Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000378B
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00:05 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider,
00:07 before the break with guest Christopher Steed. 00:10 And I'm the host Lincoln Steed. 00:13 The names are familiar to both of us, son and... 00:17 dad and son. 00:19 Let's get back to where I started the segment 00:21 talking about our visit to Israel. 00:25 I think it was the second last day of our visit, 00:28 we went down to the Dead Sea, 00:31 not the Red Sea, it was the Dead Sea. 00:34 And overlooking the Dead Sea, remember, there was... 00:38 we took a cable car up, what was plateau, 00:41 do you remember what it was called? 00:43 Off the top of my head, I'm going to have to say, 00:45 "No, I do not remember." 00:46 Masada. Remember Masada? I do remember. 00:49 It was very high, very windy. Yeah. 00:52 But it was a very beautiful place. 00:56 I mean, I actually still have in my room. 00:59 I have a little rock about this big, 01:03 and on it there's some... 01:05 I think it's either scratch marks 01:06 or it looks to me like it's some writing. 01:09 And I remember just being up there 01:11 and just looking at the city and saying, 01:14 "Wow, this was a major, major 01:18 city back in Bible times." 01:22 And it was a fortress originally 01:25 that Herod had built. 01:27 But they said he never really was there. 01:30 But in the last Jewish rebellion at AD 70, 01:35 which collapsed and the Romans destroyed them all. 01:38 It's worth remembering in light of President Obama's 01:42 designation of the capital city. 01:44 The last time that the Jewish people 01:47 controlled the destiny of that city 01:50 that was a true Jewish city was nearly 2,000 years ago. 01:55 The Romans destroyed it as a defective political entity. 02:00 They leveled the city, killed about, 02:03 I think, a million people, 02:04 and then nearly as many were sold into slavery 02:07 and just dispersed the rest. 02:09 It was the end of them. 02:12 But a few holdouts after the original destruction, 02:15 went to Masada, I think 900 of them. 02:18 And you know that if you're sitting at the top, 02:22 there were the rocks or whatever, 02:24 you could pretty much roll it down 02:25 on anyone coming up at you 02:27 and an army couldn't easily get up. 02:29 In fact, I'm surprised that they got 02:30 the cable car up there. 02:32 Yeah, it was the view looking down, 02:35 I mean, it was... 02:37 I wouldn't say it was completely vertical 02:38 but it was... 02:39 Pretty close. It was pretty close. 02:41 In the US you call them mesa. 02:43 A flat top thing that has cliff-like sides. 02:47 And you remember them telling, 02:49 our guide was very good explaining it 02:50 how did the Romans conquered in the end. 02:53 They one by one built... 02:55 but it looked like it was a ramp. 02:57 Yeah, basically they built made the mountain, 02:59 added to the mountain to give it a curved... 03:01 To give it a slope so they could walk up it. 03:03 And even then they couldn't have done 03:04 that except they used Jewish slaves. 03:07 And the defenders wouldn't harm, 03:09 throw anything down on their fellow Jews. 03:11 So it was inevitable that eventually, 03:13 that to built this, took 03:15 I think a year or two years to do it. 03:17 And remember the rest of the story? 03:19 What happened is they came up 03:21 to where they could push the siege engines up 03:23 and destroy that. 03:24 I remember him saying... 03:26 When they opened the gates, the city was deserted. 03:30 Everybody had killed themselves. 03:31 Everybody had killed themselves. 03:33 And they have the speech recorded from the leader. 03:36 He says, you know, 03:37 "We've taken our lives rather than let the Romans kill us. 03:41 It was inevitable." 03:43 But they left food there 03:44 so that they won't think we did in desperation, 03:46 we had plenty of food. 03:48 And he gave a wonderful outline of the value of freedom 03:52 and standing up against this despotic power. 03:56 Well, that was a political thing 03:59 between what once God's people and a persecuting power. 04:05 But it's certainly an encouragement 04:07 to anyone to keep their faith no matter what the opposition. 04:11 Remember, our God said, Israel just decided, "Never again." 04:15 They're not going to kill themselves, 04:16 they're not going to give up, 04:18 they're going to fight till the last man. 04:19 They will. 04:20 And remember he told us 04:22 how the Israeli officers take 04:24 their oath of loyalty in Masada, 04:27 very inspiring to see how another little country 04:31 thinks about itself and the high ideals 04:34 that they've gotten because of this example of history. 04:38 But I do think in standing for our faith 04:41 in exercising our religious liberty 04:43 which we have regardless, we agreed on that. 04:46 Yes. Not coming from the US. 04:48 Remember what did Thomas Jefferson say 04:49 in the Declaration of Independence? 04:52 Let's test it. You had it in high school. 04:54 I remember we had to memorize it in high school, but... 04:56 It says, "We hold..." "We hold these truths..." 05:01 Yes, what's the next? It's slipping my memory. 05:04 "To be self-evident." Yeah. 05:08 That's what he said, which is very interesting. 05:10 They were recognizing what was already established, 05:14 and religiously, but he was one of them, 05:16 the men are created free by God. 05:19 And religious liberty in the truest spiritual sense, 05:22 we're freed from the power of sin. 05:23 You have it. 05:26 So, you know, living forward in this country 05:29 is easier than most. 05:31 But it ultimately derives from a spiritual thing, 05:35 you know, spiritual charter. 