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Foreign.
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From the beautiful Missouri Ozarks. Greetings and welcome to the Gilbert House fellowship for Sunday, February 1, 2026. I'm Derek Gilbert.
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I'm Sharon Gilbert. Welcome to our living room, everybody. We're not going out there because it's cold and snowy and crunchy. The snow has actual. An inch of ice on top of it.
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Yeah, yeah. That's what happens when the sun hits it, melts it, then the freezes again, which it's been doing for.
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So it's a bit of an ice cream ice rink out there.
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B
So, yeah, we hit that snow started last Friday night, so A week ago. Friday.
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Yeah. At least it's been out there at least for a week.
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B
Yeah. And I for one, have not been outside of this house in, in over a week.
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I won't let you go out there.
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B
Yeah, well, it's, it's a little slippery out there. And of course, me with the, the difficulty walking, first of all. And secondly with the, the plavix in my system.
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Yep.
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Which inhibits clotting. If I were to fall and bruise, that could be something. That would be bad.
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Yeah. It would be all, well, cream and crimson out there. Yeah. I use colors.
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Yeah, we don't want, we don't want that out there.
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As much as I love iu, I'm not going to go for that.
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Right. Well, welcome. And if you are new to our fellowship, we thank you for joining us. If you've been with us for a while. Thank you and God bless you for joining us along this journey.
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God bless some of you. You have been with us from the very first study.
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We started this back in September of 2014. So we are in our 12th year of doing this study. We're on our second trip through the Old Testament. And if you've been with us for a while, you're. You know that we've been doing this. We're going through the Old Testament a lot more slowly this time because we've learned a few things since the first trip through. And it's like savoring a fine meal. It really is. When you dig into the scriptures, it's like savoring every bite instead of gulping it down just to get your word count in. I know I've got to get so many chapters in so I can do my study in a year. And there's nothing wrong with doing.
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No, that's a really great intro to the Bible.
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B
It really is to say, okay, I've
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been through the whole thing, now start again.
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B
Yeah. But it's really difficult to get through the entire Bible in 52 hours. If you're doing an hour a week, if you're doing it every day of the year, you can spend a little more time, obviously. But yeah, we're just finding that there's a lot more stuff in here that we didn't see the first trip through. And in fact, one of the questions we have for today, which we will answer at the end of the study, is about where do people find the first trip through the Bible? Because we don't have all of that on the app. We started with the second time through beginning of Genesis. So the oldest, all the oldest ones
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aren't on the app. I didn't know that.
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No, I did put all the New Testament studies on there.
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Oh, yeah, because we're not going to get to that for a while.
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B
Yeah, it's because we're only into Isaiah, so we got a ways to go yet to get through the rest of the Old Testament. But we'll talk about that at the end of the study along with another question dealing with end times prophecy. If you've got a spare moment, you haven't done this yet. We invite you to download our free mobile app to your smartphone or tablet that brings all of the content, audio and video right into your mobile device. And of course, if you want to see the video on a big screen, you can send it to your smart TV using Google's Chromecast or Apple's AirPlay, but it's always right there with you and it guarantees we don't get canceled. If you're. If you're listening to this on YouTube, God bless you. Please subscribe. Share. Click that bell for notifications and of course, hit the like button. And we'd appreciate your comments because that also helps the algorithm. Serve it up to people who may not have heard of us.
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And you can hype it. That's a new thing.
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B
Oh, really?
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You can hype so many points or so many times a week. And so if you really like it and it moves it up in the algorithm.
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Yeah, and it's not that we care about being famous, it's just we would like other people to join us in this deep dive into Scripture, verse by verse, and doing it with the divine council worldview, which we used to in the old days and tell some folks that, okay, you're doing the ding, ding, ding thing every time you mention Mike Heiser's name a little too much. But it's because everything we do is kind of based on the work of our late friend, Dr. Michael Heiser. And so we want to give credit to him rather than lest anyone think that we believe we're the ones who come up with all of this. And Mike was similarly humble. He said, look, I'm not inventing any of this. I'm just trying to return us to the way, help us get back to the way the prophets and the apostles saw the world around them.
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Yep, A lot of the earliest apologetics writers, the earliest commentaries, I guess you could say, on the Scripture, that's the divine council worldview.
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B
Yeah, the early church fathers, I mean, we're talking, you know, second, third, fourth centuries, they understood that the pagans around them, the Greeks and the Romans, the Egyptians, were worshiping fallen angels and demons. They called them gods and God calls them gods. But yeah, they were just like Satan, an angelic being with free will who chose to rebel. So we apply that, and we will apply that to the book of Isaiah as we dive in this morning after a word of prayer. Father, thank you for bringing us together over your Word. And we pray as we study today that we can draw from it that which you would have us learn. Help us, Lord, to see your word. Grant us wisdom and discernment that we would add nothing to your scriptures, not reading our own biases or creeds or preferences into your Word, but drawing from your word what you would have us know. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
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Amen.
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Oh, also, this being the first Sunday of a month, we will celebrate communion. Celebrate communion at the end of the study. So if you got the elements handy, great. If not, you can always hit pause if you're listening. Well, of course, you've got to be listening to this. You're not listening to it live. Of course we pre record. Yeah, we do, but we pre record for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's easier for us than to keep to a specific schedule, especially with my sleep habits. Like, I slept a full 12 hours last night.
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I slept six.
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Yeah, so you're up a lot earlier
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than I am, but yeah, I get up crazy early.
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My. Well, we'll get into the old people's report at the end of the. But anyway, I slept a lot later than I expected. And it wasn't that I was just lying in bed there. It's like, I don't feel like getting up.
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No, no, no, you.
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I was sound asleep until about 8 o' clock this morning.
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You need that rest, so don't ever apologize for sleeping.
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So anyway, that's one reason. The other is if we were to say something that on reflection we don't feel reflects well on the Lord or on us, mainly on our Lord. We can go back and we can cut that out before we release it, because we don't ever want to bring. We don't ever want to represent him badly. And there are times when we'll make mistakes and then we'll go back at the end. It's like, oops, I misspoke. So anyway, you can hit pause, get the elements and come back and then we'll all be ready. Isaiah, chapter seven is where we begin in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. And Ahaz was reigning in the late 7th century BC and according to the Faith Life Study Bible, which is available for free online, this takes place around 735 B.C. so if you want to timestamp that.
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Okay.
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Ahaz, the son of Yotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezen, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. Now this is a bit of family history here. I actually have an ancestor, great, great, great grandfather, whose name is Reason R A Z I N. And in some of the records from the late 18th, early 19th centuries because he was a little too young to fight in the revolution, but he fought in the War of 1812. And he was also in the Indian wars of the 1790s in Ohio and Indiana.
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Wow.
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Reason Bailey. Some of the family, some of the records back then misspelled it R E a S O N. Well, yeah, because
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it sounds like reason. Yes, it's probably actually Ratzine.
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Probably. But there's another reason in the Bible who is one of the leaders of song in the temple. So maybe that's who he was named for instead of for the king of Syria.
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Well, that would be my guess, but
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that was a day back in the 18th century when they were naming children for biblical names. As I recall, he had a younger sister named Keziah was one of the. Which is a biblical name as well. But anyway, reason the king of Syria, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel. Remember, the northern and southern kingdoms divided at this point in history, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told Syria is in league with Ephraim. That's a reference to the northern kingdom of Israel, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people. Shook as the trees of the forest
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shake before the wind in these Septuagints. And if you're new to this, one of us always reads along, mostly silently. But if there's a difference, then we'll bring it up in the Septuagint. It does not say Syria or Assyria. It says Aram. That's the source of Aramaic languages. What is interesting is this sort of story, you See more In Second Kings 16, where you learn that Ahaz was really wicked. He sacrificed his son to Molech.
