Lesson 6 | Playing God (Qtr. 1, 2021)

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god i'm so excited about this series isaiah the gospel prophet we are learning so much together and we're glad you're with us today and welcome to the team take a look at the team there's just five people we're still on restriction but we've discovered that god can work with many or with few we call this gideon's band but i'm also excited because one of our team christian is going to be teaching today and christian we're excited this is such an important topic the topic playing god it's an incredible revelation given to the prophet isaiah but there is good news because the light of the world can dispel the darkness and so we're looking forward to a powerful study today we've also got a special gift for you if you've been with us you already know but maybe you haven't written to us yet we've got a digital audio book we'd like to send called radical evidence we'd like to send you a copy all you have to do is write to our regular email address ss sshope hopetv.org and in the subject line just put free offer free offer we'll send you a link so you can download the audio book digital audio book radical evidence you'll learn about the prophecies of isaiah but other prophecies from the old testament scriptures all pointing to jesus as the true messiah you'll also see some powerful stories or listen to them in the audiobook of lives today being transformed as they learn the truth about jesus so don't forget sshope hopetv.org and by the way when you write share with us how god's blessing you through this study together we're always happy to hear from you here's one cheryl writes from papua new guinea it's a long way away papua new guinea port moresby every day i look forward to hearing the word of god amen amazing group of people making time to share the word of god i will continue to pray for this program and give thanks to the lord and call upon his name praise god 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are viewing i hope you have your bibles too if you don't this would be a good time to grab your bibles as we continue our study on the book of isaiah it's been quite a tremendous quarter so far as we have studied various chapters and now we're going to dive into yet another one now this week as we continue this spiritual journey on the book of isaiah isaiah is regarded as one of the greatest of biblical prophets and just to to recap we don't want to spend too much time looking at previous studies but let's do a short recap that of the studies that we have had recently now we looked at the prophetic call to trust in god to trust him with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and we also studied how we must not rely on biblical or rather political maneuvers or alliances and um and there was a king that unfortunately did just that wasn't it what was the name of that king king has that's right and we know the consequences of his conduct and for that reason we see that god in his mercy calls on prophets to come and speak judgment against this kind of behavior and so throughout the book of isaiah we find various oracles of judgment and salvation messages of judgment given to us from god and um some judgments are directed towards god's people okay other judgments are directed towards other nations as well and one in particular is babylon babylon received a judgment from god and i want to take us to our first passage here today by going to the book of isaiah chapter 13 isaiah chapter 13 and i'm gonna ask jason uh to read to us chapter 13 verse one and then let's jump over to verses 17 to 22. isaiah chapter 1 chapter 13 verses 1 and 17 to 22. all right now i have the new king james version here it says isaiah chapter 13 verse 1 the burden against babylon which isaiah the son of amaz saw now verses 17 through 22 verse 17 behold i will stir up the medes against them who will not regard silver and as for gold they will not delight in it also their bows will dash the young men to pieces and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb their eye will not spare children and babylon the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the chaldeans pride will be as when god overthrew sodom and gomorrah it will never be inhabited nor will it be settled from generation to generation nor will the arabian pitch tents there nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there but wild beasts of the desert will lie there and their houses will be full of owls ostriches will dwell there and wild goats will caper there the hyenas will howl in their citadels and jackals in their pleasant palaces her time is near to come and her days will not be prolonged thank you jason wow what a strong judgment against the nation of babylon but what i find very interesting is that doing during isaiah's day babylon was really no threat to judah in fact during isaiah's time there is little mention of babylon okay but we come to this passage early on in the book of isaiah and isaiah's prophecy here against babylon is actually a judgment that would be fulfilled 200 years approximately 200 years later yeah you know when when when i think about you know when i think about that i can't help but to wonder how is it possible i mean really for isaiah to make this prophecy long before babylon became a superpower and before they took the people of judah into captivity um how is it that isaiah you know could could declare these things