Daniel in Exile Part 8

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks and the Sealing of Prophecy

All right, we are going to get started here. And kind of a little complicated bit that we're gonna cover on an interesting text. But it's part of our study of Daniel, so let's pray and then we will get rolling.

Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word, we ask that your Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what you have revealed there so that we may properly believe, confess, and do according to your Holy Word.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay, last week we did a wee bit of an excursus on eschatology, but we were applying what we had been learning from Daniel and how to read apocalyptic texts so that we can do this properly.

Hang on a second here, I'm gonna get my camera to, there we go, this is one of those cameras that kind of, it's supposed to follow me. There we go, you get the idea. All right, so when we were last in the book of Daniel, we were to the prophecy of the 70 weeks, which is a complicated, and I do mean it, complicated bit to kind of put together, but let's take a look at the details here.

70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and then here's an interesting detail, to seal both vision and prophet, to anoint a most holy place, all right?

So you'll note the details include sealing up prophecy. Now, I'm going to show you a book that if you want to get a copy of this, you have to call the Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and call their bookstore.

They have the reprint rights for this. If you try to order this book at Amazon .com, you will pay $200 for a paperback. You don't want to do that. You can get it for like five bucks plus shipping at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, but this is the book, and the name of it is An Evaluation of the Claims to the Charismatic Gifts, and it's written by a fellow by the name of Douglas Judish, and the one thing I can tell you about Douglas Judish is that this was written as a Baker biblical monograph and it was basically an academic paper back in the day.

So it's written on a high level theologically, and as a result of it, it's not the friendliest text when it comes to lay people reading it, and I will say this, that when I first read the book, I was a layman, and I thought, okay, my brain was mush after two chapters, but now that I'm a pastor and finished seminary and things like this, going back and rereading it, there's an argument that Judish makes that when I first read it, I thought didn't hold water, but now that I'm able to apply some greater exegetical skill to the question, especially as my Hebrew has grown, I've come to the conclusion that there may be something to the argument, and so in his book, he writes about the implicit testimony of Zechariah.

So there's explicit testimony in Daniel that we see that prophecy will come to an end, and then there is implicit testimony in Zechariah. It's not as clear of a case, but when you do the cross-reference work, it actually is compelling.

Zechariah 13 and Amos 9 as Cross-References to the End of Prophecy

So let me give you the text in question, and it is found in Zechariah chapter 13. Now, here's our context. On that day, there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Note the on that day, that specific yom in Hebrew is not referring to the end of the world. When we look at like Isaiah, Isaiah will talk about the day of the Lord, right? The day of the Lord, and when Isaiah's talking about the day of the Lord, pay attention, because the details will end up talking about what?

Death, destruction, God coming in wrath, things like this. This is a little bit different, and it kind of hearkens to something that we see in the book of Acts as well as in the book of Amos. Let me explain.

So at the Jerusalem council that convened in the book of Acts chapter 15 to finally, once and for all, put down decisively the Judaizing heresy. Here's what it says partway through the account in Acts 15.

And all the assembly fell silent. They listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied. So James, the half-brother of Jesus, he stood up and he said, brothers, listen to me.

Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen.

I will rebuild its ruins. I will restore it. And that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old. So he's quoting here Amos chapter nine.

So I think we're gonna have to go to Amos chapter nine and do a little bit of work there as well so that you can at least kind of see how this works out because these are your cross-references. So if I go to Amos, Amos is the prophet who used to make cookies and he's very famous for that.

Oh.

No. Yeah, no. It's too morning in the early. 10 years of purgatory for that one.

Wow. Okay, you guys, just, I'm, I'm, I'm. Tough crowd.

Yeah, tough crowd. Tough crowd. We went through a sermon, you're not wowing us. Okay.

So here's our context. Amos chapter nine, verse 11. Watch what it says. In that day. So it's using the same language as Zechariah. And you'll note that James in Acts 15 takes this prophecy and says it applies now.

Okay, it applies now. He's not talking about some future reality, he's talking about a present reality. In that day, I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as of the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Eden and all the nations who are called by my name declares the Lord who does this.