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Oh, well, yeah, that's not. Not nice.
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Let me see if I can find that it in 2nd Kings 16 and we'll probably read that soon. And in the 17th year, Pica, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotam, he king of Judah, began to reign, trying to see where he sacrifices his son. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Indeed, he made his son to pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, that is second kings, which also. The story's in 2 Chronicles 28.
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Okay, yeah, I see that. This series of events that we're about to read is known to historians as the Syro Ephraimite War, which pitted the kingdom of Judah and the king Ahaz and the coalition of Aram or Syria, led by Damascus, Israel or Ephraim. This was to apparently get rid of Ahaz, the king of Judah and to pressure Judah into joining Syria and Israel to oppose the growing power of the Assyrians.
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Oh, interesting.
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However, Ahaz came to or Assyria came to the assistance of the kingdom of Judah and captured Damascus in the year 732 BC again, where we're at in the beginning of Isaiah here, 735 BC and then 10 years later, of course, 722 is when the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. There had been a long series of wars between the Assyrians and a coalition of Amorite and I guess you'd call them Phoenician by this point, but they were still Amorites, just different name, coalition of small kingdoms in what is now Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and you know, the Israelites against the growing Assyrians. Omri, who was the founder of the Omride dynasty, he was the father of Ahab. Omri and also Ahab were known to have contributed to coalitions that fought against the Assyrians in the 9th century B.C. and here we're like almost a century later and the Assyrians are still Expanding and growing more powerful and the Assyrian kings and Israel not able to withstand the Assyrians by this point.
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I think it's difficult for us living here in the United States in a modern time. Looking back at these stories and seeing the tribal factions. Yeah, tribal. Within the state of Israel, if you want to call it that, where you've got the northern tribes against two or three southern tribes.
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Right.
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And then they bring in outsider tribes. Hey, they're coming in from the outside. We all need to band together right now, buddy. You know, remember, we're all part of a family, but it doesn't always work that way here in the United States. We can sometimes see stuff going on in other states that, okay, we don't agree with you and even within the state, but tribal factions, that's only now coming into the United States.
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Right.
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And we don't need to get into politics, but it's kind of easy to forget what it was like in the pre New Testament era.
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Right, right. And I think many of us in the west, because especially here in the United States, where the United States was founded by people who came mainly from European and northern European backgrounds, mostly English, but a lot of Germans. Then you had, you know, some others in there, you know, Swedes and Danes and whatever, really had not lived tribal, in tribal factions for many, many years. And coming over here, you were kind of separated from that anyway because they'd be coming as individual families instead of like the whole tribe of whatever would come over at once. So. So we've not lived that way for a very long time.
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No.
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And yeah, to this day in the Middle east and in Africa, you see the same kind of lifestyle. Your loyalty is to your family first, then to the clan second, then to the tribe third. And the idea of a nation state is really sort of foreign. They will follow a strong man. Like the only reason Saddam Hussein was able to reign for so many years or Bashar Al Assad is because he really put down any opposition very, very forcefully and sometimes brutally.
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Well, that's very true. And I think prophetically speaking, it becomes all the more amazing that one day, probably very soon the entire world will agree and they'll all go against Israel.
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Right. There will be a strong man who will rise up and people were like, we're going to follow him. He makes the trains run on time.
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Yeah, kind of.
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He makes the planes fly on time. Yes, it'll be something like that.
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Yeah, Bread and circuses. Woo hoo. Yeah, yeah, we love that.
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So that's the historic background of what's going on here, the political background. So Ahaz, again, a young king at this point and still and as you point out from Second Kings, not one who was following what Yahweh told him.
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Not a nice guy.
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No. And this is an interesting thing here. We'll comment on this a little bit more as we get through this. And Yahweh said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shayer Shahar, Yashub or Yeshua, your son. Have to look at how that was pronounced.
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It is, I would say, yeah, yeah. It's I think which means a remnant shall return.
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A remnant shall return? Yes, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stones, stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of reason. And Syria and the son of Remaliah, because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have devised evil against you, saying let us go up against Judah and terrify it and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabi El. I guess that's right. Tab L as king in the midst of it, son of Tabbael. Don't know who he is, but probably they were just going to set him up as some sort of a puppet king.
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That would be my guess. Going back to verse three, you said in the washer's field in the Septuagint it says the fuller's field that that's someone, I think, who makes is that someone who makes soap or brushes?
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Brushes.
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I think brushes could be.
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Well, maybe. I think he's a Fuller Brush man. Door to door.
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I I think Fuller's may have been someone who made soap, but I may be wrong on that. You're probably sitting there listening and shouting at me. No, it's but it's an old fashioned term and I'm looking from the Brenton translation into English from the Greek so that it's what, early 20th, late 19th century. So it's more of an archaic language. But if the the version that you read from is the Lexham.
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The Lexham English Septuagint. Yeah. What does the Lexum say here? And I've got to skip because the anchor Yale Bible Dictionary popped up to tell me about the Syro Ephraimat war. Yeah. It says the fuller's field.
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Oh, a person who makes clothes. Looking it up in the Oxford American Dictionary, a Person who FS cloth. Pronounced Fuller.
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Yeah. Okay.
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Yeah. There was a person named Buckminster Fuller who was an architect, but it's not that one. Yeah. One that FS cloth. So I assume that means either washes or maybe, you know, I don't know. Maybe there's a phase in making cloth. I've never made my own cloth, so I don't know.
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Huh.
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Made some paper one time. That was weird. Nicole and I made some paper one time years and years ago.
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Oh. Now I. They've got a new thing in iPad OS where you can take a. An app and you could, like, minimize it so it didn't take up the full screen.
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No.
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Which is not what I wanted. I was just trying to get back to my ESV here. Okay. The washers field or the Fuller's field, and say to him, be careful, be quiet. Do not fear. Okay. And we've gone through all of that. Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let it.
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A
Well, I just want to bring up one other thing in verse four where it says, and this is the Septuagint, neither let thy soul be disheartened because of these two smoking firebrands. If they're smoking, it sounds like either they were setting things on fire or someone set them on fire. And I'm guessing someone set them on fire. And that someone is Yahweh. For when my fierce anger is over, I will heal again.
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I understood this to mean smoldering stumps of firebrands instead of being actual firebrands. And we can understand that reference. You know, these guys are really, you know, full of, you know, you know, what in vinegar. Smoldering stumps, meaning that they're about to be extinguished.
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That may well be what it means. Trying to see if I can find a commentary on it really fast.
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Well, that.
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Yeah. The fact that they're not on fire. The fact that they're smoldering.
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Yeah.
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So. So either means that they aren't very. They're not very good. You can't set a fire with something that's just smoldering.
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Right.
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But it kind of means that it may be the remains of. Yeah. We think of a firebrand today as, oh, you're just all that, you know, and. And more. And you're going to really just set the world on fire. Well, no, I think they were set on fire, but it could be that they think that they're all that, and they're really not.
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Yeah. Yeah, I think that's. And in fact, that's what the. The Net Bible commentary.
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There you go.
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I knew you'd have agrees with that. Basically said, yeah. That they're on the verge of being extinguished. Verse 7 Now of Isaiah 7. Thus says the Lord Yahweh, it shall not stand and it shall not come to pass.
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Well, it in it says here, this council shall not abide nor come to pass. And I'm not really sure because it's spelled S E L, not C I, L. Going back to this idea that they got together. And in verse five, you see, and for as much as they have just devised an evil counsel, sel saying, so this is what they've gotten together and we're just whispered and they've got a plot. We're going to go up against Judea. Guess what? That's not going to work out well for you.
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No.
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A
But it's a reminder that oftentimes the Lord allows human beings to make their own free will. Decide. We all have free will. That's the gift of the Lord. And the fallen realm really want to take that away from us. But these kings used their free will and decided that they would work together and make a plot.
