Winning Stupid Prizes

All right, we're gonna say a quick prayer Lord Jesus again as we open up your word. We ask that you would send your spirit open our hearts and our minds So that we may rightly understand what your word teaches so that we may believe correctly So that we may walk according to your will and according to your ways to the glory of your holy name.

We ask in Jesus name. Amen. All right last week. We are we're working our way through 1st Samuel chapter 14 and we got partway through the story of Jonathan and Saul and the children of Israel in this encounter with the Philistines.

It begins with that great almost Braveheart esque story of Jonathan and his armor-bearer taking on the whole army of the Philistines because God had given them into their hands and It was just epic. I mean you can almost see the purple face paint and you know, never mind.

But anyway, you get the idea, but while while that battle was going on that Jonathan began and With the Lord's help really the Lord fighting the battle for them. The Philistines began slaying each other there was all kinds of confusion in the in the camp of Israel and.

King Saul.

Gave a command which was a rash thing to do that basically said any man who eats anything Until we're done That person is going to be under a curse. Makes perfect sense. No, it actually makes no sense at all because you know being a soldier even in today's modern world is quite a Physical activity and your troops if they are famished they are not capable of doing well and so we're going to pick up as the story continues and We're gonna see what happens here.

We're gonna go at verse 24 for Samuel 14 24. The men of Israel had been hard-pressed that day. So Saul had laid an oath on the people saying curse be the man who eats food until it is evening. And I'm avenged on my enemies.

So none of the people had tasted food now when all the people came to the forest behold there was honey on the ground. And when the people entered the forest Behold the honey was dropping. But no one put his hand to his mouth for the people feared at the oath, but Jonathan had not heard his father's charge the people.

Regarding the people and the oath so he put out the tip of his staff that was in his hand dipped it in the honeycomb and Put his hand to his mouth and his eyes became bright. Then one of the people said your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying cursed be the man Who eats food this day and the people were faint?

Then John said Jonathan said my father has troubled land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies?

That they found for now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great so you'll note here that Saul's rashness By laying an oath on the people. This is similar if you would to when we as human beings create man-made laws.

That Christians are bound to obey. I mean, this is kind of a good way of thinking about it. So in the time of medieval Catholicism There were rules that were put into place rules such as you cannot eat meat on Friday that's that still applies today and If you know your Roman Catholicism, then you'll know that this has in the past been enforced with what threat.

Is it a mortal or a venial sin if you eat meat on Friday? Mortal, it's a mortal sin. If you die with a mortal sin on your heart, do you go to heaven or hell? Not not you don't even go to purgatory in their system.

You go straight to hell. So there you are eating a whopper char broiled double whopper with cheese and pickles and lettuce and onions and Special sauce and it's Friday afternoon and you're just oh. This is the best thing ever.

You think I like whoppers, by the way, and so As soon as you leave Burger King after having enjoyed this whopper on a Friday. You're walking across 32nd and you get hit by a bus and you die. Doesn't matter that you've had faith in Jesus Christ your entire life.

Jesus is gonna you're gonna stand before Jesus and he goes. Yeah, I see you were baptized. I see you trusting me for the forgiveness of your sins. Whoa, you ate a whopper five minutes before you died on a Friday and he says I never knew you.

Like a fire for you. Does that seem ridiculous? It does doesn't it is there any rule in the Mosaic Covenant that says that if a soldier fights During a battle and then takes a break and has something to eat that God is going to curse him.

Nope, totally man-made rule. And so you'll note that we human beings also act very irrationally. All right by inverting invoking a curse upon the person who ate this food. That now he's he's literally, you know, and you know, this curse is invoking death and for what what's the principle at stake?

What commandment is being broken? So then go well, maybe it's the fourth commandment. But is it this was the sin of omission not a sin of commission on the part of Jonathan. He had no clue. That there was such a rule that said if I eat today, I'm under a curse no rule no concept at all.

So we're gonna see here that Saul has really kind of plummeted. He's really plummeted as far as his overall character. Not only is he does he offer sacrifices which he is not permitted to do within his office.