stephanie he was anointed he would the holy spirit was leading him and god was guiding him as he was writing these things down and it makes me think of a verse in isaiah 46 actually two verses um verses 9 and 10. okay um can i read that please okay isaiah chapter 46 and verses nine and nine and ten yes please it says rem um i'll be reading from the king james version remember the former things of old for i am god and there is none other i am god and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure and i i think a friend of mine has often says just let god be god and that's that's truly that's who he is he's god he knows the end from the beginning and he was leading he knows the end from the beginning yes i think we have two choices like stephanie said the liberal scholars will say well this must have been written after it happened and supposedly predicting it for example the prophecy of jesus about the fall of jerusalem they say well matthew must actually have been written after 70 a.d because how would how would they know what was going to happen 40 years almost 40 years later so we have a choice to make either they're all lying to us and it's all fabricated or there is a god in heaven who can reveal things that have not yet happened with prophets wow i think that's a key issue in the book of isaiah absolutely absolutely not just isaiah but other prophets of god spoke spoke of god being the one true god and what made him so distinct that he knew the end from the beginning is there another verse that comes to mind where another prophet affirms you know what isaiah has done does another verse come to mind amos chapter 3 verse 7 okay would you read that for us travis amos chapter 3 verse 7. what does that say about god's ability to foresee the future and i'll be reading from the new king james version surely the lord god does nothing unless he reveals his secret through his servant the prophets is that a god you can trust yes i mean isn't that a god that we can approach and believe that you know i can i can give my life to a god who is is not going to be a god who who catches me off guard he is not a god who's going to lead me into the unknown and then leave me there to figure things out he is a god who says i will reveal to you things to come so that you don't have to be afraid and so isaiah indeed is inspired by the holy spirit and given the ability to write these prophecies because god is a god who knows the end from the beginning yes i met an orthodox muslim who became a follower of jesus who was startled by this prophecy how could it be that would be like saying a great city like rome would be desolate and never inhabited they always rebuilt the cities they got devastated but babylon no it was fulfilled exactly as you said 200 years before it even happened and that's caused many people when they look with an open mind at the scriptures to say there is a god who knows the future yes amen amen you know so in 587 bc babylon comes and utterly destroys jerusalem and judah is taken captive until about 539 bc and this is when babylon was conquered itself now what what prophet comes to mind who wrote in detail about the conquest of babylon does a prophet come to mind who received a vision from god that babylon would not last forever now king nebuchadnezzar would have never you know admitted that his kingdom would ever come to an end but god but god did what prophet comes to mind daniel daniel that's right that's right what what chapter in daniel sp speaks specifically about about the overthrow of the kingdom of babylon well there's actually two all right chapter two and daniel chapter five daniel chapter two and five right that's true twice in fact one could say that daniel 2 is the prophecy itself that foresaw the the the fall of babylon and in daniel chapter 5 we see its fulfillment um daniel chapter 5 that's right that's right but even the handwriting on the wall is still a prophecy it will be fulfilled a few hours later a few hours later but i don't think the people in babylon believed it would be fulfilled no you know but just before wow that day is over and that night is over belches unbelievable unbelievable so you know whether it's 200 years before or four hours before that's right that's right it's still a god that's right you know and that's interesting you should say that because in daniel 5 verse 1 mentions specifically that darius was planning a great party that night boy it was going to be a long night uh you mean bill chancellor yeah that's right bel chazar right that's right thank you you're you came keeping me in line here keeping me in line uh um belchazar was planning uh a party that night but then um then as you said within hours babylon is overtaken jason i saw your hand go up yes because i think this is kind of fascinating as as derek was referencing that god's prophecies can come true whether it's hundreds of years or it's ours and it's neat here because daniel is another prophet of god kind of like isaiah that god is working through god has these prophets you know as travis read there and amos god is not going to do anything unless he reveals these secrets to his servants in this case it's interesting because at first he actually reveals it well he shows the king you know the handwriting on the wall the king doesn't know it throw so he actually has to go to god's prophet the one who god has revealed what's going to happen so sometimes god will give us messages we may not fully