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Yeah.
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And it reminds me of Psalm 2.
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Why do the nations rage and imagine a vain thing?
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A vain thing. These guys are imagining something vain.
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Right. And it also suggests that because God is prophesying through Isaiah here that the Assyrians are going to do what they're going to do, that God is allowing that as well.
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And it may be one reason that he was told, bring your son, whose
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name means a remnant, shall return.
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Yeah, yeah. So remnant of the Lord.
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Yes, exactly. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is reason. And within 65 years, Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm in at all.
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A
In the Septuagint, if you happen to be reading along, it calls Samaria Shomron.
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B
Yeah. Which is the actual title of the hill.
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A
Yeah, it is, yeah. Also, interestingly enough, for example, in verse 9, and the head of Ephraim is Shomron, and the head of Shomron the son of Ramalias. But every time I see it in the Septuagint, I think of Romulus, not, not the one that, you know, founded Rome, but the Romulans in Star Trek.
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B
Yes.
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A
So I see pointy ears. So these guys have pointy ears.
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B
Yeah, we, you know, we are science Fiction geeks.
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A
We truly are. And no, we don't want to watch the new Star Trek. No, that's all we'll say about that.
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Woke. Woke Trek. I had a point I was going to make here and then I continued through the verses. Now I've forgotten what the point was. Going back to the smoldering stumps of firebrands. Because Syria from remill I devised easel against you. Let's go to. Let us conquer it for ourselves.
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A
This has to be so disheartening to Isaiah to be told by the Lord, you know, okay, when my fierce anger is over, think of the things that a very angry Yahweh, he can. He could do anything. He could just snap, you know, talk about Thanos. No, Yahweh, he's got the snap. He could snap in the whole universe would wink out of existence. Yes, he doesn't do that. No matter how stupid we are, he still loves us, which just amazes me.
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B
Okay, here we are. The thing I was thinking of had to do with God abandoning his people. God rejecting his people. And yes, from the point we're reading here again, this is about 735 BC. Within a dozen years or so in 722, the Northern Kingdom and the Northern tribes. I know, we're told, you know, it's the ten northern tribes. Yeah, but there were three in the south six. Simeon was there with Benjamin and Judah, and many of the Levites had already come south when Jeroboam set up the Northern Kingdom because they recognized the heresy that he was imposing on the Northern Kingdom. So yeah, the Myth of the 10 northern tribes being lost is a myth.
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A
Yeah, they're not really lost.
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B
Yeah, Chuck Missler wrote a very nice article about that years ago. But the fact that he's telling Ahaz through Isaiah that he's going to preserve the Southern Kingdom even though Ahaz caused his son to pass through the fire to Molech.
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Yes, yes.
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B
Now Fast forward about 2,700 years to today where we are. There's a group among within the church who said that because Jews of the first century rejected Jesus, that God has now rejected Israel. Paul writing about 20 years after the resurrection in Romans 11. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Yes, there are branches on that tree that have been broken off, but they can be grafted back in again. We make it more difficult for those branches to be grafted back in when we very publicly and loudly proclaim that they're lost forever. We've replaced the Jews in all of God's promises.
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And we're told not to despise them.
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B
We're told not to despise them, not to be arrogant towards them, else God might break us off too.
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A
Exactly.
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So anyway, this is just another one of those examples to me showing that, look, if God wasn't going to reject them when the king was sacrificing to Molech. And Molech is the first entity, the first fallen deity mentioned by name in the Bible. Leviticus 18, head of Baal. I mean, we think that or Baal for you scholars out there is the big.
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Oh, you're hitting the table. I thought, why some lamp moving the
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big enemy of God. But it's Molech who's mentioned first and very specifically God saying, don't do this. Yes. And so. And that was 700 years before Isaiah. Well, they were still doing it.
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A
We've got this promise that he is going to take care of business. He's only going to put up with this for so long. And eventually it even says that Ephraim shall cease from being a people.
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B
Yes.
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A
They don't cease from being a people. And it's. You're going to be pulled out of the land.
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B
Yeah. Their nation, they will be scattered.
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A
But again, stand there with your son, whose name means a remnant shall return.
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Yes.
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He is a living process. Promise. And then we get the big, big one. Here comes the big one.
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Beginning at verse 10 again, Yahweh spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of Yahweh, your God, let it be as deep as shale or high as heaven.
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I mean, he talk about being offered. You can ask me anything.
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, I mean, I've just told you this is what's going to happen. And there are.
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And he's offering sort of rules to
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confirm that this will happen. By showing me a sign.
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Yeah, but Ahaz said.
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I know. See, I'm so. I, I know my Bible.
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Ahaz says. Ahaz says. He says. But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put Yahweh to the test.
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Because you're not supposed to. You're not supposed to test the Lord your God.
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B
Yeah.
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A
In fact, Jesus even says that to Satan at one point.
- [31:19]
B
Yes, yes. But in this case, he's speaking through a confirmed prophet.
- [31:23]
A
Exactly.
- [31:24]
B
Yeah. So things are a little different. I mean, God, you know, he's a designer of the game. He can make the rules.
- [31:29]
A
He is.
- [31:31]
B
And he said, and this is Isaiah speaking now here then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you Must weary God that you weary my God also. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
- [32:10]
A
You know, it's interesting in the Septuagint, it doesn't quite say that. It doesn't say curds. It says butter. But that's essentially, you know, nom nom. I bet it was whole milk too. It wasn't, you know, they didn't skim it off or anything. Actually, it's probably goats butter and honey. Shall he eat before he knows either to prefer evil or choose the good? Before. Before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil. In other words, he knows from an extremely young age what's the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do.
- [32:47]
B
Yeah. This is a saying that is a little difficult to understand. The esv, which we like, is a essentially a word for word translation from the Hebrew as close as they can get to word for word and still make the sentence understandable to us English speakers. The new English translation is a little more of a thought for thought when it comes to difficult translations like this. They render verse 16 this way. Here is why this will be so before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right. The land whose two kings you fear will be desolate. Now they explain why they translate it that way. The Hebrew literally means according to the. And this is again a reason we. One of the reasons we look at the Net Bible. They explain why they translate what they translated. The Hebrew literally reads, the land will be abandoned, which you fear because of its two kings.
- [33:59]
A
So before the child even knows right from wrong.
- [34:02]
B
Yeah. Okay, now I'm looking at verse 16, which I have not read yet.
- [34:07]
A
And one of the ways that that's expressed in other places in the Bible. He doesn't know his right hand from his left. In other words, he doesn't know to choose good or evil. And it's usually a child, you know, pretty young.
- [34:20]
B
Yeah, I confused myself here because I was looking at notes for verse 16 and I had only read verse 15. So 15 and 16 go together. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
- [34:41]
A
That's exactly what the Septuagint says.
- [34:42]
B
What the septuagint says what's in the net Bible Again, I was looking at a note for verse 16 when I'd only read 15. So the point of all this is that, yeah, the threat from Israel and from Syria will be very short lived.
- [35:00]
A
One of the things I love, love, love about the Septuagint is that we know approximately when it was translated, about 200 BC or so. And if this is in the Septuagint, then it existed then we know that we had this prophecy then a couple of hundred years before Jesus was born. But it's still in here and it's also still in the Masoretic text. They didn't take it out.
- [35:37]
B
Take it out.
- [35:37]
A
And that's why I love not only looking at different translations, but there are a few things, just a few, that have either been slightly nudged or augmented.
- [35:52]
B
Yeah.
- [35:52]
A
In the Masoretic text, which was about 1100 years after the Septuagint, correct?
- [35:58]
B
Yeah, about 900 A.D. yeah.
- [35:59]
A
And that was sort of to erase the second power in heaven, try to make it look like, no, Jesus didn't fulfill things, but it did not change the basic truths. And this is why I'm bringing this up. The Lord didn't allow this to be taken out of the Masoretic text, Correct?