Now he's he's adding to the Torah. He's adding to the law and basically adding in a sense.

You know.

There's these rash without any thinking whatsoever man-made rules with the threat of death attached to it. This is nonsense. But that's how our human nature is. Have you ever I mean if you've heard stories of people who live in very aggressive Muslim countries today maybe Pakistan.

Do they write Sane rational laws as it pertains to Christians. It seems like from day to day you have no idea what rules are gonna be put in place. Which ones are gonna disappear or whatever? It's like you're just from on a day-to-day basis.

You just don't know what's coming down the pike. That's the same kind of rationale that's going on here.

So.

Jonathan dipped the tip of his staff dipped in his honeycomb put in his mouth. He says John says that my father's troubled land see how my eyes had become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.

And see that's the thing God Replenishes our strength through means and the means that he's chosen his food makes perfect sense. So this law that Saul had made on the fly Flies in the face of how God replenishes his people normally.

So Johnson says how much better if the people had eaten freely of the spoil. Other enemies that they found for the defeat among the Philistines has not been great so now we see that because the soldiers are worn out and fatigued and our need to have MREs in order to Resustain themselves, you know the battle that could have been even better.

More victorious was less victorious, but it gets worse. They struck down the Philistines that day from Mikmash to Ajalan and the people were very faint. The people pounced on the spoil took sheep and oxen and calves and Slaughtered them on the ground and the people ate them with the blood which they're forbidden to do.

So this man-made law. This rash command by Saul that is contrary to nature itself Resulted in not only a you know, a victory that wasn't so great. It resulted in people now sinning against a real command of God By eating food that has blood still in it which the Jews of that time were forbidden to do.

So then they told Saul behold the people are sinning against Yahweh by eating with the blood. And he said you have dealt treacherously roll a great stone to me here. Saul said disperse yourselves among the people and say to them Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat and do not sin against Yahweh by eating with the blood so every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there and Saul built an altar to Yahweh.

It was the first altar that he built to Yahweh. So then Saul said let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light. Let us not leave a man of them and they said do whatever seems good to you.

But the priest said let us draw near to God here. So he decides he's gonna press the attack he's gonna do a nighttime attack now, this is in the days before infrared and the kind of weapon systems that we have today so that people can actually See into the night.

So a nighttime attack is kind of a rare thing in the ancient world and Obviously, he's thinking he needs to do this in order to kind of make up for his blunder with his rash Stupid command with the oath attached to it.

And so I know what let ever let all the guys Have a little bit of food. They won't get a full night's sleep. We'll let him get a little bit of rest but we're gonna we're gonna surprise the enemy with a nighttime attack and the priests Said whoa, slow down there partner slow down.

We're got it.

We got to check to see if God's gonna give us the victory. Now if you know your Mosaic Covenant that as part of the Mosaic Covenant the priests had These things that were called the room and Thuman. You familiar with these terms?

The Oram and Thuman were not exactly sure how it worked. But it because God instituted and it was part of the priestly garb that you can ask the high priest a question and the question will be going to God and the Oram and Thuman.

Based upon how the colors worked with the stones. The answer would come back either yes, no or no answer at all. Those are the three options kind of yes, no or God ain't talking to you. So they're gonna ask God should we press this attack against the Philistines by night?

Should we do this and they're gonna use the Oram and Thuman for the purposes of that. By the way, if you know your Mormon history Joseph Smith claims to have had the Oram and Thuman. You familiar with this.

So the way the story goes the Book of Mormon was written down on golden plates.

That were.

Hidden hidden in the hill Camorra in New York and the angel Moroni helped Joseph Smith find these golden plates and he found them and ran home with them. Gold plates are pretty tough to run with but anyway because they're pretty heavy.

But you know, so he was given a special ability apparently these the the Oram and Thuman were like Peeper stones and he put them into his hat and he claims that he can translate the Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics, which apparently the Book of Mormon was originally written in and he would stick his face into the hat and he can magically see through the hat and the Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics would translate into English and then he would Dictate to a person behind a curtain because the person on the other side of the curtain weren't wasn't allowed to see the actual golden tablets and so.

