Ezekiel Part 35

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Ezekiel Part 36

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Let's pray. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word and we consider what your word says, we ask through your

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Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what is revealed there so that we may properly believe, confess, and do according to your holy word.

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We ask in Jesus' name, amen. We have been working our way through the book of Ezekiel. Last week we did a little bit of an excursus, really kind of getting at the topic of understanding the proper distinction between the two kingdoms, if you would.

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I'm going to build a little bit off of that because there's some things I want to drill down into a little bit that we covered last week, but I want to make sure that we have it properly understood, and then we'll continue with our walk through the book of Ezekiel.

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So we were talking about the two kingdoms, and there was a question that came up last week that was given by Marilyn Matheson, and so I'm going to have to refer her to this recording because she's not here presently today at Kongsvinger, and the question related to how are we to understand the

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American Revolution, and let me give you the context that the question was asked in because when we talk about governing authorities, we have to make some important distinctions today, especially because of the rampant errors that are out there as a result of what's called

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Christian nationalism, which is neither Christian nor is it nationalism. It's just something really weird, but so here's our text.

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Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

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Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

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Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is a servant of God, an avenger who carries out

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God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid

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God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

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Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

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There is much that we can say in this regard, but the question that we're going to take a look at in light of this is what are we to make of the

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American Revolution? Did some research on this. And some of our best scholars actually argue that the

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American Revolution is not an act of insurrection. Here's their basic argument.

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Their basic argument is that the men who put forward the Declaration of Independence were rightly elected and installed magistrates, lesser magistrates of the

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British Commonwealth, the British Empire of the time. And so they were truly our local governing magistrates.

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And so they see the American Revolution as a defensive war, kind of similar to what would be known as a civil war.

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And so in that particular case, it was not a result of insurrection or true rebellion, but it was a defensive war fought by a monarch who overreached.

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And so I thought that was kind of an interesting case if you were to think of it. So why are we to think of the American Revolution? I think there can be a compelling case argued that the

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American Revolution then was truly a defensive war, kind of like along the lines of a civil war. And that being the case, their particular grievances, you'll note that the

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King of England was not keen on solving those grievances or addressing them properly, but just wanted to kind of strong arm his agenda.

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And that didn't work out so well. So all that being said, then when we talk about the left -hand kingdom, there's some important things we must understand.

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So when did Paul write these words in Romans 13?

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Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Who was in charge of the nation that he or the empire that he was a citizen of?

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Who was the Caesar at the time? Nero. Nero was

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Caesar at the time this was written. Nero, the guy who ended up having

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Peter and Paul executed. So that being the case, what are we to make of this?

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Because the Christian nationalists claim is that because the governing authorities are required to do what is good, therefore, we must have

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Christian nationalism because the government has to bend the knee to King Jesus, is their claim.

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Did the Roman Empire, was God requiring them to bend the knee to King Jesus? Was the

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Roman Empire even aware that they were a servant of God to do, to carry out his will and to avenge those who were doing wrong?

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Were they even aware of it? No, not at all. And so you're going to note here that how many of the governments on planet earth did

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God institute and how many of them did he not? He instituted all of them.

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Therefore, number one, is there a mandatory governmental structure that the

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Bible demands of all nations? No.

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Okay. So Christ instituted the Roman Empire? Did he institute the monarchy of the

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British Commonwealth? The Constitutional Republic of the United States of America? The tribal councils of the

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Navajo nation? Yeah, he did. So whether a government is even aware of Christ or not is completely not even an issue.

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You remember in the Old Testament, who did God, God send to destroy

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Jerusalem and to punish the idolaters of Judah? Nebuchadnezzar.

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Was Nebuchadnezzar at the time, anybody who was a believer in the sovereign God? No, not at all.

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So even while he was still a pagan, God used him for his purposes. So when we talk about the left -hand kingdom, the left -hand kingdom, faith in Christ or even an understanding of who he is, is not required for the state to do their job.

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And there's a very specific reason why. When it comes to God's law, do

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I or any human being need, in the truest sense that I'm going to say this, do we ultimately have to have a

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Bible tell us what is right or wrong? Or does the Bible say that we have the law of God written on our hearts?

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It's written on our hearts. So if I were to travel to Malawi, is murder a crime that they punish in Malawi?

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Yeah. Is murder a crime that they punish in Japan? Is murder a crime that they punish in Afghanistan?