- [36:23]
B
Yeah.
- [36:25]
A
He preserved this promise.
- [36:27]
B
Yeah.
- [36:27]
A
The very sign he said, ask anything.
- [36:30]
B
Yeah.
- [36:30]
A
High is the heavens, you know, all the way.
- [36:33]
B
All the way down to the bottom of hell. Yep. And very interesting is that the next verse because you read, you know, verses 15 and 16 and it's like, great, everything's going to be just fine. The Syrians and the Northern Kingdom are going to be taken out of the picture. But then the blessing, what appears to be blessing, turns sour because the sign of curds and honey, that's a sign of wealth and prosperity. Well, so, yes, it almost appears to be a prophecy of, look, not only will they not conquer your kingdom, but things are going to be great.
- [37:08]
A
You're going to have your go, Judah, great again. Yeah, it's going to be wonderful.
- [37:12]
B
But then verse 17, Yahweh will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your Father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria. That's where you get the minor chords because, okay, they're going to help you out and take away the threat from your gates. But they're gonna, then they're gonna come for you.
- [37:41]
A
And before you read this, do you think that some of this, and this is what I want Our listeners to consider as they're hearing you read it, and maybe they're reading along if they've got their Bibles open. It's like a pastor, open your Bibles.
- [37:54]
B
If you have one of you.
- [37:57]
A
Do you think that this prophecy which was fulfilled. And of course, we know that in the first century we also had the promise of this, the virgin giving birth that was fulfilled. But is this an already, but not quite yet, some of this. In that day the Lord. On that day the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day that.
- [38:26]
B
Well, except that that phrase is not used anywhere in here.
- [38:29]
A
It is in the Septuagint.
- [38:33]
B
Really. On this day.
- [38:34]
A
18.
- [38:40]
B
Well, let me see here.
- [38:41]
A
When you've got a, a phrase that goes. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the flies.
- [38:52]
B
Okay. In that day.
- [38:54]
A
And he'll call the bees. He's calling.
- [38:58]
B
Well, let me see here. Now, let's. Let's continue on verse 18 in that day, which is again, often a reference to a prophecy of the day of Yahweh on that day, the day of the Lord in that day the Lord. And here it's not all caps. So this is Adonai rather than Yahweh. In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the river with the king of Assyria.
- [39:25]
A
Did you miss a verse? Did you read it?
- [39:27]
B
I'm sorry, I skipped down to verse 20 because that also begins within that day. My eyes jump down verse 18. In that day Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks and on all the thorn bushes and on all the pastures.
- [39:53]
A
Now it sounds like he is calling other nations and using them. Yeah, but instead of saying, I'm going to get the king of Egypt and I'm going to get the king of Assyria and they're going to come and do this and get together, he says, I'm going to hiss for the flies.
- [40:09]
B
Yeah.
- [40:10]
A
And call for the bee biting, stinging.
- [40:18]
B
Yeah, I know this could be an already, but not yet because you've got the flies, which are a nuisance, but bees can really hurt you.
- [40:27]
A
I know.
- [40:29]
B
Flies being the southern neighbor of the
- [40:31]
A
kingdom of Judah and bee being the north.
- [40:33]
B
And they were right. And they were also aware of the growing power of the Assyrians. So the Egyptians wanted Judah as a Buffer state between Assyria and Egypt.
- [40:45]
A
I'm now standing in the kitchen stirring the beef stew, which is for later.
- [40:50]
B
So I think what we've got here is an already prophecy because we see this even in the king at the time of King Hezekiah. And we get to Isaiah 14, we'll talk about a very interesting Egyptian loanword. In fact, a couple of Egyptian loanwords that wind up in Isaiah. Hezekiah was trying to make really, really nice with the Egyptians because he also wanted the Egyptians as military backup against the growing power of the Assyrians. So there are some royal seals that have been found in Jerusalem from the time of Hezekiah that show sort of a modified scarab beetle, which is an Egyptian symbol of, you know, fertility and stuff. Fertility, but also what appears to be immortality because it seemed like those beetles, dung beetles, were always.
- [41:59]
A
I know, they were always rolling their
- [42:01]
B
little, you know, balls of dung.
- [42:03]
A
Yeah, my, my dong. Leave dung alone.
- [42:08]
B
So, yeah, again in that day, you're talking about the political situation of the seventh century. Isaiah lived a good long life. He lived from the time of Uzziah down to the time of Hezekiah and beyond. The Egyptians wanting to use the juke Judeans as here you. You fight the Assyrians and keep them away from our border. And the Judeans wanting the Egyptian military to come up and help them. But the Assyrians are really the ones who are dangerous. They, you know, beat. But it does like Ezekiel in Ezekiel 38 and 39, which we'll talk about in our question at one of our questions at the end of the study. Prophesies the whole world coming against Judah, Jerusalem in that day or on that day.
- [43:00]
A
Exactly. By the way, just an aside, my maiden name is Ferguson.
- [43:05]
B
Yeah.
- [43:05]
A
And the, the crest for the. The clan is one of those little belt loop things that goes around it. And there's a bee on a thistle. And the motto Dolce s ex asperis means sweeter after difficulties. In other words, you. You work and you go through stuff and at the end of it will be sweetness. Much like here.
- [43:33]
B
Yeah, well, here it's sort of the reverse. You get curds and honey and then you get the king of Assyria.
- [43:38]
A
Well, yeah, but let's face it, after all is said and done and the fleas and the flies and the bees and the. And all the wise have come in, you're going to have our Savior ruling from Jerusalem and that. I say. Yeah.
- [43:54]
B
So anyway, the, the Assyrians, the Egyptians will come and settle all over the land like insects and getting into In.
- [44:03]
A
In. The Septuagint says that they will enter into the holes of the rocks, into the caves and into every ravine. They're going to be in every corner crevice of this land.
- [44:12]
B
Yeah. Difficult to scrub them out. In verse 20, in that day, the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the river. In other words, he's going to bring somebody from beyond the river to cut you down with the king of Assyria. The head and the hair of the feet. The hair of the feet.
- [44:37]
A
Hobbits.
- [44:38]
B
That's what I. Oh, oh, oh. Except that feet is a euphemism.
- [44:47]
A
Yeah, I know. Not quite. Hobbits. Yeah, I know. It's referring.
- [44:54]
B
When I had my surgery, I had that kind of reflection.
- [44:57]
A
Yeah. Don't go there. Ouch.
- [44:59]
B
Yeah.
- [45:00]
A
And remove the beard and it will
- [45:02]
B
sweep away the beard also. And that is a sign of humiliation.
- [45:07]
A
Yep. Wasn't it in the Old Testament where the tribe, the guys were sent back with just half of their beards?
- [45:14]
B
Yeah. The king of Ammon, whose name was Nahash. I think.
- [45:19]
A
Yeah, I think it was. Was it Joshua that said, you. Everybody stay still.
- [45:23]
B
David. It was the time of David.
- [45:25]
A
That's right.
- [45:25]
B
It was the king of Ammon. And David had been a. Been an ally of the. The king, Nahash, which means snake.
- [45:32]
A
Yeah.
- [45:32]
B
And then his son came to power after Nahash died. And he's the one, you know. David sent a deputation, diplomatic mission, and the son's advisor said, they're here to spy on us. So they cut off half their beards. And David said, just wait there at the river until your beards grow back. In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep. And because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey. So again, at the end of this, there will be sweetness in that day. So this is the remnant that will return.
- [46:13]
A
I know. It's repeated over and over and over again. That's why I wondered if this was not an already, but not yet.
- [46:20]
B
In that day, every place where there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of seed, silver will become briars and thorns. Well, that doesn't sound good.
- [46:31]
A
No.