That sound like it's hotel to you. It should what when the book when the Mormons talk about the Oram and Thuman just Chalk that up to like the legend of Paul Bunyan, you know, it's it's out. It's out there.

Oh.

Paul is real you Minnesotans. You're so silly. Oh, that's funny. Okay. Hey Paul. Paul Bunyan anyway. So then Saul said let us go down after the Philistines by night plunder them until the morning. Let us not leave a man of them and they said do whatever seems good to you.

But the priest said let us draw near to God here and Saul inquired of God shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel, but he did not answer him at that day. So he used Urman Thuman and it came back nothing.

So Saul said come here all you leaders of the people and know and see this sin has arisen today so he's Detected that a sin has occurred and that this is the reason why God has turned his face from him and is not answering his Question so as at for as Yahweh lives who saves Israel though it be in Jonathan my son He shall surely die.

And Jonathan said I shall not die and stop calling me. Surely. So I Just love that joke. He shall surely die. But there was not a man among the people who answered him and then he said to all Israel you shall be on one side I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side and the people said to Saul do it seems good to you.

Because they know what happened, right? Therefore Saul said Oh Yahweh God of Israel. Why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son Oh Yahweh God of Israel give room.

But if this guilt is in your people Israel give Thuman Jonathan. Saul were taken but the people escaped then Saul said cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan and Jonathan was taken. So God ratted out Jonathan.

So then Saul said to Jonathan. Tell me what you have done. Jonathan told him I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I'll die. No problem. Go ahead. Kill me. Does that sound like a sin worthy of death to you?

No, Saul said God do so to me and more also you shall surely die Jonathan. What a terrible rule what a terrible consequence for what and remember who started the battle? Jonathan and his armor-bearer did right?

So then the people said to Saul then you can almost hear the anger and the rage shall Jonathan die. Who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it as Yahweh lives there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground for he has worked with God this day.

So the people.

Ransomed Pada Jonathan so that he did not die now. It's important to note here that the fact that they ransomed Jonathan hints at but not explicitly. So we can't push too hard on it. But it hints at the possibility that there was a substitute that died in Jonathan's place.

Probably an animal like a sin sacrifice or something like that. You know, that's how ransoming took place. So there's a real possibility here that even Jonathan had to have a substitute so that he didn't have to die here.

But something did so a sacrificial animal of one type or another and you'll note up above in the context. It makes it clear that there was an altar built to the Lord. So kind of fascinating. So then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines.

The Philistines went to their own place. When Saul had taken the kingship to over Israel he fought against all his enemies on every side against Moab against the Ammonites against Edom against the kings of Zobah and Against the Philistines wherever he turned he routed them.

And he did valiantly instruct the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered him. So this little segue right here. It's kind of like the highlight reel, you know. This is the highlight montage of the mighty things that Saul does.

So he did valiantly. Zobah went what a great name by the way, and he did valiantly struck the Amalekites delivered Israel the hands of those who plundered them. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan Ishbi Malki Shua.

The names of his two daughters were these. The name of the firstborn was Merab and the name of the younger Michal and the name of Saul's wife Ahanoam the daughter of Ahamaaz and the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of.

Ner.

Saul's uncle Kish was the father of Saul and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul and when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man He attached him to Himself.

Now comes the kind of final plunge now you remember that When Saul had offered sacrifices which he was not permitted to do as king that God had already Rejected him as king. Remember that that had already happened.

And so in the similar way that there's kind of a multi-step process in Saul's ascent. There's also a little bit of a multi-step process in his descent in his total rejection so already he is acted in a way that he's not permitted as king of Israel and God has already rejected him and now the rejection is going to be complete if you would with this next story.

And so it's kind of fascinating what Saul doesn't do along the way. Repent. That's the interesting thing. So for Sam of 15 Samuel said to Saul Yahweh sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel.