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How is it that we have this universal understanding that murder is evil and that the governing authorities are supposed to punish those who murder?

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Because not everyone is San Francisco. Great answer. Okay. They still punish murderers in San Francisco too.

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Just not with the same vigor. Okay. So you'll note that Romans 13 does not require the governing authorities that Christ has ordained to even be aware that they were ordained by Christ.

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And you'll note then that the governing authorities pretty much all intuitively know their job is to what?

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Keep order. And Christ has instituted them for that. When we talk about every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God, the Father, when will that take place on the last day?

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Now, some will bend the knee willingly. Yes, Jesus is

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Lord. Woo -hoo. This is the best thing ever. They will just marvel at all the nations bending the knee to Christ.

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But when you think of, you know, notable atheists who've died through the ages, right, then having to bend the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord, are they doing so in faith? No. Are they gloriously praising him as God?

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No. They're just being, it's a compulsory thing on their, you know, they're being, you know, forced to admit the truth, but that truth at this point does not save them.

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Right? So the idea then that somehow there is a command that nations, that governing authorities bend the knee to Jesus Christ in this present curse creation before Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, this is patently false.

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Okay? And then when you start pointing out what the scripture says about what the end is going to look like, their rhetoric goes something like this.

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Oh, you're just saying that we're going to lose here rather than win. We're going to win now is what the scripture says.

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No, it doesn't. And so they'll misquote a text. Let me, I'm going to challenge you guys on this.

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I want you to kind of think along with me for a second. Okay? Jesus says in the great commission, are you ready?

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Here's the great commission. Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them all that I have commanded you. Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

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Did you see what Jesus said? He said, make disciples of what? All nations.

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Well, there it is. There it is. We are going to make, we're going to make disciples not of just individuals or a population, a small portion of the population.

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We're going to make disciples of all nations. And don't be so biblical.

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Greek word there is ethnos. Yeah. All peoples. Right? Now I would,

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I would ask you a question. How would you argue that that does not mean that Christians are to actually convert 100 % of the population of any particular nation?

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Do you have a biblical text that supports it? That concept that we're, that's not what

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Jesus is saying. Three rules for some people. Biblical exegesis are context, context, context.

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Context doesn't help us out here. So next best thing is what? Cross references.

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So what's, what's a clear cross reference that explains what Christ means about the gospel being preached and disciples being made in all nations.

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Think of a good cross reference. That's a great, that's a good one.

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So, so argument number one, Christ has anticipated entire towns or regions rejecting you when you preach the gospel.

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And what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to change the message and make it more appealing to them. And it set up a secret sensitive mega church with a hot rock and roll band and a smoke and mirrors light show and just water everything down.

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And then, then they'll, then they'll want to, no, that's not correct. Okay. No.

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So, so what are we supposed to do? Shake the dust off of our feet. Okay. The Christian nationalists, their solution would be to call down fire and brimstone from heaven.

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By the way, the disciples thought about that. They actually vocalized that. Okay. Should we call down fire from heaven?

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And Jesus is like, ah, okay. Hang on a second. I gotta find that, gotta find that text.

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Right. Fire and hang on a second here. Heaven. And I want this in the gospels.

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Hang on a second. Oh man. It's such a boneheaded move on this part of the disciples. Okay, here we go.

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Luke nine. Hang on. This is just a great passage. Okay. Okay.

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So when the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He set his face like Flint.

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And so he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.

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But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John saw it, they said,

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Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and to consume them? And Jesus says, way to go, my little

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Nazis. You've learned your lesson, right? Sorry. He rebuked them.

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Jesus turned to rebuke them. We don't even get the verbal tongue lashing. We just know that he did. Right.

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And then he went on to another village. Right. Okay. So that's a good argument.

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Christ anticipated what that people would reject him. And we're told to just shake the dust off our feet and move on.

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Okay. Which means that Jesus anticipated that there would be places that would not receive the gospel. Great argument.

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Give me another one. Ah, yes.

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To be a Christian, you'd be persecuted. And this gets to what I consider to be one of the other super -dee -duper awesome cross -references.

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It's found in the gospel of Matthew chapter 24. So let's, let's take a look here.

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Okay. So in Matthew 24, again, context. So as Jesus sat on the

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Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately telling, tell us when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

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Okay. Sign of your coming and the end of what? The age. What's this, what's this next thing going to be about?