All right, so you kind of get the idea. There's a precedent in the prophets that the day of the Lord is referring to the day of judgment. In that day, you can see there's a consistency that is most likely referring to a time that is fulfilled with the arrival of Jesus Christ and his vicarious death, his resurrection from the grave and his ascension into heaven and the commencing of the new covenant.

So when we go to Zechariah and take a look, then again, on that day, there shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. This is talking about a reality that comes into play with the beginning of the new covenant, okay?

And here's what it says. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land so that they shall be remembered no more. Did you record this? Oh, let me hit the record button.

Yep, my apologies, there we go. And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land so that they shall be remembered no more. And also, I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.

And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, you shall not live for you speak lies in the name of Yahweh. And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

On that day, every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, but he will say, I am no prophet. I am a worker of the soil for the man sold me in my youth.

And if one asks, what are these wounds on your back? He will say, the wounds I received at the house of my friends. So interesting passage, and you're gonna know, you can't make a huge amount out of it, but it seems to concur with what we're seeing in Daniel, that there is a time coming when somebody merely by saying, thus sayeth the Lord, is guilty of prophesying falsely.

And when you consider the implications as to the context of when that occurs, it occurs at the same time at the end of the 70 weeks with the foregoing of the end of the time when there were Christian prophets, and now that we're full on into the New Testament era, there are no true prophets.

And I would note that historically, this is absolutely consistent, because I asked again the question, can you name for me the great prophets of Christianity from the sixth century? Ninth, 11th, 12th?

No, there are no names to be given, right? And the current crop of prophets, I will remind everybody that my wife and I happened to be caught up in the latter rain movement back in the late 80s during the time when they were making the claim that prophets had been restored to planet Earth, okay?

We were there, we're historical eyewitnesses of this particular phenomenon. And have you noticed, back when I was growing up, so you gotta think, some of you can do this along with me, some of you can't, but back in the day, put yourself back into like 1986, 1987, right?

When you get close to the end of the calendar year, the National Enquirer would have a front page story talking about what the psychics are saying is going to happen in the year ahead. Remember those people, right?

And so all the tabloid papers would write what the, not the prophets, but the psychics were saying was coming in the year ahead. There was nobody in the church prophesying. Here's what the word of the Lord, this is what's gonna happen in the year 1987.

There were no prophets back then, right? And as a result of it, you'll note that the history of the church has, from the time of the end of the apostolic era until very recently, it has been noted by what?

Scripture is the voice of God. And now you have the refiring up of so-called apostles and prophets, and one has to wonder if Zechariah here is not in fact, and I think there's a good case to be made here, he's prophesying of this time now.

Because you'll note that Christ says that in the end times, many false prophets would arise. Many false prophets to the purpose of deceiving, if possible, even the elect. Which would mean in order to not be deceived, you're gonna have to know your Bible really well.

Now, as I was preparing for this, one of the things I did notice is that I have a couple of commentaries that are written from a premillennial point of view. Premillennialism doesn't necessarily mean like what we see in the Left Behind series.

That's a form of premillennialism. Remember, in premillennialism, there's a variety of beliefs. Sometimes the rapture can happen before the tribulation, it can happen in the middle of the tribulation, it can happen after the tribulation.

So you got your pre-, mid-, and post-trib, people who believe, and they are premillennialists. They believe that the millennium, that when Jesus returns visibly, he's going to establish on planet Earth a thousand-year, literal thousand-year reign where Satan is bound and he will rule planet Earth for thousands, very specific years, and humanity will still be sinful.

It doesn't make a lick of sense. But what I do find fascinating is in reading some premillennial commentaries by authors who hold to the premillennial view, they all, and I mean every single one of them, believe that Zechariah 13 is talking about the time during the millennium, which is a notable feature because they don't see this as, they see this as this is going to happen during the millennium while we're in it.

Okay, if you can demonstrate that we're in the millennium and the millennium itself is a figurative number that basically looks at from the time of Christ's ascension until the time of his return, they've just misunderstood what the millennium is, but even they say that this is a millennial reality.

