:37 Yeah, it could be. 17:39 I mean, we could definitely see that at a superficial level. 17:41 But I find it ironic 17:43 that modern nutritionists and doctors are saying, 17:45 "Hey, there are certain things 17:46 that are better to put in there than others." 17:48 And I find it very interesting 17:49 that Daniel could conceivably in honoring God, 17:54 not just be appeasing or making some big God happy, 17:57 but maybe he's actually following 17:59 the book of instructions for a better way to live 18:01 for his own health and for his own acumen, 18:03 maybe his brilliance was partly because of his health. 18:07 Yeah, it's interesting too 18:08 that he didn't just look at that food and sort of say, 18:10 "God, please save me from this situation, 18:12 this temptation." 18:13 He proactively took action. 18:15 He went and spoke to his supervisor and said, 18:18 "Sir, I can't eat this food, it'll defile me." 18:21 Now just doing that, he took a big risk 18:23 because if you go to, 18:25 you know, back then you had absolute monarchs. 18:28 If you said, I don't like 18:29 what you're offering me to an absolute monarch, 18:31 you could be in serious trouble. 18:33 Now, his supervisor knew this because his supervisor thought, 18:35 if I don't give you this food, I could lose my head. 18:38 This was really serious stuff. 18:40 Yeah. 18:41 So there's a lot more to this 18:42 that's going on here for these boys 18:44 than just the food which makes it even bigger, 18:46 a bigger step to say no, 18:48 because you notice in verse 7 of Chapter 1 18:52 that it says, "The chief of the eunuch gave names, 18:54 that is Babylonian names 18:56 to Daniel and his three friends. 18:58 Daniel was called Belteshazzar. 19:00 Hananiah Shadrach, Mishael, they called Meshach, 19:04 Azariah Abednego." 19:06 These were all names after the Babylonian gods, 19:08 which is rather interesting, isn't it? 19:11 So, they changed the names. 19:13 Nathan, give me your outline. 19:15 Why would they do this, you know, what's the strategy? 19:17 From what we can see as Rod brought up earlier, 19:20 we're trying to assimilate these men 19:21 into Babylonian culture. 19:23 We're trying to erase their Hebrew heritage and say, 19:26 "You are now the best of Babylonian advisers. 19:31 You have Babylonian names, Babylonian gods, 19:34 Babylonian clothes, Babylonian foods." 19:37 They had surgery to take away their masculinity. 19:40 They were completely being rebranded 19:42 for another worldview. 19:44 And it's quite amazing to me 19:46 that people subservient to an absolute monarch 19:50 would dare to stand up 19:52 because the easy solution is off with his head. 19:55 That's what was the solution back then. 19:56 Okay. 19:57 And there were some incentives, 19:59 didn't they have some personal incentives? 20:00 Well, the incentives were very lucrative 20:02 because if they studied hard, if they passed the test, 20:06 they would become royal officers 20:08 in the king's court. 20:09 Their status would go 20:11 from being a captive to royal officer. 20:13 Now this meant the best of everything. 20:15 Best accommodation, best food, best of everything. 20:17 This was their pathway to wealth, success on a glory. 20:21 It's like winning the lotto. Yeah. 20:23 This is, you know... 20:25 So there were plenty of appealing reasons for them 20:27 to compromise their faith at this point, 20:30 Rod, weren't they? 20:31 And the king had been nice to them. 20:35 Very much. 20:36 The king had been very generous. 20:38 It could be argued 20:39 that the king had been more generous 20:40 than the slaves deserved. 20:42 There would be no question 20:43 if the king were to say or the advisers were to say, 20:45 look in, I pull your head 20:46 and this guy's being nice to you, 20:47 there'd be no discussions. 20:49 That's true. 20:50 Yeah, that's very true indeed. 20:51 It would be very tempting for them just to compromise. 20:54 You know, what's a little bit of food here, 20:56 a little bit of drink there, a bit of alcohol here, 20:58 it's only, who's gonna know? 20:59 What's a piece of bacon? 21:01 What's a piece of bacon? 21:02 What's the big deal here? 21:04 That's true. 21:05 So how did Daniel resolve the issue? 21:08 We need to get to that. 21:09 It seems, and I'm very encouraged about this, 21:12 it seems that Daniel is quite happy 21:14 to try the empirical method, 21:16 the scientific method for the sake of skeptic. 21:19 "Hey, we believe in a God 21:21 who can do everything, you don't. 21:22 But we'll make it work out so you can see for yourself too 21:25 according to your standards." 21:27 And so Daniel says, this is 1:12 and 13. 21:30 Let's take it to the lab. 21:32 Let's do a test. 21:34 "Please test your servants for ten days," 21:36 it says here in verse 12, 21:37 "and let them give us vegetables to eat 21:40 and water to drink." 21:41 Verse 13, "Then let our appearance be examined 21:44 before you, 21:45 and the appearance of the young men 21:47 who eat the portion of the king's delicacies, 21:49 and as you see fit, so deal with your servants." 21:54 So Daniel is saying, "Check it out, you decide. 21:57 The evidence will be the judge." 22:00 That was good, wasn't it? 22:01 He's also very diplomatic to his supervisor. 22:04 He was polite and conserved. 22:06 And bring the authority. 22:08 I think he did and he handled it very well. 22:10 Why do you suppose Daniel 22:12 was so confident about the outcome? 22:16 There's no question, he trusted God. 22:18 Genesis 1:29 tells us 22:20 that there's been a series of ideal diets 22:23 that have been given originally 22:24 and this vegetable and water 22:27 was very much a part of the earliest advice 22:30 that God had given humans for their own benefit. 22:32 So Daniel's thinking "Well, if God promised, 22:34 I've got good reason to trust it." 22:36 Okay, he was doing what God had said, 22:37 "How can you go wrong." I mean, that was pretty good. 22:39 So I'm impressed with that. 22:42 But think about this. 22:44 Vegetables and water. 