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The end of the age. Okay. So Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray.

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Many will come in my name saying, I am the Messiah, or I am an anointed one, and they will lead many astray.

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Does that sound like anything happening today? This is why we have prophecy bingo. Yeah. And then you'll, you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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Yeah. I hear about that all the time. See that you are not alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom.

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By the way, that's a great argument. If they're all Christians, what's all this warfare going on between them? Right. Okay.

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Kingdom against kingdom, there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are, but the beginning of birth pains.

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Here we go. Then they will deliver y 'all up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all what?

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Ethnos, all peoples, all nations for my name's sake. Well, if they're

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Christian nations, why would they hate Christians? Right.

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And then many will fall away, betray one another and hate one another.

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That sounds like today. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

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And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Does that sound like today?

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Okay. So what's the primary problem in the United States? We have a governing authority that governs the people of the

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United States. That is hell bent, words chosen carefully, on making legal all the things that they are commanded by God to punish.

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Right. And the only thing you can't do now is make somebody feel guilty for sinning.

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Okay. So you have all these rioters who've burned down entire portions of the country.

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Are any of them in prison? No. Who gets sentenced to two years in prison? An old lady who prayed in front of an abortion clinic, sentenced to two years in prison for simply praying.

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And nowadays, okay. So now we got trans story hour at your local library.

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Right. All of this is what? Lawlessness.

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And so everybody in our country who has any kind of moral compass is sitting there going, something's wrong, something's broken.

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Right. And so I know, you know what the solution to all of this stuff is?

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Let's, let's embrace Nazism and bring Hitler's ideology back. I kid you not.

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That's the argument. And if you don't agree with them, then you're, you're in league with the trans agenda. So because of lawlessness will be increased.

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The love of many will grow cold. In other words, let me put this in different, in a different phrase.

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Have you guys noticed that everything is going according to plan? How long ago did

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Jesus say these words? Yeah, give or take.

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2000 years, give or take. We're almost, we are almost to the 2000 year anniversary of Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

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We're not quite there. But we're, we're less than a decade away from that. So 2000 years ago,

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Christ said all of this was going to be happening. We should be looking at this and going, yeah, we should just relax because everything's, everything's going according to plan.

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Right. But notice what he says. The one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom, this is now going to get to the next part of the answer, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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It doesn't say, Christ did not say, and this gospel will be preached and all nations will become godly

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Christian nations. He says that the gospel will be preached as what?

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A testimony to them. So the, has the gospel been preached in the

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United States of America? Was preached this morning. Not only at Kongsvinger, multiple faithful congregations around the country preached the gospel today.

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They heard of the love of Jesus Christ. And you know what? Do you think that the majority of people in this country even give a rat's butt about it?

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Nope. But the gospel has been preached here. That's a testimony to this nation. And if this nation decides that it doesn't want to have anything to do with it and just go down the way of lawlessness, the only thing we have is the gospel.

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Well, what, well, well, well, you're making it sound like we're going to lose. No, we already won.

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Let's just kind of work this out here. Okay. Y 'all ever seen that, that television show undercover boss.

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Okay. It's, it's fascinating television. I got to admit, but some of my favorite episodes are when the undercover

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CEO shows up at one of the franchise stores or restaurants or whatever. And they have a lippy out of control, narcissistic, abusive employee.

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Right. And this, huh? Usually a manager, right?

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And what does that undercover boss have to do? Has to sit there and take it, has to sit there and watch it because they're just the person that was hired four minutes ago.

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Okay. And so they're sitting there taking it. Do you think for a second that they're losing?

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Because ultimately the best thing happens and that is off comes the makeup and the costume and outcomes, the

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CEO badge. And that person who was abusive and all this kind of stuff who was winning, all of a sudden they realized,

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Oh, the person who was really in charge is here. Hasn't Christ already given us the kingdom who's really in charge here.

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Jesus is. And you know what? They can rage all they want, but Christ is coming again.

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And guess what? When he shows up in glory to judge the living and the dead, doesn't matter what anybody did to us.

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Doesn't matter if we lost our lives in our confession of Christ, because Christ is going to sit there and go,

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Nope, I cancel your murder of this saint of mine. And I'm raising him from the dead and you who murdered him.

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Oh, by the way, I'm raising you from the dead too. And off to hell with you. Christians get to be vindicated.