So that is, I think, an interesting argument because when you do the exegesis, they don't see the day coming as the day of the Lord, but a time related to the millennium. So you'll note that is an interesting argument.

So the Bible actually prophesies through Zechariah a time when anybody merely getting up and saying, thus saith the Lord, that is the sign they're a false prophet. And I can tell you this as an expert in the field, and I'm declaring myself an expert because I've been studying this for decades, I have tracked down every single major prophet in the charismatic movement and the New Apostolic Reformation and the Pentecostal movements, and I can say definitively there isn't a single true prophet among them, not a single true prophet among them, not even one.

So just kind of throwing that out there. So I think that we can make a case here that what we're seeing in Daniel chapter nine is actually the reality of where we are at right now. And where are we at right now?

We're in the time when prophecy has been sealed. And it makes sense if you think about it, because when there were true prophets, what do we do with their prophecies? We collected them up. They got written down.

They became part of the Bible, right? All right, now let me check questions on this. The prophets of the Roman Catholic Church. I like the way you wrote that, P-R-O-F, right? Yeah. Rachel says, I was pretty young in the 80s.

I was younger, for sure. I looked a lot better, too. You should see the before and after pictures. They'll horrify you. The before is glorious. The after, the present is, whoa, what happened? All right, so I give you that as just a data point, because you'll note that even in Judish's book, he says that it's implicit, and it's harder to prove.

But I like to tuck that one away, and I've been chewing on it for a long time. And the more I chew on it, the more I actually think we're in that era. Because, and my own experience bears this out. I haven't seen a single true prophet, not one,.

By people claiming to be a prophet. Yes? What do you think, you know, was the catalyst?

The impending return of Christ, yeah. So the question was, what's the catalyst for all of these false prophets and stuff like that? And the answer is the impending return of Christ. So you'll note that God's words do not ever fall to the ground.

Jesus is king of kings and lord of lords, and he is prophet, priest, and king. He doesn't give false prophecies. Now, what happens is, is that, well, this is kind of fascinating, is that today's so-called prophets, like Chris Vallotton and others, they claim that Jesus said that in the last days that there would be many false prophets.

And they argue, well, if he's saying that there's gonna be many false prophets, that logically means that there will also be some true ones. It actually doesn't follow. It legitimately does not logically follow, okay?

Because you'll note that Christ nowhere says that there will be true prophets. He just says that there will be many false prophets. And if you're not paying attention, there are a lot of them. And man, oh man, I mean, it's like shooting fish in the barrel.

Like every time I do a preparation for Prophecy Bingo, I do not have to try hard to find these wingnut wackerdoodles. And somebody asked me recently, what's the point of Prophecy Bingo? Why do you even do that, okay?

And my answer was actually quite simple. Prophecy Bingo exists as an activity that somebody can participate in along with other people, which will then demonstrate to them definitively that all of these prophets are liars and they're false prophets.

And the humor is designed to take away the fear of them because many of the people that we serve online have come out of churches like this and they tell horror stories of how so-called prophets have bound their consciences and ruined their lives through their false prophecies.

So by laughing at them, it gives them the ability to step back and say, there's nothing to fear here, right? That's the whole point. Yes. Yeah, yeah, I will say that Prophecy Bingo does have a tendency to be well-respected among the atheist crowd, which some people try to hold up and throw in my face as like, you need to stop doing this.

The atheists are having a heyday. Yeah, I already know. I've legitimately told people in the comments in the past when they say, you know, the atheists, they're just eating this stuff up. I sit there and go, the atheists are more honest than you are.

Yeah. Okay, they're far more honest than you are. So, and the thing is, if we don't clean house and we're commanded by God to clean house, okay, you'll note that when somebody preaches falsely, the scriptures command that they be silenced.

Now, it's pretty tough to do nowadays because which church body's gonna reign these people in? There isn't one, there isn't one, but you'll note that back in the day, false prophets would have been reigned in, and it's very fascinating stuff.