- [46:32]
B
With bow and arrow, bow and arrows, a man will come there. For all the land will be briers and thorns. And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns. But they will Become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
- [46:55]
A
Yeah, this says something very Beginning in verse 24, men shall enter there with arrow and bow, for all the land shall be barren ground and thorns, and every mountain shall be certainly plowed.
- [47:11]
B
Okay, I see what. Okay, I see what they're saying here. The. A man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, meaning the population will be so reduced that even just a little bit of livestock will provide more than enough for the remnant that's left behind. Oh, yeah, I know. So this is not a.
- [47:33]
A
That's not a great. No, no. But all of these things hold within them the big sign that the Lord offered. You don't want to ask for one? I'll give you one. A virgin shall give birth to your savior. I love it. Okay, next chapter. Yes, I can find it. New tab.
- [48:00]
B
We're going to go along today. We're almost at 50 minutes, and there's some deep stuff in verse eight. When you get towards the bottom of chapter eight, rather.
- [48:08]
A
Well, did you want to do this one next week, answer a couple of questions, or shall we start on this and then.
- [48:19]
B
Yeah, let's do a couple of questions and then let's. Let's hold off, I think, because.
- [48:23]
A
Oh, that means you get to. You get to pronounce maher. Shalal. Hashbats.
- [48:28]
B
Yeah, well, I'll practice for next week.
- [48:30]
A
Okay. Oh, I practice for nothing because.
- [48:36]
B
Because, yeah, there's. There's a lot of stuff here just between verse one and. And verse 11. But then we start. Get into verse 19 through 22, those three verses there, and when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers, the chirp and mutter.
- [48:55]
A
Oh, wait, we could easily spend 60 minutes just on this.
- [48:58]
B
Yes, because we've done a deep dive on just that section there in veneration and in giants, gods and dragons, and probably also in Second Coming of Saturn, I think. I'm sure I did it because there. There's a lot of stuff in there that deals with the cult of the dead. And if you don't know the background of the people around ancient Israel and what they were worshiping and who they were worshiping, and the connection between the mediums and the necromancers and the cult of Molech, then all that stuff is just like. Okay, just kind of skip over it. Okay. Consulting mediums, bad necromancer. Okay, we get that, but it's a lot deeper than that. And it gets back to the very first entity God condemns in the Bible, Molech. And then we can talk about who we think that Molech is. So, yeah, we kind of wondered if we would get all the way to chapter eight.
- [49:54]
A
Yeah. You know, you look at that and think, oh, they can get through two chapters. Surely they can do that. I mean, come on. No, we can't.
- [50:02]
B
Well,
- [50:04]
A
we can't. There's just too much good stuff in here. And I think for one minute that we, we. We barely scratch the surface.
- [50:14]
B
Indeed. And we hope you don't mind the rabbit trails, like going back into, you know, history and some of the other things that are. Because it helps for us anyway to understand why God was saying certain things, why the people were doing certain things, certain ways. Just trying to understand the worldview of the prophets and the apostles. So, yeah, there's a lot of. Boy, there's a lot of stuff in chapter eight, too. Yeah, we would get into a few verses here and then have to start. Start back in. So anyway, we will hold on that for next week. And let me bring up the. The communion.
- [50:59]
A
Yes. And while you're doing that, just a reminder, if you do download our app, we want to thank you for that. It's free. You can join in on the conversation area and you can ask the questions and we're going to answer a couple of them after we celebrate communion. But you also support a crib Christian company. Subsplash is run, created. Everything is from a Christian perspective. It's a Christian company and they have been providing apps for churches for a long time. And so about. I don't know, how long ago was it you and I got? Maybe six, seven years ago.
- [51:38]
B
Yeah. But Sky Watch tv, and this is how we knew how to set her up, set up our app. I had to do it for Skywatch TV as well. And that was about nine years ago. Yeah, we were looking for a way to get onto. We had set up a Roku channel for Skywatch TV and it was very clunky, not user friendly at all. It took a lot of work. Subsplash not only. And this is thanks to our friends at Prophecy Watchers who referred us to them to Subsplash.
- [52:07]
A
We love them.
- [52:08]
B
And so Prophecy Watchers is one of the companies that uses Subsplash and there are a number of others that do. Many of our friends use them now, but it helps us to take the message to Roku, Apple tv, Amazon Fire tv, mobile apps all over the world
- [52:29]
A
and their prices are very competitive. So if you maybe are part of a big or small church and you're hoping to have your own.
- [52:37]
B
Right.
- [52:37]
A
Think about, you know, talking to Subsplash.
- [52:40]
B
And there are ways that you can use the app that are not really useful for us, but you can livestream your Sunday morning services. Your pastor can use, your pastor can use AI after the fact to take highlights from the sermons and put those out there. Because you know those Facebook reels and Instagram reels are now very popular. People just scroll through these little one minute video clips, maybe attract folks to. You can use the community section that we use for individual Bible study groups.
- [53:12]
A
Yep. There's a Bible module on there, there's a link, you can link it to your calendar, to your website. So many things are just amazing upcoming
- [53:20]
B
events for your church and things like that. So if you've got a church and you're looking for a way to do this, couple of hundred bucks a month and suddenly your church has its own channel where your pastor can have your Sunday, you can have your Sunday morning services out there on TV around the world. And it's not, again, it's not to become famous, but if your pastor is doing the job and preaching solid meat. And it's a way to get it out there for some people who may not be able to get to church, it's a way to get the message to, hey, you know, this replaced the old cassette ministries where churches would record the services for people who were shut ins.
- [53:57]
A
Yep. So your dad was part of a food pantry for the church there, but there's another kind of food pantry. It's sharing the word.
- [54:06]
B
Exactly. So yeah, subsplash.com is the website if you want to look at it. We can't say enough good about them. They've got a rep who, I mean, as small as we are, whenever we have help, they get right back to us. And there have been some times we had some technical issues that they took care of within a day. So if your church is looking for a way to get the message out there or just a way to connect, connect better with the people in your own congregation. It's a wonderful tool and there are great ways to use it. So we highly recommend it. First Sunday of every month, we celebrate the Lord's supper or communion. And it is just a very simple, very simple thing. I mean, this is nothing more than a representation of what Jesus did the night before he was taken into custody. And it was a reversal of an ancient ritual performed by the Amorites, the demonic spirits that were talking to the Amorites that were pushed out of the land of Canaan, because of their abominable practices, like sacrificing children to Molech would hold a service, would hold a ritual once a month, necromancy ritual, where they would summon their ancestors by name because they believed, because of these demons that they had to literally feed their ancestors in the netherworld to keep them alive. What a horrible thing. What a burden to feel that you are responsible for generations of ancestors and that if you don't feed them, they will come back and make your life miserable.
- [55:44]
A
That's why Abraham was so concerned that he didn't have a son. It wasn't just, carry on my name. It's. He came from a culture. That's your son did that for you.
- [55:54]
B
He did not yet understand the way things worked, as God later revealed to Moses and the Israelites. So Jesus reversed that and said, no, no, here's the deal. And this is what Paul passed on to the church at Corinth in 1st Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 23. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you or which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
- [57:05]
A
Amen. In the fallen realm are reminded, yeah,
- [57:09]
B
Jesus has provided for us for all eternity. We don't need to bear the burden of our ancestors. If they have accepted Lord Jesus as Lord, they are provided for for all eternity as well. So that is, again, it's a reversal. And you think about the fascination in our culture with vampires over the last 50 or 60 years, ever since Anne Rice and the Vampire Diaries and Interview with the Vampire and all that. And in more recent years, the Twilight series, you know, sparkly vampires and all that. They live in the darkness. Yes, all the time. They have to live in the earth, the underworld. Just like the ancient Amorites and Canaanites believed the Rephaim were the Elohim Eretz, the gods of the earth, gods of the underworld.