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And who rules and reigns for eternity on the earth? Will there be any

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Marxists or fascists in the new heaven and new earth? No. Will there be anybody doing trans story hour in the new earth?

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No. There will be no murders or thefts or anything like we won't even have. What's a lock?

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Why would we need such a thing? Right? So we don't lose.

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We've already won. And here's the thing. How did Christ win his death and his resurrection?

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Are we not instructed to follow in his footsteps and to overcome evil by doing good and if necessary to lay down our lives as he did and to participate in his own sufferings?

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All right. Now you go, Pastor Rosemarie, you're sounding really fatalistic. Are you saying we should do nothing?

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No, I'm not. So what can a Christian do in the midst of all of this? Okay.

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Answer. Participate in the government. Have you guys noticed the supreme lack of actual

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Christian congressmen and senators who legitimately understand the word of God?

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Why is it that we always get the shady Saul Goodman types who run for office?

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Exactly. Okay. So how do we turn things around? Get involved.

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Run for office. No, it's not.

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Okay. If you vote your values, that's Christian nationalism. No, it's not. Okay.

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Because we have no pretense that somehow the United States of America will ever be a

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Christian nation. By the way, Luther has an entire treatise that he wrote on temporal authorities and to what extent we should submit to them.

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It's an entire treatise. It's wonderful. You can find it on the internet if you look for it. And in there,

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Luther argues against the idea of a Christian nation. And there's a very specific reason why he does.

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I want you to think about this for a second here. Christians, are we controlled by the law or are we controlled by the spirit, the

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Holy Spirit? Holy Spirit, right? If this nation were 99 % filled with bonafide believers in Jesus Christ, filled with the

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Holy Spirit, would we need strict, hard laws?

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No, we wouldn't. And so Luther was against the idea of Christian nationalism because a

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Christian nation doesn't need a hard rod. It would be the best place to live ever until it's conquered by the

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Marxists. But that's a whole other story. Okay. But all that being said, so you'll note then. So Luther was opposed to the idea because the idea of Christian nationalism is a complete flipping of the categories of law and gospel.

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We're ruled by the spirit through the gospel. We are not driven like senseless beasts by the law.

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The law was not given for the righteous. It was given for sinners. Right?

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So I want you to think about that. Now, that doesn't mean that the law doesn't inform us what a good work is. That's not what

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I'm saying. But when it comes to the civil use of the law, are Christians primarily the ones known for going out and murdering people and being riotous and insurrectionists and all this other kind of stuff?

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No. Okay. Not, no, they're not. So the idea then is, is that if you want a

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Christian nation, you're going to have to convert the vast majority of your population to Christianity before you can ever have a

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Christian nation, because a Christian nation doesn't need to be ruled hard. So what's the purpose then of the left -hand kingdom?

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Well, to punish the evildoers. So here's the deal. Those who are dead and trespasses in sins, what is keeping them in check?

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The government. And they have to be driven. They have to fear punishment.

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You know why people pay their taxes? Because they fear the IRS coming and seizing their home.

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Right? And where there is no fear of punishment, what happens to crime in the states?

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It goes up. Right? Again, I go back to this thing, you know, people in New York, I mean, good grief.

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You can practically get away with stealing anything you want at any time of the day. No one's going to prosecute you for it. Those, and so what happens is you have criminals going from Florida.

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They commute from Florida to New York to commit crimes in New York. And once they've committed their crimes, they commute back to Florida and they dare not step a toe out of line in Florida.

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Why? Because Florida will throw them in prison. New York won't. Isn't it weird?

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You now have commuter criminals. They want to live in Florida where the laws are strict, and they want to commit their crimes in New York where they don't punish criminals.

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Right? So the purpose of the governing authorities, whether they understand that they're commissioned by Christ or not, is to punish the evildoer.

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Full stop. And so by doing so, you'll note they keep chaos in check.

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But when it comes to faith in Christ, there is only one institution. Where you're going to hear the gospel.

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You're not going to hear it from the government. You're going to hear it from the church.

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And the church has been tasked with the job of preaching Christ and him crucified for our sins, administering the sacraments, preaching the word.

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Faith does not come by driving somebody hard through the law. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

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So the church then, the function of the church is to preach law and gospel.

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Full stop. People sit there and go, well, the church needs to speak out against this thing or that thing, right?