22:46 Could just eating vegetables and water 22:48 make such a difference? 22:49 Yes, it can. 22:51 I mean, you consider where they've come from. 22:54 We don't know the timing too much in the story, 22:56 but they've just come from a long march from Babylon. 22:58 A long trek. A long trek. 23:01 This could have been very early days, 23:02 they've selected the royal princes very early. 23:07 Vegetables and water alone would help their recovery. 23:10 If you went straight on to a heavy meat diet, 23:12 it would cloud their thinking... 23:14 Lots of sweets and sugar and a lot of them, no doubt. 23:17 Plus lots of fresh water would aid the circulation, 23:20 you can sort of see 23:21 that that would have an impact on countenance, 23:24 their expression, 23:25 and they look fatter and fairer. 23:26 That's what the test was, how do they look? 23:29 So yes, you can sort of see how that would work. 23:32 Yeah, okay. 23:33 And I notice in Leviticus Chapter 11, 23:35 they were definitely some articles have died 23:40 that God outlined and said, 23:41 you are not to eat these things. 23:43 And I just want to draw our attention 23:45 to Leviticus 11:2 and 3, 23:51 which says, "Speak to the children 23:52 of Israel," saying, 23:53 "These are the animals which you may eat 23:55 among all the animals that are on the earth, 23:58 Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, 24:02 having cloven hooves 24:03 and chewing the cud that you may eat," 24:06 which would be the cow and the sheep and the goat. 24:09 They are the clean ones. 24:11 And very specifically, verse 7, 24:13 "The swine, though it divides the hoof, 24:16 it does not chew the cud, it's unclean." 24:19 And it would be unusual if it wasn't, 24:21 there wasn't pig on the plates on those. 24:23 I think one thing that jumped out at me too, 24:25 and I haven't got the verses in front of me. 24:27 But in the Levitical Code, 24:28 there's also fairly clear guidance 24:30 about the use of or the non use of fat 24:33 as a primary food source. 24:35 It says, even if it was a clean animal, 24:38 the fatty portion was not supposed to be 24:41 consumed generally speaking. 24:42 Today, we, of course, see the wisdom in that, 24:44 but back in those days it would have been seen 24:46 to be a bit of a funny role, why not have the fat, 24:48 that's the yummy part of the meal. 24:50 But God knew before the modern nutritionists 24:53 that we don't need too much of that 24:55 because it can have negative adverse effects. 24:58 If you also just go to Exodus 15:26, 25:04 it says here, 25:05 "If thou wilt diligently hearken 25:07 to the voice of the Lord thy God, 25:09 and will do that which is right in his sight, 25:11 and will give ear to his commandments, 25:13 and keep all his statutes, 25:14 I will put none of these diseases upon that, 25:17 which I have brought upon the Egyptians, 25:18 for I am the Lord that healeth thee." 25:20 Okay. 25:21 So there's a promise straightaway 25:22 that if we're faithful to the dietary requirements, 25:24 we won't get the diseases that others will. 25:26 It's interesting to look at the mummies 25:28 from Egypt today, 25:29 we can actually see how they died. 25:31 And we actually have good records from the mummies. 25:35 Those that didn't follow 25:36 this dietary guidance that they did, 25:38 in fact, suffer the same diseases. 25:39 Major modern lifestyle diseases. 25:40 Yes and we don't have the mummies, 25:43 we don't have the bodies preserved of the Israelites, 25:45 but from the skeletons we have, and from the records we have, 25:48 it does seem quite likely 25:49 that they did not generally speaking, 25:51 have these conditions. 25:53 So you have records in history 25:55 and archaeology confirming God's promise. 25:59 All right, very quickly. 26:00 Now I just got to go to Daniel 1:18, 26:04 where we come to the end of the 10 days test. 26:06 "At the end of the days, 26:07 when the king had said they should be brought in, 26:10 the chief of the eunuchs brought them 26:11 in before Nebuchadnezzar. 26:13 And the king interviewed them." 26:14 And so the king himself was a sharpshooter, 26:16 because he was the one who did the testing, 26:19 which is interesting. 26:20 He is skeptic. But he was. 26:22 And, of course, 26:23 a well educated man, no doubt too. 26:24 Yes, he is very much. 26:26 So he interviewed them, 26:27 and he found among them none like Daniel, 26:28 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 26:31 therefore they served before the king." 26:33 And then verse 20 says this amazing statement, 26:36 "In all matters of wisdom and understanding 26:39 about which the king examined them, 26:40 he found them ten times better 26:43 than all the magicians and astrologers in his realm." 26:46 So they were outstandingly head and shoulders above them. 26:49 But 10 times? 26:51 Well, God blessed their faithfulness. 26:53 And He blessed them in such a way 26:55 that they were a powerful witness. 26:57 Yeah. That's right. 26:59 So we're encouraged by this 27:00 standing for what is right and good 27:02 as God outlines in the scriptures, 27:04 it's gotta be safe. 27:05 Well, we have to finish there, folks. 27:07 Daniel does begin, the Book of Daniel 27:10 with a disaster of Israel's defeat. 27:13 But it moves right on to reveal 27:14 God's personal presence is with His faithful minority. 27:19 And if those boys can be faithful 27:20 in the court of Babylon, folks, 27:22 we can be faithful today by God's grace. 27:26 Well, glad you are with us today on Let God Speak. 27:29 You can watch any past program on our website 27:31 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:34 Teachers' notes can be downloaded there. 27:36 You can email us on lgs@3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:41 And we'd like to invite you to join us again next time. 27:44 God bless truly. |
Revised 2020-04-14