Now therefore listen to the words of Yahweh thus says Yahweh of hosts. Yahweh Saba oath. Saba here is means armies. So Yahweh of armies. I Have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way.

When they came up out of Egypt now go strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them but kill both man and woman child and infant ox and sheep camel and donkey devote to total destruction.

This is an act of judgment now. It's important to note here that in the Old Testament things are in type and shadow in the New Testament. You see the fulfillment. Jesus is prophet. He's priest. He's king.

When Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead. And he devotes all of the earth to destruction. Which office is he really acting in King? This is kingly office. So note here that God has given an explicit command and it's a command of judgment.

God has judged these people and he's decided that their sin has reached the level where he says enough is enough and To make an example of them as an example of God's judgment against those who persist in sin and unbelief.

You King Saul are to utterly destroy them wipe them off the face of the earth. This is God's command and his instrument for it is King Saul who technically should be acting in type and shadow To Christ so he's gonna fall way short though way short.

So we read so Saul summoned the people numbered them in tell I am 200 ,000 men on foot 10 ,000 men of Judah and Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites go depart go down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them.

For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as sure. Which is east of Egypt and he took a gag the king of the Amalekites alive.

Whoops.

Not supposed to do that and he devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword but Saul and the people spared a gag and The best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatted calves and the lambs.

And all that was good and would not utterly destroy them all that was despised and worthless. They devoted to destruction. Was that what God said to do? Nope, so we've got a problem here. So the word of Yahweh came to Samuel important words here because what's gonna follow?

Is not Samuel's opinion. It's gonna be God's opinion. God's opinion of Saul and what Saul has done and We're gonna hear kind of fascinating words. God says I regret that I have made Saul king. For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

That same word for regret by the way shows up in Genesis chapter 6. It's not whom. That same word shows up in Genesis chapter 6 when it says of God that he regretted. That he had made man on the earth.

You'll note the impact that our sin has on God and although he knows the end from the beginning. It still grieves him to his core. So God regrets that he made Saul king. He's turned back from following him not performing his commandments and Samuel was angry and he cried to Yahweh all Night.

Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning and it was told Samuel. Saul came to Carmel and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal and Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him Blessed be you to Yahweh.

I Have performed the commandment of Yahweh.

Really.

So.

Saul thinks he's done it. So Samuel said What then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear he didn't kill him. Uh-huh. Now remember Samuel has had a conversation with God.

So Saul said They have brought them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. I know to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Yeah to sacrifice.

Yeah. Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna sacrifice those good sheep and stuff. Yeah. He's lying through his teeth and He's shifting blame notice the deflecting. He's confronted with his sin the buck stops where at the top and When confronted with his sin, he says they.

It was them. They passed. They are the ones who did it. They are the ones.

Uh-huh, and not only that. The shift blame he even came up with a pious explanation for their shameful or disobedient behaviors because they were gonna sacrifice. The rest we've devoted to destruction.

Samuel said to Saul stop. Stop, I will tell you what Yahweh said to me this night. And he said to them speak. Samuel said though you are little in your own eyes Are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

Yahweh anointed you king over Israel and Yahweh sent you on a mission and said go devote to destruction the sinners the Amalekites and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh?

I remember He just said that Yahweh is the one who talked to him, right?

So.

Samuel's not giving his opinion. He's basically revealing to him what the Lord told him. And then he asked the question Why did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight?

Of Yahweh. I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh. He says I have gone on the mission in which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek. Which is not what he was supposed to do and I've devoted the Amalekites to destruction, but.

The people people.

They took of the spoil the sheep and the oxen the best of the things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. And Gilgal. And Samuel said Has Yahweh as great as a light and burn offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold to obey is better than sacrifice. And to listen then the fat of Rams and. This is one of the more most important sentences in all of Scripture. Verse 23. Rebellion is as the sin of divination and the Hebrew word for divination Kasem.

Literally, you can translate that as witchcraft. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Presumption is as Iniquity and idolatry. So note we have rebellion and presumption. All in Saul. Now think of Jonathan for a minute.