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No, my job is to preach the word. And if this thing or that thing comes up in the text that I'm preaching on, sure,

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I'll address it. Otherwise, my job is to preach the word. So you'll note that Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, nor the

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AALC, put out an official statement regarding George Floyd, right?

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It's not my job to do that. I have my own opinions about it. I keep it to myself.

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But when it comes to George Floyd, Kongsvinger has no official position because that's all left -hand kingdom stuff, right?

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My job, you know what I did during the BLM riots? I preached the text that was in front of me, assigned for that Sunday, and I administered the sacraments, right?

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You know what I did during the early part of January in 2020 while they were raiding the

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US Capitol? I preached the text that was assigned for that Sunday and administered the sacraments.

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Well, you need to be relevant. You need to speak out. No, I don't. My job is to preach the word. If you're looking for political commentary, watch your favorite news channel.

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The job of the church is to make disciples of all nations, to preach all that Christ has commanded, to preach the word and to administer the sacraments.

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Only through the work of the church are people going to have faith in Jesus Christ, right?

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And you'll note that everyone's got this all backwards. And Christian nationalists are legitimately arguing that they can convert the

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United States into a Christian nation at gunpoint. The sword doesn't convert anybody.

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Only the gospel does. It's been tried many times, and you know what?

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All it's done is created a lot of graves, okay? Every time it has tried, millions have died.

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Yeah, Islam is like the constant version of this, right? And so you'll note then, am

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I trying to create a theocracy here in northwest Minnesota? No. You know you have a point.

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Right now, it's nice, okay? Just give it a few months and the snow will be back. But for the most part, people don't want to live here.

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My job isn't to create a theocracy here in northwest Minnesota or anywhere. My job is to preach the word.

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When does the kingdom of Christ become not an article of faith, but something that we see with our own eyes?

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On the last day. So right now, the kingdom of God is an article of faith.

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Christ says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it's not of this world, does that mean it's not of this world?

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Yes, it means it's not of this world. I think the most scandalous statement in all of the creeds is this one.

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He suffered under Pontius Pilate. Why doesn't the creed say, and Jesus hacked

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Pontius Pilate to death with a sword? It says he suffered under Pontius Pilate.

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And no authority would have been given to Pilate to do anything to Christ if it hadn't been given to him from above.

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Was Pilate even aware that he was given authority from God until Christ said those statements?

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No, not at all. Pilate was completely blind and oblivious to it because welcome to sinful fallen humanity.

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They actually do the will of God without even knowing the God whose will they're doing. And until Christ said to him, you would have no authority over me if it hadn't been given to you from above,

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Pilate was completely oblivious to that authority given to him from God the Father. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, was it wisdom attends to the right and folly to the left?

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There's a verse like that too, but that's a whole other story. But yeah, all right.

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So I think I've done the topic to death, but it's important that we understand this because we're in a portion of Ezekiel where God is legitimately meeting out judgments against Gentile nations who legitimately don't even know him.

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And it's like, you know, it's like, can you imagine being the king of Tyre going, dude, you got an email from God, from Yahweh.

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Yahweh? You got mail. You got mail. Those are the days. There was usually a noisy racket that was prior to the you got mail part.

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Those are the days, right? And you got mail. But there's the king of Tyre and he's looking in his email box and there's a legitimate email sent from Yahweh through Ezekiel.

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He's going, what? Yahweh is the God of Israel.

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What have I got an email from him for, right? So when you consider the section of Ezekiel, you have to understand it in light of the two kingdoms.

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And so the kingdom of the left, whether they recognize it or not, they were instituted by God.

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And whether they acknowledge that they were given a task by God, God's still going to judge them based on whether or not they did it.

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Isn't that weird? Okay. So let's come back then. Ezekiel 28, 20.

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Prophesy against Sidon. They don't even know you, Yahweh. Doesn't matter.

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So the word of Yahweh came to me, son of man, set your face towards Sidon, which is north of Israel, right?

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And prophesy against her and say, thus says the Lord Yahweh, behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in your midst.

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And they shall know that I am Yahweh when I execute judgments in her. It's like, wait,

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Yahweh is God? They will know that I am Yahweh when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her, for I will send pestilence into her and blood into her streets.

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And the slain shall fall in her midst by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am

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Yahweh. And for the house of Israel, there shall be no more a briar or a prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt.

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Then they will know that I am the Lord, that I am the Lord Yahweh. Now, does

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Israel currently exist without any fear of hurt from her neighbors?