05:37 And in a real world 05:38 where there's genocides on occasion, 05:42 even in the United States, I love this country. 05:46 But against the moments, 05:49 the governor of Illinois wanted them killed on sight, 05:51 extermination order. 05:53 And don't even get into 05:55 some of the Indian tribes and so on. 05:58 Not a good story, 05:59 men dealing with other men and other faiths. 06:02 But it's our privilege, I think, isn't it, 06:04 to decide that we will be faithful 06:08 no matter what the cost. 06:11 Remember the song? I know you sung too. 06:12 But when I was a kid, I always sing it, Dare to be... 06:15 Dare to be a Christian. 06:17 No, Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to be a Daniel. 06:19 Standing by our purpose true, heading God's command. 06:24 Isn't it something, do you think 06:26 that a young person could answer 06:28 that challenge today? 06:30 Actually, Daniel is my... 06:32 When I was asked in many summer school classes from going, 06:35 from primary school in Sabbath school 06:38 to even now people ask me, "Who is your Bible hero?" 06:41 And I say, "Daniel." Yeah. 06:43 Because he stood by what he believes. 06:46 And I mean, who else would you look up to? 06:49 Would you look up to someone 06:52 who at the slightest bit of confrontation, 06:54 "I don't, I'm not a Christian, no." 06:57 Or as someone who, "I'm a Christian, 06:58 I don't care what you do to me but I'm a Christian"? 07:01 Yeah. 07:02 I mean, that's what we're called to. 07:04 And Daniel is a great story. He wasn't just a stubborn guy. 07:08 He was an educated person, a godly man, 07:12 and he was at the center of power. 07:15 And yet on a number of occasions his life 07:17 was on the line, and even... 07:19 Remember the story begins, 07:20 and I'm sure many of you have read 07:22 and remember the Bible story. 07:24 But as a young man taken captive 07:26 from a previous destruction of Israel, 07:31 you know, we were been talking about an AD 70, 07:32 but King Nebuchadnezzar wiped it out. 07:37 And I don't think most people, at least when I was a kid, 07:40 they didn't explain it correctly. 07:42 There were some people left around Jerusalem, 07:45 and Nebuchadnezzar wanted it to be neutral and controlled. 07:49 And the way to do it was to take hostages 07:52 from the ruling class. 07:55 The way it was told to us is they were taking skilled guys 07:57 to help in the palace and a little element of that. 08:00 They were essentially hostages. 08:03 And another element in the past 08:04 that was done right up to World War I 08:07 was you would marry 08:10 the daughters of the ruling class to control 08:13 'cause again they were hostages. 08:14 So Daniel was a hostage perhaps from a wealthy class. 08:19 But that didn't mean that they were safe forever. 08:21 They could be destroyed or neutralized pretty readily. 08:26 And so he didn't do what the king said. 08:29 There was a good chance that he would be disciplined 08:31 in a very severe physical way. 08:34 But he had faith, and he says 08:35 to the supervisor of the eunuchs 08:41 which is interesting, 08:43 Daniel was a eunuch almost certainly, 08:46 which is another way to take away 08:48 the power of the people there. 08:51 They were to be held to ransom but not allowed to flourish, 08:54 not allowed to multiply. 08:56 And he says, you know, "Prove us. 08:58 Put us on this diet and see." 08:59 And they were allowed to continue with that diet. 09:03 Then later when the King's dream 09:08 was beyond any understanding of his wise men, 09:12 the word went out, "Kill all the wise men." 09:14 And Daniel was a wise man. 09:15 In other words, he was one of the intellectuals. 09:17 And so at threat of his life, he sends a word to the king, 09:21 "I can give you the meaning of the dream." 09:24 We need to know as Christians 09:26 that we have the answer 09:27 to a lot of the religious conflicts in the world. 09:32 It's crossed, and witnessing, and religious freedom. 09:35 Don't you think? 09:37 I think in dealing with my own life 09:40 and dealing with other people in life 09:44 how each person has to believe what they want, 09:47 but at the same time, 09:48 we should tell them what we believe. 09:50 That's our right, that's our privilege, 09:53 and we should stick to it. 09:58 In the Bible, 09:59 waters can mean quite deep things. 10:04 You know, we're told that waters mean peoples, 10:08 and nations, groups of human beings. 10:12 When we look at Israel, ironically, we think of waters, 10:17 we think of the Sea of Galilee, we think of the Dead Sea 10:22 even though that's a land 10:23 that is not characterized by water. 10:25 It's an incredibly dry place. 10:29 I think prophetically that the Bible says 10:32 that at the very end of time, 10:34 the River Euphrates will dry up. 10:37 That tells me that human existence itself 10:40 is going to be threatened at a very dangerous end time. 10:44 But to proclaim, liberty 10:46 depends upon proclaiming it to people. 10:50 And so I believe no matter 10:52 what happens in the Middle East, 10:53 no matter how destitute our human condition may see, 10:56 no matter how suicidal our leaders might be, 10:59 we still need to proclaim liberty throughout the land, 11:02 religious freedom for all who will hear it, 11:05 and a coming Lord is a Savior from this desperate situation, 11:10 the Liberator, the Freedom Giver, 11:14 the Giver of all true and perfect gifts. 11:17 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2018-03-07