Think back. Was Jonathan presumptuous regarding attacking the Philistines. No, not at all. He was the exact opposite of presumptuous. He did not act unless he had a sure word from God that he knew that God was going to give him the victory.

Saul had a clear word from God.

And.

He just stopped listening to it and just presumed a whole bunch of stuff and in the process. He was rebellious and so rebellion and iniquity or rebellion and presumption are Like witchcraft and idolatry and they really are they really are and I want you to think about this in the book of Second Thessalonians.

It talks about in the last days that there will be a great rebellion against God actually within the church. It's we call it the great apostasy. You've heard the prophecies regarding the great apostasy.

That within the very church itself the visible church there would be a flat-out rebellion against God in his own church and Rebellion is like what? Witchcraft divination and I think it's not Not a coincidence that the form in which the apostasy in our days has taken shape Sounds a lot like witchcraft and divination with word curses and Word just nonsense crazy things like this and oh the presumption presumption of it all and so at the very core then Saul is Rebellious and he's presumptuous and we see it in spades in the two stories that we just read about him.

So God's is now spoken his judgment rebellion is as the sin of divination and that's Saul's sin. Presumption is as the iniquity as an equity and idolatry again. We see this in Saul in spades because you have rejected the word of Yahweh he has also rejected you from being king and is that not always at the heart a Rejection of God's Word Gets you in all kinds of trouble all kinds you think about.

What happened to the mainline denominations? Where did their rebellion against God start because we see it in our day now where you have church bodies entire church bodies ordaining and penance and homosexuals and All kinds of nonsense that goes along with it, right?

Well, that's where it is today. Where did it all start though go back in time? Where did it start? 19th century what higher criticism the whole point of higher criticism was what? To attack the authority of Scripture.

To deny that it is an inspired book to make it a book just that's basically mere human stories. That doesn't have authority or anything to say that's binding on us in our belief and our actions today.

So Where we are now Began with a rejection of God's Word in Paul in Saul's life. We see it all happening in the course of his brief stint as king at this point. He's rejected the word of the Lord. He's not attentive to it doesn't believe it doesn't obey it.

And so as a result of this God has rejected him from being king and you think at this point He might get the picture, right? So Saul said to Samuel I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh and your words if he had stopped there we would be dealing with a confession.

But he doesn't stop there. Because I feared the people and I obeyed their voice. Who is he blaming Them I sinned but it's their fault. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before Yahweh.

What was his sin exactly? That he listened to the people. You see this is a convoluted confession. What's exactly are you supposed to be forgiven for? So Sam has said to Saul I.

I.

Will not return with you. You have rejected the word of Yahweh and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel. As Samuel turned to go away Saul sees the skirt of his robe and it tore. Samuel said to him Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours.

Who's better than you. And also the glory of Israel will not lie or? Have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret. So then he said I have sinned yet. Honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and return with me.

Then I may bow before Yahweh your God. So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul bowed before the Lord. So notice he wants to put on pretenses for the sake of himself. Isn't that weird? He doesn't want everyone to know what's going on here.

So Sam has said bring here to me a gag the king of the Amalekites. A gag came to him cheerfully. A Gag said surely the bitterness of death is past. You can almost see him saying that smugly, right? So Samuel said as your sword has made women childless.

So shall your mother be childless among women. Samuel hacked a gag to pieces before Yahweh and Gilgal. And everyone said Wow, that's the king's job not the prophets job. But I digress. So we see then here that kind of summarizing where we've come to at this point.

When we're studying the concept of kingdom. This has been set up in such a way so that we can really contrast the kingdom. That men look for humanity looks for and the kingdom that God brings.

Saul.

Represented everything that we would ever want as sinful human beings in a king.

Tall.

Handsome rich. And. Despite the fact at the beginning of his reign. He is given the Holy Spirit and given a new heart. He doesn't attend to the Word of God. Continue to believe in it and act on it. He rejects it.