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No. No. Kind of, you know.

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Have you noticed that the tourist industry in Israel has completely tanked, okay? Who's wanting to go to the

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Holy Land right now? I bet you can go for like five bucks, okay? But there's not a guarantee you're going to return alive, right?

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There's a war going on. And Israel, have they ever really lived in peace since they returned in 48?

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No. So when is this supposed to happen? The house of Israel, there shall be no more a briar or a prick or a thorn to hurt them.

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That's figurative language talking about the neighbors of Israel. God's going to remove all of that.

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Last day, right? Last day. And then you'll note here that, again,

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God is speaking all these judgments against nations who don't even know him, and yet they're supposed to, and they don't. And he's going to judge them accordingly, despite the fact they didn't even know him.

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Right? But then God here now begins to talk about security of Israel.

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So thus says the Lord Yahweh, when I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant

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Jacob, and they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely when

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I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am

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Yahweh, their God. Has this happened yet? And which

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Israel is God talking about here? The genetic descendants of Abraham?

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Or we who are counted to be the sons of Abraham by faith? Right? So you'll note they ask catalogical promise here.

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Here we go, prophesy against Egypt, but Egypt doesn't worship Yahweh. Why would

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God have a prophecy against them? Well, they're supposed to know him, but they don't.

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And the Egyptian government was set up by who? God. Right? So in the 10th year, in the 10th month, on the 12th day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me.

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Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Prophesy against him and against all of Egypt.

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Speak and say, thus says the Lord Yahweh. Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

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This sounds familiar. See Exodus for cross -reference. I am against you,

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Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams that says, my

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Nile is my own. I made it for myself. Well, it sounds like idolatry, doesn't it?

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Okay. Note the reference to the dragon here. That's a reference to Satan. I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stink to your scales.

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And I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales.

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And I will cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams.

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That's going to smell terrible. And you shall fall on the open field and not be brought together or gathered to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens.

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I give you as food. Yes. Yeah, it is a good, yeah,

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Joe's great cross -reference on this. I would also note the book of Revelation is a good cross -reference on this when it talks about the bodies of the slain on the last day, you know, basically strewing the earth like dung and being consumed by birds and things like that.

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This is a picture of the last day. Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am

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Yahweh. Is Egypt a primarily

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Christian nation? No. Not at all. Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

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When they grasped you with their hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders. And then when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.

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Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, behold, I will bring a sword upon you. I will cut off from you man and beast.

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And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh. Because you said the

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Nile is mine and I made it. No, you didn't. That's just idolatry.

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Therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams. And I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation from Migdal to Syene, as far as the border of Kush.

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No foot of man shall pass through it. No foot of beast shall pass through it. It shall be uninhabited for 40 years.

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And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries. And our cities shall be a desolation 40 years among cities that are laid waste.

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I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. For thus says the Lord Yahweh, at the end of 40 years,

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I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin.

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And there they shall be a lowly kingdom. It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms and never again exalt itself above the nations.

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And I will make them so small that they will never rule over the nations.

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And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel recalling their iniquity when they turn to them for aid.

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Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. Isn't that interesting? God's intent is that Egypt will forever then be a lowly nation because it's a way of reminding them of God's judgment.

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Because back in the day, in Israel's day, in the day of Ezekiel, in the days of Jeremiah, who were the people of Judah relying on to come and rescue them?

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Not God, Egypt. So they will forever be a lowly nation as a reminder of the fact that you were relying on them rather than on God.

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In the 27th year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, son of man.

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Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare.

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Yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her.

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Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it, and it shall be the wages for his army.

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I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored because they worked for me, declares the

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Lord Yahweh. On that day, I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel. I will open your lips among them, and then they will know that I am

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Yahweh. I will cause a horn to spring up for Israel. Who do you think that is?

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Christ, right? So you'll note, it's not too much longer after the exile that Christ is born.

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It's a few more centuries for sure. But again, God here is legitimately giving consolation and comfort by pointing to the fact that everything that's going on, he's in charge of it.

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So, all right, something for us to consider then. We're going to end here. I'm going to try to be responsible and get over to Emmanuel just a little bit earlier than I have been for the past couple weeks.

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So, all right. Peace to you, brothers and sisters. Keep us in your prayers. So, Lord willing, we will see you all next time.