understand which is why we need to be connected with god because the people who are connected with god his prophets the ones working through him they will be able to to know what's going to happen amen amen yes chase oh and travis so i agree with that and i agree with derrick that these these are i see the love of god here because he's giving a prophecy through isaiah then through daniel in daniel chapter two and then again in daniel 5 with the handwriting on the wall what a merciful god that would just mercy one time just keeps relentlessly letting them know what is going to happen and then as you had mentioned derek he thought it must have been a joke and we read about this that earlier there was a prophecy and pete you know in the in the story of lot that his son-in-law's future son-in-law thought it was going to be a joke but it's not a joke god's word is i mean when he says something's going to happen it's going to happen and uh so it just makes me think you know when we see when god says something that's going to happen in the bible we can really take this seriously amen and travis you brought a really good point how there was multiple revelations of of this event okay and it's interesting to me that in daniel chapter 5 verse 22 it mentions just that it says but you his son belches are have not humbled your heart although you knew all this you knew all this if belchazar had truly humbled himself and just tuned his mind to to to meditate on and ponder the prophecies that have been told not once not just twice but now three times you know maybe the maybe the outcome would have been a little different but instead judgment comes upon babylon and of course miro persia comes and overtakes babylon in a single night what an amazing amazing revelation of god's ability to foresee the end from the beginning relying relying on god's word you know and when i when i think about prophecy you know i can't help but to realize that prophecy is one of those things that can really give me confidence in a god that i can trust right you know there's such an attack on the character of god leading people to conclude can i trust god or can i trust him with my life but doesn't prophecy have a way to be able to present to us a god that we can trust and not be afraid you know when when you think about prophecy you know we're all here bible students can you think of of the time when you came to to be convicted that bible prophecy is indeed a reliable revelation from god and and how did that impact your spiritual journey with god or your spiritual growth with god did that make a significant difference really yeah um so going back to daniel i think um i was i was comparing let's say the prophecies of daniel in the dates that were given about babylon and then meeds and persia and so i said okay that's nice you know let me check out um the internet uh so i went on the internet wikipedia and i'm looking at the dates and wait that that is so accurate because it's telling you know the the kingdoms that will happen and what got me was um there's a prophecy i think about the 10 kingdoms that would succeed rome and i said wow that's that's very interesting let me go online and indeed i'm finding out these ten kingdoms and the relationship between them and i think that further convicted me that um this is real this is real so amen amen you know what convicted me christian was was the story in luke 24 of jesus giving a bible study to two disciples and it says their hearts burned within them you know and i thought if jesus has such confidence in the scriptures and the prophecies particularly that pointed to him as messiah i need to have confidence too because jesus healed the sick he cast out the demons he was the son of god and he trusted that word of god in fact he he said man shall not live by bread alone but every word so to me his unshakeable confidence in in the scriptures including the prophecies was the the thing that really impacted me the most amen amen and you know let's let's take a moment to to maybe share a specific prophecy that has impacted your life in a significant way can you think of a particular prophecy that just opened up your eyes in such a way that you truly felt fire in your bones you know because your faith was rekindled when when you studied that prophecy does does any prophecy come to mind yes lisa yeah i think about matthew 24 and this is jesus's prophecy of the end time and he goes very specific in the kind of world that we'll be living in we're living in that world right now and so when we see these things that are unstable when we see things falling apart jesus prophesied that and so we need to um not be disturbed or anxious about these things christ forewarned us and as believers we need to be firm in the faith and the prophecies that that god speaks about us amen amen and what a prophecy to be studying in these states you know as we as we see the world just completely in chaos we come to matthew 24 and the mere fact that jesus saw this coming and he said watch and pray you know we are able to to to draw near to the future with the sense of confidence knowing what to expect and that just ignites a renewed faith in god yes so for me um it's a personal prophecy you know this prophecy is about kingdoms but but paul wrote in the philippians uh in philippians 1 6 that he promised that god promises to finish the work he started in us and as a christian who falls occasionally and makes mistakes i think he said babylon would