Balaam’s False Prophecy, God’s Sovereignty, and the Nature of True Prophecy

So coming back then to Daniel chapter nine, let's take a look again. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity. That's talking about the crucifixion of Christ.

To bring in everlasting righteousness. Ah, that's the righteousness of Christ by grace through faith, the righteousness that Paul talks about in Romans chapter three. To seal both vision and prophet, they are sealed.

Have there been any additions to the Bible since the death of the apostle John? Nope, right? And which kind of begs this question, well, if there were true prophets today, why do we not have more books of the Bible, right?

Now, one of the arguments that people are making nowadays is they'll say that just because somebody gives a false prophecy doesn't make them a false prophet. That is insane, okay? And the reason why that is absolutely insane is because when God is speaking, he's going to be heard.

I always like to reference the story of Balaam. You guys remember Balaam and the donkey? Okay, was Balaam a righteous dude? Did he go to Jennifer Leclerc's prophetic activation school? Did he pay his 500 bucks to be activated by a prophet?

No, the guy was a flat-out syncretistic charlatan, straight up, and when he was hired by Balak, the son of Baor, he was hired to curse Israel. That was what he was going to do, and you'll note that Balaam, the prophet for profit, you can tell that his job, based upon what Balak hired him for, is that he was the guy who can kind of dial up, you know, he had different deities on speed dial on his iPhone, right?

And so he whips out his iPhone. Notice I'm contextualizing the story, okay? He whips out his iPhone, and he dials 1 -800-YAHWEH, and Yahweh picked up, okay? It's actually kind of fascinating, and so you'll note that even when Balaam prophesied, this horrible guy who was later executed by Israel, okay?

And the story, why don't we just do the story, okay? Hang on a second here. This is one of my favorite stories. I love the story of Balaam. Hang on a second here. Balaam, the son of Baor, Balaam, okay?

And let's see, Messengers, here we go. Numbers 22, Numbers 22, all right, great story, okay? When it comes to prophets, you don't even have to have good character, okay? If God talks to you, you're gonna know it's God, number one, and what he says is going to come true, and it's gonna be true, number two, and you'll note that even the Israelites, even though the human source was this man they executed, they still gathered up his words and add them to the scriptures.

It's very fascinating. So the people of Israel, here's number 22. The people of Israel set out and they camped in the plains of Moab. I always hate that word. I cannot read this without going, ugh, Moab.

It means from the father, and you remember the story of Lot and his wife and his daughters, okay? His daughters got him drunk, slept with him, and then got impregnated by their father, and so the first child that was born because of that was called Moab, from the father.

So they immortalized the concept in the name of their tribe. It's like, who does that, okay? All right, so they set out and camped in the plains of Moab on the Jordan at Jericho. Balak, the son of Zippor, saw that all of Israel had done, that they had done to the Amorites, and Moab was in great dread of the people because they were many.

Moab was overcome with fear, the fear of the people of Israel, and Moab said to the elders of Midian, this horde will now lick up all that is around us as the ox licks up the grass of the field. So Balak, the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam, okay?

All right, the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the river, in the land of the people of Ammon, to call him, saying, behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite of me.

Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

So he's got, this is your spiritual mercenary, okay? Yeah, all right, and it doesn't matter which deity is involved. He can call them all, right? So the elders of Moab and the elders of Minyan departed with the fees for divination.

You see the problem here? Does anyone see the problem here? Okay, the fees for what? Chesem, divination, the guy is a warlock. Okay, yes, all right. So they had their fees for divination in their hand, and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message.

And he said to them, lodge here tonight. I'll bring back word to you as Yahweh speaks to me. He knows the name of the God of Israel. So stay here, I'm gonna call up Yahweh and see how this goes. So the princess of Moab stayed with Balaam, and God came to Balaam and said, who are these men with you?

Now, I want you to think about this for a second, okay? What was I recently watching? I was like watching one of these scam callers. Yeah, I love these YouTube channels that deal with scam callers. And so what was happening is that this guy was pretending to be an old lady, had some voice transmogrifier.