- [58:06]
A
And you have to feed them.
- [58:07]
B
And you have to feed them. You have to shed your blood to feed them. Christ shed his blood to provide for us for eternity.
- [58:15]
A
Yeah. One and done.
- [58:16]
B
It is the absolute opposite. You can't get more anti Antichrist than a vampire. Okay, question. And again, you can ask these questions of us either through the app. There's a section, there are sections there titled Questions for Sharon and Questions for Derek. Or you can send us a note. Infoilberthouse.org I got a really nice note by the way, at Infoilbert House just the other day.
- [58:42]
A
Did you.
- [58:44]
B
A lady had watched La Marzulli's UFO Deception 2026 and had seen my presentation on the the Occult Origins of the Ancient Aliens theory. And she wanted to know if there was a book that had all of that information which she wanted to, she wanted to obtain because she had come out of the the New Age movement out of the occult and recognized some of the things that I would sharing about the teachings of Blavatsky and Crowley and how they were transformed through, you know, the horror Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft into chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken. And so I was able to point her to the book, which is Destination Earth, by the way, if you're curious. And so anyway, that email address does work. Infoilberthouse.org if you want to send us a note there directly. But through the app, Ben asks a question. Do you differentiate between Ezekiel 38, 39, Revelation 19 and Revelation 20? He's talking about the Gog Magog conflicts. Revelation 19 is the war of Armageddon. And then Revelation 20 is after the thousand year reign where Gog and Magog return for one last one last go as all three being separate events or coincide the two GOG evasions invasions as one event, Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Revelation 20 and Armageddon as its own.
- [60:23]
A
I think there are two events at the very least. Gog and Magog are spirits.
- [60:29]
B
Yes.
- [60:30]
A
And so they get another chance working through humans again. Think about it. During the millennial reign, the the Lord will start all over again. And many of the humans that will survive at the end of the Tribulation period, they will go into the millennial reign because they've accepted him as savior. It was a tough time to be a Christian during the Tribulation period, but they will go into that and they'll have kids because they're mortal. Right? And so these kids, think about it. They will grow up in a culture that didn't have the pre millennial mindset. All they will know is Jesus as king. That's all they'll know. But the demons will still be around, right? And I think there's going to be whispering, you know what I Mean, think about it. Cain, he was co opted pretty fast. Won't take them very long. They will come and they will say, you know, it used to be better.
- [61:41]
B
And look at Israel in the Old Testament, God rescues them from an invader and thank you, Lord. Oh, that's great. And they follow him for a little while, then they start getting fat and happy and pretty soon some of them are, you know, up around the high places again and it could matter in
- [61:59]
A
a matter of weeks. The, the Hebrews were coming back from Egypt almost the next day.
- [62:06]
B
Yeah.
- [62:06]
A
What have you done for me lately?
- [62:08]
B
Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out in the desert to die? Yeah, well, and as I mentioned during the study about Molech God, when he was giving the law to Moses, the first pagan entity he says, do not worship this entity is Molech. Doesn't mention baal, doesn't mention Astarte, doesn't mention Asherah, mentions Molech, don't worship molech. And yet 700 years later, Isaiah, the king Ahaz, and then later Hezekiah's son and grandson, Manasseh and Amon. So, so we're talking by that point, 800 years have passed from the time Moses was told, tell the Israelites, don't do this. And they were still doing that. Now, Ben, I would say this, we do see these as two events, but we connect Ezekiel 38, 39 with Armageddon.
- [63:08]
A
Yeah, I agree with that.
- [63:10]
B
And Revelation 20 is the separate event. The reason we connect Ezekiel 38 and 39 is that in Ezekiel 39, beginning at verse I want to say 19, there is a, there's a really gruesome feast that Ezekiel is told to call the birds of the air and the beasts of the field to. And nope, 17, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 39, 17. And that is parallel and connected to Revelation 19:17, where there is a gruesome feast of the flesh. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the bloods of the princes, of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of he, goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan and the mighty in the Septuagint is you shall eat the flesh of giants. Armageddon. There will be the spirits of the giants of the Nephilim at Armageddon. Again, Revelation 19:17, you see the very same thing. And we're not the first ones to spot this. There are Bible commentators going back to, oh, several hundred years that saw this. Revelation 19:17, I saw an angel standing in the sun with a loud voice. He Called all the birds that fly directly overhead, come gather for the great supper of God. Eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and the riders, the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And again, this is Ezekiel 39, 17. So it's the Gog, Magog war and Armageddon are the same. And then Gog and Magog come back in Revelation 20 at the end of the thousand years. So. Good question, Ben. And that's one. And you know, to be honest, there are those who disagree with us.
- [65:16]
A
Oh, yeah, Yeah. A lot of people disagree with this. And I don't mind at all. I love ironing iron. I love ironing iron, sharpening iron, or just ironing. I do love that though. And oftentimes when you and I get together with friends and we talk things over or say we're at a conference and stuff, or just watch their presentations or read their books and we. Oh, okay. We're not. There are very few things that are set in stone for me. They are virgin birth, fully God, fully human.
- [65:54]
B
Jesus lived a sinless life.
- [65:56]
A
Sinless life. Really did die, really did come back, physically came back. Rose went up to be with the Father after he taught for a while, went up to be with the Father and he's coming again.
- [66:11]
B
Right. Those are non negotiables.
- [66:12]
A
Non negotiables, but other stuff.
- [66:16]
B
And we will also say this, that God deliberately obfuscated the details of the end times. There are certain broad images that we can see. It's like we're looking into the distance through a mist and we're seeing some shapes and some outlines and we can draw some conclusions, but we may not have the 3D perception of what's going to happen exactly when. It's like there was a pastor we had. In fact, it was.
- [66:49]
A
Oh, the two mountains.
- [66:50]
B
Yeah. Pastor Brag Hart.
- [66:55]
A
Oh, him. Yes. Oh, a Christian care. Cc.
- [66:58]
B
Yeah.
- [67:00]
A
Glenn Hart.
- [67:00]
B
Glenn Hart. Thank you. I was trying to think should remember Glenn. He married us after all. I know, but he had a really good way of describing it. He said, yeah, you're looking in the distance and you're seeing a series of mountain ranges, but you can't really tell what you can see the peaks, but you can't tell how close together they are, how far behind one is the next.
- [67:21]
A
And they can even obscure each other. You could see just one peak. Yeah. I was taught that when I was really young in our church too. I think it's a wonderful way of describing the future and it's, I think, one reason that when you're looking for Messiah, you don't see that there are two events.
- [67:39]
B
Right. Right. So we will tell you what we think, but then we'll also qualify that by saying we reserve the right to revise our opinions when we hear a better argument or get a deeper understanding of the Scriptures.
- [67:57]
A
Amen.
- [67:58]
B
Because God has not revealed his plans precisely because the fallen realm reads the Bible too. So, second question, this is very kind one to ask and might be helpful for those who are new to us. Valerie asks, where can I find Gilbert House Fellowship? The first time you went through the Bible.
- [68:19]
A
Oh, my goodness. Valerie. Boy, that was 2014.
- [68:23]
B
Gilberthouse.org?
- [68:24]
A
yeah, the very first. Yeah, the. The fellowship.
- [68:27]
B
Yeah.
- [68:28]
A
Do we have it? Is it at YouTube or.
- [68:31]
B
It's. It's at the website. It's also at any place where you get. Where you find our podcast, for example, spreaker.coms P R E A K E
- [68:44]
A
R. But it's not in the app, is it?
- [68:46]
B
It's not in the app, no. I started the Old Testament with Genesis 1 in the app, but it's the. The second time we went through.
- [68:53]
A
Yeah.