fall and it did but he also said he'd finish the work that he started praise god and it's not a joke amen praise god i can rest in the fact that i if i lean on jesus stay close to him i may not be perfect now but i won't look back the apostle paul said i don't look back i keep looking ahead amen yes and i just rest in jesus and he will finish that work amen so that's been a lifesaver for me powerful powerful yes stephanie somewhat along that those same lines i think it's it builds it's seeing the fulfillment of prophecy has built faith in me to trust god regardless and especially when i see something different and that is something that is that's what we have to do now and in the time of ahead we have to be able to say you know what i don't see the fulfillment of the of god's promise that he has guaranteed in his word but i know he guaranteed it and i can trust him amen amen amen and when we take matters into our own hands okay then that's when life gets even more complicated because we're departing from a god who already has the future you know in his hands and and like you said we can trust him we can't trust him you know one prophecy that made an impact in my life is actually found in isaiah chapter 14. i'd like us to go to isaiah chapter 14. isaiah chapter 14 it made an impact in my life if only because it exposes the enemy of god you know when you when you think about your journey of faith okay um when you agree that your journey of faith can actually gain strength when you are aware of the tactics of the enemy when you when you know how the enemy will attack when you know the character of the enemy it places you on on on ground which can actually prove to be uh a wonderful thing now isaiah chapter 14 verses 12 to 15 um has a few verses there that actually gives us an insight on the character of lucifer now we know something about lucifer we before we go to the passage what do we know about lucifer who who was lucifer who would like to be able to just give us a snapshot of of this lucifer who was lucifer jason so lucifer was one of the head angels if you will that was in the throne room of god and he was there literally kind of right next to jesus the son of god he was a created being he was still an angel but he was very close to god and he was in charge of leading all the angels and he had a lot of special talents he was very good at music he was very good with his words and god had really uh blessed him which that's great there was also some problems though i don't know how far you want me to go but he he had some some pride issues that became problematic later on okay okay okay so so you're right he was a created being an angel okay of course we could even then calm a fallen angel because he would go from an exalted place covering sheriff to a fallen state and here in isaiah isaiah chapter 14 verses 12 to 15 we find a description of what was going on in his mind so let's take a look at this passage and billy could you read that for us isaiah chapter 14 verses 12 to 15. what was going on inside inside lucifer's mind i'll be reading from the new king james version how you are falling from heaven o lucifer sun of the morning how you are cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations for you have said in your heart i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will also sit on the mount of con of the congregation on the farther sides of the north i will ascend above the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high yet you shall be brought down to shell to the lowest depth of the pit so here's a fallen angel who is coveting what is he coveting what does what is he hungry for what is he thirsty for power put um position power position but not just just not just any power or just any position but whose power and whose position god he literally wants to be god yeah he is coveting god's authority or god's position okay and so here we see in isaiah a contrast of sorts because isaiah refers to lucifer as the son of the morning okay but we also know that christ himself is known as the morning bright morning star and so we begin to see a contrast between this fallen angel and the messiah king yes the difference is that created angel while he was faithful the light which shown from his presence was a reflection of the son of the son of god yes yes after he rebels uh jesus never calls him lucifer he's a prince of darkness he's called the prince of darkness he's called satan which means the opposer yes and diablos or the devil jesus calls that's which is the accuser so and that old serpent right so all of the light that he thought was his he was the sons was gone when he separated himself from the glory of god wow wow wow what a what a powerful insight and you know this leads me to a question though a question that is quite intriguing to me why why would isaiah you know embed this this this prophecy this this this prophetic revelation about lucifer okay right in the smack middle of a prophecy against judgment on the enemies of god's people i mean it seems like it's what's his his intention here what's going on travis i think god is giving us a glimpse of the heart of the kings of babylon oh wow okay he's giving us i i remember i'm studying daniel when he when daniel chapter two he tells the king that you've given this prophecy so you could your heart would be revealed and so so here we're given a we're given a glimpse of lucifer so we can see that the hearts kind of align with