And this ultimately has him spiraling out of control. Spiraling out of control first by offering sacrifices, which he's not permitted to sacrifice and then by him literally straight up rebelling against God by not devoting to destruction that you the Amalekites.

And then you also see in there his presumption his presumption regarding his Stupid rule about nobody eating or whatever. And we see all of this in spades in Saul. And here's the sad part. This is what we see in ourselves and I will even argue we see this in our very leadership in our own country.

Locally.

State and nationally and we see it every generation and So God has said I'm gonna reject you and God is now going to raise up a king after his own heart. God is going to put a different man on the throne and he's going to do so in a way.

That's very fascinating. Because notice although God has rejected Saul you're gonna note. It's gonna be a while a long while before Saul actually dies and So now we're gonna have this awkward thing going on.

We're going to have King David. Who's going to be the anointed King of Israel? Not yet reigning while there is still the previous king in place. Tell me that's not an awkward situation and Literally King David for the whole beginning part of his story is going to be in dire danger.

From the other king. Can you start to see how this typology is working out here, right? So we're gonna have two conflicting kingdoms. But both kingdoms have been established by God and One is trying desperately to destroy the other.

The other is trying desperately to flee the other while not playing by the others rules. It's kind of an interesting motif if you think about it. So something that we have to kind of flesh out as we you know get into the story.

But before we get into David I think I'm gonna actually stop there because this is a logical stopping place and we'll ask if there's any questions Thus far regarding the kingdom or anything that we've read in the story of Saul up to this point.

Yeah, that's an interesting application. Hadn't considered that but You'll note that When you really start to tease out this idea of kingdom and I would even point you to today's gospel text isn't it fascinating that the kingdom of heaven is like a Man who sowed good seed in the field and Jesus says the field is the world.

Is that interesting? So in our day we live in a day when people confuse The left-hand kingdom. This is my left. This is your left the left-hand kingdom with the right-hand kingdom and They push the two together and then over and again, you know Christians and pastors and leaders spend all their time focusing in on politics and Anointing political leaders and things like this nature, which is weird.

This is really weird, you know and nowadays some of the most dubious Heretical characters are the ones who have the president's ear which is again just strange. He asked me so I don't know if that answers your question, but man, you know.

Yeah. Did you see the big there was a flu is it last week or the week before the photograph of Trump praying with like Rodney Howard Brown and all of these Televangelists and somebody posted on the internet and I said were they trying to steal his wallet, you know.

My question but that's a different story altogether. Any other questions as it relates to kingdom? I did Janet. I'm gonna ask you a question. I mean, we've been kind of working through this now for a few weeks is The concept of the kingdom of God any clearer than it was Six weeks ago.

All right, that's that's progress. It's okay. That's progress. That's progress because we we've only told a portion of the story here at this point. But it's starting to come into its so it's like a polarity.

We've snapped the photograph and maybe you can see some blurry figures in there good. That's where we're supposed to be right right now, by the way.

Okay.

Similar. Yeah, and so you'll notice this the two-track theme motif in Scripture all the time the kingdom of God versus the kingdoms of the earth and in the in that when we were reading in Genesis and In Exodus, how does that then play out?

Exited in Exodus. It's Egypt that kind of is the stand-in for the world's way of doing government. Now that we're in Israel now Saul is the stand-in for the world's government but after King David and with the decline of the monarchy into idolatry and Eventually, you know Nebuchadnezzar coming and sacking Jerusalem.

What ends up happening is the motif changes altogether and now moving forward. Babylon is always that you know pictured as that Worldly system if you would and what's fascinating about that then it's the Babylon motif.

And that is carried over then into the book of Revelation. Right the big system of the world that opposes the Saints and Martyrs them is known as mystery Babylon. Well now here's the funny thing.

Okay.

Now they couldn't use Rome but you know why they couldn't use Rome and they had to use that code talk. Because if they had named Rome Explicitly in the book of Revelation. Oh, they would have gotten in a lot of trouble so part of the part of the kind of the key to understanding the book of Revelation is That for the reader who's reading it at that time the time it's written.