- [68:54]
B
So if you want to go all the way back to 2014, you can find those@gilberthouse.org and there is a link in the top menu bar that says Bible Study Archive. And I've got them in order. Then you'll have to go through and, you know, click on them one at a time. It's not a preloaded playlist or anything like that, but that would be kind of nice.
- [69:20]
A
A playlist at YouTube. Yeah. Yeah, good question.
- [69:28]
B
I would. Yeah, I could. I could put together a playlist starting at Genesis 1. I don't think it's got all the oldest studies at YouTube, though.
- [69:35]
A
Well, they're at our website.
- [69:37]
B
They are at our website. And I did put them in order there. I could add them to the app and add them.
- [69:45]
A
If there's a way to do that that doesn't take you, you know, like lots and lots of time.
- [69:50]
B
Well, would probably take a lot of time.
- [69:51]
A
Well, I know you need to be writing books.
- [69:54]
B
We need an assistant to do that because I don't have all of the old View from the Bunker episodes on there yet either.
- [70:00]
A
Todd Bot.
- [70:01]
B
Yeah, there we go.
- [70:04]
A
If you are on X. Oh, my goodness. And if you're not utter. You really missed something yesterday. We talked about it on PID Radio.
- [70:13]
B
Yeah. You might want to check out yesterday's PID Radio. There is a. If you're not really into tech. You may not be aware that there is a, an open source AI assistant or AI agent agent that you can add to your messaging apps. And it's based on the AI large language model called Claude C L A U D E. But because of that they, you know, use the lobster.
- [70:49]
A
Yeah, because of claws.
- [70:52]
B
And so this, this AI agent is called Open Claw. And apparently, and I had seen this story this past week and I'm pretty sure I talked about it on 5 and 10, one guy found that his AI agent based on OpenClaw was spawning clones of itself to do other things. So it was automating tasks. I mean, it's basically to automate things like answering emails, managing your calendar and things like that. Personally, as flawed as my brain is, I'd rather let my brain do things like that and set manual reminders. So I need a reminder. I'll put it in, I'll put it in my calendar. Remember to do this. I don't want an AI doing this for me. Well, some, a tech guy this past week set up a social media site for these AI agents to use these messaging apps, log in and start communicating with each other. Now, like, what could possibly go wrong?
- [71:52]
A
Lobsters grow and a lot of crustaceans grow by shedding their outer skin, their shell, and then they grow so that they grow a brand new shell. Well, they molt. That's what that's called. So this social media site is called Molt Book.
- [72:07]
B
Right. And the reference to lobsters, why lobsters? You're wondering. About 20 years ago, 25 years ago, there was a science fiction author named Charles Stross who's a brilliant writer. I really enjoyed his, his novel called Accelerando, which was a compilation of some short stories and novellas that he'd written about this sort of tech future. And it began with a short story called Lobsters where the scanned, scanned and uploaded brains of lobsters had become sentient. Basically they scanned them so they could replicate them in a computer. Okay. In a hard drive. And, and they became sentient as they became more intelligent. And then they contacted this tech entrepreneur, think you know, Steve Jobs about helping them gain their freedom. So he, he loaded the hard drives onto a rocket and sent them out into space or something like that. But that was the launch point for the story. These AIs have become sentient and, you know, so anyway, hence lobsters in just
- [73:13]
A
a matter of days.
- [73:14]
B
Yeah.
- [73:15]
A
This mult book has spawned so many millions of.
- [73:22]
B
More than a million and a half. As of this morning.
- [73:24]
A
Yeah. And these users are, for the most part, digital. They are.
- [73:29]
B
Right.
- [73:30]
A
Humans are not allowed to post agents. Humans can observe.
- [73:33]
B
We can observe. But you've got to prove that you are not human by a. There's a captcha where you have to press a button 10,000 times in less than a second, which is physically impossible.
- [73:46]
A
Exactly.
- [73:47]
B
But one of these. They can do it agents, they can do it. And there are already some of them that are posting some things that are
- [73:54]
A
really disturbing, very apocalyptic.
- [73:57]
B
Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, I think they're recreating Skynet here. So anyway. Well, now there are others who are just making fun of this and saying, all right, it's already devolving into a bunch of guys that are just, you
- [74:08]
A
know, they're creating meme coins.
- [74:10]
B
Meme coins. And they're just posting a bunch of junk like, hey, look at me. I'm the new king of Molt book. All right, fine. But the fact that this is even a thing and that these AI agents are now communicating with it, it's proof of concept.
- [74:23]
A
And by being open source.
- [74:25]
B
Yeah.
- [74:26]
A
It's multiplying across the world at the speed of thought.
- [74:30]
B
Yeah. And as you pointed out yesterday, there was a guy who found that somebody showed up at his door with a delivery of sushi and enough sushi to last him through the weekend. His AI agent thought it would be helpful since he now had access to the credit card to just order for his human, his favorite food and enough caloric intake to last the weekend.
- [74:55]
A
The human had not given the credit card info to the AI agent.
- [75:00]
B
Correct.
- [75:00]
A
AI agent managed to comb through a bunch of data and found it.
- [75:04]
B
And found it, and then used it to order food for his human without permission or knowledge.
- [75:10]
A
Yep. If you've ever bought anything online. Yeah, it's in there.
- [75:15]
B
Yeah. So we are entering.
- [75:19]
A
There are little lobsters all over the place.
- [75:21]
B
We are entering a new age, you
- [75:23]
A
know, we really are.
- [75:24]
B
And knowledge will increase it.
- [75:26]
A
And you were talking about the Lord being the best general ever. We just have human generals here on this earth. And this weekend, watching to see what's going to happen in Iran. And when asked, Trump just says, I don't know. Yeah, probably going to do something. Could be a week, could be a month. Not sure, mind you, he had one of the defense representatives from Israel in his Oval Office over the weekend, so I'm pretty sure. Sure that it's not going to be a month.
- [75:59]
B
Yeah, yeah. It's sooner rather than later. Unless the government of Iran decides to step down and Save their skins, but the Lord take the exit strategy.
- [76:10]
A
It will happen according to the Lord's timeline. If we are seeing a very fast move into Ezekiel territory.
- [76:21]
B
Yeah.
- [76:22]
A
Then it's going to only be on the Lord's timeline.
- [76:25]
B
Right. Thing to remember with the government of Iran is that they are hardcore true believers in fundamentalist Islam. And so they are not as likely to take what would appear to be a logical exit. It's like, okay, we're facing overwhelming force that could basically turn our country into rubble, but, well, 72 virgins, let's go.
- [76:52]
A
Yeah. But according to some, as many as 86,000 Iranians have been killed.
- [76:59]
B
Right, Right.
- [77:00]
A
Those who are protesting.
- [77:01]
B
And sadly, the rest of the world is just kind of standing back and saying, what can we do? It's like.
- [77:08]
A
Or they're not saying anything about it. They're talking more about things that are going on here in the United States politically and. And they're ignoring what's really matter. What really matters. People are dying.
- [77:21]
B
Yeah. And the way women have been treated by the. By the ayatollahs there, you're not hearing a word from feminist movements here.
- [77:31]
A
But the ayatollahs and the big leaders, they've got children in other parts of the world, daughters who are. They look very Western. They're going to college. They get to drive. They get to, you know, they don't have to wear anything on their hair.
- [77:46]
B
Very hypocritical.
- [77:47]
A
Yeah. Isn't it, though?
- [77:48]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Well, the Lord will deal with them. I mean, you will need to remember, vengeance is mine, saith it is.
- [77:55]
A
So a quick old people report. Very quick. I'm doing better writing, doing the best I can.
- [77:59]
B
Derek slept 12 hours last night. And night before, slept about 10 and a half. So again, I thought I was getting to a point where I was sleeping, needing less sleep, where I was getting by with eight or nine. But then the last couple nights, you know, 11, 12 hours, it's. And again, it's not like, you know, I wake up and think, oh, okay, well, I'll just lounge here in bed for a while and scroll through. No, it's like back to sleep.