lucifer's it's all selfish first corinthians chapter 13 i think in verse 5 it says that love does not seek its own so so it's this self-seeking thing and love is other centered and and and that's god the character of god others he's always worried about others and now here these kings and lucifer all worried about this trying to exalt themselves kind of like the tower of babel let us make a name for ourselves wow and so we're getting a glimpse into here into what this these kingdoms were looking like and their how their leaders were leading wow wow because these leaders that are leading there there's there's a long list of leaders that were prideful arrogant right right and and what i hear you say travis is that as we as we look at this lineage of of of of kings that were rebellious and prideful that this prophecy actually while it exposes the mind of satan okay it actually reveals the very nature of sin okay which is found in each one of us when we depart from a relationship and abiding relationship with christ what we see here described as lucifer is in fact the very nature of sin which seeks to exalt itself and want to be like god or want to be in control of of my own life yes stephanie christian i think it's it's a warning it's a warning call too wow and that's it's so the heart of god that we see that thread throughout it's a warning don't don't go down that path you know do not follow what has happened before wow and so many others have fallen as a result wow i guess yes sorry i think it's a message of warning for our day when people don't even believe that the adversary exists but paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers yes in the heavenly realms that's right so these are supernatural forces that have rebelled against god and what i see in this prophecy and again with jesus in the wilderness and so on this is a real being that rebelled and if we read revelation other angels rebelled with him so this is confederation of evil i'm so thankful for the bible because it tells me that god's kingdom is victorious amen but it is a real battle amen absolutely he's actually pulling back the curtains and exposing you know the the unseen realm which is very much very much alive and well today yes lisa absolutely what pastor said you know everything that we see here in the natural is a reflection of the supernatural and that's why he's he's showing us a picture of worldly events but he's saying they're spiritual as pastor derek said these spiritual forces are trying to establish themselves upon the earth and so we have to be careful as was said we're not wrestling against flesh and blood or one kingdom against another it's god holiness and all these evil beings that are trying to bring themselves up on the earth and so we need to be guarded and i think that's where we're going here about being careful not putting our trust in and what we may not understand fully yes yes so isaiah chapter 14 gives us an inside look at into the mind of lucifer is there another prophet and another passage that adds additional information about what was going on with lucifer what were his motives what what was he trying to to get to uh does another passage in the old testament come to mind yes jason yes so i think of ezekiel another prophet okay and so uh would i be able to go ahead and read there's ezekiel chapter 28 take us to ezekiel chapter 28 why don't you read verses 13 to 15. all right i've got the new king james version here and it says ezekiel 28 verses 13 to 15 you were in eden the garden of god every precious stone was your covering the sardius topaz and diamond burl anks and jasper sapphire turquoise and emerald with gold the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created you were anointed sheriff who covers i established you you were on the holy mountain of god you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you you know what grabs my attention just three words you were created we're dealing with a created being a created being that wanted to be like the most high when you take the passage there from isaiah so think about this here's a created being who wants to be like the most high created being or creature wanting to be like the most high is that beginning to ring a bell does it sound awfully familiar to a conversation that happened in the beginning we have a woman what's her name eve created by god and satan lucifer now satan in the form of a serpent comes to this created being and whispers into her ear you can be like god okay do you see how how lucifer's character his motives have not changed one iota they have not changed at all he continues to to to reveal his true character which is to to cause us to distrust god to look towards ourselves and convince us that we can manage our life just fine without god that you can do just fine you be your own judge you determine what's right and what's wrong on your own you don't need god to tell you those things you know and satan you know is referred to as a murder a liar do you know what passage in the gospels we find where jesus referred to satan as a liar can you think of a passage that comes to mind john 8 44 john 8 44. stephanie would you read that for us why don't we go to it john 8 44 and here jesus describes satan and listen as stephanie reads and and how and how jesus seems to just really focus in on one predominant characteristic of satan and what is that and the king james version says ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye do you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it do you notice do you notice that common theme he's called a liar there is no truth in him satan is a deceiver yes billy yeah so it's interesting because sometimes i think especially in our world today you know we try to justify lying and i guess it begs the question you know should we draw a line between you know truth and lie the reason why is because i know some people who would say well you know there's nothing wrong with a white lie and it's coming from people who should know better but there is that justification that yes you know lies you know little i should be okay and that's the culture that we live in today so um am i correct in understanding that you know based on that like anybody who lie is the follower of satan or is there a distinction between should we be quick to judge people who you know who lie and saying that you have your of your father the devil or should we you know uh um give him a free pass so it's a question i guess for the class that's an excellent question yes some insight yes travis you know i'm sitting here listening and i'm really thankful for the holy spirit yes i'm thankful because i remember even now sometimes i'll say something that you know that might not be true you know nothing without even intention and i hit that little you know voice in the back of my head travis that wasn't right and i'm able to either correct it or ask for forgiveness and so i'm sitting here thinking i'm so thankful for god who sends his spirit to remind us hey you know to keep getting us back onto that narrow path because the path is wide that leads to destruction and satan is doing anything to get us on that path so god's got to exit off that path many just get back on path and that's the holy spirit to keep whispering in our ear stay on track stay on track yes because it was jesus who said i am the way the truth and the life okay and now he calls satan he is a liar okay the father of lies okay and so you know going back to to billy's you know question you know when i think about about our journey okay and and our trust in god there's gonna be times when when we feel that we must find ourselves out of this difficult situation and and we're sometimes tempted the greater good because we don't want to find ourselves in this dangerous life-threatening situation i must i must get myself out of this situation and we're tempted to justify you know a mistruth or something that would bring us out of that but you know what i've discovered billy in my own personal life and and i'm sure in many of your lives as well that when we trust god we come to a place in our life when we can say you know god i don't know what is happening and i don't know where this is going but i will trust in you and put my full confidence in you and not compromise and i will leave the consequences to you mm-hmm because sometimes we're wanting to manipulate you know the circumstances and and and that's when compromise takes place but if we're true to the word of god he is the way the truth and the life i think we can trust god with consequences no matter what comes our way you know and when i think about the great controversy i think about this intense battle between good and evil yes god and satan of course but when you really think about it the the essence of the great controversy is between truth and deception truth and lies and the battlefield is the mind right yeah and you know i wonder does anyone want to share maybe an experience where satan attacked you with the intention to cause you to believe one of his lies you know lies about yourself lies about god lies about others can anyone think of a story that comes to mind a testimony of of an intense attack from the enemy the father of lies anyone have a story they'd like to share i have a short one question someone a teacher i greatly respected okay walked away from the church and at first i was in a great crisis i think a temptation of the enemy do i still belong here with this person leaving i'm so thankful that the spirit of god said i didn't call you to follow that person amen you're called to follow jesus yes yes and and we need that what travis is saying we need the holy spirit didn't jesus say the holy spirit will lead you into all truth and jesus is full of grace and truth he is the truth as you said amen but i think i think you're right i think sometimes it catches us unawares this temptation and we have to cry out to god to ask the holy spirit to lead us away from that alluring deception and lead us in the way of truth you know and and i i can testify that as i look back in my life and i think i recall the times that the enemy has has shown himself to be to be powerful in my life you know what i've discovered that in those moments there was a lie that i had come to believe concluding that the only power that the enemy can have in our lives is the power of the lie if he can convince me of his lie then then he sway he brings me under his control and ground is given to the enemy when we believe his lies and so that is why the study of god's word you know and and dr morris here with hope sabbath school that's what this is all about you know being able to dig deep into the word of god so we can be grounded in truth amen so we can be grounded in jesus crowded in jesus who is the way the truth and the life address so you know ephesians chapter 6 comes to mind when i think about application you know let's