So he was pretending to be an old lady, and he was talking to a scam call center in India. And they're trying to scam this person out of his money. And so he pretended to have a full-on conversation with his bank on a different phone.

And I was cracking up because there was nobody on the other line, okay? So the person from India was listening in, going, no, no, no, say this, say this, say this, this, ta, ta, ta, ta. And it was like the whole time that he was just pretending to be on the phone with his bank.

So I thought that was kind of funny, which I think this is how Balaam probably operated, right? You know, because do Chamash and Shira and Baal, do they exist? No, okay? They don't exist at all. By the way, Chamash, what an interesting name.

Did you guys see the new statue that was put up in New York City to Chamash this week? Was it the week before? Holy smokes, okay. Pentacle arms. Yeah. Lack of balance scales. Yes, that's Chamash. Okay, yes, the xenomorph head, yeah, yeah.

So Chamash is back. Wow, it's like living in the times of Ghostbusters, man. We're gonna have Zool show up next. You're definitely gonna cross the streams. Okay, whatever you do, don't cross the streams.

Okay, but all that being said, the way, you can tell the way Balaam would operate is he would get on the phone with Baal. Hey, Baal, this is Balaam, yeah. How's it going now? Yeah, we need to bless these people over here and there's a group of them we need to curse.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got the fees for divination. You think you'd pull that off for me? Sure, I'd be happy to, yeah, that's great. Thanks, Balaam, it was good to talk to you. We'll chat next time, all right?

And he's just pretending to have a conversation and he's not, okay? That's kind of the point. Ah, my camera's zoomed in. How do I get this thing to stop doing this? What was the? Did you do a hand gesture?

I did a hand gesture. I, y 'all can really see me, can't you? I don't know what to do. Was it one of these? No, well, let's see here. That might be it, hang on a second here. Let's see, no. Yeah, I think it is this, hang on a second.

Well, it's not recognizing it. Please, zoom out. Face broke the camera? Yeah, my face broke the camera, of course. To be expected, hey, that worked, that worked. Good for you, Stephen Elliott, all right.

All right, so you see this is what's going on and so Balaam says, I'm gonna go talk to Yahweh and Yahweh shows up, okay? Did not expect that, okay? So God's first question, who are these men with you?

And notice that Balaam isn't sitting there going, is that you, God? Have you ever listened to anybody teaching how prophecy works today? Have you read Chris Vallotton's book, his textbook on learning how to prophesy?

It is an absolute scream, okay? Because the implication is, is that it's all up to you to figure out how to hear God's voice. You gotta practice hearing it, which means God's off somewhere going, hi, can you hear me?

Hello, it's the Holy Spirit, right? And then somebody's on the other end going, is that God? I'm not sure. Like a drive-thru speaker. Right, right. But every one of these stories, when God talks, people go, okay, yes, God.

Okay, yes, sir, yes, sir, right? So God came to Balaam, who are these men with you? And Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent me saying, behold, a people has come out of Egypt.

It covers the face of the earth. Now come and curse them for me. Perhaps I'll be able to fight against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam, you shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.

Oh, wait a second. I thought that Balaam could curse people and bless people. Doesn't that say that on his business card? Okay, the people you bless are blessed, the people you curse are cursed, right?

Thanks for calling 1 -800-BALAAM, right?

I'll curse your enemies for five easy pages. Right, that's right. You'll note that there's a big cost.

For cursing your enemies, and we do have installment plans. But anyway, so note here, God says, nope, you can't curse them, they're blessed. Whoops, so Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balaam, go to your own land, for Yahweh has refused to let me go with you.

Now, here's the thing. He is out of money on this one. He is losing a lot, okay? So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak, and they said to him, Balaam refuses to come with us. And do you know what they think this is?

They think it's a negotiation tactic, okay? Have you guys ever watched, like, you know, Pond Brokers, you know, the Pond Stars? It's hilarious. Somebody brings in, like, this is a Gibson Les Paul played by the guy who's in Queen, you know, and how much are you asking for it?