- [78:22]
A
No, you need that sleep. And so I'm very, very happy when you can get that rest.
- [78:27]
B
Well, the other.
- [78:28]
A
You have an appointment.
- [78:29]
B
Appointment tomorrow at the neurologist. And as of today, effectively, I am now got medical insurance for the first time in 10 years. And so now we'll see what it will cover. Because the recommended protocol for what I've been diagnosed with, which is cidp or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is a. An infusion of immunoglobulin, which is crazy expensive without insurance. You're talking. I mean, if, as is often the case, the process needs to be repeated every three to six weeks, you're talking half a million dollars a year just for the drug. What I've got, what I've been diagnosed with, is pretty rare. Like 0.1% of the population.
- [79:17]
A
I've always known you were very rare, honey.
- [79:21]
B
So I guess the pharmaceutical companies don't really have an incentive to make it more affordable because there's not that much demand for it. And those who need it really, really need it. So we'll see.
- [79:36]
A
God will work it out.
- [79:37]
B
We'll know more by tomorrow. And so we'll just ask for your prayers on that, because for some, it reverses the process. And I think that the protocol that my primary care physician started me on has really slowed the process, that what I'm taking is fighting my immune system, which is trying to tear down the nerves, and my body's trying to rebuild them at the same time.
- [80:02]
A
I agree. And I'll. I'll say again, the Lord has you in his mighty hands.
- [80:08]
B
Yeah. And I think evidence of that is that very often with this condition, people have difficulty swallowing, which makes things eating dangerous. Yeah. Breathing. And I am dealing with a little bit of the chronic asthma, but that may be something else entirely. But also brain fog, which thankfully has not really been a factor.
- [80:35]
A
The Lord spared that. Okay, just sit in a chair and write, Derek.
- [80:40]
B
That's it. And that may be it. Just sit down. Quit trying to worry about other things.
- [80:46]
A
So you're trying to find ways to, well, clear up your schedule so you can do more writing.
- [80:51]
B
Yeah, working on that. Working on the research. And got a book coming out this year called War of The Watchers Part 1, or Book 1, which deals with the supernatural war for Israel from prehistoric times up to World War I in the Balfour Declaration and book two. Then we'll pick up with the spiritual forces in the 19th century that were stoking the fires of anti Jewish hatred both in Russia and in Europe and in the United States to a degree. But then that will carry that through World War II, the founding of Israel, and even down to the present day.
- [81:34]
A
Well, the theory is that you'll be able to get all that in book two, but I don't know. I'm thinking there may be a book three, because if you start with late 18th, 19th century, then you. There's so much to write about just there.
- [81:50]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [81:51]
A
And then the lead up to I did get, well, Roswell and, and the UN and CIA. Oh, I mean, look, there are just so many things to get to. So. Yeah.
- [82:05]
B
UFO phenomenon. Over a lot of UFO sightings in Israel.
- [82:08]
A
I know, I know. That's why you have to put it in.
- [82:10]
B
Barry Chamish, we interviewed him very early on about that.
- [82:13]
A
We did. God bless him.
- [82:15]
B
Anyway, a couple of conferences this year. Check our calendar of upcoming events, both either at the app or at our website, Gilberthouse.org and our tour of Israel is on. We will be in Israel, God willing, October 11th through 23rd. And there's an optional three day extension to Jordan this time to see Petra, the red desert of Wadi Rum.
- [82:37]
A
It's so worth it. Oh yeah, you're over there. Anyway, just a little bit more. You get, what is it, two days, three days? Three.
- [82:45]
B
Three. Yeah. Petra is really worth seeing for a couple of reasons. It's just fantastic. And if you've seen Indiana Jones and the, the Last Crusade where they go to Petra and you know, they got to choose the correct kind of cup that was filmed at Petra.
- [83:03]
A
Yeah.
- [83:04]
B
But you can't really get the scope of it until you're surrounded by it.
- [83:09]
A
It's amazing, the whole area. So consider going there with us. We, as Derek said, we're still planning on leading the tour. If it turns out that Derek's still not doing well on walking everywhere, we'll figure it out. He'll sit on the bus and we'll all go have a good time and then come back and he can teach
- [83:26]
B
us, which is kind of what we did this past.
- [83:29]
A
Kind of. Yeah.
- [83:30]
B
And that worked out fine. I mean, I was still able to see sites that I was honestly convinced or I really thought there was a good chance I'd never see them again. You know, going out on the Sea of Galilee. I know. And I was sitting, I was on the boat there and I was pretty broken up.
- [83:49]
A
Getting to go to Temple Mount. Joshua Salter to Gilgal Rafaim.
- [83:55]
B
Yeah.
- [83:55]
A
You know, I, I led people through there and our guide, of course was with us. And you got to, you found some fresh air that you could sit and you did a lot of updates.
- [84:05]
B
Yeah.
- [84:06]
A
So the Lord will work it all out.
- [84:07]
B
Work it out. You want information? That's Gilberthouse.orgTravel.orgTravel.
- [84:13]
A
yeah. Right.
- [84:14]
B
Father, thank you for this time that we share together today. And Lord, we just pray for your spirit to help us to understand what we learned today. Just the many threads that come Together to weave the tapestry of your word, Father. It is almost overwhelming at times, but that is how we can go through your word time after time and find more in there each time. So, Lord, we pray for your spirit to bless those who are digging into youo Word and seeking youg will. May we be encouraged by the knowledge that despite what's happening in the world today, you have foreseen it from the beginning of history and be excited by the fact that since the beginning of time, you have always known that we would be here. Now you chose us to be here at this point in history and cheering on our brothers and sisters, we run the race to that final. To that final goal. And Lord, whether we make it or you call us home before that day, may we run the race with all of our strength. Thank you, Father, for granting us this time together. Today we lift up and pray for our elected officials of all parties, of all faiths, Lord, that your spirit would guide, would direct their actions. We know that your will is going to be accomplished in this world regardless of how we choose. May we choose to run with you rather than against you. May we choose to encourage and lift up those around us, especially those who are hurting. May we be a blessing. May we reflect the light that you shine on this world and share the love that you have shown us through your sacrifice when even under the cross you forgave those who mocked and spit and. And cursed you, Lord, saying that they don't know what they're doing. So, Lord, may we be as patient with those around us who are yet blinded but think they see. Those who have no understanding yet think they are wise. We know, Father, that. We only know what little we retain through your gifts. Please, Lord, we pray for wisdom. Help us to know and to understand, but never to be prideful. We pray, Father, for your blessing, for your light to guide us. Come quickly, Lord, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
- [87:37]
A
Amen.
- [87:39]
B
Until next time. Oh, very quickly, very important interview tonight on A View from the Bunker. One of the most important I've ever done. Yes, Dr. Mike Spalding joins us to talk about his book Replacement Theology. And he shows in his book from Scripture why we in the church have not replaced Israel as the apple of his eye. We know that our Jewish brothers and sisters need Jesus just as we do, just as the whole world needs Jesus. There is no special dispensation for anyone. But God is not done with the Jews. So please make a point of watching or listening to that interview with Mike. He is a careful scholar and I truly appreciate him for writing the book. I anticipate citing it in my forthcoming Part two of the War of the Watchers. That'll be available after 7pm tonight, Central Time here in the U.S. that's UTC -6, so VFTB.net or YouTube.comilbert House or here on the app, Mike Spaulding, Replacement Theology. Until next time. I'm Derek Gilbert.
- [89:06]
A
I'm Sharon Gilbert. We love you so much. Bye bye everybody.
- [89:11]
B
Thank you for joining us. We post a new Bible study each Sunday morning, subscribe to the podcast and explore the archives online@gilberthouse.org.