let's apply the scriptures here for a moment in ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 to 18 in fact we're not going to take the time to read it but in that passage there in ephesians chapter 6 we find a special gift given to the christian as a protection against this this enemy this this father of lies and what is that protection given to us there in ephesians chapter six what is it called yeah i'm going to have the armor of god beyond god and i want to encourage our viewers to take time to go to ephesians chapter 6 and study this out because truly there is a lot to learn but with the moment that we have left i'd like to us to do a full circle you know we started with babylon as a nation that was being judged by god and now as we come back to revelation the prophetic book of the new testament we discover that babylon is mentioned once again now it's interesting to me that in revelation there's a hundred or rather 404 verses you might want to if you're viewing at home you want to take time to count you let us know if i if i'm off by one or two but i read 404 verses out of those 404 verses 278 verses are a reference or an illusion direct or indirect to the old testament and that includes the mention of babylon it's mentioned in revelation chapter 17. so i'd like for us to take a moment to go to revelation chapter 17 and and here we find a description of a persecuting power that is also given the name babylon hmm revelation chapter 17 verses 1 to 6. um travis could you read that for us sure and i'll be reading from the new king james version okay then one of the seven angels who had seven bowls came and talked to me saying to me come i will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and i saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of the names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication and on her forehead a name was written mystery of babylon the great the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth wow so in the old testament no doubt we have literal babylon we see this nation that that overtakes jerusalem a nation that is overtaken by medes and persons it's a literal nation right but here in this passage in revelation you know and you can correct me if i'm wrong but but this doesn't sound like a description of a literal nation named babylon but rather a spiritual um perspective or context how would you explain that why why is babylon mentioned once again apparently in an end time scenario why why the use of babylon once again is there something significant about the name babylon that we might be able to make sense out of this particular context in revelation what do you think billy yeah i i guess just simple comparison is that you know the spirit behind babylon you know in in isaiah versus uh this one and it ties into um you know lucifer that there is a a common denominator for all of them is that there is an evil spirit behind them and some and you can easily see a comparison between how bad they were in in in the book of isaiah in this one too because they carry the same even though they're it's like different time frames and they may not be the exact same kingdoms but the spirits are very similar the hatred for god's people the hatred for truth um and exalting pride and also um lies okay it's the same thing that you're seeing uh in the end times okay with when with all those characteristics it obviously leads to spiritual confusion that's right and so here we have here we have a scenario where there's spiritual confusion on earth and you know what when i look at the the prophecies of isaiah when i look at the the the context of babylon and compared to spiritual babylon there in revelation i see a call there in revelation chapter 18 that causes to come out of her a reference to spiritual babylon but a reference an invitation to come to the one who says i'm the way the truth and the life amen and i think of jesus call when he said come unto me come unto me and i will give you rest so our prayer is that god's call will be a call that invites you to come to him to trust him because he can't be trusted amen and thank you christian and thank you for joining us for hope sabbas school today i just i am moved to say jesus lead me in your truth by the holy spirit leave me in your truth no room for deception when we're following the holy spirit leading us in the way of jesus are you desiring that in your heart too but you know it's more than that isn't it that that god could help us to to help people around us who are still in confusion yes to find the truth as it is in jesus let's pray that we can also be witnesses for jesus today father in heaven thank you for this challenging message for exposing not only the deception but pointing us to the truth jesus who is the truth full of grace and truth and i thank you for the holy spirit who will lead us into the truth as it is in jesus name we trust in jesus our savior today and we thank you in the name of jesus amen amen amen amen i'm so thankful for jesus today aren't you in the midst of all of the confusion accept him let the spirit lead you and then go out and share his truth with those around you [Applause] [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

Views: 60,589

Rating: 4.8070741 out of 5

Keywords: Hope Sabbath School, Derek Morris, Hope Channel, In-depth, Interactive, Study, Word of God, Bible, Sabbath School Lesson

Id: TeRaeS9lgCs

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021