100 grand, right? And then they negotiate. When they get to the end where they're negotiating, well, what's your asking price? I want 100 grand. The guy's gonna leave there only getting 70 ,000 for it, right?

Because the negotiation always kind of works that way. And so they think that this is a negotiation. Once again, Balak sent princes more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, thus says Balak, the son of Zipporah, let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me, I will do.

Come, curse this people for me. But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of Yahweh my God or do less or more.

Now, I think he's saying this under duress. Because all of a sudden, Yahweh is his God, okay? But this guy is wicked. So you too, please stay here tonight that I may know what more Yahweh will say to me.

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, if the men have come to call you, rise and go with them, but only do what I tell you. So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

And this is where it gets really fun. Again, I think he's doing this all under duress. I'll prove it in a second. So God's anger was kindled because he went. And the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as his adversary.

Who is the angel of Yahweh? Jesus. Literally Jesus. Literally Jesus. And he's got a sword in his hand, okay? Now, he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand.

And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. The donkey knows what's going on. Balaam doesn't at this point. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road. She just saved his life.

Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall.

So he struck her again. Then the angel of Yahweh went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she laid down under Balaam.

And Balaam's anger was kindled. And he struck the donkey with his staff. Then Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam, what have I done to you that you've struck me these three times?

Donkeys don't talk. And Balaam, he just talks back. Balaam said to the donkey, well, because you've made a fool of me. I wish I had the sword in my hand for then I would kill you. And so the donkey said to Balaam, am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all of your life long to this day?

Is it my habit to treat you this way? And he said, no. It was a great conversation. No. Then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand.

Yeah, rut row. Yeah, this is quite the event. So he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of Yahweh said to him, why have you struck your donkey these three times? By the way, do you think Jesus cares about how we treat our animals?

Yes, he does, right? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse. Is Balaam an example of a great moral man of God? By the way, in some of these prophecy schools, if you're not hearing the voice of God, they're claiming that you have unforgiveness in your heart or you have unconfessed sin or anything like this.

Is Balaam a true believer in Yahweh? Not on your life. His way is perverse before Yahweh and God is talking to him visibly face to face. And he says, if she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and I would have let her live.

The donkey is holier than this man. So then Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I'll turn back. And the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, go with the men, but you speak only the word that I tell you.

So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak. So does Balaam have a sword to his neck? Yes, he has a sword to his neck at this point. And so he knows that if he says anything other than what Yahweh gives him to speak, God's gonna take his head off his shoulder.

He's gonna kill him, he's gonna strike him down. So he's prophesying under duress, okay? Now, were there any of the Israelites here to see this? Nope. So you're gonna note, this guy's about to prophesy and the words in his prophecy become part of the Bible.

Now, I don't like using this term in this way, but it's true, you could say to a degree that Balaam, this wicked, perverse, horrible man, he is technically an author of Scripture. Because Scripture is when the Holy Spirit carries somebody along and gives them words that are inspired.

He's got a real message from God. But man, do I hate to say it like that, right? Because this guy is wicked. So when Balaam heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the border formed by the Arnon and at the extremity of the border.

And Balaam said to Balaam, did I not send to you and call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? And Balaam said to Balaam, and you can tell at this point how measured he is, because he's being honored by seeing the prince of Moab face to face.

And the guy is promising to pay him handsomely for his cursing. And what does Balaam say? Behold, I've come to you. Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.

Are you suggesting that God has been wrong? Yes.

The question was, am I suggesting that God has violated Balaam's free will? Yes. Is God acting like a gentleman here? No. Right? How many times have you heard from charismatics? The Holy Spirit is a gentleman.

He'll never make you do anything contrary to your will. Balagna. Okay. Yeah, Jonah's proof of that not being true, and so is Balaam. So the word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak. So then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth, and sent for Balaam and the princes who were with him.

And in the morning, Balaam took Balaam and brought him up to Bahmath-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people. The story continues. Balaam said to Balaam, build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me seven bulls, seven rams.

Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram, and Balaam said to Balak, stand beside your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me, I will tell you.